blessed

I am not sure why but tonight I am feeling very blessed. Nothing special happened today... nothing great or out of the ordinary, but in my heart I am feeling very content. The Lord has blessed me with so much that I take for granted most of the time.
There are days that I feel overwhelmed, but when I really look at it...

I am blessed.

I have three amazing children. They all have sweet spirits and already are having a longing to know Jesus more. They have all been healthy. Our greatest scare medically has been the flu or small scrapes.

I am blessed.

I have a great husband who supports and loves me even at my ugliest times. He understands my moods and how to deal with me. He encourages me every day and I never have to question his love for me.

I am blessed.

Most importantly, I have an amazing Heavenly Father who cares for me more than I will ever know. He has been leading me on a path for so many years and is now calling me into His presence in new ways. He is never changing, but shows new sides of Himself to me all the time. He is my comfort, my encourager, my passion, my love, my guidance and so much more. He brings so many blessings into my life and even though the hard times He is faithful to all His traits.

I am blessed.

missing my girl...

Sometimes I don't understand myself... there are many days that I wish I could have a baby sitter take the kids for awhile, even just one of them, just so I could have a little break. This weekend my parents took Brooklynn camping. She just left this morning and will not be back until Monday. I cried a little as we left and I miss her like crazy. It has only been about six hours. How is this any different than if I were to have a sitter for the day. I know that wouldn't bother me. I know she is going to have so much fun. They are taking her hiking and fishing and she is so excited to sleep in a tent. I just miss her!! Am I crazy?

our puppy

We decided to get our puppy shaved yesterday. He has longer hair and we wanted him to be a little cooler for the rest of the summer. He looks like a completely different dog! I couldn't believe it was him when I went to go pick him up.

Before:




After:

roller skating

Yesterday I took the girls roller skating. It was the first time either of them had ever been and they loved it! The rink near our house does a pee-wee class on Thursday mornings so it was only for kids 2-6 years old which was very nice. I didn't have to worry about some big kids flying by them. They were a little nervous, but did great.

new sleeping bags

We recently bought the girls new sleeping bags to use camping. They were having a blast playing in them. It was really funny to watch!!

boulder trip

Last weekend we took a day trip to Boulder. Jay had never been there before and I had only been there once many years ago. We had a great time.

We ate at a little local bistro.
















After lunch we tried to go to the Boulder Falls, but they were closed because they were fixing the railings. So we got as close as we could. The girls still loved to see the water.










That night the girls were extremely tired and this is how I found Kendall sleeping... in her closet!!













Over all we had a great day. It was Jay's last day off before having to return to work so we thought we should do something special.

walmart

Today was Jay's first day back at work. It is a little adjustment since he has been at home for the last two months now. I think his day is going okay so far! My day has been a little different. I was a little ready for him to go back to work simply because when he is at home I get out of my routine and don't keep up with things around the house. I am anxious to get back in routine and feel like I am on top of things again.
This morning I took the kids to Walmart to do our grocery shopping. I usually take all three of them with me, but the last couple months I had Jay at home at all times and could leave them here, so it was like a new experience again. So here's how it went... Brooklynn and Kendall were very whiny, about half way though they both had to go to the bathroom. This is a very difficult task as I have to hold Morgann, help them on the potty and put my hand over the automatic flush sensor since they are both scared of it. All while trying to make sure that none of them are touching anything as I think public bathrooms are completely disgusting! So after that ordeal we go back to shopping. I was pushing the cart and somehow Kendall's foot gets under the wheel. It scratched all her toes and pulled part of a nail off. That's when the screaming began. She cried and cried. After a little bit I decided that I needed to get going as fast as I could as I could sense more meltdowns were coming my way. So I carried her the rest of the time in the store while pushing the cart. This is difficult to push with one hand when the cart is full and there is a one year old in the front who decided she is done. Morgann kept standing up in the seat in the front. I would have to stop to push her back down (with my one available hand) and then go again only to have her standing up again within a couple seconds. Oh the joys! Needless to say, we made it home alive and well. I miss my husband!! I may need to figure out a new plan for shopping from now on!!

These last few weeks...

So I know I have been slacking on this whole blog thing. These past couple weeks have been crazy. June 28th was Morgann's first birthday. I can't believe she is one already. I don't know where the time goes. I think each kid goes faster than the last! We had a little party at our house with some friends and family. It was nice and she really enjoyed her cake!!
The next day we left to go to a family reunion in Ohio. We were there for a week and had a great time. The kids went swimming all week long. Brooklynn and Kendall have spent very little time in water so they were a little timid at the beginning of the week, but by the end they were jumping off the diving board all by themselves!! It was so fun to see them enjoying it and we look forward to swimming more here now.


This is Brooklynn (far right), Kendall (middle), and Kaiden (cousin) playing in the water.

On the fourth of July my Aunt in Wisconsin went to check on my Grandpa and found him laying the garage. He had passed away. We think he died on Thursday the 3rd and was there for almost 24 hours before being found. It was really sad. We were still in Ohio when this happened so I flew home that Sunday night with my family and then the next morning Morgann and I flew out again to go to Wisconsin. This was last week. We were there for a few days and went to the funeral. It was a very sad time, but also a nice time to see family that I haven't seen in many years. My Grandpa's funeral was at the most amazing church.

Here are some pictures of my extended family. I hadn't seen most of these people in about 7 years.