Ellery meets John McCain

Heading to lunch on daddy's birthday.

Playing in the back yard with daddy...check out those cool shades!

Happy birthday Daddy!

Ellery loves to eat pickles and pickled beets...and she had them all over her face so I couldn't resist taking a picture.

Ellery arriving at the road to victory rally.

John McCain and Sarah Palin getting off of their plane.

It's Sarah!!!!

The crowd of people in front of us...it was really hard to see.

We're next....this was taken right before we met him.

Ugh....the line to get on a bus to go back to the cars!

I don't know about everyone else, but our little family has been spending a lot of time enjoying what's left of summer. After a brief couple of cold days, it's been absolutely beautiful here. The nights are cool and the days are warm and sunny....what more can you ask for? Ellery's latest thing is doing laps around the house. We all go outside and walk around and around, she loves it. Today Jason and grandpa are fishing. They went Friday night after work and caught 40+ fish, needless to say they had a lot of fun. Last night Jason and I had date night! We haven't been good about leaving Ellery since she was born...we've gone out to dinner, just the two of us, three times since she was born. With me nursing, it's just too hard. But, Ellery isn't eating as much milk, so we were able to go out last night. We went to a little bar/restaurant on the Mississippi and ate outside on the patio. It was a beautiful night and we both had a great time...we decided that we need "date night" at least once a month. Next month we'll be celebrating our second wedding anniversary! Since the last time I posted, Jason celebrated his birthday...33! He decided to celebrate just the three of us at home. I made his mother's chicken enchiladas and a homemade chocolate zucchini cake. It turned out pretty well...if I do say so myself. Ellery even had some cake.


As you can probably assume from my title, Ellery and I met John McCain this week....exciting stuff!!! The two of us, along with my mom went to a road to victory rally in Cedar Rapids on Thursday. We left our house at 6:30AM and drove the 90 miles to get there. We made great time until we got within 1/2 a mile of our exit...The interstate was at a stand still with cars trying to get to the rally. It ended up taking us another hour to get to the parking lot which was about another half mile off the highway...it was nuts. Then we loaded onto a bus to take us to the airport, where the rally was. Then we stood in line again to go through security. But, it was worth it!!! We actually wanted to go to get the chance to meet Sarah Palin...I JUST LOVE HER!!!! But, I think the thousands of other people who were there had the same idea. There were tons of people. But, we were persistent and got to meet/shake hands with John McCain...it wasn't Sarah, but he'll do! LOL :) Ellery even got a "Women for McCain" sticker. Strangers thought she looked so cute and were taking her picture. It was an exciting atmosphere full of genuinely kind, wonderful people...we had A LOT of time to get to know everyone around us. It was an inspiring day that we all enjoyed.