2 years later and we're 2 1/2 :)

It's 1-2-12 and that means another tally in the years of being a wife!

Two years ago I absolutely bawled my eyes out minutes before I walked down the aisle to marry my groom.  Those tears were for lots of reasons-- but definitely not because I didn't want to do it!

Marrying Ben was a great decision.  I never would have told you years ago that I'd be carrying the child of Ben Jensen-- now I'm thrilled to tell you that!  [Check out some earlier posts in April to read about the beginning of our relationship]

We're a lot alike-- and in ways that we aren't, we're still compatible! Maybe we've become more alike the longer we've been together and the more life situations we go through.  I realize that I look to him when I'm in situations where I'm not comfortable.  I know I can look at him in certain situations and we both know what each other is thinking.  Forgiveness is one of his strengths-- and I realize that all the time.  He's reliable and dependable. He's goofy (some might not believe me on this!) and fun.

I feel very blessed to be called your wife, Ben!  Thanks for marrying me--   I'd be OK if our baby boy was just like you :)

I'm remembering that it was A LOT colder and we had A LOT more snow two years ago!!!

How we told them

(This is a blast from the recent past.... but in the spirit of family gatherings approaching-- here's a video from a special family gathering a few months ago!)


I knew my Mom's 50th birthday celebration weekend would be the perfect time to announce that she's getting her first grandchild!

I was in charge of creating a photo book of family pictures... so I got the idea to sneak a picture that no one had ever seen before in there.

All my mom's brothers and sisters were able to come that weekend so that helped in telling the extended family!

"To an awesome mother and friend... and soon to be GRANDMA!  

Baby Jensen due April 26, 2012"

AND... my favorite part... the video!!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

.... because who wants raisins in their cookies?? Please pass the chocolate...

One of my all time favorite cookie recipes comes from the back of the Great Value (Walmart generic) brand of oatmeal.  Not crispy, not flat, not gross. Super easy to freeze dough and have on hand. I think I might add this to my weekend to-do.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1 cup of shortening
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 Tbs. milk
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 4 cups quick oats
• 1 bag chocolate chips

Cream the shortening and sugars together with an electric mixer.  Beat in the eggs, milk and vanilla, mixing until well combined.

Stir the flour, baking soda and salt together and mix into the wet ingredients.  Then stir in the oats and chocolate chips.

Drop by teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet or baking stone.  Bake 9-10 minutes at 375 degrees.

dear baby boy...

Dear baby boy, 

I really thought you were a girl... but I guess we're all about surprising mom and helping her work on developing her maternal instincts! I am so excited to have a first son! Keep growing though-- we all still need a little more time :)

I took a vote with the kids I work with and it was 9-8 with "Boy" winning!  (I noticed someone voted "girl" for someone else that was absent that day-- so I'm not counting that vote! sneaky kids.)      There are also some "you are asum" and "i love you baby" notes on there too.  We'll work on how to spell "awesome" some day :)

Here I am, about 20 weeks pregnant earlier this week. I was going through clothes trying to see what things look like with a little extra something going on up front :)  Wearing a blue shirt must have been a hint that you were a boy!

 And, here are your glamour shots! You were moving around A TON so it took awhile to get the pictures that we needed.  It's like you knew we were looking at you and you wanted to show off your skills.  I feel you move- I know!




I love your cute little feet already!!

And look at those chiseled facial features. You will be one handsome dude if you've got any of your dad in you :)

I imagine you'll have blond hair-- mom and dad were both blonds as kids. Dark monkey hair as babies, though!









And finally, I'll close with something I wrote a long time ago.  When we first found out about you coming into our life-- there was a lot going on in my head!  I decided to write to you then.
Written August 30.

Dear baby,

I'm just over 6 weeks pregnant and it doesn't feel real. I thought maybe if I write to you-- it'd help me think of you as a real little person who will take over our lives and home sometime in April. I hoped you would happen soon-- but we tried not to have our lives revolve around it because we knew it really wasn't up to us ultimately.  Though, there were a few moments where I wondered if you happened and even thought for more than a few moments that we might have a "made in China" baby.  God created you for us now and you're a miracle.  Apparently, you're due the day after my birthday and I could think of no greater gift.   [internet due date said April 20 until the doctor appt. due date said April 26]

For about a week, this has just been a secret between your dad and me (and the ladies who scheduled my first appointment).  So the secret part of it is making it feel a little unreal.  But I can't wait to tell our families in person and give my mom a great birthday present!  Then my insecurity catches up with me and I worry about people's reactions. We may have surprised a few people and we could have waited a few more years because "we're so young."  But I push aside the insecurity that has plagued me my whole life because I'm getting better at doing that now.

I feel like babies and pregnant women are everywhere now.  Gosh, I went through a lot of emotions that first day I knew.  Excited, disbelief, downright scared.  I guess I still feel those emotions, so really not much has changed.  I keep figuring out things I'm not (or wasn't) supposed to eat/drink/smell/do... but I'm really just trying to trust God to protect you.  I'll do what I can and I hope I can provide you a comfortable and healthy incubator.

I have a feeling you're a girl... but maybe that's because baby  girl clothes are so much more fun to shop for.  I really hope you have a full head of dark hair! I think once you start changing my body and cause me to get new clothes it'll be easier to think and talk about you more.

But for now, my sweet unborn baby, I'll treasure this secret and pray for you lots.

Love,
Mom

the things they say

I supposed it's been a few weeks since my online life has been updated.  We've been to a couple weddings, a Thanksgiving get-together, my first midnight Black Friday shopping experience, and spent a few relaxing days at home! I guess if I was a really good blogger I'd have documented those activities-- oops! :) I'm OK with that though.

This weekend I'm excited to complete Christmas decorating-- and maybe even get some lights outside! Tomorrow will most likely bring this city's first snow!! I've heard snow has hit other areas of the state but I have yet to see it! It is December now so I will welcome it.

Oh, and one other thing has been changing a lot-- my baby belly. I think it visibly exists now.

Last week a kindergarten student (who is about as tall as my belly) asked me why it was "so fat right there." (the cardigan I was wearing to help hide the "fat right there" was kinda open then). I told him there's a baby in there and he said, "who put it there?" Then somehow I got him off topic or he got distracted and ran off!

I told the students that I work with and their comments have been pretty funny!  I told them Monday, and on Wednesday one first grader asked me if I had the baby yet. Some are convinced it's not happening because I'm not as big as other pregnant teachers they've seen.  I told them that the baby is about as big as their hand and how long it takes for a baby to grow-- and lots were shocked!  I think that's all the baby making/growing education I should offer :)

They also have lots of questions about whether it's a boy or girl and what it's name is.  So I'll have to start a prediction poll next week with them to guess boy or girl.  And I have a couple kids who are thinking of baby names for me. I have a feeling the names they'll come up with may traditionally be ... um, more "ethnic" names :)  haha!

I think I got my first pregnancy comment from a stranger this week.  I walked into a new elementary school to substitute and the school secretary was showing me a map of the school.  She says, "Here's the staff bathrooms. That's always good to know-- and it looks like you might have extra pressure on your bladder."
I kinda didn't catch it completely because I was turning to meet someone else at the same time-- so I didn't have a chance to comment or react!  But she is right, I do have quite a bit of extra pressure on my bladder these days!

...

We'll get to see our little guy or girl in 6 days via the 20 week ultrasound!!

baby guacamole

On the menu for this week: guacamole

why? Because our baby is the size of an avocado.

Did not mean to get the door knob right behind the avocado.  Also, there is a wreath on the outside of  our door-- so my hair is not that bouffant. 

She's feeling the early signs of neglect and worked her way into the baby picture. 

Baby blubber

Normally I wouldn't be advertising photos of my recent weight gain or my slightly chubby tummy...  But I suppose there is a good reason for this now!

I'm sure I'll look back at these photos and laugh that I even took these or thought that I was showing. Week 14 was the first time I started to notice something more there and week 15 calls for buttons on pants to be held with hair ties. Now a couple days away from 16 weeks... and I definitely noticed this morning (when I had a hungry empty stomach) that there was some belly protrusion underneath my belly button.

On a side note... I've become the unofficial English department substitute for one of the high schools here. I've subbed there several times over the last couple months and no one there knows I'm pregnant (unless they've silently wondered).  Now I'm thinking about subbing for them later this winter when it's obvious and possibly surprising some students and staff.  Ha! Fooled you for a few months! Maybe the kids will be a little bit nicer to their pregnant sub...  And a side note to this side note... there are two pregnant students in one of those classes (awkward) and I silently sympathized when they've asked to go to the bathroom. :)

life of my cat

the leaf sucker-uppers

Reasons why I like this city...

- has almost any restaurant 

- the walking street

- TONS of thrift stores

- easy recycling

- the leaf sucker-uppers

Yes, it's true.  This city will vacuum up your leaves.  At the beginning of fall, we noticed that people liked to rake their leaves in piles by the curb.  We thought that was a funny trend and joked that maybe a giant vacuum came by to pick them up.  

Well, one day I saw it.  It does exist. And it was right outside our house. A giant vacuum tube attached to a truck will come suck up your neatly piled leaves. When the mail came that afternoon, we got a letter explaining the rules of the leaf sucker-uppers and the dates that they'll come by each neighborhood district this fall.  Of course, the first date for our neighborhood was that very day-- so that wasn't much help.  Fail on the leaf sucker upper communication.

The next date for the leaf sucker-uppers is tomorrow.... and we are ready!

This is the front of our house... and the other side of our corner lot looks about the same.  It's hard to tell with the picture, but that pile is about 2-3 feet.  You can kinda see the piles across the street as well. Took a good couple hours and we worked into the night.... but it does get dark at 5:00 now, so I guess we worked into the early evening.

We didn't go all crazy to get every single fallen leaf in the pile... because apparently some people on our street do that.  I mean, it IS fall, people! But maybe we'll be the same way in 45 years when we're retired. And maybe we'll also turn our light off during trick-or-treating so the ONE house on the street that does welcome children gets only like 12 kids. 

Yeah, that happened.  We were a lonely illuminated light on beggar's night and therefore our beggar traffic was way low and I had to eat all the leftover candy. 

This was also my FIRST opportunity to hand out candy on Halloween-- so I had high hopes!

Keep in mind that I grew up in the country and now I live in town. So things like recycling, handing out candy on Halloween, using a push mower, and preparing for leaf sucker uppers is all NEW to me.  

But really, are giant leaf vacuums the "norm" for the rest of you town folk?? If they are, then I am WAY out of the loop here. 

Haphazard list of my first trimester

I'm 15 weeks pregnant (as of today!) So a week into my second trimester already! Things I've read have said I can expect to feel better and less tired.  Already, I've been able to noticeably tell how my energy has returned and I've subbed during the day every day (except one) since the beginning of my 2nd trimester.  First trimester was fun-- just getting used to the idea of being pregnant. Well, I think we'll still need some time to get used to the idea of being parents. Finally I'm starting to feel like my pants can't button comfortably so those changes are helping me as well.



It's really hard to distinguish if what I'm feeling is because of my pregnancy or if that's just a good thing to blame it on.  I craved things before-- but now it's maybe just a little more on my mind.  I've been tired before-- but I knew fatigue was my major symptom of this pregnancy when I'd fall asleep on the couch between 8:30-9:30 at night.  With that being said, here's what I want to remember...

My first trimester (in a haphazard and annotated list):

**Most of this is probably more for my personal records than the fact that I feel you need to know this :)


No sickness, no nausea.  Amen to that! Only a few smells turned me off-- but I think they would anyways. P-U stinky garbage can!! Also, very hungry immediately in the morning. I had Rice Chex every morning for about 3 weeks.

TIRED. Capitalized for emphasis. Taking naps was never a skill of mine before. Being wide awake at 10pm was rare.

My bladder is getting a little squished. From about week 10 on I always beat Ben to the bathroom when his alarm went off in the morning.  And then I'd head back to bed for another hour at least :)

Food cravings:
- pop. cold dark pop. With the good crushed ice.
- candy! Like sour gummy worms, nerds, gobstoppers...
- Hy-vee Chinese

No noticeable weight gain.  Just starting to notice some weight may be getting displaced a little. I think I'll be in the awkward hiding-extra-stomach-flesh-because-it's-not-obvious-that-I'm-pregnant-stage for a good couple months.

I fit into my pants better at 11 weeks than I did at 9 weeks. Not sure about that one.

New bra needed at week 9. TMI?? sorry...

Started to feel like the baby belly was growing at about 11-12 weeks.

I LOVED telling our families and friends. It was really fun to think of ways to "bring it up" in conversations. I noticed people would commonly look directly at my stomach after we tell them. Nothing there yet, people!  I kinda liked letting the word get out on it's own for a few weeks before doing the cliche "facebook official" thing.

SOMEDAY I'll post how we found out, and how our parents found out.  Pretty fun stuff :)

The case of the lost linen closet

We've lived in our little blue house for about 4 months now.  Still deciding on curtains... probably end up just leaving what we have. Still haven't hung frames in living room.... still deciding if I even want to do that.

There's still a few things that I'm still trying to figure out how it should be.  But this is the first place we've ever been that doesn't have a foreseeable "done date" in our future, so I figure I've got time.  It may be weird to when we start to see summer again while living in this house.  We're used to living in a place for no more than 4 seasons, and then moving! I suppose having a little person around the house will make things feel a little different next year...

Anyways, Ben is still getting used to where things are in this house.  Here's a conversation that happened yesterday:

Ben: "Jer, I need a new pillow case."
Jera: "In the linen closet."
Ben: "Oh. OK"
Pause. I know he doesn't know where to look and I'm hoping he'll figure it out.

Ben: "O linen closet... where are you? Where are you, linen closet??"

12 week little pumpkin

I am currently 13 weeks along... but here's some first official documentation pictures week took last week!

I know I said less cat updates... but I think Dory may be a little skeptical of the changes going on around here.  We told her a few weeks ago- and I think it's starting to set in.  

changes

Dear blog readers,

This blog may change a little.  Perhaps a little less "cat updates" and a lot more "baby updates."


Yep, that's right... little baby Jensen due April 26!!

:)

I know there's not really much to see... but it's our baby's first photo! The circle on the left that looks like the head is actually the yolk sac. Head is opposite that. This is only at 7 1/2 weeks! 

Weekends lately

Two weekends in a row where TWO different friends came to visit!!  It's been nice to stay and have people come to us! Here's some pictures from last weekend in the Amana Colonies! (Kendra, why didn't we get a picture for our blogs??)

Excavating fossils. Of course.

Much needed ice cream break!  This was the same ice cream that I sold at the coffee shop I worked at last summer.  Love that Zanzibar chocolate!

The point was to get the "Amana" water tower in the background. These are 2 of the 7 takes.  

This past weekend came with Kendra's impromptu trip to Iowa City and watching 19 Kids and Counting on a Saturday night.  So no picture worthy events from her visit, haha!

Also, a visit from a brother-in-law and lots of yard work!  Mowing, aerating, and reseeding.  Here's to a lush lawn of green grass next spring... hopefully!

And finally... a picture of how Dory and I spent a good portion of our day today  :)

She loves him

Got this picture text message yesterday.  He swears his leg was propped up on the arm rest first. She loves her Ben!

That's a snapshot of Ben's Saturday... and when I get motivated, I'll post some snapshots of my Saturday soon!

falling for fall

Dear Fall,
 I think I might love you this year.  I started to really like you last year.  I liked the variety of colors you displayed on my early morning drives to school.  But then you got cold and turned to one awful bland color. And that's when I forgot about my love for you.

So here I am to say "sorry about that" and that I've been thinking about you a lot lately.

I have a lot of fond memories of you from my past.  Crunching perfectly dry leaves against concrete made me forget my heavy back pack or that first paper due date. Harvesting makes me think of my dad and football makes me think of lots of things. Oh, and apple crisp--- oh apple crisp with you is just divine. Apple crisp at any other time just hasn't been the same.

Before I get too far, I need to explain myself a little.  I think I still am a true spring girl.  Afterall, I was born in that season so it's only natural.  That first drop of sunshine as the snow is long gone is just pure bliss.  That natural sun-derived heat after only feeling heat from a hot shower for 5 months is great. I mean really, it's a pretty great feeling.

However, I got to thinking, that I can choose to love you.  After all, "feelings" can get a little weird with me.  So here I am, fall, saying that I am going to choose to love you.

Of course it's been nice that you've been easy to love.  I like not sweating after 5 minutes and keeping the windows open all day and night. I like the clothes I get to wear and being able to cover up a little more.  I also kinda like the back-to-school feel that the whole city gets.  I still don't love football, but I have grown to like the atmosphere.

Here's to our new season together.  Let's try to extend this time as long as we can!!

I am Mrs. Jensen

Did this title make you think I was going to gush about what a wonderful husband I have and how lucky and blessed I am??  Well, just know I think ALL of those things-- but I'll spare you the sappiness. :)

I am also Mrs. Jensen when I am a teacher!  Here's a few pictures from my late-afternoon-evening job...

I printed these out and put them on a poster which says "This is what the room looks like when we leave."  ie: it's clean, nothing on the floor, desks straight, and chairs pushed in... (It's not MY classroom-- just the classroom I use for 6 hrs a week.)

It's part of a Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports. I capitalized that because it's a real deal thing and I'm officially trained (I think).  I also took pictures of the children doing good children behavior.  Never point out what is wrong to correct behavior, but point out what is good.  Or what the other kid is doing well so the naughty kid will kick it into gear.  

Monday, Wednesday, Friday from 3:30-5:30 I am teaching 1/2 hour reading group, 1/2 hour reading group, 1/2 hour math group, and 1/2 hour math group.  The 1/2 hours are rounding up and there's lots of wrangling and managing in between! My groups are only 5-6 kids-- but sometimes it feels like a lot more!  

It's going great though!  The more I feel comfortable with the routine-- the more I like it!

Dory the cat update

 These are just the few funny poses we find our cat in on an average day.
(don't mind the demon cat-eyes, I figured you'd forgive me for not editing the photos before)

She has made herself quite comfortable in the 2 1/2 months. Lately, she'll come in our room in the morning after she hears the alarm and stomp on us. 

She would much rather sit on a person than on a couch.  It doesn't matter if there's a computer on your lap-- she'll find a way to also join your lap.  I lay on my side-- and she balances on my hip. I have my legs on the ottoman, she'll pick one to straddle.  It's kinda fun to have a cuddly cat!  

Ok- now maybe one of these days I'll blog about something other than my cat! :)

I'm a teacher... right??

So I'm a teacher-- or at least I can be.  I forget that sometimes.  I can teach English to anyone in 5th-12th grade.  I can teach English to those who would call it their second language (or third, etc...) and they can be in kindergarten through 12th grade.

And I can also teach anything to any age for a day or so at a time.  That's what I'm doing now. I am the cool young substitute teacher.  I've just had a few jobs so far, and none of them have been too horrific at all.  It's really easy to forget that I'm not a teacher until I get "back into it."

I also recently got hired as a lead teacher at an after school program for an elementary school that is just a few minutes away from my house. Seriously, I drove there and it was 2 mins and 47 seconds.  Then I walked there in like 13 minutes.  The job starts next week-- I've just had some training so far.  All this training is making me feel like I could get "back into it."

So every Monday, Wednesday, Friday from now until April-something I will teach four different 1/2 hour lessons to 1st, 2nd, and a few 3rd grade students.  They give you the curriculum and it's mostly straightforward, but I'm excited to search the internet for literacy lessons for kids.  While I'm working with a group of 6 students-- the other 6 of my students are with a paraprofessional in my room.  These students are not up to grade level in reading, and the goal is to get them there by spring.  I need to remember that and feel the weight of that responsibility.

That's what I've been up to.  Teaching can be a busy, stressful, and exhausting job.  Sometimes that's all I can remember when I think about teaching and it's the last thing I want to do.  But lately, I've been feeling like a teacher and I think I'm OK with it.

Improvement pits

And here's a peak into our newest home/yard improvement project...

It's a fire pit!  Just in case you can't really tell.  

Here's the progress on the left.  Oops... I didn't get a true "before" shot. Oh well. Just know that it was pretty bad.  About 4 feet of weeds filled this awkward corner of our yard. 

We simply dug up and moved around some bricks that were there outlining the weed mess.  Didn't know those were even there before!

Free wood chips popped up on Craigslist.  Just needed lots of trips and lots of things to put them in.  Once again, Craig helped us out.  Free cat.... free wood chips.... we'll see what's next!

The stacked railroad ties were moved from another part  of our yard.  They were outlining the garden area by the second garage-- but these two weren't serving any purpose so we made a bench from them.

The huge tractor tire was a random find that was behind an old shed in the "scary corner" of our yard.  There's also a larger propane tank behind there.  And lots and lots of spiders.

 The tree stump stool was snagged from the city free-tree-stump-drop-off-area.  Or something like that.  There's a bunch of huge old trees that they make into free mulch and we've heard that some people bring chainsaws and cut firewood from it.  No chainsaw-- but we were able to bring some pieces home to use for firewood. 

S'more filled summer... or fall... nights coming soon! 

My little bro

My big little-brother was in the newspaper in an article about playing football and hunting.  Kinda random article-- but pretty neat to see his picture and read his interview!  Talks about the buck he shot and mounted when he was 9 years old!  Click here to see the article.

I've just been too lazy to get pictures off my camera to update this blog lately.... but a section of our back yard recently got a makeover!

What I'm listening to...

I'm currently listening to an online training about child abuse.  It's required to substitute teach at the private Catholic schools here.

It said it would be 1 1/2 hours.  I figured it'd be something where it'd allow me 30 minutes to read a page that took me 5 minutes to read... but clearly it is not.  It is a narrated slide show-- and it's disturbing and gross to listen to.   

So here I am 45 minutes into listening to the statistics of child abuse, recognizing warning signs, and how to deal with it.  Currently, I am learning to teach children the proper names of private parts so they don't grow up thinking they need to avoid saying the "bad word."

It's sad and interesting and I hope and pray I won't have to exercise anything I've learned. 

9 years ago

9 years ago we went to church which was held in the park that day. It was all 6 of us together -- then we ate at the Royal Cafe downtown. I remember thinking that I didn't really like that place.

I mowed the lawn that day and then I tried to pull the mower onto a trailor for Dad to take. I didn't know where the parking brake was so it kinda rolled back down the ramp.  Dad got a hold of it though as I kinda laughed and said "oops."

I also painted my oldest sister's loft boards for her bed because she was moving into college in a couple weeks.  I, however, was moving to the high school in a few weeks.  Dad used some old paint we had to make a mixture of a blue/purple color.  She used those loft boards that year, then my other sister did, and then I also did for my first year at college.  I was always reminded of this day whenever I saw that blue/purple loft.

I remember the details of that day so well. What happened that night would affect my life forever. That night, I talked to a 911 dispatcher explaining how we couldn't wake my dad up after he fell asleep in his chair.  I sat in a car that followed an ambulance to the hospital.  I sat in a room with lots of kleenex boxes as a doctor told us that he was so sorry.  I sat on my bed that night wishing I could fall asleep and that it would all go away when I woke up.
I don't remember the details of the next few days.

There's been many difficult days since then, one of the hardest being my wedding day-- just moments before I walked down the aisle arm-in-arm with my dad's only son.   I'm sure there's more difficult days ahead as I think about telling my kids someday about the grandpa they never got to meet on this earth.  But I am thankful.  Thankful for him and the dad I was blessed with for 14 years. I'm thankful for how God has used this to shape my life and draw me closer to Him.

So much of who I am is because my dad died when I was 14. It prepared me to cope with another major death in my life just 15 months later.  It has taught me to choose to trust God when things are hard. It taught me to choose joy and allow God to work in my life.  It gave me perseverance, character, and hope.  It taught me that hope is the anchor of my soul.  And hope does not disappoint.

Too Many Doors

3 bedrooms + 3 closets + 1 bathroom + 1 little hallway = The Hallway of Too Many Doors

So I got a tip to swap out some doors for some curtains. Genius. I wanted something with texture and some gray tones.  I had my eye on some curtains at Target-- but I wanted to do this to 2 doors, which would mean $45 total.  I couldn't justify that quite yet.  

Then I went to my current favorite* thrift store in this town and saw some grayish burlap-ish curtains for $2 dollars each.  Now $4 is something I can justify.  

(*favorite subject to change upon further discoveries of the abundance of thrift stores in this town) 

They're a little see-through... but I think that's OK because it adds some transparency and invisibility which was kinda the goal in fixing The Hallway of Too Many Doors.  

weekend... and meow meow on a Monday morning

Such is the life of a cat.  We were gone all weekend and I'm sure she enjoyed a quiet house.  This is how I found her this morning-- and I imagine that's all she did all weekend.  Oh, and Ben calls her "meow meow." Or "door-dog" as a rendition of Dory. Neither a door nor a dog.... good thing cats don't know their name. 

This weekend was Ben's cousin's wedding and now we have about 7ish more weddings to go!  And Ben is pulling out all superpowers to accomplish being a part of 3 weddings in 2 weekends!  It'll all be possible!

The second half of 2011 has become wedding season for us-- but I'm excited to have frequent opportunities to see family and friends.

This 3-year old had her 4th flower girl appearance at this wedding!  She enjoyed literally rolling around on the dance floor-- and I guess Ben joined her.

Drive-in adventures

This weekend we enjoyed some spontaneity and went to a drive-in theater! It was 45 minutes away-- but movies start when it's dark.  Therefore, it was OK that we decided to do this at about 8:00 last Saturday night.

We've officially been to 3 of the 4 drive-in movie theaters in Iowa.  The other one is in Spirit Lake-- that one might take more planning to travel to.  And someday there might be one in our backyard.  Ben got the idea in his head that we should project movies onto the back of our garage. I said, "We'll see."

We're learning that we love the Iowa scenery. Get just 2 minutes outside this city and the landscapes are beautiful.  Cornfields are beautiful-- or maybe we just grew up in this great state. I love that Iowa's drive in theaters are in the middle of a corn field in the middle of nowhere.

Double feature showing The Smurfs and The Zookeeper.  I wasn't too into Smurfs during my childhood (it actually might have been a little before my time) but it was better than I expected.

I saw this awhile ago- but as a promotion for this movie, the village of Juzcar, Spain was painted smurf blue. 

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/164278/20110616/smurfs-village-in-spain-photos.htm

Pretty crazy! They also hosted the world premier showing and many residents dressed as smurfs for different events in the town.