Playdate with Ella

Melissa and Ella came to Ames last week to hang out. We had a great time together and enjoyed a picnic at the Iowa State Campus. Ella is about the same age as Brenna, so it was fun to see them interact with each other.

Visit from our Floridian's

Jared's sister Lydia, brother-in-law Matt, and nephew Micah came to Iowa from West Palm Beach, FL for a week and a half to visit. We had a wonderful time with them. Some of the highlights were having a family meal at Caleb & Maranda's to celebrate Matt finishing his Masters degree, going to the Des Moines zoo, celebrating Lydia's birthday with an awesome steak dinner and yummy strawberry cake, watching The Office and So You Think You Can Dance together, and celebrating Father's Day (the first for Jared & Caleb) at Johnny's Italian Steak House (which I would recommend to anyone living in the DM area). There were a lot of great memories made. We had so much fun with them while they were here and we are looking forward to the next time we get to see them. Maybe we will make another trip to FL this winter.
Lydia, Matt, & Micah, we love you guys and miss you already!!!


Lydia's birthday celebration!

Jared's nephew, Micah, playing w/bubble sword.

Brenna with cousins Easton & Micah.

Brenna with Aunt Anna and Grandma & Grandpa VC.

Caleb (Jared's brother), Easton & Maranda.

Happy Father's Day, Jared!

Jared is such a wonderful daddy to Brenna. She loves him so much already. Some of their favorite things to do together are playing on the floor, making goofy noises, playing peek-a-boo, and riding on daddy's shoulders. As soon as Jared walks in the room, there is a huge smile on Brenna's face. I am so thankful for a husband who spends time with our baby. He not only plays with her, he helps out a ton. Thank you, Jared, for being such a great daddy to our beautiful baby girl. You are already a great example to her of what our heavenly Father is like. I love you!

Clothes Swap

Last night I participated in a Clothing Swap. It was a lot of fun! This is how it works. Everyone who participates cleans out their closets and picks 10-15 items they don't want anymore. It could be shirts, dresses, jackets, pants, purses, shoes, belts, hats, jewelery, etc. You drop them off at the hostess house a few days before the event so she can sort through and organize them by size/type/etc. When you arrive at the swap, you rummage through the clothes and try on anything you want, but then you have to put them back so other people can try them on. To make it fair, everyone draws a number and then you take turns and pick one item each round. After 4 or 5 rounds it's a free for all. I drew #3 last night, so I fared pretty well :) My first pick was a pair of dark jean trousers from Express. They are really cute, but of course I have to get them hemmed!!! I had a ton of fun since it included some of my favorite things.....people, clothes, food, and good deals. :)