Megan's 1st Birthday!

Sweet Megan turned 1! 

Since I love this family as if they were my own, I had to include some pics of Miss Megan's first birthday! Such a fun birthday--the first!!

Birthday girl

Checking out the cake ...  with momma's help :o)

And with big sister's help ... :o)

Beautiful and fun Molly!

If I remember correctly, this was just after she was discovered as sticking her fingers in the cake and licking the icing! Ha! :o)

And, I just love these next pics of Jordan! They just show how handsome he is as well as what a serious goof ball he is! 

Noah enjoying some cake!

Jacer!

The bigs

Sweet, tired Megan

And, the traditional--"It's my party, so I can cry if I want to" pic!

Happy Birthday to sweet Megan!! Such a special little love!

OKC

So, it didn't take long to start missing our Kaelbers. Therefore, we quickly threw together a trip in early June to go visit their new town. The Robbins had to sit this trip out because of other commitments, but the Browns joined us to take over Edmond! Of course, the only pics I got were of the yummy cook out that Curt and Sarah provided for us. But, we did much more! We totally loved our time with them even if the Hay clan seemed to clog up some plumbing around the house ... 

Let's just say we haven't been invited back! ;o)

Curt, the grill master

Sarah, the perfect hostess-as always!

Shawn hanging out with Preston. 

Addie girl

The Crew

Yes, they were as much trouble as they look in these pics!

Dani 

AJ

What a beauty!

Ems

And, yeah, um, Jenna  :o)

More Addie-I never seem to get enough of those brown eyes!

Dillon!! Apparently, Preston moved too fast for me to catch a pic of him! :o)

The kids enjoying and exploring the backyard.

The mommas! 

I fear we look a little worn down. Though we were enjoying each other immensely, we all know that getting away for fun never ends up being quite as ideal as we imagine when toting 7 young ones. Despite needing a vacation from our mini getaway, we LOVED getting to see our Kaelbers, and posting these pics just makes my heart ache with missing them all over again! 

Love you dear friend!!

Dallas

In early June, Jeff and I got the chance to escape for a little time away. We chose to drive down to Dallas and enjoy life as just the two of us. The trip was GREAT! It was the first time we had left all four kids for 4 nights. We really were able to relax and enjoy one another! I am so grateful for that trip!

We actually stayed in Rockwall, Texas which is a town just outside of Dallas. It has a little lake with a Hilton resort located near it. This little lighthouse was just outside of our hotel.

This was the back of our hotel by the pool.

Jeff on the Titanic. Ha! I laughed forever!

This is a view outside our room. 

This post appears to be just a lot of random pics of lighthouses and us. But, it truly was much more than that. We enjoyed yummy food, a Rangers games, a movie, more food, Ikea, and reading by the pool. On a deeper level, we were able to write out some mission statements for our family and enjoy one another like we haven't done in years. I was able to pull myself out of the funk I've seem to be in and enjoy Jeff for the man I fell in love with. I am so grateful that I chose him 11 years ago and that he continues to choose me each day! 

Pi Beta Pi

So, as much as I love using this blog to keep track of my pictures and events, I can't seem to find the time to keep it updated. I have finally gone through all pictures from the last five months and uploaded them to the blog. Hopefully, I will be making them into blog posts soon!

First, up ... Sarah's move...

One of my dearest friends in the whole wide world moved last spring. To say that it tore my heart is a mild way to put it. Without getting into all of the mushy and even drippy details, I decided to post just a few pics of a fun evening that Marcie, Jen, and I put together.

First, we wanted to surprise her with an evening out, so we made this little note and attached it to Sarah's window one night. Well, our sly Jen was the actual window perpetrator. It gave her some rules for the evening.

The next part of the evening was our mushy part. We drove Sarah around town and reminded her of places that were special to our relationships with her throughout the past 10 plus years. We then concluded that part of the evening with dinner at one of her fave spots at Frank and Lola's.

Finally, we headed to Jen's house and had our own little ceremony making her promise her undying love to us and promise to never forget us. :o)

We thought it would be fun to blind fold her! Ha! 

The evening truly was special and meaningful. I hope Sarah knew by the end of the night how dear her friendship is to each of us!

Oh these girls! These three girls are such amazing friends. Really, amazing is an understatement. When you can find girls who will sob with you, laugh with you and at you, pray for you, carry you through hard times, laugh some more with you, and challenge you as a mother, wife, friend, and daughter of Christ, you just can't let go. I have been blessed to find that in these three women. I miss Sarah more than anything, but our friendship is so dear that no distance or time will ever separate this friendship!