A Beautiful Day for the Park

It was a sunny, warm day today. We took Asher to the park with our friends. This is probably the best park in our city. It isn't close to our house at all, so this was actually the first time we had taken Asher here. He is a little timid to try new things, but loved going down the slide today with Dad.



Enjoying the swings

More slides!

Special Delivery

We had a special delivery today! Three boxes arrived for us. What a treat. Asher is sporting his new hat and shoes from Nana. He kept the hat and shoes on all afternoon despite a hot head and sweaty feet.


I enjoyed looking through my maternity clothes my mom sent that were stored at her place and getting a few new things as well. I had my own little fashion show for awhile as I tried things on....praying they would fit. This baby boy is growing at a much more rapid pace than Asher seemed to. So I was thankful that I can still fit into everthing!


Much of the stuff on the table were treats, magazines, books for Asher, and other little fun things that you don't find here. They were all from the March Madness Crew. Every year for the past several years we would go to Minneapolis and meet up with the same family and friends on the weekend where there are the most b-ball games on during March Madness. The men all watch games for 2 days and the ladies have done various things including eating out, shopping, movies, pedicures, etc. Needless to say, I missed being there, but was so blessed to feel a part of it from afar.


My mom stuffed in a little cow for Asher that says "Iowa" on it. He looks at it and says "moo"!

Thanks Mom, Karen, Heather, and the March Madness group! We felt very blessed by you all!

Our Little Linus

Do you see a resemblance?

My friend's mom knitted Asher a blanket before he was born. I loved it, because of the colors and it was so soft. That blanket has become one of Asher's greatest comforts. It doesn't come out of his crib very often or he may just become more like Linus than we are wanting, but it is sweet to watch him hug it and drag it all over the house on occasion. It's going to be very rough if someday I ever forget this blanket on an overnight trip.

He is Risen!

He is Risen Indeed! Happy Easter from our family to yours!

Easter Eggs

On Friday, Reed was gracious enough to dye Easter eggs with me. It was a special treat for me, because it reminds me of home and we've done it together the last several years. Asher did not join us for the festivities (he was asleep). I think next year he will be at a better age for it. I was imagining food coloring stains all over him this year and it didn't seem worth it.

Reed put his artistic skills to work and was quite focused on his egg art!

Here are the finished eggs:

Asher was quite shocked to see the colored eggs! I was able to get a few pictures of him holding the basket before he got his little hands in.

It didn't last too long before his curiosity got the best of him. Needless to say, the eggs had to be put away quickly after this otherwise they would have been tossed like a ball.

Peeping Asher

Below is a picture of the front door to our apartment. We have a very thick, metal door with multiple locks and of course, a peep hole to look out and see who's on the other side. You don't see a lot of wooden doors and certainly not doors with a glass window in them to look out.

I use the peep hole quite often and am actually quite cautious about who I answer the door for.


I didn't realize my peeping was being watched carefully by a little guy in our home until one day I saw this......

It has been pretty funny watching him repeatedly go to the door and pretend to "look" out the peep hole to see who is here.

Now I'll say, "Asher, who is at the door?" and he will go and check it out for me. Very cute!

A BIG Party

On Saturday, a local friend took me to the local New Year's celebration. The New Year coincides (logically) with the first day of Spring: March 21st. Various cities in the region hold their festivals on different days. Our city's happened to be on the 20th. They estimate over 300,000 people attended the event. It was a day long event with speakers, musicians, bonfires, food vendors, dancing and flag waving.

Above is the main stage. Notice the Zacheaus-like minded individual clinging to the thin tree on the left about 50 feet in the air. What people do for a view!

Above: From where I'm standing all the way to the castle in the background was a solid sea of humanity.

22 weeks

So here it is: a side profile of my ever growing belly. I've realized most all of my family and friends have not and will not see me throughout this whole pregnancy. :( I am currently 22 weeks and feeling pretty good. I have occasional days of bad heartburn, but other than that, I can't complain.

I finally found a pair of maternity jeans here....not an easy find. And my spring maternity clothes are hopefully in a box coming across the ocean soon, thanks to my mom who is storing many of our things!

We are looking forward to baby boy #2!

Our New Grocery Service

For the past 8 months we've gotten groceries at a local grocery store about 5 minutes from us by walking. We are thankful that one is so close, because we walk to get our groceries and bring back only as much as we can carry. I've gotten better at gaging, by looking in my cart, when I need to stop and go pay. It is not really convenienent to have to walk all your groceries home and in fact there have been plenty of times where half way home I wondered what I was thinking trying to carry this much.

The past few months Reed has been the pack mule, mainly because he can just carry more and I stay home with Asher.

Well, a new service came to our city!!! Seriously, I could not be more excited. We got a flyer a few weeks ago advertising that a local grocery store now had online grocery shopping and home delivery. And the best part is that it is a FREE service. We give them a small tip when they arrive though.

So the past three weeks, I've ordered all of my groceries, (minus produce and meat) for the WHOLE week and the grocery service has brought my heavy bags to my door within two hours. It has saved time and the pain of hauling the really heavy stuff all the way home. It has also made going out and getting my meat and produce a much more enjoyable and easier experience. I can handle carrying home two bags!


Asher is shocked at the convenience of our new grocery service!


The grocery prices have been fairly comparable to other store prices, so it seems to be a pretty good deal. They don't always have everything I want, but for the most part I've been able to find quite a bit of the basics I need each week.

It has been a huge convenience, which I can't always use that word when referring to where I live! And today I can say I got groceries in my pajamas!! ( I had Reed answer the door).

We are quite progressive in our city, I have to say! :)

Ephesus: Part 2

Here are the remains of what used to be a library in Ephesus.


Reed thoroughly enjoyed himself as he took quite a few pictures of the remains of these old structures. It would have been pretty impressive to see it all back in the day.

A view of the library from the top of the hill.

All in all we had a great day. We found that February was a good time to go. It was beautiful, but not too hot and there weren't a ton of tourists.