Five Year Anniversary

Justin and I have been married for five years today! My sister Emily is visiting and watched the boys last night so Justin and I could go out. We went to the temple and really appreciated the peace we always find there. It always helps remind us why we are here, that the Lord loves us, and that the stresses of the world aren't as important as they seem.

With all the uncertainty that is part of life, it is wonderful to know that our little family can be together forever. Justin, I love you and am so happy that we get to spend the rest of our lives and eternity together. Happy fifth anniversary!

Tomatoes!

Sorry my pictures are backwards. These are the forty-one quarts Marianne, Justin, and I did on Saturday. Justin and I did forty-threeish quarts and a couple of pints on Monday to finish up the two hundred pounds we got from the farmer's market.

Here was our first batch ready to lower into the canner.

Here was the first batch cooking (again sorry about the backwards pictures).

Here is Seth fascinated by the tomatoes! He kept wanting to pick them up and squeeze them or drop them. He even half tossed a glass jar across the kitchen--luckily it didn't break!

We had A LOT of tomatoes! Eight boxes at about 25 lbs. a box. Marianne wanted a bushel and we decided that three bushels would keep us in tomatoes all year (total guess--we'll see!).

Thanks to Marianne for helping can and remembering how to do it. Thanks to Mom for the canning advice/instructions. Thanks to Justin for remembering how his mom did it. And a big thanks to Kay Durr, Marianne's mother-in-law, for letting us borrow her canner and bottle grip.

We did it! Our first independent canning experience was a big success! Only one bottle didn't seal!

Seth Walking!!

For the last week or so, Seth has been starting to take steps independently. Now he is starting to put more steps together and his balance is quickly improving. Today (I'm surprised myself that I got this posted the day I took it) he walked all the way across the living room and I got a video of it! He is also starting to say some words--bread, water (wa), all done, all gone and the other day he said Ben!

Enjoy!

Seth's Birthday! (Plus a surprise at the end!)

Happy first birthday to Seth!! (Just a notice, this is post number four today--I am trying to get caught up. Don't miss anything!) I wanted to decorate Seth's cake even though he won't remember it. So I made a Winnie the Pooh cake--I feel I did a pretty good job considering I don't have cake decorating tools.
At the moment he thinks it is cool and wants to get it but that might just be because he can't have it right now (see later pics).

Thanks to Aunt Marianne for taking so many pictures! We enjoyed having you and Uncle Eric at Seth's party!

We decided at the last minute to inflate a few balloons we had lying around. Here is Benjamin trying to hold them all.

Sorry for no b-day song video--blogger is taking forever to upload things and this post was already large to begin with.

"Mom, my hand is sticky--clean it off please!!"

"Okay, I'll try it if you insist." (This was after he had been picking it up and dropping it for a few minutes without wanting to taste it.)

"Hmm...this is an interesting toy with lots of different colors."

Needless to say, Seth didn't really eat any cake. He'd just had dinner and was tired and ready to go to bed...not the best timing for a completely new food!

Justin and I got Seth a classic Winnie the Pooh. He loves Benjamin's Pooh and LOVES his new one!

We have a whole series of photos of him enjoying with ecstatic grins and smiles his new Pooh!

Here he is with all of his presents--the football from Benjamin, the books from Grandma Jorgensen, and the shirt and bowl from Aunt Marianne and Uncle Eric.

Here Seth is reading his books--including turning the pages himself!!

Seth had a great birthday and loved the attention he got from everyone all day long, especially the often repeated birthday song! He didn't have any teeth on his birthday but now (five days later) one has finally peeked through his gums!! YEAH!!!

Seth Climbing the Stairs

Seth has learned how to climb the stairs and does quite well. We are still working on going down safely. He doesn't want to turn around and go down backwards--he'd rather try head first! (Luckily I've prevented him or caught him.) When I do get him to go down a stair or two backwards, he suddenly decides he'd rather go up--that is the way he is facing after all!

He has learned to climb much faster since this video. He can make it up the stairs in 30 seconds. If I turn my back for a moment and have forgotten to put up the gate, he can be three-quarters of the way up before I turn back around, notice he's missing and go after him. He loves climbing!

Reminiscing--Iowa

Well, we've been in North Carolina for a month and a half now, but I found some photos of the boys at the ped mall playground outside of the library in Iowa City.

Next time we are at the park near our house I will take the camera and take pictures!

Benjamin's Fourth Birthday

Happy Birthday to Benjamin--a little over a month ago. We were still staying with Marianne and Eric and had a really fun time. We didn't know where our cake candles were so we used Aunt Marianne's tea candles. Below is the video of us singing to Benjamin.




Here is Benjamin on his big wheel--the present from Mom and Dad. Aunt Marianne and Uncle Eric got him some wind-up flashlights that he loves to play with.

For his birthday, we went to a nearby lake and rented paddle boats and paddled around. We all had a really fun time--though Aunt Marianne's boat was rather defective and hard to paddle, especially by herself!

Seth didn't really like the lifejacket at first but got used to it and had fun sitting on Mom's lap, feeling the breeze and playing bumper boats with Aunt Marianne and Benjamin!

We had a really fun time on the lake with Aunt Marianne--Thanks for suggesting it! Benjamin had a great birthday and is so excited to be four years old!!

Our New Place!

We are finally getting settled into our new place! We registered the van, got NC driver's licences, unpacked most of the boxes, and hung the pictures.




Here is a picture of the outside of our new place. It is a townhouse style duplex and we love the space we have. Benjamin loves having stairs (as does Seth though he hasn't really figured out how to safely go down). We have a front door and a back door (onto our deck) with two doorbells too! It has two bedrooms with one full bath and two half baths--one downstairs and one off the master bedroom.



This is in the boys room. I painted these letters months ago in Iowa but never got around to getting them on the wall. Seth loves to look up at the letters and picture to point and jabber (it entertains him at the end of a nap since it is over his crib).

Here is our living room with all our family pictures up on the wall. The coffee table is "new". The Culmers, our neighbors in Iowa, found it by the dumpster and pulled it out for us. It is solid wood and in good condition--all it really needs is to be refinished. Seth loves to use it to pull up and use as a walking aid. He doesn't want to try walking without support (crawling is so much faster) but does well with furniture or Mom's hands.

Here's another view of the living room. We have lots of large windows in this place that let in a lot of light (since we only have one lamp in the living room and no ceiling light, this is great!).

This is our big eat-in kitchen. I love the space (the boys can be playing in there with me while I'm fixing dinner and not get in my way) and the cabinet room is great for all my kitchen stuff and food. I especially enjoy the seven drawers I have.

It is great to have so much light coming into the kitchen. We actually get direct sunlight in the mornings (though it filters through the trees so it doesn't heat the house up). My plant is loving it and flourishing. It is also nice to be able to have the table in the kitchen (and not on carpet). I don't have to worry about spills, and it is easier for Benjamin to set the table. The doors on the right of this photo are to the laundry area. However, since we don't have a washer and dryer, it makes a great pantry!

We love our new place, especially since there is a yard area as well as a park that is only a three minute walk away complete with swings, slides, and an play excavator with sand (as well as a pond and ducks)! It is at the end of a cul-de-sac in a very quiet neighborhood but the interstate is only two minutes away. We can get to church in 7-8 minutes, and the university is close too! If anyone wants our address, just send me an email!

Justin's Graduation Photos!

Here are the professional photos taken at Justin's graduation. The first one is his favorite because it is in front of the Old Capital--which symbolizes Iowa City/UIowa to Justin. (It also helps that the building over his left shoulder is the Jessup which is where he had all his classes.)

I love you, Justin!! Congratulations!!!!

The Move to North Carolina!

We've moved to North Carolina!! While I have a lot of pictures to catch up with (especially Justin's graduation photos--CONGRATULATIONS JUSTIN!), I figured I had to start somewhere until I get the graduation photos developed (yes, we forgot our camera and had to buy a disposable one).

Here we are at a rest area in Indiana (above and below). I was meaning to document the whole trip with photos, but I missed Iowa and Illinois. Though I took the above photo (it only took three tries), I couldn't get a photo with us and the Indiana sign. Luckily a man offered to take a photo of us in front of the sign.

Here is a picture of Justin in the moving truck--considering I took the photo while driving, I think it is pretty good (I held the camera out at arm's length, hazarded one quick glance at the LCD screen and clicked).

This picture Benjamin took of us in our hotel room in Lexington, KY, where we stopped for the night. He did a great job! He was also a big help to me as we traveled the thousand miles to NC. He handed Seth toys and snacks--even when Benjamin was hungry too, I would hand him two crackers, tell him to give one to Seth, and he would! We even sang songs together to help Seth calm down the couple of times he screamed (really can you blame him--newly mobile, stuck in a car seat all day, and overtired too?!). We made it though and stayed with my sister Marianne until we found a place to live -- Thanks so much Marianne and Eric!!

Here is another picture I took of one of the mountain tunnels we went through. I tried to get a picture to capture the size of the mountain that you look like you are about to barrel into but... it didn't really work. It takes close to a minute to drive through it though. Hope you enjoy the pictures--I have lots of fun ones of Benjamin's birthday that are coming soon!!