Sunday, June 29, 2014

lake memories

I'm backing up a little to the beginning of summer.  One of Craig's cousins got married in Clear Lake, which is where Craig and I were married.  Our reception was even at the same place, so it was so fun to get to go back to "the place where it all began!"
When we got there Friday night, we took an evening boat ride, which is almost my favorite kind.  It's cooler, not as many boats out, and the lake seems so peaceful.
Driving with daddy
We cruised around the whole lake and it was a perfect night.
We brought the boat in and went out for dinner, and afterwards went back to the beach to enjoy the beautiful evening.
He loves building sand castles...
We stopped to see our family's brick.  We have been going to the lake since I was born.  It's so special for me to get to take my kids there now.
Our brick is just a short distance away from the beach, and also from where Craig and I got engaged.
Our favorite... Cookies Etc!  What's better than a cookie shop along the beach??  Not much!
We went swimming with our cousins back at the hotel before bed, and again the next morning.
Silly boy!
The next morning we had time before the wedding so we took Craig's brother's family out for a boat ride!  I have to comment on Andrew's Snoopy life jacket.  Yes, it was mine when I was a kid!  Nevermind it's dirty and a little moldy... it's vintage!  Ha!  Evelyn is also sporting one of my old life jackets.  We always keep extras on the boat and Andrew needed a new one because Kerigan is wearing his old one now!  
The kids love to anchor the boat near the beach and swim to shore and make sand castles and play along the beach.
 I love this picture so much.  This is the place we had our reception in Clear Lake, 11 years ago.  It was even the same weekend as our wedding.  It was an unbelievable feeling to be back here with our kids.  We have driven them by it, but we had never gotten to all go inside, and dance, just like we did on our wedding day.
The Surf is the neatest place.  It's where Buddy Holly played his last concert before his plane crashed.  It's quite a landmark.  And this picture of my kids standing where we stood on our wedding day just gives me goosebumps.
Flashback to 2003.  In this picture I was dreaming about the sweet little boy and girl above... the little family I always wanted.  All of my dreams have come true.
I always loved their pineapple wallpaper!
Our wedding was decorated much different than this (we had a tropical theme, with palm trees and umbrellas, etc). but this is an idea of what it looks like inside.
As usual, Andrew found his 2nd cousin, Ellie.  His favorite dance partner at weddings!
They could not have been cuter, sitting here like this just chatting.  I couldn't help but flash forward about 10 years.
Kerigan loved dancing with her Uncle Jay!

What a special memory of a very special day we will always enjoy sharing with our kids!

Monday, June 23, 2014

track & friends

Papa got a very special honor at the state track meet so we went to Drake Stadium to see him!  
Papa is a retired track coach.  He was one of the best ones in Iowa.  He is only the 2nd coach in Iowa to receive the Golden Plaque Award of distinction for coaching in track and field.  Pretty cool!
Ga Ga and Kerigan
Papa is in the middle, accepting his award
We love Papa and are super proud of him!
Speaking of track, the kids have loved going to daddy's school this summer and running around the track!
We know how to tire them out, for sure!  Andrew takes off and speeds around the whole thing, Kerigan trailing behind.
The kids love getting golf cart rides from daddy...
So much that it expands to all the kids at the baseball game!  Ha!
These two were at the far end of the track and I noticed them looking down and lifting up their shorts and I couldn't figure out what they were doing!  Yep, my girly princess can stomp around in the mud with the best of them!
My heart mama friend Melissa had her kids at the game because her oldest was playing against our team so it was super fun to see them there!  Kerigan had fun with her daughter Zavery.  
It's just one of those times I had to sit back, smile and let her have fun and get dirty!  It wasn't easy for me, but I did it!  Didn't even get mad (after the first initial split second I realized what they were doing!)  Ha!
After all, my parents used to talk about having to hose me off after getting dirty, so I guess it's one of those rites of passage.  
My life long best friend Carrie was home from Florida the other weekend and they stopped through to visit for a little bit!  It is always fun getting our kids together!  She has two sweet boys and one more on the way!  I don't know how she does it with 2, let alone 3 boys!!  Mom's of that many boys are amazing to me.  
I had to post some pictures of Kerigan's last weeks of day care with her sweet friends.  They had a rain themed week, went out in rain gear, looked at worms, and used their umbrellas.  I'm pretty sure Kerigan was in heaven because she wants to use her umbrella all.the.time.  Rain or shine!
They planted pots on a field trip and brought home a flower in it!  I loved this sweet picture of her.
They went on several picnics the last couple of weeks.  Here they are exploring after their picnic.  And can I add that Ashley is so wonderful that she send these pictures out to us every day, and videos too.  She's amazing.
Eating snack outside at Ashley's!  These 3 girls have become her very best friends.  She cannot wait to have them all at her birthday party.  It's all she talks about.
She even rode a horse!!  I couldn't believe it when Ashley sent me this one!  They went on a field trip to a farm and each got to ride.  Ashley said she loved it!
I loved this one of her twirling the jump rope!
Another picnic day!  Love this picture of all of them in the tree!
And there's just something about going to the grocery store with friends, isn't there?  It's way more fun! After Grace and Andrew's baseball practice one night we went out to eat at the grocery store and shopped together!  The kids loved it!
I found him like this when I came back to the car from returning the cart!  Ha!
We had so much fun at cousin Jayden's birthday party a couple of weekends ago!  Bowling at Bass Pro shops!  Andrew had a party here when he turned 5, and it was so fun.  It's a great place for a party!
We watched Jayden's baseball game!  Which made both boys extremely happy.
We went to our heart support group's silent auction one evening.  It is always a special night of honoring our heart warriors!
All the heart kids get to wear a badge- Andrew was so proud he wrote his own name on it so neatly!  They show a video of all the heart kids, and we have Jethro's cater dinner- it is awesome food!  And they had over 100 great items to bid on.
This year they had Belle attend to have tea parties with the kids!  Kerigan had just met her at the tea party at the mansion, so she was super excited to see her again!
My sweet kids!
Heart friends, Lainey and Andrew!  My kids adore these little people so much!

I got to take my sweet girl to her very first musical, The Little Mermaid.  These are the things I dreamed about having a little girl!  It was so much fun!  She is so fun to be with, and she loves doing these girly things.  She acts so grown up.
We went with our friends, Grace and Payton.  We went to eat at our favorite restaurant- Hickory Park!  And then the show.  It was a perfect night with sweet friends!
Me and my girl
I had to just laugh when I saw this on Facebook.  Mandy and I are always messaging each other late at night when the kids are in bed and often one of us will feel like a Walmart trip!  It's so fun to go dinking around there when no one else is there, except for the night time crew- Ha!  Walmart is not my favorite place, but we try to make the best of it!
This is a crazy selfie taken at 2am when these girls (Angie and Mandy) and I shut down the bar after Ladies Night on Wednesday!  Yeah, drinks were 2 for 1.  We shared them.  One drink for each of us, yet we still closed down the bar!  Ha!  How does anyone do that??  That's good friends, people!  You can sit outside and talk for hours, no matter where you're at!  I'm pretty sure our husbands all thought we had been drinking all night by the way we were giggling while dropping each other off.  What a fun night.  I love these late summer nights with special friends!
Speaking of late nights!  Ha!  Summer is all about staying up late and sleeping in, isn't it?  Andrew has been making his way into our bed pretty much since he could walk.  He still does it and he's seven!  And as you can see, the bigger he gets, the less room for mom and dad!  
This girl often naps on the go- I had to laugh at her with the headphones falling off her ears!
She won't go to sleep without clutching little princesses in her hands.
And she doesn't understand the meaning of "sleeping in."  Usually she's up before 7, getting into things and making messes.  This particular morning she had dumped out my entire purse.  Looks guilty, doesn't she?  Ha!
And poor daddy- he is usually the one she goes to in the morning so he always gets up with her.  But then falls back asleep!  Ha!  So this may be why the house is in chaos when I wake up.  But it's sweet of him to get up!  I don't operate well before 7am, especially in the summer!
We celebrated our 11th anniversary on June 21.  I didn't take one picture of us, but I got a picture of my amazing meal!  Ha!  That's a heart attack on a plate, right there.  Best chicken alfredo ever.  We got a babysitter and ate and then saw the movie Blended.  It was simple, but nice to have an evening out to celebrate!
And this sweet little man is my great nephew, Nash.  He is ADORABLE people!  My sweet niece Mary was in labor for 37 1/2 hours with this one!  She did amazing and I am so proud of her!  He lives in South Carolina, which is too far away.  So we decided to take a little road trip/summer vacation out to meet him!!!!!  I am soooo excited!  I cannot wait to snuggle him!

I will be posting updates automatically while I'm gone to try to get caught up!  Can't wait to blog about our trip when we get home!

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