be happy for this moment.....this moment is your life

Aug 15, 2012

Fam Vaca!

One of our favorite vaca is Vegas. If it isn't "family friendly," then why do we always have such a good time as a family? Riddle me that! Our hotspots: 1)Poolside 2)Fremont Street 3)Belagio 4)Mirage 5)Caesars Palace 6)Seafood Buffet 7)Trader Joe's 8)Maple Tree Cafe 9)Circus Circus. Such a good time with the fam...minus Blake...I missed him terribly. That's the life of a responsible working teenager.

Road Trip!

1) Poolside is the only way to spend your day in Vegas!

We saw this shirt displayed in one of the shops...we all said, "Chase that's gotta be you." And he goes, if it's $5, Im going to buy it. There wasn't one to be found but she looked in a pile of samples and sure enough, one his size, and it was $5. Score Chase!

2)Fremont Street is one of our faves. We love the light show and FREE magicians. Awesome

3)The Belagio water show....and crazy street performers of all sorts:)

4)The Mirage volcano....feel the heat!

5)Caesars Palace...where the boys followed "Batman", Christian Bale while filming a movie. So fun.

6)Seafood Buffet. I can't go to Vegas without going to all you can eat crab, shrimp, fish, etc etc...

7) I don't know why, but I love this store. I mean, Thai Lime & Chili Cashews and $2 wine??? Yes please! Curt and I always enjoy stocking up at the CVS pharmacy too. Good stuff.

8)We found the sweetest place for breakfast. We will be sure to make that one of our "musts" while there. Two words...bacon.pancakes

9)Of course the boys want to go to Circus Circus EVERY time. I mean, isn't playing rip off games and stocking up on lame stuffed animals every boys dream? OK, I admit, I may like it just a little.

I'm happy for every moment I see a look or reaction on the boys' face in Vegas...

Jul 24, 2012

Washington

We have such a great time visiting friends and family in Washington. The boys absolutely love it. Especially Cooper. He talks about wanting to live there all the time. He misses the orchards, space, and riding 4-wheelers. He also misses the cousins, aunts/uncles, grandma and grandpa. We all do...but not as much as the boy. Being able to see my friends is special to me too. We have been hanging out at Summer's moms house since 6th grade. During the Summer, we'd hang there every Wednesday, chatting by the pool, with ice tea, hotdogs, and western family peanut butter cookies. The kids swim for hours! We also got to see Timi, Tori, Kevin and the kids...and eat from my fave,El Porton. Cooper never fails to have an incident. This time, it was a swing to the face. Good times.

Beautiful 10 hr drive....

with 3 teenagers! The good news is, Im in this car. Coop and Chase are probably fighting in the other. Poor Jenny, Terry, and Court:)

Cousin Kirsten just LOVES Coop. What a lucky boy, she'll do anything for him.

I'm happy for the moments we get to spend with old friends from our hometown....

Seattle

Boy, do we miss Seattle. Fun trip with our good friends, the Hinz's. We went to our fave places...Pikes Place, Ivars, Space Needle, downtown and waterfront.....good times.

I'm happy for the moments we spend seeing and experiencing new places together, as well as enjoying our fave spots...

Jul 23, 2012

Feeling Blessed

As tragic a time this past week has been for my Dad and our families, I am feeling so blessed to witness faith, the spirit, and love. Even though I continue to struggle with many issues surrounding, I am grateful for the opportunity to dig deeper into my faith and relationship with Christ. I have so many questions and emotions. We want answers and to be able to make sense of everything, but we can't. In times of hardship we attatch earthly explanations and reasons to make ourselves feel better. But there is no way we can comprehend the power of God and Gods plan.

One thing that I am for sure of, is the importance of family and friendships. We all know this. But, honestly, how many times do you have the opportunity to actually experience and feel the power of it? Without the strength and confidence of my siblings, step-siblings, Debbie, their close friends, our close friends, family members, co-workers, and church families....there is no way anyone would make it through this in such a compelling manner. I could name individuals, one by one, and how much they have impacted me and my family through something as simple as a text to see how things were.

Aside from my mom's passing, this has been the most difficult. I am blessed to see Tiff, Matt, and family cope in the way that they do. Such amazing individuals and I am blessed to call them my family. All this has been a growing and learning opportunity for my boys as well. As unfortunate as it may seem, they will some day go through trials with their own families and suffer loss. I'm grateful for the opportunity to have these discussions with them and allow them to see how everyone is handling it....among their aunts, uncles, grandparents, friends, and family.

God is love....and he surrounds us.

I am happy for the moments that make us real and the opportunity for us to grow...together...

Jun 25, 2012

Just Coop

Curt and I got to hang with Cooper...just Coop...for 4 days. It was interesting to say the least. Cooper was not himself without his brothers here. It was weird. He was beside himself. Curt and I remembered what it was like when we only had Blake. Good times. So the Coopster took us out to dinner...really, he paid. He was so cute about it. A few day's earlier he threatened me and said, "Im not going to buy you lunch if..." Silly, silly Cooper...I own you! He went to work with Dad one day and LOVED it. He and I got to spend some time by the pool together. Our conversation was priceless, as most conversations with the boy are. We talked about our best day ever, our favorite day of the week, marriage (true story), our favorite time...Coop said his was when we went to Vegas! Oh Crumb! It actually WAS a lot of fun and we can't wait to go at the end of July. We swam and then got some coconut African ice:) Cooper asked why it's called African ice when he doubts there's a lot of ice in Africa. He has a valid point.

This made me think how important it is to spend time and know each one of our boys for who they are as an individual...as well as part of the family. We lump the boys together a lot thinking, "that's what we did for his brothers," or "we should do this for the boys," or "if your brother did it, so should you..." It's all good, but they definitely come with their own wants, needs, and disposition.

I'm happy for the moments I get to spend with each one of my boys and recognize what makes them who they are...

Jun 24, 2012

just sittin here....and im just wonder'in....

is there something more productive I could be doing? Answer:YES
Blake and Curt are shoot'in hoops...
Coop is "cleaning his room" I put that in quotes because he is doing everything but...
Chase is on his ipod....aaand I should probably check on that...
And Im just sittin here, listening to music, waiting til they get back so we can pop popcorn and watch Justin Bieber never say never....I REALLY wish I were kidding.Ha!

What's on you ask? Well, Pandora...Augustana radio...pretty sweet!

Augustana-on the other side
Love this song!

Colin Hay-waiting for my real life to begin

Jimmy Eat World-my sundown

Howie Day-longest night also the artist of probably one of the best songs ever....Collide

....just to name a few

I'm happy for the moments i enjoy with MUSIC...