quickie...

Hi All...
Just a quick post tonight, hope you all had a great Christmas, we had a lot of fun and it continues into this weekend...we're traveling to Iowa tomorrow night and staying until Tuesday. We'll celebrate Christmas with my family and get to spend a little time with some family and friends. Tuesday we're taking a detour though Galesburg to spend a little time with our "Knox family" and then we'll head back home to get ready for another week. Whew....and just a warning, things are getting busy at work and once tax season hits full on, the posts may be pretty scarce, unless I can talk Bob into taking over the blogging duties! :o) Anyway, there are some new pictures in the December album (mostly of Brianna opening her presents). Enjoy, hopefully I'll have more after this weekend. Have a safe and happy New Year! Here's to a wonderful 2007!

merry christmas...

With lots of love,
From our family to yours!
We wish you a fantastic 2007!

fun weekend...

Hello again all!
I hope you're all enjoying this abnormally warm holiday season! :)We spent this past weekend in Wentzville visiting Angie, Nick, & Braden. We (Angie & I) decided to make Christmas cookies together. So Bob, Brianna, & I took off Friday after work and headed down there.
We made cookies on Saturday while the kids played together and Bob and Nick (well, I'm not sure what they did ;) I guess the only other exciting thing is my fabulous new low-maintence haircut! Other than that, not too much to report. Check out the new pictures in the December album!

it all started with a little duct tape...

Today is a day that is very special to me, December 15th is a day that changed my life forever...let me take you back....

Well, it was Christmas time and I was traveling to spend a few days with my boyfriend (You all know Bob. Internet say hello to Bob!) and his family to celebrate an early Christmas. So I packed my car up with the loads of presents and started on my journey. I arrived in Crystal Lake on Friday afternoon, excited to see Bob, because it had been a month since I'd last seen him. We hung out Friday night, talking and relaxing.

Rise and shine...its Saturday morning, and we all head out to watch Brian's basketball tournament. We had a great time at the tournament, I met some more of Bob's friends and talked to some friends of his parents, and of course watched basketball! :o) We arrived back at the Carroll's house where, like any good visitor would, I took a nap. Actually I think Bob and I started watching TV or a movie or something and after I fell asleep he got up. Mary was coming over that evening and we were going to have the traditional opening of the presents.

Fast forward until evening ('cause really I was sleeping...I have no idea what was going on). Mary came over and we were sitting around the tree, opening presents, talking and laughing, you know...general holiday merriment. So Bob hands me my present, a huge box and I quietly wonder to myself what this could possibly be? So I tear off the wrapping and inside, I find....another box. Haha...funny funny, I tear open that box and I find....another box...OK really? Are we 12?? So I open that box and find yes, you guessed it, another box. (I'm getting a little frustrated here) so I tear the wrapping off of that box and underneath I find....duct tape. And I'm talking several thousand layers of duct tape, he seriously might have deprived a small country of their duct tape rations for an entire year on this thing. He is laughing uncontrollably as I tear the layers off one by one. I think they did finally have pity on me and let me cut through some layers! So...finally...we're inside the box. I dig to the bottom of the box and find....a note. OK...so I open the note and read "Your present needed to be cleaned. Look in the dishwasher." You can all see where this is going, can't you? Inside the dishwasher was yes...another note! "Your present is clean, but now it needs to be dried. Look in the dryer." Imagine my surprise when in the dryer was...another note (you're shocked aren't you?) "Your present needs to cool off. Look on the porch." So out to the porch I go. Did I mention that during this whole thing 5 people are following me around the house...yeah..I didn't feel like a dork or anything :o). Anyway, out to the porch, I start looking around and then I believe Bob tells me to maybe look under the pillows (there are of course 1 million pillows on the porch). So pillows start flying and of course under the very last pillow is....you got it...a note! (Boy you guys catch on quick). "Your present has been with me the whole time. Look in my pocket." I really wanted to punch him at this point, sending me on this wild goose chase while all the while he's holding onto my gift. Of course silly me...in his pocket was....A NOTE!! "I promise this is the last one, your present is up in my room. Don't turn on the light, you will see it when you enter my room." So we head upstairs, me and the gang :o) As I step in his room...I see a light in a tiny box shining on the bed holding the most beautiful ring I have ever seen. It was perfect. As I turned around, Bob was on one knee asking me to be his wife.

And I know what you're all thinking "after all that, you had to know thats what your present was going to be" But honestly I didn't, it took me by complete surprise, it was the most amazing proposal and it all happened 5 years ago today. December 15th is the day that set all my dreams into motion, it is a day that still brings me to tears and makes me smile. It is a day that replays in my head each time I look down at my ring. It is a day that makes my heart happy, it was a day that ended a chapter in my life but that began another.

Actually now that I think about it, the way Bob proposed is actually quite fitting for our life together. We started out with some big dreams and plans, and as we've opened boxes and found some notes, and fought our way through the endless layers of duct tape, our dreams and plans have changed and led us in directions different than what we imagined, some good, some bad, but through it all we never let the duct tape get in the way of getting to the good stuff.

Make video montages at onetruemedia.com

Bob,

I could not possibly put all of our memories in this short little video, but I hope this makes you see how each and every day I'm living my dreams because of you. I know December 15th, 2001 is not the beginning of our story, but its the day I began believing my dreams could come true. Thank you for always standing beside me, encouraging me, and loving me, even through all the duct tape :o). You have changed my life in so many profound ways, no words could possibly describe (funny how I've used 12,000 to try) so I will leave you with this...

Here's to unwrapping our future, through all the paper, boxes, and even the duct tape, may we discover all the wonderful and exciting things life has in store for us and continue to dream....together.

I love you!

its about time...

I know thats what you're all thinking, but hey...give me a break...I've got a life too (sort of!). Things are busy here, but nothing exciting to speak of. We were back in IA for Thanksgiving. We celebrated Braden's 1st birthday, can't believe he is one already. Thanksgiving Day and the day after Thanksgiving were actually quite hectic, but they were a lot of fun as well. The Saturday after Thanksgiving I went shopping with my mom, grandma, and Aunt Cathy. We left mom and dad's at 7am and did not return there until 1am Sunday morning. Yes, you read that right, it was a long day, but we had a lot of fun and I got almost all of my Christmas shopping done in ONE day! So, nothing exciting around here besides trying to get ready for Christmas, working and trying to get ready for tax season :o(, and trying to keep Brianna from cracking her head open (she is at the present time sitting in her baby bouncy chair backwards bouncing up and down) Geesh...she is going to make all of my hair fall out and/or turn grey! She has become quite the stubborn little girl and doesn't like to be told "no" at all. But she also makes us laugh and smile more than she makes us frustrated (most days!) It was fun watching her and Braden together over Thanksgiving, they seem to really like each other and actually shared very well. Other than that, not too much else happening. I know I didn't post my sappy sentimental Thanksgiving post, but we really do have a lot to be thankful for. I'll leave it at that. :o) I'll try to post more in the near future, but everyone enjoy your holiday season!
Love to you all

cutie pie...

Just had to share Brianna's very first "school" picture with you! Isn't she adorable? And no her hair is really not that red in real life, I'm not sure why it looks so red here, but regardless, she's a cutie pie...now if she could just remember how to sleep through the night...we'd be set! Our love to all!

short & sweet, 'cause i'm sick

Some new pictures in the November album.

I guess she really is a girly-girl. We were cleaning out closets this past weekend and she picked up my purse and put it on her arm and started carrying it around and then started blowing kisses. It was so adorable. Its funny, cause I very rarelycarry a purse (I just like to buy them), must be instinct! :)

Here is our new family picture. Thanks to our buddy Vince who gave us a coupon for a free 16x20 picture, this picture will be hanging (in giant size) on our huge, empty living room wall! Thanks Vince!!

OK, I really must lie down now. Love to all!

home again, home again....

So...here we are...another week underway. We spent the weekend in Eagle River, WI at Garth and Beth's place. They have a beautiful home and we had a great time hanging out with them. Brianna had a fabulous time as well. I think she has made a lifelong friend in Bailey. Although I'm sure Bailey was very glad to be rid of Brianna by the end of the weekend. :) Today, both Bob and I took the day off of work, so we took Brianna to daycare, ran a bunch of errands, and then took Brianna to her 15 month checkup. She is a little over 23 lbs and 30 inches long...she is in the 50th percentile for height, weight, & head size. She got 3 shots (including a flu shot) and had her hemoglobin tested again and her iron is fine!! We have to go back to the allergist in February, so hopefully that will all go well too. Other than that I guess there aren't too many changes going on here other than we converted Brianna's crib to a daybed. Although she doesn't really like that yet, so we put her mattress on the floor and she seemed to sleep well last night, we're hoping bedtime becomes not so much of a fight all the time. Anyway, I guess I should get going...I started this post last night and am now just finishing it this morning! Everyone have a great week!

Thanks again Garth, Beth, & Bailey...it was great to see you!

happy halloween

Happy Halloween Everyone!!
All Our Love,
Bob, Amber, & Brianna

goodbye old friend...you'll be missed

Before you get worried....the old friend we're saying goodbye to is Brianna's trusty pacifier (or pacifiers :) This will be the last pictures of her with it in her mouth, because as of Friday night, we have banished them. (Well, I take that back, we have them still but the only one she is allowed to have is the one with the tip cut off, which she HATES!) I pretty much feel like the meanest mommy in the world, and have come very close to caving (like at 3 am this morning, when she was crying and wouldn't go back to sleep) but for the most part, its been OK. The worst part is when/if she wakes up in the middle of the night and its not there, she gets very anxious. We know its not going to get any easier, so we just decided to do it, and hopefully she'll adjust pretty quickly. (Please cross your fingers that that actually happens!).

In other Brianna news ('cause lets be honest...thats what you're all here for)....she is walking! Finally! She is so cute, she still doesn't trust her legs much, but she is getting the hang of it. I may try to post some video shortly so that you can see her walking debut! I have never done that before, so we'll see how that goes.


Lets see...what else...we're still here, chugging along with work, me with my class, trying to keep our house relatively put together (haha...that is funny...you'd be laughing too if you could actually see our house right now!) There are a few more pictures in the October album, so check them out. Other than that, I guess there isn't much new going on here...I hope you all have a Happy and Safe Halloween! I'll try to post a couple pictures of Brianna in her costume for your enjoyment! Our love to you all..have a great week!

quick update

(this is the picture we had taken for the church directory)
Hi all...not much new around here, we were gone all weekend to the Quad Cities and Brianna stayed with Grandpa Bob and Grandma Nancy.

We had a great time this weekend, and it was great to see Alli and Steve and we met some great people,

we had a blast...thanks guys! Anyway there are some new pictures up, some that Grandma Nancy took over the weekend of Brianna and some from our weekend in the Quad Cities,

there are also a couple from last weekend when we made a quick trip to Galesburg. Other than that, I guess there isn't too much to report. Have a great week everyone! Lots of love to you all!

sorry...we've been hiding..

OK, we haven't really been hiding...but we haven't been home much either. Lets see, since we last left you here is what has happened...
Mom, Dad, Pat, Sandie, Jean, Vic, Angie, Nick, and Braden came to visit. All of us (including Amanda) took a trip downtown to various museums. Some of us went to see the King Tut exhibit that was at the Field Museum, while others went to the Museum of Science and Industry. I think everyone had a good time. The weekend following that we made the trip to Iowa to celebrate Grandma Felton's 80th birthday with a surprise party. It was a lot of fun and there were tons of people there (including a lot of babies!!) I'll have to see if someone has a picture of all the grandkids & great-grandkids with grandma that I can post here at another time. Anyway, a good time was had by all. :) Lets see...that brings us to last weekend (or just a couple of days ago) where we actually spent the weekend at home. Nothing exciting there. Other than that we've been busy with work and classes (me) and trying to keep the house running smoothly (or as smoothly as possible). We're back on the road this coming weekend, we have 2 weddings in Iowa, one on Friday night and one on Saturday, and then next weekend we're traveling to Moline to visit Alli & Steve. So, as you can see not too much exciting going on here. I can't believe its October already, the year has gone so fast! I will try to do better on the posting (I know I say that every time....) I hope you are all well and I hope we get to see lots of you in the coming weeks. I'll keep you posted if anything exciting ever happens to us! :) Our love to you all!

miss b and her garden

Short and sweet tonight. Most importantly...if you haven't already donated to Dale & Suzanne's March Of Dimes RIDE...you still have time. (click on the link and do it now!! :)
With that I'm just going to leave you with some pictures of Brianna playing with her garden. Isn't she cute!!! :) I'll try to write more at some point this week. Our love to all!

almost monday already???

As you can see...Brianna had a tough weekend! :) Wait...was there a weekend?? Did I miss it? Anyway, I was home very little this weekend. Thursday night I got my hair cut, Friday night we piled into the car and went to the Step By Step PTA resale. This is a group I got involved in about a year ago, and twice a year they have a big resale, and since I volunteer I get to shop the night before. There is a lot of great stuff there, I ended up getting a bunch of clothes, a couple winter coats, and a pair of shoes for Brianna and also a bunch of clothes for Braden. Oh...and Halloween costumes :), and the most fabulous item (at least in Brianna's eyes) the Little Tikes Activity Garden. They have one of these at daycare, and apparently she is the "queen of the garden". Her eyes lit up and she got this huge smile on her face when I brought it in the house. She has played with it all weekend. The garden however, is going to be making its home and Grandpa Bob and Grandma Nancy's...so I know she'll enjoy it when she goes there to visit :). So Saturday I volunteered at said resale from 7-4:30 (I was supposed to be there until 5 but they told me to leave early). So, we definitely didn't do much last night, and today was spent going to church and setting up my new computer! :) There are some changes going on around here...(and no I'm not pregnant) I have officially enrolled in a course to become a medical transcriptionist. I've been thinking about it for a while, and finally decided to take the plunge. It will enable (hopefully) me to do some work from home and earn a little extra money, with the potential to maybe someday allow me to stay home and work, but that is in the very distant future, but I'm excited about my new little adventure. Other than the outpouring of money at the beginning (the course and the much needed new computer), I'm very optimistic that this will be a good change for me. But other than that I guess there isn't too much else going on. There are a few new pictures in the album, but I'll try to be better about taking more!! Have a fabulous week everyone!

Congrats to Jill & Chris Curry on the birth of your baby girl on September 8!! We're soo happy for you, can't wait to see her!! Love you all!

just another day...

Hello All! So things have been pretty quiet(not literally quiet, but you know what I mean!) around the Carroll household lately. No big or exciting news, Brianna still isn't walking or talking, although she does babble quite a bit. She's learned some new things, like if you ask her where her belly is, she will point (or slap) her adorably round tummy and laugh. She also will give kisses when you ask, although most times you get a big open mouthed slobber! :) and when she blows kisses she now makes the "kissy" sound. It is all quite adorable (of course)!

Anyway, Brianna now has 8 teeth and we are figuring out what what she can't eat (and that is A LOT of stuff!) But she is doing well, as are we. We had a very lazy weekend this past weekend, but it was so nice to stay home and spend time together. Well, I guess there isnt' too much else going on, so I guess I should sign off for now! Hope all is well with all of you out there! All our Love!

OH...there are new pictures in the September 2006 album, check them out! :)

the shirt says it all...

"As a matter of fact the world does revolve around me"

ok...i lied

OK, sorry, one last thing. For those of you who read my blog and not Dale & Suzanne's (not sure how many people that is) I'm posting an email that he sent here. Please if you can, find it in your heart to donate to this WONDERFUL cause. You can see by these two pictures how your money can really impact lives. Here is his email in its entirety, cause he can say it better than I can. We love you guys!


Hello All,

For those of you who do not remember me, I am the very proud father of McKenna Arlene Felton. At one point or another, you all signed the guestbook on her website. The reason for this email is because I am reaching out to you asking you for your help. On September 23rd, 2006 I will be participating in a March of Dimes motorcycle ride. All of the proceeds go to the March of Dimes to help fight premature birth. Without the help of the March of Dimes, McKenna may not be with us today, instead she is a very healthy little girl. She has continued to thrive outside of the hospital where she spent 112 days. We are very thankful every day for the care that she received and for all of the research that has been done thus far to help tiny babies like her to make it. This year I have 2 very important reasons to ride. I participated last year after loosing our son Ian due to premature birth and I collected over $2,200 dollars, the most any individual has every raised for this particular ride, and I would like to do more than that this year riding for both Ian and McKenna. We still continue to document McKenna’s life on her website (http://dsfelton.blogspot.com/) and I have also set up a website through the March of Dimes for this fund-raiser (http://www.marchofdimesride.org/dsfelton). You have multiple ways of donating, you can choose between credit card, check, or cash. The best part, donating is a tax write off.

Thank you all for your recent support. Without all of you sending us encouraging messages it would’ve been even more difficult than it was. Please feel free to pass this on to any of your family, friends, and co-workers, and with your help, I should have no problem going over last year’s total. Also, for those of you that have motorcycles, you are more than welcome to ride with me. Please email me if that is something you are interested in and we’ll work out the details. Thanks again!

Take care,

Dale, Suzanne, & McKenna
P. S. – I have attached a couple pictures of her. One is a picture of her shortly after she was born, and the other is one of her 8 month pictures.

brianna update & last post of the day!

OK, so one last post. Brianna went to the allergist last Monday, where we found out she is in fact allergic to milk/dairy. So, the first week has been pretty strange trying to figure out all the stuff she can't eat, because I think we (or at least I) didn't realize how much stuff has dairy products in it. The doctor said he wasn't overly concerned about her, (in fact he was quite shocked that she was allergic since she has been on milk based formula since she was born and has eaten ice cream, cheese, etc without incident), but he wants to be very cautious with her, given her history of breathing issues, etc. But good news is that she seems to like soy milk, so I guess that is a plus. Her pediatrician called us last Friday and let us know that her iron isn't as low as initially thought, but we do have to have her on an iron supplement every day. Other than that she seems to be doing quite well and I think she wants me to stop being on the computer because I think she has succeeded in pulling every single game we own off the shelf and has throw 3 decks of cards in the garbage, so I'd better get back to her. Hope all is well with everyone and I promise to try to do better about the posting. Our love to all

canoe-a-palooza 2006

At least once a year (which is not nearly enough if you ask my opinion) a group of six girls (including myself) get together with our spouses, significant others, etc. Most years however, at least one of us is missing, because some people have to live all the way out in Boston! :) This year I had the bright idea to go canoeing. There is a canoe rental place about 10 minutes from my parent's house in Iowa, and its fairly cheap and everyone seemed excited about it, so I began the planning. First of all, planning something with this many people is tough, we had about 2 weekends all summer that everyone thought they would be able to make it. When I called to reserve canoes for a Saturday they were of course already all booked up. So back to the drawing board. To make a very long story short, after many emails and phone calls, we finally decided on Friday August 11 for our canoe trip.



We got started about 12:30 Friday afternoon and floated down river for the next 6 hours. We had an absolute blast! I won't bore you with all the details of the day's events (because I don't remember a lot of them :) ) Afterwards, we had a cookout/bonfire at my parent's house and spent the rest of the night talking, laughing, & eating! :) There was only one bad thing about the whole weekend, Ben wasn't able to come canoeing :( . But he did drive to my parents house after work, so we got to see him for a little while. Everyone else made it though, even Jenn came from Boston! It was great to see everyone and I think we've decided to try to make this an annual event! Plus we all promised that we'd try to see each other more than once a year!

It was a great time and I'm soo glad it worked out and that we got to see everyone. I love you all so much, and miss you lots!

There are some pictures in the August album. (please excuse the blurry pictures (it was my old camera) )

relay for life and other family fun

Its been a while since I've posted anything, and now I've forgotten all the things I wanted to tell you! :) So I'll go back a couple weeks and tell you the stuff I've been meaning to. (This may be a couple of posts, so they are all not horribly long.)

The Relay for Life was a huge success. The teams that participated raised over $85,000! It was a really wonderful thing to be a part of, I'm excited to do it again next year. Brianna and Braden stayed the whole night with us, and seemed to have a lot of fun being pushed around in their strollers having everyone comment on how cute they are! It was such great experience.

We took the kids to get their pictures taken after the relay for life (we were back at mom and dad's about 7:30-8:00 and then had to leave by 11:30) Not much sleeping. The kids were pretty good (if you count pretty good as Brianna stealing Braden's puppy, trying to push him off the table, and trying to fall/crawl off the table herself) But we did get a couple of pretty good pictures. I also had Brianna's one year pictures taken (I still can't believe she is one!)

Then on Suday we had the Egloff family reunion. It was nice to see people I haven't seen since the last family reunion I went to (which was probably 5 years ago). We had to leave early and head back home so we could get to work the next morning. So all in all it was a great weekend with lots of family, who could ask for more? :)

Coming up...Canoe-A-Palooza, you won't want to miss this!!

Now that August is almost over, I'll have the new August photo album up shortly, keep your pants on! :)