uncle aaron entertains brooke...

staring contest.... brooke wins!

can she stand up? leg exercises with uncle aaron

hanging out in her bouncy seat, standing on a box
hanging out with jayce... smiley girl!

We saw her this past week(end) in Des Moines.
Love her. Can't get enough of the cheeks!

You'll have to take my word for it... she does smile now.
She's just so cute... and getting chubby as babies should.
We get to see Brooke this weekend. More pics to come.

I love this man!

I am incredibly blessed to have this dear one by my side,
cheering me up when I'm down,
be the positive one when I'm frustrated
and always pointing me back to the Rock we lean on.
I'm excited to spend this Valentine's day
cleaning and doing laundry with my love.

well, we started our journey home from NST...
first state: Alabama

when traveling, one must have directions,
an audio-book, phone and pillow...
(note: the pillow seen here was lost in transit)

next state: Mississippi

and BBQ for lunch in Memphis, Tennessee (YUM!)

(Dr. House didn't come into the restaurant)

and the roads got terrible from here...
so much so that we stayed an extra night in Arkansas.

more about that later...

We had our commissioning banquet on Saturday night.
We got our certificates and had dinner, took pictures...
I officially finished CCC New Staff training!

the guys

the gals

us

our last game of Nertz with friends

and then there was our journey home...

We leave Florida for Minneapolis tomorrow morning

Stay tuned for wacky commissioning banquet pictures
and those depicting our return to the Upper Midwest :)