☁Tornado Alley ☂

We get some CRAZY storms here in Nebraska. When it rains, it POURS and the Lightening is AMAZING!  It is a little freaky knowing we live in tornado alley, but the storms are fun to watch. Here are some pictures from one we had a week ago or so. These were taken at 9:30 at night. The sky went from being totally dark to this strange orange glow after the storm. And we got to see a double rainbow!

I've never seen anything like it. New adventures around every corner ☺

⑩ months

A post without pictures? what? Haven't had much time lately. I'll add one later :)

Livi is 10 months old!! I can't believe how much she has changed in the last month. She has learned so many new tricks and I feel like she has gone from the baby stage to more of the toddler stage. She is So much fun. I just love her to pieces.

Her new tricks:

*She graduated from the army crawl and can now crawl on all fours. She is getting pretty fast
*She can crawl up the stairs
*She can clap
*She loves music and rocks out to it
*She went from not babbling at all to saying mama and baby talking up a storm
*She waves Hi and says Hi
*She makes kissing sounds and it is So cute!
*She LOVES watermelon
*She has 7 teeth
*She can pull herself up on things and even started pushing the chairs across the kitchen floor while    walking
*She loves to talk to her daddy on the phone. Her whole face lights up. I can't wait for him to see her on                     Friday (yes, this friday!!! We are so excited!!)
*She yells at her bother whenever he gets in her space
*She has discovered dolls and stuffed animals and LOVES them. She has also learned to give hugs when you ask her to, and she hugs  the dolls all the time. Too cute for words.

Time to start planning her first birthday party :)

☆✭☆The Fourth of July

It was really sad to be without Andy for the fourth of July weekend, but the kids and I tried to make the best of it (2 weeks down, 3 more to go until Andy returns home from his officers training in Alabama). They had a carnival on the Air Force base complete with face painting, bounce houses, cotton candy, snow cones, balloon animals, and games. All I had to say was cotton candy and the kids jumped in the car as fast as they could. The flyer said FREE so I jumped too! :)

Fireworks are all legal in Nebraska, so the kids and I bought a few to entertain ourselves. They begged me all week to do them. I asked some friends in the ward where they go to watch fireworks and they all responded that they just hang out in their driveways. I was a little perplexed by this. I am used to going to big controlled shows put on by the city. But, sure enough, there was plenty of entertainment to be seen right from our front door. I can not even begin to describe what it is like. You really have to see it to believe it. People spend thousands of dollars on fireworks and on every street in Omaha there is a big show. It is a WAR ZONE!! So loud and smokey and OUT OF CONTROL! There are fireworks EVERYWHERE. Our neighbors started at about 5:00pm and literally did not stop until 11:30pm. Over 6 hours of CONSTANt fireworks. And, not just the little rinky dink ones, full blown fireworks going off in the middle of the street.  I was a little nervous being so close to them, but everyone else seemed to be fine with it. Wow, what a crazy night!

Of course we  can't forget Drew's funny for the night. We were sitting by our neighbors watching the firewroks and this really strange one went floating by. It looke like a little parachute type thing. It was lit up and just floated forever up in to the sky. We were all trying to figure out what it was and kept saying "how are they doing that? what is that?" over and over. Drew's answer to the question? He leans over nad in the cutest voice says "I bet Jesus is doing it. Jesus is doing fireworks too. huh mom!" :)

We had a few minutes to kill before church, it was raining outside, so the kids and I were hanging out in the garage. I grabbed my camera to get a picture to send to Andy. It ain't perfect, but I sure love it.

Especially since I am used to getting pictures like this:

and this:

Hope you had a great Fourth of July!! Having my husband in the Air Force now gave me a different perspective on things. I am sure Grateful for all those who serve our country and allow us to have the freedoms that we do!

Just Because

✈Utah

After we unpacked the house in Nebraska, we all jumped back into the car and drove to Utah to spend some time with Family. It was a blast as usual. Filled with lots of baseball games, treats, family bbq's, photoshoots, and no bed times. I spent so much time taking pictures of everyone else, that I didn't do a very good job documenting the trip. But, here are some random snaps from our Utah vacation 2010

We ate LOTs of good food. Here is Livi with the remnants of one of Aunt Julie's famous cookies on her face

And no Family BBQ is complete without a Red Punch mustache

We jumped on the Tramp (one of Livi's Favorite things to do)

We had a few lazy summer days at the park with grandma

And of course lots of snuggling with Grandma too

and fun with cousins

And we can't forget the birth of our first Ingersoll cousin Baby Ethan! The kids Loved him!

There was plenty of good times with cute Uncles 

and much much more. Thanks for the fun everyone! We miss you and love you!