Congrats to Kristi and Chase

This past Friday, Jeremy's sister Kristi was married to Chase Strub. It was a beautiful day at the Daughetee household. Mary and Tom's deck was transformed into the perfect place for a wedding ceremony. We ate food and cake afterwards and got home fairly late Friday night. Kristi looked gorgeous in her wedding dress and Chase was a handsome groom. Jackson and Skyler were also cute as can be in shorts with dress shoes :)

Pictures from the ceremony:Aunt Kath was the Maid of Honor and

Chase's friend Andy was his Best ManJackson and his mommy :)Yummmo! Cake!Ellie and Jack playingThis picture above cracks me up. Every toy Ellie would touch Jack would take away from her. She is looking at him like "hey, who do you think you are?" :) I got as many pictures as I could, but unfortunately our camera stinks!!! and kept turning off on me! Jeremy has promised me a nice one for my b-day...but I'm hoping for Mother's Day ...hint hint :) It is sad all the great pics I miss because of that stupid camera!

9 Month Pictures

We had Ellie's nine month pictures taken last Friday! I can't believe she is already 9 months...she is getting so big (yet still so small). Her personality is coming out and she is a little spit fire! When I picked Ellie up from daycare yesterday, Rhonda made the comment "Ellie is such a spunky little thing", I immediately said "is that code for she is driving you crazy?" and she reassured me that Ellie is the entertainment for the day. So...I guess that is a good thing:)

Here are the pics:

Little Miss Blue EyesGo Cubs!

Look she gives mom and dad when we say "no" and then she does it anyway :)

Rugby

Spring season is well underway for The Cedar Rapids Headhunters. We went to our first home game this past weekend. Ellie loved to be outside in the sun. Jeremy's cousin Josh and his girlfriend Lyndsey joined us. It was great to meet Lyndsey and hang out with Josh again. Ellie could not stop staring at Lyndsey...I think it was the blond hair :) Every time the crowd clapped Ellie would clap, she is already cheering her daddy on! The Headhunters beat the Quad City team by a lot (I don't remember the score) Jeremy got man of the match for the pack! :)

Here are some pictures that our good friend Kelly took of us:

Family Picture

Daddy and Ellie

Happy Easter!

Wow, what a crazy day Ellie and I had! Jeremy had to work all day, so Ellie and I were on our own. We took a trip to Hy-Vee to buy some groceries to make daddy an Easter Feast! Ellie rode in the basket of the cart for the first time. She loved it! She was good the entire time we were in the store, she swung her legs laughed and was fascinated with watching others shopping. The craziness started upon our arrival home. Ellie would not take a nap she wanted to be up playing, so she got her way :)

Here are some pics of her playing while I made dinner:

Ton of toys to play with and she wants the beer box

Well, she didn't want to play by herself for much longer, so I placed her in her highchair and gave her a snack. I forgot to put a bib on her though! She was a huge mess...who knew all from cereal! (I guess I did end up feeding her before I took this picture, but the majority of the mess is from cereal!)

Daddy finally came home from work and Ellie was able to have her basket from the Easter Bunny before she went down for bed.

Ellie's first Easter BasketSo Excited!Digging through my goodiesSomehow she found the one toy in her basket :) Smart little girl!

Easter Feast...mmmmmm

Happy Easter!

Splish! Splash!

Ellie is really starting to enjoy her bath. She likes to play or I should say chew on her little bath toys. She doesn't care when we pour water over her head...she just continues to play :)

Crazy Hair!

Mmmmmm tastes good...

I bought Ellie a cute little tankini and hat for this summer. Here is a pic of her trying on her hat. As soon as we put it on her she tries to take it off...so I don't know how well she will leave it on this summer :)

Crooked

Ladybugs

Ellie's Aunt Aundrea gave these PJ's to her for Christmas. They finally fit her, and she loves them. She is amazed by all the ladybugs...she is constantly looking down at her PJ's. :) I caught a few pictures of her in them.

Checking out my PJ's

Finally got her attention Playing with my cellie :)
Some other happenings in the Daughetee household:

I have been planning on making a quilt out of Jeremy's old t-shirts as a personal inquiry project for my graduate program. The only problem is that I have never sewed in my life! :) So, with the help of my great friend April I was able to reach my goal. April was a great teacher. She had me practice on scrap material and then guided me through the process. She never once tried to take over because I was going to slow or not doing something right. We did hit a few snags with the sewing machine acting up, but April was able to fix it using her trouble shooting book and we were able to finish!

Practicing

Sewing on the back of the blanket (look at the concentration on my face)

The best sewing teacher fixing the machine :)

My finished project!

San Francisco

We are back from San Francisco, it was a blast! We had so much fun walking around the city with Aundrea and Allison. It felt as if we lived in the city for four days. I took so many pictures of our trip it was hard to decide which ones to post.

Day 1- We flew in on Saturday night, Aundrea and Allison picked us up in a "hour rental truck" and we grabbed a small dinner. We then went back to their place to relax.

Day 2-Sunday morning we woke up early and hiked up to Turtle Hill. It is a beautiful view of the city from the top of the hill. It was also a great work out. It was very windy at the top, and I thought I was going to blow off a few times.

Here are some pictures from Turtle Hill:

Beautiful view of San Francisco

Beautiful mural on the stairs

After Turtle Hill we walked through Golden Gate Park on our way to Haight-Ashbury District. We were propositioned a few times to smoke or buy weed while in Haight (which Jeremy got a real kick out of) but enjoyed the culture and characters in the area.
We then took the train downtown. I bought a supper cute pair of shoes at DSW (I can't help myself). After shopping we walked to Chinatown...it was very busy there! I bought Ellie a "piggy bank" for a souvenir and we headed back toward Union Square.
It was very relaxing to sit in Union Square and "people watch". Jeremy and Aundrea drank a few beers and we all had a good time.
We then ate at Pasquale's for dinner...great pizza!
Day 3-On Monday Jeremy and I were on our own. Aundrea had to work, so she wrote down directions for the train...I'm happy to report that I was a very good navigator and we never got lost! It probably helped that I had been there once before.

We first took a train down to the bay and walked up to Pier 33 for our Alcatraz tour. The tour was very interesting...but being surrounded by tourist got very old! I took a ton of pictures on the island to show my students. We both enjoyed the tour of Alcatraz!

Alcatraz Island

Warning!

Cell with escape route

Let me out!
Scary

We then took the train to the Golden Gate Bridge. We had both already been there, so we didn't stay long. People were surfing below the bridge, and it was fun to watch them.

Golden Gate Bridge

People Surfing (brrrrr) Day 4-Tuesday morning Jeremy and I woke up early and grabbed some breakfast together. We then walked up to the San Francisco Botanical Garden and spent some time walking through the park and relaxing on a bench. It was a great way to start the morning. The park is beautiful!

Jeremy loved these huge trees

Beautiful We flew out of San Francisco at 1:45 Tuesday afternoon.

Uncle Mike picked us up from the airport...which was so nice! No cabs, no shuttles, no paying for parking :) We took off from his house and headed home. Unfortunately we got lost and ended up in Beloit..it was pouring outside and a bit stressful. We made it home around 12:30, and I had to go in and watch Ellie sleep for a bit. We missed her so much!!! Wednesday morning I woke her up and she was so happy to see us.
Finally Home! :)