Target will be the death of me.

I. Love. Target.  LOVE IT!  It's probably an addiction and I may need to just stay away.  But I mean their dollar section...  Come on! Ugh - just go ahead and write "sucker" on my forehead!  Ok, maybe I'm not that bad...

So that's my blog. It's the truth people. Pure & simple.

Anyone else wanna share their guilty pleasures?  (I have many more... like 80's music dance parties... but that's another blog.)

Funny stuff

So I've seen this before but just came across it again the other day and thought I'd share it with you...

"You know when you're from Indiana when..."

• You've never met any celebrities.
• Your idea of a traffic jam is ten cars waiting to pass a tractor on the highway. or buggies...
• "Vacation" means driving through Amish Country or going to the State Fair. or to Indy!
• You've seen all the biggest bands ten years after they were popular. At the Elkhart County fair!!!
• You measure distance in minutes.
• You know several people who have hit a deer. Amanda - haha love you!
• You have no problem spelling or pronouncing "Terre Haute."
• Your school classes were cancelled because of cold. So true! What was up with that?
• Your school classes were cancelled because of heat. Yea - who cares that it's 99*, 85% humidity, they'll be fine.
• You know where all the Yoders live. or Millers, or Troyers, or Bontragers...
• You've ridden the school bus for an hour each way. When you live only 5 minutes away... that was annoying.
• You've ever had to switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day. Hey we just did that today! Going from 80* to maybe 45 tomorrow? Indiana weather is WEIRD!
• You think ethanol makes your truck "run a lot better."
• You know what's knee-high by the Fourth of July. Hopefully we'll get there this year with this late spring!
• Stores don't have bags, they have sacks.
• You see people wear bib overalls at funerals. Well, if they have to dress up...
• You see a car running in the parking lot at the store with no one in it no matter what time of the year. The old people at the post office... so funny!
• You end your sentences with an unnecessary preposition. Example: "Where's my coat at?" or "Who are you gonna go with?" As a PR major this drives me CRAZY!
• All the festivals across the state are named after a fruit, vegetable, or grain. Hmmm, not in Middlebury! We do it by seasons! Summer & Fall!
• De-tassling was your first job (that's de-tassling corn for you city folk). Not mine, thank goodness... I did muffins & coffee!
• Your idea of a really great tenderloin is when the meat is twice as big as the bun and accompanied only by ketchup and a dill pickle slice. The BEST ones are at the Nappanee Apple Festival. AH-mazing! AND they won't let you get a second bun! Love it.
• You say catty-wumpus and kitty-corner. Yup just did the other day!
• You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked.
• You think of the major four food groups as beef, pork, beer, and Jell-O salad with marshmallows. Or Jello w/ fruit!
• When asked how your trip was to any foreign, exotic place, you say, "It was different."
• You consider being called a "Pork Queen" an honor.
• You carry jumper cables in your car. Yep! I got a whole kit!
• You know what "cow tipping" is. Too bad I never went that crazy...

Anyone have any good stories to go along with these tidbits or have others to add? I love lists like this, it makes me laugh.

Saturday at the Zoo!

Ok, so Katy has probably or will be shortly blogging about this too... but we spent most of our Saturday in Ft. Wayne with the Bontragers & Sonners!

We met everyone at Chik-fil-a for lunch. Of course we had to have a baby photo shoot!

Let me tell ya, we were a spectacle there for the other restaurant goers! We had everyone staring & laughing! :) Oh well!

All the mommies & babies!

All the daddys holding the flowery Vera Bradley bags. They looked so tough & manly!

Daddys & babies!!!

At the Zoo with the Sonners... the boys were WIPED OUT! It was pretty cute.

Trying to get a nice family pictures under the waterfall... Cooper wanted to know what that noise was and where it was coming from. Good family photo? Sure. Close enough!

One more thing... what is up with my sisters and their bribing tactics for my son's affection? PS Kim - Katy one-upped you and got Cooper a monkey. Something to take with him and to remember her by. He ate your marshmallows & ran. Now what? I think Katy said "Bring it." :) haha Although in this picture, he was about to whack her head with the monkey. This was right before impact...

Then we headed to Katy & Jacob's house to visit for a few minutes, feed Cooper & cool off before heading home. The boys were playing together pretty good for the most part. In this picture... Cooper found the fan!

Tristan is such a sweety! He kept giving Cooper big kisses on his head! Although, right after that he'd whack him on the head, but that's beside the point :)

We had a great time today! It was fun to see my siblings I don't get to see everyday! Yeah for the Zoo!!!

And one last side note... Cooper got his FIRST TOOTH yesterday!!! YEAH!!! Man it has been tough on him and he's still recovering. One thing I've learned through this is that I will NEVER get used to getting puked on, no matter how many times it happens!

New Tastes, New Look, New Textures, New Noise!

Well, the title summarizes this blog! Cooper has been trying a TON of new things lately including...

New Tastes!

Meaty baby food. Gross! Does anyone else think this stuff smells like dog food? That's the first and last time for beef. That stuff gave me the heebi-jeebies. And yes that is a spot of it between his eyes. I don't know, don't ask.

New Look!

Cooper got a little hair trim to even up the front stragglers. This is afterwards when daddy gave him the 80's spike look!

New Textures!

Yesterday Cooper felt & played with cooked spagetti. I think he thought I lost my mind. At least he humored me!

New Noise!

His new favorite toy... a bundt pan & my small wooden spoon. Cheap entertainment right? He takes his pan banging very seriously. haha

Oh and for those of you who don't want to see him smiley all the time (ahem Cindy), here's another shot I thought I'd add in for you. During his spagetti play I was also feeding him some fruit that he wasn't too sure of... he threw a small fit and made the oh-so-cute "I'm SO not impressed" face.

Palm Springs: Days 5, 6 & 7

Alright so I got a little behind on the Palm Springs trip. Let's think of this post as the grand finale mother-load!!

Wednesday, Day 5:

We drove the sceneic route through the mountains with a few missions for the day. Go to Idyllwild and visit our dealer in Sun City!

Here is the road we drove up. If you can click on this picture and make it bigger, you'll understand why we had to stop half way and walk around. Curvy, hilly and fast! Crazy road.


As crazy as the road was, we had a great view from the top!

In Idyllwild, it was freezing cold! In the 40's anyways... we were around 5000-ish elevation, so it's not nearly as warm as the desert. It's a cute artsy touristy town. Here are Matt & Cooper at lunch! We went to a yummy restaurant (can't remember the name but it had to do with gnomes... yes, gnomes.)

Matt & Dad goofing off. Mom & Cooper sat in the car to stay warm because neither were dressed or wanting to face the COLD weather!

After we left Idyllwild, we drove to Sun City to visit one of our dealers and then also went to their Riverside store. We got to go out with the brothers that run the stores and had a great time! I didn't get any pictures but the dealerships were very nice and we had a blast visiting them!

Day 6: Thursday

We were going like crazy all week, so Thursday was our "off" day to relax and be majorly lazy!

My bundle of joy waking me up way too early!

The beautiful view from our room over the golf course, through the palm trees and to the mountains... I miss the palm trees!

Cooper helping his daddy read on the deck!

We of course had to hit In-N-Out burgers one more time... double double animal anyone?

After lunch, a dip in the pool!

Cooper is trying to pull himself up now... crazy!!

He also is trying to crawl. He scooted backwards under the chair until he couldn't go any farther!

Then it was bathtime to get that ucky chlorine off!

Thursday night we went to downtown Palm Springs - they shut down the main street of town and have an open air market! It was so cool, lots of arts & crafts, food and produce! Mom & I saw Edgar from 24!!! On our way out we had our eyes out for him because we wanted his picture, but we couldn't find it. oh well. Not a 24 fan? Well he's Chloe's friend/co-worker in CTU in seasons 4 & 5. Good stuff.

Day 7: Friday

Time to go home, we were definitely sad to leave the warm weather but were so ready to be home... especially for Cooper's sake!

We packed up the room and headed to the airport.

Cooper ready to board the flight! He did NOT want to sit back in his stroller so he sat forward like this for the hour 1/2 we were at the airport. he's such a cheeseball! He did great traveling, made it a lot easier for Matt & I.

This melted my heart... on the way home I sat in the back seat with him to get him to sleep and he kept trying to grab my arm so I finally gave it to him and this is what he did... he snuggled me! About 2 minutes after this he was OUT.

We're home, unpacked and it feels good to be on a normal schedule again.


Thanks Mom & Dad for a great vacation!

Palm Springs: Day 4

Ok before I get to Palm Springs... it's my 100th post!!!!!!!!!! Yeah!

Ok, Palm Springs, Tuesday, Day 4.  We putzed around in the morning and took our sweet time getting ready, then headed over to the living desert - a zoological park with desert animals, gardens, sites and of course, LOTs of heat.  We had a good time, but it was super hot and Cooper wasn't the happiest camper... heat & a tired boy never mesh well.  No, Cindy, I didn't get a picture of Cooper throwing a fit, but trust me, he was not a happy camper.  Luckily Matt was there with his super-dad self to put him to sleep!!  We saw lots of cool animals, unique plants and Dad's favorite... the scale train set!

Here are pictures from the day!

Gotta get that SPF 50 on the babe before we do ANYTHING!

At the Living Desert - I think we were in a bird sanctuary.

Little boy getting tired! 

Dad & the model train set!  It was HUGE!!!

At dinner - we went to Tommy Bahamas (YUM!) and Cooper sported his new do - spikes! It was really windy so it's a little blown over but he looked super cute!

The Gorsuch Family... CVS run.  Good times!

Palm Springs: Days 1, 2 & 3... in pictures!

Here is a follow-up to my last post... in pictures!  To read all about our first three days, check out our previous blog... so here it is... our first 3 days in pictures!!

Playing at the airport!

Snoozing in our extra seat!  We're so proud of him - he flew like a champ!

In Palm Springs - I'm so intrigued by the whirly do's! (Actually they're wind power generators, I like my name better) :)

A fine meal at In-N-Out! Ah-mazing!!!

Day 2 at the mountaintop!  

On a hike!

Cooper's first time in the pool!

Cooper's first time in his floaty!!!

Day 3 - Joshua Tree Nat'l Park

Cooper went rock climbing! :)

Matt being really strong holding up that rock!

It was a long day riding in the car...

I mean the big blue minivan!!! We rock!

At our picnic lunch... Cooper wanted Matt's nose!

A Joshua Tree... Looks like the Dr. Seuss trees huh?

Joshua Trees with a HUGE rock formation.  We saw a LOT of this.

LG's Steakhouse - apparently they had yummy glasses :)  Cooper loved licking the cold glass!

That's it for now! Stay tuned for Day 4!