Smile!

Here's a cute picture capturing Linden's newest trick:

Signature Drinks with the Neighbors

We live on the best block in town. Aside from the awesome location near the lakes, Yahara River, Capital, great restaurants, and two locally-owned high-end grocery stores, we have the best neighbors.

Rob and Maria started a new summer tradition: once a month, each house hosts a party with a signature drink. They started us off with a smashing success and two signature drinks: vodka infused with pineapple and Pimms with ginger ale. Needless to say, Linden enjoyed his milk from a bottle while I enjoyed the summer!

Here's Rob with Pixie and Amanda with Linden.


Rob has this brilliant satallite radio piped throughout the house. Rob could find every song, except for one.

Kelly Lake

We visited Scott's family at their cottage on Kelly Lake this weekend. We arrived on Thursday, and everyone enjoyed relaxing.


Jeanine and Mike threw a great party to welcome Linden to the family.

Great-grandpa Mead, Mary, Lynn, Al, Jeff, Dan:

Katie & Braden, Lisa, Ann & Linden, Lori & Landon, Jeanine:

Ann & Sam, Dan:

Jeanine, Lisa & Landon, Andrea, Lynn & Linden:

Great-grandma Mead and Linden:

Great-grandpa Mead and Linden:
Great-grandma and grandpa Suds and Linden:
Todd, Great-grandma Mead, Dan and Linden:

Haley and Linden:
Andrea and Braden:

Coca, Jazz, and Gus had a great time playing together in the sand and lake.

We stopped by to see Paul and Carrie Miller on the way out of Green Bay. Their second daughter Anna is about 9 weeks old.

Yard Update

Another day, another giant pile of mulch.

The Allium are blooming.


The Redbud tree is blooming.

Rebecca's visit

Rebecca came for a lovely visit this weekend. We squeezed in all of our favorite things: cooking together, relaxing, chit-chatting, wine tasting, pizza, and watching Linden. Thanks for refilling my freezer!

Linden smiled and coo-ed upon Rebecca's arrival! Both videos are very similar, but I couldn't choose just one.

Mother's Day

My parents sent these beautiful flowers to celebrate my first Mother's Day:


Scott's parents came to visit, and we had a nice brunch at Chris and Jen's house on Sunday.


We returned to the Arboretum to view the lilacs and crabapple trees in bloom:

Gov. Dodge State Park

We hiked at Governor Dodge State Park on Thursday.

Since we were one of the few groups at the park, we let Coca off leash to enjoy the beautiful spring day.

Coca & Linden

Coca has accepted Linden as part of the pack. She brought Linden her white stuffed toy and dropped it at his feet. What do you think she was thinking...

--"Throw it and I'll go get it"
--"Here, chew on this. You'll like it."
--"I'll trade you one of mine for one of yours."

Funny Faces

Here are some cute pictures of Linden:

Madison Arboretum

We visited the arboretum today and enjoyed a gorgeous day! Maternity and paternity leave are better then a honeymoon now.


They have a wonderful stand of linden trees.

Jeff & Andrea's visit

Great-Uncle Jeff and second-cousin Andrea stopped in Madison today on their way to Chicago.
We enjoyed this pleasant surprise!

New Baby Sitter

We've finally found some one we trust to watch Linden...

Bryan, Lori, and Emily's visit

Our friends Bryan and Lori brought us dinner the other night. We're going to miss them very much when they move to Iowa City when Bryan starts his new job as a professor. Iowa City is right in between Madison and Lawrence, KS, so I envision lots of road trips in our future!


Their daughter Emily is really cute. She entertained us as she played with Linden's toys. She will be two this summer, but she's already a Cubs fan.