Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Happy Halloween!

Trick or Treat!!


Group shot of the kiddos. They were all so cute!


Here is my little calf 


Roaming in the barn lot...


He played the part well! Look...Grass!!!


Yummy!!


Mooo!!


Hunter the pirate! His costume turned out so good! He had all the accessories to play the part.


This Halloween was a lot of fun. The boys really enjoyed themselves and loaded up on more candy than we even know what to do with.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Road Trip

I couple weeks ago, me and the boys traveled nearly 400 miles to visit my dad and step-mom in Omaha, Nebraska. Andy had to work that Friday, so he was unable to go along. So I put my patience to the test and packed up the boys and headed off alone. I can't lie, I was pretty nervous. The week before, the check engine light came on in my Jeep, luckily it was just a faulty gas cap and then the day before we left my Jeep wouldn't start and I had to get it jumped. Ended up I just needed a new battery. I began to wonder if these were signs for me not to go. Knowing that Andy would not be with us if something would happen along the way was making me anxious, I had my most precious cargo solely in my hands. I ended up purchasing Roadside Assistance and Rental Car Coverage in the event the Jeep decided to crap out on me along the way....and off we went :)

Jeep loaded and boys ready to go. Thank you to Kevin and Kelly for letting us borrow their dual DVD players for the boys to watch along the way.

I was unsure of how long it would take for us to get there because pretty well the only schedule we were on was Weston's. We stopped three times on the way up there for feedings, diaper changes, gas, etc. We made it there in about 8 hours. I thought that was about right.

Weston checking out PaPa Ron

Papa Ron and Granny Denise always have presents. Key to Hunter's heart...Monster Trucks!!




Notice a trend in Weston's pictures. Poor boy gnawed, chewed and drooled all weekend while successfully getting in his two top teeth!


Here the boys are up Saturday Morning ready for a day at the Zoo.


Let the zoo adventures begin...


Weston was an angel the whole time!!



The aquariums at the zoo were amazing!!



We even saw sharks!!




I think Granny was more excited than Hunter for this photo op.


Hunter was so happy...

That was until he saw this....

He cried and whined and cried whined because he wanted on the train.

Insert crabby 4 year old in our happy family picture :)

After many threats to leave the zoo if he didn't quite crying...Hunter got back into the zoo spirit.


I thought this was funny. Andy called while we were walking around and this is Hunter talking to him while cruising the the exhibits.


Weston did get some naps in along the way.


After nearly 4 hours of walking around the zoo we ended it with a train ride.

I won't get into the number of times we had to wait around for the train..because we "missed" it. The train was still there and plenty of seats, but they wouldn't let us on. Insert...P.O.'d mom!!

Here Dad and Weston wait patiently for the train.



Group shot :)


Yep, he was thrilled!


Weston loved the train as well. He talked and coo'd and laughed the whole ride. That was until they blew the whistle....


OMG insert hysterical baby here...


Those are real tears. Breaks my heart!


It wouldn't be complete without the dramatic coughing/choking cry!



Push-ups


Yes, Please!


Afterwards, we met with my grandparents at a local restaurant. This was the first time they had met Weston and the first time we had seen them since last Christmas.




Hunter showing of his skills on how to make Weston laugh.


Weston enjoyed the attention.


We had such a great trip. The boys did fantastic!! Especially on the way home. We only had to stop once. Therefore it only took us 6.5 hours. There may have been a little more led in my foot as well.

Monday, October 8, 2012

No Words

The other night I was working on the computer and I had my external hard drive hooked up. My drive holds every picture I have taken since 2008. This particular drive has to be plugged into the computer by a USB cable and plugged into the wall outlet. While I was working, Hunter came running past and tripped over the cord causing my drive to crash onto the ground. I completely panicked fearing I had lost all of my pictures. Luckily I plugged the drive back in and it worked.

This drive is priceless to me. I can't leave my house without putting it in our safe for fear of fire or theft (I work in insurance, this is where my mind is at 24/7). So why I have never "backed up" my photos is a question I keep asking myself.

Even though my drive still worked, I was paranoid of losing those pictures so I went and bought another external hard drive. I started coping all my pictures over. I have them all sorted by years. I started with 2008 and worked up. I was on my last folder "2012" when it started acting funny, so I clicked "cancel" and that was it...my drive will no longer show up on my computer.

I searched for help in every direction on what to do. I was instructed to take it to a computer shop in a neighboring town. Andy dropped it off and on Friday they called to say they were unable to retrieve any of my files. (Insert Breakdown Here). I was hysterical. These are all the pictures of the first 6 months of Weston's life...GONE!!! How could I be so stupid to not back all these pictures up prior.

But then it came to mind that they guy said they couldn't retrieve the files because it wouldn't show up on their computer either. No Crap!!! But that was it, they didn't try anything else. I did research online for any other option. There is clearly something wrong with my drive and it needs broken down and hopefully fixed. There was two companies I contacted to see if they could help. In the end, I am going to 24 Hour Data Recovery. They have a 99% success rate to recover files and the tech on the phone was sooo helpful and reassuring. Unfortunately, it is going to cost us between $750 and $2,000!!! Yes, you read that right. CRAZY!!!! Depending on how much extensive work needs done on the drive to get it back working to get my files off. If they can't help me then clearly there is no cost.

So tomorrow, I am off to Fedex to ship off my drive for one last hope of recovering my photos. Fingers, toes, legs and eyes all crossed!!!

I beg you all right now to go buy an additional drive and back up all those precious price-less pictures you have. You do not want to be in my position!!

Side Note: My drive was a 1TB. Apparently this is really big. I only had about 50 GB of photos. So the cost to recover my photos is based off of that my drive has a 1TB capacity because files are not saved on the drive as organized as I viewed them. So they literally have to go through all 1TB to find my 50 GB of data. So when you go by a drive, it isn't necessary to buy such a large one and in the event you ever have to have data recovered, it will be cheaper for you. Just saying.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Bonkers for Hunter!

Last Saturday, we celebrated Hunter's 4th birthday in Columbia. We went to Bonkers. Which if you don't know, is a huge indoor play arena full of tunnels, slides, obstacles and more. It is like Burger King's play area times 10!! All the kids seemed to have a really great time.

Here is Hunter's Cupcake-Cake. I let him pick it out, and Spider man won!
Hunter playing...
and playing...
and playing!!
   Weston on the other hand enjoying the attention from everyone.  Here he is with MeMa.
And with Aunt Kelly.
 Papa Tim
 
  And giving Uncle Ryan a little practice
 We had to wrangle the kids back up for cake and presents.
 Hunter got a little embarrassed during everyone singing him Happy Birthday.

 Present Time!




 Yummy!!
 Playing Arcade games with Uncle Ryan and Aunt Annelise
 Here is a glimpse of half the play area.
 These girls have more energy than I do to climb through the madness!
 I LOVE this one of Liberty!!!
 Aubrey convinced Kelly into go through as well.
Weston still doing his thing.


Of course it wouldn't be a trip to Columbia without HuHots.
 
 These Smore makers are such a hit!

 Hunter crashed on the way home.
It was such a great time. I am so thankful for all of our family traveling to Columbia to help Hunter celebrate his 4th birthday. We are all blessed!