Dolly Dollerson

That is what Scott likes to call Dolly. All the dogs have some sort of a nickname and Dolly landed this one. She is getting big. Hard to believe just a couple months ago I could hold her with just one arm. Now there is no chance of that. Here are some Dolly Dollerson pics!!

The Best Seat in the House

One morning all three kids wanted to have their morning juice sitting together right in front of the T.V. Pretty cute, huh?

Iowa Trip

As promised here are some pictures of our trip to Iowa. It was a very busy couple days with trips to Dows and Newton. We first drove to my parents house and I do have to say the trip up went very well. The kids did a fantastic job riding in the car. This was our first trip with me driving completely solo and it went well. We stopped a few times for lunch and potty breaks. It was late afternoon when we arrived at my parents house. Thursday morning I had a hair appointment and then we drove up to Dows for Corn Days. Aunt Heather, Gavin and Cali all arrived on Friday just before the festivities started. Grisham and Genevieve were excited to go play at the park. There was a giant blow up maze and a water balloon launcher. Friday evening was spent playing on these two contraptions. Saturday morning we walked down town for the pancake breakfast. The parade was a couple hrs later. I think the parade was the best part of Corn Days for the kids. They walked away with an entire bag of candy. Around noon we went back up to the park to enjoy more festivities. Later that afternoon we said goodbye to grandma and grandpa Hinze and drove back down to Des Moines for Bailey and Jenna's birthday party. My brother and his wife rented out the Newton public pool for the party. The pool was amazing. So kid friendly. Auntie Sarah was brave enough to get into the water with the kids. It was just too cold for me. So I stayed in the shallow end with Carolyn. It had been a very busy couple of days and the kids were tired before the party was over. So after cake we said goodbye and drove back to my parents house. Notice a theme here. Lots and lots of driving. We were planning on driving back to Chester on Sunday so I needed a good nights rest to do so. Sunday morning we woke up refreshed and ready to go home and see Daddy. We made even better time driving home. All three kids fell asleep after our stop for lunch and did not wake up until we were less than an hr from home. It was so good to be home and I think that Scott really missed us. I am loving the fact that we can take a long weekend now and drive up to Iowa to see family. It is so nice being close to home.This was probably my last long distance trip out of town before the baby is born. I will probably go back up when my sister in law Traci has her baby late October. Scott's parents and sister will be coming down for the Popeye picnic in a couple weeks. We are looking forward to having more family in our lives.

Finally....Settled In!!

Wow is all I can say. It has been an amazing month. We are so happy to finally be here in our new home. And the amazing thing is, is that it really feels like home. We have been in the new house for about two weeks. We are 90% unpacked. I still have a couple boxes in the basement to go through. Now we are trying to get the walls painted and new furniture ordered. Scott has been back to work for a week now and is enjoying it very much. He has a ton of new numbers to memorize...grrr. Pager number, two office numbers, OR numbers..it just goes on and on. We have met a ton of very nice people and I am so looking forward to the start of school. So Grisham can start making friends. There are a few kids in the neighborhood but we haven't meet them all yet. Grisham and Genevieve have been enjoying the massive backyard and the freedom of playing in the driveway without mommy getting worried about traffic. We have this perfect little hill on the side of the house that makes a great water slide area. So we have been spending a lot of evenings out there. It is amazingly hot right now. Like most of the country we have 100+ degree temperatures with stifling humidity. I do enjoy the beautiful countryside. Living in a small town has its advantages and disadvantages. In Columbus we got used to going to Target or Sam's club that was just down the street. Now they are events. We drive about 50 minutes to the nearest Target and Sam's club. I don't mind the driving but I think I will doing more shopping on the Internet to save on gas. The kids and I are planning a trip back to Iowa this week. We are going to Corn Days in Dows and then to Bailey and Jenna's birthday party. The first we have been able to attend in 7 years. The house in Columbus has not sold yet. We did receive an offer but it was just way toooooooooo low and we would have to bring an insane amount of money to the table. We tried a hundred different ways to make it work but it just wouldn't be possible so the offer was turned down. So now the house sits. I am going to have cleaners and carpet guys there in the next couple weeks so maybe we will have it rented soon. Thank you all for being so patient this summer. It has been so busy with the move and now that it is done I will be more consistent with the blog posts.