Sunday, September 20, 2009

Sedona

View of the creek from the porch


View of the Sedona red rocks as a storm was rolling in

Cole and I getting ready to take a short walk


John, Cole and I traveled up north to Sedona this weekend to stay in a cabin with our friends, Steve and Kristi. We had so much fun up there. We went up Friday night and stayed until this morning. It was so nice to enjoy the cooler weather and just listen to the sounds of the creek and nature outside of our cabin. Cole had a lot of fun terrorizing Steve and Kristi's Boston Terrier, Monkey. Monkey was not a fan of Cole at all. I don't really blame her because the one time she allowed him to get close to her, he almost poked her eye out.

On Saturday night after Cole went to bed, the four of us busted out the board games. We played Battle of the Sexes, where Kristi and I took on John and Steve. Of course, Kristi and I won because we were able to prove that we are the superior sex. I seriously laughed so hard that I almost peed myself. It was so much fun.

On Sunday morning, John, Cole and I started heading back to Phoenix. We decided to make a spur of the moment stop in Jerome to have lunch, which was great. Apparently, Jerome is a big biker destination, so Cole was fascinated by the all the loud noises of the motorcycles. About an hour from home, we noticed that the a/c in my car wasn't blowing quite as cold as it should have and we realized that the car was overheating! We had to pull over on the side of the road and let it cool off. We drove the rest of the way back home with the windows down and the heat turned on. Not exactly the way that you want to drive through Phoenix when it is 100 degrees outside. Besides the car mishap, we had a great time.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Where were you?






For me and probably most people my age, the horrific events of 9/11 became my first "where were you?" moment in my life. For me it went like this: I woke up that morning and got ready for my first class. When I walking downstairs to leave, another girl from my sorority was also on the stairs rushing down to get to the tv room. She said that her mother had called and something was happening, maybe a bomb. We quickly ran to turn on the tv and watched the news coverage of the first tower burning. It was horrible. We sat in silence for several minutes until I had to leave. I drove over to John's house and I remember walking into his townhouse where he was standing in his living room watching the tv in disbelief. The first thing that he said to me was "did you see this?" We continued to watch until we saw the second tower hit. It was horrible.

Later that day, I went to all my classes, but that was all that people wanted to talk about. I had a hard time getting a hold of both of my parents because all the cell phone signals were down. I remember being terribly worried about my dad because he traveled a lot for his job and traveled to New York on a regular basis. Finally I got a hold of him and he was luckily in St. Louis safe and sound.

Later that evening, my sorority house organized a candle light vigil outside of our house. We invited all of the other fraternities and sororities to join us. It was amazing to see all of these people walking down the street to our house all lit up with candles. It was a sight I will never forget. There were literally hundreds of people standing on our lawn and in the street totally silent.

In 2007, John and I went to New York to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday, since that was where he was born and spent the majority of his childhood. We were able to take the time to go down to where the twin towers had previously stood and it was such a humbling experience. Seeing the tributes and pictures was probably one of the saddest moments of my life. Above are some pictures of the area including pictures that were posted there. There are also two tributes in those pictures, one for the NYFD and one is of a piece of the tower that they salvaged that now is the place of an eternal flame.

I feel like 9/11 holds a different significance for me now that I am a mother. I think of all those parents that lost their children that day and all the children that will grow up without one of their parents and it makes my heart hurt. I think of all those police officers and firefighters that selflessly gave their lives to save someone elses and I pray that John, my cousin Amy and all the other police officers that are a part of my life never have to be a part of an event like that.

As it is for everyone, that day is a day that I will never forget. I hope that Cole can grow up in a world where these type of events are just spoken about in history class. I hope that he never is asked that question "where were you?"

Sunday, September 6, 2009

When life hands you lemons...


apparently you should make a funny face! This picture is from a few weeks ago, but it was so funny that I wanted to put it up here.

Climbing like a monkey



Although he isn't quite walking yet, Cole has figured out how to climb onto our futon! He's turning into a little monkey! He is starting to stand on his own a bit and I feel like those first steps are just around the corner, which is just crazy to think about. We are just over a month away from his 1st birthday and it feels like this year has just flown by! I can't believe that he has gone from a tiny helpless lump to an active little guy with a huge personality. It's unbelievable how much a baby changes in just a year.