Why God Invented Jumperoos...

There have been many great inventions throughout time that have made life easier, expanded our horizons, and made significant strides in human advancement. None so significant in my life this weekend as this wonderful little stroke of genius called the JUMPEROO. Of course I'm exaggerating a bit, but man, if Marcus and I ever have kids, that is the FIRST thing that's going on the registry! The crib? ... Well, even Jesus slept in a manger...

Lehna spent the weekend again. This time her mom and dad were nice enough to pack the beautiful contraption. It was hours of entertainment for not only Lehna, but for Marcus and I... and Kali.


On Saturday, with Lehna in tow, we went to Lafayette to celebrate my sister's birthday with Dan and Dad. We went to Applebee's and then home for cake and presents. She's finally reached the age where we give up buying THAT MANY candles, and just go back to one. Hey, makes the wishing easier!


HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JULIE!!!
We spent the rest of the weekend holed up with Lehna, so that hopefully Tait and Stephanie can enjoy a night on the town! Everything went smoothly for the most part, as it always does... she's a real sweetie. She was a real hit with my family too. The only problems came at night. Steph warned me that she does not sleep well in the Pack 'n Play... and she was right! But we all survived!!!!

Here are a few more pictures of the weekend (aka... Lehna), I'll put the rest in an album AFTER we turn Lehna back over.



Hope you had a good birthday, Julie! Miss ya! Everyone else have a Jumperooific week!

Wisconsin (Part 2)

Thursday, August 18
After work, Stephanie, Lehna & I headed out to Wisconsin. The best part of the trip is that we didn't get lost (border-line miracle, actually...). The worst part of the trip can be summed up in one word; Chicago. Whoever decided to name a particular stretch of highway, "The Borman EXPRESSWAY" has a very sick, sad sense of humor! It took us about two hours to get through Chicago at 8 o'clock on a Thursday night. It really frosted my cookies!!

Friday, August 19

Stephanie, Jeanette, Lehna & I headed for the Cedar Creek Winery in Cedarburg. As you can see, it is housed in a beautiful stone building along with small cafes and shops(Stephanie took the picture to the left). While Lehna slept in her stroller, we took a tour and attended the wine tasting. We all agreed that our tour guide's favorite part of the tour was demonstrating how to properly sample wines at a tasting!! I can say she was VERY thorough in her demonstration!! My mother-in-law bought a few bottles of wine for me to take home to Marcus. I know he'll really like them... just need a good occasion to crack them open.


Me, Lehna, Grandma, Stephanie after the wine tasting.
After we got home, we had THE BEST bratwurst I've ever had. They were grilled and then put in a beer/onion concoction. They were awesome! We spent a relaxing evening chatting, watching a movie and playing with Lehna. We also spent a lot of time lounging... as you can tell.

Saturday, August 20th

On Saturday, we went to The Cheesecake Factory and shopping at the nearby mall. I didn't really buy anything but some soap at Bath & Body Works, which I can do in Indiana, but everyone needs a little window-shopping every once in a while to flex their self-control muscles!!

To the right is Lehna helping her mom pick out dessert. We were just a little worried that she kept pointing to the Kahlua cheescake!!!

When we got back to the house, Terry (my step-father in law) offered to take Stephanie and me for a ride on his new Harley. So, we did! We got all spiffied up in our "Biker Chick" attire, and he took us each for a ride that evening!


Stephanie went first...

When she came back alive... My turn!!

It was a lot of fun! I have to admit, I was REALLY afraid to try it. My dad had taken me out on his motorcycle when I was really little, and I honestly think I was braver back then! I still can't look down at the yellow lines whizzing by my feet, but other than that, it was great! But don't think we forgot about Lehna! We can't have all the fun! Terry even had a little something for her to ride!

Uh, oh... She's gonna be trouble!
As I mentioned before, there are a lot more pictures where these came from. I've started working on the album, so you can take a look if you'd like! Click here to go to the photo album.

Thanks for reading, and have a good week!

I'm BA-AACK!!

I just got home from visiting my mother and step-father in law in Wisconsin with Stephanie and Lehna. I don't really have time to write much or edit pictures tonight, but I thought I'd give you a preview. Hopefully I'll have a photo album and blog entry finished tomorrow. Until then, here's the Cliff's Notes version...

Wisconsin - Good!
Motorcycles - Better than I thought!
Wine - Tasty!
Food - Great, as always!
Marcus getting guilt-free computer time - Excellent!
Six hour trip - Well, it was six hours...
All in all... a fantastic weekend!


What?!!? You think YOU can eat baby rice cereal better?

BEFORE our first Harley ride...And AFTER our first Harley ride!
Are we hot biker chicks, or what?!!?
Details and a lot more photos to follow... stay tuned!!!

Mr. & Mrs. Brubaker

Jake & Cami Brubaker
Well, I didn't do very well with the photography this time. Not only did Marcus and I miss the first half of the wedding (Marcus had a meeting at work that he couldn't miss), but the batteries in my camera ran down before I was able to take more than a couple pictures. I usually have extra batteries with me, but Marcus and I were in such a hurry to leave, I forgot to pack them this time.

The wedding was beautiful! I especially enjoyed the music at this one. I have only met Cami a couple of times, but she and Jake seem to be, happy of course, but also VERY attuned to each other; they really seem to be two halves to a whole. I wish them all the best!!


The Wedding Cake


My Grandparents, Lloyd & Louisa (on the left).
I was so happy to see my grandfather in such good spirits! He's had a rough year with several surgeries, but he looked very dashing at the wedding, I think!
Marcus and I took it easy for the most part today because we got home so late last night. I did have to work at the station (yep, another pledge drive) today, but when I wasn't at work, I just relaxed at home with Kali and the handsome husband.


Kali enjoying a peanut butter/dog treat concoction in ther Kong.
That thing kept her occupied for an hour!
I also finished a new part of my homepage. The blue "Short Stories" book is now finished and is a link. I won't tell you what it really is... you'll just have to find out for yourself!!! Click HERE to go directly to my homepage!

I hope everyone has a good week! I'll be leaving for Wisconsin Thursday night, so my next entry will probably be from Cheese Country once again!

My New Web Page!

Not too long ago, Marcus decided to redo his website (because let's tell the truth... he was jealous of my blog...). After he finished, I looked at my blog and it just looked kinda, 'eh' compared to what he had. So I decided that I needed an upgrade in my website. I mean, I pay for the space... why not use it?!?!

I love J.K. Rowling's site, and I decided to design mine based off of hers. I also tried to use my creativity and personality as well. She has stuff all over her site that may or may not be links to other pages. I love how it is so interactive! While mine isn't completely interactive or totally finished, I will be changing and improving it as I learn new things (from my wonderful, smart, caring, sharing, patient husband...).

Right now some objects are links; some are not. Some things will become links after I finish other pages. All you have to do is roll over the objects and see which ones work!! Try and click everything! Who knows what you'll find!!!

...OK, so it may not be THAT exciting, but I enjoy it! My home page is found at www.knottsknews.netfirms.com. Be sure to check it often, because web design seems to be my new favorite hobby!

And you know what the best part is?!!? Now Marcus wants to redo his new site again...

Have a great weekend!

FORE!!!

"I can make that face too, Uncle Marcus!"
Another busy, yet satisfying, weekend! On Friday, I hitched a ride with Steph and Tait to Peru so that Steph and I could help clean out some of the food from Daniel's house now that he is at basic training. It made for a long night, but I'll fill you in on the funny highlight of the story.

We were at Daniel's house until about 10:30 p.m. After we had bagged up all the food from the fridge and freezer that had gone bad, we were going to start a fire in the trash barrel and get rid of the rotten food by burning it. Well... the trash barrel was nowhere to be found. So we decided to load up about ten bags of trash/food into Steph's SUV, and take it to the nearest dumpster we could find. We really had no other place to put this food that was literally getting stinkier by the second!

The heaviest of the bags took both of us to carry. As we lifted it up, we put a small tear in the bag, and a ridiculous amount of blood from some meat came pouring out. After a few minutes, we had it bagged back up, but not before we had covered the kitchen floor and our jeans with cow blood. It looked like we had killed someone! There were even drag-marks and footprints in the mess. It seriously looked like a crime scene!!

After we cleaned up our "crime scene", we started driving around looking for a place to put the trash. The first dumpster we found was a construction dumpster, so we had to move on. Then we came across a nice empty one, but it had a sticker on it that said, "No Public Dumping -- $500 Fine"; so we definitely moved on from there. We finally found a dumpster with no warning signs, and we started unloading the SUV. We had to roll up the "bloody" bag in an old sheet to carry it, but it was too heavy for us to heave into the dumpster. We kind of rolled it up and over the side of the dumpster. To make our night of fake homicide complete, the dumb bloody bag wrapped up in the sheet kinda looked like a body lying there in the dumpster... We decided we'd make terrible criminals!!

The next day, Marcus came up, and the four of us played in the FOP Golf Tournament Scramble. Tait's dad, sister, brother and cousin played on the team directly after us. We didn't do too badly. We didn't win, but we did shoot three under par. That is amazing considering Marcus and I are TERRIBLE at golf. And in a slight boost to my confidence, we actually used MY shots a couple of times, and I sunk a couple of good putts too. Once Steph and I had a couple of Brats and beers in us though, my putting days were over!

Marcus is trying to will the ball to go farther.

Tim, Tanna, Trent & Travis Wagner
in the carts behind us.

Tait, My Mr. Miogi of Golf

Stephanie relaxing in our cart...
The boys never had to take away our keys!!
After we got home on Sunday, my friend Cara came up from Lafayette for the afternoon. I always have a good time when I see her!!

We had a great time this weekend, and I really enjoyed playing golf! It's much better than putt-putt! Below are a couple more pictures from our visit; the rest can be found in Lehna's Photo Album, because let's face it... they're mostly her anyway!


The Cousins... Landyn & Lehna
Have a good week, everyone! Next weekend... My cousin Jake's wedding!