Fishin'

When we got back from western Iowa on Sunday, we decided to do some fishin'. Caleb got mommy a new pink camo fishing rod for her birthday, and she wanted to try it out.

Here they are getting ready to catch some big fish!

 

Even though he doesn't have much fishing experience, Caleb did a great job of pointing out the best places for Mommy to cast. It must have just been bred into him!

 

His suggestions paid off too! Even though it wasn't a huge fish, Caleb was excited because he knew this little fishy was going in his bedroom fish tank! Mommy named him Norman. The other "stuffed" catfish in the picture is Gil. It's Caleb's new favorite stuffed animal!

 

Bass Pro

Last Saturday started off REALLY early! After getting home at 2:00am from the concert, Grandma Jean graciously gave us the baby monitor before we went to bed. And we all know Caleb gets up between 5 and 6 in the morning!!!! So guess who got up with him at 6???

 

After re-charging our batteries, we headed to Council Bluffs for the day to do some shopping. Our first, and funnest stop was at Bass Pro Shops. Before we even got in the store, Andy & Caleb picked out their Christmas present!!!!

 

Once inside, Caleb was fascinated with the giant fish tank. Here's Grandpa & Grandma showing him the big fish.

 

Caleb could have stayed there all day watching those fish, but we ended up moving along and finishing our shopping.

 

The Concert

Eric Church puts on the best concert of any country singer out there. Of course, we are a little biased because we haven't been to too many other country concerts! But I will gaurantee that if you attend an Eric Church concert, you will buy all his CD's and go back every chance you get.

Here we are just arriving at the venue. It was called Stir Cove and it was just on the backside of Harrah's Casino in Council Bluffs. This was early yet, but by the time he came on stage there were thousands of people shoulder to shoulder from the front to the back.

 

Here we are up by the stage, having a blast!

 

This is Frankie Ballard. He opened the show and I actually really like his music, but the guy definitely needs a haircut!

 

Here's the man we all went to see. Eric Church. His new album just came out and it's called "Chief". If you don't have it, go get it.

 

He played for hours and even filmed his next music video at this concert! Our history with Mr. Church dates back to when our friends Reid & Lindsey got married near Council Bluffs. Eric opened for Brad Paisley in Council Bluffs the night before their wedding, and after the concert he came over to the Whiskey Roadhouse in Horseshoe Casino and did a free show. We were hooked from them on!

Last March he came to the Val-Air Ballroom in Des Moines and we attended that concert as well. So this was our 3rd Eric Church concert and it was the best yet!

 

It was an amazing concert and Trish had a great birthday! More posts about the wild weekend to come.....

Happy Birthday Mommy!

This past Friday marked Trish's birthday, and true to form Andy surprised her once again with a great weekend. This time Caleb had a hand in the fun and planning too. We woke up Friday morning, gave Mommy her cards and inside were two tickets to the Eric Church concert in Council Bluffs that night! So we got out of bed, packed everything up, and headed to Grandpa & Grandma Lesher's in Missouri Valley.

Here's our little Tarzan getting pumped up to go to Grandma's. Yes, that's a rubber ducky in his mouth!

 

We made it! Caleb was so excited to see his Grandma!

 

Family picture before we took off for the concert and left Caleb with his grandparents.

 

There will be plenty more posts to come about this weekend. We fit so much fun into a great birthday weekend we barely had time to sleep!

11 months!!

Caleb turned 11 months on Wednesday. Only 1 more month until he's the big 1. Here's some pics of our favorite "almost 1 year old".





Some highlights from the past month include his top, front teeth are breaking through. They will be teeth number 3 & 4 to show up. He is using a three-wheeler/walker thingy and walking with no problem behind it. However, he just can't quite get the hang of walking on his own yet. Using the walker, he also hasn't quite figured out his reverse gear yet. He'll stand up against furniture and walk back and forth holding on to just about anything. His vocabulary is growing also. He says "Momma", "Dada", "Uh-Oh", and just today he started grunting (we have it on video tape!) Mastered tricks include "So Big", "High Five", and waving Bye-Bye. He is just about the happiest, easiest baby we have ever seen. And we're lucky to have him as ours! Happy 11 month birthday Caleb!

Picasa

If you do lots of photo editing, I would recommend a program that was just recommended to me yesterday! Google Picasa 3 is a free download and it's pretty cool! You can upload photos directly to your blog, facebook, online albums, etc. Just by one click of a button! This uploaded photo was just the first one I came across. It's from a long time ago of a couple monkeys we used to have at Moosehead!!!

 

Lazy Days

Caleb likes to waste away these hot, lazy days of August doing any number of things. But one of his favorites is hanging out in the shade of the big oak in the front yard just swingin' away!

Trampoline

Last night our friends the Abens' invited us over for supper at their house in Webster City. Andy & Caleb just drove up separate and met Trish after she got off work. They had a great place and we had a lot of fun! Not as much fun as Caleb though! We enjoyed hamburgers on their back patio and Caleb enjoyed the trampoline while we ate. They have a giant trampoline with one of those big nets all the way around. It was like a giant playpen for Caleb. He cruised back and forth on his hands and knees, pushing and throwing toys. He would come over to our side of the trampoline and smoosh his face in the net and make funny noises. We had a blast!

State Fair 2011

After picking Trish up at the airport Monday at noon, we all went to the state fair! It was Caleb's first state fair. He made it to the fair 28 years sooner than his dad ever did! Here's some of the highlights....

Caleb checking out the giant pumpkins. (not sure why this picture is so small)

Caleb & Mom standing in front of the state's biggest bull!


One of the coolest things was when we went into the DNR building to check out the state park booth. This year the theme was much the same as the "cast your kernel" that Channel 13 was having. "Cast your Kernel" has fairgoers put a kernel of corn into a jar to "vote" for a presidential candidate. The state park's booth had 1 empty bottle of Coke representing each state park across Iowa. Each person was allowed to vote 3 times with sunflower seeds for their favorite park(s). Of the 80 something parks across Iowa, Ledges had BY FAR the most sunflower seeds! I guess the reason is because they have an amazing Park Manager who really gets stuff done!


Our state fair menu included a tenderloin, deep fried cheese curds, a salted cashew nut roll, a root beer float, strawberry lemonade, and a corn dog!!! Diets do not exist inside the gates of the Iowa State Fair!!!

Mommy's Home!!!!

After being gone from her boys for 6 days at a conference in Idaho......Mommy came back to her men! We were so excited we didn't even want to wait for her boss to bring her home, we just went down and met her at the airport. Then it was off to the state fair for the afternoon!

We love our mommy and we're soooo glad she's home!

Weekend with Grandma

Caleb's mommy has been gone for the last 5 days at a conference in Idaho. Andy pulled single dad duties for 2 days, and then Grandma Jean came over to watch the little man for the weekend while Andy worked. Grandma and Caleb had a blast! Highlights included a visit from Great Grandma Lesher and a trip to the mall in Ames on Saturday, a trip to Des Moines on Sunday to visit Great Aunt & Uncle Barb and Butch, and a whole lot of cuddle time! Here's some pictures.

Here's some of that Grandma cuddle time.


Hangin' out with Great Uncle Butch.


Waitin' for daddy to come home from work with Rudy!


Caleb had sooo much fun with Grandma and we can't thank her enough for helping us out while Trish is away!! But we are SOOOOO ready for mommy to come home and we'll see her tomorrow!!!

Bartlett Fever

You'll never guess who wanted their picture with me at the mall in Ames......



I guess he had "Bartlett Fever"!!!!

Funny Man

Chicken in the Pot

Grandpa Bartlett came up this weekend and made Caleb his first chicken in the pot. We enjoyed the chicken with some amazing sweet corn too! And yes, Caleb did eat some of the chicken and he LOVED it! Here's Grandpa and Caleb with the finished product.