Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Wouldn't you know

As most of you know, Johnni and I are back in Iowa for a couple of weeks over the holidays. We haven't been keeping up with our blog very well because we've been so busy! We have many picture updates to come where you'll see holiday photos of Joella, Conor (Joella's cousin), and more...but those will have to wait.

The other night I was talking with Craig, my father-in-law, about cars and other things. Of course I had to tell him how pleased we are with how reliable our cars have been over the past little while. They're old, beat up, and are definitely too small for our rapidly growing family, but nothing has gone wrong with either of them since we've had them and we enjoy not having car payments.

You can see where this is going, I'm sure, but the next day I went to start Jet, our black and green jetta, after a couple of days of sitting out in the 20 degree (F) weather. Wouldn't you know, I turned the key and got a wha wha wha wha click. Then nothing. I tried to start it again and nothing. Great! Now we are a thousand miles from home with 4 non-holiday days left before it's time to head home and we have a car that won't start.

We hooked up jumper cables to the car to rule out a dead battery and, as I suspected, nothing changed. Now the likely culprit was a dead starter. I was going to take it to a mechanic after a rolling start, but wouldn't you know, the streets were covered with snow which makes a rolling start impossible. In the face of a towing charge on top of the work to get the starter replaced, I started thinking along the lines of a DIY job.

After working to get the dead car back up the hill (failed roll start), onto the driveway, and uphill into the garage (we used an Egyptian-style rope method to do this, that part was interesting), I set to work on changing the starter.

Here I am rocking the awesome set of coveralls my dad brought over for me -- he also tracked down a huge propane heater from the best veterinarian in town and brought over all my old car equipment to use. The Army boots and PT hat were my own touch.



In action:


The job was completed the next day and now it starts like a new car. The best part is that my worries about owning a diesel in cold weather have completely subsided -- it starts better than most gas cars, even in super cold weather!

We're hoping it holds up to the long trip home. I obviously have not learned to keep my mouth shut about the car as I'm blogging about how well it's running again.....

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Picture Time

Some of you may have already found these family pictures on Ashley's blog. We have gotten to see a lot of Ashley's work over the past year, but this time we got to be a part of it! She was awesome at facilitating, and I'm sure you would all agree that she did a wonderful job :) She's right -- Joella did pretty much run the show. We've had so much fun the last week or so getting to introduce her to and spend time with family & friends.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

And the winner is...

I think Chaz watched the Heisman trophy award presentation a little too closely the other night....ever since he's been doing this whenever we give him the command "Heisman"


Sure, he got his right and left paws mixed up, and he hasn't figured out how to hold his ball at the same time...but I'd say it's a pretty good impression, for a dog.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Rainy Day

Just trying to stay dry and warm -- lots of rain today!

Looking forward to my 1st trip to Iowa :) Can't wait to meet all of you!

Oh, and Happy Birthday, Calais!

Sunday, December 13, 2009

The Girls

Just a few pictures of us hanging out today...


Lounging on the couch


Joella, look at the camera!


Mom, look at the camera!


:) :)

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Testing 1,2,3...

Just testing out a couple things -- 1st the new blog layout Matt found. 2nd the new headband:) It was supposed to be a Christmas present, but it was too cute to wait.

We can't believe how many expressions Joella has. It's so fun to watch her.


Not so sure about this photo shoot.


Now she's sure -- sure that she doesn't like it much.

The flash was to blame on this one -- I thought it was cute anyways.

This is one of the "turtle" faces Joella makes. Although he might not admit it, Matt makes an "angry turtle" face that is strikingly similar :)

Other things to talk about -- Matt is flying Blackhawks a lot these days. He flew to Tallahassee, FL today and flies to Ft. Benning, GA tomorrow. Tonight we were talking about how strange it is that when he goes to work for the day, he's not just on post. He's gone. It seems like he's 5 minutes away, but that's not the case! Matt's been busy the last few weeks studying when he gets home. Now he spends his nights planning flights for the next day (that and catching up w/ Joella of course).

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Sunday's Best

I didn't get to go to church this morning because my little immune system is still developing, but I did decide to put on my Sunday's best just because... Mom thinks my bow is silly.

What do you think?

Look, I'm learning to blow spit bubbles :)

Hanging out with my dogs again.

Last week I went to my mom's 6 week appointment with her. I was quite the hit with this outfit Grandma Deb made for me. She made it while she was waiting for me to make my appearance to the world. I'm told she had a little extra time on her hands... Brrr... it was 46 degrees the other day. I don't know what I'm going to do when we move away from Alabama!Mom and Dad play "Pull it" when I'm tired and they're trying to get a picture of me... (I like my pacifier!)
Peace!

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Getting Bigger!

Can you believe it? Joella's 6 weeks old tomorrow! Things have started to get a little easier around here, and she's getting more fun all the time. She smiles a little bit now too which is contagious. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking...

Hanging out on Thanksgiving with Mom

Smiling for Uncle Steve

Sportin' my cute dress & looking at Grandpa Jerry

Happy with Grandma Jane

The whole family's a little sleepy...

Photo shoot on the blanket my great grandma made for me :)



Chillin' with my doggy, Kaeda - she always likes to see what I'm doing.

More hand-made gifts!



Pretty in pink


I just started wearing my cloth diapers. They are a little big but they are so comfy!

Kickin' it in my shoes Grandma Deb made for me :)

Hey, I'm not a little diva!

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!

I know we're long overdue for a blog post, and this won't be much of a post -- but we had to put a picture up of Joella in her awesome new outfit. We have a lot more pictures from today that we'll put up in the next couple weeks....but this one is a pretty good one Johnni got after a mealtime.



Here's another -- this time hanging out with Uncle Steve:
We're enjoying the day together with family and are thankful to have a few extra hands around to help Johnni and I relax. The last few weeks have been crazy as I started the Blackhawks course on the 4th.

More to come soon!

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Trick-or-Treat

While we wait for all the kids to come around this evening...some pictures of our own kid:












Sunday, October 25, 2009

We are trying to figure out....

Which one of us she most resembles. We dug out some old baby pictures to try to figure it out...













Johnni (left), Matt (right)
















Joella x2


So, what do you think?

Friday, October 23, 2009

Settling in at home

Johnni and I came home from the hospital on Tuesday and have spent the past few days (it feels like hours!) settling in here. Joella is doing great and it's hard to believe she's already 5 days old, but at the same time it's hard to remember what things were like without her.

The highlight of her week at home was a trip to the doctor's office for her 48 hour check-up on Thursday. She had already made it back to her birth weight and after getting a clean bill of health we were on our way home again. Joella, like Johnni, really enjoys sleeping in the car. Hopefully that stays with her for a while....

Just a few more pictures....

On the scale the day after birth


Sleeping baby

Joella's Birthday Cake!

Looking outside on a rainy day with her sad face on -- taken today, do you see her cheeks getting chubbier? She's gaining weight quickly!


The Kaeda-Monster checking her out
 

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