Egg Festival

Jaycee at the Karnival


Playing on the swings at the park


She loves the swings


5k here I come!


Nice pose hun!


Tired and wet! But overall....a good time!


At the parade...it was a little wet!








Brayden's favorite part of the parade


At the carnival they had a petting zoo that Kleinschmidt sponsored. Jaycee loved petting the goats and even gave one a kiss. We laughed so hard.


The week of July 24 was the Central Maine Egg Festival which is celebrated in Pittsfield. There were people everywhere which is crazy for our little town. They had a lot of events going on including: concert in the park, window painting contest, softball game, Little chick contest, parade, fireworks, Quiche & cheesecake baking contest, fireworks, and our credit union hosted a 5k, and much more. When I found out about the big events we invited Dathan and Kel up for a fun weekend. Also I decided to dive right in to the festivities. I entered Jaycee into the Little Chick photo contest. There were at least 30 pictures and to vote people put $ in a slot where the picture was posted at the local grocery store. She didn't win, but it's hard because we don't have lots of family to go vote for her. It was still fun. I also made a cheesecake for the baking contest. I didn't win on that either, but the competition was stiff. The one that won was seriously a gourmet cheesecake out of a magazine! How can I compete with that! My oreo cheesecake was still yummy and had cute pink egg sprinkles on top. I was glad I still participated and even met a nice family. Saturday (24th) was the last day of the festivities. I signed Craig and I up to run the 5k in the morning. Ever since we got married we always talk about wanting to run in one. He never has and I have only once. Last year was rough because I was nursing and Jaycee was just a newborn, so that didn't happen. So without Craig knowing until a week before I signed us up. We only had a week to prepare, but we weren't nervous considering we go jogging at least once a week and usually do at least 2.5 miles. We woke up that morning @ 6:30 and it was cloudy and overcast. I was so excited cuz I love jogging in the rain. Only bad thing is we couldn't take Jaycee in the stroller because she would get soaked. She stayed home with Kel and Dathan. We ended jogging 3.1 miles and when we saw the layout of where we were running, it was quite familiar. We did almost that same jog the week before. There were only about 50 people there since it was raining. The whole last mile was pretty tough because it was a gradual increase with a big hill at the end. BUT we endured and crossed the finish line @ 30.31. I'm not proud of that time by any means and want to do better, but for the first one in a long time I was glad we finished. We didn't stop at all and Craig was a big help. I think Craig would've done it faster but he stayed behind with me. It was really fun and I'm itching to do another one soon.
We got back from the run and then headed up the street for the parade. By this time it was really wet outside, but people were ready for a parade. Brayden got a lot of candy and enjoyed it. After the parade we went back home to get everyone and head over to the park for the Karnival. We hung out there for a bit and visited with some friends. On the way back we HAD to take them to Big Bills and get some ice cream. We then walked our .4 miles back home and everyone except Kel and I crashed. My legs were pretty sore from running that morning and then walking so much so it was nice to rest a bit. Haylie and Jaycee had such a fun time the whole weekend. They acted like best friends and followed each other and copied each other. It was so cute. We then busted out all the stuff for our traditional Alfredo BBQ Chicken Pizza and then played Catan. At about 9 we heard the fireworks going off at the park and could actually see them pretty well from our house. All-in-all it was a fun day! The next day we took them to church with us and came home and made Navajo Tacos for dinner. Then of course before they left we had to play Catan again! It's fun to sit around the table and play and laugh and be goofy. I love our Catan playing! At church I got a new calling....I just barely got called to be a Relief Society instructor and only taught 2 times. I guess the Lord has other places for me to be. I haven't been sustained yet, so you'll have to just keep reading until I tell what my new calling is :) All I can say is...I'm very excited. Teaching relief society stressed me out!
That was our weekend and it was a great one. Jaycee has her 15 month checkup appointment today (yes, she is overdue considering she is almost 17 months). We had to wait until our insurance started and then the pediatrician had to "approve" her to be seen. That took about 2 weeks to get back to us. Kinda dumb. She doesn't know what's coming...shots!!!
Tomorrow I'm going with the Sister Missionaries again to teach an investigator who is planning on getting baptized next month. I told the sisters I would love going with them every week if I could. I love the spirit I feel, and also I love sharing what I know to be true :) Brother Brown is an awesome example to me.
THEN!.... on Friday we are headed to Dathan and Kel's house again. On Saturday is our Branch Temple Trip so we asked if they'd babysit Jaycee and then decided to just stay down there for the weekend. I love that they live pretty close and that our kids get along so well. Also it's nice to see Dathan calm down from working to hang out. So the least we can do is relax him a bit. I'm really excited.
The family is doing well. Craig is very happy with his job still. We very fortunate to be able to work for Kleinschmidt. We also feel very blessed from Heavenly Father who constantly blesses our family. We took a HUGE leap of faith coming out here. We recently found out Craig's best friend Joe got laid off from ARW (Craig's old work). We felt so bad for him and his family and took that in account to our life. What if we hadn't moved,...would that happen to us? Luckily, Joe did find a new job quickly and we hope the best for him! I still remember the day in church when Craig came up to me and said, " I'm going to sign the offer letter and have faith everything will work out" And things did! There is so much opportunity with this company for Craig to grow and advance. Also we are so excited we'll be able to move back to the west coast closer to family. Oh, and another thing with Craig that I'm so proud...we started our "diet" a little bit ago...he's lost 9 pounds! He's looking so good and it's so nice having support for helping me to lose my baby pounds. I'm jealous he can loose it so quick, but life isn't fair I guess. I've only lost 5 pounds, but hey, it's a start. Nothing new with me really. Just loving life with being home. I've been trying to be more domestic. It's so much fun. Last week I made Tuna Casserole for the first time. Craig and Jaycee loved it! Also I made banana bread and we took it over to our neighbor Jackie and gave a loaf to our landlords who were up for the weekend. I really want to pick up a new hobby. I bought a Sudoku book and loved it so much I finished them all in about a week. I'm going to start my scrapbooking again and want to learn to crochet or cross-stitch. Just an idea. Jaycee is getting so big! She tells us all the time that she wants a baby brother/sister ;) but we tell her...NOT YET! She's into this monkey stage where she climbs on everything. She thinks she's such a big girl when she climbs up on the couch and give a cheesy grin. She absolutely loves Izzy to pieces. They're pretty much best friends. Well except with Izzy eats her food. The best part is that Izzy lets her do anything to her. Jaycee loves to sit in her lap when Izzy lays down. That's the cutest thing ever. Jaycee also is really into watching movies. She'll go sit in front of the TV and sign "movie" and I usually give in. But only once a day. She loves her "My Little Pony" one the best....THANKS DALYNNE! She's definetly a little girl and loves twirling and dancing.
Craig and I bought our plane tickets last week. We got a great deal...we think. We found tickets going out to SLC for $134 and coming back to Manchester for $134. I can't believe being so close to Christmas how plane tickets are EXPENSIVE! The cheapest I ever found them was $159 going out and $300 coming back. We jumped right on this great deal when I saw the price. We fly out the morning of December 14 and get into Utah around 5:00 pm. I hope Jaycee does good on the airplane. We then fly back on my birthday January 4. We can't wait to visit and be back at "home" with family!