New Family Members

In December we added to our family again..... Bobbi and Blizzard. August's brother Lyle and his friend Alex found them on the family farm abandoned. Lyle and Sara took them in while they found loving new homes for them. I talked August into letting me get one... I really wanted two of them so they could play together. He said if I we got one I could have it in the house (I told him if we got 2 they could stay outside in the shed). I figured they would be nice to have around next fall to help keep the mice away. We decided that one would be fine. August went to pick up the kitten from Lyle and Sara's. They were thinking about keeping one to have around their house but decided they didn't want one so August surprised me and got to kittens for me.

BobbiBlizzard

Since all three of our dogs' names start with B, we had to name the cats with B too. Jaxon, our nephew helped come up with Bobbi's name since her tail is a bob tail... at first I thought it had been frozen off or ate, but come to find out it was broken. Her tail will always be curved down she doesn't seem to mind at all. Blizzard started as Frosty... Lyle and Sara thought about keeping him and had named him Frosty.

This is August and my first time having a house cat. We have learned that kittens are definitely a lot easier to potty train than puppies... to bad it isn't a natural instinct in puppies to go in a litter box. When we first brought them home Bella and Buddy weren't quite sure what to think of them. Buddy was a little rough with them at first, he would pick them up my a leg and carry them around or try and bite off their hair... now he barely notices them unless they are eating his food or trying to lay on him. It has been fun to watch them grow and become more playful. Their favorite spot lately to play is on our steps with the curtain with have there to keep the heat in the first floor.

more pictures to come!!!

Welcome to the story of our journey together

Hopefully this will help keep everyone up to date on August and myself. We have had a crazy first year and half of marriage. Moving 3 times since being married, living in a different state, and having a few different jobs in there too. What a journey it has been for us. We have learned a lot about our selves and continue to grown more in love with each other.

Here is a recap of what the last 19 months have been like for us. After our wedding we left for our honeymoon at Disney World, my second time and August's first. We had an awesome time and would love to go back soon.

We hosted a 4th of July party at our place in Dunkerton for both of our families to show off our newly finished patio. Working on the patio was our first big project after being married, it was fun to work together to get it done!

We spent that summer getting our sheep and pigs ready for our last time showing at the state fair.

After State Fair August got a new job working for Iowa Select Farms at their research farm in Ellsworth, Iowa.... which meant us moving. In late September we moved to Iowa Falls, I traveled back to Cedar Falls to finish my last semester of school. In October, August had his appendix out... routine surgery we thought.... we were defiantly wrong. His appendix burst as the surgeon went to remove it causing his blood to become infected. He spent 5 days in ICU... I hope it is a very long time before either one of us have to spend that much time in the hospital. The day August was released from the hospital our first niece was born, Madalynn Isabelle, to August's sister Andrea and her husband Luke.

December was a busy month for us, I graduated from UNI with a degree in Marketing, our second nephew, Austin, was born to August's sister Jess and her husband Dave, we hosted the McIntosh family at our house for Christmas.

I had already started my job search, but was waiting for the call offering me a job, to see where our journey would head. A week after graduating I was offered a job with Farmland Foods as a product merchandiser based out of Omaha, Nebraska. It meant our second move in a little over 6 months of marriage. The beginning of February we moved to Fremont, Nebraska... the nice part was Farmland paid for a moving company to pack and move all of our belongs (it was very nice!!!).

August got a job working for a farmer who had a 1500 head finishing lot. My new job keep me busy traveling between Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, and South Dakota, I traveled to South Dakota for the first time ever... I visited the corn palace... we never made it out to see Mount Rushmore though. Living in Nebraska was the farthest either of us had lived from our families, it made us realize how much we enjoyed spending time with our families. It was a hard transition for us to live so far away, but was great for our marriage. We spent a lot of time bonding and learning so much about each other.

In March we added to our family, August finally got his "manly" dog. He got a German short hair, named Buster. Most of his spring and summer evenings were spent preparing Buster for hunting season. It was fun to watch them bond as August put his knowledge to work. We took Buster out hunting a couple times this fall, but there were no birds for him to hunt, hopefully next year.

In May our second niece was born, Elsie Kay, to August's brother Lyle and his wife Sara. We drove back the night Elsie was born and surprised everyone. We loving spoiling all of our nieces and nephews. Two nieces and a nephew born in 7 months, we aren't quite sure what were are going to do with out any bridal or baby showers to plan. Now it is a waiting game to see who will be next to add to the family.

Our 1st wedding anniversary was spent back in Iowa with family. It is an anniversary we will never forget, because the devastating tornadoes in northeast Iowa happened that weekend. May, June and July were spent going to bridal showers and bachelorette parties for two of my friends who were getting married, along with my sister. My sister got married July 5th to Sam, they had a beautiful outside wedding at the Rotary Reserve. August, Shelby (basically one of my cousins), and myself decided to have a little fun with Jaccie and Sam's car before they left the reception. At the end of the month we surprised my family and showed up a couple days earlier for county fair, we just could stay away.

In August we made our annual trip to the Iowa State Fair, it was a little bitter sweet because it was the first year we weren't showing, but nice to be able to experience more than just the livestock barns at the state fair! I believe we ended up going to the state fair for at least 6 days. It was different to not have to worry about getting livestock fed and ready to show. While at the state fair we both had our first experience with the Sprint Car Nationals in Knoxville, we both had a good time and look forward to going again.

By the end of the summer with traveling back to Iowa every other weekend we decide that we wanted to move back to Iowa by the end of 2008, so we started to look for jobs back in Iowa. We were glad we made the decision to move to Nebraska, we grew so much together by being on our own, but were ready to be back closer to family. In October, August was offered a job with Lynch Livestock as a hog buyer in Stanhope and Jewell, Iowa. The search for a new place to live started. We moved the first weekend in November (our third time moving in a year and half of marriage if anyone is keeping count) to Boone, Iowa. We wouldn't have been able to do with without all the help we got from my parents, sisters, mother-in-law, and August's mom. We had 4 vehicles and 2 trailers and still barely fit everything. We are hoping that this is one of the last times we move for awhile, but only time will tell. I took a position working for US Cellular as a wireless consultant, back to the cellular industry for me.

We are still working on getting settled into our new home and new jobs. We really enjoy being about 2 hours from our family instead of 5. It is so nice to be back in Iowa!