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Hello there again. Alright, I've been told that I'm not doing a good job keeping this page updated, and I know
that is true. I apologize. We have been traveling quite a bit this past month. October 18-22nd Matt and I both
had to go out to San Diego to visit a customer. I actually had to go to San Diego and then fly up to Spokane, WA
the next day and then back to San Diego. The night I flew back Matt and I went and picked up Amber. Our boss
let us take a day and spend it with her out there. That was pretty cool. We took her to Knott's Berry Farm -- an
amusement park out there. It was a ton of fun, but oh my gosh. The roller coasters are not what I remember! I
used to love any and all roller coaster, but man, some of them got to me! We had a blast though. We spent the
whole day there and then we took Amber to go look for a Halloween costume. It was great to be able to spend
some extra time with her. We definitely don't get to see her enough! She just talked and talked and talked. She
brought all her homework/quizzes and other things from school to show us. She is such a bright kid. She gets
very good grades and just is a good kid. Wish we had her around here more often.
The week after that I started painting our house. I got the dining room painted. I wanted to get it painted before
we got our new dining room table. It looks great! After that, Shingai came over and helped me paint that
weekend. We got a ton done and then the week after, with the help of my friends Anne and Jill, we got the great
room and the kitchen all painted. I love it! Now I can start decorating :) Yay!
Last weekend we went out to Phoenix to stay with Kurt and Brenda and help out with the kids. Brenda is
pregnant with twins and she has been put on bedrest . . . so not only is Kurt being an NFL quarterback, he is
also running the household with 5 kids! He does a great job, but we enjoyed being able to be out there and
being able to help. The kids are so much fun. They change so much every time we see them.
This weekend we went down to St. Louis for the AZ vs STL game. Wow, great game! The first time Kurt took
the field in St. Louis the crowd gave him a huge standing ovation. It was tearjerking. He was in the huddle and
finally came out of the huddle and did a wave. It was great, but even better was the fact that we won!!! Woohoo!
And now . . . for Thanksgiving we are heading back out to AZ. We are going for Thanksgiving. I'm so excited --
can't wait. We love to see those kids. Hope they don't get sick of us! Who knows when we'll get to go back
again though. Hopefully not too long after the babies are born, but we'll see. For now, I'm just glad that we get
to go out there again while B is on bedrest. It's good to have a couple extra hands around that can do stuff
around the house and help with the kids. Everyone is still in a little shock that they are going to have two
MORE!! But, they will get into a groove and everything will be great.
I'm excited for the holidays this year. Last year it seems like they kind-of snuck up on me, but this year I'm in the
holiday spirit early. Can't wait to get our lights up and all that. First Christmas in our new house. Yay! Hope
everyone on is well. Don't forget to drop us a line and say hello -- katie@warnerland.com.
October 6, 2005
Hello there! I apologize for the long delay in updates. I'm amazed at how many people look at this website.
Thanks for checking in on us! So much has happened since the last update. We finished the renovation on
the investment property that we purchased and we are currently selling it. We finally listed it with our realtor
because after 2 1/2 months of trying to sell it ourselves, that got old! Not to mention we were also having open
houses at the house that we used to live in as well. We were able to sell that house on our own, so that was
good. We went on a couple trips this summer -- we went back up to Minnesota for a week. This trip was a little
different than the last time -- we had 6 kids with us this time! Amber, Kurt and Brenda and their kids went with
us and Gene and Mimi. It was a great time. We never get that much quality time with any of our family
members, so we really enjoyed it -- especially getting to spend time with those kids! They all had fun and
unique little moments that we laugh about now. I am posting pictures on the photos page.
We spent most of July working on our house, getting it ready to sell. We wanted it on the market by the 1st of
August. I also had to study for the PMP exam. "Project Management Professional" is an international
certification for Project Managers. It was a tough test, but I had studied so much that I was ready. I was so
relieved to have that under my belt! For our anniversary and to celebrate getting my PMP, we went to Florida for
a long weekend. We had a blast! Ed and Amy Zackmeyer met us down there and we just had a great time. It
was so refreshing to catch up on some much needed rest and just "chill" for a few days. It was awesome. We
hope to go back there soon! While we were down there, Hurricane Katrina was going straight for Florida, but
obviously turned. We were flying out of Florida the night that Katrina hit. When we got back from Florida, we
finalized on the closing of our new house and moved in over Labor Day weekend. My mom and Dad and Becky
came up and helped us move in which was great! The following weekend we moved our office from Iowa City
to Cedar Rapids -- so everywhere I went (literally) my life was packed in boxes. That was interesting. The
following week we had a series of meetings at our church -- "Fresh Oil". We had Dr Ed Dufresne and his wife
Pastor Nancy Dufresne from California, Rev. Jim Andrews from Lima, Peru, and Rev. Cindy Black also from
California. It was such an awesome time. I received so much during those services. It was also an awesome
opportunity to serve -- I am the Hospitality Coordinator for our church, and we served lunch and dinner every day
for 6 days to 15 people. Wow! The planning that went into that was unbelievable, but it all went really well. All
the food tasted good, so Praise God! We had a blast doing it. It's just good to be at the place that God wants
you to be at the time He wants you to be there! Some people might think that the Christian life is boring, but I
beg to differ. This is the most exciting time of my life!!! Seeing God's Word completely change people's lives
and bless them beyond their imagination -- that is just awesome. Seeing God's Word change my life and
getting blessed more than I can even think or imagine. It's the most exciting thing to me, and it just keeps
getting better. My marriage just keeps getting better. My job keeps getting better. Every area of life is improving
-- all because Jesus, The Greater One, lives on the inside of me. Thank you Jesus!
June 8, 2005
Hello! It's Katie here with another update. Wow . . . so much stuff going on! Since I last wrote, Matt and I
started working on the investment property that I mentioned we purchased. My mom and Becky came up one
weekend to help with a lot of the painting. We got a ton accomplished while they were here, and we were very
grateful for all their help! Since then nearly every weekend we have been at the house painting, carpeting, etc.
Matt's dad, Gene, has been over several times to help out and Sue and Tom have helped us get new carpet
and vinyl installed. It has been fun so far, but we were kind-of hoping to be done by now (you know how you
never finish projects as quickly as you think you're going to). We were hoping to be done by the beginning of
the month, but it looks like it's going to be at least another 2 weeks or so. At the very latest, we have GOT to
have it on the market before we go on vacation on June 24th.
In the middle of rehabing that house, we have also purchased a new house for us to move into! Yaaaahoooo!!!
We are so excited. It's a new construction home. We got several upgrades with our offer and we are just
thrilled. It's a 3 bedroom ranch, with an open floor plan. Great room off of the kitchen with a fireplace. The
basement is not finished, but Matt is glad about that because he wants to finish it to force the equity up. We can
hardly wait to get into it. However . . . before we purchased the rehab house, I had started to remodel our
bathroom (in the house we live in right now), and that project got put on hold when we started the rehab house.
SO . . . . before we can put our house on the market, we really need to get that bathroom project finished up.
There's not much to do -- just have to finish taking the wallpaper down, paint, and replace some tile -- but it all
takes time, you know? Our plan is to finish the rehab project and get that house on the market, and then finish
our bathroom and get that house on the market. So, we have two houses for sale right now! If you know
anyone who is looking for a house in Cedar Rapids . . . we've got 2! We don't close on the new house until the
end of August. We did that to give us time to sell our house . . . if we sell our house sooner, we can move in
sooner. So, lots of excitement going on with real estate at our house(s)!!!
Something else fun that I got to do was I was hired as a Wedding Coordinator for a wedding on May 21st at our
church. No, I'm not a professional or anything, but I was trained by Theresa, who probably could be one!! It
was a lot of fun. The wedding was beautiful and went off without a hitch!! She was a very beautiful bride and
they were so excited to be getting married, and it really took me right back to nearly two years ago when I was
the bride and it was my wedding day. I loved getting married. I loved that time in my life, but I'm also so glad
that time is over too! :) So, that weekend we had rehearsal on Friday night and the wedding on Saturday.
Saturday night, my brother and sister-in-law flew in. They were invited to come preach at our church on Sunday.
I was also in charge of that event. Theresa, who is the Event Coordinator for the church, was out of town at her
daughter's graduation that weekend . . . she normally does the weddings and the special events. We knew a
long time ago that she wasn't going to be able to do to the wedding, so she started training me on what to do,
and that was great. THEN we found out that Kurt and Brenda were coming . . . and all the event planning that
went along with it started. Anyway, hard to explain, but it all ended up going very well. Kurt preached at the
morning service and then both of them spoke in the afternoon service. They did a great job and it is always so
good to see people's lives changed by an event like this. We always enjoy time with Kurt and Brenda. They
didn't bring their kids this time, so we missed them, but it was good to spend some time with them again.
(This all happened in the midst of us working on the rehab!)
So, what is mainly going on in our lives right now is Home Improvement projects! We are really trying to get
both of these houses on the market. We work on the fixer-upper most evenings. We don't work there on
Sunday mornings or Wednesday nights because we have church then, and we don't work real late every night
so that we keep ourselves well rested and everything, but all other times are fair game!!! Please pray that we
get the projects done soon!! :)
I've got some new pictures of Kirsta-Lu from Kim, so I'll post those now.
April 28, 2005
Hello! Well, I apologize for not updating this website sooner. I got a new laptop about a month ago and when I
transferred all the website files over to my new laptop, I had all kinds of problems with the formatting of the
pages. I had to go through and update each one individually, which ended up taking me a LONG time!!! But,
it's all done now. Wow, so when was my last update? February 3rd!!! Let me think about all that has
happened since then. On Feb. 10th we had our Heirs Together Valentine's Banquet, where we had a romantic
evening filled with romance, good food, music and all kinds of fun stuff. At the end of the ceremony, everyone
renewed their wedding vows. It was very awesome.
We also started getting involved in real estate investing. We actually just purchased our first house! It's only a
street up from our house and needs some rehab. Mainly paint and carpet and a few other things. We are
praying that we turn it pretty quickly. We are really enjoying it. This weekend we are having a painting party!
Amber was here in March for a week. We, as always, had a great time with her. We went to my mom and dad's
for a weekend and just had a good time with her. Wish she lived closer because we always have a good time
with her. She helped me with some stuff that I had to do for church, and she seemed to really like it. She also
went and spent a couple days with her family in Dubuque, which she enjoys.
March was a very busy month at work -- my calendar was just packed with meetings and things all the time.
Right now things aren't as crazy as then, but things are picking up again, so that is good. In April we had our
wonderful women's conference with our Pastor Debbie, and Rev. Black and Rev. McVeigh. We also had a new
speaker this year, Dr. Melody Graham from the House of Hope here in Cedar Rapids. The conference was just
awesome. Women's lives were changed! When you are at a conference like that, you are able to forget
everything on the outside and just concentrate on God for a few days, and it's so awesome. God spoke some
awesome things to my heart about things that are to come for Matt and I and I just can't wait for it all to come to
pass!!! Going to take some changes and some effort on our end, but I know that if we are faithful in doing the
things He asks us to do and continue to seek His plan, we will be rewarded. (Hebrews 11:6). We started
planning for the conference last year, and when it finally got here it felt like it was over in a breath. It just went so
fast, but it was so much fun!
The next weekend we went to my parents' house to celebrate my birthday. My mom took me to a spa, which
was such a wonderful treat!! I had a seaweed body wrap and a facial and my mom had a massage and a
facial. It was wonderful!!! Then we went shopping, out to lunch and back home and out to dinner with my Dad
and Matt. It was a great day. Matt got to do some fishing at their house, so he was happy :)
Well, I better get going. Till next time!
Thursday, February 3rd
New pictures posted: Christmas with Kirsta
Hi everyone! I can't believe how much time I let go by before updating this web site. I was trying to track down
some pictures of Kirsta at Christmas before I updated, but then I got so many that it took me a while to get all
the pictures cropped and edited and everything. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pictures. I enjoyed being with my
little Kirsta-Lu so much! We also had a great Christmas with Amber. We had friends over to our house for New
Year's Eve, and we had a blast. We sang karaokee and had a great time. Matt, Lee Ann & their boys, Theresa,
and Shingai came over. We had a lot of fun. Watched the ball drop and everything! I had a blast being off work
for an entire week! Matt and I had a completely chaotic December. We had a project hit right in the middle of
December that had to be complete by December 29th, which basically took a miracle and a lot of hard work to
accomplish. Two weeks before Christmas we were getting home every night at 9:30. It was crazy. So, sorry
that we didn't get Christmas cards out this year. We wanted to, but we just didn't have time. We barely
managed to get our Christmas shopping done. Going through all of that made me think, "Why do we put
ourselves through this?" I understand that giving Christmas gifts is a sign of love and appreciation, but it's
turned into more than that. I feel like it would be so much better to take the money that you are spending on
Christmas presents and give it to someone who really needs it. I don't know . . . just my thoughts. January
has seemed to have flown by us too. Matt and I are learning though how to redeem our time. How to spend
time on the things that matter the most. We are learning to seek out God's ways for doing things because you
know, God is pretty smart. He knows the best way to do everything. He is full of wisdom, and if you just ask
him for wisdom, He says in the Bible that He will give it to us abundantly. So, that's what we continue to do, and
we are already learning new and creative ways to do things more efficiently.
Matt and I are doing awesome. We continue to grow in our marriage and learn better ways to communicate
and express our love for each other. I just read the book "The Five Love Languages" by Gary Chapman. That is
a great book. Our Pastors recommended it to us back when we were in pre-marital counseling, and I saw it
while we were at Barnes and Noble the other day, so I picked it up, being that it's Valentine's month and all. It
was really good, and has already helped Matt and I. Speaking of Valentines Day, we are so excited about it this
year! Our church is having a Valentine's Banquet, which includes appetizers and dinner, a violinist and a
couple vocalists, and at the end of the night we are going to all renew our vows. I'm so very excited about that.
I'm going to take my wedding bouquet and wear my wedding sneaks! Hahaha. I think it's going to be a great
night. And, we're going to have a honeymoon night that night when we get home! Watch out now! Hahaha. So,
that night we be all about love and romance. The next night we are going to an Iowa Hawkeye basketball game
-- think that will be romantic? :)
We are also already preparing for our Breaking the Walls of Intimidation Women's Conference which is April 7
-- 9 at the Cedar Rapids Marriott (formerly the Collins Plaza). We are blessed to have Kate McVeigh and Cindy
Black back again, and this year two more speakers have been added: Pamela Barber and Dr. Melody Graham.
If you are from CR, you might recognize Dr. Graham's name. She is from Cedar Rapids, and is the
Owner/Director of House of Hope. We are going to have a great conference, and if you can make it, I strongly
encourage you to come!
Thanks so much for checking in on our web site! Drop us a line!
Monday, December 27th
New pictures posted: SFFC Christmas Banquet 2004, Iowa Appreciation Day 11/04
Wow, we just got home from my parents house. We had a great time. It was great to see our little "Kirsta Lu"
again. What a happy, happy baby!!! Where do I begin? This week started with me driving to my parents house
on Sunday evening. I went there so I could be there for Kim and Kirsta's arrival on Monday morning. We got up
early and went to the airport. Their flight was delayed from Chicago, but not too long. It was hard to believe how
big Kirsta was when we saw her!! Wow, she is getting so big. She is so sweet. She was not too happy when
she got off the plane. She cried and cried -- not sure if her ears hurt or if there were just too many new people,
or what. We put her in the new car seat that she got from Grandma and Grandpa and took her to my parents
house . She cried some of the way home, but we gave her a bottle and that seemed to calm her down. When
we got her home, we played with her and put her in her walker that Grandma and Grandpa got her to use for the
week and she smiled and laughed for about 7 minutes, and then I rocked her to sleep and she slept the rest of
the time that I was there! I took the whole day off so that I could spend some time with her, but I should have
expected that she would be a tired baby. That worked out ok though because I got some time to spend on my
wrapping! I had to leave at 2 o'clock in order to get back to Cedar Rapids in time to get Miss Amber. She
arrived a little after 6. Wow, she comes walking down from the plane, and you wouldn't know that she is only 11
years old. Not sure what happened to the little girl that I met 5 years ago! She is very adult-like, and we really
enjoy having her around. We were so excited for her to see her new room. Since she has been here, we
painted it electric blue, neon green and purple. These are her new favorite colors. Her room was cotton candy
pink, which is what she wanted when she was 6 . . . but now pink is so not cool!!! We got her a loft bed with a
desk underneath, so that she can actually use her room while she is here. Matt set up a computer for her,
complete with wireless internet, flat-screen monitor, and a printer. She also got a webcam and microphone for
Christmas, so she is living on the edge here!! I painted her dresser to match her room and we got her a green
and blue lava lamp, a green paper globe lantern, and a green furry rug. I like the room a lot. Anyway, we knew
what Amber wanted in her room, but we didn't tell her that we did it yet, so it was a total surprise when she
walked in her room. She was in shock, I think . . . seemed to really like it. She loves having a computer in her
room. So that was a lot of fun. Quite a day for me! Tuesday she spent the day at Stacy's and then we had a
wrapping party here that night to get all the Adopt-A-Family gifts wrapped. Sue, Donna, Amber, Matt and I
wrapped all the gifts -- didn't take much time with all that help! That was nice. After Sue and Donna left, we put
up our Christmas tree. I'm so glad that we waited for Amber to get here before doing that because it was so
much fun to put it up with her there. She had comments for all the ornaments, and it was just like in the stories
when you put your tree up. Lots of fun. Wednesday I worked from home so Amber could stay home. She's
doing that thing where you stay up until all hours of the night, and sleep all day. I sort-of remember going
through that stage, but I thought I was a lot older when I went through it! She slept almost the whole day on
Wednesday. Then her friend Kiona came over and we all went to church. Thursday Amber spent the day with
Grandma Mimi and Grandpa Gene. Thursday night we delivered the Adopt-a-Family gifts. I was so glad that
Amber got to experience Adopt-a-Family this year. She really seemed to enjoy it. Instead of completely going
overboard with one family like we usually do, this year we decided to adopt a smaller second family. We
adopted a single mom with an 8 mos old baby. I was so excited to do this because the lady at HACAP told me
that the single moms with only one child usually are the ones who don't get adopted. I wish I could adopt them
all! Anyway, it was a fabulous experience. Both moms were very appreciative, and that is all that you can ask
for, you know? That night Matt, Amber and I had "our" Christmas. We had a great time -- had a fire in the living
room and opened presents. Amber seemed to have gotten just about everything that she wanted. I got Matt
tickets to an Iowa basketball game and a few other little things -- one was Rock'em Sock'em Robots -- which is
a game that he used to play as a kid. I got it as a joke, but he really liked it! Hahaha. He got me a right hand
ring, which I love. He also got me an SD card reader with a USB interface so that I can get pictures directly off
the camera onto my laptop. Cool! We had a good night -- the 3 of us together.
Friday we left for my parents. We ended up having to run some extra errands and things before leaving, so we
didn't end up getting there until about 4:30. I was so excited to see my baby niece, Kirsta, again, and I was so
glad that Matt and Amber finally got to meet her too. She is such a happy baby!!! She just smiles at everyone --
whether she knows them or not. She only gets fussy when she is tired or hungry. Just a TON of fun. We did
our family Christmas that night, and my parents made a great dinner. My dad did prime rib on the grill. It was
really good. We opened presents and had a blast. Becky and Jim came over later -- still no news on Baby
Gilles! Angela is READY for that baby to come out any time! Saturday morning I got to give Baby Kirsta a bath
and dress her up for Christmas. I had gotten her a "Baby's First Christmas" outfit, and she looked so cute in it
-- except it was a little small! She was busting out of it! Hahaha. She's a BIG girl! Christmas Day my Grandma
and Grandpa came over as well as my Aunt Debbie, Jim, Kyle and Jeffrey. We had another good meal,
complete with ham and turkey -- yummy! We opened presents and played with Kirsta. She pretty much stole
the show everywhere we took her! We played some board games and after everyone left we watched a movie
-- Shrek 2 -- it was good! I nearly fed Kirsta everytime she was hungry, and I usualy got to rock her to sleep too.
I just loved having her around. I can only wonder how big she will be the next time that I get to see her! The day
after Christmas we went out to my Grandma Gilles' house. We had a good time there too. It was fun to see
Kirsta and my cousin Jamie's baby, Jenna, interact. Kirsta of course was all smiles that day too. Amber had a
good time playing with my cousins, Jennifer and Hannah. When we got home that night, we watched
Christmas Vacation, and I played with Kirsta until she wore herself out! I rocked her to sleep, knowing that
would probably be the last time I ever get to do that. I just hate having her so far away. Kim says that they want
to move down to the "lower 48" eventually, but probably not for another year or so. They are hoping that RW will
be able to transfer with the company he works for. He works at Fred Meyer, which is a part of the Kroger chain.
Sure would be nice to have them closer. I don't know what it is about me and babies. I remember when my
cousin Kyle was born -- I would hold him the whole time that we would go to visit, and then when it was time to
leave I would cry the whole way home (I was only in 3rd grade!). I feel the same way with Kirsta -- I just hate
leaving her. Kim gave me the sweetest gift from Kirsta. It was a clear jar with pictures of Kirsta pasted on it,
and the top of the jar said "Kisses from Kirsta" and inside were some hershey kisses. Inside there was a little
poem about no matter how far away Kirsta was, I could just reach inside and get a kiss from Kirsta Lu. She is
so cute -- when you feed her a bottle, or when she is really tired and you are rocking her to sleep -- her eyes will
be closed, and her little hand just runs across your face -- she feels your nose, your lips, your chin, your cheeks
-- it's the sweetest thing. Those are the types of things that you just don't get to know from a picture, you know?
I just feel such a bond with her every time I hold her. Anyway, Monday morning came, and we had to leave.
This time wasn't as bad as leaving Kirsta Lu in Fairbanks back in August, but it was still hard.
Tonight we have our Christmas with Sue and Tom and tomorrow night we are going to Gene and Mimi's. Not
sure what the rest of the week might bring. I would like to go back to my parents for one more night and see
Kirsta Lu off on Thursday, but I don't know if I'll be able to swing that one or not. Till next time .. .
Monday, December 13th
It seems like every time I go to update this page, I'm saying "Wow, I can't believe how fast time flies!" Well, this
time is no different. Matt and I have been having a great time. We were thrilled to see President George Bush
take the reigns for another 4 years. Yeah!! I have been taking some classes to prepare to sit for my PMP
Certification -- Project Management Professional. I was hoping to take the exam before the holidays, but I
wasn't able to, so now my goal is sometime early next year. I've learned a lot of skills from those classes --
both for the job and for home. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. My parents came here for the holiday, and
we had Thanksgiving dinner at Gene and Mimi's. It is always so nice on Matt and I when our families can get
together -- saves us from having to make so many trips! I spent all of last week in Columbia, Maryland at some
meetings. We had some great meetings, but it set me back a little on all the things that I was hoping to get
done by now for Christmas. Oh well, somehow everything seems to work out.
NEWSFLASH! We have finally found out that Amber WILL be here for Christmas. We just booked her flight last
night. She arrives on the 20th and leaves on Jan. 1st. It's never enough time with her, but we'll take all that we
can get. Someone else also arrives on the 20th -- yep, Baby Kirsta and my sister Kim. I can hardly wait to see
all of our family members!
Christmas season always brings its own hustle and bustle with it, but I'm really making a conscious decision
this year to not allow the business of the season get to me. It's true that my Christmas shopping isn't finished
yet, I don't have a single thing wrapped, we don't have our tree . . . I could go on and on. But, I'm just NOT letting
it bother me this year. I'm turning these circumstances into opportunities (as my boss would say). Instead of
fretting about a Christmas tree, we're going to wait until Amber gets here so that she can help get the tree and
decorate it and everything -- that will be nice, huh? I generally like to have the house all decorated for her when
she gets here, but since she's going to be here for a few days before Christmas, I think it would be fun to have
her help decorate and things. That used to be one of my favorite things about Christmas -- dragging out all the
decorations and making everything look like Christmas, so it will be nice to do that this year with her. I'm also
thinking about taking my gifts to the mall and having the charity there wrap all my gifts. What a great idea -- I
don't have to wrap, and another organization benefits! Sounds like a "win-win" to me.
This year Matt and I are doing Adopt-a-Family again, which is always such a blessing to us. It's so fun to be
able to bless those who are in need. We got some shopping done this weekend for the family we adopted,
which was a lot of fun -- we adopted a family which consists of a single mom and SEVEN girls! Wow, can you
imagine the estrogen at that house?!? Hahaha. I'm so excited to make the delivery again this year. I'm hoping
that we'll be able to take Amber since she's going to be here earlier this year so that she gets to participate in
such an awesome event.
This past weekend Matt and I attended our Christmas Banquet at church, which was a lot of fun. I helped work
on the decorations last weekend, and everything looked beautiful. We had a candlelight service, which was
just awesome. I have some pictures that I hope to get up on this site soon.
Anyway, there is a lot going on here at the Warner household, as always. Please drop us a line, we love to hear
from everyone!
Monday, November 1st
Hi. Wow, time just flies when you're having fun!! We had a wonderful trip to New York. Actually, we spent most
of our time in New Jersey. We got there on Thursday night and drove up to stay with Matt's brother. It was so
great to see everyone again. Jesse was the only one of our nieces and nephews who was awake, but when I
went into Kade and Jada's room -- Jada woke up. I had a nice chat with her. Her favorite color is pink again!
Hahaha. I asked her if she likes New York, and she let me know that this is "New Jersey". Smart girl! I asked
her if she needed to sleep and she said "No, I have no plans tomorrow except to play with you!" I wish my only
plans were to play with her and the rest of my nieces and nephews!! The next morning I got to see Elijah . . . oh
my, yes, he is big!! He is a climber! He is very good at getting his balance and climbing all over things. It was
amazing just to watch him. It was good to see Jesse. She's at the stage where everything is embarrassing --
especially mom & dad -- and dorky uncles!! Hahaha. Zack had his first date while we were there. It was so
fun. He got all dressed up. There is a girl from school who offered to take Zack on a "date" (she gets some
sort of community service credit for helping kids with special needs). Zack was so thrilled. They went to the
movies -- and he says that he paid for everything. He was so excited. I put pictures of all the kids here. We had
a great time at the wedding. It took all I had to pull me away from those kids, but we had a good time at the
rehearsal & rehearsal dinner. The rehearsal dinner was at a restaurant on the water (not sure what water??)
with the city of Manhattan across the water. It was beautiful, although sort-of chilly. Ed and Amy both spoke,
along with both of their dads. The food was great and we had a good time getting to know some of the people
who were there from Iowa. Funny to meet people in New York who live in Cedar Rapids! The wedding was
also beautiful -- see pics here. On Sunday we got to go to the game -- although it wasn't a real great game, we
enjoyed seeing a new stadium, and had a good time. We hung out with the family for a little while, and then we
drove to Columbia, Maryland that night. Peak's corporate headquarters are located there, and we had to be
there for meetings that started at 8AM Monday morning. We had some good meetings (if there are such a
thing!). Tuesday night we hosted a poker night at the hotel. We ordered in pizza and the guys played poker.
That was fun -- something different for traveling! We finally came home on Wednesday -- we had been gone
almost a whole week, and we were so glad to be home! We spent most of the weekend just catching up on
things . . cleaning and resting mainly. The Giants had a great game yesterday -- beating the Vikings! That was
great to see! Now it's Monday and we're starting a whole new week! Life is good!
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