Farewell friends

Adam Messer and Jon Christophersen, two Carlson Software employees, departed recently to pursue educational endeavors. We will miss them!

First time swimming in a "big person" pool

My friend Amy accompanied Rebecca during her first swim in a big pool. Rebecca adores Amy!

Here's our cute bathing beauty...

Bluegrass Fair

From July 10 - 20, Leestown Road was even busier than usual due to the Bluegrass Fair. John and I decided to take Rebecca.

It was hot and everything at the fair was overpriced, but Rebecca enjoyed the cool duck pond, a ride on a "choo" and a circular adventure on a fire truck. We also watched an animal show.

Although it was nice to be together as a family, I was disappointed. The Germantown (hometown) Fair beats this fair any day! It lacked agriculture, livestock and that whole hometown feel. Thankfully, I was able to share the Germantown Fair experience with my friend Sarah in early August.

Brad Paisley

Friday, Rebecca and I spent our first night apart. I went to a Brad Paisley concert in Cincinnati with some friends, John stayed at home and hung out with some guys and Mom and Dad watched Rebecca.

The concert was a blast! Not only do I love Brad Paisley's music (OK... and his looks too), I loved seeing my friends! To my surprise, another extra bonus was hearing Jewel open the show!

The following yellow speck you see on your screen is Jewel...she yodeled.

Here is a picture of the concert...as you can see, we were pretty far back on the lawn.

Here are some pics of the concert crew...
...and the best...a Cable kiss. (These kids will be celebrating their second anniversary very soon!!)


After the concert, my friend Sarah and I went back to my friend Amy V.'s house while the rest of the crew went out. Like the old fogies that we are, we watched FOX news and then went to bed.

The next morning, the crew had breakfast together before Sarah and I shopped at the GAP clearance store. We both made out with great bargains before heading home!

My mom and dad had a blast watching Rebecca - but I understand she did not sleep well.

The night away was needed and great - but it was wonderful to see my fresh-faced cutie once again. Her lovely little face (and my husband's handsome face) beats Brad Paisley's any day!

To my hubby and little girl I sing, "But to me.....baby you are the world." (For those of you non-Brad-Paisley-listeners, it's a line from his aptly titled "The World" song.)

Posh Organic

FYI: A gal in my playgroup created a new on-line business called Posh Organic. She sells all sorts of organic gear and garb for mommies, daddies and babies. Be sure to check out her site in my favorite links!

Minnesota memories

We spent a good portion of June visiting family in Minnesota. We had a great time!

We decided to drive, because - believe it or not, it was much cheaper than flying. We broke up the drive over two days. On the first day, travel went well. On the second day, we got caught up for over 5 hours in bumper-to-bumper traffic near the Wisconsin dells. The interstate was closed as a result of recent flooding and we (along with all the other interstate traffic) were re-routed onto a county road. To say the least, it was miserable.

My suffering in the car was so minute compared to the suffering the people in the Midwest have endured as a result of these floods. Please continue to lift up those people in your prayers. Even though the waters have receded, there will be no quick fix.

The first night we were in Minnesota, we attended John's great-uncle Buck's retirement party. We were entertained by tunes performed by all of John's great uncles, John's dad, John's brother and John himself! The food was great and the company - top notch! While there, Rebecca became fascinated with a young lady named Stephanie. Here are some pics of Rebecca and Stephanie - courtesy of Stephanie's mom, Ann.



She was also entertained by a very awesome young man, named Cole (I believe.) Here are some pics of Rebecca and Cole and of the guys entertaining the group.




What a first evening!

The rest of our visit consisted of visiting John's Grandma and Grandpa Carlson, visiting with Great-Uncle Charlie - who was in from California, spending some time with Aunt Carol, seeing John's Aunt Loreen, hanging out with Michelle (Wyatt's fiance,) and celebrating Uncle Bill's birthday in and around Hastings (Twin City area.)

Here's Rebecca and her great-aunt, Carol - AKA "Tuff."

A few days after we arrived, John, his father and brother departed for their annual hunting trip to Wyoming. While Rebecca, Jean (John's mom) and I spent an entire weekend visiting family in St. Cloud. While there, Rebecca and I stayed with John's grandma, Dolores. We visited with Rebecca's great-aunts, Paula and Kathy, and Kathy's friend, Mary. We were also able to see Rebecca's great-great-aunts, Lenore and Pat. Lenore brought yummy sunfish, she caught, for us to feast upon.

We traveled a short distance to St. Martin to attend a very unique, very cool polka mass. I had never been to anything like it in my life!! It was sooo cool. The bishop presided over the service and even pointed to Rebecca during his homily - saying we need to look to bring up new Christian leaders!

The men returned from the West with stories, jewelry for the ladies (Black Hills gold earrings for me - yay!) and a broken truck (transmission trouble - they had to drive back only using second and third gears.)

We wrapped up our travels relaxing at John's parents' home before embarking on our trip back to Kentucky.

Here's a picture of Rebecca playing with some toys at the St. Cloud Catholic Charities office. (Aunt Kathy heads up the food bank and we visited her at work.) It is followed by a picture of Rebecca and Kath. Rebecca looks tired, but it's a good one of Kathy.


Rebecca and Nana......

Rebecca, Granny and Nana

Just a couple cute pics of Rebecca playing with cardboard rings...

Jogger Stroller

In later high school and college, I ran. I ran for fitness, I ran for fun, I ran for relaxation. Soon after I married, I stopped. I didn't stop all at once, but my running bursts have become less and less frequent.

Since I've watched many of my friends run 5Ks, minis and marathons recently, I became inspired to try again. So, I bought a "new" used stroller. I found it in the local classified ads for $65. I pounced on the deal and came home with this:


It's a little bulky, but all-in-all, I'm pleased. It even plays mp3's from my player over speakers so both Rebecca and I can enjoy the tunes! I've only taken it out a couple times. I bought it just before we made our over 2-week trip to Minnesota and haven't taken it out since we've been home (just over 1 week.) I intend to take it out in the next couple days. Wish me luck in developing a routine!!

The times I have taken it out, I felt like I was going to die....