Now I can breath .......

I am so happy to be able to make a post! I'm starting to recover from the whirlwind of August ... it went something like this; military drill weekend (exhausting) ... TN trip to meet with cabin builders (fun but business) ... IJOLD in Switzerland (AMAZING!) ... trip to MI for my youngest sisters wedding! I'll summarize the last few weeks mostly with pictures and captions ... otherwise I'd be doing this all night! Here we go ....

Tennessee!

Al, Kelty and I met up with Al's parents in Gatlinburg TN in early Aug. We own a parcel of land together and have finally decided to start building a rental cabin. We spent the week meeting with builders, marking property lines and the placement of the cabin. Everyday was jam packed but we had a nice time.

Clearing the way along our property boundaries.

OK ... there is an amazing Christmas village in Gatlinburg, it is my favorite store to visit ... it just makes me so happy to be around so many Christmas decorations! This is my favorite purchase and I am soooo excited to start this tradition. This little elf is meant to be placed out in the house to watch over the children. Each night the elf reports back to Santa and let's him know if the children in the house were naughty or nice. When the elf comes back he is perched in a different location for the children to find the next morning. How cute is that!!! I can't wait until Kelty is old enough to run out of his room in the morning to find the elf and of course always behave in it's presence!

Switzerland!!!

I don't even know where to start with this one ... to sum up the trip ... AMAZING!! I am so thankful I had this opportunity and even more thankful that my husband and his parents were there for Kelty in my absence. A week away from Kelty felt like a lifetime ... I missed him so much I'd nearly cry looking at his photos. To my dissapointment Kelty did not want to come to me the first night ... he would cry in my arms and reach for daddy. He wouldn't even let me breastfeed him that night. I'm happy to report that we were back to normal in the morning ... I guess he was done punishing mommy for leaving him! I'll just post a few photos and caption them as I go ... no matter how much I post it will never be enough to capture how awesome this experience was!

Enjoying class discussions ... our group got along so well! Seriously, this was a great group of folks!

Each morning we started class with a fun little exercise for the mind.

I was apparently quite focused during class here ... see, I'm a good student!

Our evening in Zurich. Our class met with our instructor for dinner ... followed by drinks at the bar ... followed by a dance club ... followed by a late night and early morning!

Zurich at night.

Garrety (and old college friend that was at IJOLD) and I hamming it up at the Castle of Bubikon ... our farewell dinner.

Our return trip on the KC-135 ... it was a looooong day!

Michigan!

3 days after getting back from Switzerland Kelty and I traveled up to Michigan for my sister's wedding ... Al was coming up a few days later. The week up in MI flew by but it was a great trip. Kelty loved it up at Nana and Papa's house and the beautiful outdoors.

I was showing Kelty the goats ... they were hanging out in the barn when my sister took this picture. Everytime I took Kelty out to see the goats he was full of little happy noises.

Daddy and Kelty in the bounce house ... it was such a great place for Kelty to play ... he could fall all he wanted and not get hurt! Nana and Papa bought a full-size bounce house a few years ago for the grandkids ... what fun ... for the adults too!

Ok ... I'm a little too big for the kids John Deer! I was bringing it out for the kids to play on.

Kelty driving the golf cart with Aunt Jessica!

Lacing up Rachel's wedding dress ... she looked amazing! I'll post more wedding photos when we get them. It was such a wonderdul weekend, ceremony and reception! More to come on the wedding!

Ok ... I could go on and on posting photos but I'm tired and this blog is already long enough. Tomorrow I'll post some updates on Kelty, photos and videos.