Husker Day!

If you aren't from Nebraska or do not follow Nebraska sports...this post will mean nothing to you. You won't get it. For those of you who "get it"...enjoy looking at the photos!:) Today we went on a tour of Memorial Stadium and part of the Husker Football complex. I went to college at UNL, walked past this stadium several times, have attended several football games, but have never been inside to see where everything happens. My friend Nancy arranged a tour and quiet a few of our friends came with their kids. Enjoy looking at the photos!

Outside the Tom Osborne Building-- a Statue of the late Brook Berringer and Tom Osborne

Inside the complexOur 3 Heisman winnersOur 5 National Championship trophiesThe student gym facility
Pounding the rock before we take the field


Katelyn & Jocelyn playing in the sand on the sand volleyball courtOur group taking the field
Katelyn & Easton running the field

Company party! So proud of my hubby!

Last year Sean thought it would be a nice thing to have a company picnic for his employees and families. His HR lady was all about it and took charge and planned the event. It was horrible. The food was horrible. The chicken was so dry you could barely eat it. The gal served our food and made sure she pointed out that we were only allowed 1 scoop of salad, one cookie etc. In the end there was tons of extras and people sat around bored. Only about 40 people came-- I guess they knew what to expect...Sean didn't. Good thing Sean brought his water balloon slinger...that was the only entertainment. So this year, Sean took it upon himself to start his own committee and run the show. Thank goodness!!! It was so much fun! He rented bounce houses, a cotton candy machine, had water balloons, and a snow cone machine. He organized different adult games, had music going, and had drawings for gift cards. He also made sure there was plenty of "edible" food--enough that people could take a carry out container home. I overheard several different families comment on the event and comparing it to past events. He is already thinking about next year and how he can improve things. Even though it was a lot of work for him...I was so proud it all came together. In the end we think at least 150 came! The girls gave him big thank you's when he came home that night...of course they want to go back...they think it is a permanent thing at his work:)

What kind of things do you expect to see or have liked at company parties that you have attended?

Here are a few pictures of the event!

Sean working the snow-cone machineSean working the cotton candy machine
Katelyn and Jocelyn enjoying the sweets!
The bounce houses!
Easton playing one of the games

Hate grocery shopping?

I love Hy-Vee food stores! I do. I know that is lame to write a blog about my favorite grocery store. No, I am not running out things to write about either—my head is full of ideas! Anyways, why is it that I love Hy-Vee? They are a lifesaver for me. I once DREADED going grocery shopping. It is getting easier now that Katelyn is old enough to not have to be in a shopping cart, but in November we will back to square one of trying to figure out how to fit two kids in a shopping cart. Many grocery stores only have a limited number of two seater shopping carts and some don’t have them at all. I have had to grocery shop several times with Jocelyn walking and a shopping cart just for the other two and then one for groceries. What a sight!

Anyways, I love Hy-Vee because for a small $10.00 fee you can shop online and they will grocery shop for you and you just have to pick your order up. Some Hy-Vee’s even have the drive-up option where you can just call the customer service and you don’t have to get out of your car! Love that!

Another benefit of online grocery shopping is that you can take time to compare prices, brands, quantities, and make some sound choices regarding your purchases instead of quickly rushing through the store before meltdowns happen.

You can take advantage of Hy-Vee’s weekly specials and also use coupons too!

Depending on how the store has their system set up, sometimes they show you what the product actually looks like before buying! I have heard some complaints about how Hy-Vee is more expensive that other grocery stores. Did you know that Hy-Vee has their own brand and is very comparable to other chains? They do! Also, their selection is crazy!

Anyways, the link to start is: http://www.shopouraisles.com/

For your first shopping trip…set aside some time so you can find your groceries. This is the most tedious thing at first. After your first shopping trip, your previous orders are saved you just have to simply click on the quantities and then just add to your next order.

Also, it says you can submit up to 7am or 8am the day of pick-up. I highly recommend submitting 48 hrs in advance. The particular Hy-Vee that I go to did not get my first two orders and they finally told me the process of how things work. Some are probably better than the particular location I go to. They were under some major construction at the time and things seemed kind of hectic.

One last point…the customer service at Hy-Vee is superb! I have always found that they go above and beyond when asked…or even volunteer their services to help carry out groceries for me, even though that is not typically a thing they do…unless you ask.

I could go on…trust me….if you HATE taking your kids to the grocery store or just hate grocery shopping in general, it is well worth the $10 fee!

Also—shop at Sam’s Club? Try Amazon instead—free shipping and no tax on hundreds of bulk items (diapers, wipes, dog food, books, electronics, snacks, cereal etc) Also, Alice.com is a online grocery service.

Katelyn Rose turns 3!!

My little Katelyn Rose came into this world on July 22nd, 2007 at 12:04PM in Omaha, Nebraska. She was 7 lb 13 oz. She was not the easiest baby. Pretty cranky...and still gets pretty cranky at times. She is a sweetheart though and we are blessed to have her in our family!

Happy 3rd Birthday to my baby girl!

Couple Months Old-- photo take by Sean

1 year old

2 years old

3 years old

It's going to be a boy!

We had our ultrasound and it's going to be another BOY for us! We would be happy with either a boy or a girl, but ideally it will be nice that Easton will have a little brother to play with and grow up with. I am a little nervous about having two boys right in a row...Easton is so different than my little girls...very rambunctious and for sure has the energy of a little boy.

Our due date is November 21st. We usually go right on our due date or a few days before, so we will see if it will be the same for this one. I am secretly hoping for the more around the 22nd or the 23rd....for selfish reasons...I really, really, really don't want to bring our other kids home that first day like we had to for Easton. Talk about a very, very stressful day right away. My mom has Thanksgiving break so I am hoping she can spend her Thanksgiving maybe taking care of other munchkins for a day....we will see. I guess the craziness will have to start sooner or later...
Here are a few of the ultrasound pictures. He would not cooperate for a 3-D photo. The gal tried and tried and we say about a quarter of his face, but nothing worth printing.

Water, water, and more water!

My favorite part of the summer is that we can play in the water. Especially on hot days it is very refreshing for the kids and I to head to a local spray ground, play in our own little pool, or head to a water park. This past week the weather has been super hot, so we have taken advantage of local water attractions.
Mahoney State Park: Live in Omaha or Lincoln? Never been? YOU HAVE TO GO TO THIS STATE PARK. It is a must! Ok if you are saying that you aren't into the swimming thing, there are quiet a few other activities available-- cabin rentals and camping, fishing, hiking, arts & crafts, sledding (when there is snow), climbing a tower, playing on an awesome swing set, miniature golf, golf driving range, ice skating, horse back riding, playing in the kids amusement center, and swimming in the water park. There are many more activities, but I am going blank right now. It is must go to place! It is only 20 minutes away from Omaha and 35-40 minutes away from Lincoln. Well worth the drive. Anyways, I was going to take Katelyn to the water park for her 3rd birthday, however when I looked up the prices I noticed that 2 and younger are free...so I took her a week before she turned two. My mom met me there and the kids had a ton of fun! Their favorite part was actually the motion ocean part, however I couldn't handle the waves very well. Here are a few pictures of our visit. Trago Sprayground: I did a separate post on this spray ground a few weeks ago. We met some friends there this past week also. It is slowly becoming the hot spot of Lincoln. Probably because it is free. I think there were maybe 13 of my friends there and the kids had so much fun playing with each other. I had a great time trying to play catch up with some of my friends. Kind of wore me out and I only got one picture of Jocelyn with a friend. Still LOVE that place!Our own backyard: If you have ever been to our house, our yard is not pool friendly. We have quiet a slope. Our first summer here we tried to put up a large 3 ft pool and that didn't work out too well...it caved over to one side and the water just poured out. We got estimates for putting in a pool...kind of a tricky deal with our yard and trees...so for now we have a kiddie pool for the girls and a baby pool for Easton. The girls both have birthdays coming up so we surprised them with a fun outdoor water toy. As Sean set it up the neighborhood kids flocked over and we had a little group taking their turns on the slide. It is so much fun and they all had a good time. Poor little Easton is still a bit young, but might like it a bit more next year.

This video was filmed sideways and is super short!

Easton watching his daddy mow...probably wishing he was bigger....

The rest of our vacation!

I probably took way too many pictures from our vacation...here are the last ones I will be posting on our blog....overall we had a good time spending time with family and visiting the sites.