It's almost Holiday Season!

It's almost the holiday season!! And by holiday I mean Halloween, Thanksgiving, and then the best thing ever...Christmas!! I love once it gets to Fall because there are SO many things to look forward to like decorating and spending more time with family and having the holidays off! I love buying presents and putting them under the tree and everything. I am super excited...this weekend I'm going to get out all of my Halloween stuff and put it all out. I literally cannot wait!

We're still working on finishing the downstairs bathroom, which really takes up all of our free time I feel like. We're on the verge of sanding, putting on texture and then painting! After that it's just tile and then putting everything in! I'm hoping to be completely done by the end of October; if not before. Josh is thinking maybe in a few weeks...after this bathroom project is done, hopefully we'll have a life again!

So aside from the bathroom we haven't done much. We went and helped Andy and Laura move into their new house in North English last weekend, and the weekend before they came to Baxter and we took Kayden to Monkey Joe's. It's amazing how big she's getting!
Us at Monkey Joe's

KK going down the slide!


I went to the craft show this past weekend and got some neat Halloween decorations...I'm still looking for some battery operated orange lights for my Halloween tree, so if anyone knows of a place to get some, please point me in that direction. Other than that, nothing exciting has happened - hopefully once the bathrooms get done we can get back to having a life and I'll have something exciting to blog about! :)

Remembering

I can't believe it's the 10th anniversary of 9/11 today. It seems like it was just a few years ago I was in 8th grade history class when our teacher turned on the tv and we watched the second tower be hit. It seemed so surreal. I remember coming home that afternoon and just watching the news coverage over and over and over again. It seemed like when you stepped outside there was this eerie feeling that washed over you. It's still something I have a hard time watching and hearing about, I always start crying. My heart just hurts from the pain not only the heroes who perished on 9/11, but also their loved ones still feel today. I also though have an immense pride in my country and will always get teary eyed when "I'm Proud to be an American" plays. Always remembering those whose lives were taken too soon, and, as one of my favorite quotes tells us, "If we learned nothing else from this tragedy, at least we learned that life is too short to hate" - Susan Dahl, wife of Jason Dahl, pilot of United Flight 93. I'm proud to live in the greatest country on earth. <3

We had a nice weekend of remembering, remodeling, and cheering on the Cyclones! Tyson wore his lucky jersey and ISU pulled out the win on Saturday! Josh has been finishing up the walls in the bathroom and hopefully in 3 weeks we'll have a finished bathroom!

I downloaded an app on my phone that lets me update so maybe I'll be able to update more often, but for now excuse the typos since I'm on my phone. :)

Updatin

Once school starts...my life is consumed. I've noticed that when I come home at night, I seem a little more tired, and I don't have much energy to do much besides clean up, cook dinner, and then maybe take the dogs for a quick walk (since the weather has been so nice). We haven't done much in the last month...I went back to work and Josh has been slaving away on the final bathroom project (we have a tub and some walls up right now! Getting there!). We have a new 7th grade Language Arts teacher and her and I have been working together to really update the 7th grade curriculum and really work together. So far so good! But it seems like one night a week we plan and it usually takes us from 3-5p.m. to plan out one week's worth of lesson plans, which is consuming when I still have to do my own for 8th grade as well. But I've liked it so far and we both have some great ideas - it's nice to bounce ideas of someone else at work. :)


I guess though I'll catch up from the last post. Josh's birthday was great; I always love birthday's, no matter whose they are! From me he got a new ipod, a signed Def Leppard poster, some work out shorts/pants, and an ISU shirt. He got lots of great things from everyone, he's a pretty lucky guy. We also went to the fair again and this time Josh and I rode this ride called "The Sky Scraper". The sign says you go 70mph like 165 feet in the air. We had both ridden it before (years before), and didn't think anything of it. Boy were we WRONG! My heart was beating so hard I thought it was going to jump out of my chest!! I feel like in my "old age" I can't handle heights as well, they're jumping up on my list of fears. This was NO difference. Even Josh got off the ride a little shaky and I think his exact words were, "I don't remember it being as intense when I was tweleve." Hahaha. Jane got some pictures of us on it though:
Us waiting in line (I'm excited!)

Getting strapped in:

Away we go!! At this point in time was when I started getting sweaty and my heart started beating super fast:

Swinging down!


Glad to make it off alive! I am a thrill seeker though, so anytime I can drag Josh on a rollercoaster or something, I'll do it, no matter what the height!

Other than that nothing too much to post...we had a low-key Labor Day. Some of our friends from Omaha came down and we were suppose to go boating, but of course, it rained ALL DAY. So instead they came over, we all hung out for a while, and then Alex and I went out in Des Moines with them. All-in-all it ended up being a nice night for just hanging out with friends.

Coming up we have a couple of weddings, and hopefully a finished bathroom project by the end of the month! Andy and Laura will be moving soon; only an hour away (and close to the outlet mall!). So I'm excited to see KK a little more often and definitely taking her and babysitting! :) Will post when something exciting happens and as always will keep you all updated on the bathroom project! xoxo