daddy and sj

oh man, i can just HEAR her laughin on this one!
sally often wears her beenie in the house on cold mornin's.
these were takin' with daddy before we left for CO.

as today is Halloween... Sally is going to be a STRAWBERRY today!
stay tuned for pix!

leavin' on a jet plane

these are fun pix from about a week ago. sally loves the exersaucer aka "control station".

her teeth haven't bothered her the past two days- or at least she hasn't been cranky pants. =)
we are hoping for SMOOTH flying today!!! we are leaving home about 7:30am.. fly at 10am and arrive in denver at noon (1pm our time)

while we are gone, gow is hoping to finish the work on the passat to ready it for sale and deep clean our carpets so when we get home, sally can crawl all over.

(ok, as i am typing this, sally is playing with a tupperware lid. this is the most excited i have seen her with a "toy"! ha!)

last weekend with jenn

We had a great time with Jenn last weekend. Sally is playing with her new stacking cups and froggy "herman" that Jenn brought with her.
this is standing in line (about a 45 min wait) for brunch on Saturday at the Nashville famous "Pancake Pantry". it was tastey and 100% authentic down home cookin' served to us by a genuine "Flo" waitress. =)

hanging out at home.
this is the bed that sally slept in for our trip to AK, our 2 week road trip and the road trip we took when she was 5 weeks old to Chicago.

as you can see... she is now capable of crawling OUT of this lil diddy. =) she can't crawl yet... but she is a scootin' gal. =)

speaking of lines- gow, sj and I just spent about an hour waiting in line to vote.
i have finished all my packing except for my carryon... what does one pack to entertain a 6 month old for three hours in a seat?
i have cheerios, a few fave toys and a her trusty plug (aka pacifier).

we fly out tomorrow at 10am and arrive in Denver at 12noon (one hour time change). poor lil Sally Jane will just adjust to the time change there and then on Sunday will lose another hour due to daylight savings. and then two days later... fly back here and change another hour. she's a trooper... if anything it will be mommy who has to pay for it. =)

ok, so the honda has worked the past two days... it is super hard to start, gow is gassin' it while turnin' the key, but we are thankful it is still runnin'. we will see what his boss - the honda pro and a true God send to us- thinks is the prob.

okie dokie... sally jane is waking up.......

tuesday

i love this lil clip. Sally TOTALLY has a lil gleam in her eye!

This is a pix from Gow's birthday- Linda and Ron (our Nashy - fam) brought cake over to celebrate with us.
this is a snuggly lil one... she is getting ready to go down for a nap. these days I hold her for 2 minutes and sing-- to try and help her wind down before putting her in the crib. seems to work pretty well.

today i am packing our bags for Colorado! hooray! I also need to go and vote as I will be gone on National Voting Day.

however, gow went down to the cars this morning to go to work- and the honda won't start. hmf. it has a new battery and a new starter..... this is not a good sign. however, it has been super cold lately... so maybe that's the prob. Gow will try it again at lunch and if all else fails- i will drop him off at work to use the car to get some errands done. God knows. we are TRUSTING Him.

alrighty then- enjoy your Tuesday ya'll!

sittin'

Hello all,

This lil video was taken about a week and a half ago... every day she gets a lil more steady.

Well, we had a fun weekend with Jenn (JBU). We spent a day downtown shoppin' at the outlet mall, eating at the world famous Pancake Pantry and ended the day with an International Market. The market was SWEET! A mix of Asian and Latin imported food-- we bought some Durazno (peach nectar) juice that had in Quito, some Jasmin rice (for pretty cheap Jess!) and a hunk of cilantro. Gow looked for chimichurri- but the butcher was Mexican and said he didn't even know what that was! it's a cryin' shame! Jenn, who grew up in Indonesia, found a jack pot of curry packets and Roti or Prata- I can't remember what it was called. =)

Jenn and I also had a lovely afternoon strollin' around downtown Franklin and just hanging out with Sally. I think Jenn's highlight of the trip was SJ's toots. =) As we are feeding her cereal 3 times a day, it gives Sally some stinky ones. =)

All in all - it was a great weekend with games, a movie, some OFFICE and getting Jenn's car a new battery.

Sally has started talking this week. She's saying a lot of "Na-Na-Na-Na- Na" with an occassional "Da-Da-Da-Da" and the random crankiness re:teeth is still lingering... with no sign of those lil fellas yet.

This week Sally and I are flying to Colorado! We are gonna spend about 6 days with Donna, Bill and their lil David. We are also planning to see Carrisa Cole (Quito & JBU) , The Knotts- to meet lil Ethan (JBU) and Nathan Reynolds (Rim). We are pumped! and praying that Sally will do great on the flights!

Okie Dokie- I have some a ton more data entry to do.. so i am off.

Happy Monday to ya'll!

something's going on...

Howdy.

Not sure what... but something is definitely going on with our lil Sally Jane.
Yesterday she cried for zippo reason at two different times in the day.
This mornin', she just cried for about 40 minutes... she was wanting to sleep but couldn't. I ended up holding her until she slept. (We haven't done that in over a month.)
Maybe it teething? Maybe she misses her daddy? Who knows. Poor baby girl.

So these are Sally's Robeez. AMAZING lil shoes that actually STAY on your child's feet! They are leather, warm and as you can see.. also fashionable! I love the tulips!
And as you can see.. they are a joy to wear also! =) These pix were taken about a week ago when it was still summer. It is now winter and cold, so Sally is wearing her tulip robeez daily for warmth.

This was last week also. We were rearranging the living room so Gow can begin to set up the fish tank! WOOT WOOT! (However, we have hit a set back or two in the salt water fish tank department. Gow was having the glass hood cut- and the cutting people broke the glass. Nice. Also, the first set of lights Gow ordered arrived and are broken. So he had to pay for shipping TWICE to send em back. Basically, we knew the tank was going to be pricey to start up... but the start up date may have to be pushed back now... we'll see)
Sally is quite pleased with the new living room set up! And loves her time in the control station (aka. exersaucer).

So Gow is adjusting back to work and Sally and I are (trying) to adjust back to life with the two of us at home. TOnight we are going to babysit for Gow's boss, who has been a HUMUNGO help with working on both of our cars, they have 6 kiddos. Should be quite interesting- especially as Sally and I will be with the kiddos on our own for an hour before Gow gets off work.

Then later tonight.. Jenn Byham (JBU) is coming for the weekend! AH YEAH!

OK- i am gonna do some more data entry (Veggie Tales) while Sally is sleeping.

Ciao.

back to work he goes!

This is Sally last Saturday morning... chillin' and watching Veggie Tales. =)

I thought this pix was perfect to announce that Gow's 2 and 1/2 months of "vacation" will officially come to an end tomorrow.
He will be back at the Big Idea studio as head editor of the next two Veggie Tale DVDs!
Fun stuff!

It is sad to have Gow head back to the studio for 40-50 hours per week.... and wonderful all at the same time as we are super thankful for the time we had together, super thankful for God providing and sustaining us during our "no income" season and thankful that God has now provided another contract for Gow.

Tomorrow will also be the 1st day for Gow going to a Men's Study at our church. And get this... it is at 6AM every Wednesday morning!! That's right!! Gow signed up for these early morning adventures all on his own! (must be a reflex to all of the late nights/early mornings with Sally).

funk

well- we are kinda havin' a funky night here in the home-o-the-gowanitos.
so will make it a quick one.

please be prayin' we've got a dude that wants to look at the camera this week... pray that he will buy it and we can be done with it.

also- please pray that we can find a car piece that we need for the passat... gow is calling junk yards and has not yet found what we need.

our lil sweet pea was playing on her blanket on the floor today while Gow and I were eating lunch. all of a sudden she started crying... she had rolled a couple of times off the blanket and hit her pretty lil noggin on the chair. bless her lil heart.

so we buckeled down and turned on the heat in the house... when we were bundling up this morning and found the temp to be at 38 degrees.... we decided maybe we should turn on the heater. funny how Sally could move so much easier without the extra sweaters, hoodies and beenies. =)

k.
love to ya'll.

beenie

check our our lil pink gangsta!
i found her chompin' on her toes today!
ah shucks... we just LOVE her!

so we got to sleep in this morning! woot woot! it's cuz we were at Jess, Dave and Cali's last night until 10:30 and Sally didn't fall asleep until we came home. so she slept from 10:30pm- 8am..

we had Erin Talley (a buddy from Quito) over for lunch.. it was great to connect with her and I am pumped that she is only living about 20 minutes away from us now.

gow went golfing with Dave- he said it was great and PERFECT weather, a sunny and brisk fall day.

gow's gonna work on the passat a bunch tomorrow so that we can try and sell it soon.
still haven't sold the video camera, we need to sell that before we can look at buying a new car.
we are hoping to sell the camera and passat and then buy a honda crv.

i got a haircut this week and i absolutely LOATHE it. i cut bangs. not tons, but i absolutely hate it. soo.. looks like i will be clipping my bangs back for about 4 months. ugh. i feel like i look like a cross between the mom on the old Brady Bunch and a boy. pretty pix eh?
ho hum.

gow's working on installing a light and heater on the fish tank! woot woot! soo fun!

love to ya'll!

giggles n wiggles

gigglin' as daddy zilburches her tummy



and "traveling"! see how far the blanket is behind her?
Sally isn't anywhere near crawling yet, but she is a scootcher.

so we had a delightful day yesterday celebrating gow.
we started out with a walk to the grocery store for donuts, then went out for lunch at Q'dobas with coupons - woot woot! then jess, dave and cali came over to hang out with sally while we headed out for an afternoon movie! then we hung out with jess, dave and cali for a bit and ended the evening with some tastey cake with ron and linda eddy! fun day!

i think i have forgotten to blog that gow went in to big idea to talk about contract. they do want him for the next two shows- which should be work thru Feb. Praise the Lord! he is planning to start on Monday.

today it feels like fall-- cool and wonderful. we already took a family walk to the grocery store and have talked about a hike with the lewis' (jess, dave and cali) we will see what the weather does.

not sure if i mentioned or not.. but i am doing some data entry for big idea from home (it is nothing big, just entering names, addresses and email addresses from the Live Show). But am thankful for the extra $$ to buy tickets to visit Donna B and to go to Tulsa for Toddly and Jess' wedding reception.

k- that's a peek into our world today.

Gow's birthday!

Yes folks!
Gow is 25 today!
ahhh Happy Birthday to the love of my life!








I had no clue how incredible it would be to be married. God has blown my hopes, dreams and expectations OUT OF THE WATER thru Gow. I am thankful beyond words that Gow is my God- given intimate ally for life. And now to see him be the daddy of our Sally Jane.. my heart sings thanks to God!

here's a quick story of tribute to Gow...

while visiting friends in Arkansas this past month, we went out to eat at Chili's. We ended up being at there for 3-4 hours (due to a mess with our tickets) before we left a waitress approached our table. Talking to our whole group, she said that she was completely touched by watching Gow. She said that he had to be the best daddy she had seen! That through out our time there, she had seen him care for Sally with patience, love. She told me I was lucky and said he was the best dad she had seen!
Gow- is such a STUD!
seriously, when complete strangers can pick up on his CRAZY-GREAT SELF in such a short time...

sigh- yes! I praise God for my hot hubby, best friend and amazing daddy o my child!

Happy Birthday Gow! You are my dreams come true and then some !

bumbo, funny faces and changing

Sally in her bumbo, this invention is brilliant! We use this chair for skyping, for feeding her cereal and for just hanging around in.
another one of her funny faces captured!
she has been chompin' lots lately. we keep checking for teefers and nothing yet.
and THAT is her daddy's contemplative look. =)

so it seems we have hit another turn in the road with SJ and sleeping. now that she is a roller- she no longer just goes to sleep in her crib. when we put her down, she rolls and then wants to play... even when she is dog tired. we let her cry tonight cuz we knew she was tired and was simply fighting it. it took about 9 minutes for her to cry herself to sleep. sigh. so tough on the heart, yet am not about to pick her up and rock her again. she knows what she's doing. sigh.

it amazes me that she wakes up cheery and cooing after crying herself to sleep!
as she is changing right now, i sort of feel like i did when we first brought her home... not sure what she needs. everything's changing. so i am trying to spend more time watching to read clues that she may be giving... it's fascinating, humbling, incredible. all those things and she isn't even 6 months old yet!

gow had an informal meeting (not an interview) with a dude from Dave Ramsey RE: a video position that is open. he really liked the video crew... God knows.

he also installed two parts on the passat- as he is working on some minor things in hopes of selling it in the near future.

we had hoped to hang out with some pals from our Community Group tonight - but everyone's sick. bummer. and bummer for them as it is NO good to being feeling yucko.

i think i am rambling again-
so better sign off....

our saturday

hello everybody.

it is HOT here. not sure what happened to fall...

today I went to a brainstorming meeting with some ladies from church -- dialoging about what is working/what's not working/what can be done differently with womens ministry at church. it was great to be a part of it as it lit a few sparks inside of me.

my heart beats to connect with others and to build community to know/serve/love/honor God in the way that only comes thru community. it's different now though, i am different. I have Sally and am starting to think about how ministry and having a little one/s could look.

anywho... just some thoughts.

Gow made a sale off of craigslist... after first having a crazy run-in with a seriously PYSCHO dude yesterday. seriously... some wacked out guy tried to make a deal with Gow. (long story- but seriously freaked me out and made us aware of the fact that there are some WAY screwed up characters out there!)

Gow and Sally went on a date to FINS- Gow's favorite store. he has been saving $$ for the past 2 years to start his own salt water fish tank... and i think the big day is soon arriving! =) (so if you were wondering what to get him for his bday or for Christmas or for hanukkah... $$ for his salt water tank will make his year!)

then we went on a family date to the mall and used a coupon for a blizzard at DQ and then came home and watched a flick.

on a side note- we are REALLY enjoying Sally. she is just a GOOD baby. SUPER fun and such a sweetie. sigh. ah. we just love her.

the bonnet

ha! I love this bonnet! Sally and her sweet bald head uses this bonnet anytime we are outside to avoid french-frying her little noggin'.

a reader IS a leader!
deep thoughts- pondering what she has read and learned from the "fluffy chick" book.
She's pals with Larry from the Pirates movie


and yes, her arm is stuck inside that cloth toy. =)

as sally is nearing her 6 month mark... she is DEFINATELY doing some changing.

1- if she is not DOG tired as we put her in her crib.... she rolls. she will roll to her back, play with her toes and coo until she gets sleepy.. then she gets crabby and we go back in, flip her to her tummy, pat her hiney and THEN she goes to sleep.

2-however, nap time and needs are shifting. she is now skipping some naps... simply not being tired. so that is a bit of a guessing game on when she needs it and when she doesn't

3- she LOVES her oat cereal! today, i finished her normal serving and she HOLLARED until i made a whole other round. she gobbled it up and could have eaten more!

4- on her play blanket... she rolls and scootches and often ends up on the carpet. she isn't any where near crawling... but she is a roller and somehow manuevers herself around.

5-she is a giggler! I just got a GREAT video of her gigglin... will post it soon.

as for us...
gow will go into the studio on Tuesday to get the storyline of the Veggies video that he will be editing. then he should start the following monday.

Wednesday is Gow's 1/4 of a century BDAY!! WOOT WOOT!!!

we are still in the process of selling his video camera, fixing up the passat and then possibly selling the passat to purchase a honda CRV or Accord or Pilot.

I am pleased to have found a SWEET deal at Old Navy.... buying a bunch of Tees that FIT correctly for about $3-$5 each. hip hip hooray for having my bod back to almost normal!

also- we made a big ol switch this week from our comcast to ATnT for TV and internet. it was a great deal that gave us cash back AND DVR all for the same price as what we were previously paying comcast. sweetness! we are hoping to use the cash back to fly to Tulsa for Toddly and Jess' wedding in Nov! (if you look into ATnT and make the switch.... let us know and you can say we referred you.... for additional $$ off)

k- this is lengthy. Sj is snoozing, Gow is cleaning up the kitchen and I am just sort of ramblin'.
toodle-loo

brace yourselves.. this is scary!

okay seriously. this is hysterical and could possibly scare some small children!

Our friends, Lindsey and Christian, were over one night and this is the result of 4 friends, some time on our hands and yearbook yourself.


this would be me in 1954

me in 1960-- and BOY do I look like my mom's highschool pix!!

this is my fave- 1966 - I look like I belong on The Brady Bunch!

Gow in 1970- ha! and eww!

Gow in 1976.. the year before I was born! not bad... walking straight out of Woodstock.

Skipping ahead to 1990... ah the wonderous mullet!
Gow in 1994.. could be on 90201 or saved by the bell!
1998, just 10 short years ago and about 50 pounds heavier!

this is linds in 1980.. ha! i love the frizz!

this is linds in 1984.. it's all about huge explosion hair! I love this look on you Linds! I triple doggie dare you to give it a try!
and Linds in 1996- could this be your REAL senior pix Linds?

ha ha ha... this is Christian in 1964! oh man.. i laugh just looking at this!

then Christian in the 70, playing music with Gow at Woodstock.

and 1992.. cleaning it up and putting on a sweater! teehee!

we had a blast with this...and please email me ya'll pix if you yearbook yourself!

back here on the ranch...

i personally had a YUCKO day.
i didn't feel super hot, was a bit cranky, we had a phone dude here for about 4 hours working on our phone line and Sally is transitioning with her nap needs and so i am trying to figure her out.
however, it did end well as we had a very pleasant time with our community group and homemade cherry pie with home grown cherries.

=) night to ya'll.