golf

Last post of the night...I promise. This should get me all caught up. Tonight after dinner we went to the driving range to hit some balls. I took my camera (of course) and I'm glad I did...because I never want to forget images like these. Happy (almost) Friday everyone! New pictures are up from the Knosher, Metamor-a-palooza, and our trip to the driving range. Enjoy!

knosher outing 2008

Last Thursday we made our way to Galesburg for the Knosher Outing. Bob really enjoys attending this outing because its played at Soangetaha (their home course during college) and because he gets to play with his old teammates. He played a practice round with some of them on Thursday. While he was doing this I had lunch with some of the Business Office ladies and had a nice chat with them. Then Holly and I went to get pedicures (much better than playing a round of golf if you ask me :))and played some Wii in the hotel...where I bowled a 258 (I was super excited!). We all went out to dinner together that night and out to Seminary Street Pub after that. Friday was the outing and it was so great to see everyone, they are like kids in a candy store when they are together. Even on the rare occasion where they don't play so well, there is lots of laughter on the course. I will direct you to Holly's photos (because they are far superior to mine :)). We really do have great friends!

metamor-a-palooza

This year's canoe trip had a slightly different feel to it...due to the flooding in Iowa, it was just not safe to go canoeing, so Chris and Dawn (and Chris's parents) offered up their house to the crew for the weekend. The Miles clan lives in a georgous house on a lake in Metamora. Everyone (minus those who couldn't make the trip, Jenn, Marty and Jon...they were missed immensely) arrived Friday night, although the Goodness's got in pretty late and most were asleep by then. We (Dawn, Chris, Alli, Steve, Bob, and I) had dinner, played some cards and had a bonfire while waiting for Ben & Amanda to arrive. Saturday morning, the boys headed out golfing, and the girls decided to chat and relax. We talked and caught up inside for a while and then decided it was time to hit the water. We floated in the lake and talked for the better part of 2ish hours, and then ate some lunch. The boys were back by then, but we went back to our floating, the boys did some fishing and played catch in the water. By late afternoon, we were all out of the water, and decided to play some bags and flippy cup. We paired up boy/girl (but not in couples :)). It took us about 20 minutes to decide how to pair up the teams (which was humorous in itself). There was lots of laughter and lots of beer drank (except by me! :)) We even developed a new rule for flippy cup. After that we had some dinner, played some cards, and had another bonfire. All-in-all it was a perfect weekend, even though things didn't go as originally planned. Great food, beautiful location, and most of all great friends. Its always after these things that I realize how lucky I am to have these people in my life, and how much I miss not being around them everyday. Knox is a great place to make friends, but it sure does spoil you with having them around you at all times, so much so that you forget that they won't always be down the hall or in the next room over, sometimes you have to settle for only seeing them a couple times a year. Dawn and Chris are making their way to North Carolina tomorrow (Friday) for the next year. Have a great trip guys and we can't wait to see you again! We love you!!

new pictures...quick post

Morning All! I'm sitting in the hotel in Galesburg downloading pictures from my camera, so I thought I would upload them and write a quick post. We are off to the course in about an hour, and we still have to get all of our stuff packed up. I'll write more about our weekend later...but so far we're having a great time. Galesburg has a boil order in effect, so you can't drink the water anywhere and no fountain pop, so it has been interesting. We ate off paper plates at the restaurant last night. But it has been great to see old friends who we don't get to see nearly enough. Hope you all have a great Friday and I promise I'll be back with more pictures and more stories of the weekend soon.
Happy Friday and have a good weekend!

you are my sunshine

Just wanted to post this video quick. I will be posting more in the next few days, pictures of Jackson's baptism, and of our busy week. We'll be heading to IA tomorrow night and then to Galesburg for the Knosher Outing Thursday and Friday, and then to Metamora for our 3rd annual canoe-a-palooza. Albeit, a slightly different canoe-a-palooza, one without canoeing :). Hope you are all well and I'll be back soon. Please excuse my annoying voice and my terrible singing...I swear it only lasts a couple of words. :) And the quality is not spectacular but its from my phone...so you can't expect a whole lot :)

quick update

Hello All!

Just thought I'd write a quick post tonight, because its been a while. Sorry about that, but I've been extremely tired and really nauseous. If its possible (and I didn't think it was) I'm even sicker with this baby then I was with Brianna. Maybe that means it will stop before I deliver this one (unlike with Brianna) But overall I can't complain...I'm excited that so far this pregnancy has been uneventful and will hopefully stay that way. I have another doctors appointment a week from Thursday, so hopefully all continues to go well.

We've enjoyed our long weekend...but wow did it go fast. Friday night we headed to Rockford to see Minus Six, and it was a great show...as usual! We ended up staying at Bob and Nancy's because Bob was going to play golf with his dad early the next morning. So Brianna and I hung out with Nancy while Bob and Bob played golf. Then we met up with Ben & Amanda at the Rainforest Cafe for dinner. Brianna loved it there...although the lions roaring scared her a bit. Sunday we had a pretty relaxing day at home, played some Candyland (which Brianna LOVES). And today we spent more time at home watching movies, playing outside, and Bob and Nancy came over for dinner and brought Brianna her new tricycle. She had a blast riding it until dark. That pretty much sums up our weekend. We had a great time together, but as always it went way too fast. I've uploaded some new pictures (I know its been awhile). I'll try to post again soon!

Hope you all had a great weekend! And Happy Tuesday to you all!

(this is pretty much how I feel about the weekend being over too! :o)

Hi Jeff! :o)

One last thing...I found out this week that a high school friend's 7 month old daughter has cancer. She started chemo on Saturday. Please keep her in your prayers (if you pray or in your thoughts or whatever you do for this sort of thing) I'm sure they would appreciate any extra prayers they can get. Thanks!

changes...

Just a few changes to our little home on the internet to reflect the changes going on in our ever-growing family. Yup...you got it, there is going to be another little Carroll. We just got done sharing the news with our families so now we're sharing it with you! We've got a few months to go (December 31st is the due date)...but so far so good. :)

Hope all you moms had a great Mother's Day. Lots of love to all of you, I'm off to bed, its been a busy weekend.

five...

3:00am...Mom comes into the bedroom where Angie and I were sleeping (well Angie was sleeping...I was laying in the dark, mind racing) and says "It's time to get up...." I hop out of bed with a big smile on my face saying "I'm getting married today!!!" Angie buries her head under the pillow and says something to the effect of "are you serious, it is 3am"

The next few hours are a whirlwind of hair, makeup, putting on my dress. At 9am we arrive at church for pictures. I see Bob and smile, thinking to my self...what a lucky girl I am that he picked me. I can tell he is nervous, pacing back and forth...but not me, I've never been so calm in all my life. Decisions have never come easy to me, but this is one that I never thought twice about (even 2 days before the wedding when we had a big fight about the seating chart ;o)

As the doors open, my dad and I arm and arm ready to walk down the isle, I looked at the little church...the church where I was baptized, had my first communion, and was confirmed, the church that holds so many memories of my life, filled with our friends and family, those who love us and have supported us and I smiled, and then I looked down the aisle to my future husband, and my heart skipped a beat. That is one of the moments of my life that I want to freeze, to be able to feel that moment forever. To feel the love in that little church, it’s the kind of memory that on the darkest days makes me smile.

The rest of the day was just as perfect. Oh I'm sure something went wrong...but I don't know what. All I remember is the dancing, laughing, and being surrounded by the people we love most in this world.

Now, if you had asked me then if I thought I could love Bob more than I did at that moment, I probably would have said no. But 5 years later, I can tell you that I love him so much more than I did that day. Everyday I think there is no way I can possibly love him more, and then he does something...something small that it probably seems like I take for granted, and something that even he doesn't think means very much, and its those things that make me fall into bed each night knowing that I love him more than I did yesterday.

I don't know what I ever did to deserve someone like him, most days I'm pretty sure I didn't do anything to deserve him, but I am lucky enough to have him and I'm not letting him go.

Bob and I are very different, some days I think we're too different, we bicker about dumb stuff like any couple does, but in the end our differences make us stronger. I'd like to think I've helped him become a little more flexible and spontaneous, and I know he's made me a better planner. He's helped me more than he even realizes find the confidence in myself that I've been missing for a long time. He's always my biggest cheerleader, even when I feel like I've failed. My life without him would be empty.

No words have meant as much to me as those I said 5 years ago today as I stood there in that little church filled with our family and friends and said "I, Amber, take you, Bob, to be my husband...."

Happy Anniversary Baby!
I love you!

new pictures

New pictures posted...enjoy :)

Knox

(Edited to Add: I wrote this post about 6 months ago, not sure why I revisited it today, maybe because its Flunk Day, and the memories are rushing back, or maybe I'm just extra sappy today...who knows...anyway, I'm finally posting it. Love you girls!)

I'm sure you're all anxiously awaiting my post about homecoming (I see your eyes rolling over there). Anyway, I'm not going to write so much about homecoming as I am about Knox in general and my experience there. I apologize in advance if i sound like a summary of the admissions material, but I swear no one paid me to say this (although...really they should) :o) As we were driving back Sunday after the homecoming festivities, I realized how lucky I am that I attended Knox. And not just for the obvious reason of meeting Bob. Obviously that is a huge part of why Knox has a special place in my heart. I still in my heart think that Bob and I would have met somewhere along life's journey...but who knows if we would have ended up where we are today. I gained so much from my 4 years at Knox...a quality education and an abundance of debt...to name a couple. But more than that, I gained another family. I have five amazing women in my life that I am privileged to call my friends. Five strong, kind, compassionate women, who are so different and yet all of our differences seem so small when we're together. We've had and still have so much fun together. We've seen each other through ups and downs over the last 9 years, we've cried together, laughed together (a lot), yes...even fought with each other. But somehow we always come back together. I don't really have any college memories that don't include at least one of these women...and most of them include all of them. The are the first ones I called (after immediate family) when Bob and I got engaged, they were some of the first people to know when I was pregnant and they were some of the first people I called after Brianna arrived (even though most of them didn't believe me that she was actually here). These women are my family, and in turn their husbands and boyfriends have also become my family. I look forward to get togethers with them from the moment they are planned. They are one of the most important things I take away from my time at Knox. I value the education I received at Knox...but the friendships I took away from my four years at Knox will last long after my diploma is covered with dust and my debt is all paid off. They have made my life better by being in it. I love you girls! Thank you for your friendship....life is so much more colorful with you in it!

haircut...

Brianna had her first haircut tonight (Thursday). She has gone with me to the salon a few times and the woman that cuts my hair, Gina, is always nice to her and gives her suckers. I called to get my haircut and asked if she could trim up Brianna's as well. Brianna was so excited to get her haircut, for the last two days all she could talk about was Gina cutting her hair and getting a sucker. She sat very well and Gina trimmed up her hair and put her hair clippings in an envelope for us. It was so cute to see her sitting there like such a big girl. Gina kept calling her princess so all night she would say "I'm a princess". Sometimes that girl is too cute for her own good. Anyway, I'm heading off to sleep now, but here are a couple pictures of the haircut. Hope you all have a great Friday!

happy easter...

Just a quick post to let you know there are new pictures posted. We just got back from Lancaster, WI from Grandma Carroll's funeral. It was such a beautiful service, and hearing all the wonderful stories and seeing the legacy that this amazing woman has left behind is truly incredible. 13 children (Bob (dad)is #12), 56 grandchildren (Bob is #55), 83 great-grandchildren (Brianna is #80), and 18 great-great grandchildren, how wonderful is that? Anyway, I'm completely beat...so I hope you all had a fantastic easter. The photo above is Brianna sitting on her new Dora bedding that the Easter Bunny brought.

Welcome to the world Jackson! Our new nephew was born today. We can't wait to meet you little man!

you're gonna miss this

I heard this song yesterday and it brought a tear to my eye (yes, I've been slightly emotional lately and it did actually make me tear up...leave me alone :)) Anyway, I started thinking about how I often want time to pass quickly to get to "something better" The last few months have been ridiculously crazy and I've been having a hard time finding a balance of work and home (this is always a hard thing for me at this time of the year, but especially this year), and I have thought several hundred times over the last few weeks how I just wish it was the end of April. After hearing this song, I realized that one day I will look back and miss this time (oh...I think it will be a good many years before I even sort of miss the pressures of work right now) but if I skip through the work stuff, I would also be missing out on the home stuff. The last 2 nights Brianna and I have crawled into bed and watched a movie snuggled up together, me tickling her and her laughing, I would have missed all of that had I actually been able to skip to the end of April. She is already growing so fast and I already miss so many of the things that she has outgrown...things I never thought I'd miss. Some days she infuriates me (some say it is because she is just like me...I'm not so sure on that ;o) but in the end I wouldn't trade those days for anything. Its the bad days that make the good so much better, and if you "skip" over the not-so-good stuff how do you learn to appreciate the good? Anyway...here is the song with some pictures of Brianna some old and some from this morning.



Bob's Grandma Carroll passed away on Monday March 17,2008 at age 102. She is dearly loved and will be missed. We were fortunate enough to have her attend our wedding 5 years ago, it is something we will both treasure forever. We love you and will miss you.

a perfect valentine's day...a day late

Since last night was a little less than perfect, what with an over-sugared, under-napped 2 year old...I called a do-over on Valentine's Day. So tonight we had a nice quiet dinner (at least quiet for our house), played a bit and are now snuggled up on the bed watching Charlotte's Web (well, they are sleeping now) I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day.

There is nothing more precious to me than this

new pictures

There are new pictures up. A bunch of Brianna and some from our weekend in Peoria visiting Dawn & Chris. Hope you all had a great weekend and have a great Monday!

just popping in...

Hey all...yes, we are still alive and well. Things have been super crazy at work, and we've had company the last couple of weekends, so the time to post has been few and far between. (that and when I'm actually on the computer at night...I tend to choose to play euchre...I blame Steve for that addiction. :) Two weekends ago, Ben & Amanda came down to go out to dinner and to just hang out for the weekend. We went to Shula's Steakhouse (very yummy) and then came back to the house for some board and card games. Matt, Steph, and Kadi also came over to join in the fun and a good time was had by all. Last week was a super long week at work (averaging over 12 hours a day...boo) and on Saturday Steve and Alli came up to visit. Their 5th anniversary was last Friday and they were leaving for vacation and were flying out of O'Hare, so they came up and are leaving their car here while they are gone. It was a good excuse to see them. This coming weekend Bob and I are heading to Peoria to visit Dawn & Chris and to see Minus Six play in Peoria. We're both really looking forward to it and are happy that we've gotten a chance to see our friends this month. Things will definitely slow down on the traveling front after that at least until tax season is over (but does it really ever end? not in our office) Other than that not too much exciting going on here. (do I type that in every post?) Anyway...I'll leave you with a couple pictures of Brianna, she is turning into quite the ham these days.

Updated to add: Well I was going to leave you with pictures of Brianna, but Blogger is being a pain and won't let me. I promise to upload some new pics soon!

welcome to 2008

Another year gone by...wow! How strange it is that time seems to be passing so quickly. Really I still think I'm 21 and I am fast approaching that 30 year mark. I remember when I thought 30 was old. Ha! Anyway...since I last left you, not too much has been going on.
We attended the wedding of our friends Matt & Steph.
The wedding was beautiful and very fun. Brianna spent the night at Papa Bob and Grandma Nancy's while we attended the wedding.

We spent New Year's Eve at the Goodness house in Wisconsin. We had a good time, but ended up going to bed early(we did make it until after 12) as we were all still pretty tired from the wedding.
We wish you all happiness and health in 2008! We look forward to seeing you this year!
There aren't any new pictures in the album, all the pictures I took at the wedding turned out blurry, so this is all you get....I need a new camera. (Take note Bob...my birthday is only 3 months away :)

merry christmas!

I know I'm a couple days late, but the thought was there! Whew...I can't believe its the 27th already. Christmas came and went so fast this year, the whole year, in fact, just flew by.

We started with our Christmas celebrations on the 16th of December this year. We had a great time at Bob and Nancy's celebrating with Nancy's side of the family. Then on Tuesday, the 18th, Bob, Nancy, Brian, & Mary came over to our house and we had Christmas here. On Friday (the 21st) we headed to Iowa to spend Christmas with my family. We ended up getting snowed in at my parents house for a couple days (7ft drifts blocking the roads), so we didn't get to see dad's side of the family, which was a bummer. We had our immediate family Christmas and then went to my mom's side of the family on Christmas night.

Christmas was so fun this year with Braden & Brianna. They had a great time playing together and got along really well (for the most part). On the way home yesterday Brianna was chatting in the backseat and all of the sudden she stopped and said "I miss my buddy" and got this really sad look on her face.

We drove back yesterday and much to our surprise, the 2ft of snow we had when we left on Friday was gone! However we have 100% chance of snow for tomorrow. Bob and I are both off work until the 2nd, so we're trying to enjoy every possible second of our time off. Actually today and tomorrow are the only times we're home, we're going to a wedding Saturday and then Monday we're off to Wisconsin to spend New Year's with the Goodness's.

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and were as fortunate as we were to be surrounded by loved ones. We have had a great 2007 (what I can remember of it, it went so fast). We were busy with work, but we also tried to take time to enjoy our family and friends. We are looking forward to 2008 and the arrival of our new nephew, our 5th Anniversary (5 years can you believe it), Canoe-a-palooza 2008, and all of the other surprises that await us in the coming year. We feel very blessed to have been surrounded by so many family and friends throughout the year, and are excited to see what the new year brings.

I will try to keep you updated more often, but remember, tax season is upon us....so cut me some slack :).

Much love to you all! Have a Happy and Safe New Year!

(new pictures are being uploaded as I type. So they should be all done very soon :)

happy thanksgiving...

I know...I know...its been a long time. Things have been hectic around here. We spent last weekend in Missouri for Braden's 2nd birthday. The kids had a blast playing together and it was good to see the family. My handsome little nephew had a great birthday...I think :)

Bob, Nancy, Brian, Mary, & Grandma Caruso came over for Thanksgiving dinner. The food wasn't too bad, I guess, and I think everyone had a good time. Brianna and I made little placecards for dinner, she got a little distracted during the process so she left most of it to me...but i think they turned out OK.

Brianna ended up going home with Bob and Nancy Thursday night, so Bob and I put up Christmas decorations yesterday, and everything is all done except for decorating the tree which we wanted Brianna to help with. Bob went to play basketball today and then over to his mom and dad's to help them with a project and still isn't home yet. I spent the day in the doctor's office. My ear/throat has been hurting since Wednesday night and since it still wasn't better today, I decided it was time to go to the doctor. Sure enough I have an ear infection. So I got some antibiotics and some ear drops. The first pharmacy I went to didn't have the ear drops (which are to help with the pain) and they asked if I wanted to wait until Wednesday to get the ear drops. I said no, so I had to go to another pharmacy to get the ear drops. So that took up a good portion of my day. Anyway, I guess other than that there isn't too much going on. I hope you all had a very happy Thanksgiving and a relaxing holiday season!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! Lots of love.

happy birthday

Happy 2nd Birthday Braden & McKenna!
Hope you two have a wonderful birthday!
We love you!

PS. new pictures coming soon....I promise