ACCEPTED!

Joe and I have officially decided to accept the job offer with GE Energy! *WHEW* It feels good to be done with big decisions for awhile! It was very tense waiting to hear from GE, and dealing with other jobs/interviews that came up as the new school year got fired up as well. We feel very blessed to have a secure job, ready for us to start next July. Now Joe can just enjoy school, and probably be home much more (particularly next semester when the baby comes). We are VERY proud of our hard working Joe, who acheived his goal of working for a top energy company!!!

A bit more about the job we're taking: It's a two year rotational program, where he'd get a new assignment every 6 months (and usually move to a new location). It could be anywhere in the world, but most likely U.S. locations might be: Atlanta, Schenectady NY, or Houston. Joe is also very pro Europe, and will be pushing to go over for at least one of the rotations (for example, their wind energy is based in Germany). The moving is a little scary, but we've learned that GE will take care of eeeeevvvverything, and extra, so it's not so scary anymore. I'm trying to see it as "being paid to travel". Plus, we'll be done with the program & pick a job to settle down with before Sawyer even starts kindergarten, so the timing couldn't be more perfect to have a little adventure.

While Joe is interested in all areas of energy, he's particularly drawn to nuclear (which was his job last summer for the internship- at their nuclear headquarters in NC). Joe is very passionate about nuclear power, and keeps up on the news and much of the literature; so, if you ever spark up a conversation with Joe about the nation's energy crisis, be ready to hear a lot of pro-nuclear facts and figures (take this as your warning... .for good or bad, I suppose)!

The Belly Bump!

So here is the requested belly bump pic! I can't believe I'm already 5 months! I feel really big, but I guess that's how it goes the second time around. I guess there is always the off chance that I have multiples, though... that won't be ruled out until the ultrasound on the 16th! Not that I'm rooting for it (or against it, per se), but at least it would help me emotionally, to explain why I FEEL so big!

The Women in Sawyer's Life

One of Sawyer's favorite friends from last school year, McKenna, came to visit this week (her dad had graduated this spring and moved away)! We got the kiddos all back together again for a reunion (pictured is Sawyer, Caitlyne, McKenna).

Sawyer, livin' it up with all the mormon babes.

I think he loves her.

Chicago Temple Trip

What a beautiful October day in the Midwest!

Yesterday we made the trip to the Chicago temple with the Evans family. We watched the kiddos while the Evans went in for a few hours, then switched. Joe and I had some wonderfuul experiences there; a BIG thank you to the Evans for watching Sawyer so we could go in together! Here are a few pics I took on the temple grounds while watching the kids:

Outside of the temple, I think my favorite part of the day was when Joe and I were walking towards the temple to go in, & as Sawyer watched us, he yelled out, "MOM AND DAD- ARE YOU GOING TO THE TEMPLE TO GET MARRIED??"

Hahah... This stemmed from the family home evening we'd had that week: I taught a lesson on the temple, and had pictures of temples out, as well as some of our wedding pictures out. We talked all about how that's where Mom & Dad got married...

One Word Tag!

Tagged by a friend, here I go!

1. Where is your cell phone? Non-existent
2. Your significant other? Gorgeous
3. Your hair? Fluffy
4. Your mother? Patient
5. Your father? Generous
6. Your favorite thing? Motherhood
7. Your dream last night? Theft
8. Your favorite drink? Lemonade
9. Your dream/goal? Purity
10. The room you're in? Cinnamon
11. Your hobby? Creating
12. Your fear? Unexpected
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Rockies
14. What you're not? Multi-lingual
15. Muffins? Breakfast
16. Wish list item? Piano
17. Where you grew up? Wisconsin
18. The last thing you did? Cook
19. What are you wearing? Maternity
20. Favorite Gadget? Laptop
21. Your pets? Beta
22. Your computer? Dying
23. Your mood? Sleepy
24. Missing Someone? Husband
25. Your car? Tri-colored
26. Something you're not wearing? Shoes
27. Favorite store right now? Crafts
28. Favorite color? Chocolate
29. Last time you laughed? Bedtime
30. Last time you cried? Cramping

I tag Shanda & Ashley!

Warren Dunes = Fun Camping

I think this trip may top our lists of our best family trip thus far. We were all happy & enjoying ourselves, with no accidents or meltdowns or raindrops, for the ENTIRE 22 hours! Overnight camping is great with a 2 year old.

We went to Warren Dunes State Park, which was recommended to me by a few different people. Joe and I both like as much forest/privacy as possible, with as little plumbing/blacktop as possible, and this seemed like the closest we could get. We got a rustic site that was a generous sized oval, completely encircled with forest. The only downfalls of this campground were: (1) The campground itself is far from its Lake Michigan beach area, and the road to get there was closed to traffic. It was about a mile walk if we cut through sand dune mountains (on the way there), and about a three mile walk by road (we tried on the way back). Tiring for a pregnant lady and a two year old! (2) It turns out you can hear the roar of I-94 nearby, constantly. I also had the roar and whistles of several freight trains wake me up throughout the night. Oh well.

Here we go, exploring the campground; Sawyer found a "cool stick".

Joe is showing us how to "pop" leaves in his hand:

We found a wild grape vine up high in a tree, and Joe and I were able to figure out a system to get them down- Yum!

On our hike through the sand dunes, trying to get to the beach. I love Sawyer's little pose for the camera:

Yay! We can see the water now! I hope it's not a mirage...

It's real! *Splash, splash!*

I think we spent about 3 hours hanging out on the beach. The water was extremely cold, the boys only stayed in for a bit. We just had a great time relaxing together. There were probably only 10 other people on the entire coastline as far as the eye could see, which was a cool experience.

Beautiful sunshine through the woods on our long walk back:

Beautiful vines wrapping the tree trunks, already turning a fiery red & magenta:

Getting the fire going for dinner. It took us awhile. These rings aren't designed very well, there's no air flow. Notice how it's still light out in this picture:

And now we're finally opening our tin foil dinners- in complete darkness. I think it was almost 8:30 by this time.

Me and Sawyer hanging out by the fire.

Getting ready to snuggle up for bedtime in our tent.

Good night!

Last Zoo Trip of the Season...

So in the car on the way home from church on Sunday, Joe made the joke with Sawyer of: "where are we going? Are we going to the.... zoo?" Sawyer of course can't pick up on the joke (because of course we're heading home), and instead just got excited for the zoo. To help ease the disappointment, I promised Sawyer we'd go to the zoo this week. A whole bunch of the animals are already "gone for the season", which was kinda lame, but oh well. We got to hear the lion roar! And Sawyer got to ride the train he loves so much!

They got an anteater this summer! I don't think I've ever seen one in real life before, because it looked really strange to me & I was totally fascinated.

Tuesday at Silver Beach!

Thanks to Kelly for organizing a group trip to the beach! It turned out to be an 80* day, and perfect for us and the kids. Sawyer looked like such a big boy, out playing in the water with so many friends. All of us moms just hung out on the sand & watched. Very nice day!

Meeting some PBS Buddies

We just love the library downtown. They do such a great job with all of their events! Saturday Sawyer was able to go meet Clifford AND Curious George! In person! I think he was disappointed that Clifford wasn't bigger (he's obviously MUCH bigger on tv)... and he was weirded out by, and commented on the fact, that Curious George was wearing a shirt (he doesn't wear a shirt on the show).

They even had crafts where Sawyer made a Curious George puppet. What a cool event.

It's Turtle Time!

Joe was able to run the Notre Dame 5k on Saturday, and he did a really good job (even though he didn't wait around to see the official times be posted, but at the checkpoints he seemed to be sticking to 7 minute miles). WOW! Great running Joe! And he got a cool shirt & good breakfast afterwards. He also got something else afterwards:

That's right. They were giving out turtles!
Not really. Joe found him trying to cross the street on his way home. He brought him home to show Sawyer.
We stopped by Sawyer's friend, Caitlyne's, house to share in the adventure of returning him to the "wild". We all walked together to the nearby woods & set him free, upside down.

I love random little adventures that sneak into a beautiful day...