Better Late Than Never...Father's Day!

OK...so I'm really late with this post. But as the title says...Better Late Than Never, right?!? Funny how that has become my motto more and more lately. :)

We celebrated Father's Day on Saturday the 20th, a day early. Sunday we celebrated our nephew, Keaton's 2nd birthday party.

Saturday morning the girls and Sawyer gave Matt his cards they made for him. They then walked him down the street to our neighbor's garage where we had been hiding his Father's Day present. We got him an in-ground basketball hoop! He was very surprised and excited...as were the kids! I'm most excited because he loves it and will use it with the kids, the kids love it, and I know a lot of great memories will be created. We grilled up steaks and sweet potatoes and sauteed mushrooms along with some of Matt's other favorite foods for lunch. And, I drove to Kearney for the birthday party while he slept and listened to his iPod (well, and helped tend to the kids when needed too along the way...it can't be all relaxation.) :)

Happy VERY late Father's Day to all the great dads, especially Matt, my dad, and my father-in-law! A good dad is SO important!


The girls walking dad into the neighbor's garage with his eyes closed of course.

I had a garage sale to get money for this hoop. I kept telling Matt I needed the money for something. It was worth it!

The girls were very proud of the hoop. Sawyer was DONE with pictures!

Ready for lunch...Daddy gets served first.

Yum!

I love you, Dad!!! Thanks for EVERYTHING you have always done for me and for continuing to be there for me even now that I'm grown. I guess a dad's work is never done. :)

Vacation Pics...Finally!

OK...well, I am finally getting vacation pictures posted. We had a wonderful time, and although we were gone for 10 days, it's just never long enough to see everyone we wanted to see or spend enough time with those that we did get to see. But, we're thankful for the time we had...and the fact that we managed to escape the Colorado hail and tornadoes! Here's a breakdown of the trip:


Friday and Saturday night the kids vacationed in Kearney with my parents while Matt and I attended the Miss Nebraska pageant in North Platte to support his sister, Mollie, the reigning Miss Southeast. She did wonderfully, and we were so glad we were able to be there! Congrats, Mo! (By the way..not sure what was up with my neck in this picture...maybe I was feeling a little short????) :)

We decided to take the kids to Casa Bonita for the fine dining experience :) on our way into Denver. Well...take away 'fine dining' and they LOVED the experience! Matt and I have fond memories of going their as kids and watching the cliff divers and puppet shows. Sophie and Lainey enjoyed hitting the pinata too. Thankfully, we decided to take this last minute detour. Had we not, our path would have connected with one of the tornadoes that touched down and golf ball sized hail on the way to our hotel.

We enjoyed some wonderful time with our friends, the Roy Family. The kids had a great time swimming at the hotel. Left to Right: Sawyer, Sophie, Madeleine, Lainey and Emma. Baby Ben is not picture (who, I must add, might just be the best baby in the world!) I only heard him cry once the entire time we were there, and that was when he was sleeping in the night and couldn't find his pacifier!

My wonderful friend, Annemarie.

The kids and dad getting ready to head to the pool..again...up in Breckenridge. Thankfully they had a great indoor pool and baby pool! We cut our planned stay up there short. The highs were 42*. It was just too cold to do much outside stuff with a 5, 3 and 1-year-old. :(

Lainey and Sophie up in Breck acting silly. In packing for our summer vacation, I packed lots of shorts and tank tops of course. I packed one pair of jeans and one long-sleeve T-shirt for each person. Plus, everyone had a jacket. So, these are borrowed sweatshirts...and thankfully the condo had a washer and dryer. :)

Isn't Colorado BEAUTIFUL?!?!!! Here Lainey, Sophie and Sawyer are showing you their ages. :)

Vacations are SO much fun...doing all sorts of fun stuff you don't do at home...too many bubbles in the tub...jumping on the beds...LOTS of whipped cream and candy on your sundaes...staying up WAY too late.... :)

Acting silly up in the mountains.

As mentioned earlier, the weather in Breckenridge was just too cold. But, the weather in Denver wasn't really great either. It was mid- to upper 60's while we were there. But, coming back down from the mountain did give us some time to see friends. We stopped to see my friend, Denise. We surprised her at work with a Diet Coke. I used to work with Denise and we would take Diet Coke breaks during the day. It was great to catch up with her.

We met our friends, The Maggio's, at Parker Days in Parker, CO. Sophie had a little mishap when we arrived and fell scraping her nose. But, that was fixed with a princess tattoo band-aid. She fit right in at the carnival. :)

Lainey on the carousel. Sawyer did SO well since he wasn't able to ride any of the rides the other kids were going on and just had to sit in the stroller the whole time on this chilly/rainy night. Plus, it got pretty late. He was such a trooper!

The girls went on all sorts of rides I NEVER would have expected...and LOVED them. Just goes to show they are not always their mamma's daughters! :)

My friend, Tracey...LOVE her and love that she introduced me to the skinny vanilla green tea latte! :)

The Sheffield and the Maggio kids after Owen's baseball game. I felt right at home...it was SO windy that day. Sawyer, Owen, Mason, Lainey, Lauryn, Sophie

My friend, Tracy Gibbons and her husband, hosted a delicious BBQ at their house for us (THANK YOU!) Our friends, Beatty's and Maggio's joined us. So, these are the Sheffield, Gibbons, Beatty, and Maggio kiddos...some of our wonderful Colorado friends.

8 Years!

It's hard to believe Matt and I have been married 8 years today! How time flies when you're having fun! :) When a couple takes their vows they have no idea what the future holds. We have been so fortunate and blessed in our lives together. Of course, our biggest blessings from our marriage have been our three amazing children: Lainey, Sophie and Sawyer. :) Thanks, Matt!

**On a side note, I searched and searched for a picture of just us together...had to just end up cropping one. Guess I need to work on that for next year. :)

Exciting News

While on vacation (which I'll post soon) we received exciting news that Mollie (Matt's youngest sister) and Adam Akerson became engaged! Besides being an obviously adorable couple, they're just a wonderful couple to be around. We're so thrilled for them! Congrats! We love you!

And I Quote...

Sophie on the way to Matt's work function tonight straight out of the blue...

"I'm going to marry Lainey."


Ahhh...despite all the button pushing today...they really, really do love each other. :)

Fun on the Farm

Lainey and Sophie left from Axtell on Memorial Day and went to Wallace with Grammy and Grandpa Monte until Friday. They got to attend Vacation Bible School, play with Aldyn (our little niece) for a day, dress-up, run through the sprinkler, go with Grandpa to feed the cows, play with the kitties and puppies, wash the golf cart, see an owl fly from the grain bin and find his feathers and so much more. It's always an adventure! Thanks, Grammy and Grandpa, for taking such great care of the girls and showing them such a wonderful time. The stories from the week have been fun to hear! :)


On the way to Wallace from Axtell after a fun Memorial Day in Axtell...Lainey, Aldyn & Sophie.