well....... i guess it has been a long time since i updated our blog..... so sorry about that!! but we just got high-speed internet, and now it doesn't take me an hour to upload pics!! so happy about that:) so i am posting a few pics from Christmas and hoping to post some more this week!

enjoy

Fall Orchard Time

We really enjoyed going to some great orchards this fall and being outside in the beautiful weather. We also enjoyed just being together and watching our girls grow up. They are getting so big! Here are some pictures of our time together.

Family Photo Shoot

The day before Evie's 2nd birthday, we had some family pictures taken. My youngest sister took them for us at my parents house. We had so much fun and got a ton of beautiful pictures!! Here are just a few of my favorites.

Overwhelmed

There are some days that I feel like I am on top of my "to do" list. And then there are days where I feel that I have accomplished nothing, those days leave me feeling very discouraged. There are so many things that I would love to do, but a lot of them require time alone and away from my girls and my husband. So they just get pushed to the side and left for another time. I know that the most important things in life for right now are God and family, and so that is where I will focus my time and energy. Everything else can wait, there will be more days to come. Our blog is one of those areas that seems to get pushed to the side. I would love to be able to update it once a week, but it just doesn't seem to happen. So I am done feeling guilty about it. When I have some time, I will do what I can. But it isn't going to happen as often as I or you would like. So here are some things that we have been up to in the last month. We hope you enjoy hearing about them, we had lots of fun doing them:)

We were able to go to the State Fair the first saturday that it was open. We got there early in the morning just as the animals were getting up. Evie really enjoyed seeing the animals that she always reads about, and hearing the noises that they make. We were able to not have to take a stroller, it makes moving around much easier, and you can get up real close to everything. Andy carried Evie around, she really enjoyed being up so she could see everything. I carried Cari and she slept almost the whole time, she only really woke up to eat. We went to the little people's farm and Evie just loved walking around and doing the different activities. She also enjoyed stretching her legs. We tasted some good food, enjoyed some cool weather and did lots of people watching:)

This last weekend, we went up to Andy's grandma's house in Staples, MN. We went up there on saturday morning and came home on monday morning. The weather was just great except that it was very windy. We stopped along the way to feed Cari, and Evie and Andy had a great time looking for rocks. Evie just loves different rocks and loves to hold on to them. She will often find the biggest and prettiest rock. While we were at grandma's we went for a picnic. It was a cool evening and the wind didn't seem to be as bad where we were. We had hotdogs, baked beans, potato salad, and watermelon. YUM! Cari was such a good girl while we were there, she even took a little nap in her carseat. Evie enjoyed throwing rocks into the river and we even got to see Andy catch a fish! We enjoyed our time with grandma so much and hope to be able to go visit again someday.

Most of our days and weeks are spent watching our girls grow up, and it is happening way too fast. Evie will be turning 2 at the end of the month, everyday she says something that just makes us smile. Life is so simple for her, and everything is new and different. If only it could be that way for us. It is so fun to watch her discover the world around her, by the way, did I tell you that she loves rocks. She found this one at my parents house and she didn't want to let it go. I think that someday soon she is going to make one of them her pet. At least we won't have to feed it:)

Thank you God for our children, we are so blessed.

Cari Anne Bailey

This time I have a really good excuse for not blogging sooner, we are now a family of four!!!!! Cari Anne Bailey was born on June 18th at 11:38 pm. She weighed 8lbs 1oz and was 21 inches long. She looks just like me in my baby pictures and has a ton of hair!!! Lots more than her sister Evie did when she was born. Evie just loves her little sister and always wants to give her kisses:) We will just wait and see what happens in the next couple of weeks and months. She gets a little upset when I don't spend enough time with her, but over all has been a very good girl.

We haven't been up to much else, just spending lots of time with family. Both grandmas have been over and helped out so much. My mom came over the monday after Cari was born and cooked us a lot of food, what a wonderful blessing to have my mom so close to help us out. She has also taken Evie overnight when Andy was out of town and I took Cari to her doctors appointment. Evie is always asking if she can go to grandma's house. We got her a pool and so did my mom, she just loves going out and splashing around. She loves it so much that she has a fit when it is time to be done in the pool. It is amazing how much Evie grew up when we brought Cari home, she isn't my little baby anymore. She is turing into such a big girl!

Cari has been a really good baby, all she does right now is eat, sleep and poop. I have been getting some sleep and am feeling great for just having had a baby. It feels great just getting rid of the baby weight, I feel like I can breathe and eat again:)!!!

Well I posted just a few pictures, hope you enjoy them. I will try to post sooner next time, but we'll just see what happens:)