Last weekend was spent with our families as Kendall was baptized.  What a blessing it was to have all of our family including the great grandparents over to celebrate the blessing of Jesus on our daughter!!!

We chose Elliot and Chelsey as Kendall's godparents because we know that they will be great influences on Kendall and her faith for the rest of her life!! 

This past weekend we were able to see little Mason in his pumpkin outfit!  He is getting so big and I can't wait to see Kendall and him when they start running around!  We were joking that he should give Kendall some of his hair because he has so much!!

This Friday Derek has the Black/Red Classic at SCSU so we'll be there cheering on the Huskies as they compete against each other for starting spots on the team.  Their first match is Saturday the 13th in Iowa.

Kendall is still loving her time in her bath as you can see below.  She just started learning how to kick...it's a hoot!!

We headed to the Apple Orchard/Pumpkin Patch on Sunday to pick out Kendall's first pumpkin!!  Of course since we were a little late in the season getting there, most of the pumpkins had been picked over but we managed to find the three most perfect ones!  Derek's sure is a true "JACK-o-lantern."

Derek started his first week of true wrestling practice.  He has been working hard to get back into "wrestling shape" and comes home quite exhausted.  I joked with him and told him he is getting too old and can't keep up with the youngsters anymore! 

I'm headed back to Eau Claire this weekend to work Fri/Sat night shift at the hospital so Derek gets to enjoy some quality time with Kendall.  She sure loves to look at her daddy...he was dancing goofy in the kitchen tonight and she was belly laughing the entire time.  It was pretty cute  :) 

Even after feeling the way I did when I was pregnant, I cannot imagine my life without Kendall.  She truly is a gift from God and Derek and I are so blessed to have her in our lives.
   
                              Besides, could she BE any cuter?

Last weekend we went to Neillsville for Derek's family reunion. It was good to see everyone and spend time with them since we don't see the extended family very often. Each family organized a "Minute to Win It" game and we had a competition to see who could complete each game with the fastest time. Derek took home the prize for the rubber band shooting game...go figure!! I've posted some pictures of some of the games that we played.







Kendall started daycare this week. She was sleeping in her high chair by 6:00 the first night I picked her up! She was spent for the day :) We've been lucky because she has been sleeping through the night since she was about 9 weeks old. At least she inherited one of my traits...the love of sleep!!!

We're going to the pumpkin patch this weekend to get Kendall's first pumpkin. Oh how I love fall!! Hope everyone is enjoying the BEAUTIFUL weather we've been having!!

Sorry for the hiatus in blogging; we finally got our internet set up today! This past month has been quite eventful. We finally moved into and got settled into our house in Sartell, have spent the last 5 out of 6 weekends traveling and I have been looking and interviewing for a daycare/job!!

Kendall starts daycare on Monday since I got a job on the Neuroscience Spine Unit at the St. Cloud Hospital. That should be interesting (mostly for me since she has not been with anyone other than family) but I think it will be good for her to grow and develop with other kids around. I am looking forward to learning the ropes of the new hospital, although it will be different considering I was at Luther Midelfort for just over 3 years! I am excited though :)

Kendall is now smiling and laughing on a regular basis. It is so fun to see the changes in her every day. She is able to hold her head up steadily when lying on her stomach and even rolled over to her back a few times! She'll be crawling before we know it! We're having her baptism at the end of October at a very nice church that we found here in St. Cloud. The people are all very welcoming and Kendall sure is a hit with them!!

Derek is loving his new job and comes home with a smile on his face every night. I am glad that everything worked out...Steve (the head coach at SCSU) seems like a really nice guy. He and Derek really hit it off and seem to have a great coaching partnership building. Hopefully we'll see a championship in the near future! GO HUSKIES!!!

I was presented with a nice surprise last month when I returned to Luther Hospital for a staff meeting (I am still working there casual). Derek and Kendall made the trip with me and were also in on the scheme along with the Supervisors and Director of the floor that I work on. A patient's daughter that I took care of a few times over the past year nominated me for the DAISY award for Extraordinary Nurses. I was greatly honored and presented with the award at the meeting. Check out the link here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDATORD8gc4

What an honor it was to receive such an award! The nurses that I work with on Neuro/Trauma/Peds are all deserving of the same award because they are all truly angels!!

This weekend we are headed on the road again...to Neillsville for Derek's family reunion. Check back next week for pics!!

Derek spent some good quality time with Kendall this weekend while I was working. I'll post a video of her laughing and smiling once I figure out how to do it. This week is busy because we're finally moving our stuff out of storage and into our new home in Sartell on Thursday! It will be nice to be settled into our new place. We are looking forward to beginning our new life in a new city :)

I have a job interview at a pain clinic in Sartell on Friday, so wish me luck! It sounds like the perfect opportunity because it is no nights, holidays or weekends which would be perfect with Derek's schedule. I also talked to the nurse recruiter for the St. Cloud Hospital and there are some opportunities available on the Neuroscience and spine unit at the hospital. He was going to talk to the director to find out her availability for interviews and get back to me. The only downfall about that would be that they only have part time available, but the pay is better than at a clinic. I guess we'll have to weigh our options!

Happy 32nd Wedding Anniversary to my parents tomorrow! We're taking them out to eat tonight to say thank you for the hospitality the past few weeks. We really appreciate them letting us stay with them while we were waiting to move into our house.

Derek, Kendall and I made the trip to Neillsville this last weekend for Derek's buddy's wedding. The wedding was beautiful and the weather was perfect! On Sunday I worked at the hospital for the first time in 7 weeks. It was nice to give my brain a workout for once considering I haven't used any critical thinking skills in two months! I sure did miss Kendall although Derek got to spend some nice quality time with her. I will continue to work casual (which means one weekend a month) at the hospital in Eau Claire until I either find a job in St. Cloud or it gets to be too much for our family. Traveling back and forth really takes a toll even though I love the people I work with there and would hate to give it up. Once the wrestling season starts, Derek will be busy most weekends so it may end up being too much. I guess only time will tell.

This weekend we are making the trek back to Eau Claire again so that I can work the holiday weekend. Hopefully this will be enough traveling for awhile as Derek and I have learned that traveling with a baby is not as easy as it seems! Hope everyone enjoys the holiday weekend!

MN bound!

We made it! We're no longer residents of Wisconsin as of last week. We packed up our house in Eau Claire and are now living out of a suitcase. We aren't able to move into our house until the weekend after Labor Day, so we are staying at Motel Mulligan aka my parent's house until then. All of our stuff is in storage in St. Cloud and Derek is making the hour commute from my parent's house to St. Cloud each day until we can move. Although it is nice staying at the "motel", it will be nice when we are settled in to our new home.

I definitely noticed the move affected Kendall. She was very irritable the first few days and now has a runny nose and cough. She is doing much better overall and is now only waking up once during the night. Two days ago she started smiling purposefully and has started to have a lot more control of her head. Last week at the doctor's office, she weighed 10 pounds, 5 ounces and was 22 inches long!! She is growing so fast! I definitely don't look forward to our next doctor's visit when she gets her two month shots :(

Being pregnant for half of the summer sure has made it fly by! I actually saw some yellow and orange leaves the other day! I love fall, but it just means that winter is next. Rumor has it that it snows a ton in St. Cloud; I guess we'll experience that firsthand come December.

Yesterday I had lunch with two friends from high school Karly and Leah. They both have new babies as well. Mason was born at the end of June (in the picture on the right) and Brayden the beginning of August (in the picture on the left). It was fun to see all three of them together and it will be fun to see them grow up together as Leah, Karly, and I did.