Happy Fall!

Fall started a couple of days ago, but it really feels like it today!


I love fall... it means football, pumpkin patches, leaves turning, warm chili on a cool day, and sweaters!!


Hannah looks pretty happy about it also!!


-- Post From My iPhone

Go Hogs!

Because we live in Fayetteville...

Because this is the biggest game of the season...

And because we're true football fans at heart (even though our hearts will always belong to our Sooners!)...

GO HOGS!!!!!

BEAT BAMA!!!!!!

Lunch with the girls

On Thursdays, Hannah and I usually go to lunch with two girls from work, Sarah and Meriah. Today it was just Sarah, Hannah and I, and someone was not on her best behavior!!!

This was right before her meltdown:




Of course, her sour attitude could be because she kept eating lemons before our food came!!!







But, she did successfully color her first picture, so that was exciting! She only tried to eat the crayons twice :)



Now her artwork is hanging at Chili's for all of Fayetteville to see :)

-- Post From My iPhone

JBF Sale and Dancing!!!

Last night, while Hannah was taking a bath, Eric was playing music and we discovered there is one song she really loves, and she's been playing it on Eric's phone over and over and dancing to it... Here she is today, dancing and twirling:

She cracks us up!

Every year in Tulsa, there is a big Just Between Friends (JBF) consignment sale in the fall and spring, and while we have some here in Fayetteville and Northwest Arkansas, the one in Tulsa is HUGE! Thanks to my friend Julie, who as a volunteer got to go the "presale," Hannah now has an awesome kitchen playset!

It's going to be her Christmas present from us this year... if I can wait that long to give it to her :) It has some bowls and dishes and even has a phone that goes with it. And, even better, it was only $35 dollars!! Thanks for picking it up for me Julie - I definitely would have missed out by waiting until today!

So, when I went to Tulsa today to pick the kitchen up from Julie's, I also went to the actual sale, and got Hannah some great clothes for this fall and winter. I cleaned out her closet and drawers yesterday, and while she had tons of clothes for the rest of this summer, and tons of pants for the fall - she only had two long sleeved shirts. So, I think I managed to get some great stuff today for her!

Hannah didn't enjoy shopping quite as much as I did, but we had a great time in T-town!

New posts!

So, I've finally posted pictures and edited some posts from the past three months, so scroll down and see all the new blog posts! I included a bunch of stuff from Hannah's birthday, our travels this summer, and all of our latest Hannah Happenings!!!

Fun with Mommy and Daddy

Last night, Eric and Hannah and I went to cheer on the Arkansas Naturals (our local minor league baseball team) and my friend Sarah from work joined us. We had a good time and the stadium is really nice. Hannah's favorite part though was definitely running all around!

This was a misting booth that Hannah liked to play in

Today, we went to Red Robin for lunch with Daddy, and Hannah was really getting into the ketchup!

Then, when she ran out of fries... this is what happened!

After lunch today, I took Hannah to go get her haircut... this is what it looked like before:

As you can see, even though it was long and we could pull it in a ponytail, or pigtails, it was just always in her face, so I decided it was time our sassy girl got herself a sassy new haircut!

Here's what it looks like now...

Our girl is getting SO BIG!!!!

Swimming Pool fun!!

Thanks to Aunt Lori, Uncle Ken, and cousins Sky, Brad and Lila for the fun pool!!!

Meeting Great-Grandma Brusveen

Hannah and her Great-Grandma Brusveen finally got to meet the Friday before we went to Vegas, and we had a great time showing off our Hannah. Grandma was so surprised... she turned 79 the day before, so this was a great birthday gift for her!

Here are some pictures from the afternoon!

Summer Rundown

So, I am the worst blogger ever! This summer has been so crazy with work and stuff around the house that it's 10pm before I can even think, let alone blog!! So, we thought we'd give you a little news on what's been going on with us!

The 4th of July, we spent here in Fayetteville, because we really needed a non-travelling weekend! I worked that Saturday, and then had off for the 4th, so we had a relaxing day. We went to church, and then we went across the street to Hilary's house for dinner and some fireworks. Hannah didn't make it up for the fireworks, but since Hilary just lives across the street, we brought the monitor out and watched fun fireworks. Our little town has a couple of fun neighborhoods that put on really good displays and we don't even have to leave our little street to watch them!

This video shows Hannah putting the moves on Carter! As soon as he woke up from his nap and came into the hallway, she attacked him and started kissing and hugging him! I think we're going to have to watch these two later on :)




Mid July, Eric went to Maryland for a week for work, so Hannah and I went to see our peeps! We went to Tulsa one day to see our friends the Beams, and then that afternoon, we went to dinner with two of my friends from pharmacy school, Diana and Kami, and Kami's son TJ.

Here is Hannah with Addison and Emma!

Later that week, the two of us went to Tahlequah for a couple of days, and when we were there, we went to dinner with my best friend Cari and her husband Marcus and daughter Isla. We were pretty sure it was the last time that we take the girls to dinner until they graduate high school - they were that messy!

Towards the end of July, we started on our huge backyard renovation. Here is what our backyard looked like before:

And this is what it is looking like now that we have started working on it. It's not finished yet, but Eric and my dad have extended the main deck, and started on the paver patio. We still have to finish the patio, then build two more sides to the deck - one to put the patio table on to eat and the other will surround our new hot tub. Then, the huge mound of dirt hidden by the tractor will be turned into a play area for Hannah. And eventually, I will finally finish painting the shed, and it will get a new floor. It's all going to be so great when it gets done!!!

This past weekend, Eric and I went to Vegas to see GARTH BROOKS!!!! We bought our tickets four months ago, so we couldn't believe the weekend was finally here! We stayed at the Wynn and it was so amazing - the bathtub is bigger than mine at home! And the view was amazing! We were on the 29th floor and were only halfway up... the place is huge!

View from our floor-to-ceiling windows - awesome!

What you can't see in this picture is the tv in the bathroom! It was SOOO relaxing...

This picture was from Eric's phone, so it's really blurry, but here we are in front of the fountains at the Bellagio

The concert was so great - Eric got amazing seats and I seriously cried when Garth walked out on the stage and started playing! It was such a neat concert - it was just him and his guitar (and at one point, Trisha Yearwood!!!), and he took us through all of his musical influences, from Merle Haggard to Bob Dylan to Otis Redding. I think he played as many songs by other people as he did his own songs. I am definitely already thinking about seeing him again!!

Eagerly awaiting Garth!!!

We had a fun weekend, but we missed our Boo terribly! We kept talking about her and watching videos of her we had on our phones. It was so great to see her this morning! She gave us both big hugs, so I think she was happy to see us too!

Now, Eric is in Maryland for work again, so Hannah and I are going to have a fun couple of days hanging out! It's so hot here that we can't be outside much, so I'm thinking the house is going to get totally tornadoed!!!

MyTrip to Maryland (Part 2)

So, in our last episode, Monday was ending after a trip to Gettysburg. On Tuesday, I went back to work and I found out what we were doing there. Basically, there are thousands upon thousands of transactions performed by the VA. Many of these are not done with all of the required information in the purchase orders or credit card records and this make it hard to categorize what was puchased. In FY 2009, our $17 billion was spent which fell into this category. It wasn't wasted (at least, not necessarily), but it was "Uncategorized". So, the VA hired an outside firm which developed a software program to help. It takes these transactions and compares them to what it already knows and tries to guess what each would have been for. For instance, if the vendor was FedEx, it was probably something to do with shipping. If the money came from the Prosthetics Department, it was probably something prosthetics related. So, this company, took about 9,000 of these educated guesses and wanted us to go through them. There were three categories: The first were items which it was pretty sure was accurate, the second had two choices and it wanted us to either pick one of the two or find a more accurate one, and the third category was pretty much the computer saying that it had no idea and please help. It wasn't exciting work, but I can see its usefulness.

We finally started working on Tuesday at about 1:00 PM once all of the logistics were taken care of. We stayed until about 4:30.

After work, I drove to Baltimore to catch an Orioles games. They were playing the Rays (Matt Garza was pitching) so it held some interest for me. It was also cheap bleacher seat ($9) and free t-shirt night, so that was cool. Michelle Obama was there to promote her "No Fat Kids" initiative. It rained right up until gametime, and then the sun came out and it was pretty muggy. The Orioles started out pretty well. Three straight batters got home runs off of Garza who is one of the best pitchers in baseball (he had a no-hitter last night). The scoreboard said that the last time the Orioles had three home runs in a row was in 1992. For the first few innings, they were doing well. Then, in the sixth, the Rays scored 4 runs and took the lead. It was starting to rain again, so I figured I'd leave since the Rays looked like they were about to run away with it anyway. Plus, I realized that Orioles fans are pretty boring. There wasn't a single attempt at a wave or any "Let's go Orioles" cheers. It was like they were there against their will. Well, the game turned into a classic after I left and it wound up going 13 innings with the Orioles winning on a walk-off hit. Oh well.

After work on Wednesday, I was pretty tired so I just sort of laid low. I went to the mall and then to dinner and then to Walmart. Nothing too exciting.

On Thursday, they told us that we'd be done early, so I worked on cancelling my hotel room and changing my plane tickets. I ended up leaving at about 4:45 on Thursday and drove to Manassas to find the marker about the 20th NYSM (Walter's regiment in the Civil War). Thankfully, I found a website that had the exact coordinates of it or I would never have found it. I had to drive about 3 miles down a dirt road and then hike about another mile after that along an area known as the "Unfinished Railroad". I was glad I made the trip though. It was a much different feeling from Gettysburg. At Gettysburg, everyone knows about it and it is really crowded. It deserves it of course, but I'm just saying. When I found this marker, I was by myself in the woods on a spot where the 20th lost a lot of men in one of their first battles. In fact, one of the men who died was Colonel George Pratt, the first wartime commander of the 20th. I had written a report on this area and I had tried to picture what it would have looked like. To actually see it was really a neat experience.

There is a webpage about the marker here.

Also, about a quarter-mile away is the marker for the 15th Alabama Infantry, the regiment that was fighting against the 20th. I've read the stories that some of the soldiers from the 15th wrote which made this all very real to me. It was just nice to be alone with my thoughts about the battle and the brave men who fought in it.

My hotel for the night was back in Baltimore. I had gone about an hour out of the way to visit Manassas, so now I had to drive back in rush hour traffic. When I got back to the main road, I turned the opposite direction I had come and there was the rest of the Bull Run battlefield. Somewhere on this field, another ancestor of mine had died, Horace Merrithew. He had lied about his age and enlisted in the 104th New York Infantry, only to be killed in his first battle. I've been trying to find a reference that would show where he fought in the battle, but to no avail.

It took about 2 hours to make the one hour drive to my hotel. I had gotten a hotel closer to the airport as I was flying out the next morning. I took a dip in the hot tub, changed, and then went down to have a drink at the bar. I met a guy in a Twins jersey and we started discussing baseball. A little while later a couple more Twins fans showed up and we wound up chatting for about an hour and a half. Each of them were on quests to visit as many baseball ballparks as they could. The older guy said Camden Yards was his 30th location, and the younger guy said it was his 21st. I did the counting in my head and I am at 8: Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago (Comiskey), Cincinnati, Kansas City, Texas (Arlington), and St. Louis (old Busch Stadium). If I go back to Maryland, I'll try to add Washington as well. I need to get my number up.

Anyway, I flew home Friday and everything went well. Hannah picked me up in Tulsa with her mommy, Mama, and Papa. We stayed in Tahlequah that night and drove home to Fayetteville the next day.

This is where the story of my trip ends, but the story of our backyard continues....

My Trip to Maryland (Part 1)

So, I have a few minutes so I figured I'd tell you all about my trip to Maryland last week.

It started on Friday the 16th. We were planning on a big backyard project for the weekend so I had requested some leave to go home early. We were going to rent a tractor and do some serious remodeling. Well, at 2:30 PM, I get back to my office and my supervisor tells me that someone was needed to volunteer to go to Maryland for an audit and that the volunteer was me. My boss couldn't go because he was in training and my supervisor couldn't go because he was doing my boss' job in his absence. I called Michelle to see if we had anything that it would conflict with and she said there wasn't. So, I told my supervisor that I could go but that I would prefer not to if there was anyone else. Well, in about five minutes, he sent an email that I had proudly accepted the invitation and would love to go to MD. I figured I would still leave early, but I had to go through the process of getting approval for the trip. My supervisor and I had to walk the paperwork through the front office and then to Fiscal. About five minutes before we started this, the sky opened up into a torrential downpour. That made it so much fun (sarcasm).

So, we cancelled the plans for the weekend and the trip was set.

My trip was scheduled for Sunday the 18th through Saturday the 24th. I got to the airport with plenty of time to spare only to find out that my tickets had never been ordered. They had been reserved and my name was in the system, but they just weren't paid for. I called the travel company and they remedied it and the trip was back on.

I got to Baltimore at about 6 PM, got my rental car and went to the hotel in Frederick, MD. The next day I reported for duty. Monday was spent explaining the basics of what we were there for (even though it still didn't make much sense) and then we got out early. I knew that I wanted to go to Gettysburg, but I hadn't planned on going on Monday. With the extra time we had, I decided it would be the best day for my trip so off I went.

I got to Gettysburg at about 1:30 PM (about an hour drive) and went to the Visitors Center first. I started with the video and and the cyclorama (which was awesome) and then went to find the Walter Van Rensselaer display. I found it in short order and realized that it was pretty dark in the corner where it was located. I wasn't sure how I'd get a picture, but I found a willing photographer. I told him that Walter was my ancestor and he said he'd take my picture if I told him Walter's story. He had no idea what he was getting into.

When I got back outside, it had started raining, but it didn't last long. I tried to decipher the maps to find where the monuments to the Twentieth New York State Militia (Walter's Civil War regiment) were located. The closer of the two was the monument that was put in place along Cemetery Ridge on July 3rd, 1981. This was the location where the 20th NYSM helped to fend off the attack known as Pickett's Charge. For those who are not historians, many believe that if the Union had not held during this one charge, the war might have been lost.

The other monument was placed on the location of the fighting that took place two days before Pickett's Charge on July 1st, 1863. It was dedicated by the veterans of the 20th NYSM on October 4th, 1888.

After checking out each site a couple of times, I had dinner at General Pickett's Buffet and headed back to Frederick. I had homework to do before midnight so that just about ended that day.

It was absolutely incredible to be there. To be on the spot where those men had fought and bled and died for their country. To see where the men of the 20th stood up the immense numbers of Confederate soldiers who came rushing across that field made me feel pride beyond words.

Someday, I'll go back and spend more time in the Visitor's Center and really gain a broader understanding of the whole battle, but for now, this was more than I had hoped for.

Part 2 coming soon...For now, here is the link to Snapfish for the rest of my photos from Gettysburg. http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=4511605008/a=44950176_44950176/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

LIttle Rock/Father's Day

This past week, Eric graduated from his VA Leadership class and the graduation was in Little Rock. After I was able to switch shifts at work, Hannah and I went along for the ride!

Here is Hannah in her pack and play in the hotel room.

A friend I grew up with, Kelly, is a photographer in Little Rock, so I met up with her Wednesday night when Eric was busy with work stuff to take some cute outdoor pictures of Hannah. I can't wait to see them!
Here's a sneak peek...



We went out to dinner afterwards and caught up - it was so good to see her!!! We talked about our husbands and kids, and our mutual love for blog-stalking people :)

Thursday, Eric had work all day also, so I met up with Kelly again to get some more cute pictures of Hannah taken - this time, Kelly took birthday cake pictures of her. Well... she tried at least. Apparently, Hannah isn't a big fan of getting dirty! She was poking at it and being shy about it, and then she accidentally stuck her foot in the cake and it was all over! She cried and came running towards me... I ended up messier than her! Kelly and I had a good laugh, but I'm pretty sure she didn't get one good picture of Hannah that day!


Friday was Eric's graduation ceremony, and I tried to get a cute pictures of Hannah and Eric together, but sadly... this is all I could get!

Hannah was hungry AND tired during the whole ceremony and it was not a good combination. So, the only good picture we got was just Eric and I. :)

Friday afternoon, we just hung out and then took Hannah to the pool. She liked it and kept kicking her feet. It was so hot the whole time we were in LR, that the pool was AMAZING!

After the pool, we took Hannah to see the famous ducks at the Peobody Hotel! They are these ducks that march every morning to their pool, and then every afternoon march back. It was pretty cool, but I think Hannah liked riding up and down the elevator more!

Saturday, we left LR and drove down to Tahlequah for Father's Day weekend. We had a great time hanging out with family!

Happy Father's day to Eric - who is such a great dad to Hannah. I love that she is such a daddy's girl!

Happy Father's day also to my dad, Marvin, and Eric's dad, Norm! We love you both so much!

And Father's day wouldn't be Father's day without Hannah wishing Happy Father's day to all of her grandpas... Papa, Pepere, and Grandpa Bill!!