We had a fun and crazy weekend. Bob's Creative Taxidermy had its open house Saturday. He had a great turn out and we all had a really good time.

Friday was supposed to be a cleanup and get ready day. Turned out to be a mess of an afternoon. Chris and Ryan(his employee) were moving dirt on the side of the building and getting ready to lay more rock in the parking lot. They were leaving to haul off some dirt and concrete when the wheat truck they were driving fell into a sink hole behind the shop. Totally destroyed the truck. The ground gave out underneath the back left wheels and fell into a 3 ft hole. They were okay, but a little shocked. We had the police and city workers out. It took an hour for the tow truck driver to get the truck out of the hole. (Pictures should be coming soon!) Crazy sight to see.

Here are some pics from the open house. The top picture is Bob (on the left) and his son Bobby. Bob had two drawings for pheasant mountings. Chris went crazy at Wal-Mart Friday night and got a bunch of stuff to give out as door prizes. He had so much stuff, almost everyone there walked away with something and he was drawing numbers every five minutes. It was great and the kids that were there had fun.

The second picture is some of Bob's mounts. He has a lot of neat mounts and I will have more pics in my photo albums.



I had Madi in her camo outfit. She was so cute. These two pictures were in the workroom in Bob's shop. He had a bear skin laying on the table. We layed Madi on it and started snapping pics. I think they turned out pretty neat.

She had fun Saturday too. She had a lot to look at and people holding her. She did really good. She took an hour nap in the morning before everyone got there and then a half hour nap in the afternoon when things started slowing down. She was a tired girl that night.

I hope everyone has a great week!!

Love, Amy

Next Saturday is Bob's (Chris' cousin) open house for his Taxadermy business. There will be food and a chance to see alot of Bob's awesome work. He just finished a peacock yesterday. I haven't seen it, but I can only imagine that it is just beautiful. If you aren't busy, please stop by. He is in the new addition to Chris' shop. I think everyone knows where it is, if not, give me a call.

This was just too cute to pass up taking a picture of. I had her on the counter while I was making supper and had all the bottles out for hamburgers next to her. She is very persistent in reaching and getting what she wants. And of course everything goes into her mouth. (Don't worry, it was empty and cleaned out.)

This is the face she makes when she is trying to get something. It is so funny. She juts her chin out and sticks her tongue out and tips her head back. She is such a card.

This same night, one year ago, I had just found out I was pregnant. What a trying and rewarding year it has been. And if you know me, keeping a secret is really hard. But we wanted to make sure everything was going to be okay this time before we told all of our family. So we had to wait until Thanksgiving before we would tell anyone. (Except our parents and siblings of course). After that, it was still really hard for me to plan too much or buy anything. I don't think I bought anything until February. I had morning sickness almost the whole pregnancy and if I let myself get too hungry, it would make me nausious. We had only been in our new house for two months when I started having pregnancy symptoms and one of mine was getting sick with certain smells. Our house had sat empty for awhile before we bought it and they smoked in the kitchen. There was this odor in the walls when you walk in the backdoor (at least I could smell it, maybe not everyone else) but everyday when I came home for lunch it would make me sick and I would have to run to the bathroom. It was horrible. But I would do it again in a heartbeat!! Madi is the greatest reward ever!! I couldn't imagine life without her and more babies would be icing on the cake.

Take care and have a great week!!

Love, Amy

Burr!!!! It went from being nice and having the windows open to being cold and needing the heater. What happened to the nice low 70s fall weather?

Well, I guess my projects right now fit the weather. I have 3 sewing projects going. I am still working on a baby announcement cross-stitch wall hanging for Madi's room. I have been working on this since I was put on bed rest before she came. Slow going. I am also working on quilts. I am making Chris a jean quilt to take with him to deer camp and if I get it done soon, he can take it pheasant hunting also. I thought I was done with the top and I had him make sure it was long enough. Of course, he wants it longer so I need to add a couple more rows. But it isn't hard and I am having fun working on it. My mom came over this weekend and we worked on it together. Sewing is something we both enjoy doing and it is so fun to work on projects together. I am also working on baby rag quilts. I have one that needs to be done very soon and then I have 2 more cousins that are pregnant and will need to start on those. I also still haven't made Madi one and want to get that done before it gets too terribly cold. I have moved my sewing machine upstairs onto the dining table so I can work on them more while Madi is playing.

Two weekends ago Jason and Tabatha were in town. We all went out to eat Sunday and then wanted to go to the Bison Company and pick pumpkins. Of course, the guys didn't want to go, so the four girls went. Madi made her first trip to the pumpkin patch!!! But she will never know, because she slept the whole time. I was so surprised. We had her in a wagon in her carseat and pulled her through the pumpkin patch and she didn't even budge! (Insert pic but blogger won't, ugh!! Check out October pics in my pictures) It really didn't feel like pumpkin pickin' time that day because it was 97 degrees. Hot, sweaty, but fun!! We should go again now that it is cooler.

Last weekend Chris was at his parents house all weekend helping to reroof two sides of their house. Madi and I went over for a little bit on Saturday to watch. She enjoyed sitting outside and watching the trees blowing in the wind. It was cute!! We went home and meet my mom to start sewing while Dad went to Beloit.

I am off to cut more jeans up. If anyone has any jeans laying around they want to get rid of. Let me know, I would be glad to take them off your hands. I am hoping to make several more. Everyone take care and enjoy the weather!!

Love, Amy

We are home!!!! We had a nice vacation, but I was so ready to be back in Kansas and on familiar roads.

We left Salina at 2 pm Friday. We drove straight through to Chris' Aunt Beth's house in South Carolina, pulling in at noon on Saturday. They didn't know we were coming so it was a surprise for them. Walter (Chris' cousin) and his wife Laura came to town and we went out for supper and had a nice visit with them. Walt and Beth and Marybeth took us to Krispy Kreme at 11 pm. We had fresh hot donuts. It was wonderful, Chris fell in love! That was a lot of fun. And you wouldn't believe how busy this place is that late at night. Sunday we went shopping and Tommy (Chris' cousin) came home for the evening. Beth cooked supper and we had a nice visit. We had a wonderful time at Walt and Beth's.

Monday, after everyone left for work and school, we went to Charlotte, NC for the day. We went to Lowes Motor Speedway and were able to go into the middle of the track. It was so awesome. Richard Petty driving school was there that day and they had cars out racing. They had a Dale Jr. car and we got our pictures next to it. A man working for Petty came over and we started talking to him and asking questions. He then asked if I wanted to sit in the car and get my picture taken. Of Course!!! It was so COOL!!! We walked around like we owned the place, no one said a word and it didn't cost a thing. I was on cloud nine of course and I really want to go to a race now. We left there and went to Hendrick Motorsports. He owns Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch's race teams. Not at all fan of those drivers but we wanted to get Chris' dad something, he likes Gordon (Blah!!) We then went to Roush Racing. Saw the shops of Mark Martin, Carl Edwards, Jamie McMurray, Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth. While we were at Kenseth's shop, his crew chief, Robbie Riser walked out of the shop and Chris asked if we could get his picture. So, I got my pic with him. Still not one of our favorite drivers, but he is a past champion and could win again this year. Next was Dale Earnhardt Inc. They had a nice place and a lot of Dale Sr. memorabilia. Got a bunch of stuff in the gift shop. We were hoping to see Jr. there, but we didn't (darn). Ya right, I probably would have peed my pants!!! We then rushed to Richard Childress' shop and museum. They said they were open until 5. We got there at 4:15 and they wouldn't let us go through the museum with less than an hour until they closed. Would have been nice to know that before we drove an hour to get there. Oh well. Got a lot of nice things in the gift shop. But we know there was a lot of Dale Sr. stuff in the museum, we could see part of it through the back door. So, we left there and drove back to Beth's and stayed the night.

Tuesday we said our goodbyes and left for Charleston, SC. This starts the Civil War hunting of our vacation. Chris is really in to wanting to find relics and learning all about the Civil War. Really wanted to get himself a gun. We went to Charleston and visited Fort Sumter, which is where the Civil War began. We took a boat ride out into the mouth of the harbor right before it opens into the Atlantic Ocean and visited the Fort. It was really neat. Madi had her first boat ride!!! She did such an awesome job. She got a little sun that day but she was such a doll. After we got back we went to the open air market and shops. But everything closes at 5, it was a little disappointing. But it was such a busy town and so cramped. We decided to leave town and head towards Atlanta. We wound ourselves through Georgia, Tennessee, and Missouri for the next couple of days just visiting battle sites.

Madi had her 4 month checkup on Friday before we left town. She is 11 lbs 15 oz and 24.5 in long. She has made it to the 72 percentile in height and 18 percentile for weight. No cereal yet, she wants to wait until 6 months. Which is fine, she is doing much better with her bottles. I also asked about the teething and the doctor said that babies really start to drool at this age but teeth don't usually come until 6 months. She got a cold while we were gone. She has a cough and you can feel it rattling in her chest, it's getting better, just keeping up with the cough medicine. We finally graduated to 3-6 month onesies but alot of the separates are still way too big for her. Her waist is just so little, she was still wearing a pair of premie shorts on our vacation. Her new thing is that she has found her toes. It kept her occupied several times on our trip.







I am still working on downloading pictures. So, please check back soon and they should be done.

Love, Amy