Why have I been absent?

Well, folks. I have been sick sick sick. Nothing major, just the summer taking it's toll on a pregnant lady. This means lots of nausea, very little appetite, constantly being overly hot, nearly constant head aches, stomach aches a too much of the day, and general exhaustion. It is no bueno.
Really, this has been a good pregnancy. Every day is worth it. I don't mind laying in bed awake at night when I can feel my little girl rolling around inside of me. In fact I think I could pretty much put up with anything as long as I know that she is alive and well.
But it's hard. A lot of the time it is hard. It is hard not being able to go into work, it is hard to have a hundred projects to do and no strength to do them, it is hard to have a husband who I want to give the world when I feel like I have nothing to give.
Scott has been amazing. He helps me with everything he can. He works extremely hard at research all day and then comes home to help me get projects done that need to get done. He makes sure I get at least some food in me when it is meal time. He lets me take naps whenever I seem tired. That man is a champ.

Strawberry Festival

Just North of Milwaukee is a little town called Cedarburg. They are home to the famous Strawberry Festival. Naturally, I insisted that we attend so that I could purchase strawberry shortcake. I know that this could easily be made at home, but I was feeling nostalgic for Berry Dairy Days. It did not disappoint.
In fact, it may have been the best strawberry shortcake I have ever eaten. Imagine yellow sheet cake slathered in strawberries with a scoop of vanilla custard and then topped off with whipped cream. Yes, it was that delicious.

The men. Looking manly. Scott couldn't keep a straight face with Colby trying to look manly with his baby girl strapped to his chest.
A fabulous hat shop. I was very tempted to buy this for our little girl, but they didn't make it in a small enough size.
*sigh* Wisconsin in the summer.

Why I love Wisconsin in the Summer...

When we first crossed the border from Iowa to Wisconsin I remember being absolutely thrilled with how lush and magical Wisconsin was. Every inch is covered in green and after living in Utah for two years, I was having some serious green withdrawls. I remember driving to church for the first time and thinking that we were in the middle of nowhere just driving through trees. Well, Winter proved to me that we were very much in the middle of somewhere. It turns out Bluemound has tons of buildings and neighborhoods on either side, but in the summer they were all covered by a row of trees that were struggling to hold up the weight of all of their summer leaves.
I remember the humidity, the rainstorms, the thunderstorms, and the fireflies. It was magical. This summer has not disappointed. It has been everything I remembered and a bag of chips.

As part of our attending-as-many-festivals-as-possible goal of the summer, this was us at Hartfest.

True Grit

We had heard fabulous things about the movie True Grit and wanted to make sure that we were ready to partake of it's greatness in style. Naturally we planned a True Grit night. No, this didn't involve dressing up like cowboys and spreading dust all over our apartment. Instead we decided that our movie night called for Caramel Corn and Sprecher Root Beer.
It was my first time making caramel corn, and it turned out delicious! However, it was of the oven-baked variety and thus was very hard and sticky. Next time we are going to try a nice soft recipe.

Excuse our squinty eyes. I was too lazy to turn on the lights so we used the flash in a dark room. I know, terrible idea, but we were just too darn comfy on our couch.

Barbeque

Long, long ago when we were still dating, Scott used to barbeque for me at least a couple times a week. It was wonderful. He had inherited the bbq from an apartment and it worked very well for us. However, shortly before we became engaged it broke and we were so sad. Then Scott somehow would talk his roommate into letting us borrow his when we needed a bbq. Then we moved to Wisconsin. For the last year we have been going through barbeque withdrawls (except for trips to Fred's).
What all this leads up to is the following news:
We bought a barbeque! Woohoo! A teeny tiny one, just like we had before. We were very excited and broke it in one fine summer day.
The menu:
The chef

Not pictured: the pregnant woman crazed with hunger who probably had food all over her face before Scott could get the camera.

For-ever. oh and festivals.

I realize it has been forever since I've updated... I apologize for that. We have been insanely busy between research, work, girls camp, packing, moving, unpacking, and enjoying our summer.

Milwaukee has an estimated 1575453 festivals each summer. It is wonderful. The first one we went to was Greekfest, sadly we forgot to take pictures. However, we devoured an entire chicken and chicken has never tasted so good. (This is saying a lot from someone who isn't too crazy about chicken in the first place).

The next festival we attended was Get Outdoors Festival. Which was right next door to Pridefest, which made for some interesting people watching.

They had free kayaking. However, it was freezing outside.
We paint balled for free!
and I learned all about Sturgeons. which really meant that Scott got to hear the story about how once Hanna and her brother found a dead sturgeon on the oregon coast over and over.
For hanna: