Happy Anniversary

Zach and I celebrated our five year anniversary yesterday.  It was a wonderful day.  Zach got me a beautiful bouquet with five roses and a ring for my right hand.  The ring is a band of bagguettes.  The picture doesn't do the ring justice-it is gorgeous.  Zach got golf lessons and a trip to play golf at a nationally ranked golf course in Mullen, Nebraska.  

Dustin and Julie came to town to babysit so that we could do dinner by ourselves.  We went to the Miletta Vista Winery in St. Paul.  The food and wine were delicious.  We love their Edelweiss wine.  It was nice to relax and enjoy the view.  We want to go back again with friends and family. 

Crazy storm clouds

When we were driving home from St. Paul last night we drove into a storm.  As we drove up on it, it looked like a bowl turned upside down.  I had to share the pictures.

Other side of the road

4th of July Weekend

Zach, Monroe, and I had a fun weekend.  On Saturday night we had friends over for a barbecue.  The Johnstons, Bachmans, Rippes, Nicklins, Mays, and Aaron Duncan came over.  After dinner we had planned to go to the fireworks show, but we decided to light the firepit early.  We roasted marshmallows and made different kinds of s'mores. We used Hershey's, Reese's and Andes Mints.  I think I like the Andes the best.

On Sunday we drove to Holdrege to spend the day with some of my family.  Kaiya and Monroe were supposed to swim together, but Monroe wasn't interested.  Kaiya loved the water, though.  We then had a wonderful supper and lit off fireworks.

Getting ready to go swimming

Screaming immediately

Cousin Kaiya playing in the pool

Girl cousins

On Monday we went over to the Nicklin's for a pool party.  We again tried Monroe in the pool, but she still wasn't having it.  The adults swam and laid out.  After swimming we went back to their apartment for grilled pizzas.  Yum!

Emily and Monroe

Ready for the pool

Not interested

Posing with Emily again

Happy 4th of July!

Smiling with Mommy

Camping

Zach, Monroe, and I went camping with both sets of grandparents this week.  The grandparents planned it after they had so much fun together the weekend Monroe was born.  Doug's cousin has a cabin at Medicine Creek Reservoir near Cambridge that she let us use.  We didn't do the typical camping activities.  (The lake was too high for swimming and the cabin didn't have a place to have a camp fire.) We still had a ton of fun, though.  We ate very well, went on walks, and played a ton of cards and games.  500 and Bridge were the most popular, but we also played Scum and Bananagrams.  We all decided to get together at least once a year.

She loves to suck on everything

I've never been one to take many pictures.  Taking pictures of Monroe is easy because she's so dang cute.  Now, my goal is to get better at taking pictures of the things and people around me.  We were camping for three days, and I don't have a single picture of the grandparents, the cabin, or the beautiful lake.  I will work on this.  

When we got home, we tried out the Bumbo for the first time.  She was indifferent.

Father's Day

Zach enjoyed his first Father's Day.  It was a day for cuddling with Monroe and playing golf.  

We went and got sushi with the Johnstons for supper.  The boys ordered Chinese, but Emily and I couldn't pass up sushi.  For Grand Island, our sushi restaurant is quite good.  We go there a lot.

Happy Father's Day to Zach.  We love you!

Two months

Two months

Monroe was two months old yesterday.  We had our two month check up, and the doctor thought everything looked great. The doctor confirmed that Monroe's a big girl.  She is 23 1/2 inches long.  That puts her in the 90 percentile for her height.  She is also 12 pounds, and that is the 75 percentile.   She had three shots while there.  She screamed when she got them, but then she slept the rest of the day.  She took them like a champ.  At two months, she loves to stand, giggle, and jabber.  It is so fun watching her grow. We have two more months together.  I'm hoping they go by slowly.

Enjoying the bath

Her cheeks are getting even fuller

Cuddling with Great Grandma while watching Daddy play softball

Isn't she precious?

Getting so big

Summer so far

My two favorite people

Zach, Monroe and I have had a great summer so far.   We finally got around to planting flowers this week.  The last two years we have planted a vegetable garden and had produce coming out of our ears.  This year we decided we wanted to focus on Monroe and not bother with the garden.  I did, however, plant flowers.  I planted my cannas again.  I also bought new pots and planted arrangements in those.  We also got around to pulling weeds, which was overdue.  The landscaping now looks much better.

A couple summers ago I read the Harry Potter series and absolutely loved it.  I had never seen any of the movies, though, so last week we decided to watch them.  We watched all seven movies in two days.  It was a lot of movie watching for this girl, but it was fun.  We look forward to the last movie coming out in July.

Monroe is changing so much.  This morning she weighed 11 lbs 8 oz.  As you can tell, she likes to eat.  She is also sleeping through the night, which I obviously love.  I don't realize how fortunate I am until I talk to other moms whose babies wake up every few hours.  Monroe is also smiling, laughing, and cooing all the time now.  We can't get enough of her.

Muffin top in more ways than one

I love that face

She loves to stand