1st night in Vegas...

On Friday morning I drove up to Tamarah's house (my friend & former teammate) to ride to the airport with her, Kira (her 6 month old baby), and Debby (Tam's mom). We had a very smooth flight and made it to Vegas around 4:00 that afternoon. I guess I should back up a little and say that the reason we were going to Vegas was for Kari Conklin's bachelorette party. I had never done anything like this before, but the timing worked out well (i.e. not pregnant or nursing!) and everything just fell into place. Some of my closest friends and teammates from high school were there...and we realized that we hadn't all been together for almost 8 years! Several of Kari's friends from Denver were there along with Kari's mom, grandma, aunts, future mother-in-law...whew! I think there were 26 of us total...all gathered in Kari's honor! We had plenty of reasons to celebrate!

Jaimi, Leslie, Renee, and I shared a room at the top of the Flamingo Hilton, and our room connected to a suite where Tamarah was staying (with her baby & mom, who was there to babysit).

Here's the view from our room...it was amazing!

It was SO great to see my friends and get caught up on their lives. We all re-connected right away and it really felt like no time had passed!

Here's Jaimi and I at the buffet at our hotel. We were a little obsessed with taking pictures of us together...so I'll try not to bore you!

Some of our group at dinner.

Jaimi getting to know baby Kira.

Me, Jaimi, Leslie, Renee, and Tamarah having a little fun in the elevator.

I'll end this post now, but I have lots more pictures to share, so check back if you want to. (:

I'm off...

...to Vegas!!! Yep, I'm going to Las Vegas for the weekend with six of the awesome "Stormies" pictured below! They are going to just love that I posted this, but I couldn't resist! (: I'll make it up with pictures from our weekend together when I get back...

Quick Update

Josh finished all of the trim on the windows and other details on the exterior (soffits, lighting, and the porch ceilings). He also started installing the electrical receptacles throughout the house, and someone will be helping him with all of the wiring in the next few weeks. He has been working on the siding when he can while we wait for our friend to free up some time to finish it. That's all there is to report at the moment (:

Happy Birthday, Amy!

We celebrated Amy's 29th Birthday with all of the family on Sunday. Her lunch request was to have fish sticks and taco salad--partly due to pregnancy cravings, (: but I guess she used to ask for that a lot growing up. (: For dessert we had angel food cake with strawberries, and ice cream with yummy toppings.

Jon and Ethan with the Birthday girl!
Josh and Griffin
Ethan playing with Grandpa
Lydia and Ronan
It was a nice day, so we all enjoyed playing outside. Here's Grandpa playing baseball with the kids:
After awhile we all went to the park and I got some pictures of all the cousins playing.

Macey and Griffin swinging together.

Audrey, Lydia, and Dylan on the merry-go-round (:

Dylan and Griffin playing with trucks!

Ronan, Audrey, and Lydia playing baseball with Grammie.

Happy Birthday, Amy!!

Women's Retreat

I spent all day Saturday at a women's retreat at Grove Christian Camp in Cottage Grove. It was a gorgeous day! In the five years we've been going to that camp I don't think we've ever had a sunny weekend...it has always been chilly and rainy. So, it was especially nice to focus on God and spend time with good friends, while enjoying the great scenery--all in the sunshiny, warm weather! It was so relaxing and FUN.

My mom and I at lunch.

Sydney and Becca

During our free time Becca, Mom, Robin, and I went on a walk down to the covered bridge.

Me with my sister, Becca, and Robin, who is like a sister to us (:

Also during free time a group from Hosanna Dance Studio performed for us. Several of them go to our church, including three high school girls who are in my small group. I was so proud of them & impressed with their dancing ability!

I have to say a special THANK YOU to my mother-in-law who helped take care of my boys so that Josh could get some work done on our house. I really appreciated her willingness to do that so I could go on the retreat! Also, thank you so much to my dad and father-in-law for working on the house with Josh!

Sunny Friday

We are finally getting a dose of long-awaited warm spring weather! I don't know how long it will last, but we have been enjoying every minute of it!

On Friday I decided to let Ronan ride his bike while Griffin rode in the stroller. They usually ride in our double jogger, but lately Ronan has been more excited about riding his bike. I knew that my friend was going to be at Oakway Park, but I figure it would be too far for Ronan to ride, so I planned to go to a closer park. We started on our way and I soon realized that Ronan was doing great on his bike and he would be fine going all the way to Oakway. I was really impressed! I had to walk pretty fast and jog at times to keep up with him, and he never complained about getting tired. We made it in 20 minutes and had a great time playing with our friends. Afterwards we met Josh at Hawaiian Time for lunch, then he drove us home (: Ronan probably could've made it home on his bike, but I'm pretty sure it would have been a little too much for him. He went down for his nap without a fuss...they both slept great that afternoon! I forgot my camera, but I took a few pictures with my phone that I will try to upload later. Here are some pictures from the rest of our day:

Our cherry tree full of blossoms.

Griffin discovered his pockets while we were walking to our mailbox (all the way down our gravel street). I think he felt pretty cool (:

Playing on scooters

Their favorite past time...playing with diggers in the dirt and rocks.

Griffin entertaining himself in the kitchen while I cooked dinner (:

April 8th

I had a wonderful day celebrating my actual Birthday. I started the morning by going to Moms of Grace, where there were special decorations & a cake in my honor (thanks to my mom and Becca!). From there mom took my kids home for their naps and I got to have a few hours of free time. (: Josh took me to lunch at Cafe Lucky Noodle and then I went to Footloose for an hour-long massage! It was so incredibly relaxing! I came home to a clean kitchen and both kids still napping. (: Thanks so much, Mom!!

Getting ready to open my gifts.

Josh was trying to take pictures of me, and Ronan kept dancing in front of the camera. I thought I would post this picture so I would always remember what it was like to turn 30 while having a very active and silly 3 year old. He makes me laugh & keeps me young (:

Poor Griffin was sick with a cold, but he still had fun playing with trucks.

Next we went on a family date to Red Robin. It can be kinda crazy having little kids at a restaurant, and we knew that going in to it, but it turned out better than we expected. Ronan played with some toys that he brought and I kept Griffin entertained with strawberries from my lemonade while we waited for our food.

We all shared my yummy hot fudge sundae!

After we got the kids to bed we watched the movie Dan in Real Life. It was a very full, fun day! I can't believe I'm really 30!?!?