We're From Ioway

Last weekend we went to Iowa to help celebrate Ben's aunt and uncle's 50th Wedding Anniversary. About an hour away from Storm Lake we realized we left our camera at home. :(

We got to the resort and checked in and then walked down the hallway to the suite that the family was hanging out in. Elenore (the aunt of the hour) was so completely surprised that we were there (we hadn't RSVP'ed since we didn't know until last minute that we were going to go down there). It was fun to be able to surprise everyone.

We hung out in the suite until everyone started to get ready for the dinner. We went and changed too and then headed out. Dinner was fun. We sat with one of Ben's cousins and her family. It's still a little strange to me that some Ben's cousins are closer in age to his parents than to us. The result is that their children are closer to our age. But anyway.

After dinner we went back to the suite. I was feeling pretty tired, but figured I could hang out for a little bit. Boy, am I glad that I did! We had so much fun! The family was busy swapping stories and everyone was laughing so hard. I thought maybe I would laugh the baby out. Thankfully that didn't happen, but I did have sore muscles for a few days.

Sunday morning we once again went to the suite and had breakfast and said our good byes. Then Rick took us on a tour of the town to show where he grew up. Up until then I always thought he grew up on a farm. Nope! In town. Then it was on the road again.

Amazing Life

A few months back we accidentally left the water on in our main fish tank. We didn't discover it until the next day. (Once again thankful that the tank isn't on our wood floors or carpets!). The tricky part is that since the fresh water was added slowly, you can't just remove water and add more salt as that will shock everything (re: possibly kill). So, you need to slowly adjust the salinity. We thought that the water would evaporate more quickly than it did, so we ended up waiting a week before intervening after about a week by slowly removing water and adding salt (over the course of another week or so). We were really scared that we would loose everything. Our poor little urchin give me a scare a time or two. Amazingly, we lost very little. We did loose our serpent stars and some of our coral. But the fish all made it. And some of our coral is making a comeback. I really was surprised at how much survived! Just goes to show how good life is at adapting to change. Life is a pretty amazing thing.

More Like Labor Day

No, not that kind of labor. :)

This past weekend was Memorial Day Weekend. Ben and I decided to try and make the most of 3 1/2 days off of work by getting some stuff done. Friday and Saturday we ran some errands. Saturday afternoon we went to a friend's 30 birthday party. Sunday we had a bunch of things we wanted to get done. But sometimes plans are just not meant to be. I think we were both discouraged about the lack of progress made. But then Monday rolled around.

Our one project was to build a retaining wall around the front "sand pit." This area has been on our list since we moved in. Monday we went to Menard's and found some great bricks that we both liked and also as important - allowed us to make 90 degree corners (most bricks for whatever reason aren't made that way). Poor Ben had to do all the lifting... all 2100 pounds. Twice (load and unload). But it worked out perfectly! We didn't have to cut any of the bricks. And it looks fantastic. And after all of that Ben mowed the lawn (that takes about 2 hours).

At the end, we were both happy about the progress that we made and the results. We are doing the lasagna method of gardening, so in a few weeks we should be able to plant some pretty flowers. So excited!

Tick

Saturday I had a first - I found a wood tick on my head! I was talking to my brother on the phone when I must have felt something because I went to brush my hair back, and I felt something. I went to the bathroom and there it was - my first tick. I hollered at Ben to come get it off of me (I don't think I was freaking out too much). He told me to get off the phone (sorry, Jake) and then he would help me. Luckily, it hadn't decided to latch on to me yet, so it was easy and painless.

Tuesday I found a tick on Zoey's neck. That is a tricky place to find one and remove one because her hair is so thick. And Zoey isn't sure what's going on, so she wants to get up. With me holding the hair back, Ben pulled it out.

Yesterday I found a tick on Zoey's ear. A little bit more of a sensitive spot than her neck, but she didn't react at all when Ben pulled it off.

Due to recent events, my morning routine now includes a clothes check, a full body check and a Zoey check. I've heard that this is a bad year for ticks, so I will probably run to the store and buy some stuff for Zoey.

Showers

A few months back I didn't have hot water for my shower. I checked the fuses. I went to check the pilot light (where I discovered we didn't have one). Then, it started to work. Strange. But whatever. Last week, no hot water. So I tried my magic again. It worked, but to a lesser degree - the hot water didn't last. I called the manufacturer and we figured out what the problem was (LED light pattern helped with this). Parts are still under warranty, so they sent the parts over next day. We got them on Saturday. I thought it was just a wire, turns out it was the gas harness. So, we decided this was a job for a professional. I called a random place (they were on the manufacturers website as a service provider). The guy was kind of grumpy. But the guy that actually showed up was awesome! He was super friendly. He was great with Zoey too (found out on the way to the utility room that he has a dog). And he was out in less than an hour. And we have hot water now! Woo hoo!

Tuesday night my girlfriends threw us a shower. I had such a great time. The food was great. The games were fun. And Baby Roy got a lot of cool things. The one game was for people to decorate onesies. It was fun to see their creativity show up on them. My book club friends made book themed ones. The dog lovers made ones with "Zoey was here" and "Zoey's girl" on them. I am so blessed to have such an awesome group of friends that I have met along my life's journey so far. Life is so much fun with them.

Twins!

(No not me).
On Tuesday night I had my first experience at the new Target Field to watch the Twins. The weather was 44 and cloudy, but thankfully the rain stopped before the game started. Still not sure why we didn't build the field with a retractable roof or something for when the weather isn't great. It's Minnesota, people! But anyway... I did like the field. Everything was nice and new. We were sitting in the Legends Club area (thanks to the General) and the seats were comfy and we had great views - just right of home plate.

We were there with three of Ben's teammates from India. They didn't really appreciate the weather. We offered them hats, gloves and blankets, but I guess they were too cool for that (hee hee). Hopefully they still had fun. One nice thing about the Legends Club is that there is a very nice enclosed area that is climate controlled. About half of the game the Indians were in there to stay warm.

One super cool thing is that Ben got a foul ball! Notice my words - got, not caught. It rolled down the stairs while people were trying to get it and landed at Ben's feet. He passed it on to one of the Indians. Would have been kind of cool to keep it, but don't really need a random baseball sitting around either. :)

Where has the time gone??

Can't believe that it has been so long since my last post. Someone might think I'm busy or something. :)

The weekend after the Omaha trip, my friend Cassie and I took a mini-road trip to New Ulm for a friend's wedding. It was a beautiful day for a drive. The wedding was nice. In between the wedding and reception we tried to visit my great-aunt. But she wasn't in her room (assisted living). Turns out she was down the hall playing cards. Oh, and I hadn't called ahead just in case it turned out not to work out. So, it wasn't her fault. And I'm glad she was having a fun day with friends. We did end up visiting Cassie's cousin. We visited for about 1/2 hour then back on the road for the reception (that was in Mankato). At the reception, we were just getting ready to leave when a slow song started. The best man came over and asked Cassie to dance. She said yes. I knew immediately that he didn't realize she was married. It was fun to tease her.

The next day I had a wonderful baby shower at the church I grew up in. A lot of cute pink and girly outfits! So excited to have someone to dress in them. :)

Then the following weekend Ben and I headed to Seattle to visit some friends. It was so much fun! We had a blast hanging with the Larson's. They have 5 kids, so at times it was a little crazy. But the kids were good kids. And they got along with each other so well. And they seemed to like us. Two of them when we were leaving asked when we were coming back. One suggested that we move closer so we could visit more often. How sweet!

This past weekend we had our baby classes. Better than I was expecting, but sitting all day for two days is not that great in my "condition." But it's over.