I apologize in advance for the boring

It's hard to do a post without pictures, but, I'm going to try. When I was thinking of recapping our weekend all I can think of is - boring - . Honestly, maybe it's just my lazy day yesterday that makes me feel that way. I'm still in the same pajamas that I slept in Saturday night and have never changed out of. Too much information? Sorry.

Friday was our 5th wedding anniversary. We had a date. That is one good thing about having a teenager. Free babysitting! We went to one of our fave places for dinner and a movie. Dinner was delicious and the movie was , eh... boring, but there were no kids and we had movie popcorn so I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Saturday brought a trip to the Farmers Market. I've been wanting to check it out all summer but with all of our travels haven't been able to. It was great. We bought some grass fed beef and tomatoes and cucumbers. Oh, and the most delicious sweet potato pie! I didn't even know that I liked sweet potato pie. Oh, it was so good.

Yesterday was lazy. Josh took GG to the park, Shep napped and Sophie and I had a folding party while watching old episodes of The Office. Our laundry has gotten out of control.

So I have big goals for this week. We've been staying inside too much lately because of all the heat. That hasn't worked well with the littles. So my goal is to get out every single day this week and wear them out. We'll head to the mall for carousel rides, the book store for story time, the art museum for play time. And maybe hit a park or two in the mornings. I also want to start walking again. I was feeling so good when I was walking every day. I had gotten up to almost 5 miles. So I'm going to work on that too.

Oh, I almost forgot! We are heading to the beach Friday. Yay! I've missed the beach.

So that's it. We'll see how it goes.

And if all goes well, no more boring posts without pictures. Promise.

5 full years

Dear J,

Today is the big 5. We've been married 5 years. Cuhrazy! It has flown by. Honestly, in the beginning, I didn't know if we would make it this long. That first year was T-O-U-G-H. I know you agree. You knew it would be hard, but I had all these sweet ideas of what marriage would be like. Mainly, that you wouldn't have any opinions or say in any matter and what I said went. Ha! I know, I can be really stubborn. I can't believe you put up with me sometimes. :) 

But, you know, I wouldn't change a thing. We've learned so much and we've been through so much in these short five years. And I think it's only brought us closer. I thank God for you every day and pray that I can be the kind of wife He wants me to be. 

Below are some photos of us over the past years this day in July.

July 23,2005

What a happy day! I love how you are looking at me in this. You love me! You really love me! :)

(or are you just looking at my boobs... i can't tell, oh well... either way)

July, 2006

Very preggo with our little GG. 

July 23, 2007

Dinner date at the Cheesecake factory. No kids this year, but very shortly we would be expecting our third.

July 23, 2008

Shep was 2 months old. That is why I look like the life is being sucked out of me. :) But still happy!

And July 23,2009

What a year! Our little Sophie turned into a teenager. We moved... again. New job, new city, new schools.

But one thing will always stay the same. 

Our love and commitment for one another. 

Thank you for being a strong husband, an awesome daddy and my best friend.

I look forward to many more years as your wife.

(And more hairstyles from you... good grief, your worse than a woman! Look at those pictures! Short hair, long hair, no hair...)

I love you with all of my heart and more,

K

Turtles and Treats

Yesterday was a trip to Landmark Park to feed the turtles.

Shep named the turtle above "big guy". Pretty appropriate, I say. 

I've never seen a spider this big. She was just about as big as my hand!

GG was very happy about this swing. She can't hold on to a regular swing because of her cast so this was perfect. She had to borrow my sunglasses because, "THE SUN! IS SHINING! IN MY EYES! IN THIS SWING!". 

We left because Shep apparently doesn't do well in the heat. He wanted to be carried everywhere which made GG want to be carried because God forbid that one gets more attention from mommy than the other and then GG decided that her shoes hurt and then Shep sat down in the grass and cried and wouldn't move anywhere. I was never more happy than to finally get to my van and crank the a/c and the radio up and drown out all the whine. 

When we arrived home GG had treats from Grammy in the mailbox. 

They had discussed candy necklaces when we were visiting last. I don't think GG knew what they were.

So Grammy sent a little "happy". 

Perfect timing, because we all needed a little happy at that moment.

And she shared with her brother. Amazing. 

It was a fun, hot and happy day.

Emphasis on the hot.

And the happy. 

one little monkey jumping on the ...

couch.

she fell off and broke her

ARM! 

ouch! 

Thursday, GG was climbing and jumping all over the couch. I'm bad about letting them do that. This time wasn't so much fun. She fell off the back of the couch and broke her little arm. It was sad. It didn't look broken, but when she wouldn't stop crying after about 30 minutes I decided to take a trip to the ER. I'm glad we did. It's broken in two places. They put a temporary cast on and today we went to the orthopedic doc and she got a cool pink one. 

She'll recover nicely. And hopefully we've all learned a lesson about jumping on the furniture :).

Beauty

We visited an old cemetery while in Kentucky. There are lots of interesting stories surrounding these monuments. 

The monument below belongs to the Slayden family, I believe. She was, at one point, holding a bunch of grapes. It was said that once all the grapes fell, the world would end. As far as I could tell, they have all fallen. And we're still here! 

I can't remember the name of this family. Woolridge, I think. They have statues for every family member. During the ice storm last year, a tree fell on this site. Volunteers gathered the pieces and stored them in the basement of city hall. They have begun the process of repairing all of them. They even have statues of their pets here with them. I guess that means they are buried here as well?

This was just a pretty monument Sophie took a photo of. 

I'd love to spend more time here at some point. I think it would be interesting to research some of the families as well. 

Our 4th

We spent our 4th of July in the back of a pick up truck eating watermelon and watching fireworks. 

Can it get more American than that? 

travel time!

We are officially in the midst of summer vacation. All the travel we've been doing proves it. We've been to Orlando, Memphis, Arkansas and will be heading to Kentucky next week. Whew... I'm tired. And my poor van is tired. But, it's what we have to do since we've moved so far away from everyone. Well, we don't really have to. We want to. It's been nice to visit with all sides of our family. The kids have done remarkably well during the long trips. I won't lie, the DVD player helps a little lot. 

Every time we leave, I feel a little sad. I so wish we could live near all of our family. I grew up, for the most part, near my extended family. I hate that my kids won't have that. But, as my Dad said, you've got to go where the paycheck is. I do feel blessed that I'm not having to work and can travel through the summer with the kids, letting them be spoiled by all their grandparents and aunts and uncles.

Below are some recent shots of my little Shep. We had to cut his mop top of hair. It was sad, but he needed it. I think it makes him look older. He is such a little boy. He is talking SO much now. He'll repeat anything you say and is learning to use his words better when he needs something or is upset.

He's also a little artist. Especially when it comes to coloring on himself. He'll be closely monitored the next time markers are used. :)

This was just precious. And you don't know how excited I was that he did this. Nap times have become quite a struggle lately.

He went to town (ha!) on this horsey. We may be looking for one of these at some yard sales soon. Except that it did cause a little bit of a problem trying to take turns with his sister. He wasn't a fan of that. 

So all in all, it's been a great summer so far. Sophie has a friend visiting this week and next week we'll be on the road again.

We are busy. And I wouldn't want it any other way.

(although a nap in the midst of all the busy would be nice)