Announcement, announcement, announcement!

Ok, so we've been a little slow at getting this big news up here. I needed to get a good picture to be able to post!

Hopefully you can read some, it not all of Hannah's shirt. It says "big sister in training" because that's what she is! According to our calculations, she will be a big sister sometime around June 28th (although if this little one is like Hannah we will have a July 4th baby!)

We went to the doctor earlier this month and already heard the baby's heartbeat, which makes it seem more real! I've been feeling pretty good for the most part, but it does seem that I'm feeling chubby a whole lot sooner than last time!

We hope that you all have a great Christmas. We have sure enjoyed our early Christmas present news...hopefully Hannah enjoys her new sibling, too!

Pettitt for President!!!

Nate coined the phrase that "the Carroll Country Club is the place to be in 2007." This became true on Friday when Mitt Romney stopped by and hung out in his office for a couple of hours before he spoke to over a hundred people at the Club. Nate received a call a week earlier from the Romney Campaign to host this event and now Nate may be his running mate!!! You can hardly tell who is running for office if you look at the picture. Mitt says, " your girl is beautiful." Nate says thanks and Mitt says, "Your wife that is!" Just another day in good old Iowa!

Christmas Craziness

Sometimes things are too convenient!

So last year at Christmas we gave all the grandparents and great-grandparents little photo albums with some pictures of Hannah in them. The idea was that we would send them pictures throughout the year to fill them up (which I tried to do, although the pics usually got there like 3-6 months after they were taken) Anyways, so for Christmas we had some "real" pics of hannah taken that we were giving to family as well as a bunch more pics that we had taken from home.

Wal-mart has been super convenient about pics...I can download them at home, choose them, order them, and then go pick them up in the store. All very nice to do from home when you have an over active 15 month old. Last time I ordered pics, I had them sent to CO, because I was going there and could deliver them to family while I was there and not forget to pack them, etc, etc. SO this time, I spend all this time looking through the pics, choosing them, etc, etc, order them, get an email that they are ready in the store, and when I go to pick them up they aren't there. They are in COLORADO, where I had pictures sent last time. Very nice, huh? At least we will be going there in a little over a week, I guess everybody (except for my mom and stepdad's parents, who are the only one's in CO now) will get their Christmas presents late. Sorry!

Rice Krispies and shoes

Lately Hannah has two new favorite things...Rice Krispies and shoes. I still don't know why I didn't think of rice krispies earlier. Maybe because only about half of them make it into her mouth, especially when she tries to use her spoon! Anyways, while I was pregnant with Hannah I guess you could call Rice Krispies my "craving." I never made Nate run out and buy some in the middle of the night, but about every morning I had a bowl for breakfast and at least another bowl sometime during the day for a snack. I'm not sure there is a whole lot of nutritional value to puffed rice, but at least there is some calcium in the milk, right? I'm sure somebody somewhere claims that a mother's cravings during pregnancy result in the child's liking for something, and so far this is totally true in our case! She'll finish one bowl and then another and then another. She goes to the cabinet where we keep the cereal and ask for more during the day, etc., etc. Silly girl!Hannah has also always enjoyed putting her shoes on. Well, at least she likes the idea of putting her shoes on. Usually she will get all excited, run over to me, sit down, and then start running off before I even get a sock on. Lately she also thinks it if fun to put other people's shoes on. If she doesn't find any shoes around the house, she runs to mom's shoes and starts pulling them out of the closet. Although sometimes it is nice to just have her entertain herself for a few minutes, I wish she understood the concept of putting things back a little better!

Hannah found dad's shoes in the kitchen. She gets so proud of herself when she manages to put both shoes on!

Hannah being such a big girl and trying to put on her own shoes. She gets so excited when she finds her shoes in the house.

This is Hannah on Thanksgiving wearing Aunt Kristen's high heel shoe. She kept walking around on the wood floors and you would hear "clop, clop, clop" throughout the house. Hannah's foot isn't quite as big as Uncle Kirby's yet!

Colorado continued...finally!

It has only been almost a month since our trip to CO, but I have a few more pictures to share.

My stepdad's parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary earlier this summer and so he and his sisters put together a surprise party for them. This was the reason for planning our trip to CO.

Here little Hannah is trying so hard to be patient while we visit with all sorts of people I've never met. As long as I kept the snacks coming and let her run around like crazy every once in a while she was OK.

We also got to go the Denver Art Museum while we were there. Here are a few pictures out front. Hannah even survived the museum and didn't get us kicked out. Once again the pretzel sticks came in handy...although I'm not really sure they technically allow food in there. Oh well!

Hannah with mom and Great Grandma....when can I get out and run around!?

Hannah and Great Grandma.

Hannah trying to decide which rock she can stick in her mouth without mom noticing.

We also had a feast while Hannah and I were in town. My mom cooked a turkey, mashed potatoes, etc. Pretty much like and early Thanksgiving, which was nice since we were in IA for Thanksgiving. So for Thanksgiving you need pumpkin pie and, of course, whipped cream.

Hannah decided that even if it took some time, it was worth it to get at the yummy whipped cream!

Beautiful Colorado

Hannah and I are in CO for a few days and I'm starting to remember why I miss it so much! Of course I miss family, but yesterday we got to play outside in short sleeves. It is Nov! Here are a fiw pictures of our time outside in beautiful, SUNNY Colorado!

Hannah playing with great grandma

Hannah's new favorite toy

Smelling the flowers...I wish I was that flexible!

We'll have more to post of our CO adventures soon! Eliza...I'll get to it when I get back. Just 6 things about me, right?

Happy Halloween, just a little early!

Last week Nate asked me if I knew what day Halloween was on...umm, yeah, the 31st. No, he was wondering what day we were celebrating on...umm, the 31st. That's always when I went trick or treating when I was little. Sure enough a few days later we find out that trick or treating is happening on Tuesday (tonight) from 5-8. Ok, so I guess when you live in a small place you can change holidays. Good thing we got the memo and have family around to inform us! Apparently both the public and Catholic high schools in town made it to state playoff for football and they have games tomorrow night (Halloween) So tonight was Halloween instead and Hannah's first time actually trick or treating! We had a good time!

Yesterday we carved pumpkins before daddy headed to AZ for the week. We are missing him! He used to be gone all the time, and it was normal, but I'm not used to it any more (and I didn't have Hannah around when he was gone for golf either!)

Hannah had her own pumpkin that we picked a few weeks ago at the orchard. Her daddy carved it for her. If you look closely you can see it has two top "fang" teeth, just like Hannah STILL! We didn't find an toddler vampire costume, so her pumpkin had to do.

Hannah with two of her aunts dressed as beautiful princesses.

Hannah with her youngest 5 aunts and uncles. Can you tell that Hannah wanted her mommy ALL NIGHT!

My little puppy!

Tonight we had our "Trunk or Treat" at church and I wanted to share a few pictures...of Hannah of course! We also got a new camera, so I was excited about taking pictures (nothing fancy, but more than half the size and double the quality of pictures from our old one...welcome to 2007, right?)

I originally bought Hannah a bear costume because we call her Hannah bear, but Nate's sister, Tiff had this one. I thought it was appropriate in memory of my dog Dallas who we had to put to sleep earlier this year :(

She really was trying to sit still and pose for the camera!

Carrying her bucket and ready to get some candy!

My two babies! We got Dallas when I was 8 and he was MY puppy. He didn't really care much for Hannah (mostly he was jealous) but he was so sick at this point that he wasn't bothered.

Happy Birthday to Nate!

So the past few days have been super fun...

On Saturday we went to Deal's Orchard with Nate's family. They had all sorts of food, apples and cider, music, games, horses, hay rides, and PUMPKINS! Hannah had a great time playing with the pumpkins and dancing to the music! I'll see if I can figure out how to post a video clip, but for now, here are some pics...

Hannah with her pumpkin that she picked with daddy, making her face of the day.

Hannah trying to figure out what all of these pumpkins are for!

Time to pose for a family photo!

It was a lot of hard work (and all during her regular nap time)

On Sunday, Nate's family came over for birthday dessert, and they brought a little present for him. Very appropriate!

Yesterday, Nate's birthday, we made a trip to Omaha to go to the zoo! Here's Hannah in the car on the way, trying to keep herself entertained...I had to post this one because you can really see her FANGS on top! :) Still no teeth in the front!

We stopped to eat our picnic near the Winter Quarters Temple, so we went inside the visitor's center. Here Hannah is helping dad out with the hand cart.

We finally made it to the zoo! The weather wasn't the best, but that meant that we about had the place to ourselves. Hannah's favorite parts of the zoo were the underwater tunnel in the aquarium and playing in the "garden of the senses." She probably liked both of these the best because she got to run around!

Here is Hannah in the garden sitting with a big monkey!

And smelling a flower! I love it, I've been trying to teach her this all summer!

Happy Birthday, Nate!!!

Calling all dog trainers!

So a few weeks ago we installed this invisible fence for our dog, Chloe. With it comes this video that makes training your dog seem really easy. Chloe first got really bored with the training, then for a while she was afraid of going anywhere near the edge of the yard, and now she just runs away! The problem is she has this thing about chasing squirrels, and there are tons of them out now collecting their food for the winter. Chloe has figured out that if she runs really fast she can get through without really getting shocked. Either that or she is so crazy about chasing the squirrels that she doesn't care. Where's the Dog Whisperer when I need him!

A Play Day!

So lately Nate has actually been getting two days off of work per week. Amazing! Anyways, so the last few weeks he has had Sunday AND Monday off, and Hannah and I are sure enjoying it! This last Monday we had another play day with dad. We were trying to enjoy the nice weather, so we went to the park. Hannah went down the slide for the first time! She wasn't sure about it at first, but after a few tries, she thought it was very fun! While we were at the park, we also got to play with Chloe. We forgot her ball to play catch, but we found a frisbee that somebody else left. Apparently Chloe will chase anything. She's such a fast dog, and she just wants to run and play!

Yesterday Hannah was helping mom make cookies. She finally realized that this particular cabinet is not locked shut. Cans are very fun to take out of the cabinet, except that she has also recently gotten into throwing everything...not so good for canned foods. She went back to playing quietly on the ground after she dropped a can on her toes. OUCH!Yesterday Hannah also got her first real "boo boo" right between her eyes. Usually in the mornings Hannah wakes up earlier than I am ready to get up (it is still dark out!) and so we typically get her out of her crib and bring her into our room where she runs around like crazy. Her morning routine consists of trying to get into the dog's cage and play in the water, taking any books off our nightstands that she can get her hands on, finding clothes in the closet or folded in a laundry basket to play peek-a-boo with, turning onto the CD player and dancing to the music, and trying to get at the cell phones. She is always SO full of energy as soon as she wakes up! Anyways, while she was trying to get at the cell phones on the nightstand, and acting crazy all at the same time, when she tripped and fell. Falling happens all the time, but she hit her nose on our bed frame (which is really for a full sized bed even though we have a queen...that's the biggest problem) Oh well! She didn't even bruise, which is nice, and although she has a scab now, there was not any bleeding. I'm sure there will be many more scrapes and bruises to come!Imagine that... a whole post about Hannah! One last thing that happened this week, Hannah has finally started using her baby sign language all the time. For a while she's been signing "milk" but mostly only when she thought it was convenient. "All done" she also thought was fun. Just this week she finally figured out "more" and it is so cute! Her version looks more like she is calling a time out-Nate's convinced she's destined to be an athlete! She has been getting so excited that she can tell me what she wants (even if sometimes she gets confused and thinks "milk" is any type of food and that "more" means she is hungry) Can you tell she likes to eat!?

Our Little Vampire

Hannah finally decided to get a few more teeth. At the end of last week she got her second fang in. I had given up on her ever getting any more teeth. She's had the bottom two for 3 months now, with no signs of any more. Last Sunday, Nate's dad thought he spotted a new tooth in her mouth, and sure enough it was! Part of the problem was that I wasn't looking for a tooth on the side of her mouth, normal kids get them in front first, right? So now she has two teeth in on the top finally, one on either side of where her two front teeth would be. We will just have to find her a vampire costume for Halloween to complete the outfit!!! We'll post a picture when her teeth are a little more visible!

A future golfer?

Life at the golf course is finally starting to slow down, and so Hannah had the opportunity to go to the driving range. She's always been a big fan of driving around the course on a golf cart and playing in the pro shop, but she hasn't had very many chances to play golf.


The results...

sorting golf balls is fun

moving them from one basket to the next

carrying the golf balls around

and stealing them from dad

but she wanted nothing to do with hitting a golf ball with a club. Don't worry, dad tried! Hannah decided that picking up the golf balls, throwing them, chasing after them, etc. was much more fun! (I don't know if it blame her :)

Hannah even got her first driving lessons out at the course.

Hannah was also a big helper yesterday when dad and mom were playing in the year planting a new tree and a few bushes. Kids seem to have some sort of magnetic attraction to dirt. I still don't understand why it is to much fun!

Nate also had a fun evening last night. He went bowling as a sub for his uncle's league team and had a good time. He called home to tell me that he didn't bowl very well (only like 139, 141 and 159) which are all scores way above my bowling average, but that he was going to stay and bowl three more games to help him establish an average for when he bowls again next week. When he gets home he tells me that his last game he bowled a 210!! Then he proceeds to tell me that that is not even his best ever, one time he bowled a 224. I guess when you grow up in Carroll, you maybe spend more time at the bowling alley than I did in CO, but still, that is not fair! He is just too coordinated for me...hopefully Hannah inherits some of Nate's talents!

Quick recap

Ok, so for those of you who we have really struggled keeping in touch with, here is a short recap of the last 8 or so months...



Last December we came back to Carroll to visit Nate's family. While here, we heard that the Carroll Country Club needed a general manager, Nate interviewed, got the job, and then after hours and hours of talking about it and many many prayers, we decided to take the job. So now we live in Iowa...here's a picture of our house, which I LOVE!


Iowa is really cold during the winter, but we survived. Since January, we got a dog, Chloe. She is a labradoodle (half poodle, half lab) She is great with Hannah, but she really likes to chase rabbits and squirells. We just installed an underground dog fence, and are now in the process or training her. Hopefully it works!!!


Hannah has been growing non-stop. She also now moves non-stop. She started walking like two months ago and seems to have endless energy.

We've made a few trips to Arizona and to Colorado to visit family. Hannah is usually a really good traveller.

Most recently Hannah celebrated her first birthday. She actually had two parties, lucky girl! One in CO at the beginning of August (just a little early) and another one here in Iowa just a few days before the big day (Sept. 10) My mom made the trip out to Iowa, it was great to see her!

Hannah and Kambria

Hannah and Caden after the party

Party #2 in Iowa:

Hannah's pretty cake (thanks to grandma!)

Before:

After:

Trying something new!

Since we are living out in the midwest these days, we need a way to keep in touch with friends and family!!! Hopefully this will be a good way for us to let everyone know what is going on in our lives as well as post pictures of Hannah as she grows. Can you believe that she is a year old already? Crazy!! Anyways, check back often to see how on top of this blogging thing I will be and to see how Iowa is treating us! Also let us know how to keep in touch with you, too.