Weathering the Storm

Hi there everyone! We are safe and sound and are surviving the nasty spring weather in the midwest. The airport here in St. Louis got hit by a tornado last night but our neighborhood should be fine - we're actually out of town this weekend, so we aren't completely sure, but at least a tornado didn't hit our area. We thought for a moment that one might have, but apparently it was April of 2010 that a tornado hit Des Peres, not this April.

Right now we are enjoying a nice, quite Easter weekend in southern Illinois. We are visiting with our friends Leslie, Captain and Harvey Smith. Owen and Harvey love being together and are the best of friends. Bryce is having a chance to relax and gear up for the end of the semester and I'm enjoying adult conversation during the daytime. It may be stormy outside, but we are safe, dry and having a wonderful weekend.

I hope everyone else out there has a great Easter weekend as well and we will stay in touch.

The Minds of Men and Women

My Grandma Christensen sent me this video clip and I got a great laugh from it.  Although I personally don't mind the "nothing box," most of the time, it makes me laugh to think about the times that it has bothered me.

Enjoy:

Our House

I know that we've been living in our current house since August, but some people (like my Mom) want to know what it looks like so they (she : ) can picture things when we talk on the phone.  I've been getting pictures together to try to sublet our house, so I'll share the pictures here as well:

Here is an approximate floorplan of our house 

(very approximate - not to scale at all).

Our house from the outside - Front View:

Our Backyard:

The Front Room:

Dining Room:

Kitchen:

Upstairs Bathroom:

Family Room:

Spare Bedroom:

Downstairs Bathroom:

Our bedrooms still need to be cleaned, so I don't have pictures of them yet, but they are just bedrooms so I'm sure you can use your imagination to fill in the details.  The best parts about the house are that there is room for us and for friends to come visit and that I have a front room that I can keep clean easily.  We also really like our neighborhood and it's not too long of a commute for Bryce so it is a great place for us to live.

Owen Playing Baseball

Owen took advantage of the warm sunny weather on Saturday and played baseball in our back yard.

The Zoo Train

This past Saturday our little family took a trip to the zoo.  Owen and I go to the zoo fairly often in good weather, but this was a special treat because Bryce usually doesn't get to go with us.  Since it was a special occasion, we decided to take a ride on the train that goes around the zoo.  Owen was excited, since he LOVES trains, and the first picture here is him playing while we waited in line to board the train.

Owen didn't seem to mind posing for a picture with Daddy, but didn't want to stay still to take a picture with Mommy, so we did the best we could.

 Here is a close up showing how happy Owen was to be riding the train with Mommy and Daddy. 

Here is all three of us riding the train together.  Owen was playing peek-a-boo with the lady that took the picture for us.