Busy! Busy!

During these three down/off weeks, I wasn’t just lying around, despite my best efforts to do so. It’s actually been a little crazy!

-Finished a T-shirt quilt for a graduating senior in Northfield

I didn’t budget my time wisely and ended up scrambling every night for a week to finally deliver it at 11pm a day and a half before her party. I wasn’t too happy with it (I know I’m a perfectionist when it comes to quilting/sewing…), so I think I’m going to look for a class on machine quilting/finishing. Or, just shadow my aunt or mom since they’re pretty darn awesome at it!

The good thing was that the graduate and her mom were thrilled with it. Guess that’s all that matters!

Part of the top, which turned out beautifully!

-Signed a contract to BUILD A HOUSE!

Yep, we’ve decided to go ahead and build (earlier Love it or List it post here)!! I am so excited with the layout we’ve worked to create. It’s completely custom, which meant starting from scratch and going through 10-15 different iterations with the builders and designer.

The coming months will likely be crazy with all of the decisions we will need to make, but it will be a fun adventure!

Likely closing date: mid-December

So that means listing our house late August or September…
Baby in October…
While juggling the fall racing season and the upcoming year-end at Church….

Should be exciting!!!

-Greta had a fever for FIVE straight days 

We took her in on Tuesday (day 2) and she was diagnosed with a double ear infection. That evening her temp rose to 104.8 and I have never seen her so miserable and inconsolable. We needed to cool her down, but anytime we would rub her with a wet cloth or put her in the tub she would wail even harder.

This was taken during a “happier” time – note how miserable she still looks. She was still very warm, so hung out in just a diaper. She loves her giant bear (compliments of this year’s Bethel Garage Sale!) and wanted it to sit with us. Does its giant size dwarf the giant size of my belly? 🙂

She’s had double ear infections before, but has never spiked a fever this high or had one for that long. Nate and I took turns waking up every 3 hours to alternate Tylenol and Ibuprofen to keep her fever down.

Our clinic wanted to give the antibiotic 72 hours to fully kick in, but after she woke up at the 72 hour mark and still had a 102+ fever, I pushed for her to be seen. They wanted to give it a little more time. I’m glad I did; turns out, she was only on ~60% of the antibiotic dose she should have been. No wonder she fought it for so long without much relief.

Poor little thing!

PS – Yep, little. At her doctor visit, she weighed in at a whopping 20 pounds!

-My sister and her two daughters came to visit!


They are visiting from Colorado for a few weeks. It is always so much fun to see them! I wish Greta hadn’t been sick for most of it; when she was healthy the three girls had an absolute blast together!

One fun quote from Sierra, age 6:

Sierra: “Cole… your belly is… huge” (looking down, as if embarrassed to tell me)
Me: “That’s because there is a baby in there!”
Sierra: “A baby?!? Really?”

She was very relieved to hear that I hadn’t just ballooned out since the last time she saw me. Glad to know I can count on her to tell me when I’ve chunked up!


-Alaska vacation!

10 days of vacation in Alaska, visiting Anchorage, Denali National Park, and Seward. It was the trip of a lifetime!

Of course we had to check out the Mt. Marathon course in Seward, AK. It is CRAZY.

The in-laws watched Greta while we were gone. I tried to convince Nate that we could bring her with, but he insisted that the trip would be totally different if we brought her. And, he was right. The long train rides, hikes, and car rides would have been much more challenging, and I’m sure we wouldn’t have seen all that we did!

I could gush on and on, but I won’t. I’ll just say that if you ever have the chance to take a trip up there, DO IT! You won’t regret it!


Your turn:


Any fun non-running adventures this summer so far?