About Me

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Married twenty-five years to my wonderful husband and best friend. We have 3 "home-grown" kids and 1 hand-picked by God from Africa. Our life is blessed. We are a close knit family with strong Christian beliefs. Come along with us on our journey…you might have a great laugh or two.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

San Diego zoo...



The San Diego zoo is a place that every person on the planet should have to navigate their way through. It has an amazing amount of winding paths and fantastic animal displays, and an atmosphere that's so natural and jungle-like that in some parts you'd think for sure you were in the tropics. It was the best zoo we've ever been too by far...and believe me we've been to a lot of zoos.

My husband and I said that the zoo is an absolute genius for one thing...and one thing only. Two words, people...moving sidewalk. After you've walked down, down, down these extremely long hills...you get to "ride" these moving sidewalks up. Genius!!! Believe me, when we stumbled across these things it was like heaven on earth for really tired legs (remember we're old). The Omaha zoo near us has GOT to get it some of these...



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Monday, August 29, 2011

Legoland...











After a quick breakfast and a short stop to Walmart (what vacation is complete without a stop there), our crew headed off to see the great Legoland. It was such an interesting place. Everything that could be made out of Legos was made out of Legos there...and I do mean everything. Tables, mirrors, sculptures, building...you name it, it had been built and put on display there. We arrived just before the park opened and left when it closed. The crowds were quite small and we had to wait no more than 15 minutes (at the most) for a ride. So basically, we just went from ride to ride to ride all day long. Oh so much fun!!!

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Sunday, August 28, 2011

The beach...



Today we decided to rearrange our plans a little and spend just a full day on the beach. I'm so very glad with did. The weather was just perfect, sunny, clear with a cool breeze. The water however was extremely cold. That did not deter my kids in the least little bit. They chased the waves, looked for what little shells they had and dug holes in the sand. We had more sand in more places than I can to admit, but we left there at the end of the day with 4 tired kids and a boatload of memories.

Tomorrow is Legoland...can't wait for that one!

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Landed...


Our flight to California was extremely uneventful...just the way I like it. The kids traveled beautifully and since we needed a car seat for our van we rented we also used it on the plane...containment for our little one - it's like magic, people....he just sat in his car seat and just played for hours.

Our first day in California was really actually...a night. Our flight into LAX was late (by our standards) and we decided not to push the kids anymore than we had to, so we just stayed the evening at an airport hotel. Even by the time we were loading onto the hotel shuttle, my kids were begging to go to sleep. We love our sleep! However, on the flip side we are up and running early every morning. Which was good because the beach was calling our name the next morning...
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Friday, August 26, 2011

Vacation time...

Every year we try to plan a family vacation...somewhere, anywhere. We just love it. We love to travel, see new places and experience new adventures. (of course, with 4 kids in tow all the time Walmart can sometimes be an adventure)

Our vacation planning never really starts...well, with a plan. We usually start researching someplace on the map, and then veer off and look at something else, then something else. Money has a lot to do with our vacation (who doesn't have that problem...), so we have to be pretty financially creative with a family our size. We don't seem to fit into the 2 adults, 2 children packages that are offered. But you would be surprised that a lot of the time it is cheaper for us to go overseas than it is for us to stay in the states. Crazy thought, I know...but it's true.

So last year when we started planning our vacation we thought about the West Coast...kind of like doing a "theme park vacation" up and down California. Of course, we totally veered off that one and ended up in Argentina....loved it!!! Anyway, this year we are back to vacation time and have decided to finish off with our first plan and go out West and do a "theme park vacation". I realize that some of you are probably going...ugh!!!...but our kids are going to love it. We are going to see Disneyland, Lego land, Sea World, San Diego Zoo, the beach and we're going to throw in Yosemite/Sequoia National Park, just for good measure.

So, come along with us on our vacation journey...to the West Coast. California, here we come!!!
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Happy "fake" Birthday...

Last night we had a sweet celebration at our house. Our big girl is turning 12. We had the cake, decorations and presents...the whole she-bang. But....technically, she turns 12 on August 31. You see, tomorrow we are leaving for our big family vacation. And since we won't be able to celebrate the way we normally would, we decided that we would throw a Happy "fake" birthday celebration. Goofy, I know...but it works for us. It was a wonderful night and she loved all her presents. So here's to you our big girl...happy "fake" birthday....we love you more than you will ever know.




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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Curious George...



I found it in a box at the top of our storage area. I had been cleaning and throwing out many, many, MANY boxes for the past week when I came across this. My husband received it when he was 4 years old because he had gone into the hospital and has kept it for 37 years. It was old and filthy and smooshed terribly, but the minute (and I do mean the very second) I pulled it out of the box my little boy yelled at the top of his lungs...."crious deorge". (That's Curious George, for those of you who don't speak "two year old")


...and has not let go of it since

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Monday, August 22, 2011

Just because...



...my husband and I couldn't stop laughing
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Sunday, August 21, 2011

Did you hear????

This afternoon the heavens opened up and all the angels sang a hallelujah chorus as our little girl was baptized. We will be walking in the streets of gold together as one family. Praise the lord, hallelujah and a big ol' fat woo-hooo!!!!

















Monday, August 15, 2011

A few thousand of our closest friends...

This past weekend was packed full of fun for us. On Saturday we decided that we would attend the Iowa Straw Poll up in Ames all day. It was our first year to ever go and realized very quickly that it was craziness at it's best. There were thousands of people there and tons of candidates. If you didn't like standing in lines then don't ever go to one of these. There was live music, food and all kinds of "giveaways". We were able to find a seat way up high in one stadium and listened to most of the candidates speak (quite interesting really...kind of like being at a debate). It was pretty cool. At the end of the day we grabbed some popcorn and took our tired crew home (one of us didn't quite make it to the car before he fell asleep)...




























On Sunday...since we didn't spend enough time with "all the people in the state of Iowa" the day before...we decided that we would wear out our crew again...but this time it was at our state fair. Again, a few thousand of our closest friends were there....and again, we had a great time. The older kids were competing in a robotic competition in the morning which left the afternoon to riding rides, eating and doing all the "fair stuff" you could imagine. We were so worn out by the time we got home, I think everyone just sat and stared at each other the rest of the evening...not really, but something like that.






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Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Park hopping...

We had by all accounts a fantastic afternoon. We had no agenda and no place that we had to rush off to...nothing, zilch, nada....and it was wonderful. So we decided to just get on our bikes and ride. We ended up going "park hopping" around our area. And it was a great time!
































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Monday, August 8, 2011

Funny story...

Once a month my husband and I have nursery duty at our church in the "two year old" room. This past Sunday it was our turn to serve. About half way through the hour the main teacher had all of the children sit on a carpet and play a little game called "I Spy". (You know, I spy something green...what is it???)

Well, she begins the game with the color red. All the kids picked this and that and finally guess the correct item. Next, she picked the color black. At this time all the kids are looking around trying to guess what it could be, when all of a sudden our little boy jumps up and runs to me patting his tummy and says..."I black".

...it was seriously laugh out loud funny
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The finished project...


My daughter finished her dress in time to wear it to church on Sunday and she was so proud. To tell you the truth, I was proud of her too. My first dress was no where near as nice as she did...I believe she is a natural. As I was taking this picture, she and I both wished that her grandmother (my Mom) was here to see her in it.

You see, a while back my Mom flew in for a visit and brought with her the fabric and the pattern we used for this dress. (Crazy I know, but my Mom loves to sew as much as we do)

We wish you were here with us grandmom...thanks for the new dress!

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Saturday, August 6, 2011

Tonight...








Tonight, our dinner was a little late getting on the table. Tonight, our lawn took a little longer than usual to get mowed. Tonight, the younger kids got to paint on their own. Tonight, I taught my daughter how to sew her first dress. Tonight, my husband taught my son how to mow his first lawn.


Yes, it would be easier...to not teach these things. But think of the "life lessons" they would be missing...tonight.
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Friday, August 5, 2011

Discovering fire for the first time...

A couple of weeks ago my cell phone died...my very old, very flip phoneish, very non-text archaic phone. You get the idea...it was simply a phone, nothing more. I have been fighting the entire technological thing for quite sometime. Texting was a word that was not in my vocabulary, the internet on your phone was overwhelming to someone like me and don't even get me started on trying to understand what "apps" are about.

...enter my dead phone...

After one week of zero phone at all, I decided very quickly that I had to "deal" with this issue and learn. So...I bought myself an iPhone. Oh my goodness, holy cow and whoo-hoo for me! I have been having so much fun with it. I am s-l-o-w-l-y learning how to text and understand everything this smart phone can actually do.

My little brother has an iPhone and had been bugging me about getting one too so we could do something called "face time". The other night my husband and I sat for a long time and did "face time" with my brother and his wife (who I might add is expecting their first baby). It was just like he was sitting in my kitchen having a great visit. I got to see their nursery, their apartment and "the baby bump" (so excited to be an aunt again). It was wonderful. My brother just laughed and laughed at me. He told me it was like watching two cavemen....

....discovering fire for the first time
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Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Thought it was a good idea...





But somehow, when you factor in the warm day today (89...not as hot as it has been lately...but still good and warm), or the 10 miles round trip, or the bike trailer filled with two kids (between both of them and the trailer...a good 80 pounds extra to pull), or the 6 o'clock traffic to deal with, and my personal favorite...a really sore rear end when it's all done....well, let's just say that when the kids say "hey, Mom, can we bike to the farmer's market today"


....just wondering about that good idea thing
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