Look who can walk!!!

Here are two of our latest videos! I'm warning you, they are adorable!!


In the last week, Taylor has taken more steps than ever! Still no many unprompted, although a couple of times we have caught her beginning to walk to something on her own, but she still prefers to drop and crawl! Not sure why this video has a black screen, but push play, I promise there is something there!

Happy Fall!

We took Taylor outside to play in leaves for a good photo opp. Here are 2 of our favorites! She's growing up so much!

Life after the Flu

We are finally ALL recovered from quite the nasty flu that pretty much EVERYONE we know has had! Taylor took quite a bit longer to get back to herself than Dave and I did. Today is the first day in a week and a half that she has had a normal appetite! I've gotten quite behind on pictures lately, so here are a few to get everyone caught back up!

After throwing up all night the night before Halloween, Taylor was feeling well enough to put her giraffe costume on and go trick or treating at Gma and Gpa's, Aunt Barb and Uncle Jim's, and our friends the Smiths. It may be a good thing we didn't go anywhere else...the amount of goodies she got at just these 3 places was CRAZY!!

Last weekend, we took our first REAL trip to the park for Taylor to play! She LOVED it! She had to play on everything possible, but swinging was her favorite!

Yesterday was Great Aunt Barb's birthday, so today we made cupcakes and Taylor helped frost them! Well, she discovered she liked the frosting so it was hard to get her to "work" anymore...she just wanted to eat! Here's a picture of her first baking experience in the kichen with mommy!

Yucky Yucky Flu!

No picture this time, it would make you too sad to see Taylor so sick! Yes, she caught the flu! Yesterday, I picked her up from the babysitter who watches her once or twice a week and we went to wake her from her nap to find that she had thrown up all over during her nap! We headed home and the minute I put her in her car seat she threw up tons! So I had to drive with the windows down, gagging...I had to call and have Dave come home to help! My stomach was not handling it very well! After getting her cleaned up she continued to vomit all afternoon and evening. It was SO sad watching her gag, dry heave and cry! We expected it to be a ROUGH night but luckily she slept all night as usual. I called for a sub yesterday evening expecting she would still be that sick today. Fortuneately, she has not gotten sick at all today! She isn't quite herself, but I can tell she is much better. The one good thing is that she has been cuddly and wanting to lay around with me, which doesn't usually happen at all! We are hoping to still be able to take her to a few places tonight in her costume and of course we'll post pictures if we get to! Happy Halloween!

Happy Birthday to ME!!

Hello everyone! Mommy and Daddy have decided that since I am one now, I can post my own blogs. In case you didn't know, I turned ONE this past Saturday! So yeah, basically, I am a big girl now! I had to wait for my party to be on Sunday because we went to a wedding in Marysville, KS (near Nebraska) on Saturday. I think Mom and Dad thought they could move the party to a different day and I wouldn't even know...but I did!! It's okay though, I had lots of fun at the wedding reception also! I wore an adorable pink dress with black leggings with a ribbon that said "I'm 1 Today!", that way everyone knew it was someone else's big day besides the pretty girl in white! (I think mom should post a picture of me at the wedding, I'm telling you, I was darn cute!) I'm not really sure who the girl in the pretty white dress stealing my attention was, but mommy and daddy knew her and her new husband from college. She was really nice to have the DJ announce my birthday and everyone at the reception sang happy birthday to me! WOW...I was on spotlight....and it was fun!! I tried to keep everyone's attention by showing my moves on the dance floor. I had quite the crowd around me at one point! We got home really late that night and I had to get some major sleep for my big party the next day!



Mommy and Daddy tried to pretend that Sunday was my birthday also... I let them, cause it's fine with me to be the birthday girl 2 days in a row! I had lots of guests show up for the bit "princess party": Grandma and Grandpa Balzer, Grandma Dippel (Gpa had to fly to the east coast for work), Great Gma/Gpa Parker, Great Aunt Barb and Uncle Jim, Aunt Stefanie, Uncle Steve and cousins Tyler, Jaden and Paige (boy, I had to work hard to keep the spotlight with those crazy cousins!), Cousin Terry (the rest of his family couldn't make it and I was sad about that), our friend Jeremy (Wally) and our great neighbors the Laniers. Daddy cooked chili for everyone and I could tell they all really liked it, cause no one really cared too much about me for awhile. But I stole the attention back in no time at all! No one could resist me in my Birthday Girl tshirt, my princess sash and tiara!!! I can definitely get used to this princess stuff! Here are some pictures that I am pretty proud of:






















I also got my very own little cake! I didn't realize that I was going to be stripped down next to nothing and made to eat it in front of a crowd. I think they all were expecting much more of a show than I gave them. People kept pushing my hand down into the cake and messing it all up. I was fine just picking at the frosting and tasting it...I can't help it if I'm such a princess...I just didn't want to get too messy! But I still got bath in the sink afterwards.

I do have to admit that my favorite gift was from mommy and daddy...my Disney Princess car! I LOVE IT! But I got lots of other presents that I love too. I guess mommy and daddy think I got spoiled by everyone. I just thought that's what life is like when you're a princess.

Don't they know, they don't have to spend a lot of money, the boxes are just as fun if not sometimes more fun than the toys that came in them!

What a party! I had so much fun and loved having all of my family and friends with me! I think mommy and daddy are having a hard time believing I am one already, but hey, princesses grow up too....the only thing they have to remember, is that I will always remain a princess!

Something besides Taylor!

Here are some recent changes in our house. For my birthday I asked Dave (with the help of his sister) to get all of our pictures we had from Taylor's photo sessions throughout the year put in frames and arranged on the wall in our dining room. As well as a picture from my sister's wedding that needed a frame and a place in her nursery. This was something that had been on my to-do list for some time and I just wanted it done! When we were gone to Bluegrass over my bday weekend, Stef and Steve came and did this picture collage behind our couch in the dining room and rearranged the wall above Taylor's dresser to make room for a picture of her. I came home and was VERY surprised! I have been trying to wait for the final touches before posting, but I got impatient. We have two black words "Blessings" and "Family" that are being placed in 2 of the spaces above pictures to tie it all together!

















This weekend, we finally picked up the couch and love seat we got from Dave's sister and rearranged our basement. We hadn't really done ANYTHING to our basement since we moved in. Here is our new set up. The 2nd pic is what you see right when you come down the stairs. The TV is now on the wall in front of the couch. The back area where we used to have the TV and sitting area will now be for Taylor's toys! We like it MUCH better than the way it was all arranged before. The room is still pretty bare, but I think for Christmas I will be asking for gift certificates and $ to decorate the entire basement.

Cheerleader and Football Player!!!

This past Thursday, we went to the Doctor for a sonogram and found out that we are having a BOY!!!! We are SO very excited to have one of each and have that feeling of "complete" family!! They narrowed my due date to March 2, which is earlier than expected. March 2 is a Sunday so the doctor said we'd do a scheduled c-section (b/c the first was a c-section, this one has to be also) the last week of February. My first thought, because Fridays are always nice, was that we'd choose the Friday before. Come to find out, that Friday is February 29. So our little boy's birthday would only happen every 4 years! So the question is....do we pick that date or not? It's kind of fun getting to choose which day will be his birthday! He would be awfully unique BUT I'm wondering if we would hear about it for the rest of our lives!!! Let us know your thoughts on a leap year baby!!

Here are some of Taylor's new tricks! We got this little push-walker from Dave's sister yesterday since her kids are done with it. She loves it and maybe she'll be walking soon! You also get to see her do a few more tricks as well. Enjoy! She's starting to pick up on a lot of stuff every day! Today, she heard a telephone ring and someone say "hello" on TV, she put her hand to her ear and I SWEAR also said "hello"!!!

Class of 1997 RETURNS!!

10 years later, Newton Class of 1997 returns for their first class reunion! We had a great weekend! Friday was a tailgate before the high school football game and Saturday was a dinner and party/dance. Dave had a blast seeing all his old friends, most of his entire group of friends made it back! Out of about 350 in the class, you can see in the picture below how many returned.















Dave with 3 of his best guy friends. Chris Tate, the one in the plaid shirt has such a fun job traveling with Blake Shelton (huge country singer) and other country music stars. For several years, he worked for CMT, and since then works individually for entertainers...he has VERY fun stories and we think he has one of the coolest jobs of anyone from the class!!! Here are sevearl of his other friends also!

But of course, I was his favorite person of the night!! heehee

So the night that we thought was ending around midnight somehow continued at our house. Everyone was looking for a place to hang out after the DJ ended at the party, and our house became the place. So we had about 40-50 people out back on our deck and went to bed at 4am!! I'm thinking it is going to be a LONG weekend recovering! Dave said it was one of the best weekends he's had in a LONG time (other than bluegrass, of course!)

Our Annual Weekend in Winfeld!-- WARNING--- THIS IS LONG!

This past weekend was the Walnut Valley Bluegrass Festival in Winfield (where I grew up), ALWAYS our favorite weekend of the year! We'll now start the countdown for next year! We had a great time and have spent most of the day today recovering! Here are some pics and some stories to help tell you about our weekend!

Some of our highlights of the festival: One of the biggest ones is the FOOD!! Big ears of corn dipped in butter, indians tacos, funnel cakes, corn dogs, cherry limeades, campground chili, ribs and much more.....we definitely came home well fed and probably a couple pounds heavier (luckily no one will be able to tell much on me!)

Here we are at Stage 1 (the big grandstands). This was a tough stage to have Taylor at because we had to stay on ground level with the stroller. This is the stage that has some of the TOP night performances. We arrived in Winfield on Thursday and it was quite warm. Friday got chilly and Saturday even cooler, but all in all, the weather was PERFECT!! The feeling of fall weather at bluegrass just makes the weekend even better! Taylor stayed nice, warm and cozy in her stroller!

This picture is from the camp my parents usually camp at, with friends from Arkansas and Minnesota that we get to see every year! They always do a birthday celebration for me, complete with my favorite zucchini cake!

One afternoon we hung out on the hill at Stage 2 listening to some great performers. Taylor got to crawl around and mess with daddy while he was snoozing away! Later that day, Taylor took a nap in Gma and Gpa's camper and Dave and I went back to this hill and both ended up taking a nap in the grass while enjoying the music! It was nice and relaxing!Stage 2 got PACKED for some of the performers!Taylor in her tie-dyed dress!Family picture in our tent!! We're thinking by next year we'd like to have a camper! We'll see if it actually happens!! Taylor didn't like the tent very much the first night. Maybe that's because it doesn't really get quiet there until about 3 or 4 in the morning, so we were expecting her to sleep with the noises or people and music all around her. But hey, there were babies EVERYWHERE so we knew it could be done. I'm sure it was just b/c it was the first night. Others told us their kids had rough first nights but were okay for the rest. Well, luckily, Gma and Gpa Dippel had a camper so we put the pack and play in there and that's where she slept the other nights....this helped us all stay "happy campers"!!! The next pics are some of the interesting things you may see at Bluegrass:

Yes, there is a joke camp....if you walk through it you can't get out till you tell a joke. It's quite fun. We luckily have avoided it the past few years.

There are hundreds of camps you can walk by and hear people jamming away at any time of the day or night!

Talk about some interesting ways to camp....you will see it ALL in Winfield! Sorry this pic is blurry, I was kind of far away. We're thinking we may do something similar with Dave's truck next year!!!

Not only do people jam in their camps, but just walking along the road you can find a crowd gathered listening to people jamming in the streets!! This group was very fun to listen to!

WHOAH, I didn't even know these existed anymore!

My favorite performer at Stage 1, John McCutcheon. He is more of a folk artist than bluegrass. I grew up with lots of his kids songs! He draws one of the biggest crowds at the festival!

And yes, these die hard fans had to bring the Nebraska/USC game to bluegrass! I was quite impressed with their setup!

So goodbye to Winfield, yet another year! Next year, Sept. 17-21 we will be at it again! Our goal is to get some friends to join us...it's hard to explain, even in pictures, exactly what it is like...but so far, anyone we've known that has gone, is hooked! Even if you're not that big of fan of the music, the atmosphere is such an experience! See you next year Winfield!!!