It's a Girl!

Yesterday was a AWESOME day! My parents got a great deal on a new Big Baby Taylor and bought it for me! ME! They didn't have to do that, but they did and I love them even more for it!

You see the story goes;

On my Dad's 2ND deployment he bought a Big Baby Taylor (guitar) to take with him to the desert so he didn't have to ship his other guitars there. Well he ended up staying in the states, and his Big baby Taylor ended up fitting me just right. And since I was picking up the guitar again he sent it home with me to practice well knowing that if I didn't play it, it would be returned. Well I played it, I adopted that guitar, my Dad even wrote a song about all his guitars and he says "my daughter Carrie plays my Big Baby Taylor!" . Finally he just started calling it my guitar, and then he was called up to go to Iraq again. So he sadly told me that he needed to take it with him. I was of course crushed but knew it was his guitar and needed to go serve it's purpose. It's not that he left me empty handed by any means, he left me with his Martin. Amazing guitar, just big. You see my strummin arm goes numb after about 10 mins of playing. But yesterday everything changed. My mom told me that I needed to come to her house between 3:30 and 4:00 for a secret surprise. We were running late and I texted her with approximate time of arrival. It turned out that her "appointment" was late as well so we beat her "appointment" there. We sat and I fidgeted until she finally told me the secret surprise.

I WAS SO EXCITED!!!!!

So then I had to sit and fidget until the woman finally called to bring it over!

She's a beaut! I don't know if I'm going to name her yet but I have decided...it's a girl!

P.S. To see pictures go to http://www.threetimesisacharm.blogspot.com

Wow...what a strange feeling

Wow, it's strange to think that Dad is this far away! Doesn't he look great?? Well he is officially safetly there! For more info check out http://threetimesisacharm.blogspot.com/

Carrie and Laura...guess who's who...

Muhahahahahahaha

Prankster strikes bowling alley

By JEFF REINITZ, Courier Staff WriterWATERLOO ---

A bowling alley operator is asking for the safe return of a cardboard candidate that was carted off last week.Bruce Strom set up a life-sized cutout of presumed Democratic nominee Barack Obama at his Maple Lanes alley on University Avenue for a promotion.Obama had bowled a 37 while campaigning in Pennsylvania, and Strom's deal offered "I Beat Obama" certificates to any patron who bested the candidate's score.Bowlers also had their pictures taken with the cardboard senator from Illinois, said Strom.But on Thursday evening, staff noticed the two-dimensional Obama was gone from the concourse where it stood."It just mystically disappeared," Strom said. He suspects a "Quartermania" participant borrowed it without permission.He was disappointed but not surprised by the theft. He hasn't filed a police report."In my heart of hearts, I think someone will return it," Strom said.The disappearance was the second case of skullduggery for the Obama cutout.A week earlier, someone dragged it out of the bowling alley and left it in the middle of University Avenue.Employees rescued him, Strom said.Another cardboard Obama remains safe at Strom's Valley Park Lanes in Cedar Falls.The cutouts are part of a National Bowling Week promotion that includes an combined effort by alleys across the country to get in the Guinness World Book with a record for most games bowled in a single day on Saturday. The promotion includes one free game and shoe rental.Contact Jeff Reinitz at (319) 291-1578 or jeff.reinitz@wcfcourier.com.\

I think we should all ban together and steal all of these cardboard cut outs and send ransom notes....this guy seemed pretty attached to his!! :) Plus then we would save people from having to see him, eye to eye.

Family Update!!

My mom is doing much better as you can all see her smiling face!

I am so glad! She went to the doctor last week and got a good report and has to see another one this week! Let's all pray for the best news!
Me and Holly on Friday
Did you know that Marigolds attract butterflies??


This butterfly is my Favorite!



Our flowers continue to get ginormous!
Big ones, small ones, some as big as your head...

Mike and I went driving yesterday and we came across this windmill in the middle of no where so we stopped and took pictures! Ha ha!

Well Dad left us on Thursday. He left in the evening and made it safely back to Ft. Sill. This time it wasn't so hard. We were all still happy about the extra day's we got to spend with him. So after he left we ordered pizza and hung out with Mom.
We had a nice weekend!
Friday night Mike and I canned salsa! We made 6 more jars! Yay! We will be able to do that again soon! After we canned, we went over to Holly's parents house to grill out. That was fun. Jim and Marylee came home a little earlier from there vacation then planned so we called it a night early and went over to Ma's for a little while and got her a frosty! We headed home and went to bed!
Saturday Mike and I slept in! I love doing that! But hate it at the same time. I love being up early early in the morning when it's still chilly. But that sooooo didn't happen! We didn't do a whole lot of anything, we went and rented some movies and went to HyVee. We were going to have a fire but no one seemed to want to join us. So we had a movie night! We watched Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay and National Treasure 2, The Book of Secrets. Both very entertaining!!! We had fun just the 2 of us, it's seems kinda like that's how we have been ending up lately, just the 2 of us. I don't mind, actually I kinda like it! I love having parties and people over all the time, but I also like having a messy house and not cleaning it!
Sunday
Wow we are lazy! Ok I think I washed a few dishes and picked up some stuff, I did do 2 loads of laundry and Mike did some man things. Other than that we only left the house to go take our movies back.
Dad called and let me know he was getting ready to get on the bus and head for the airport, he should be in Iraq by the time most of you read this! Don't forget you can check out his blog or my mom's for more details.
OK so it's Monday, but I have a short week this week and am very very very excited! Sorry to say we have no super fun plans yet but I'm sure I will come up with something! :) Have a great Monday all!

GO AMERICA!!!!

GO MICHAEL PHELPS! 8 Gold Medals for America!

Don't you just love this picture? Apparently the guy likes Frosted Flakes better than Wheaties and is choosing to be on that box instead...I think it's just GRRRRRRRRRREATE!

GO SHAWN JOHNSON!

I don't know if you have been following the Olympics as much as my family but WOW! Go America! And I guess I can say GO IOWA! HAHA!

It was amazing to watch Shawn Johnson (of West Des Moines, Iowa in your face other states!!) finally win her gold! You could just see the joy in her eyes after her routine like she new it was finally her time! Although walking away with 3 silver medals wouldn't be the worst thing in the world...but she got her gold! I couldn't tear my eyes away from the TV during the medal presentation and the nation anthem. I was so proud! :)

GO AMERICA!!

Manic Monday

This is Maggie (laura's min pin) and Mama!! She really missed Ma while she was gone!
Remember my little garden that we planted...yeah it got a lot bigger!!
Did you know there are tomato plants, green pepper plants, and Corn growing in this mess of Marigolds? There are 6 Tomato plants, 6 pepper plants, and 8-10 corn stalks!!

We don't know how but these Marigolds are the size of my fist!!!

Ok so we successfully got Mom home last Thursday and I spent a couple days at Mom and Dad's house helping get her settled in.

This weekend was pretty laid back. Mike had a party for a guy from work on Friday night and I didn't leave Mom and Dad's until about 11:00PM.

Saturday we didn't get going until after 3 in the afternoon, but once we did we really got going! We had to go to Wal-Mart and get things for us to can some salsa and some things for Mom and Dad.

We delivered those items and spent a little time with the rents. It was nice! I really like seeing them both EVERY DAY! Too bad that is not possible!

:(

After that we went and visited Mike's mom and we all went to Walgreens.

Finally we headed for home about 9:00. Once we got there it was full speed ahead on canning salsa with tomatoes from our garden and peppers from my Mom's!

We had fun this was a learning experience for us but it went really really well! It is delicious, but we only had enough tomatoes to make 2 1/2 pints so we can't wait to get more!! Yum! The 1/2 is already gone! Well I was feeling festive during all this salsa making and made a pitcher of frozen margaritas, and it called for 1/2 can (that the mix was in) of tequila. So I added a 1/2 can of tequilas and another splash for good measure...well needless to say I drank the entire pitcher...yum yum but was way silly for the rest of the night!

Yesterday was Sunday. I dread Sundays. First of all, I had taken a couple days off work to help my parents out and since I spent a lot of time over there I got NOTHING done in my house! I spent most evenings at the hospital last week! So I stayed home yesterday and catch up on laundry, I think I did at least 5 loads. Now it's all clean! That never lasts long though! Derek came over and the boys played around with a metal detector. Too bad they didn't find any thing good!! But at least they had fun. That pretty much sums up the weekend. This week is already getting full! Pleas e-mail me and tell be how everyone is doing! I would really love to hear from ALL of you!!

Oops I forgot!!

So I was just thinking that I forgot to mention something very important! My dad is still here!! They gave him a little longer to get mom home and comfortable! Yay! He will be leaving mid to late next week it sounds like anyway. So we are very happy to have him here with us.

Mom is doing a little better everyday! She is much happier here at home in here living room! I know we all feel so much better that she is here and able to heal! OK that's all for now! Have a great weekend! I know we will!

Today is the Day!!

Tis is my mom's arm where and evil nurse polked her over and over and still couln't get the IV
Ouch this is only one of the many brusies the keep appearing out of no where!!

Today is the day that Mom gets to come home! I am so excited! I got here about 9:45 this morning in preparation for her arrival! I have been a cleaning machine! OK, well so far I've gotten ALL the floors vacuumed and cleaned. I have also gotten 2 loads of laundry complete with more to go! I'm just trying to do my part, hoping that it will be just a little stress on her when she gets home. I know she wont be able to do a lot of this stuff for a while and I want her to start out fresh so she's not stuck in here chair looking around at all the things that need to get done!! Her house is so cool now! It has the central vacuum so that rocks and she has these pretty wood floors that are fun to wash because you get to see them shine!! OK I guess I should probably get back to work if this is all going to get done soon!!!!!
Well I just got THE phone call, she's on her way home!!

Mom Update!

Oh beautiful for spacious Sky's....
This is what I got to look at the hole way home from the hospital last night!

Isn't it amazing? This is what I never got to see living in the city, it just seemed like it went on forever! I wish you could see the amazing colors in the clouds! This was a very nice reminder that everything happens for a reason.

I got to see mom for a while last night. She was a little down because she had to stay in the hospital another night. I'm sure I would have felt the same way. The good news is she did well when she walked yesterday. She has to use a walker but right now, she needs it! She can get out of bed by herself as well. I am pretty sure she is heading home sometime today. Hopefully this morning so she can get used to being there while Dad is still here. He will be leaving sometime this evening. Pray he has a safe trip back and a safe flight over to Iraq.

Well let me introduce you to someone,

Everyone I would like you to meet Nurse Carrie!

"Hi, I'm nurse Carrie! I plan on fluffing Lois's pillows, cooking for her, cleaning for her, and poking her with a lot of needles! MUHAHAHAHA"

Have a great day all, I will update you again soon! :)

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURA!!

Laura, Dad, and her Birthday Beer!
Laura and her Birthday Steak!
Laura, Dad, and her Birthday Sunday...we made her share!!!

My sister is 26. Wow.

I know she hates to have me broadcast it!

I can't believe I will be 25 sooner than later, so much for achieving the goal I set a very long long time ago; "Get Married and have all of my children by the time that I am 25!" OK I got part of it done, were just having so much fun being "free"! I have the baby bug like crazy! I think everyone I know is pregnant or just had babies! Girrr! Someday!

Mom Update:

I got to spend some time with her alone yesterday! Like she has a choice! She is doing a lot better in my opinion! She is in a lot of pain but not loopy any more. Did you know that Shirley McClain was her Nurse?? :)

Were hoping she is able to come home today, it's all going to depend on how she is feeling about doing things at home, like getting out of bed and getting dressed etc.

I want her home as soon and she's good and ready to be there. I know Laura and I can take good care of her!

OK I'll keep everyone updated!!!

Happy Birthday Laura!!

Ranger could possibly be the happiest that Dad's home visiting!
This was a big thunder cloud I saw on my way home one night last week I think Thursday. You can't see them but there were hundreds of lighting strikes up in the cloud. It was cool!!


Mom's new ride!
Mom's awesome helmet!

OK so here's the story.

Friday Mom got up some guts and decided to ride her new bike to the bank. Well she ended up not getting as far as planned. Poor Mom! She hit a car on her street and ended up fracturing her pelvis. She is ok but as of today she is still in the hospital. She's been pretty much doped up since the accident, but last night she was eating with out falling asleep and holding good conversations with us! Recovery has started. Luckily for her both Dad and I were outside watching when all this happened. Scary. I'm just glad she's ok! I'm sure once she gets home she would love some e-mails/cards and phone calls!

This is Ayden, he's getting so big!! Dusty and Krystal's little boy.

As they say, the show must go on.

Well while mom was laying in the ER she insisted that Laura's B-day party that was planned for that night must go on! Well we had spent the day preparing and cooking! So here are some pictures from the party, enjoy!

Tyler (Laura's Friend) and Laura

Our friend Holly brought her dog 'Moe' who is a shitsu/Pomeranian mix over! The dogs went crazy!! Maggie did NOT like her one bit! So we had a bit of a dog rodeo!

This is Jon, Mike, and Corina on the swing!

Roxy and Chuck and MY baby Taylor! Playing us some oldies but goodies! We were having fun making requests!
This is Holly and Jacob (and Molly) Holly grew up just 2 houses down from us!
This is Jen (Derek's girlfriend) , Cassy, and Corina!
Adam and Derek
Dusty, Krystal, and Laura

Me and Jonny!

Roxy, Bob, and Chuck again, still entertaining!
This is the "HI LOIS" picture we took, sooo HI LOIS!!
This is a picture of the storm we got caught in outside Mom's hospital room, this is taken from in the room!

I know we will all keep you updated! Keep Ma is your prayers!