Nine years ago today...

Nine years ago today, I woke up praying that it wouldn't rain...

Nine years ago today, I got all dolled up
for the happiest day of my life...

Nine years ago today, I stood at the alter and found out that my husband-to-be had been thrown off his horse that morning... talk about a rocky start!

Nine years ago today, we said our vows.

Nine years ago today, we kissed for the first time as husband and wife.

Nine years ago today, we had our first dance as we danced to
"When You Say Nothing At All"...

Nine years ago today, I went to sleep thanking Jesus for bringing me to Jesse
(as well as thanking him for that one short rain shower, that ended
as we were walking down the aisle, hand in hand. 
Made for a BEAUTIFUL sky!!)

Nine years ago today, I married my bestfriend.

And nine years later, we're beating the odds! 

Statistics say that 50% of marriages will end in divorce.  Scary huh?!?!

So, why do I think we're beating the odds?

Because we have fun together.
Because we listen to each other.

Because we have 9+ years of practicing forgiveness with one another.

Because we try not to raise our voices at each other.

Because we laugh together. 

Because we still slap each other on the butt.
Because we take each other's thoughts and considerations into account.
Because we still hold hands.
Because we support one another.

Because we say we're sorry, even when we don't want to.
Because we accept each other's shortcomings and acknowledge our own.

Because we pray together.

Because we kiss each other before bed every night,
even when we're mad at each other.

Because we like each other.

Because we love each other.
Because we have 3 great kids and they are worth it.
Because we're both hard-headed enough that we WILL NOT
be any part of increasing the above mentioned statistic!!

It's that simple.

~ Happy Anniversary Jesse!  I Love You! ~

Happy 15 Month Birthday Anden!!!

I'm sure you've been missing these monthly posts on Anden... ha ha!  I decided that after his first birthday I'd do them every few months instead.  It was starting to stress me out to make sure to get his picture taken, find time to get on here, and write up his monthly post!  So here comes an Anden-filled post for those of you who are craving some Anden (likely his grandparents!)

Anden, what are you up to at 15 months???

~ You are still the best baby...(how much longer can I get away with calling you a baby though?)  You're so happy, so content, and always in the BEST mood!  You wake up smiling and most nights you go to bed smiling... not to mention all the smiles all day long!

~ You're sleeping 11-12 hours a night.  Your day begins around 7:30-8:00 each morning, which works out really well because Kaylee & Jacob get on the bus at 7:30 so I can get them out the door before you start stirring.  I sure hope that continues!

~ You LOVE LOVE LOVE your oatmeal cereal.  You especially love the peaches & cream and the apple cinnamon oatmeal.  You eat that almost every morning for breakfast along with a banana, grapes, or raisins.

~ You love the outdoors and you know exactly what it means when we say "outside" or "4-wheeler."  You get so excited and run to the backdoor.  Last night your daddy asked you to go find your shoes so we could go outside.  You ran out of the room, grabbed your shoes, and came running back to him for him to put them on.

~ You enjoy going for walks in your stroller.  You can climb up and go down your slide all by yourself.  You love sitting at the kiddie-size picnic table back at the lake.  Case (our puppy) likes to lay under there and nibble on your toes.

~ You're talking more and more each day.  You say, "ma," "da," "more," "ball," "dog," & "done."  You also imitate EVERYTHING!  You pant like a dog, snort like a pig, moo like a cow, and I can't leave out my all time favorite... you snore like your dad (you started doing it one evening after he'd fallen asleep in the recliner and was snoring!!!  It's hilarious!)

~  You still love your big brother and sister, but you do get irritated with them every now and then (join the club!)  You shriek at them when they try to pick you up or take something away from you. 

~  You usually take 2 naps a day and you go down for naps so easily... that is if you have 2 pacifiers.  One in your mouth and one in your hand.

~  You love emptying out my tupperware drawer.  I'm kind of looking forward to the day when I don't have to pick up all my plastic bowls and lids 467 times a day. 

~  Other than vegetables, you're a great eater.  You love meats, potatoes, noodles, breads, and fruits.  The only veggie I can get you to eat though is corn.

~  You love your milk.  I switched you to Almond Milk because you had gotten 3 ear infections in 2 months after switching you from formula to 2% milk (you'd never had an ear infection before that.)  You've been drinking Almond Milk for a month now and (knock on wood) you haven't had anymore trouble with ear infections.

~  You are FINALLY are getting some teeth!  Within the last month, you cut your first 2 teeth and are working on 2 more.

~  We love you so very much!  You have brought more joy into our home than we could have ever imagined.

Swing... Swang... Swung!!!!

Guess

what

I

learned

to

do

today??

Back to School

First day back to school...

Kaylee ~ 2nd Grade

Jacob ~ Kindergarten

Happy 100th Post!

In honor of my 100th post, I've made some changes to the layout and template of our blog! 

Hope you like it!

And here's the reason I started blogging in the first place...

Ben's Visit and Our Mini Vacation (also known as the LONGEST post ever!)

We've been SO BUSY lately!  We were so busy the week of the fair, then the following week my nephew Ben from Michigan came down and stayed with us for a week, and then last week we went to Indy for a couple days and did some traveling around central and northern Indiana.  Here's some pictures to catch you up on our comings and goings the last couple of weeks...

Jacob, Kaylee, & Ben just before the cavern tour

 Outside the grist mill.

 In the caverns

Squire Boone Jr's remains are in this casket, inside the cavern. Kind of freaky! 

 

Candlemaking at Squire Boone Village

4-wheeler fun

Shame on you Ben!  Don't tell your mom!  :-) 

Swimming at Harrison Crawford State Forest 

Fair Oaks Dairy Farm in Fair Oaks, Indiana

The bus tour at Fair Oaks takes you to one of their ten dairy operations.  These cows load and unload (all on their on) on this carrosel where they are milked three times a day.  They step on, get hooked up to the milker, go around the carrosel in 8 minutes (I think), and then get back off the carrosel.  It's pretty neat to watch.  They said every now and then a cow will forget to get off the carrosel.  They shut her milker off and she gets to go around for a free ride!

 

The Birthing Barn ~ They have stoplights throughout the facility to let you know when a calf is about to be born over in the birthing barn.  Red means nothings going on, yellow means hooves are out, and green means you better hustle on over because you're about to miss it!  We were there for one in the morning and again for one that afternoon.  It was amazing!

(Beware, this next picture is a little graphic...)

This little calf below was the one pictured above that we saw being born that morning.

A gigantic trampoline in the middle of a bunch of cornfields.

They LOVED this!

Kaylee practicing her milking skills. 

Three exhausted kids on the way back to Indianapolis after our day at Fair Oaks.

Since the kids were sleeping, we decided to take a little detour over to Purdue.  (A trip through central Indiana is NOT complete without a trip to Boilermaker country!)  We showed the kids the stadium, my dorm and apartment, one of the fountains, and a few other places on campus.  Kaylee and Jacob have both decided that they're going to go to Purdue.  We couldn't get a solid yes out of Anden... so we're going to have to work on him a bit.  :-)

As we were coming through, Jesse also decided to swing by the hog farm that he worked at throughout his years at Purdue.  We weren't going to stop, but then he spotted the farmer he worked for so we pulled in.  Delmar is close to 80 years old and is as spry as a spring chicken!  He was kind enough to let the kids meet some baby pigs that had been born earlier that week.  Also found out what a small world it is!  Found out Delmar was a classmate at Purdue with my Dad's cousin Ronald!

Indiana State Fair ~ Cattle Barn

Jacob at the DNR exhibit at the State Fair

Anden's first slushie on the way home from Indy.

  It was actually Jacob's, but Anden decided he needed some slushie too!

It's been a great couple of weeks!  Sorry to see the summer coming to a close.  The kids start back to school in a week and a half.  I always hate for school to start... means our summertime fun is over and the kids are that much older.  Sniff sniff.