June

June has been a crazy busy month is seems leading into the summer. It's not over but will continue in much the same week with our friend Gina's wedding and the yearly Foley Family Reunion.

At the beginning of the month I realized I was finally growing out of my normal clothes and within a week I hardly felt comfortable in any of them. It is amazing how fast that stuff happens. I think between what I have bought and what my friend
Michelle generously donated I should be covered until Barstow shows up:)

Mitch's Graduation Party













The first weekend of the month I went with my sister Julie and niece Samantha to the Quad Cities to help celebrate my cousin Mitch's Graduation. Our visit was cut short so I didn't even get a chance to take a pic of him on his day (Sam got a little sick...so we had to head home:( ).










17 Week Appointment

I had my 17 week appointment on the 12th which was not too exciting, but I got to hear Baby Barstow's heartbeat again, which is nice since I at this point am still waiting to feel him move. His heart-rate was 150 this time:)

Camping - our first BFGB Weekend with the Lucas' and Hughes'

This past weekend we went camping with our friends the Lucas' and the Hughes'. It was the first year we got to make it camping with them and it was a lot of fun! Even though it was plenty hot and we had a little rain - everyone still had a great time!

Father's Day

Of course Sunday was Fathers day so I went home to celebrate with my family. Everyone made it this time except for Bruce and Wil so it was a pretty full house and really nice to see everyone.

Here is a picture of Sam, myself and of course Baby Barstow, who is trying to start to show his/herself =)

Our 5th Anniversary!

We really started celebrating in Galena, but the actual day of our anniversary we commemorated it again alone in a little more laid back Steve and Lori fashion. We took the day off, slept very late… Lounged around and slowly got ready… Took the dogs for a walk… Did a little shopping…went to the Star Trek movie in the late afternoon – which, by the way was a REALLY good movie…and then rounded the evening off by cooking out. Sounds a little boring but it was a great way to celebrate. We are in the middle having our deck expanded, rebuilt and enhanced with a Pergola to try to make it more usable during the sunny hours. This is what we are choosing to do instead of real vacations and presents right now.

5 years -Doesn’t seem like it has been that long, so I guess that is a good sign….I still like him too =) Check back with me in another 20 to 30 years, but I am hoping to be able to still say the same thing – it’s a good start anyway.

Memorial Day Weekend

For Memorial Day weekend, Steve and I had the very generous offer from our friends Jeff and Cathy to share in their timeshare credits at a Galena IL resort to enjoy a nice long weekend with them.

We took an extra day off on Friday and headed to Cedar Rapids on our way to Galena - so we could meet Kerry and Sawyer for a late lunch (we don’t move too fast on a day off ;) since as luck would have it they were in town for the weekend. We also dropped Ollie and Zeus at Mom and Dad’s since they had kindly agreed to dog-sit their granddogs for the weekend. It was great to have a chance to visit with Kerry and see Sawyer…he is getting SO BIG – SO FAST…it is amazing. He is a good boy and a lot of fun! Kerry thought she was funny and found me some McClure Brand Pickles….(cute pregnancy joke : ) If they would just move home to where they belong we wouldn’t have such short visits….KERRY ANN!

Then it was off to Galena to meet Jeff and Cathy… Lots of relaxing, eating good food, drinking/watching drinking of a many drinks and shopping for the whole weekend. We really appreciated the opportunity to join them and had a great time!

First Present for Baby Barstow!

I got a surprise when I picked Steve up from work today. He had a present (which he left wrapped for me) from our friends Cindi and Nate (Steve works with Cindi) for baby Barstow. It was a children’s book by Sandra Boynton called “Moo, Baa, La La La!”. Cindy said it was a favorite of her kids and always made them giggle (but you have to do the voices, she warned;). It is very cute - Thanks Cindi and Nate!

Happy Birthday Tim and Nicolle!

Tim and Nicolle’s birthdays are both on the 17th of May and this year was a special one for Nicolle – (she is finally starting to catch up to me;), so they had a little dinner and downtown -hopping excursion planned to celebrate. We had a great dinner with them and many of their friends at The Royal Mile…unfortunately the hopping was a little difficult since it was a Saturday night downtown and we were a large group, but we manage to have a good time and spent most of the rest of the evening at El Bait Shop which is always fun. I being the only sober one however, left my phone there at the bar and had to return to get it when we had almost driven all the way home. Perhaps this means I am more lucid when I drink? Maybe it just means I am absent minded? Let’s go with that – we’ll blame it on Barstow.

The first of many modesty robbing adventures

Ok, so it was finally time for my first real exam of this whole P process. I was the silly one who wanted my husband there in the room with me. Usually I get a full length paper gown that opens in the front and a nice paper blanket to drape over my bidness… but no, apparently when you are going to have a baby they want to rob you of any humility and shyness you might have left right up front. I was given a short vest length paper garment that opens in the front (no longer than mid-back). I was happy to hear that all my blood tests and exam was fine, we got to hear Barstow’s heart again and everything seemed to be moving along as it should…but I was never so happy to have a Dr’s visit over with! Needless to say I told Steve he only really needed to come to the Ultrasound appointments from now on;)

Good Friends and Family

As we have told our other friends and family about Barstow, they have been very excited and helpful. My friend Kerry has been ready with all sorts of enthusiasm, advice, and reading materials – she sent me a really great book that is a tremendous resource. My Myra-loo sent me my very first Mother’s day flowers to work on the Friday before Mother’s day and incidentally again on Monday since the floral shop made a mistake

=) Gretchen brought me a beautiful hydrangea plant that has since regrettably taken a turn for the worse before I could get it into the ground…I hope I can save it :( I appreciate everyone’s enthusiasm; it makes me even more excited!

Mommy's Day

My Brother Bruce, Nephew Wil and myself headed to Cedar Rapids for Mother’s day on that Sunday. Everyone was able to make it except for Cathy and the fam. We missed them. It was a nice day and we were able to spend most of it outside which is always more fun when the kids have room to run. I enjoyed having the chance to make a big deal out of my Mommy, celebrating Zoey, Samantha, Alex and Jenna's birthdays...but mostly just hanging out with the fam.

And so the busy spring begins....

On May 8th we went to our friend Heather’s college graduation party at Ledges State Park, which is my favorite park around here. It is beautiful for many reasons, but especially because it is very lush and hilly which is a little hard to come by around here. We had a great time catching up with some old friends. We were greeted at home by our friend Gretchen who was crashing with us for the night after taking a Grad class in town and her and Steve got to enjoy many beers in front of me. They seem to enjoy tormenting me together ;)

Bye Deb :(

Steve’s sister Deb has recently decided to make a move to Arkansas to see what a change of scenery might have to offer her. On Saturday the 9th we got together with her and Tim (Steve’s Brother) and Nicolle and Colin to spend a little time with her before she left us the following weekend. We had fun hanging out and playing old-style lawn darts and Wii.

HOLY CRAP =)

It is interesting the way the mind works, but I will have to admit that I still really didn’t believe it until I saw it for my own eyes at our first Ultrasound on May 6th (during our 12th week). For all I know they play the same video of an active dancing little guy starting to strongly resemble a little person - for everyone….but all I could think was…HOLY CRAP, there really is a baby in there! Measuring a whole 1.7 inches (4.53 CM) long from crown to rump, Barstow looked to be pretty active in there with a normal heart rate of 171 that time.

Easter and sharing our news with family

We didn’t really share our news with anyone about the baby right away, not having been through this and knowing that chances are fair that something could go wrong in that early stage. On Easter we had the chance to see both of our families and though it was stil
l a little early at our 8th week we let everyone know our news. At the Foley Easter, I broke the news as we were all posing for remote controlled Family self-portrait. This would have been a lot funnier if anyone actually believed me! Instead they thought I was joking and it even took a little convincing before they actually thought I was telling the truth. At the McClure Easter, Steve shared the news as Nicolle and I were leaving for a walk after dinner. Everyone seemed very excited for us, even as we promised to call in prior assurances that some of them would be more than happy to drop what they were doing to help us out should we need some time to ourselves when we had children.
After this we were kind of waiting for our first few appointments and our 12th week to pass before letting everyone know (though, I may have told a few close friends along the way;).

Photography Workshop

In the midst of all this craziness, I had signed up for a 2-day weekend Photography workshop. I learned how to work my camera in manual mode and I actually kind of prefer it. I can imagine it would be a little difficult to keep up with at a family event, but as far as landscapes or live animals it definitely allows the appropriate amount of control. The workshop was well worth the time and money investment since it is a little more of a passion than a hobby for me and I needed to get some help stepping out of my box to begin to really learn. I got a serious jones for a better lense or lenses in the process of the 2 days. Unfortunately that is where this hobby gets a little slowed down for me. The really nice lenses cost more than the camera and that is a little hard to justify….so I guess I will have to perfect my usage in the range I have available with my 2 lenses…for now.

Time to catch up - BIG NEWS for us :)

Spring Recap - Well, I know I said I was back and have been terrible about updating – but there was so much going on that I wasn’t necessarily ready to share with the general public it was difficult write an entry without mentioning our new and world altering news. So I guess a recap of spring is in order before I try to get in the groove of maybe updating weekly….well – it is a goal anyway ;)

I suppose the best place to start would be what I will refer to as….the last day I could think straight. On March 31st, I had a weird day. I had been feeling a little different… couldn’t quite place it, but I decided to take the 2nd of 3 pregnancy tests out of curiosity at work in the late morning. Since it was the 2nd, you understand it is not the first time this had crossed my mind. I had taken a test the week before St. Patty’s day and our party and had interpreted it as a negative test…subsequently giving me the go ahead to enjoy the libations that are customary for us in such situations….Anyhoo – This time when I took the test it still seemed questionable to me, but made me think it was time to go to the doctor and have them clear this up for me. This was not at all what I had expected. I go to the desk, they just give me a cup and tell me to go pea and then I was done and could go. I don’t really know what I expected to happen, but it was a little weird to me. So I peed and returned to work fully expecting to get a call that I was not pregnant and could go on with my life like normal... Instead I got a cheerful call, quickly telling me that I was pregnant and the results showed up “right away”! So - though right then, I believe I learned what a panic attack is…we learned the very happy news that we are expecting a baby on or about November 20th of this year. I was about 6 weeks along since they begin counting from the first day of your last period…which I will never really truly understand, but since that what all the books go by – I guess I will too. Steve quickly named the baby what it will be know as until it arrives - Barstow (an anagram for the "two bars" on the pregnancy test I was somehow unable to correctly decipher, twice).

I have been very lucky during these early months to not be sick or have any terrible symptoms, except for the whole….feel like you’ve been climbing a mountain and could sleep all of the time thing…but generally I have felt very good and feel lucky – just praying the luck continues throughout.

We'll call this our "before" picture taken when I was 10 Weeks

Just a thought for the day

“Love the moment. Flowers grow out of dark moments. Therefore, each moment is vital. It affects the whole. Life is a succession of such moments and to live each, is to succeed.”
~Corita Kent

March 28th

We went to see our friend Adam play in his band, Ardency Rue at Java Joe’s on Saturday night www.ardencyrue.com . Our friends Nate and Cindi went with us to dinner and then the show. A lot of our common friends came to the show not the least of which was Adam’s girlfriend – Myra who one of our…especially my very good friends who recently moved to Council Bluffs. So I was very excited to see her again for the second weekend in a row! The show was great and a lot of fun. We rounded the night out at The Red Monk next door and did a little celebrating for Cindi’s birthday on Sunday.

March 21st -23rd

It had been a busy week of preparing for our Patty’s day party. We really only have one big get-together a year and we choose to do it in honor of St. Patrick’s Day.
Again we were blessed with a gorgeous day – St. Patrick must have been smiling on us for making such a big deal out of him;) We had people inside and outside, upstairs and downstairs. We had a great turn out throughout the whole afternoon and evening and had a great variety of fun friends to catch up and celebrate with :) The dogs also had someone to play with/annoy about every second of the day (which by the way resulted in an exceptionally relaxing and quiet Sunday:) .

I had taken the Monday after the party off so since she was on Spring break, one my very favorite friends Hamos and Owen came to town to hang out. Owen is getting so big and such a sweet boy! We had fun at the zoo and though it was a little weak not quite being in season. After that we took Owen to the carousel at the mall (which he wasn’t too sure about), had some lunch and then played in the play area. I got to catch up with Hamos a little among all the playing so it was great!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

“May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light,May good luck pursue you each morning and night.”~Irish Blessing

Steve and I both decided to take the day of St. Patrick’s Day off, and we couldn’t have picked a better day! It was gorgeous outside! We got up in the morning and headed to the Royal Mile downtown for some green eggs and ham with Gully and Trent. We liked it so much we stayed until lunch…..ok – I won’t continue on with the Dr. Seuss theme since I am no good at it….and then headed to El Bait Shop for lunch.

We spent the rest of the day outside on the patio and deck enjoying the day and smoking some ribs in the smoker. We eventually got Tim and Nicolle to join us and we tapped Steve’s Irish Red beer and had trouble stopping, but we had to save it for the party on Saturday.

“If a man who cannot count finds a four-leaf clover, is he lucky?” ~Stanislaw J. Lec

March 13th – 15th

We’ve given in….we have broken down and joined the Costco cult. We were strong and resisted this for a long time…..but Tim and Nicolle finally won – we went with them once and we could no longer resist :)

It turned from a mildly busy to super busy weekend with the matter of a few texts and calls. We were off to take our Fur children for a walk after work on Friday and were temped with promises of good friends, good food and beer by Gully. As most of you know our resolve is not good when trying to resist our favorite things :) so we went and had a good time. Somewhere in the last few years Steve and I have switched roles. I am now often the one who decides to be reasonable and go home when we have to get up in the morning….though reasonable for us on such occasions is about 2am.

We had a vet appointment at 9:20 in the morning and since this is a new vet, we decided we’d take both Zeus and Ollie and get it over with. Not the brightest thing we’ve ever done. They just keyed each other up more and more as the moments passed in the small examining room. As Zeus was being examined Ollie paced and whined impatiently….and was so nervous he almost attacked a life-size cat poster on the wall;) After a few minutes of that, I suggested maybe it would be better if Ollie and I go to the general waiting area until they were done. The Vet and Tech and Steve agreed it was worth a try….but after about 1 full minute of Zeus crying and yowling like someone was killing him, the Tech came and got me and said, “I think Zeus wants his friend back.” Upon re-entering the examination room, Ollie had his front paws on the exam table and was nose to nose with Zeus as if to say, “You are alright! Thank God.” Ollie’s turn was a whole other thing entirely – he was squirming and climbing Steve…He escaped off of the table twice before the Vet, the Tech and Steve took his feet away from him (by laying him on his side and each taking a pair of legs or a head :). Following that fiasco we ran a bunch of errands and while at the beer store to pick up the last bits Steve needed to pimp out his beer fridge and I in the graceful way that I have knocked a beer bottle off the shelf soaking the floor, and me pretty much from waist to toe. I believe Steve was embarrassed since we left immediately after (you’d think he’d be used to it by now).

Later on Saturday we celebrated our friend Tommy’s 40th Birthday with him for a while and then stopped by to see Gully and Cathy again….just can’t seem to stay away from those guys =)

We’re Back…..

Ok, we didn’t really go anywhere but I got out of the habit of sharing our silliness on a regular basis. I also got a little caught up with using Facebook which was my new way to share my life with anyone who might be willing to pay attention via the internet:) It has now been over a year since I last posted and the 2 people who actually read my blog on occasion, have bugged me repeatedly to start again (thanks for caring Sheri and Kerry;).

I still am liking Facebook, but have fought the addiction and am find it to be a vague fun distraction versus an all out disruption to my life, though don’t really think it gives me a chance to actually provide a really good update to our friends and family we see and speak to and see less than we would like. Maybe there is room in my life for Facebook AND a blog (linked together, that is).

Nothing has really changed in our little world in the last year, so I think it is best to start again with today! We are still working, still have a home, still like each other and still find ourselves blessed with health and wonderful family and friends that we are grateful for every day.

We’ve had a lot of fun watching the families of our friends and siblings grow in the last year and welcoming a few new members including Little Kolbie, Sawyer, Abby, Jenna, Christopher and most recently Isaac! I am continuing to warm Steve up to the possibility of having our own as I have found the longer you have fur-children, the more you get used to accepting them as your children and thinking that they are more than acceptable in this capacity :)


Steve and I just began our last class of the year last week and are now in the middle of a 2-week spring break. This seems ridiculous but is very welcome seeing as St. Patrick’s Day lands on our class day. I was extremely concerned with how I was going to have a traditional Patty’s day and make it to 5:30 pm class in an “appropriate” fashion. This class is Marketing which neither of us is all too excited about - unless we are allowed to market Steve’s Wobbly Gnome beer;)

Steve is still brewing like crazy and corrupting all sorts of people along the way. He has moved up to kegging from just bottling the beer he makes. He has yet to make a beer I haven’t liked…the stuff is actually good! I shouldn’t be amazed – he seems to be good at most everything he wants to be good at – and this definitely is something he would strive for excellence with.

Just before Christmas, I finally got to buy my first big-girl camera! A Nikon D60 DSLR - (Digital Single Lens Reflex) camera. I have been having a lot of fun learning how to use it and have a lot more to learn. Steve is not a willing subject and winter is not the best time to find the best of nature in Iowa. Though my pets, back yard birds and deer and fox that frequent our back field have given me a few good opportunities – I am dying for spring and getting outside to really play and learn. I am looking forward to a 2-day photography workshop in April that I signed up for.

To be honest we are just ready done with winter and ready for spring! It's almost time for Sand Volleyball league again!

We are gearing up for our annual St. Patrick’s Day party on the 21st! We’ve been having one each year since we moved and though it is a tough time of year to get a good time all the people we hope to see there, this year is shaping up to be a fun group from the sounds of it.

We have our 5th Anniversary coming up in May. We had originally been planning a big group cruise to Hawaii, but the recent changes in the economy raised the prices and made such an extravagant expense seem an irresponsible choice. I think we have resigned ourselves to instead celebrating with some fun weekend trips and house projects, but are excited about those too. We are in our house for the third year and still haven’t completed decorating of 1 full room, though the common Bathroom is soon to be complete – we don’t do anything too hastily, obviously;). One of the projects we hope to have done this spring is adding some sail-shades ( http://www.shadecomforts.com/page/index.cgi?section=sails - for a visual) to our deck. Spending time on our deck is one of our very favorite fair-weather things to do, but it is placed just so the sun makes it uncomfortable until almost sunset – so we will really love our deck with a bit of shade!

Ok….so that pretty much catches us up. I am going to try to begin updating regularly again! I will add some recent pics soon – March is a super busy month so I will have lots to share.