A weekend getaway.

Hello, there! It has been quite awhile!

Well friends, nearly two whole months have passed since I've sat down and typed a few words on the dusty ol' blog. Rather than rewinding and playing catch up, I'll just start by sharing a little weekend-vacation we just got back from.  Before I do that though, I will mention that I finished a big project on my list a few weeks ago- Cameron's twin bed- and it. is. awesome. I will be blogging about that in the coming days because it's way too good not to share (and show off!). 

So anyway, our vacation- we escaped to the beautiful, quiet, small town of Nebraska City. My Grandpa, Aunt and Uncle live there, so we took over their house for a few days and really had a great time. Internet was spotty- so I was completely unplugged from my fifth appendage (aka my iPad) and all my social network addictions. I needed that! 

While there, we drove up to Omaha to visit the Zoo. I've been there several times and of course, it did not disappoint! 

We spent Saturday in Nebraska City, and they had a lot of events going on for Arbor Day that weekend. Arbor Day was actually founded in Nebraska City, so it's no surprise that the city is covered in giant, beautiful trees. It's also home to the Arbor Day Farm, which is a totally rad nature/adventure park. 

There were so many fun things for the kids to do and play with! My one and only complaint was that I wished we had had more time (we were pushing through quickly to get to a parade) to do more of the nature walks and adventure ride. We also got a free tree (seedling) to take home with us. Jon and I are quite geeky about trees (we planted 11 trees at our old house and we've planted 12 at our current) and the outdoors so needless to say we enjoyed the Farm very much! I can't wait to go back.

We were able to catch the parade just in time. The parade had such a small-town "vibe" and the kids really loved it (and came home with a bag full of candy and little toys!). 

We also went to the Arbor Lodge State Park, of which I have many many memories from my teenage years.

We all had the best time- a little vacation is just what our family needed! 

Summer in a post.

Hello!
It's been a long while. Time is going so much faster than I can keep up with these days. How is it September already? I for one am looking forward to fall and our first Christmas in our new house. It's just around the corner, ready or not!
I've obviously been missing in action around here. I didn't blog once in August. This summer has certainly been a crazy one and I'm going to attempt to recap a bit for record and for anyone who wants to catch up!

The weekend before Memorial Day, we listed our house for sale and sold it in 5 days. We quickly found a home we loved, and we were supposed to move right into our new house the same day we closed on our old. That would have been convenient, huh? Instead, because of bank/paperwork/appraisal issues, we sat homeless for the entire month of July.

Us in front of the old house a week before we moved out

July was a really hard time for a lot of reasons. It was extremely difficult to explain to my 2 year old that we couldn't go "home". That we didn't have a home anymore. I cried once on the way home from work one day because Cameron didn't want to go back to grandma's (where we were staying)- he wanted to go back to "Cameron's house". All I could say was, "I know you do, baby. I'm sorry" as I tried to fight tears. To be honest, I wasn't even certain that we would get this new house (or any house for that matter). Because my husband is self-employed, we had to show SO much more paperwork than the average couple looking to buy a home. Evey single day, the bank was asking for some sort of documentation of some sort, among many other problems we ran into. Long story short, we ended up switching lenders from Bank of America (who eventually denied us a loan despite our pre-qualification) to a different, smaller bank-and that made ALL the difference. That, and we were on our knees daily asking God to provide this house for us- with a lot of our friends and family praying too. Getting the house was certainly a testimony to answered prayer. Even with all of that said, we were still unsure about when we were closing until about 5 hours before it was scheduled to happen. So, yeah. Pretty stressful summer. At one point, I think Jon and I were in agreement that we made a huge mistake selling our house. As you can imagine, we were extremely relieved when we pulled the moving truck up to our new house!
The nice thing about staying with my parents was that we were able to go out on LOTS of dates since there was always someone able to be there with the kids. We would put them to bed, and go out to dinner, a movie, or ice cream several nights a week. We even took Cameron on a few of our outings after Kylie went down (which we probably enjoyed more than him!). It was nice do something special with just him.

mini-golf with Cameron

Several weeks ago, we took a last minute (and much needed) trip to Branson last weekend! One of the perks of Jon's job sometimes allows us to go along with him when he moves people to different states (like when I joined him in Vegas last September). The customer he moved to Branson encouraged him to bring his family for a weekend of fun, and we did just that. We stayed at the the most adorable, rustic little cabins called "The Wilderness" and we will definitely be going back there. Quietly nestled in the woods, the cabins bunked 7 people and had a nice little kitchenette where we cooked our breakfast each morning.

The Wilderness Lodges

We spent that Saturday at Silver Dollar City (so fun!) and Sunday browsing around Branson's downtown shops and flea markets.

We've since settled into our house and are now knee deep in projects- finishing the basement, staining a deck that's larger than our living room, pouring a new stamped concrete patio and landscaping when it cools down next month. Cameron loved watching the big concrete truck that came and poured the patio!

I have so much to share and I promise it won't be another month before I update- I hope to post much more regularly. If you made it this far, thanks for reading! =)

The weekend report.

In my book, two things define summer: the hot steamy weather and weekends that are jam packed with events. Last weekend was definitely both of those! The temps were in the low 100's and we had 3 days of non-stop places to go and people to see.

We started off Friday morning signing a contract for our new house! I cannot even begin to express my excitement to get into our new place. It was built in 2009 but we will be the first owners. What's even more exciting, is that even though it's bit larger than our place now, we'll be paying about $200.00 less each month for the mortgage because of the type of loan we're getting and what we're putting down! I know a lot of people stress out about moving, but since my husband is a professional mover and packer, I'm really looking forward to the whole moving process. I'll share more about the house (and some pictures too) in the weeks to come!

Friday night we had a bunch of Jon's family roll into town for a weekend family reunion. We packed in as much activity humanly possible, going to the Zoo, out for dinner and dancing, doing as much as we could to show our family a good time. Sunday we had a big BBQ at our place, playing host to about 50 people through the evening. It was hot, but the evening cooled down quite nicely and I think I can speak for everyone when I say that it was a such a great time. I'm just now started to feel caught up on sleep since we didn't go to bed before midnight the entire weekend.

Can you spot me? I'm the tallest one!

I know summer hasn't officially started but it's sooo hot already and I have to admit I'm really looking forward to fall. I am definitely not a lover of summer. =)

Until next time!

A Great weekend.

We just returned from a little vacation over the weekend at the Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City! We had so much fun and we have plans to make it a tradition to go every year around Cameron and Kylie's birthday since both are in the winter. Here are some pictures from our stay (there are lots!).

It took a lot of convincing to get Cameron to go down the water slides at first. After the first time, we couldn't get him off!

This is such a cheesy picture of both me and Cameron, but it's the only one that wasn't blurry. My husband is the world's worst photographer!
But he's the world's best Dad!

Little Kylie, sleeping on the Lazy River.


This is the prize Cameron got with the tickets from the arcade. In case you were wondering, yes. Yes my son has a Silly Band obsession.

We took a break from the Lodge and did a little shopping at Legends outdoor mall. Cameron managed to find a water fountain and get completely soaked!

What my husband lacks in photography skills, he makes up for by being able to fix anything, including a flat tire. Thank the Lord for that skill, because we needed it on the way home from Kansas City. We were stopped for about an hour, and had it not been for the DVD player in the truck, it would have seemed like an eternity!
We made it home safe (though completely exhausted) and we can't wait to go back!

22 week bump picture and a Vegas babymoon.

What a weekend we had! We just got back from the quickest trip I've ever taken: 24 hours in Las Vegas. It was definitely a last minute trip; Jon booked a job there early last week, and we (ok, I) decided I was going too! We had a ton of points through one of our credit cards, so my round trip ticket and his ticket back (he drove there) were paid with those points.
We had SO much fun and this trip was much needed for us! Since we only had 24 hours we crammed as much activity in to that time as possible. We were constantly eating, walking, shopping and even played a few slots! None of this would have been possible though, without the help of my mom, (who is the world's best grandma!) who kept Cameron for 2 nights while we were away.
Anyway, as you can imagine I am exhausted- so I'll leave you with a bump picture I took in the hotel we stayed at (the Wynn Encore) before we went out for the night:
I'll be back with a full trip recap and reviews as soon as I go through the pictures!

Summer Snippets.

It's been a hot week here, and we're not even into June yet. Call me crazy, but I'm already over summer and am looking forward to fall (and I'm sure that no one agrees with me on this! =). I'd like to go to the pool a few times, but other than that summer can just be gone already as far as I'm concerned. I'm a real sissy when it comes to heat tolerance.

Speaking of summer, I've been doing so much research when it comes to choosing sunscreen for us (especially for Cameron). I recently ran across the Environmental Working Group 2010 Sunscreen Guide, which basically rates consumer sunscreens and gives a run down of the potentially hazardous chemicals that are found in each one. Some of the chemicals in popular sunscreens make me wonder why the products are even on the shelves. If you know me, you know that I am a sun protection nazi (Jon refers to me as the SPF police), so finding the right blend is very important to me. I think I have decided between two: California Baby sunscreen (found at Target) and Badger sunscreen (found at Whole foods), both which use physical barriers instead of chemicals to protect from the sun.

Has anyone used either of these? What does your sunscreen rate? It's really hard for me to believe (and a little tough to swallow) that last summer I picked sunscreen for us based on how good the product smelled. What I wish I would have known- but better late than never.

Anyway, have a great Memorial Day weekend! Make sure you lather up with plenty of sunscreen (or the SPF police might come get you).

Weekend Recap

*I realize it's now Tuesday- I meant to post this on Sunday evening, but fell asleep at my laptop before I uploaded the pictures. Monday came and went...*

If I were to request a perfect day for an outdoor wedding, I would ask for plentiful sun, a very light breeze, and a temperature of about 70 degrees. Saturday's weather was just that- so it worked out perfect that my friend could tie the knot under those very conditions. April weather in Kansas can bring snow, rain, thunderstorms and very unpleasant winds (as we have experienced for about 2 weeks straight), so an outdoor wedding can really be a gamble. In my opinion, Saturday was the most perfect day we've had all year.
It was such a fun weekend- and I am just now starting to feel like I am caught back up from the festivities. Cameron attended the wedding, but we took him to Grandma's to stay the night (his first night away from us!) so that we could enjoy ourselves and not have to chase after a toddler all evening. Here's a few pictures (out of about 100+ I took)from the wedding!
Congrats Carly and Branden!