Celebrations!!!

There is a lot to be celebrating...

Happy Belated Birthday to my niece, Nicole!!!

She turned 13 on Saturday! I can't believe she is a teenager! Sorry we couldn't be there to celebrate with you.

Happy Belated Anniversary to my friend, Amy & her husband, Nate!!!

They were married 5 years on Saturday and just had their little girl, Lydia, earlier this year. We need to get together soon! It's been way too long!

Happy Anniversary to my friend, Melissa & her husband, Rich!!!

They have been married seven years today! Congratulations!

Happy Birthday to my friend, Amy!!!

Yep, this is the same one as above. She turns the big 3-0 today! Don't worry, girl, it's not too bad!! :-)

I will try to get some pictures up tonight, but I'm not sure what I have at home. Hope everyone is able to celebrate big!!

Babies, babies, babies!!

I traveled to Rockford on Wednesday night to spend the day with my friend, Janell, and meet her new baby, Hudson. We had a great time visiting, and I even got to hold him in NICU! He is tiny, but so cute and doing great!! He is off the feeding tube and maintaining his body temperature. They were probably going to be moving him into an open air crib yesterday. Now, they are just waiting for him to gain some weight to be able to come home (he has to be over 4 pounds).

After I left Rockford, I headed a little further North to spend the day with my friend, Jackie, and her seven month old, Carter. We were planning on going to the zoo in Madison, but it was storming when we got up so we just hung out in Fort. By the afternoon, we had just enough nice weather that Jackie and I were able to get out for a walk to get ice cream! Carter is getting so big already!! He'll be a year old before we know it.

Gamma Phi Circus

Last night a group of 10 of us went to see the Gamma Phi Circus. If you aren't familiar, Gamma Phi is one of only two collegiate circuses (the other being at Florida State University) and very much gymnastics based with no animals. I first heard about it when I was taking tumbling classes as a kid (my coach was an alumni) and then I became a member when I attended ISU. It has changed so much since I was in it. The show was awesome - the first time they performed the flying trapeze ever!

Freeman's & Mundhenke's
Teeterboard
The boys and Maren going for t-shirts!
German WheelMe and Maren

Did you feel it??

About 4:30 this morning Jason and I woke up to the bed shaking and the lampshade rattling...little did we know that we were experiencing an EARTHQUAKE...in ILLINOIS!!! Of course, we didn't know what was going on at the time. Wind can be pretty crazy here in Central Illinois, but I didn't hear the siding making any noises. Jason mentioned it might be an earthquake, but at 4:30 in the morning, I just wanted to go back to bed! He got up and looked around, and I still felt the bed shaking. We even checked our 100 pound dog to see if it was her since she was laying on the bed - nope. So, when I got in the shower around 6:45am the first thing on the radio was that we had an earthquake that was 5.4 on the Richter scale with the center being near West Salem, IL (south) but it could be felt as far as Chicago, Des Moines, Milwaukee, and Indianapolis. Is that crazy or what? I guess I can now say that I have experienced an earthquake! Thankfully, there was no damage done.

He is here!!

Hudson Kane Pope was born Wednesday, April 16th at 8:52pm. He weighed 3lbs 12oz and was 16 inches long. Mom and baby are doing wonderfully! Hudson didn't require any assistance and they think he'll only be in the NICU for two weeks!

Congratulations Janell & Steve!!

There isn't too much to update on. Jason left on Thursday night for his business trip to Connecticut. He finally got there after 12 hours ...airport delays as you can imagine! Karen brought Caden over for a little while that night, and believe it or not, I didn't take any pictures! He is getting so big, I can't believe he is already 9 months old! He'll be a year before we know it. On Friday night, I had the pleasure of taking dinner over to the Michaels' family. Now, it wasn't anything spectacular (tater tot casserole), but hopefully they liked it. Since I took dinner over, I also got a peek at little Reese. Wow! That's when you realize how precious life really is!!! She was so tiny, but she just looked so cute! I'm sure she's enjoying all this alone time with mom and dad. I only stayed for about five minutes because I'd hate to bring any germs into their house for that little one. Someday I'll get to stay longer and love on those babies!! I had to go to bunco anyway (and, my Cubs were on TV). Bunco was fun - we didn't play, but had a great time socializing with the girls.

I didn't much of anything on Saturday. It was pretty gloomy out so I cleaned out the kitchen a bit and collected another box for the garage sale, took a nap, and watched TV. Yesterday, I went to church and then headed to the mall to take my ring in. I'll get it back in two weeks and then you can see what we've done! (how do you like that for suspense?!)

Today, I found out that my friend, Janell, is going to be having her little boy on Wednesday. Please keep her and her family in your prayers as she is delivering this baby six weeks early. Pray for a relatively quick and painless (ha!) delivery, a healthy baby, and a quick recovery for Janell. They figure Hudson (that's his name) will be around four pounds.

That's about it for now. I'll let you know when Hudson is here!

I've been tagged!!

Okay...so you've seen these over e-mail and now they are making into blog world! Thanks for my friend, Melissa, you get to read about me!

What was I doing 10 years ago...
Attending Highland Community College trying to figure out what school I was going to transfer to and working at J & J teaching tumbling.

Five things on my to-do list today...
1. Go shopping for jeans with Jason
2. Watch the Cubbies and Big Brother
3. Finish the laundry
4. Pick up the bedroom and put away the crap laying around
5. Figure out what we are having for dinner

Snacks that I enjoy:
1. Ice Cream!!
2. Cake!!
3. Mexican...tacos, nachos, burritos!
4. Fresh fruit
5. Cheetos

(Boy, only one healthy thing on the list...that can be dangerous!)

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. Pay off the mortgages (house & pool)
2. Travel, travel, travel! (I want to visit all 50 states - less than 20 to go - and go to Australia!)
3. Give to my church
4. Donate to St. Jude and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
5. Work part-time and just enjoy life!

Bad habits:
1. Not exercising (I do well when I get in a routine, but once it breaks down it's not good.)
2. Over-eating at parties/gatherings on crap I shouldn't eat (unless I'm determined to stay away)
3. Being distracted by the computer or tv when people are trying to talk to me (what a bad friend! Sorry!!)
4. PMSing...just ask Jason
5. (I'm sure there is something out there, but I can't think of another one!)

Five places I've lived:
1. Ridott, IL
2. Freeport, IL
3. Normal, IL
4. Bloomington, IL
5. East Moline, IL

Five jobs that I've had:
1. Tumbling/Trampoline Coach
2. Title Company worker
3. Secretary (HS & Park District)
4. Hotel Sales
5. Meeting planner

Four people I want to know more about:
1. Jackie
2. Jill
3. Heather
4. Nicole

Now, it's your turn ladies!!

Jason's new toy!

Okay, so it's not really a toy, but a new electronic! Our five year anniversary is coming up, and I have been wanting an anniversary band for my ring so Jason got a new TV! He's been wanting one for a while, but we just kept putting it off because there was nothing really wrong with the tv we had. We ended up with a 46" Samsung LCD HDTV. It is nice and not nearly as bulky as the other tv for our living room. Here's a picture Jason took the night we got it. Unfortunately, they didn't have the stand we purchased in stock so we had to wait for that. (It has arrived and works just fine.) I didn't really know what I wanted for a stand so we just got a basic one for now. If we decide we want something else, at least I don't feel like I spent a fortune on it.


After these purchases last week, we even had a wonderful weekend. The weather was beautiful on Saturday and Sunday!! I opened up the doors to get some fresh air in the house - it was so nice! Friday night, we went to dinner with a couple that moved into our neighborhood in September, but don't know that well. On Saturday, I took my little sister to Border's where she got a free book then we came back to the house and went for a bike ride and played on the Wii a little. The Epiphany basket auction was that night. We've gone with our neighbors a couple times...the Brang's started us going (since they were members of the church), and we continued when they moved to Colorado. It was okay - the food was pretty limited, the baskets weren't all that exciting and the live auction took forever! It was 11:15pm before the auction was done! Jason and I worked at church on Sunday morning before going to service and then spent the rest of the day hanging out at home. It was the perfect day for a nap!!

One of the neighbor's is coming over tonight to watch the Kansas/Memphis game so I'll be heading upstairs to do laundry and pick up our room while watching the Bachelor.

Happy Birthday, Dad!!

Happy Birthday to my dad today!

Here's the best picture I could find of him that is recent. Go figure, my mom has her eyes closed! :-) Hope you have a great birthday!

Happy Belated Anniversary to my Aunt Karen and Don!!! They have been married 4 years now! Also...happy birthday to my Aunt Sheri today!! Yes, she is an April Fools Day baby...it's no joke!

I found a few more pictures from this past weekend compliments of my cousins, Kristin and Carrie. Enjoy!

Cousin Kristin & her husband, Aric

Cousin Carrie and her fiance, Nate, with their two beautiful girls - Ella & Rori

Aunt Donna & Uncle Duane (one of my dad's brothers)

Aunt Doris & Kevin

Cousin James & his wife, Jenny

Me & Jason