V's 30th Birthday

Most of you know that my birthday is in August, so why, you might ask, am I doing a blog post about it in October? Well, life has been a little busy in the past few months, and I have not made much time for blogging. I have quite a lot of catching up to do, so this is the first in a long list of posts on my to do list. I write these blog posts as much for myself as for our family and friends. It is kind of an online scrapbook to document our life, and I want to make sure I cover all the highlights!

I turned the big 3-0 on August 7th, and it was a great weekend! My mom came in town a few days before my birthday. On Friday she took me, KZ, and Brandon out to dinner. On Saturday (my actual birthday), KZ made me Polish crepes for breakfast, we went to one of my favorite brew pubs for lunch, and then Mom and KZ made me a fabulous dinner at home. (Yes, my birthday usually does revolve around food)

Here I am with my birthday beverage of choice (Veuve Clicquot Champagne) and wearing my amazing and unexpected birthday present in my ears.

Mmmm...Cheesecake Factory cheesecake. Yes, there were 4 pieces and only 3 people (It's probably better that Brandon doesn't know what he's missing). The problem with getting 4 different kinds, is you have to have some of each one...

On Sunday morning, KZ and I left for a short one night trip, and my mom graciously stayed with Brandon. This was our first night away from Brandon together (and my first night away from him ever). KZ planned a little getaway to the wine country in Augusta, MO (a little west of St. Louis), which is where we had our first date back in September 2002.

We had such a great time!


This was at Sugar Creek Winery.

You are right if you notice that we were not drinking wine. We are not the biggest fans of the wines produced by this winery (but we love the atmosphere and entertainment), so we purchased one of the local microbrews to enjoy outside while we listened to the live music.

This was at Montelle Winery, which is our Favorite of the 3 we visited. They have this great deck with beautiful views and live entertainment on the weekends. We served some of their wines at our rehearsal dinner.

The last place we went was Mount Pleasant Winery.

After the wineries, we went to the local brew pub for some food and to listen to the band they had playing. Then we spent the night at a cute little Bed and Breakfast.

On Monday we had a fabulous breakfast at the inn, and then we went on a bike ride on the Katy Trail, which passes through Augusta.

KZ then headed east for Indiana to work, and I drove back home. It was a great birthday weekend!

Rainbows in Heaven

This is our cute little church in Olathe, which is across the street from our neighborhood. As I was driving out of my driveway today it was pouring. All of the sudden the sun came out, but it continued to rain...perfect rainbow conditions. I looked around, and there it was...right over the church! I stopped in the middle of the road and took this picture with my phone. Luckily no one drove up behind me. This was one of the only rainbows I've ever seen that touched the ground on both sides. It was a perfect arc! I was fortunate enough to be able to watch it for the next 25 minutes of my drive (well...actually I alternated watching the rainbow and watching the road in case you are a little concerned about my son's safety while I drive).

I don't know if anyone else feels this way, but whenever I see a rainbow, I have a hard time not looking at it. It's the same thing with waterfalls, mountaintop views, and a perfectly open rose. Some things are so beautiful and so perfect that I am almost afraid to look away - afraid I might not see anything like that again.

Or maybe it's not fear that keeps me staring, but rather a longing. Something inside me longs to live in a place where I can see such captivating beauty everyday. Why can't I live in a place where I look out the window and see mountains, turquoise oceans, and rainbows?

And then I remember that this is not my home.

My true home is in heaven.

I believe God gives us longings when looking at his beautiful creation to remind us of our true home.

I can't stop looking because that rainbow looks like the place where I belong...

my true home

my goal

and the place where I will see the face of the One who is my prize.

"He has also set eternity in the hearts of men." - Ecclesiastes 2:25

"I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 3:14

Walking, Clapping, and Climbing

Brandon has been growing and gaining all kinds of new skills!

He is quite the little walker now! He only crawls when he really wants to get somewhere fast because his crawling a still a little bit faster than his walking. But I think he gains speed walking everyday.

For some reason, he prefers to walk around with something in each hand, and after a trip to my bathroom linen closet, it is usually 2 bottles of unopened face wash as you'll see in this video:

That video showed Brandon walking in his big cloth diaper. He's a little faster (and not quite so bow legged and intoxicated looking) when wearing a paper diaper.

The other skill Brandon has recently acquired is clapping! I don't know why it took him so long to learn how to clap! Some babies start clapping around 6 months or so. I guess he wanted to figure out the important stuff like walking before he worried about the small skills! He's very proud of his ability to clap, though. He'll often clap and then look at me for praise, and when I say "yay!" or clap back, he just laughs and get a prideful look about him.

Here's a clapping video for you. He's a little whiny because it's naptime.

Oh, and I guess I should give a disclaimer about his hair in that video. Pretty crazy, huh? I do think it's about time for a first haircut, but it usually doesn't look THAT bad. He just got through running his peanut butter laden hands through his hair before I took the video. How do you keep babies from putting their sticky hands in their hair while they eat?!

One more skill that I'm not particularly excited about is that Brandon can now climb onto our furniture. I often glance over from the kitchen to see this:

Climbing on the chairs is one of his favorite pastimes now. He's actually very good at getting down safely, but I don't like how he stands up and leans against the chair arms like he's doing in this picture. When I say something like "No! Sit down!" he slides down to his bottom (showing understanding), and then he laughs and stands up again. I can only imagine what is in store for me as he gets taller, stronger, faster, more curious, and more defiant...

Brandon's 1 year Pictures

Here are the pictures our talented friend Sarah took of our little guy a few weeks ago:

BRANDON'S ONE YEAR PHOTOS

Brandon's First Cabin Trip

For those of you who don't know, my grandmother built a little log cabin in the 1930's in the mountains of western North Carolina near Highlands. This was before she got married. She had to bring supplies down into the valley by horse drawn wagon. The cabin originally didn't have running water or electricity. The outhouse was still out back until 15 years ago or so. Here is a picture of it:

And here's a picture of the view from the porch. This is Whiteside Mountain.
The cabin doesn't have a/c, but it doesn't get too terribly hot there in the summer. It doesn't have heat either, so it gets shut down for the winter. Going in the fall and early spring is really fun and cozy because you have to have a fire going in the living room and in the wood burning stove in the kitchen in order to stay warm.

A couple weeks ago, KZ, Brandon, and I took off for Indiana (7 hours) where Brandon and I entertained ourselves as best as we could at the hotel while KZ worked for a couple days. From there we drove to the cabin (9 hours), where we stayed for 9 nights! I haven't been there for even close to a week since I was little, so it was a real treat being there for so long, especially since the drive was so long. All I can say about the drive is thank goodness for portable DVD players and Baby Einstein. Overall Brandon did really well for how long the drives were, but it was not a relaxing ride for any of us.

When we first got to the cabin, my sister Christie's family was there. We spent the weekend with Christie, Andy, Drew (rising high school senior), and several of Drew's friends. On Sunday, my parents arrived and stayed 3 nights, and then KZ's parents came up for our last weekend.

The week we were there coincided with Brandon's first birthday, which we celebrated there. If you didn't see the blog post about his birthday, go here.

There is also a blog posting about the creek, which is one of the best parts about going to the cabin. To see that post, go here.

We did a few other fun things during the week other than celebrate Brandon's birthday, go to the creek and eat way too much. Here are the highlights:

This is at Granite City, a really cool hiking spot where you climb around these huge granite rocks that form neat passages and formations.

Just KZ, Dad, and I went. Mom stayed at the cabin with Brandon.

This is Sliding Rock, a popular spot to go in the summer that is a few minutes drive from the cabin. Here is KZ going down.

Brandon had fun playing in the water and sand. Maybe he can slide with one of us next year.

On the way back from the creek, we drove through this beautiful new development which has yet to hold any houses, probably due to the economy. This deck was built for residents to enjoy, and it is a really beautiful, peaceful place to sit. Brandon loved climbing up and down the stairs.

Here is Brandon with his Mimi on the swing in the yard.

Dad has a picture of himself when he was little wearing this hat, so he wanted to get one of Brandon wearing it. He thought the wheelbarrow would add a nice touch. He told me not to worry about putting pants on Brandon because his legs wouldn't show. I guess it adds to the hillbillyness of the picture!

We went to Dry Falls with KZ's parents. It is called Dry Falls because you can walk behind the waterfall and stay (mostly) dry.

Also with KZ's parents we hiked Whiteside Mountain, the mountain facing the cabin. Thankfully there is a moderate hike starting half way up the backside of the mountain. It's a great hike with amazing views at the top. My dad has climbed the front side, but no one else in our family has braved that yet.

Here we are at one of the many overlooks. KZ carried Brandon up the mountain, and I carried him down.

Our little happy hiker (also known as the Little Prince because he loves to get carried around) got exhausted watching us do all the work, so he took a nap on the way down.

After leaving the cabin, we went back to Indiana for a few days and finally went home after being gone 2 weeks. We had a great trip, but it is good to be home!

Creek baby

Let me tell you about the creek at the cabin!

This is how I got to the creek. I first went with Mommy, Daddy, Aunt Kiki, my cousin Drew, and some of Drew's friends.

Cold water! You didn't tell me anything about it being cold! I like the warm water at the beach better!

Get me out of this cold water!

Actually, It's not so bad once you get used to it! I loved playing in the sand and with the rocks!

I love the creek!

Fist pumps for the creek!

Further up the creek is this foot log, which is how you get across if you don't want to get wet. There are several houses on the other side of the creek, and the owners actually have to drive through the creek next to this bridge to get home!

Here is my Mommy's family on the foot log. From the left it's Uncle Andy, cousin Drew, Aunt Kiki, Papa, Mimi, Mommy, me, and Daddy!

This is the second time I got to play in the creek! This time I went with Mimi and Papa.

Here is the infamous pothole! It is about 5 feet deep and only about as wide as this picture. It's really cold in case you didn't pick up on that from my Daddy's expression.

In the summer, some people like to bathe in the pothole. We actually keep soap and shampoo down there for that purpose. They say it's really refreshing. Thankfully they didn't try to bathe me in there!

Kisses from my two favorite people! They dunked me after this picture, which I did not like one bit!

Ahhh! Nice and warm and cozy!

One Candle on my Cake

Guess what?

I'm ONE!

Here are the pictures of me eating my very first birtday cake (made by my Aunt Kiki) at the cabin in NC. The people who were there were my Mommy, Daddy, Mimi, Papa, Aunt Kiki, and Uncle Andy. My cousin Drew was there, but he had to leave earlier with his friends.

Now listen here: I like my cake chocolate and with lots of icing. And I don't like to share! I want it all to myself. Oh, and I do NOT like this hat. I will be taking it off in about 2 seconds.

Below is a video of when they brought my cake to me. Be sure to watch my hand.

I was trying to tell them all "bye bye," meaning: "Y'all really cannot sing, so you either need to stop or just leave right now. I'll be fine here alone with my cake."

mmmmm....

Wow! My hand is brown! How cool!

I don't know about this...everyone is staring at me, my hands are sticky, and someone put icing on my nose! Take that cake away!

hmmm....maybe this isn't so bad.

Ok, I'm ready to try it again!

Whoa...where's my hand? Wait! I think it's stuck!

Oh well! At least I still have this other hand.

Thanks for sharing my birthday party with me!