The Campbell Crest

     The first Highland Games of the season were hosted locally. Abby and I attended and were witnesses to some incredible athletes and were surrounded by the Scottish culture.

     There were several different clans being represented at the games. I got Abby to pose with her familial crest. It was like she was surrounded by family!
     The Highland Games had many activities. We watched men throwing cabers. These are 400 pound pieces of wood that are ~20 feet long. HUGE! These guys were kicking butt!
     Men were throwing 40 pound rocks shot-put style, heaving bales of hay over a bar 30 feet in the air, and throwing a loose version of a kettleball for height and distance.
     It also included a sword demonstration and Highland animals. We learned about Highland cattle and how the Queen of England keeps a herd at Balmoral castle. We also met a Clydesdale!

     There was a short parade that included bag-pipers. There were eight of them, of which five were women. They were incredible!

     After a lunch of what was called Scottish food - but left us wondering what type of food it really was - we enjoyed watching a shepherding dog demonstration. The shepherd demonstrated with three different dogs that he had trained. He then spent some time with us answering questions and letting us meet one of his dogs.
     It was a very interesting day! I got to understand quite a bit about Abby's Scottish heritage.

Weekend with Ma and Pa

Ma and Pa came up from the Kansas homestead to visit for the weekend. They got here late on Friday because they stopped in Leavenworth for a wedding.  We got some cake out of the deal, it was homemade and gorgeous (and also delicious). 

Ma is a little bit exciting about the grandchild.  She brought the following:  5 quilts, 6 blankets, 7 crib sheets and two crocheted blankets.

She also made and brought me three new maternity shirts.  Thanks Mom!

On Saturday we went to Kansas City to see the just built Mormon Temple.  Normally only recommended members are allowed in, but before it is dedicated they have tours for anyone to see the inside.  We waited in line for a while (Matt and I had sunburned scalps), but it was awesome to see.  They put booties on us so that we didn't mess up their new carpet.  This was a wise idea- last Saturday they had over 7,000 visitors and yesterday they were expecting to exceed that number.  It was interesting to learn about and see everything.

After the tour we took Ma and Pa to Costco to get things for dinner.  Again we didn't escape with only the items we went in for.  Oops.

We got home around 3:30 and Matt, Ma and I went out to the garden.  We used some "homemade" (with the help from lots of worms and rolly polys and other bugs) compost to add organic material so our new plants will grow.  Ma also brought us more than thirty seedlings to plant.  We planted 7 kinds of tomatoes, 2 kinds of eggplant, 7 kinds of peppers, basil, thyme, dill, chives, summer savory, broccoli and brussel sprouts.  It was hard work getting the ground ready and everything in.  Matt even started a new growing spot on the side of the house.  I think my mom wound up doing most of the work, but I'm still sore today!  Matt put up a fence today so the dogs can't get into the garden and walk on the plants.  I'll be excited when we get to enjoy the vegetables of our labor. 

Matt and Pa put together the crib and stroller in the nursery today.  The crib is a loan from Matt's boss.  The stroller is a gift from Matt's sister that we got about two days after we told people we were expecting.  Thank you Liz! 

Pa hung the new curtains, also sewn by my mom, and the room is identifiable as a nursery now.  We are still looking for some items, but the important things are done.

Unfortunately, Ma and Pa had to leave today, but this was a very productive weekend.  I think I might need another weekend starting now to recover.  Luckily, neither Matt nor I have anything planned for tonight.

Autumn says, "'Sup."

Now the room is c-l-o-s-e-r to halfway there.....

     What a nice SSS-LLL-OOO-WWW Sunday after a hectic Friday and Saturday. Abby and I both worked all day on Friday then left town at 5:00 PM to attend the Hospitality Management Department Travel and Dining Auction in Manhattan, Kansas. We arrived shortly before 8:00 - just in time for me to win a couple items and to enjoy seeing so many people I miss.

     I had a great evening and got to speak with so many great friends at the auction! Abby hung out with her best friend. We then went to Willys Bar and enjoyed beverages and the best burger I've had in a while!
     Driving home Saturday was an ordeal! Some seriously foul weather was expected in central Kansas so we took off after enjoying breakfast with my major professor and lunch with Abby's friends! It was SSS-OOO windy that it was difficult staying in our lane on I-70. The wind finally died down around Kansas City and we had a pleasurable trip home. My mom was happy. She pleaded with us to get the heck out of Kansas before the poop hit the fan!
     We took to the basement today and cleaned that up! The dehumidifier we bought last week has done a wonderful job and the basement finally feels like it did prior to the waterworks of Thanksgiving!

     We pulled a bunch of furniture out of the room, setting up the bed in our newly cleaned basement. We have a mostly blank slate in the nursery - of course we already have some Kansas State University gear in the room - like the pillow in the picture above that we picked up in Manhattan on Friday night.

     That's pretty much all for now. We'll get new pictures of the "refreshed" basement and the more firmly finished nursery.

More than halfway there!

Matt and I are slowly getting ready for Baby V in July.  Mostly that means when his very generous family offers us baby things they don't need any more, we say, "yes please". 

My parents are coming to visit in two weeks and the nursery will get worked on more than it has to date.  My mom is bringing curtains and my dad and Matt are moving the bed into the basement (we haven't told my dad this yet...)  Here's some before pictures:

 We painted the room from a dark green when we moved in.  We didn't find out the gender of the baby, but decided blue is a good color either way (also I have no desire to paint for a while). 

I think the rocking chair is the only thing in these pictures that's staying.

Here is a picture of our other project in progress:

25 weeks down, 15 or so to go!

Happy Thanksgiving....

..... Christmas, New Years, MLK Day, Presidents weekend - JEEZ - what is today?

     98 days after the hot water pipe under our sink exploded we finally have our kitchen and living room put back together!

     Here are two pictures of our clean, newly arranged living room showing off our lighter pine colored floors!

     To get ready for the moment involved a lot of preparation beyond the floors being installed (early last week). We had to wait for the weekend to get the rest of the prep done. You see, we had to sweep and clean them very well since Sam was in heat and decided to leave drops of blood on them. Luckily that was easy to clean up. (Thank you Method!)
     Both dogs received bathes and multiple brushings (Autumn is shedding like mad with this warm winter). Finally, stage approval was a requirement from Abby. She approved everything with no changes! (Either I got really lucky or I might actually have a design bone in my body.)

     Here is a view of the updated kitchen:

     We've got a lot of open space that we're still trying to figure out, but the flow feels so much better now that everything that was there before is now available for use.

     We're looking for a nicer cabinet to take the place of the rack (with the toaster oven) and might ask my brother for some opinions!

     I know you've heard it already - but DANG it is nice to have a living room and kitchen that we can fully use and finally enjoy! 98 days is a long time to wait for everything to get put back together!

     We'll get pics of the family room and basement up when we have those rooms finished. We're shuffling most rooms in the house in order to get a nursery ready! (YAY!)

     Much love to friends and family!

   ~ Matt

A little bit of satisfaction!

     I found something out over a year ago. If I switched over to "tall" undershirts then I wouldn't have weird looking rumples in back when wearing dress shirts. I cannot explain how much better I felt with the different undershirts. 

     So Christmas was coming along and and I decided to ask for more of them. Parents obliged and I made it a WHOLE MONTH, wearing only clean shirts, without having to launder any. SO AWESOME! LOVE IT!

     Abby has not told me that I look ridiculous yet, but I love wearing an undershirt under everything - including just a regular t-shirt. Yeah, label me weird, but it feels so nice having a shirt tucked while having the option to tuck the second one.

     Ahhh.... It feels good AND thank you parents for helping make it happen!

Hmmm..... News?

Abby and I were sitting on the couch tonight with her messing on the computer. I glanced over and saw that she had broken the news on Facebook and Google+ that we're expecting in July.


Hmmm..... it feels good to put the information out there. We were slowly telling work so they could prepare too.

So what is it like so far from my perspective? Interesting. Abby had a week-long jelly bean craving - but I wasn't sure that was attributable to the pregnancy. She was going to bed early too - like around 7:30 - but that has gone back to the 9:30ish normal time. Yes, I was also enjoying "pity" tiredness too. I would lay down with her but 90 minutes later I would have to get up and do something else since my body was just not ready to crash.

The only other thing I can think of, but I'm not sure this is due to pregnancy or our current diet, but JEEZ her stomach is LOUD! She thinks this is because she's constantly hungry but I've no idea.

Well that's all for now. We'll keep you posted....