I thought break meant you got to relax.....

Well we just finished our summer break and now I am ready for a vacation. At the beginning we finished up moving and clean houses. We also closed on our house – which was a wonderful relief. We are now just getting settled in and are on our way over to my parent’s house for a little retreat. My best buddy here is moving in just a couple of weeks so we decided to go over to my parents and have a little getaway. It was really nice to just sit around in the pool and do some shopping. I am really going to miss Louise. We then came back and planned a camping trip, but it was way to wet or way to hot the whole week so we just continued to unpack and help the Rogers move(Louise).

It was then back to the parents for the 4th of July and Danny’s Birthday. While we were over there the Rush’s and Judi’s Mom came into town. For the next week we went to downtown Chicago, Nauvoo, and Davenport. We got to see all the sites and spend lots of time together. I am so grateful that they came and loved to see all of them.

We made it home just in time to spend a weekend relaxing and them it was back to school.

Here are the pics from the whole adventure...

Danny opening his presents.

Danny's favorite thing in the whole world is a ball - any type, any size - in face anything circular. So I made him this little cake for his 2nd birthday. He loved it.

Pictures of us in Nauvoo and at Carthage. I am really bad at remembering to take pictures so these are all that I got over the four days that we were there.

Another One Down....(I just mean a week)

Well we have survived another week here in good old IOWA. A little bit more of an update. As I have said we sold our house because we were a little afraid we couldn't sell it next year if the market keep going down and when we are done here we want to be ready to go home to Arizona. We found a little place the is about half the size of our old house and we are renting it for the next year or so. We have just ended another trimester and had to say goodbye to some really good friends. We were really sad to see them go, but at the same time all the new families are showing up and I am glad that we are not having to start all over again. Our little Jackson - who is not little - is just huge. It is in the 95 percentile in all areas is just too heavy to carry. I am really glad that he can now sit up because I no longer carry him in the car seat.
Here are some precious little pictures that I took of the boys this week. Jack loves to swing and was apparently starving because he started chewing on the little bar that goes across him.


Danny is just about the funniest thing in the world. Whenever I try to make a face at him like I am serious or he is in trouble. He turns around and does the same thing back to me. The bottom picture is an attempt at my face I try to give him when I am trying to discipline him - As you can tell you can see how good I am doing at that.

Our Life in a Nutshell - Or at Least my Attempt to Summarize the Past Couple of Months

Well here goes our little 6 month recap - Jack finally came only 9 days late - but we welcomed our humongous little one into our home. I have realized although very hard going over - especially when my midwife said she hoped I would make it to 38 weeks - but when you have a ten pounds baby they are really easy. Judi and my mom were both able to make it to the hospital just a few hours before he came.

After a very cold and long winter we were glad to see spring. I don't know why people in Arizona say they wish they had the seasons - I just like the reliability of having the same thing every day. After visiting Arizona in February, Danny would sit by the front door saying "bye bye". He didn't realize the it was still 20 below outside - nothing compared to our wonderful week at home.

This picture is of Danny at his very first fathers and sons. It had a fun time and loved being able to sleep in a tent.

Now that summer has arrived my parents opened thier pool and turned on the heater. Danny refuses to leave the first step no matter who is going to hold him and Jack would float around by himself all day long.

This is me a my two cousins that live in Chicago - We all had babies within a few weeks of each other.

I just thought this was just the cutest thing ever. This was actually a sucker that was Jenny's. He dragged a chair across the room and got up onto the counter to get to it. I think he is getting to smart for his mom.

Dan had his first official crash and burn. It was so sad. He fell down our concrete stairs out our front door.

Our little Jack that we love so much - even though he wears the same size diapers as his big brother and wears 12 month clothing at 5 months!!!

WOW I AM BAD AT THIS!!!!!

This is my attempt to allow people to see my little guys. I am so bad at keeping up at this. This picture is actually when Jack was only 2 months old. Our little family has been very busy. We put our house on the market and it sold in only a week - so we had to find a new place fast and move. Of course, everything gets lost when moving, so I could get pictures onto the computer. We have been loving our new little place. Charlie just finished his 5 of 9 trimesters that we have to be out here so we are on the down hill slide. We are glad that spring is here, except that everything is underwater right now - and we haven't had very many good spring days - but at least it is not below freezing anymore. I will get more recent pictures up and more of an update as soon as possible.

Two Babies, Iowa Winters, and Finals

These are all of my reasons for not keeping up on my sweet little blog. It has been a lot more work than anticipated having two little ones. It seems that all I do is feed babies, change diapers, and attempt to get them both asleep at the same time so that I can have a nap - which hardly ever happens. Jack is actaully a really good baby, which has been a wonderful blessing. He is HUGE!! Everyone around here always assumes that he is about 3 months old - now that he is just past a month. Danny is doing a lot better with the baby. He just loves his baby so much that he can hardly stand to leave him alone. I walked into the room the other day and found Danny getting Jack out of the swing and was just about to start carrying him around. We are excited to head down to Arizona this week for our break. We need to thaw out. It is snowing right now, which is always beautiful, but I can only stand so many below zero days. I am forced to stay inside all day for days on end. Yesterday was finally around 30 degrees so we went out as a family and did our grocery shopping. Danny was excited to be able to leave the house and not have to cry while he is trying to breath in the freezeing cold.

HE FINALLY CAME!!!
Well I guess that we waited long enough - 41 weeks and one day. Early Tuesday morning our sweet little boy finally decided to come to our family. Jackson Fielding Rush was born at 12:23 am. He weighed 9 pounds 14 ounces and was 21 inches long. We are glad that everyone is healthy and happy - and mom is especially glad to not be pregnant.

Well we got home a realized that there were not very many good pictures of the baby on our camera. These are the best that I could find so I will add more when we get some from the grandma's.

Still Just Waiting...

For anyone that is wondering about the baby - HE HAS NOT COME YET!!! Yes I am a week overdue and the counter on the top of the page is correct - We will post pictures of him if he ever decides to come.

Charlie's Little Obsession
Charlie got a couple of gun accessories for christmas, which he hasn't put down since. He has begged me to share with everyone a picture of his wonderful gun collection. He is very proud of it.!!! I love him so much.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

We hope that all of our family and friends had a wonderful holiday. We missed all of you that we couldn't spend time with. Even though the weather here was pretty mild, we would have enjoyed an Arizona Christmas. We pretty much just sat around waiting for our sweet little baby boy to come, which still hasn't happened. Here are some pictures of Danny with Santa Clause, which he loved and also of an ice storm we had a few days ago. It pretty much just rains ice and everything get covered with about an inch of ice. It is really dangerous and messy, but beautiful.

WOW ITS BEEN A LONG TIME!!!!

I know that it has been forever since I have posted anything - Almost 6 months. Needless to say we have been very busy so we'll just get everyone caught up-to-date with a briefing of the past month.

At the end of July we had a Feltch ( Anne's Mom's Family) Reunion in Chicago, which was fortunate for us becuase if we couldn't have driven there we probably would not have been able to go. We had a lot of fun getting together with my Mom's sisters and their families. We spent most of our time at my parents house hanging out, playing games, and making Tongan food. One of the days we headed down to downtown Chicago and took a boat tour around the lake and river. It was really fun and interesting. We miss all the family already.

Our little family at Navy Pier
Me and pregnant cousin Karen Matsen

In August, Danny and I went with my family up to Lake Michigan. We rented a little house and sat on the beach for a whole week. It was the perfect vacation. Danny loved to play all over in the sand and get pulled around on the boogie board - mostly only because he always saw the kids playing with it.

About half way through the week Danny started screaming at everyone for everthing. I figured it was becuase he was missing his dad so much. Needless to say my parents were rethinking the idea of inviting us to go on their vacation with them.

Our Weekend With the Eagers (and other friends)

In the middle of September we had the privelegde of having my best friend and her husband come and visit us. Since they were coming into town we gathered up some other long lost friends who live in the area and hung out. We got to go down to Nauvoo (without Danny) and go to the temple. It was so much fun to drive all over with them and hope they can come visit again.

Jeani Jadlot, Me, Lisa Eager, Katherine Mensch

Fun with the Kidney Bean

On top of the world - or at least the Hancock Building

Our New Little Project!

This is a little 67 bug that has been in my family for years. It was passed around the family and I got to drive it during high school. Needless to say it has been through a little rought patch, but Charlie and I have decided to take on the project and rebuild it ourselves. We have moved it over to our house and are slowly going to make it wonderful as money and time permits.

The Pumpkin Patch

Apparently when you want a pumpkin in the Midwest you have to go to the pumpkin patch and pick your own. We took Danny over to one and had fun riding the little carvinal rides, playing games and petting the animals.

ARIZONA!!!

At the end October we got to go to Arizona for a quick little visit. We were suppose to come and spend our Christmas there, but since I am due Dec 31st, we decided that would be a little difficult and impossible. While we were there we got to take part in the annual Rush Family Halloween party and go the state fair. Both were really fun and it was wonderful to see our family and friends.

Danny with our Aunt Pam Spencer - He was really afraid of her.

Yes - that is Charlie standing behind this huge steer!!!

Danny with Uncle Tim

Happy Halloween!! We spent Halloween over at my parents house so that we could be around the kids and take part in their family traditions. We have so much fun. Danny loved to see all the other kids running around and didn't really seem to mind wearing his little dinosaur costume - which made him the cutest little thing ever. He was also really interested in carving the pumpkins - which he kept calling balls.

DANNY"S 1ST BIRTHDAY

7/6/07

Danny had a lot of fun on his birthday. We had a little party over at Grandpa and Grandma Langford's (in Chicago). We could tell that he knew something special was happening. He couldn't stop smiling all day long. He didn't really like the cake - it was probably a little sweet.

We are so glad that he is in our family and love his spirit in our home.