"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
Joshua 24:15
This is my mom. It's her birthday today. She's pretty amazing.
She is a wonderful grandma...
with Jeremiah in 2006
with Joshua on the tennis court last fall - one of her favorite places I would say!
with Joshua last Christmas - wearing a golf shirt - another place she likes to be :)
She's good with my boys and she's great with her girls...
Mom, Megan and I - Christmas 2007
She is the best a girl could ask for and I just want to say...
Happy birthday Mom!
We love you!
“A little boy is the only thing God can use to make a man.”
–Unknown
I like to travel. I don't like to pack - Stephen is REALLY good at that - but I love most everything else about traveling. And I think road trips are fun. Not always - ok, rarely - with kids as young as ours. But still - I think they are fun.
So someday...
I would like to to be able to say we took our kids to all fifty states.
I just love the idea of seeing the whole country. I am a sight-seer. I love history. I think every state has something for us to enjoy.
I know this won't mean much to the kids until they are much older, but it sounds lovely to me. And I hope someday they will think so too.
Or just think it was cool.
(For the record, they have officially been to five. They're young.)
Less than two hours after returning from our weekend away, Jeremiah and I went on a date to a local minor-league baseball game. Our first official "Mommy-Son Date Night" I suppose! I hope there are many more to come :)
And by the way, I actually do LOVE sports of almost any kind so going to a baseball game was perfect. I love having boys!
I did actually really miss the boys during our weekend away.
I promise.
And do you know what I missed the most about Joshua?
Those cheeks.
Don't you just want to reach into your computer and squeeze them?
They are perfect to kiss and squeeze and love on.
I love those cheeks.
Even when they're grumpy.
And even like this.
After a very eventful (but not at all stressful)
Day 1, we were ready for a relaxing Day 2. So we rented a boat.
No, not a sailboat. There was a race going on that day - just cool to look at.
We rented a nice roomy deck boat. Here is our captain for the day, J...
And his lovely wife, C...
J (yes, there were three men with the first initial "J" this weekend) and his wife M...
Lovely couple #3 - D & J...
And the oldies :) It's true - we were the oldest couple this weekend. And we're okay with that.
What a stud. Love you honey.
The weather was gorgeous so most of us just jumped right in. It was cold. But it felt good.
Do you like our life jacket diapers?
I don't care how they looked, they were handy.
C was the first to hit the waves. And I mean really hit the waves. It was VERY choppy out but she rocked those skis.
J manning the ropes.
Stephen also went out on the skis - still pretty darn choppy. Not ideal for skiing. But he was awesome - especially since it had been three or four years!
Doesn't this look like an ad for the boat company?
And doesn't he look relaxed? It was a good time.
After six hours on the boat, lots of sunburns and a yummy grilled supper, we headed back down by the water for dessert.
And a couples photo shoot, apparently (ok, my idea, I admit it).
Aren't we all so cute - and red?!
It was a wonderful getaway with wonderful friends. We are truly blessed with an abundance of great friends, many of whom feel like family.
And these are among the dearest to us.
Thanks for a great weekend, friends. We love you. Seriously.
This past weekend we left the boys with grandparents and headed out for a weekend at the lake with some friends from church. Believe me, we were all ready for a break!
And this is where we got to stay...
No, those are not pictures from a magazine. That is actually the place we stayed. Gorgeous, isn't it?! And I didn't even take pictures of the second floor!
And by the way, it was free! A relative of one of the couples let us stay there for the weekend - amazing!
We got in late Friday night, made a midnight Wal-Mart run (always fun) and then prepared for Day 1.
And that was a full day.
What I didn't get pictures of was starting our day with three hours of tennis. THREE HOURS. I was in heaven. I love tennis so much and have missed playing. It's time to start playing on a regular basis. Any takers?!
Next we headed down to the dock to check out the water. It was beautiful.
The guys found lots of big fish swimming around the dock. They were fascinated.
And as if three hours of tennis wasn't enough physical activity for the day, we all golfed nine holes next. And put sunscreen on this time. A little late for most of us.
The guys...
and the girls...
Just for the record, D (in the yellow) had the low round for the day. Out of ALL six of us :) She rocks.
This was my third time EVER golfing. I took seven strokes off my score. I was happy.
And we had fun.
And it was good we had the van for all those clubs.
Jerry's Pizza for supper...yummy...yes, that's my half without the cheese.
Bless that pizza, J!
There is a lot going on down by the lake in the summer so we went to check it out after supper.
There is the amusement park.
I went there once many years ago. See that roller coaster in the foreground? That is the reason I do not ride roller coasters. I think it may be the oldest, shakiest loudest roller coaster around. Just sitting near it and listening to it go by brought horrible memories rushing back to mind. Ugh.
But then a very pleasant surprise...
And that was just a fraction of the finale. It was an amazing show - one of the best I have ever seen in person. And we just stumbled upon it.
And we finished the night with this.
I was a very happy camper.
And that was just day one!
