Concert

UPDATE:
So we got home at 2:30 this morning. It was worth it though. Celine was AMAZING!! We thought we were going to miss part of her show as traffic was horrendous!! However, the Lord showed favor and we arrived about 15 minutes before she came on stage. It was her very last show as Omaha was her last stop on a World Tour. It was pretty emotional for her. I had this guy sitting next to me that was in tears because of this. He kept yelling "I love you Celine." I don't think she could hear us since we were six rows up from the nose bleed section!! I wasn't complaining where we were sitting though since I won them. What a blessing to be able to go see Celine.

In just a few hours Kevin and I, along with some good friends, will be heading to the Celine Dion concert in Omaha. Back in October of last year I won the Hurley Girl Sweepstakes which I entered online. Part of the contest was winning tickets to a concert of my choice. I chose to go to Celine Dion since I love listening to her!! Also, it was close to our anniversary thinking we would make a weekend out of it. The weekend part didn't work out but the concert must go on so we decided to go anyway. Thanks to Mom and Mike for being here as they will watch the boys for us. Concert is at 8pm so it's going to be a very late night for us, but sure worth it!! Omaha and Celine here we come!! WOO HOO!!!!

I Do

Those were the words I said to Kevin 13 years ago today. 13 years of marriage has had it's up and downs, yet I wouldn't change them. It's not been an easy 13 years as we've gone through many fires however God has blessed us in many ways through our married life. I love Kevin more now than ever. My first response to seeing him 17 years ago was WHO WAS THIS CRAZY GUY??? Well, I figured it out and knew I wanted to be with him for the rest of my life. We became friends first and then slowly but surely a relationship developed until Kevin finally opened his eyes and had an "AHA" moment!! Anyway, thanks Babe for all you do for me. May we have many more beautiful years together. Thanks also for my beautiful roses. I love them!!

Birthday & Grandparents

The beautiful flowers my sister sent for my birthday


Tony being silly at my birthday dinner last night

Eating at Ryan's


Tony wearing Zayvn's glasses

Renn and Oscar playing tug o war




My cousin Sigrid and I

Playing games

Holding my turtle birthday cake that Kev's mom made for me


Mom and Sigrid

In Pella, IA


Visiting with Bob and Dee

Zayvn and grandma sleeping in van

Grandma playing Dominoes with the boys

What a wonderful birthday weekend I had. My cousin Sigrid and her husband Tony were on their way to Indiana and had some free time so they stopped in to visit. We spent Friday evening together eating, visiting and playing games. What fun it was to have Tony and Sigrid here. Saturday morning Kevin's mom, Karon, I and Sigrid went out to Village Inn for my birthday breakfast. From there mom treated me to a manicure. What a blessing that was. We then went and did a little bit of shopping making our way home. Once we got home there was a box waiting outside the door for me. I opened it up and too my surprise was these beautiful flowers that my sister Teresa sent to me. I was very surprised. Saturday night we headed to Ryan's Buffet where we had dinner, then headed back to the house where we played games again. Tony and Sigrid headed back to their truck where they took off for Indiana. It was a great day and having family here was even better. I was quite surprised too with all the Facebook messages I received. What a fantastic weekend!!

Grandparents are here

Coming down the escalator

Waiting for grandma and papa to come down escalators

Waiting for grandparents

Papa and the boys


Kevin and his mom

They are here!! Their flight came in and no problems. Boys were extremly excited to see them. We took them to the church to see Kevin then headed to Wal mart to pick up some essentials. Home tonight with a good home cooked meal.

Visitors

Kevin's mom Karon and her husband Mike are flying in tomorrow for a two week visit. The boys are very excited as are Kevin and I. I'm not sure how often I'll post during that time but will when I can.

Awesome Video

One of my friends sent this video to me from You Tube. It was so great I had to share it.

Flu Bug Bit Again

That yucky flu bug hit our house again. Yesterday Renn wasn't feeling very well. We fed him some soup and by late last night it all came up. That set off Zayvn early this morning and then myself about an hour after him. So far, and we're praying, that Kevin doesn't get it. It's no fun when everyone's sick in the house.

Bummer

Tonight Kevin and I were going to go to the Iowa Chops game http://www.iowachops.com/schedule/promotional/. Not only were we going to enjoy a nice game of hockey for free but we were going to have our wedding vows renewed, along with about 70 other couples, during the 1st and 2nd quarters. Unfortunately, Renn is sick so we will have to miss out this time. I think Kevin is giving a sigh of relief!! He never knows what this crazy wife of his will come up with next!!

Bunk Beds

We are eagerly anticipating the arrival of Puppy grandma and Papa next week. So, we needed to do some rearranging in the bedrooms. We put the bunk beds back together so Zayvn could sleep in his brothers room while they are here. We then put another bed in Zay's room so grandma and grandpa could have their own room. The boys decided tonight that they would sleep together and make a fort out of their blankets. I have a feeling though Renn's going to end up in his own bed.

My sister found this cool video with Keith Urban's new song Sweet Thing coming out. You can customize to include your name and info. You can find the link here: http://www.sweetthing.tv/ Enjoy!!

Some days...

There's just some days that I feel like the worst mom in the world. I had one of those days today. My boys can be the most precious things in the world and then there are days, like today, that they've decided to make this day tag team 101 with mom. Frustration rose high today and I took every attempt to remain calm. I'll be transparent and honest with you I've been working on my yelling. Yes, I at times raise my voice just a little bit louder than I like. I don't like that in myself. I've asked and keep asking the Lord to help me in this area. I'm not proud of it. I don't want my children to grow up and all they remember is their momma yelling at them. I want them to grow up and see a momma who loved and cared for them, one who could talk without raising of the voice. I was raised in a home like that and I picked up on those behaviors. Raising children is not easy and I have failed Mom 101 several times. However, I'm trying to rely on the Holy Spirit to give me wisdom and direction in raising my children. When I feel like I've failed as a mom the Lord gently picks me up and lifts me up again. He reminds me to take His yoke upon me and learn from Him. For His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matthew 12:28-30) It's at my weakest of moments that the enemy comes in and would like to tell me how bad of a mom I am. Yes, I will have many more days like the one today but I know that I can run to my Father's arms and He will gently lift me up and carry me through. It's days like today that I am reminded to pray for my children all the more harder because the enemy would like to devour my children. It's days like today that I need to, at the end of the day, give my children an extra hug and love and let them know how much they are loved and cherished. It's days like today that I need to take a deep breath and realize it's not my children I'm fighting against but against the enemy. My strength comes from the Lord and in Him I take refuge. God has made me a GREAT mom!! I'm giving myself a pep talk here!! Although, I don't always feel like I'm the best mom I know the Lord placed me on this earth, for this moment in time, to raise my boys for His glory. It's not something I take lightly and I will continue to do my best, with the Lord's help. Tomorrow's a new day and with the Lord's help I'm going to make it the best it can be!!

Weekend Fun

Zayvn playing Guitar Hero


Zay and Kevin boxing on the Wii

Sunday after church we headed over to Joe & Megan Russell's house for dinner and some Wii fun. Joe is the son of our good friends Walt & Deb. What a wonderful meal and great fellowship time. Renn and Zayvn had a blast over there playing the Wii and watching movies. Kevin and I even got into playing the Wii as well. Thanks to Joe and Megan for having us over!!

Ladies Night Out

Linda and Sandy

Ruth, Mary & Tara

Debbie and Ann

Once a month some of the ladies from the church get together and meet somewhere for dinner. Tonight we met at On The Border http://www.ontheborder.com in West Des Moines. There were 10 of us that met. We had a great time of fellowship together and it was great to have our pastor's wife Ann there with us tonight. Towards the end of our meal two of the troublemakers :) told the waitress it was my birthday in February so they brought out a dessert and sang loudly to me. Yes, the redness in my neck crept up my face!! It's wonderful for the ladies to come together and just fellowship with one another. It's a time to get together and talk with those around you and get to know a bit more. I'm looking forward to next month's gathering!! Thanks ladies!!

Field Trip to the Post Office

Showing the kids different stamps

Cart where the mail is put before loaded on truck

Zayvn's class went to the Altoona Post Office today. I had Zayvn and a van full of girls. Poor Zayvn!! Each one of the children had a letter that they put in the mailbox to mail. We then took a tour behind the counter and saw how the mail is seperated by streets, etc. It was pretty neat to see how that all worked.

Bowling

Go Zayvn Go!!

My favorite shot of Renn bowling!

Last night after dinner we took the boys bowling. We've been awful busy lately with church activities so we decided to spend some good quality time together as a family. We went to AMF Bowling in Des Moines since Pleasant Hill's bowling alley didn't have open bowling until 9pm. We had a great time bowling. Zayvn even bowled without the bumpers and scored 19 points. Kevin was beating me for a little bit as my arm was hurting but I just couldn't let him do it so the last couple frames I tried my best. We ended up tying each other with 98 points. Renn did awesome with a total score of 78. That boy's got the arm and a couple times I thought I could see his ball do a little twist down the lane. We got done bowling and the lady asked if we were done bowling. I said yes and walked away. Kevin comes up to me a few minutes later and said we didn't pay. I told him we did and went back up to the counter. I asked the lady if I had already paid and she said no we had just paid for our shoes. I just stood there for a minute in shock because I thought we had paid for bowling when we first came in. I paid for the bowling and because I was so confused the lady ended up giving me some free bowling coupons. Moral of the story: Bring your own bowling shoes or make sure the cost before you decide to bowl. It's expensive!! Well worth it, but expensive.