Happy Birthday Nana!

Tuesday, September 16th was Nana's birthday! Isn't she beautiful!

We actually celebrated on the previous Friday because Susan was in town. Dad grilled steaks, delicious, and Mom ordered a Heavenly Sweets cake (same place we got our wedding cake), which was devoured very quickly. Oh man, that stuff is soooooo good! Fun times!

The Sims Visit!

Mike, Brandi, Osias, Ella and Austin (oh, yeah, Izzy is in the cat carrier) stopped on their way back to Kenner, LA. They had to evacuate because of hurricane Gustav, so they stayed with Debbie up in Hobart, IN for a week.

Mike and Brandi moved down to Louisiana last November because of a job opportunity for Mike. He works for a building supply company that is providing Katrina victims with what they need to rebuild at affordable prices. Crazy to think that less than a year later, they had to leave for the very reason they moved down there.

As far as we know, their town did not suffer any major damage. We are thankful they were able to return to their home, safe and sound.

Osias will be 1 in October. As you can see, he is quite the cutie.



Ella just turned 3 in August. She is busy, busy, busy and kept us all laughing.

Can you believe this was the little guy who rolled out the runner at our wedding?! Austin is 13 now and quite a cool kid. He's a great big brother!

Labor Day Fun!

Mom, Jevne and I took a little road trip to the IKEA in Cincinnati. I insisted on taking my car since it's the biggest :) It was so fun and the drive was not bad at all, only 2 hours! Why on earth did it take us this long to figure that out? Really, they just need to build one in Indianapolis.

I'd say it was a successful trip because none of us came out empty-handed. I bought a fun chair to replace that "beautiful" recliner we had. You may or may not believe it, but I really was thinking of Adam when I bought it. He never sat in the old one, and I knew this one would be easy enough for him to move right in front of the tv so he can play his video games :)

Rooster on the Rampage

Ok, so this happened last Monday, but we're now just blogging about it. Last Monday, Rooster managed to escape his crate while we were at work. He decided to take a tour of the condo, and leave us a surprise in every room. *Warning* some pictures may not be suitable for children:
crate found under kitchen table
kleenex box on stairs
shredded kleenex all over our bedroom
beads ripped out of ziploc bag
*ewww, gross. Yes, that is what you think it is!

We are talking to vets and trainers on what to do with Rooster as he has separation anxiety pretty bad. We are trying to be patient and work with him on this. We want what is best for him, but also need to consider what is best for Abby and I at the same time. Please keep him and us in your prayers.

Morning exercise

Yesterday, Adam, Rooster and I went to West Park to get some exercise and enjoy the cool morning weather. There are some nice walking trails, huge open fields, a really cool playground, as well as some water features to play in.

There is also a really big hill with a winding sidewalk that goes up the side. Or your could just run staight up like I did.

And they're off...

Looks like Rooster's got it in the bag...

Woah! Adam is making an amazing come back!

Cue Rocky theme song...

Now Adam's got "it" in the bag

Tim & Mindy's Wedding

Meg and I got to take a little road trip up to Berne, IN for Mindy's wedding. It was fun to have some sister time in the car, so fun in fact, that I missed the exit!

















We lived with Mindy in 401 at Purdue. She is such a fun, bubbly person. We have a lot of funny memories with her, and now we can add her wedding to those. Meg actually came all the way from San Francisco just for this! It turned out to be a mini 401 reunion because there were several other housemates there as well, so fun! All around, it was a great time catching up with friends.

The wedding was the first time we met Tim Conrad (Mindy's husband), but from the activities during the reception, it seems like he comes from a rather wild and crazy family, so Mindy found a perfect match.

Appropriately, we were greeted at the door of the reception with the most wonderful candy bar of all time....CHOCOLATE! I say "appropriately" because Mindy is the only person I know that puts candy on her registry. We were handed a little box to fill, which explains why there is no picture of this amazing display....I was on a mission! The cake was made by Tim's sister-in-law. It seems there will be plenty of sweets at all of their family gatherings.

As you can see, Mindy looked so beautiful and Tim couldn't look happier.

And they rode off into the sunset...

Fun at Andrew and Jenny's!

Abby, Rooster, and I went over to hang out at Andrew and Jenny's on Friday night...after a delicious dinner, we enjoyed some smores. Here are some pictures....
Andrew getting it started
Andrew and Jenny
me and Rooster

Rooster giving kisses