Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Random Thoughts I found when going through paper work

I have been going through paperwork like crazy around the house.  I found a bunch of notes from different seminars I went to over the years.  I wanted to put the notes in a safe place and forgot about them for years.  So here is what I thought was important.

*When raising kids, remember things may not always be equal, but we will always be fair.

*I am called to be obedient, and God is responsible for the results.

*I need to ruthlessly eliminate hurry from my life!

*The days go slow, but the years go fast!

*I need to parent the actual kids I have and the life we are living right now!

*Sometimes you just need to paint the walls, instead of decorating the whole room!

*Earthy people are prone to do earthy things.

*You only see the front porch of people's lives.

So these are things I wanted to remember and now I can throw away recycle more papers!

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Animals in Chicago

The Monday after Megan and Garret's wedding, Steve, the boys, and I headed up to Chicago for a 3 day road trip.  Since we are going to the balanced calendar school schedule this year, we decided on a mini vacation before school starts.   Then in October we are going to Disney on Orlando with my parents for a week!  

So we went to the Chicago zoo (in the hot humid weather!) and Shedd Aquarium. We ended up buying a Shedd Aquarium membership just so we didn't have to stand in the long ticket line in the hot sun!

The boys were very excited about Stingray Bay at the Brookfield zoo.  There are 50 cownose rays swimming around in a big shallow pool.  They swim right past and you get a chance to pet the rays.  Thankfully their barbs are trimmed making them harmless!


At the Shedd Aquarium we were very excited about the jellies exhibit.  I had no idea there are so many species of jelly fish.  They are beautiful and mesmerizing to watch.  My son took this awesome picture with an iphone!


The twins got an opportunity to dress up and act like penguins.  They had a penguin slide that was fun for them.  I think twin penguins are adorable!

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Backyard Basketball Court

In May we had a backyard basketball court put in.  The boys were very excited about it!  There have been lots of games played on this court and lots of practicing.  With 3 boys who love to play sports, the court makes an excellent place to also play kickball.  After all the work was done, we decided to try and plant some grass.  The dirt was excavated and smoothed out, we put down grass seed, then covered it with hay.   Then it never rained again at our house.  We tried watering it, my husband, oldest son, and I taking turns.  But we failed!


And now the cold hard truth...this is what our back yard looks like.  Weeds, hay, and dead grass. We are in a major drought here in Indiana.  We will not have grass this summer.  My husband wanted to get rid of the play set because our boys are 7 (the twins) and 11.  But I am too nostalgic and won't part with it yet.



There are a few plants that did pop up on their own.  I think this is a zucchini plant, but not sure.   I'm sure it is from something that was left over from our garden 2 years ago.  I finally gave in and started watering this plant in hopes of getting at least one vegetable from it!


And this is the best surprise from the backyard.  I love sunflowers!  I had a sunflower kitchen in Colorado back in the day.  I have a sunflower tattoo on my ankle.  I love driving through Kansas during the summer and seeing all the sunflowers!  And this little beauty popped up in my ugly backyard.  Beauty among all the ugly!



Monday, July 2, 2012

Megan and Garret's Barn Wedding

My daughter (from marriage) who just graduated from Ball State in May and moved to Colorado two weeks later, came back to Indiana to get married to her Colorado cowboy.  He is taking his new bride back to their new home in Pueblo this week.  I cannot begin to describe how much fun everyone had at their wedding.  It was a simple affair planned from start to finish by Megan.  Everything looked beautiful, the food was excellent, the dancing was so much fun.  I didn't want the night to end.  Our good friend Dean Nester performed the marriage ceremony in his cowboy hat.  He fit right in!!


This is my husband and I.  I wanted to pull off the country chic look and he wanted to pull off the Duck Commander/Duck Dynasty look.  I think we both succeeded!


Here I am with my oldest son who was an usher in the wedding.  He did a great job and acted very professional which is a great accomplishment for an eleven year old boy.  I think this will be a great picture for the slide show at his wedding.  (If they are even doing that when he gets married)


The twins were the ring bearers for Sissy's wedding.  My sister made this adorable sign for them to carry as they walked ran down the aisle.  They looked so cute in their cowboy boots and shirts.  Once they got on the dance floor, they unsnapped their shirts and looked so so cute!


And lastly my adorable niece was one of the flower girls.  Megan was Audrey's favorite babysitter ever.  We are all so sad she is moving to Colorado!


During the reception, you could text song requests to the DJ to play.  So my son borrowed my phone to request two of his favorite tunes.  Little did I know that the song requests would show up on the screen.  And my son did not know that my texts send my signature automatically at the end.

So imagine my surprise when I looked up on the big screen and saw the following:

I'm sexy and I know it   Denise

Oh yea!  I'm sexy and I know it.  Denise