California Vacation - San Francisco

After we flew into Sacramento, we drove down to San Francisco for a long weekend. I loved San Francsico. It just is so unique in it's look, feel etc... We didn't do a quarter of the stuff we could have but I really enjoyed it. Here are a few pictures.

California Vacation - Wine Country

Mark and I had a wonderful opportunity to go on a 5-year anniversary trip to California. I had a conference out there at the end of our trip. We started out in San Francisco (pics of that to come later) but early in the week we went to Napa and Sonoma valleys for a few days of wine tasting and a trip to a spa (no pictures of that). At one of the wineries they had a walking tour where you could sample the grapes. As it was just before harvest, they were perfect.

Then after that we headed up to the American River for a day of white-water rafting. I'm putting the activities of our trip in backwards order.

As a note the trip was absolutely fabulous and I'd highly recommend the area for a vacation. We loved it. For those who may be wondering, Zoie had a fun filled 10-days at my parents house. It was a long time to be gone from her but I think it worked out best for everyone this way.  I missed her a bit but never enough to wish she was there :).

Pigtails

Recently I have started trying to do more with Zoie's hair then just add a bow. She tolerates it pretty well and I think she's super cute.

Lincoln Museum

We vactioned with my family this past July. On the way down, a few of us went to the Lincoln Museum in Springfield. Zoie had tons of fun in the Mary Todd Lincoln room where she could dress-up and play. It's a pretty neat museum. I'd recommend it.

Happy 2nd Birthday Zoie

Time has flown but Zoie is now 2. Here are pictures from her first party at Papa & Ma-Ga (Grandma)'s house. We feel so blessed by the love of family

The girls playing on Zoie's new toy....who needs toys when you have boxes?

Go Princess!!

Medieval Times was having a buy one get one free deal going on. Renea had wanted to take Matthew and I always love it, so we planned a fun Sunday after-church activity. I love Medieval Times, so I'm always up for it.

This was the first time we took Zoie. She loved it. The funny part is she would cheer for the Princess. The knights would be jousting etc... and she'd put her little fist in the air shouting "princess, princess"...then she'd point up to the princess who was "hosting" the feast.

We got there early so we had fabulous seats. Second row right in the middle. We had a wonderful time.

My French Fry

Amanda is part of an international group at ISU. The other night they were supposed to come to the event representing their country. Amanda and her roommate Bethany decided to go as a hamburger and fries. They made these costumes out of boxes literally hours before the event. Quite impressive if you ask me. What do you think of their representation of the U.S. of A.?

Baby Jesse

Zoie has a new cousin. Earlier this month Brian and Amber and big brother Braden welcome Jesse into their home. Everything went pretty well and he's a cutie. We love him. I was worried Zoie would have jealousy issues but no, she adores him. She thinks he is pretty neat. Here are some pictures so you can see how cute he is.

New Office

One of the perks of a our new basement is my new office, it's working out great. Here are teh pictures. It's not totally done but it's close.

Georgia Trip Entry 1 - Our Little Traveler

Last month we took a belated holiday down to Georgia. These first pictures are of Zoie during our travels. Zoie was a fabulous traveler. She did great on the flights, happy rode in the car, I was so pleased. More about our trip to come later...

Change and my Doll Baby

I haven't blogged much in the past month primarily because we have had a lot going on. My head has been swimming a bit and blogging...well I thought about it many times but with so much happening I almost didn't know what to say. Now that things have slowed down (aka we are snowed in), I thought I'd drop a quick note.

The biggest change that has happened is Mark changed jobs. He left CAT and is now working as an accountant for Hyatt Corporation in downtown Chicago. So he takes the train in every morning, works in a professional office environment, and works in accounting. This job is a great opportunity and thus far has been going really well. Mark enjoys working downtown, the people he works with are very welcoming, and he's really made good use of the train ride.

The commute is long, so someday we may consider moving to a closer location to the city but for now, this is what we're going to do.

Since this update isn't very picture friendly, I thought I'd include some pictures of my doll baby. I like to dress her up and so far she seems to like it too. She asks for a bow every morning when I get her dressed :).

Church Dress (Is this the one you saw Mom Lindberg?)

Wild bed head

Getting ready to go out in the cold

Cool Kid

Cute outfit from Aunt Diana

Cousin Love

With the holidays etc....Zoie has had numerous opportunities to play with her cousins and she loves it. She is forver asking for "Brady (Braden), Emmett, Cara, or Cista (Calista). Here is some fun pictures of Zoie with her cousins.

Snow

Last year I didn't really have Zoie go out in the snow because she was too little, not walking, and generally would consider it an awful idea. The first good snow I did take her out. At first she thought it was great, it was fun to be outside again.

Then she touched it...and it wasn't fun anymore. She wouldn't wear her gloves and the cold snow was something she didn't like. She'd get some on her and she'd say her classic "stuck, stuck" as she'd quickly try to wipe it off. She was content to just run up and down the freshly scooped sidewalk and driveway.

Interestingly enough, she hasn't asked to go outside since.