poor sick baby

Zola must have caught something on our way home from Kentucky because she was sick as a dog. 

 It was the first time that she has ever fallen asleep at the table.

daddy daughter love

On our way to Kentucky for the wedding, we stopped in Saint Louis and had lunch with Ryan. When Zola saw her daddy she started bawling. And when he picked her up she hugged him around the neck and buried her head in his shoulder and continued to sob for a couple of minutes. She loves her Daddy and misses him dearly. She loves it when we talk on the phone or skype. We can't wait to be reunited.

Here he comes to save the day!

Older brothers are a blessing.

Peek a boo

Kentucky part 2

These Kentucky posts are all mixed up. I can't figure out my dad's computer.



I love this video of Zola walking. She is getting pretty fast. One day we were walking to a park and Dennis ran ahead and Zola wanted to run too. So she wiggled out of my arms and then she took a lot of small steps really fast but she wasn't moving any faster so she stopped and thought about it for a while and then tried slow big steps but still didn't go any faster. So cute. Pretty soon she will be running just like my previous sentence structure. :)

 It didn't take long for Zola to catch the Kristen fever. BEST auntie ever. Dennis sure thinks so. He often refers to her as "his friend that looks like an adult but isn't", "his best friend", "Nonnie's kid"... he has a hard time remembering people's names even Kristen's. He even forgets the names of people that he sees everyday... so don't be offended if he forgets yours.

 I love this quick and candid kiss (ok. so I wasn't ready for it... this is really a re-enactment).

We love papa. It was fun to see how Zola felt totally comfortable around Nonnie and Papa right of the bat. It was like she remembered them or sensed the familiarity. She wasn't super comfortable all the time because we kept moving and seeing new places and new hotels. I am sure that she would have been perfectly comfortable if we stayed in one place with just our family. With Ryan gone a lot these days, she doesn't like to be far from Mama.

 Nonnie and Holland

 Dennis loved getting rides with Kristen on her healys.

 I love my family.

Nonnie and Papa with the girls. 

kentucky part 1

The reherseal dinner: Thomas and Alex 

 gotta love those curls...

 Dennis likes to pose for pictures. He is such a funny guy. I love him.

 It was so fun to see Thomas and Alex in so much love. They would just look at each other dreamy eyed.

 The Funk brothers make great dads.

 Katrina and Holland. They are so beautiful.

 Zola LOVES her daddy! It was so cute. During the trip she wanted us always to be together (she misses her daddy) She would fuss if we ever went different ways. She was only happy if we went everywhere all together.

 Meyer and Benson weren't loving the picture idea so I had to steal a couple. Benson is loving Camille's baby belly.

The cutest matching girls at the party! 

 Check out the gorgeous family I married into. No wonder I have cute kids. :)

 mmm.... look at that body... I work out...

 Zola is getting more brave.

We went out to Kentucky for Thomas' wedding and we did a little mini family trip. We went to the mammoth caves (I didn't have my camera.... anyone take pictures there?). We went to the Louisville Slugger museum. So cool. 

 We got to see how the bats were made. It used to take them 20 minutes to make one bat but now with the new machines they can make 3 in one minute.

 posing with the wax guy...

 They even had a room with baseball stuff made out of legos. The boys sure enjoyed playing there.

 Everyone got a little bat as they left the tour. It was a super fun toy for all... until they became more destructive than fun. They are currently sitting on top of the china cabinet behind some plant. hmm... goodwill?

 Holland is super cute!

 Then we went to churchill downs! It was such a blast. We got to see the horses warm up and race. The races were super fast but it was so much fun to see those horses run!

 Those animals are so beautiful! Zola got a nap in whenever she could. Vacations are hard on little ones. She started the trip sick and ended it sick with something else.

 It was ideal to see the place... nobody was there! We could sit wherever we wanted and the kids ran wild.

 We made verbal bets on who we thought was going to win the race. On the second race, I chose number 3 (my lucky number) and he was in last place of the starting line but he worked his way up!

 ... and he took first place at the last second! I was so excited!!!

(Let me know if you want any of these pictures... I can email them to you for better picture quality)