Falling in Love with Fall....And Other Life Happenings

 Get ready for a big update, because quite a bit has happened since last time...

I have been in Michigan since last week Thursday to house-sit for Josh's grandparents while they were on a cruise and because my very best friend, Kim, had her beautiful baby girl last Friday. It was so neat to be a part of that special day. Her whole family has adopted me and I just love them all to pieces, so it was really fun to share it with all of them and get to know them a little bit better. 

Kim and I just before she got wheeled down for surgery.

And now.... Miss Jordynn Maybelle-Marie Noble. 

October 8, 2010, 9:53am. 7 lbs 15 oz 19.5 in.

 

 Aww congratulations Kim on your beautiful baby girl!! :) 

Miss Jordynn gave us quite a scare...For starters, they couldn't get her out! She was all the way up under Kim's ribs - and pretty intent on staying there for awhile - and they had to make the incision bigger and really tug and pull to get her out. Then her umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck twice, so when they finally did get her out, she was pretty blue and having a hard time breathing. So she had to be in the nursery for a few hours with oxygen and a few tests, but she is a tough little cookie and just about the time Kim came out of recovery, Jordynn came off the oxygen and was breathing strongly on her own and ready to go meet her Mama!

Sunday afternoon we celebrated Josh's birthday with his family at Chili's. On the ride there, Ashlynn shared some of her wisdom with us which was highly entertaining. And she also decided she does not want to be a zookeeper, because "they have to wear ugly costumes". We tried to tell her that they mostly wear normal clothes in real life, and it's only in movies and on TV that they make them look all nature-y, but she wasn't having it. So now she wants to be..."a hair cutter. Because if you work Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday and Saturday but not Sunday, you can make rich money and buy lots of horses to live in your castle." So that is her plan...along with lots of other interesting things :) 

Sunday night Josh had to go back to Illinois, and I headed up to my parents house for a campfire and pizza with Dad, Jeff, Shari, Casey and Carsten. Kim was busy and Mom abandoned us for Colorado - again - so we decided to give Dad some company during his lonely weekend. That was really fun. I just love any opportunity to be with my family - even if two members were missing :( We still had fun though and I am sure my Dad appreciated it!

On Wednesday Mom and I experienced a first for both of us: We witnessed an accident! It was scary, but thankfully everyone was okay. It was a sweet old lady and a bimbo teenage girl. Sweet old lady was turning left, bimbo teenage girl was going straight from the opposite direction and didn't stop for a yellow light (that Mom managed to stop for...) and ran right into the rear passenger side and spun sweet old lady around. Sadly, sweet old lady got the ticket and bimbo teenage girl was not punished, which was totally unfair...but whatever. If I never witness an accident again, it will be way too soon.

 I also got the privilege of babysitting my nephews so my brother and sister in law could go out and celebrate their 2nd anniversary! It was so much fun! They are so cute - and getting so big, I can hardly beleive it. Casey is getting to be quite the talker, and the things he says sometimes just crack me up!! And Carsten - holy cow - he's HUGE now! He's going to be crawling and walking all over the place soon.

 

Casey snorting...

"Aunt Stephanie, can we take a picture with our tongues then you show me it??"

His reaction to the tongue picture...he thought it was so hilarious and his laugh was making me laugh!

Casey wanted a turn taking a picture :)

After about 5 tries he finally held the button down long enough to take one!

You can SO tell he is my brother's child! Holy cow.

Oh, hi there! :)

He has the cutest giggle! :)

So that is mostly how I occupied myself in Michigan for a week by myself :) That and playing with Miss Kitty when she decided to come out of hiding and see me...but that was pretty rare. She is pretty loyal to Grandma and Grandpa and knew I was an imposter I guess!!

Other than that, I spent my time taking pictures. I love taking pictures, and I love fall...so it was perfect!  I don't have the greatest camera, so these could be better, but considering what I have to work with I think they turned out pretty good.

(Sidenote: I have decided if I decide to do the whole school thing again, I would either like to learn about photography, or be an ultra sound technician. Not sure if either of those will happen, but those are my ideas anyways.)

Okay back to the pictures...I really don't understand how you can NOT love fall...but I personally think it is the greatest season of all! I have truly enjoyed my stay in Michigan (fall is just not the same where we are in Illinois apparently...too many buildings, not enough trees) and throughout my various drives to and fro, I have come across some pretty beautiful sights and thought I would share some of them with you :)

Farmer/Ravine Road - Otsego

Driveway off of 4th St (Kalamazoo)

Another driveway on 4th St.

Grandma and Grandpa's backyard.

Grandma and Grandpa's backyard again.

M Ave (Kalamazoo)

M Ave (Kalamazoo)

Someone's yard...I don't remember where.

Church in Alamo on 6th St.

Farm on 16th St in Allegan.

Big Lake, Allegan

16th St in Allegan.

6th Street between Kalamazoo and Alamo

If you still need convincing that fall is beautiful, then you clearly have issues!!

Tomorrow is the first day that I don't really have any plans. I have to get up early and drop my car off at the dealership at the crack of dawn (9am!!), and then I think after some errands with Grandma, I'll just be hanging out til it is time to go pick up my wonderful hubby from the train station at night. Grandpa is working and Grandma has to go sit with her Mom, so I think I'll be on my own for awhile. Which is okay...I've been running around here and there all week, so it might be kind of nice to just relax for a little bit. I'm sure something will come along though and that won't happen :) We shall see.

But that is all for tonight...time for me to get to bed. 

Hope you enjoyed my photos!

Have a great weekend :)