Just a reminder, i did not forget that I'm telling my story.. part 3 coming soon!

Our camping adventure

This past weekend we went camping.. and we took Jonathan! It was a blast. He love being out doors so we had no problems. As we packed up the van I realized I probably over-packed for Jonathan, Nathan would said I DEFINITELY over packed. I brought:

pack n' play

swing

stroller

Bumbo chair

2 diaper bags

feeding bag and the

chest carrier

Needless to say, I USED THEM ALL!!!

I set up out huge tent nice a neat. The front half was Jonathan's side. I had the pack n' play on one side, a chair and the swing on the other side so I could nurse him if he woke up. On the back side we had out 2 cots pulled together to make one big bed and our suitcase. (I wish I had a picture of this!) It was a nice little homelike set up. I wish I could say it stayed that way the whole night.

We had a HUGE rain storm that night. As it turns out, our tent is not as waterproofed as we would like... it's not water proofed AT ALL. I woke up with Nathan saying 'I'm getting dripped on". So we looked around, sure enough, one small drip above him. No big deal, right? We moved the cots over more and put a towel there. A little while alter we noticed one corner of the tent had water building up and roof was sagging. Now I'm getting worried. Nathan used the flashlight to push the water off and we went back to bed. A little while later Nathan turned the flash light on again to check the other corners. At that time Jonathan was in his swing. AND right above him the water was pooling and the ceiling was sinking it. I quickly jumped up and got him out of the swing and put him in the pack n' play. Of course he woke up... bummer. After getting him back a sleep I tried to sleep, but of course I needed to go to the bathroom, so I got the umbrella and make the trek to bathrooms... stepping in just about every puddle there was.

Finally back in bed, I thought I could get more sleep. Boy was I wrong, I heard drips. I looked up and water was dripping onto Jonathan, so I pulled the crib closer to me. He stayed dried the rest of the night. Unfortunately, I had a drip over me. Now at this point, the walls were seeping in water and the floor was flooded because the water was coming up through it as well. I didn't have anywhere else to move, so I slept with the drips. We woke up at 12:15 from the rain, and it stopped raining at 3, and Jonathan got up at 5. LONG NIGHT!!

But besides the night it was so much fun. Nathan and I went biking with friends of ours 5.6 miles. And the two families went for a hike to town (Fish Creek in Door County). It was a long walk, but fun. Oh yeah, I did fall of the bike within 1 min of getting on, twisted my ankle, but it's okay now. My parent's loved having Jonathan with them.

Our parents took us and our friend's to Wilson's Ice cream place to celebrate our anniversaries. Theirs is only a few days before ours.

Jonathan did great, he loved looking at the trees, and loved laying on the blanket with toys and he's friend Gabby!

We left Saturday night because it was suppose to rain again... and we bought a new tent Sunday for our next camping adventure in 4 weeks!

Wedding Day: 5 years ago!

We've been married 5 years. I look back at the pictures and remember what an AWSOME day our wedding day was!

1st cereal

This last weekend was Nathan's 1st Father's day. We celebrated with my dad on Saturday and Nathan's family on Sunday. I gave him a card from myself, and we gave my Dad a card from Jonathan. It was so cute!!! On Sunday morning I put a card from Jonathan to Daddy in his carseat for him to find. I had to work that morning.. bummer!

Saturday we gave Jonathan his 1st bowel of cereal. It was ADORABLE!! Nathan was the 1st one to feed him. He put a small amount in his mouth and Jonathan kept him mouth open, as if expecting a bottle. It took him only a second to realize that there was something in his mouth. He shut it, half of it came out and the other half he swallowed. It was all fun from there. We couldn't get it in his mouth fast enough!!! He really enjoyed it, as well as Dad, Mom, Grandpa and Grandma. We all took turns feeding him. It was a fun evening!

this makes me happy!!!

1st bite!!!! What is this???

high school: part 1

Fall on 1999 I started public high school. I remember that day very clearly! I was walking to school with my neighbor, and as we were walking up the big hill I kept thing... oh my goodness, I'm actually going to be graded on everything I do... I'll have to do speeches in FRONT of people... what if I get lost in the building, don't fit in???? I wanted to turn around and run home. I didn't. (now. if you asked my mom about me and going to school in 1st grade, I ran home a lot as I was walking to the bus as she'd be on the front porch screaming for me to keep going, would miss the buss and she'd have to take me..lol)

I had done a practice walk through my classes with my parents, so I found my locker and first class okay. Hour 1: Spanish. I hated that class. That 1st day, Liz approached me. We became friends very quickly. She introduced me to many new people and I started to form a great group of friends. At this time I was also on the swim team with Beth. I HATED swimming, so I quit, yes, I am a quiter! As I developed more friends outside of sports, some of my previous friendships started to dissolve.

I met Nathan that 1st half of the school year. I was hanging out with some friends and they wanted me to prank call two guys they know. One was Nathan, and the other one Jesse.So, after the prank call, I told Nathan that I was the red head in the Spanish class. What I didn't realize at the time was that another red head sat right in front of him, so he still didn't "know" who I was one. The first time we actually met was at the auditions for a 3 act play. They didn't know my name at the time, so he ended up calling me "Orange girl". I guess that day I was wearing an orange shirt and my hair looked really orange! lol What I remember about his was that he was pretending to "wrestle" with a chair, and the chair was winning... and I actually laughed at!! why, I don't know.

We began developing a friendship during the play, and he and I ended up liking each other. We went on one outing together, family skate night with the church! lol fun stuff. However, I wasn't allowed to date until I was 16, and I was only 15 at the time, so Nathan respected that and we only became friends. He actually dated one of the girls in our group for 2 years during high school.

Anyways, that first year of high school I "attempted" the swim team, participated in Forensics's, was in a musical out at Memories for Christmas, where I sang my first sole, was in the 3 act play for school, got my driving temps, and started my first job at Dairy Queen. Despite all my reservations that 1st day of school, it became the best decision ever. I developed so many lasting friendships that year.

to be continued....

my childhood

I thought today I'd give you some background of my life. I was born in Goshen Indiana on Aug 10, 1984. I was the first of three kids (Me, Kevin & David). I was the first grandchild (out of 8) on my mom's side, and number 4 (out of 14) on my dad's side. I remember as a child going to my Grandma and Grandpa Sand's house every Sunday to have lunch with the family and play. As children, we did a lot of fun things together. Me and my cousin's use to play games in the yard, pretend we were statues as cars drove by, or tried to get them to honk at us, climb the tree in front of the house, play school, or put on shows for the parents. Once we did Billy goat's gruff, 3 little bears, and performed a circus. Yes, I have wonderful childhood memories at my grandparents house. We lived far away from the Bonds, so we didn't get there as much, but I have fun memories there as well. EVERY time I went I watch Annie, or we played video games, went shopping, or went to a movie. I love all my cousin's and wish I could be with them more.

When I was 3 years old I prayed the salvation prayer, but that is not when I think I became saved. When I was 6 or 7, my dad was reading me the book about Paul Bunon. His story somehow touched me and I prayed for God to enter into my life that night. That is the night I remember as becoming a christian.

The August when I turned 7 we moved to Wisconsin. My dad got transferred here to Milwaukee. I don't remember if I was sad to move or not. I don't remember it all too well. What I do remember is when we got to our apartment in Grafton, I saw this girl outside (Leslie) playing with those maple seeds, the ones that when you throw up in the air they come down and look like helicopter propellers. I remember going up to her to talk, and we became fast friends. Our big thing back then was playing with Barbies. I took all my barbies to her house because she had TONS of barbie stuff, including houses, cars, and buckets of clothes. My dad built me a wood barbie house that I took over there as well. We did not play barbies in the usual way, if there is a usual way. We started with each having a "family", and as those kids grew up, they married and kids, and so on. I couldn't tell you how many generations of families we went through. It was so much fun.

That first year was tough on my family. We missed our family, and my brother David was having some medical problems. He had multiple seizures in one day, and had to be put on special medication that made him a little monster (sorry David, but you were). But we got though that.

I went to 2nd grade at Grafton Elementary school, but after one year, and one scary incident of a guy in a red pick up truck trying to get me and my friend to come with him, my mom decided to home school us. I thought it was a lot of fun. I got to do all my work in the morning, and have fun late afternoons and evenings. Best things: TONS of field trips, getting to read A LOT of books, and NO HOMEWORK!!!! I really enjoyed it.

Now, I know what I alot of people say... what about socialization though??? Well, let me tell you what I was involved in for socialization: swimming lessons, piano lessons, AWANAs, VBS, Sunday school, a homeschooling group that met once a month, a smaller group of 4 girls who met weekly, girls scouts, softball for one summer, Irish dance, and we had SO many kids where we lived we always had someone to play with. So, yes, I do think I got the proper socialization growing up. I don't feel like I'm lacking in that area as an adult now.

Also, people say, how do you know if your child is getting a proper education? well, of course the state regulates somewhat of how many hours you need to get in, but we also took tests to make sure we meet the standards, and I did great in high school and college, so I don't think I was lacking there. Granted, I don't remember much of my history (that was my LEAST favorite class), and my grammar isn't always correct, but so is a lot of people that went to public school. I was a science and math girl.. those areas I excelled in.

One of my favorite activities that I was in was girl scouts. I started that in 2nd grade, and continued until high school graduation. We met every other Saturday morning at my friend Lydia's house (1 block from the apartment). Of course, as we got older we didn't meet as much and we stopped selling the cookies! Two of my best memories was of our train trip from milwaukee to chicago to go camping and our trip to Mackinac Island. My mom went with us on a lot of our outings. I also enjoyed the day camps, the back pack camping trip we went on, and being a counselor at one of the Junior's camping trip.

We lived in Grafton for I think 6 years before moving to out house in Port Washington. We had already started going to ODBC (5th grade) where I met Beth and we became BEST friends. We had so many secrets and special names of people we liked... but I won't revel them all here. I hold my memories with her close to my heart.

I did go to Ozaukee Christian School for one year (7th Grade), I enjoyed it, but opted to go back home for 8th grade to do a video school before deciding I wanted to go to public school for high school....

to be continued.....

more post

Ok, so I know I've already posted twice today, but I feel like I have a lot of catch up to do. I haven't had the time to write much,or the computer to. Mine got a stupid virus and I need to take it Nathan's cousin to get it cleaned and rebuilt. Thank God I back up all my pictures on a hard drive so i didn't lose it all.

I can't believe how quickly time is flying by. My little boy is growing up right in front of my eyes! He sat in his bumbo chair all by himself last night. I put some toys on the tray and he was pushing them around and trying to pick them up! Today in the car he figured out how to press the play piano to make music. He would wait until the song was over before pressing it again. It made his daddy proud! I hope he gets his daddy's musical talent.

This is the first summer that my mother-in-law has a pool. We've spent a few days over there swimming now. The water's been too cold for Jonathan to go it, but hopefully soon! We have taken Jonathan swimming at the pool inside a hotel. He didn't know what to quite think of it the first time, but this past weekend he really enjoyed it.

This past weekend Jonathan officially found his feet. Since then he is constantly trying to get his toes into his mouth. It's so funny to watch.

David's Graduation

My youngest brother David graduated high school this year. This makes me feel old! I am so proud of him though. Didn't know if he was going to make it... lol just kidding! We had a party for him the day after Kevin's wedding.. yes, I realize we squeezed a lot into one weekend, but when you have family so far away, you have to do things like that. When I had my wedding we had Kevin's graduation party the next day (however, I did not make it...;) ) Anyways, it was a beautiful day for it. David is home schooled, so he doesn't get a cap and gown, so I brought mine from my college graduation and made him wear it. He pretended to be appalled at first, but I think he loved it int he end! It makes it feel more real! Well, now he is done, and will be going to MATC for graphic design... go David!!!

wedding weekends

I am officially wedding out! I went to three weddings in the past 6 weeks!!! 2 of which I stood in. All beautiful and fun, but glad they done. The first wedding I stood in was my brother Kevin. He married Liz! We love Liz, and welcome her to the family. She'll make an awesome sister-in-law! During that wedding, both my men were dressed in tuxes. How cute is that! Jonathan did well that day, my mother-in-law a huge help in taking care of him at the wedding and putting him to bed for us at home.

This past weekend we went to La Crosse for my college roommate Erica's wedding. That was a beautiful outdoor wedding. Thankfully it didn't rain. We stayed at the Hilton Hotel... Jonathan's 1st hotel stay. He did pretty well. Woke up a few times during the night, but went back to sleep with no problems. We took him into the pool, which was a lot of fun. He was ALL smiles the whole weekend, and everyone loved him. We have a great baby!!!

Down in the dumps

Today I'm feeling down in the dumps. Jonathan hasn't pooped since MONDAY, so he is SO crabby, and he hasn't been sleeping well at nights. I think I've been getting up with him at least 3 times a night! GRRRR I'm so tired, and I now I have to go to work, and work on a floor that I am not usually on, which is nerve wracking. Please pray for me to get though this day.

God- give me the strength, the peace and the correct mood to work today. I should be glorifying you in all that I do.

On the up side, I got to go see "letters to Juliet" with some friends last night, it was REALLY good. However, after the movie I found out Jonathan screamed 2 hours for Nathan... poor guy (and I'm referring to both of them) I can't wait until things start to look up again for us.