Return of the mold...

On January 6, 2009 Braden took a picture of the mold on the wall of the spare room:

On December 1, 2009 he took the following picture:

We had been assured that the "little" problem had been fixed. Obviously that was false.

Thus began an emergency move to a new apartment.

Here's a few shots of the move:

Apt. 3108 was a mess because all of the stuff in the baby/spare/computer room had to be moved to the front room. Kayla was a BIG help.

The guys are doing a great job moving the desk into the loft of Apt. 1303!

So now we have the opportunity to reorganize our things. The new place is bigger and (hopefully) mold-free!

Cooking Adventures

Since it is very cold here in Peoria, yesterday I decided to make some delicious chili that would warm Braden and I up. I put all the ingredients in the crock-pot with one little substitution and let it cook the required 4-6 hours. Braden came home and exclaimed how delicious dinner was smelling and wondered when it would be done. I had to finish up making the french bread (or attempting to make french bread) and then we sat down to eat.

Looks yummy, huh?

(I didn't think so, but Braden said it looks delicious, which is what really matters.)

Unfortunately this "Simple Chili" as the recipe book titles it doesn't taste as "simple" as the name implies. It actually TASTES LIKE BURNING!!!

Turns out ground red pepper is NOT a substitution for chili powder. Oops. Braden's new title for this recipe is "Texas Barbed Wire Chili". He's a good sport and ate his whole bowl. He said, "Once you get past the burning, it has really good flavor." Thanks Babe!

I, however, was less certain.

Also, although the french bread had good flavor, it didn't rise very well because our kitchen was too cold. I tried to make it again today and it turned out the same. Darn. Luckily my hubby puts up with my kitchen experiments and we can laugh about it together!

Starved Rock State Park: The 7th Wonder of Illinois!

Yesterday Tiff thought to herself, "Self, what would be a good thing to do on this fall day, I know! Let's drive an hour and a half up to Starved Rock State Park!" It's the only place in a loooooong ways that you can pseudo-hike, so we loaded up the truck and headed north, with aspirations of a peaceful walk in the woods. We arrived, followed the signs to the "hiking trails" and this is what we found:

Looks like we've had some rain! No this is not a boat ramp, and yes those are trash cans out in the water. It kind of reminded me of our trip to the swamp in South Carolina-without the gators. Luckily, we found another trailhead, and all was not for naught! We hit the trail, put our Chariot through it's paces (it worked great, by the way), and had a good time taking in the Autumn scenery.

Hiking was different, it was mostly on boardwalks and there were a LOT of stairs. They have a pretty bad erosion problem with all of the rain, so they try to keep you off the ground and on the trail.

My beautiful wife next to the Illinois River.

And one sad little bear.

I bet we can make it to the falls...

Our Little Sea Monster

Happy Halloween Everybody!!

Watch out for the Kraken!

Celebrating Fall

Well, summer has come and gone, the leaves are just waiting to fall, and we're celebrating the harvest season before the long, cold, bleak, icy Illinois winter.

These are our Jack-o-Lanterns - Tiff came up with the theme: Eet Yer Peas!!! They won 2nd place at the ward Halloween party, hurray!

This is the apple pie that Tiff made, from scratch!

And finally, Tiff found this little guy climbing on her earring when we were driving home from a bonfire with friends. She screeched, I thought I was going to hit another deer, and she tossed it into my lap in the dark car for the rest of the ride home. Luckily he made it to the floor, and even more luckily he didn't get skooshed under the brake pedal. Happy Fall everyone!

Dinnertime!!!

No we did not have lil' Kayla for dinner, but the kitchen table is making due for her high chair, and she's starting on real food!! (As far as rice cereal can be classified as "real food")
At first she didn't know what to think when Tiff put the spoon to her mouth, but after one bite, she couldn't get enough!!!

What? Why are you looking at me like that? Is there something on my face... ?

4 Months!

I can't believe our little Kayla has been with us for (over) four months already. It seems like we brought her home from the hospital just last week. She has truly blessed out lives. Kayla is the absolute sweetest baby in the world and we love her more than words can express.

Well, here's her newest stats and some pictures to go along!

Weight: 12 lbs. 9 oz. (25%)
Length: 25 in. (75%)
Head circumference: 16in. (50%)


Kayla LOVES to take off her socks and munch on her toes!
We love you baby girl!