weekend visit with family-part two

ah, the windy city. while emily and andy were here we drove down to this crazy, expensive city (can you tell i'm not a city girl) to check out some of the fun it had to offer. it actually turned out to be one of our best visits so far. i think it was because we had emily's husband, wes, with us who really knows his way around the city so, a) we didn't get lost and b) he knew where the cheapest parking was.

this time we decided to check out this awesome street:



it really is magnificent. there are plenty of free things to see and do while taking a stroll down the sidewalk.

we didn't make it very far without seeing a number of street performers out trying to make some extra money. they really are quite entertaining. i could have spent the majority of the day just watching some of these talented people perform.



the statue guy. he was my favorite performer...at first. that is until we saw him again on our walk back. he was counting a wad of money with a cigarette in his mouth. i'm really not judgemental. he just didn't seem as appealing anymore.

one of our first stops was to the big chicago bean. it really is a fascinating piece of art. i had a lot of fun walking around taking tons of pictures of all of the different perspectives. and katelyn, well, she just had fun looking at herself. she was enthralled with her reflection.







we also stopped at some water fountains nearby the bean. if i had realized these fountains were there, i would have come more prepared because this is where katelyn could have spent all of her time. maybe next summer. thanks emily for walking around with her!






these fountains had large pictures of peoples faces on them. they mainly just stared, but they would blink every once and a while. i think we were there long enough to see two or three different faces.

we also had the chance to stop by the lego store and the hersheys store. i had been wanting to stop into these two places all day, but they were hard to find. luckily we found them right before we decided to head back to eat.



katelyn loved this lego guy. she kept smiling at him and touching him like he was a real person.



steven spielburg

they had so many different things built out of legos. some of them were huge! you have to have a lot of patience (or a real love for legos) to be able to build some of those things.



you can't go into the hersheys store without taking a picture of the giant candy bar.

we ended our day in chicago at the rainforest cafe where wes and emily treated us to a delicious dinner. it was the perfect place to take katelyn. she was entertained the whole time-especially because we got to sit right next to a huge fish tank.

it was tons of fun having some family to hang out with. thanks for the great day in chicago and for the whole weekend.

weekend visit with family-part 1

we had some visitors here in the good ol' state of wisconsin. tyler's brother, andy, flew out from utah and emily and her husband, wes, drove up from chicago. since wisconsin's state fair was running, we decided to check it out with them. we were told not to miss it. so off we went to people watch and eat.
we decided to head out on friday morning, which i decided we will never do again. turns out, attending the fair mid-morning/afternoon time is quite hot. next time we'll try an evening run. despite the heat, we still had fun checking out the sites and sounds of the fair.








we tried to get katelyn to pose for this, but she wouldn't. luckily emily and andy were willing to do it.

before we went, we kept hearing about all of the food the fair had to offer. tyler was dying to try the legendary cream puffs, and it turns out, they were pretty good. however, we did skip out on the chocolate covered bacon and the deep fried oreos.



even katelyn enjoyed a bit or two

and no fair would be complete without riding at least one ride, right? we shelled over the two bucks to go down the slide. it must have been a hit because katelyn asked to go again.




tyler claims the enthusiasm on his face is due to the fact that he was trying to make the slide exciting for katelyn.

we also heard about the pig, goat and duck races and were too curious not to attend. the races were pretty funny to watch. they assigned you a color to cheer for then they would send the animals out and you cheered your color on.



i don't think our goat did very well, but it was still entertaining to watch.

the fair was fun to attend, and we're glad we went. it was especially fun to have some family tag along with us. thanks for coming guys!

counting down at 36 weeks

we're to that point now where we are no longer counting up to the baby, but down. i can't believe how fast this pregnancy has gone. a part of me thinks it's because it's my second. katelyn keeps me busy and always on my toes. i really don't have a lot of time to imagine what it's going to be like with number two like i did with number one. a part of me also thinks it's because i've been pregnant throughout the summer. summers fly by because there's so much to do. again, no time to sit around and dream of baby coming.

whatever the reason, i'm getting excited now. not that i wasn't excited before. i just knew i had time on my side. 9 months to be exact.

this pregnancy has been easy, just like my first. no major problems or issues i have to deal with, and i'm grateful for that. just little ones like baby keeping his foot in my ribs all of the time. nothing i can't handle.

so four more weeks of being a family of three!

farmers market

i've been anxiously waiting for the day when we would be able to attend our first farmers market. i've heard such great things about them, and it didn't disappoint. everything about it was wonderful. the rush of people walking by, the freshly cut fruit, the beautiful flowers that i so wanted to buy. i really do belong in the burbs. no city life for me, no sir.

we didn't stay long though. it was a quick in and out visit, and i'm dying to get back to actually pick out some fresh fruit instead of taking pictures of it. until then...i'll be dreaming of those sweet cherries i got to sample.

thrills above

the weekend after we got back from vacation, we decided to head out as a fam and check out the free airshow in milwaukee. i think we were really surprised to see how packed this event was! once we sat down to watch, we understood why. it was free for those of us who chose to sit a touch further away, katelyn could run around at her leisure, and it was fun watching the airplanes fly over our heads.

we packed a lunch to eat while sitting on the beach and found a spot under a tree for some much needed shade. it made it really easy to watch the airplanes without having to squint.

tyler enjoyed watching as close as he could get. katelyn just enjoyed watching next to her daddy.

i love the look of wildflowers. we had a beautiful view of some the whole time.

katelyn was pretty enthralled with the airplanes until some people with a dog came and sat down next to us. she just stared at the dog like this for a while before finally asking to pet it.

katelyn loved looking at all of the planes until the jets started flying by. she just wanted someone to hold her and have her ears plugged until they left.

these were some of the different planes we saw and some of the different tricks they performed. we will definitely be going back again next year.

a breath of fresh air

that is how i would describe our most recent vacation in utah. not because we aren't enjoying our time in wisconsin, because we are. but becasue it was so nice to get away from real life for a bit, and to completely relax and be surrounded by family. you know the feeling, right?

we traveled down to utah for 10 days. we spent the first three days down in the provo/orem area visiting with my sisters and their husbands. we decided it would be fun to play some miniature golf together. the weather wasn't too hot, so it was the perfect day for it. plus, katelyn loved that she got to hold her own golf ball and golf club. she was thoroughly entertained the whole time.

don't be fooled. katelyn let tyler help her golf only on the first hole. after that it was, "all by myself."

wish i could take credit for this cute picture, but my brother-in-law, thomas, took it.

future golfer? her dad hopes so.

apparently she has learned to cheat quite young. she's throwing the ball in instead of hitting.

the sisters. at least two of them. i'm really excited because camille is due with her first baby in october, erin is adpoting in september, and i am due in september. all three are little boys.

the studly men + katelyn

we also hit up the small water park in provo. the water really was the perfect temperature. we were able to sit in the shallow water and talk while katelyn splashed around. i didn't get a ton of pictures in the water. they have a strict rule where no cameras are allowed, so i was only able to get a couple water pictures before i had to put my camera away.

every so often a bell would go off and everyone had to get out of the water for 15 minutes. i'm pretty sure katelyn spent the whole 15 minutes pretending to apply sunscreen.

that is a look of intense concentration.

camille was even nice enough to let katelyn pretend to put sunscreen on her too.

the visit with the sisters went much too quickly, but it was nice to see the three of them again. i realize i only have pictures of two sisters though. my sister rachel wasn't able to go miniature golfing or swimming with, so i ended up with zero pictures of her and her husband.

we spent the rest of our trip up in the centerville area with the hedin family. everyone was highly anticipating the return of tyler's brother from his mission to brazil on tuesday. sadly, andy called at about 1:00 in the morning the day he was to arrive to let everyone know that his plane door was broken, and he would not be returning. i think tyler's mom spent most of the next day on the phone trying to figure out the new flight arrangements. the best they could do at that time was to get him home mid-morning on thursday.

on wednesday we found out that andy would actually be coming home late that night. we actually decided to put katelyn to bed pretty early so we could just wake her up when it was time to go the airport. i guess she thought we were putting her down for a nap because she woke up around 8:00 ready to play. so by the time we headed to the airport around 11:30, she was pretty tired and ready to go to bed.

anxiously waiting for andy to come down the elevator.

katelyn even got her own sign that said welcome home uncle andy.

andy looked great and was very happy to see everyone again.

katelyn didn't know what to think of uncle andy or the late hour.

when andy packed his suitcase in brazil, he basically brought the clothes he was wearing home. so the next day we headed out to park city to do a little shopping. the hedins were so nice and generous and gave everyone a some vacation shopping money to spend.

shopping sure doesn't keep katelyn entertained all day, so she found other ways to enjoy herself. of course, grandpa helped out some.

we also had a chance to get the boat out while we were there. it was quite a hot day, so the breeze from the boat felt so nice, but it wasn't quite enough. we eventually all jumped into the water and swam for a bit. the water felt wonderful! even katelyn enjoyed it despite the fact that we made her wear a life jacket.

katelyn and daddy soaking up some rays. well not really. can you tell that i always douse katelyn in sunscreen?

cuddling with emily on the boat. i think katelyn does a good job of showing how hot is was outside.

although i didn't go waterskiing, i was able to take pictures of the waterskiiers. they all did a great job, especially because none of them have been out on the water for a long time.

my hubby. what a stud.

andy waterskiing.

emily waterskiing.

to top it all off, we were pleasantly surprised to receieve a visit from my brother and his cute family. they made a quick trip up to utah to visit my dad's mother.

we had such a great time with the hedins. i just couldn't believe it when sunday came and we had to start packing. i was not ready to go back yet. i did decide though that being away does make me appreciate family that much more and the time we get to spend with them!

thanks for the great vacation.