Posts Tagged ‘Ben’

Colorado Day Four and Five

Saturday, October 9th, 2010

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Day four of our trip took us on an adventure in Moab, Utah where we spent the day hiking through Arches National Park.  However, this wasn’t before we almost ran out of gas because exits were 65 miles apart!  It got interesting for a minute, but luckily a little gas station on the side of the road saved the day!  Arches National Park was absolutely gorgeous.  Beautiful red rocks towering above you on all sides, arches everywhere.  Too hard to explain, and just like Rocky Mountain National Park, pictures don’t do it justice!  We spent most of the day in the park, grabbed some Mexican on the way out and headed back to Grand Junction for the evening.  When we got to the hotel we swam for a bit.  Mikayla was even more fun in the pool this go round than she was this summer!  We topped the night off with some Hagaan Daz Triple Dark Chocolate Ice Cream.  It was so creamy it literally melted in your mouth!

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Hanging at the visitors center for a bit before we headed out.

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It is amazing to me that there are structures like this in the world.

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Trying to keep Mikayla entertained on the way down with a little "If You’re Happy and You Know It".

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Balanced Rock in the middle, seriously how does it not fall?

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The Three Gossips

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On Friday, we got up and enjoyed a breakfast in the hotel.  Then when for another round of swimming, packed up and headed to Denver.  Mikayla was a champ in the car, sleeping or entertaining herself for most of the way!  When we got to the airport we found out that Mikayla would indeed be a "lap baby" because the flight was completely booked.  Things got a little interesting!  She did great for the first 1.5-2 hours.  It was the last thirty minutes that were tricky.  The flight was supposed to leave at 7 (her bedtime), ended up leaving at 8, which put us getting to Nashville around 11:30 or so.  Mikayla has never been one to be rocked to sleep, so trying to get her to sleep on the plane was a bust!  About thirty minutes before landing she started a screaming fit and there was nothing we could do to calm her.  She was just overly tired and needed to crash.  Luckily, the other people flying were gracious and tried to share in entertaining her.  Finally, as we touched down she crashed in my arms.  We made it home about 1:30 and crashed ourselves.  It was a great trip, but now we need like a week to recover.  Anyone else ever feel like that after returning from vacation?

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Colorado Day Three

Thursday, October 7th, 2010

Yesterday we got up early, in hopes of missing the rain/snow in the forecast, to hike and hang out in Rocky Mountain National Park.  Our first hike was to three different lakes in the park and then we ended up driving Trail Ridge Road to get more of a feel of the Rocky Mountains.  The hike was a little cold and foggy, but luckily it never rained or snowed for that matter.  Then during the drive the clouds came and went so we actually got some decent views.  We ended the day at a terrible Mexican restaurant, that only allotted one basket of chips per table.  If you know me at all, you know I require at least two baskets!  On the way to Grand Junction, CO we stopped for a quick ice cream treat.  For seats they had saddles to sit on.  It was a quaint little spot.  Here are some pictures from day three.  If you want to see more, check out Ben’s Facebook photos.

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Check out that view!  You could see for…feet! 

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Mikayla admiring the fog…I mean "wa-wa". 

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Bear Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park 

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The pictures don’t even do it justice. 

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That’s right folks, we are from Kentucky and we let our daughter run around bare foot in National Parks. 

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Food has been a little tricky on this trip so Mikayla decided to fend for herself!

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Colorado Day Two

Wednesday, October 6th, 2010

Despite getting up early, going to bed late and not getting great naps, Mikayla still woke up at 6:30 this morning.  What in the world was she thinking?  When our alarm went off at 8:30 (wishful thinking 😉 ) we had already, showered, packed and eaten breakfast!  Our first stop today was to the Butterfly Pavilion.  We weren’t sure what to expect, but it turned out to be pretty cool.  It was basically a bug and spider museum.  They had all kinds of rare insects, spiders, tarantulas and a ton of butterflies.  We enjoyed looking at them all (well except maybe the spiders for me) and learning a bit.  We even saw a butterfly hatching from a chrysalis and Ben got to hold a tarantula.

After we left there we had a yummy Thai lunch and then drove on to Fort Collins, CO.  Mikayla actually fell asleep in the car so we ended up sitting in the parking lot of REI and taking turns going in and shopping while she napped.  Then we concluded the evening with a couple of Brewery tastings and dinner with a friend from BG.  It was a nice relaxing day.  Here are some shots of the Butterfly Pavilion.

Colorado 103 Petting Hissing Cockroaches

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Colorado 107Petting a starfish 

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Colorado 113 Up close and personal with some butterflies.

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She loved the butterflies, especially when they got close to her or flew around her head!

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Colorado Day One

Tuesday, October 5th, 2010

Our trek began early Monday morning when our alarms went off at 3:20am.  We slowly got up, dressed, packed some last minute items, got Mikayla up and loaded the car.  She stayed asleep until we hit the road and then was wide awake!  This was not looking good for her first plane ride, since technically she would be a "lap baby" and not have her own seat unless there were empty ones on the plane.  Turns out we were really lucky and there ended up being one extra seat on the plane.  This meant we were able to take her car seat on the plane (a definite recommendation for anyone traveling with toddlers or younger) and strap  her in like she was in the car.  I was prepared for a long three hours of entertaining, but Mikayla was amazing!  She was kept looking out the window and saying plane and smiling really big!  We didn’t have to hardly use any of the "ammo" we brought with us.  The only tricky part was changing a poopy diaper in the airplane bathroom!

She managed to stay awake until the pilot said it was time for us to start descending and she managed to fall into a deep sleep…go figure!   We opted to keep her in the car seat since she was asleep and carry that around the airport.  It only looked a little ridiculous I am sure!  We went straight from the airport to The Children’s Museum of Denver.  It was a nice museum and they had a great area designed for birth-4 year olds.  It is hard to compare to our trip to Indianapolis Children’s Museum because size wise there is no comparison, it is much smaller.  But still very nice and despite being a little tired (parents, not Mikayla) we had a blast.

The rest of our day consisted of napping, eating at a Mongolian Grill for dinner, an ice cream treat and walking around downtown Denver.  Side note – I have decided to make it my goal to eat at a local ice cream joint at least once a day!!  Here are some shots from the museum, I didn’t get any on the plane or during the evening.

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Bubble Station – I think Daddy had as much fun as Mikayla.  I think we went to this exhibit like three times before we left!

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She liked painting until she got paint on her hands!

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Dress up – Royalty!

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Building with Daddy

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Dressed up as an ant (they had dress up stuff at each station area)

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In the ant tunnel with Daddy.

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Conductor Kickert

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The Vet’s office – Checking on the animals in the kennels.

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Taking care of the sick kitty.

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The remainder of the pictures are from the birth-4 year old area.  Very well put together!

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Inside the home area.  It was all wooden furniture, dishes, washer, bunk beds, etc.  She loved being in here and pretending like she was eating and drinking!

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On the fire truck – this was the last place we went and in case you can’t tell the 4am wake up call is catching up to her!  She was beyond ready for a nap!

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Six Year Recap

Saturday, October 2nd, 2010

A lot has happened in the last six years:

  1. Got my first teaching position
  2. Bought my first house
  3. Moved into my first house
  4. Graduated with a degree in Elementary Education
  5. Became an aunt three times over
  6. Graduated with a Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction
  7. Graduated with another Master’s degree in Exceptional education (and Autism certificate)
  8. Got pregnant and had my first child
  9. Bought a new engine for my car
  10. Watched Mikayla turn one, walk, and talk
  11. Flew across the ocean to Africa
  12. Watched the entire series of Friends (multiple times actually)

And so many more things I am not even thinking of, but one of the most important things that I have experienced in those years is being married to the man of my dreams for six years.  Happy Anniversary babe!

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Mikayla’s Birth Story – 16 months later

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

Mikayla is now sixteen months old and is growing like a weed.  We can hardly even call her a baby anymore.  I have intended to sit down and write out her birth story for some time now (sixteen months to be exact) and just haven’t found the time.  I actually started writing this when Mikayla was two months old and never finished!  Such the procrastinator. 

I am writing this more for me than anyone, but wanted to have some sort of record of it.  Disclaimer:  This might get a little too personal for some so please read with caution!  Ok here it goes.

My last day of work was Friday, April 24.  My kiddos and I celebrated by having a Popsicle and Play party before the day ended.  It was a perfect way to end the year (at least end my year)!  Monday was my first official day of Maternity Leave.  I spent the day finishing up my class work for my Rank I class.  By the afternoon I had finished up my class and was "ready to play"!  Ben and I cooked a nice dinner and then went for a long walk with Shiloh.  We hung around the house for a bit and then decided we would go rent a movie.  We then headed into town to rent a movie, making a quick stop at Kroger for some essentials.  I decided I had to have a bean burrito from Taco Bell so that was our second stop.  Unfortunately, when we arrived at the Bell, they were out of refried beans.  How does a Mexican restaurant run out of beans?  I mean really, but that is a completely different post.  Disappointed, I decided I would settle for a double cheeseburger and fries from McDonalds where we were picking up our Red Box.  Don’t judge, I was nine months pregnant and hungry!

We got back to the house and started watching our movie around 10:00.  I know what you guys are thinking, man that is late for you Beth!  Let me back up for a minute and explain why I was "up so late".  You see, being nine months pregnant does not allow for comfortable sleeping.  I had actually been napping a lot better than I had been sleeping at night.  So, Ben and I had made the decision to stay up late until I was completely exhausted and then go to bed.  I was planning on napping the next day.  Well, Little Miss Mikayla had different plans for us, much different.

Ok, back to the story.  Around 11 I started feeling this pressure in my lower abdomen.  It came and went about every 10-15 minutes.  At this point I was like "This could be contractions, maybe I should say something to Ben".  I shifted positions and tried to ignore them.  However, they kept coming back.  I mentioned them to Ben and he suggested I take a shower.  In the shower the "contractions" seemed to disappear.  So we decided to try and head to bed.  I went to the bathroom one last time and noticed quite a bit of blood when I wiped.  This of course freaked me out so we picked up the phone to call the doctor (it was late 1:30 or so).  He said it sounded completely normal, but we should head into the hospital to check it out just to make sure.

We gathered our bags and headed into the hospital.  We tried to be nonchalant about it because we didn’t want them to stick me in a wheel chair (that is policy for after hours women in labor).  We didn’t really think we were even in labor.  We made it up to labor and delivery, convinced we would have to head home.  They hooked me up to the monitor and sure enough I was having contractions every few minutes, who knew?  We hung out for awhile, worked through some contractions, watched a little Friends, made some phone calls to family to let them know what was going on, and tried to relax.

Mikayla 001      Trying to relax a little in between contractions.  This was post-epidural!

Along the way I had a special visitor come in for the duration of our labor.  A student of mine had a mom who was a labor and delivery nurse.  She told me to call when we went into labor if she wasn’t at the hospital, so when we got there I made the call.  Unfortunately, it was her day off!  However,  she was so generous to donate her time and come in and sit by our sides for the entire process.  She was a huge blessing.  She was able to talk to us a friend and nurse at the same time.  She, along with Ben, talked me through the contractions, encouraged me during pushing and hold my hand along the way.  I am not sure where we would have had as smooth of a delivery if she hadn’t been around!

At this point I was only dilated 3 cm or so.  We stayed this way for quite some time.  At some point my water broke and the contractions became so unbearable I decided to go ahead and get the epidural.  AMAZING!  At first it didn’t work out to well, only numbing me on one side.  However after a few small modifications, like laying on my side, things started working pretty well.  I was even able to make a few more phone calls.  Two I remember well were to my long term sub to check on my kiddos and the other to our secretary at school to pass the word along about my progress.  We were moving right along.  A few hours passed and still hadn’t made much progress.  Dr. D came in and suggested we start a little Pitocin to speed things up.  We did and this helped.  At this point things speeded up quickly.  At one point I remember a nurse coming and checking to see how far along I was, which was 9cm.  She left and by the time she left the room I told Ben I felt like I needed to push.  He quickly retrieved the nurse and sure enough it was time.

We pushed for around fifteen minutes and then heard the words, "It’s a girl".  Ben cut the cord and I heard our baby cry for the first time.  It was the sweetest cry in the world!  These past sixteen months have been a whirlwind of emotions!  We have laughed, cried, played, and most of loved our little bundle!

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My first time holding and seeing my daughter.  Side note – the lady in the yellow shirt was the off duty nurse who came in to support us!

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One of our first pictures together!

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Redneck Baby

Sunday, August 22nd, 2010

Not only do we allow our daughter to walk around the yard in nothing but a diaper and rain boots, but we also let her ride the lawn mower with daddy.  That’s right folks, we are redneck family at heart!  (Please take note of the slide in the middle of the garden!)

August 2010 015Don’t let me fall dad, it looks scary!

  August 2010 017 I think Ben was explaining why the lawn mower sounded so loud!

August 2010 018 Fun times with daddy!

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Bonus Field Trip

Sunday, July 11th, 2010

We went on a bonus field trip this week to pick blackberries at The Orchard in Tennessee.  It is a great little pick your own farm with blackberries, strawberries and peaches (all when is season of course).  I have been three times and each time have thoroughly enjoyed myself.  Although it was hot, I think everyone had a good time.  Ben even took time off to come pick some berries with us.  I am pretty sure Mikayla ate almost a whole quart in the hour we picked.  If you get a chance you should check them out.  We came home and made some yummy blackberry jam to have for the next year.  Here are some shots of the fun we had. 

blackerries and Indy 002 Picking berries.  She learned really quick to only pick the black ones and not the red ones!

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blackerries and Indy 004 Sneaking a bite or two.

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blackerries and Indy 006 A mouthful of berries!

blackerries and Indy 007 The berry loot!

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All tuckered out after a hard day in the field!

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Berry juice all over! 

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Mad that we took her berries away!

We leave in the morning for Africa.  I will try to post along the way, but not sure about Internet access. 

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Field Trip #3

Saturday, June 19th, 2010

For our third field trip of the summer we decided to head to a local hotel that has an indoor fountain and glass elevator.  I thought Mikayla would like to watch the water and ride up the elevator and see the “sights”.  I think she had a great time.  Daddy got to come along for this trip which made it extra special.  We watched the fountain for a bit and stuck our hands in the water.  Mikayla really liked to feel the different plants and point to everything!  She even got a kick out of the stone turtle and frog that were hidden in the plants.  She loved going up and down in the elevator and watching everything along the way.  Here are some pictures from the trip.

June 002 Laughing as she climbs off the ledge.

June 005Pointing to the fountain (and please ignore the fact that she isn’t wearing shoes)! 

June 008 She was very cautious about sticking her finger in the water.

June 010 Daddy taking his turn going up the elevator (sorry about the flash).

June 011 So high you can hardly see them!

June 013 My baby girl and me!

In case you missed our other field trips you can check them out here and here.  Stay tuned for our next adventurous field trip. 

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Looking forward to summer…

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

School is over in 6 days for the kiddos, 7 for me and I can’t wait for many reasons.  Here are just a few:

Spending lots of time playing, cuddling and loving on this cutey! _DSC4730.jpg_DSC4730.jpg

Not getting up early – at least not early and having to get ready to do something.MLK b-day 039 Breakfast in Bed on Mother’s Day with Mikayla, a relaxing morning. 

Not having to control a classroom of five year olds (although I really dearly love my job).

Drinking a cup of coffee and not worrying about having to guzzle it down because class starts in five minutes.

Enjoying my lunch, not having to eat in less than 20 minutes.

Gardening and eating produce that we grew in our backyard.  I can practically taste the homemade salsa as we speak!

Cooking more – let’s be honest, I don’t cook that often during the school year!

Crafting – what kind of crafts will I create this summer??

Going on one field trip a week with Mikayla.  My good friend Lara came up with this idea and I love it!

Potentially going to the Famer’s Market two times a week.

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My sister having her third child, my first niece.

A two week visit to Swaziland, Africa (*excited about the visit but not leaving Mikayla).

Playing in the pool with Mikayla.

Getting to see my husband more.  Currently he works on Friday and Saturday and some weeknights, so Sundays are our only free day together.

Scan0047 Engagement photos – What a goofball!

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Highschool flashback!

I can’t wait to see what summer offers this year!

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