Christmas Time is Here!

Hi Everyone,

Wow, I can't believe how long its been since I've last posted something on my blog. We've been busy. The latest and greatest news is that we found out that we are having another BOY! We are super excited about this and are excited that Sam is going to have a brother so close in age. I can just imagine all of the wrestling that will happen in our living room in the future. I'm really going to be outnumbered in our house now! We are trying to start thinking about names, but we always get sick of them within a week so there is really no point in thinking of any right now anyway!!

We've been living in our new house for 3 months now. We've been trying to get work done as we can. Our day consists of going to work all day and then picking up Sam from daycare. From there play with him, feed him, give him a bath, etc and then when 8:00 rolls around we either work on the house or catch up on some good tv!! So far we've painted our living room and are almost done painting the kitchen. We also put new light switches on the first floor. Oh, and Matt and his dad starting finishing the garage as well. For some reason that wasn't ever finished in the 25 other years that othe people lived here.

In the past couple of weeks, I've been busy Christmas shopping. I'm almost done. I only have one more gift to buy. We are looking forward to some time off. We are starting our annual Christmas tour on Saturday. We are having Christmas at my mom's house. This is always something to look forward to because she makes a special meal every year. It ususally involves crab or lobster so I can't wait. Next week we are heading to Matt's parents for the majority of the week. We are looking forward to that. It's always very relaxing and great to get away from the daily grind. From there we will be traveling back to Madison to share Christmas with my dad and his family on Christmas day.

I hope all of you are finding some time to relax during the hectic holiday season. Thank you for all of the Christmas cards/pictures that you've been sending. I love coming home and checking my mail each day to see what I find!! I hope to talk to you all soon. Merry Christmas!!

We Are Having Another Baby!

This weekend we had Sam's 1st birthday party and also told our family that we are having another baby. We are really excited... probably a little more nervous this time because we know what we are actually getting ourselves into! I'm due May 1st. A lot to look forward too. I've attatched some pictures from Sam's birthday.

We Love Fall Fun!

Life continues to be busy for us these days. We still are not feeling all the way settled into our house. There are so many projects and so many things that we want to accomplish, but its a hard when you have so little time. Slowly... we'll get there! In the meantime, we took a break and went to the "Little Farmer" with my family this weekend. It was a blast. The three cousins had the chance to spend some time together and we picked out the perfect pumpkin to take home. I also have Sam's birthday party coming up in two weeks so I'm trying to decide all the food and things I should have for that. Big decisions you know!! Here are some pictures from this weekend.

Finally, We Found a House!

Okay, so now that I probably lost anyone who actually looks at this website I'm back to post again. A lot has happened since my last post. Matt and I have sold our condo in May and have been looking for a house ever since. We went to a radom open house on August 31st and liked the house. We went and had lunch to discuss it and then went right back after lunch and made an offer. Is that crazy or what? I guess after months of looking for a house, if you find one that you like and that is in your budget why not go for it, right? After all, I can only stand this condo for so much longer. After 6 counter offers back and forth, we finally came to an agreement with the sellers. We close this Wednesday and move in on Friday. Now that is doing business Ogden style. =) In the meantime, I thought why not avoid packing and update my blog! Doesn't that sounds like a fabulous idea!!

I'm excited about this house. The idea of having a yard, more space, and more than 2 bedrooms seems like a dream to me. It's interesting because this house isn't at all what I ever thought that I would move into. I usually like newer houses that don't need a lot of work. The house we are buying is 25 years old and is in great shape. It just needs cosmetic updates. Good thing Matt is a designer. He took some pictures of the house and then designed them to be different so that I could see the potential. It worked! So now I'm excited to move in and start this new adventure of ours. I'm looking forward to the simple things like having a big Christmas tree, putting up Christmas lights outside, and building snowman in the backyard.

When we move in and get settled, I'll take some pictures. In the meantime, wish me luck. I'm not a fan of packing! I've attatched some pictures of Sam. He'll be 11 months old tomorrow. I'm sure that if I let him he would love to unpack any and every box. He is into EVERYTHING. We are having a ton of fun with him. He makes us laugh all the time!! Hope you are all doing great. I would love to have you post a comment on my blog so I know you visited. Take care.

We Don't Want Summer to End!

Sam after going to the swimming pool (above)
Sam enjoying anything he can find on the ground

Sam trying to get me!

Sam dancing at his first wedding

Once again, summer has flown by! I was just looking at some recent pictures of Sam and wondering what we are going to do all winter when we have to be inside all of the time. I'm going to have to get creative for sure! We've had a lot of fun this summer taking swim class, gym class, going to the family cottage, and playing outside whenever we get a chance. We are looking forward to this weekend. We don't have a lot going on which is perfect because we all know how life gets so busy in the summer. I hope you have something fun planned this weekend. If your looking for something to do they are having Taste of Madison up by the capitol!!

Sam's Daycare

I always wondered...do I want to stay home when I'm a mom or do I want to go back to work? If you would have asked me before I had Sam I would have told you hands down... I wanted to stay home. Little did I know that the first 12 weeks of his life was pretty much the hardest and most exhausting experience I've ever been through. I don't think I quite knew what I was getting myself into. I was kind of happy when I went back to work because I was able to find some of my "old self" ...if that makes sense.

Realizing all of that, I often wonder if going back to work was the best decision for Sam. When I was growing up, my mom stayed home with us and I loved it every second of it. I loved being home and always being by my mom. Well, today I'm having one of those days where I feel pretty good about Sam having his daycare. We had a summer picnic there after work tonight and it was so much fun watching him play with his friends. He already makes them laugh non-stop. I feel as though he is becoming a little social bug. It makes me happy that he is happy with all his friends. And I feel like this is something that he would not get fully from being home with me everyday. I've attached some pictures. =)

So Excited About My New Blog!

I always thought blogs were for people who had way too much time on their hands. I wasn't really sure what the purpose was. However, as more time has passed I've noticed more and more of my friends creating their own blogs. I find myself visiting all the time and hoping that when I visit they have an update. It makes me feel connected to their lives even when our days go by so fast that you don't always have time to catch up with each other as much as you would like. So here I am, diving into to become a blogger. I definitely don't have too much time on my hands so I will throw that judgement out the door for now. I hope you find yourself coming back to visit my blog. I hope to update our family blog once a week. Hope you are having a great week!!