100 years

At this moment my Great Uncle Dan is celebrating his 100th birthday with a little party. I wish so badly I could be there, but it's in Louisiana. I hope he knows that I am thinking of him and that I am celebrating here in Topeka, Kansas with him.

I sent him a package that he should have received yesterday. I made him a t-shirt. In the front I put 100 and on the back his last name. I also sent some other gifts that I put together. I hope he got them and maybe he is wearing the shirt right now! :)

My grandparents are there, so hopefully I'll get to hear all about it.

I am close with my Uncle, but communication is hard. He can't hear me on the phone and he has gotten too old to write letters, although I continue to write him. I think he enjoys getting letters and pictures.

I became close to my Uncle when my best friend Lindsey and I would go to Louisiana; one trip we stayed for a month and we would go spend the afternoon with Uncle Dan, talking, watching movies and eating. It was a change for him to have two young girls in his house and I really wonder what he thought about it. This became a tradition. Lindsey and I went to Louisiana every summer until our late years in high school, but I continued to go and visit. Sometimes twice a year.

All of my children have met Uncle Dan and the older two were so excited to send off his package. They even made him a beautiful card. I am sad I didn't take pictures of any of this. Life gets too hard to actually get things done on time and then think to take pictures.

I do have lots of pictures, this are all the digital ones I have on file:

July 2007

Meeting his Great great niece for the first time

2008 November 

He now gets to meet his Great great nephew

 

February 2012

This was his first time meeting Alayna and Chandler and as you can tell more time has passed. Travel got a lot harder with four kids :)

November 2012

We were blessed to visit my Grandparents for Thanksgiving, so this meant I got to see Uncle Dan too!

Happy 100 Birthday Uncle Dan!!!!!

We love you so much and are BLESSED to have you in our lives.

Bonding and Birthdays

It is cold here and when it's cold things are pretty low key around me. I only have 20 pictures that I have taken in my camera and 10 of them are taken by Preston.
We have enjoyed a lot of indoor bonding time. This was Alayna and Chandler watching some TV, I had to snap a picture.

 

 I will tell you, I love it when my friends have birthdays. I enjoy showing them how much I appreciate them and spoiling them a bit :) Last week my good friend Cyndi had a birthday. I got some girls together and we went out. 

I bought some flowers and some cupcakes to help me decorate the table so it was a little extra special for Cyndi. We had a great time. I am so so blessed because of the women I have in my life. I remember in college specifically praying for Godly women to not only be in my life, but for strong friendships to develop. My prayers were answered!

69 years

It's hard for me to imagine being married to Aaron for 69 years. Just the thought that we would be lucky enough to have that much time together makes me want to cry. What a blessing that would be. I want that so badly!

I am thinking of this today because my grandparents just celebrated their 69th anniversary. Marriage is a beautiful thing and it is so great to see true love in their eyes. Can you see it? I took this pictures on Thanksgiving. Some of them they didn't even know I was taking. I did NOT pose them, this was all on their own:

 They are HAPPYand IN LOVE who wouldn't want this?

Happy Anniversary Grandma and Paw-paw! Thank you for loving each other they way you do, it has encouraged me to love even more.

Mandy's 3Oth

One of my good friends from MOPS, Mandy turned 30 on Christmas day! We decided to surprise her a week before for her birthday.. We kidnapped her from lunch with her husband.....after she ate of course. And we used a blindfold and took her to our birthday van!!!

We then had a set of clues for her to do all around town throughout the entire day!  One stop was a local bar and she got this shirt I made her:

We had one clue that sent us to her mom's club house and I was in charge of a craft so we made these wore letters:

 Another clue took us to dinner where her entire family was waiting there for her. She was joyfully surprised! The last clue took us back to the club house where we played minute to win it games. Such fun! I love it when my friends have birthdays :)

Happy Birthday Mandy!

Chandler's First Haircut

New Years Eve, while in Arkansas Aaron and I took Chandler for his first haircut. 

It was time, do you agree?

 

He did so great! I was a proud mamma. I actually think he enjoyed it. He always gets to go sit and watch everyone get their haircut, he was probably saying " it's about time!"

7 years

On December 30th Aaron and I celebrated 7 wonderful years of marriage. I cannot believe life has moved this fast, but I have enjoyed every moment. I just wish I could go back and soak it in like the warm rays from the sun.

We were in Arkansas for our anniversary so we had the opportunity to spend sometime alone while my parents watched our children. Thank you mom and dad!!!!

We left around lunch time and went to Qdoba, one of my favorites. We were planning on doing a little bit of shopping so we stopped by a starbucks to get something warm, since it was an outdoor shopping mall we were headed to.

After some fun purchases for me by my husband we headed to Crystal Bridges, a museum of American Art. We walked around and held hands and talked, it was nice! Here is some of the art:

 

 

I am blessed to have such a GREAT man and I am blessed that he loves me with all of his heart!

 

Christmas in Arkansas

We spent the New Year in Arkansas celebrating Christmas with my parents. It was a very fun and relaxing trip. We had a great time! I didn't take great pictures, I have noticed the more children you have the harder it gets to take pictures and still be in the moment. I used Instagram for most of my photos you see here. My sister Mollie and her family where there along with my brother and his family. I wish so badly I would have gotten a picture of all of us.

PICTURE ROLL

 

Happy New Year!!!!!