Shipshewana fun...

I was able to see my Nieces Jade and Emma last weekend. Here are a couple of new pics of Jade.


She slept more this time then right after she was born.

And here is precious little Emma Dilemma. She LOVED the horses and that included the carousel ride. In fact she had most of the family on there with her. :-)

Here is a bunch of us taking a little drive in an Amish buggy.

In one of the stores, they have this huge white pine (I think) log that spans about three stories of the store. Maybe 4. It is huge. Dad of course had to see if he and Kyle could get their arms around it.

Every year the Saturday before Memorial Day, my mom and dad have made it a tradition to go to Shipshewana, IN. It is a small amish community and they have a Haiti benefit auction on that day. It is really neat to see all the great stuff that the amish people made and then donated to the auction to help out missions in Haiti. Meanwhile we get stuffed on some great food, the least of which is the best homemade donuts you will ever taste! Melissa was just talking to me on the phone, lamenting that she didn't bring a box home.

Jamie and I

I was excited to get to see my friend Jamie a couple of weeks ago. She has two little boys, so I always love seeing how much they have changed.

Cayden is about a year and a half.
This was the first time that I have seen her youngest Keegan. He is a big boy. He is seven weeks old in this picture.

And here we are again. I have some of the best friends in the world, but there is just something extra special about those friends that you grew up with. I don't think anything will break that bond.

The new Sams family...

I had a great time going home to see my little sis and her new baby. Such a sweet little girl. She is at this point showing signs of being laid back like her daddy! ;-)



Ya gotta love this picture!


Emma really like the baby. She wasn't jealous at all.


Nick, Melissa and Jade Sams

Jade Liberty is finally here!!!!

Wow, we waited and waited and waited, and then we waited some more. Melissa was 8 days overdue, when they decided to induce her. She went in at 8:30 on May 9, and by 4:00 May 10, still NO BABY. They decided that there was no way the baby was going to make it down the birth canal, so they sent her in for a c-section. A little after 5 p.m. Jade Liberty finally made an appearance. She weighed in at a whopping 9 lbs, 9 oz. And she was 21 1/2 inches long. So far she has barely made a peep. She is a doll, and we are so happy that everything went well. Congratulations Melissa and Nick! :-)

So you think you have a big dog.....

So once again morning finds me sitting at work with nothing to do. So I am going to bore you with some details about some doggys that I love. When I first drove up the Kerr Family driveway, I was shocked at the size of the "dogs" looking at me through the fence. As I started work (a total non-dog person by the way) and I became enthralled with this breed of dog. I soon found out that the Irish Wolfhound may be big and hairy, but they were the gentlest of animals. They don't realize their size and as you can see they still think they are lapdogs.

Riley was born about a year after I started working at the Kerr's and he became my baby. He has the best personality and if I could I would adopt him as my own. He does love my boss Diane more than me, but I think I am second in line after her. Wolfhounds are from Old Ireland and in the old days they were used in battle to pull men off their horses. The were also used to hunt wolves. Riley is very tall well over six feet on his hind legs, but he is pretty skinny. His father was huge. We are talking 230 pounds in his prime. HUGE!! Anyway, my boss gave me my own puppy from one of their litters but since I live in an apartment, I gave him to my dad.

My dad is a huge dog lover and he already had his own dog, an airdale, Alister. Ali was my dad's pride and joy, and he was positive that no other dog could come close to his affections as Ali did.

Well, it didn't take long, but my dad soon figured out that he could love both dogs--A LOT! Don't ever get him started talking, he may never stop. I wish I had a pic of Dad with his Wolfhound Sullivan, but I don't have one on this computer. Anyway, just wanted to share my present world of dogs, and a little about the amazing Wolfhound breed.

My baby girl is getting so big....

I am sitting at work, bored, because a certain little girl I am supposed to be watching is sound asleep. She loves to sleep in and has ever since she was born, the little stinker. So, as I sat here and waited I started looking at pics that were on the computer and remembered how my little girl used to look. It is so amazing. I don't know how you parents do it. I can't believe she is this big already. It seems like it was just yesterday I saw her in the hospital, and now she is about to start kindergarten. So, I thought I would post a few pics of the evolution of my little miss Kaelah.


Kaelah was a very chubby baby. Check out those arms!

She got so much hair so fast, and it was so cute and curly.

In fact I could braid it in two braids by the time she was about 9 or 10 months old. She is almost a year here.

Sunshiny girl. She is such a happy girl.

She loves babys, and she is always happy to see my niece Emma.

And here she is with Elizabeth, all grown up...

Not too much going on right now. Just playing the waiting game--waiting to see when my sisters baby decides that it is the right moment to enter this big world. This beautiful little pupper dogs is Teresa's dog Callie. She is a sweetie. We have a lot of fun with her and I am going to really miss her when she leaves for Idaho with Teresa.


Well, I finally caved into the demand of Carrie to put a self portrait on here. I must say I wasn't thinking of such a thing when the picture was taken. I was just following orders from the five year old in my lap! ;-) But I decided I could humble myself enough to put this ugly mug shot up here. Thanks a lot Carrie!