Pierce Family Christmas in Florida

(Lydia with Mima and Papa on the beach in Fort Myers, Florida)

(Jewelry from her Aunt Magdalena and Uncle Justin...she still hasn't taken it off)

(Santa didn't go quite as planned, but her cousin did okay.)

(Yes we are that family)

(Of course she loved the box.)

(This was the picture on our Christmas card, done by hisandherphotography here in town)

(Church at Christmas Eve)

(My sister Magdalena...due very soon)

So I guess pictures speak louder than words. Let just say we had a fabulous ten day trip to Fort Myers, Florida to see my sister, brother-in-law and my parents. It was unseasonably warm while we where there, eighties the entire time with clear skies. We took Lydia to the beach and swam in the pool everyday. What a blast! I'm so thankful to be blessed with such great times with my family! I hope all of you had a very Merry Christmas, we sure did.

Rachel Pierce

rpierce@myabc5.com

My mom and dad

This is a milestone month for my parents. I don't think they'll mind me sharing. First of all my mom, Deb, turns 60 this month. It's weird for me to think about that because to me she'll always be in her thirties, with a loose perm, playing some mean tennis in the local city league. Of course my mom does and has done tons of other things in her life but that's the most dominant image I have of her in my memory, in my heart. I remember her telling me her thirties were some of the best years of her life because that's when she was raising her three kids. Congrats mom on your 60th, it really doesn't feel like you're a day over 33.

And congrats to my dad. He's retiring December 31st. He's the Davis County Conservation Board Director and transformed a beaten-up, rundown farm and acres of cropland, into a bountiful recreation and wildlife area. I hope people appreciate the work, I know I do because I know the years of hard work that went into it. Way to go Dad, now to some serious hunting and fishing!

Here they are, Rick and Deb Krenz. Two of the most important people in my life.

Bras for the Cause

Bras for the Cause had another very successful year raising money and awareness for breast and cervical cancer. My mom, Jenny came down from Wisconsin to be my date and we had a blast.
If you want to get involved or attend next year learn more on their website: http://www.brasforthecause.com/about-us
All the money raised goes toward providing mammograms and cervical cancer screenings for Iowa women.
ABC 5 is proud to be a sponsor of this amazing event!
Rachel Pierce
Rpierce@myabc5.com

(I helped a little, I'm one of the people on stage.)

Happy Halloween!

(Lydia eighteen months trick or treating as a Garden Gnome)

(Lydia and I going door to door, we had to take the car)

Sunday night was Beggar's Night and Lydia's first time really trick or treating. Last year we just went to a couple houses to say hi to our neighbors. She was totally into it. I was surprised since she's only eighteen months. The first house our little garden gnome just walked right in, it was so funny and caught our elderly neighbor by surprise. After that she got the jist and was ready to pick a piece of candy and say thank you. We were only going to go to a few houses again this year but ended up hitting up our entire street becasue she was having a blast!

Rachel Pierce

rpierce@myabc5.com

(Lydia just walking right into the first house...she didn't know.)

We love the Pumpkin Patch!

We have turned the Pumpkin Patch into a tradition. We have gone to Howell's Tree Farm for several years. The boys love it and apparently so do thousands of other city dwellers. I'm always amazed by the line of cars that turns off the highway into the gravel driveway of the tree farm. It reminds me of the movie, Field of Dreams, "If you build it, they will come." The 'it' being a pumpkin patch, craft store, beautiful potted mums, petting zoo, corn cannon, corn maze, a playground, etc.... in other words, a taste of country.

I grew up in a small town with 'country' all around me. I love the simple life that comes with small town, rural Iowa. And nowadays I'm paying 7 dollars admission for it. Kind of ironic, but we love it.

Thanks for reading!

Amanda

A Very Happy Florida Birthday!!!

I had my big 3-0 birthday on Sunday! My husband a few months back asked what I wanted and I said I wanted to see my sister Magdalena and her husband Justin. So we booked our flights and headed down to Fort Myers, Florida. It was honestly THE BEST birthday ever!!! We did all my favorite things! We took the boat out to Sanibel Island, collected shells, swam, ate great food, played fun games, went to their awesome church, shopped and just enjoyed each others company. My sister and brother in law are the best hostesses! I can't wait for them to come to Iowa sometime soon so that I can spoil them like they did for us!

Ahhh...back to work!
Rachel Pierce

rpierce@myabc5.com

Latino Heritage Festival

The 9th annual Latino Heritage Festival was this weekend. Something new they added this year "Dancing with the Celebrities". I was one of eight competitors to take the stage. We each got paired up with a local professional dancer, they picked the style of dance and song and we had a six hour crash course to learn our dance. I danced the cha cha and had a total blast. This was way outside of my comfort zone and to tell you the truth I was super nervous to dance in front of anyone but my immediate family and dance partner, Manuel Cabrejos. My daughter Lydia watched me practice in her playroom all week and would dance right there with me, lets just say at a year and a half, she has better rhythm.

Manuel was so patient and such a great teacher. Outside of being a full time college student at Iowa State he's also a professional salsa dancer. If you ever need to take any sort of dance lesson I highly recommend him. You can find him at Salsa Des Moines.

So for the actual competition, we all danced one by one and then after the scores were tallied half of us were cut...including me. Ah, it was fun while it lasted. Congrats to the winner Fabiola Pastorino!

As my husband told me, for six hours of learning something I've never done before I did the best I could. I'm kind of sad its all over...hmmm maybe salsa lessons are in my future!

I've talked about this so much the last few weeks I'm sure the newsroom is sick of hearing about it, but I think I have one of the celebrities for next year signed up...my co-anchor Amanda Krenz is ready to put her dancing shoes on! Watch out!

Thanks for reading!

Rachel Pierce

rpierce@myabc5.com

Quite the BASH!

My brother, Wes, got married this weekend and it will forever be remembered as one of the most fun, exhausting weekends of my life. He married his beautiful wife, Sarah, in an outdoor ceremony (the same location my husband and I were married eight years ago).

Here's a photo of my family with the bride and groom, my parents, and sister, Shannon.The boys looked quite handsome in their vests, ties, and Chuck Taylor sneakers.Here's the venue where we had the reception. It was like a fairy tale. A lot of work to decorate and a lot of fun to party in!My mom had the idea to light sky lanterns. It was magical. We filled the night sky with love wishes for Wes and Sarah. It was an amazing moment. I might be gushing about it, I can't help it. It was really beautiful. Congratulations Wes and Sarah!

Zoo!

I'm embarrassed to say this, but today was my first time to the Blank Park Zoo! I kept meaning to go but I always ended up taking my daughter somewhere else. I'm totally regretting it now because she just ate it up! With the perfect weather today and the small crowds it was just a blast for our family. Plus she's just sixteen months old so even the little ducks were impressive t0 her. The zoo is the perfect size to stop in look around and go, everything is so close together. I see more visits in the near future and for sure a membership next year.

Rachel Pierce

rpierce@myabc5.com

Summer

(My 16 month old little girl just loves picking and eating tomatoes out of our garden.)

(Variety the Children's Charity event, Polo on the Green)

Where has the summer gone...okay maybe its not over just yet. Lydia is at such a fun age where she enjoys playgrounds, pools, other kids (sometimes), bubbles, animals and anything outdoors.


We had a blast hosting family and friends in town almost every weekend this summer. We love showing off what the metro has to offer. And my husband and I also got some time to ourselves here and there, like attending the Variety the Children's Charity event, Polo on the Green.


(Ran to the playground for some fun this morning)

Rachel Pierce

rpierce@myabc5.com

ABC5 on The Colbert Report

In case you didn't see this in our newscast, enjoy. It's Brad's little 'response' to Stephen Colbert 'attacking' ABC5 on his show, The Colbert Report. Many of us are fans of the show and have gotten a good laugh out of our debut. Click here to watch the clip from The Colbert Report.

Granted, many people have taken Colbert's rant out of context. But we get the joke and we think it's hilarious.

Living History Farms

(Above: Lydia checking out the chickens and a turkey with the help of one of the farmers, below: Lydia and me enjoying a little snack in the shade of a windmill.)

This week when it was blazing hot with a heat index above one hundred, I decided, heck, lets spend the day outdoors at Living History Farms. Honestly it wasn't too bad, probably because we ventured out first thing in the morning. Lydia, my now fifteen month old daughter, and I met up with a long time friend of mine from Chicago. Since it was so hot we opted for the tractor ride to take us to the 1900 farm. That particular farm is great! There's cows, a horse, chickens, a turkey, pig, piglets and we even managed to find a cat. Lydia loved it! She hasn't seen most of those animals and was actually obsessed with the barn cat. She chased that barn cat everywhere. I told my husband about it and he said it looks like we're going to have to get a cat but he said she has to ask for one first (that may be awhile).

The "farmers" there were awesome too! They helped get the animals out so that we could see them and gave us all kinds of great information. It was a little hot but we stayed within the shade of the buildings and I did dump a bottle of water over Lydia's head and she did not mind one bit.

Lydia was wore out after all the exploring and passed out on the tractor ride back, works for me!

If you haven't been out there, I recommend going. Two thumbs up!

Rachel Pierce

rpierce@myabc5.com

(Above: Lydia taking a look at the piglets and she even got to feed them. Below: Lydia chasing around the barn cat.)

Go Mustangs!

Congratulations to the Davis County Mustangs! My high school Alma mater won the class 2a state baseball championship. I went to the game. My whole family was there at Principal Park to cheer them on, along with everybody else from Davis County.

Way to go Mustangs!

My quest for a misting fan....

I started out this week with a mission. I wanted to buy a hand-held misting fan... you know the kind right?

I was planning ahead for when I had to take my one-year-old to my older son's swimming lessons. I didn't want him to get too hot in the extreme heat while we waited for the lesson to be over. So, I set out to buy one of these fans. I convinced myself it was by far the best way to keep my little one cool. Long story short:

Bed Bath and Beyond (both metro locations) - sold out

Target - doesn't carry them

Dollar Tree - only have the fan, not the misting option

Walgreen's - called two locations, they HAD them a few hours before I called but were sold out. The only locations with any left were in Ottumwa and Ames.

Younkers - doesn't carry them

Hy-Vee Drug Town - only had non-misting ones

You get the idea... So what did I do? I went to ToysRUs and paid too much for a little mist sprayer (basically a squirt bottle), got some squirty fish things and called it a day.

And guess what? We survived! Even without the elusive portable mist fan.

Does this say something about my personality? Like, I'm stubborn? Hard headed? Not willing to take no for an answer? Maybe, I think I'll choose to label myself as "persistent" and "goal oriented."

Thanks for reading,

Amanda

Adventureland!

(Top: Lydia on her first ride, Bottom picture: My nephew David with his arms up, he knows how to ride!)

Even though yesterday was a ridiculously hot day...my family decided to venture out to Adventureland. And boy, we weren't alone. When we went to the water park it was packed! Thankfully we got their early enough because soon after the waterpark reached capacity and folks had to stand out in the hot sun to wait to get in.

We had a blast. My sixteen and five year old nephews loved the rides! Lydia was even able to go on the merry-go-round.

Rachel Pierce

rpierce@myabc5.com

(Above: My nephew David)

(Above: My sister Natalie, nephew Stephen and Jacy)

(Above: I'm in the middle on the right...screamed a little on this one, especially at the top when my brother-in-law pretended to unbuckle me)

Where did that year go?

My baby boy, Mercer, is one-year-old today. I made his cake. The little guy loves nothing more than playing with a ball, so that's what I made. It also makes up 99.9% of his vocabulary, "bah, bah, bah." Big brother, Maddox, picked out the decorations for the cake (sugary star shaped pieces and flower sprinkles).

We decorated our kitchen with little plastic balls hanging from the ceiling fan. The boys loved it! And the ball cake was a big hit!