Pumpkins and More!

We were lucky to even get our pumpkins carved before Halloween this year with our schedules so busy. We were able to pull some friends together last night and have a little pumpkin carving fun. Brad has been expanding the pumpkin carving tradition over the past couple years and trying out new fruits and vegetables that he can carve. He went for his biggest challenge yet this year, a pineapple. Cleaning the pineapple out was pretty juicy, but he actually did a pretty good job of carving it. You have to wait till next year to see what he comes up with next.


P.S. Nov 2nd is election day so don't forget to go out and vote! (This years vote could really affect me)

24 and 25 weeks

Okay I have promised some pictures so here they are below. So far I have felt pretty lucky to be feeling so good during the pregnancy. I feel this is a blessing because I have been working some long hours lately and sometimes will be out in the field all day. Needing to throw up in the middle of a meeting with a property or business owner would not work out well for me right now. There are just little annoyances that are starting to come out now as I progress through the pregnancy. First is the increasing number of times I have to use the restroom throughout the day. I am starting to memorize the gas station bathrooms between Watertown WI and Madison WI since I have to use them every opportunity I get. Second is the the pain in my upper back, whenever I sit for a prolonged period of time it kills. Brad tried to show me some exercise I could do to strengthen my abs (since they apparently help hold you up too) the only problem is I don't really feel like I have ab mussels in the front that I can strengthen. I hope this pain doesn't progressively get worse. I need some advice on how to sit property while you are pregnant apparently. Though besides that I really feel great.

This is 24 weeks.

This is 25 weeks.

Our New Crib

It has always been a dream of Brad's to build his first child's crib. At first when Brad told me that we wanted to build a crib I was wondering when he would ever have the time to actually do it. When he kept bringing it up I decided I would just peruse the internet to see if it was actually feasible. In this search of crib plans I stumbled across a blog showing a crib a husband made for his wife over one weekend, and I fell in love with the crib too (click here to see our inspiration.) So we decided to build this crib while Brad was on his easier month and had the weekend to dedicate to it. Little did we know how much effort really would go into it and finally a month and a half later it is completed and ready for our little girl.

From the pictures on the website and after looking up codes on cribs I drew up some simple plans.

Then project started with a late night at Lowe's buying wood.

This is the man who helped us for hours picking out wood and cutting it to size.

Then came sanding (we recruited Katie to help out with this)

and more sanding...

and more sanding...Brad was being a good example and wearing eye protection.

And then more power tools for assembly.

Can't forget the measuring.

This was a good excuse for Brad to get a new Jig Saw.

Assembly actually took place over a couple weeks and in different locations.

We were excited here to actually get something together.



Finally put together, teddy is testing it out for us.

The now comes the primer and painting.

The blue was fun to spray on but we found out harder to cover then we expected.

Three coats of white paint and a little bit more sanding to antique it.


The complete project! Now my mom can start her project, sewing the bedding.

Now that it is done I love it, but as a caution to anyone else thinking of building a crib, it takes more than one weekend.

Fall Colors

Brad and I got out for a quick hike on Saturday in Grant Park where we were able to enjoy to fabulous fall leaves. Fall is definitely my favorite season here, the weather is perfect and the leaves changing colors are beautiful (and this year we don't even have to rake them).

Brad loves to sit and watch the water skeeters, while we were stopped taking pictures of them four different groups of people asked what we were looking at.