Weekends

I forgot how much I take weekends for granted until I have a summer off and have to return to school.  My first weekend after the first week of school was an instant reminder to me of how much I need to just appreciate what little family time we have during the school year.  Life is CRAZY right now, so it was nice to just spend a couple hours hanging out together at the zoo not worrying about where we had to be, what we had to get done, etc.  This is our afternoon in pictures:

The petting zoo--it grosses me out!

Love my girls!

When did she turn 13?!?

Enjoying our awesome aquarium

Conquering the bridge in the jungle.  She and I had never been able to cross it before for fear of it.  It's this hanging bridge in the jungle of our zoo.  It's also wet due to the waterfall behind it.  Really cool, but really scary.  We did it though!

Just swining in the jungle

Getting ready to head home.  Lainey had done all the walking she could do!

Hooray for weekends and time together!

Fair Time

We've started a new tradition since living up North.  We head to my parents every year for the Knox County Fair.  It's a good time, and it gives Nana a chance to show off her girls to all of her friends. :) 

I had never been to a county fair before my parents moved here, so it's been quite the experience.  There are your typical carnival rides, 4-H presentations of animals, and three nights of concerts.  We happened to get a cooler weekend which made it much nicer.  I am definitely looking forward to the coming years with this tradition. 

Lainey rode a horse for the first time.  We pulled into the parking lot, and this man was riding his horse around directing traffic.  Lainey walked up to him and asked if she could pet the horse, and he got right down and asked her if she wanted to ride it.  She jumped at the chance and was loving life!  She later asked Nana to get her one. :)

Lainey and I got wristbands so we could ride all the rides we wanted.  We learned that lesson the hard way last year, so we're now prepared for wristbands every year!  Lainey loved all the kid rides, and we attempted some big kid ones as well.

This is one of those "big kid" rides we attempted.  I am a thrill seeker for sure, but I've always been leery of rides that travel around and are thrown up and down every few nights.  I decided to get over my fear for the sake of my thrill seeking child and ride some of the "big kid" rides with her.  Big mistake!  The thing about all of these rides is that they look a lot more mild from the ground than in reality.  We decided to go on the Octopus, a ride that is named because it looks like an octopus with legs out that go up and down and round and round.  Fun, right?!? 

Well after being (very loosely) strapped into our car, the ride got started.  We quickly learned that this was not going to be fun for either one of us.  I was literally hanging onto my daughter for her dear life.  My dad finally had to ask the ride guy if he would stop it because we were all getting a little nervous.  He graciously did, and Lainey and I got off the ride swearing to never do that again!  It would have been fun riding with another adult, but I learned my lesson about riding with my four year old.  We decided we would stick to the ones that spin round and round in one place, not round and round while moving up and down in the air!



Here's my sweet girls before the Hairball concert.  Hairball is a local 70s and 80s cover band that is AMAZING!  They really do put on a fantastic show, and have now become a permanent part in the fair lineup.

When we weren't at the fairgrounds, we were hanging out on the farm. 

Lainey with the beans she had planted earlier this year.

Picking and shucking corn for the first time

  This may be one of my favorite pictures of all time because you can just see how much these two love each other!  I am a Daddy's Girl for sure, but Lainey is certainly giving me a run for my money on who is Papa's favorite, ha!

Enjoying the fruits of her labor. 

Sweet sisters hanging out on the farm, and by hanging out I mean taking a million pictures for their crazy momma!  

And finally ending the weekend at Nana & Papa's church.  Crunkle didn't plan on matching the girls, but we figured it was picture worthy.

I can't express how wonderful it is to live this close to my family.  Can't imagine ever being as far apart as we were ever again!

Farm Life

Lainey has spent a lot of time at Nana & Papa's farm this summer!  My parents live on a farm, but are nowhere near farmers!  My dad just wanted the land and the scenic view, and we love that the girls have such a fun and different place to play.  Lainey has officially spent about 3 weeks there this summer, and only one of those was with Mommy around.  She goes to my parents and doesn't think twice about her own parents.  We only get to talk to her if we call her!  She loves the room to run, and she loves being able to play outside ALL day and night!

 Lainey loves to go golfing with her buddy, Carter.  The two of them especially enjoy driving the carts. :)

Lainey was able to help her Papa plant beans earlier this summer, and this past week she got to see how much they've grown. 

My mom has an above ground pool, and Lainey has really become a little fish.  I am amazed each time she comes home at all the new pool "tricks" she has!

And who doesn't love a good slip and slide?!?

This is one of my favorite pictures.  We're slightly obsessed with having "fire camps" at Nana & Papa's, and this girl loves her some marshmallows!

I am so thankful to live only 3 hours from my parents and to have parents that are so willing to take their grandchildren for extended periods of time.  My dad has said several times lately that he would be perfectly fine if Lainey came to live with them. :)  So blessed to have them in our lives!

4th of July Festivities

I LOVE THIS DAY!!!  I love it for what it means, I love it for the memories it brings back and creates, and I love it because who doesn't look good in red, white, and blue?! :)

We had a lot of fun celebrating America's birthday this year, and will continue to celebrate with our friends in our circle this weekend.  I have always loved this holiday, and when we moved to Omaha I think Jovan started to figure out why.  People here are just as crazy as am about the day!

I love decorating for the 4th and start right about Memorial Day weekend and will leave my patriotic decor up until it's time to decorate for football season.  This is the door sign I made this year, and I love how it turned out!


Our festivities began Sunday night at our church's annual Fireworks Bonanza.  It's really cool because we have a worship service, then there are food vendors and bouncy houses and other fun activities for the kiddos to play around on.  Everyone just comes and sets out their chairs, tents, and blankets and hangs out listening to a band or other music play until it's dark.  Then, of course, the real fun begins!  God has blessed us with a church home we really enjoy, and has answered our prayers about finding a small group.  We had a great time hanging out with our small group friends followed by some amazing fireworks!

Lainey wore the outfit Lilly is wearing for her first 4th of July.  I love when I get to put Lilly in Lainey's old clothes.  Brings back such fun memories!

Lainey getting ready to jump on one of those bungee trampoline things.  She had a blast!

Lilly had made a wardrobe change into her pjs for the fireworks.

The girls minus one

Lainey and her friend Ellie

 We're already looking forward to next year's Fireworks Bonanza!

On Tuesday night we went to the small town where my dad is from where they always have a street dance and a band.  We also went to check to make sure the blankets I had put down to secure a parade spot were still there.  It's crazy!  You are officially allowed to start "reserving" spots at 6 p.m. on the 2nd.  I went down at noon on the 3rd, and there was not much "prime space" left, but I did get us some shade with some curb spots also!  It never ceases to amaze me what a big deal this small town parade is!  Love me some Independence City!

Nana and our sweet girl

Lilly is thrilled, ha!

Waiting for the parade to start

The night of the 4th, we headed to watch fireworks.  We went up to my dad's elementary school and sat on top of a massive hill (the same hill we used to sled on as kids-so fun!).  It was really neat because we were able to see fireworks all over the city as well.  The girls wore their 4th pajamas, and everyone had a great time. 

Exhausted!

We had one of the most fun Fourths I remember in a long time!  Can't wait to do it again next year!

What a Difference a Year Makes...

So this Saturday marked our one year anniversary of our major life change/leap of faith.  We decided last April to take a leap of faith and move to Omaha--no jobs, nowhere to live, no friends, etc.  God absolutely had a plan for us, and He has continued to show us throughout this year that He is in control! 

Moving Day
July 16, 2010

Our first rental house

Now a year later I can look back on all our milestones: renting our first house, teaching public school, SNOW, losing a much needed 35 pounds, buying our first home, and finding out we'll have a new member of our family in time for Christmas!  This has been one roller coaster ride of a year, but we have made some unforgettable memories along the way!

Our new, permanent home :)

Happy 4th of July!

Well it is officially my most favorite day of the year, and this year has certainly not disappointed!  My parents came in this weekend to celebrate as we always do.  Our weekend started out Friday night when the whole family went for my ultrasound to find out early what the sex of this baby is.  For all like three of you that actually read this, I've probably already told you!  For the rest of you...we're not really making it all too public for a couple more weeks!  Anyways...that was our eventful Friday night followed by hanging out on our "upper deck."  We call it the upper deck because we are lucky enough to have a patio on the lower level too. 

This picture makes me laugh.  Clearly I went for the candid look, and everyone kinda looks a hot mess.  Oh well!  We were enjoying the absolutely amazing weather we get at night here!

Saturday we just hung out and did a little shopping.  Our local outdoor malls here have concerts on the weekends, so we went and took one in Saturday night.  I didn't get any pictures, but Lainey was quite the dancing machine in the middle of everyone dancing to EVERY song!

Sunday we went to church and then got ready for our block party.  One of the first things we were told when we moved in to this neighborhood was how big they celebrate the 4th of July.  They were not kidding!  The whole circle gets together to grill out, talk, and shoot off an ungodly amount of fireworks!  I really wish I would have gotten an "after picture" of the street and all the fireworks remnants.  Omaha made fireworks legal this year, so we have heard/watched fireworks every night for the last week.  I told Jovan that people here are just as nuts about the holiday as I am, and he really didn't believe me.  I kept telling him that Omaha was very different from Memphis, and while there are some July 4th nuts like me there, EVERYONE in Omaha is crazy about this holiday.  He has since retracted his statement and admitted that I was right! :) 

Today we were going to participate in our neighborhood parade, but I fell behind on wagon decorating, so we decided we would save that for next year!  We went to the Ralston parade this afternoon.  This was probably my 23rd or 24th parade there in 28 years.  I love the fact that my kids will get to grow up with this tradition now too!  Seeing as I am preggo and pretty tired, we didn't last the entire parade, but I tried! 

Tonight we went swimming and then I left the rest of my family to watch fireworks and Lainey and I went home.  I'm pretty sure she hasn't been to bed before midnight this weekend, and I figured that she may need a little more sleep for school tomorrow!  All in all an exhausting weekend, but I wouldn't want it any other way!  I'm already looking forward to next year!  Happy 4th of July!