Cocktail Sauce, My Star of the Week, Fireflies, Marriage

A few months ago we went to St. Elmos Steakhouse in downtown Indy and were able to try their amazing cocktail sauce. We loved it! And while we were at Costco yesterday we saw that they had it there! Brad was anxious to buy some and ever since we've had it in our fridge he's been offering it to others to try so they can taste how amazing it is. It has been a hit!

Today in primary Kade was the star of the week! It was so fun to see his answers to the questions they asked him! My favorite one was that he said that he wants to be a Dad when he grows up. How sweet is that?!

Tonight before we put Kade in bed, Brad took him outside to see the fireflies and catch some. It was really cool!

Today in church we had a great lesson about the importance of marriage and treating your spouse well and keeping your marriage strong. It was a great reminder of how you should look at and treat your marriage. I'm so grateful that I married Brad and for the amazing person that he is and helps me try to be.

I love him.

Baby Showers, Colored Jeans

Tonight I had fun with friends at a double baby shower. They will both have their 3rd baby in the next week or so! I'm so excited for them!

We had a fun night playing games and eating ice cream.

Tenley and I wore our colored jeans today. I've been holding out about getting on the trend of colored jeans, but I finally did it and I love them! Tenley looks especially cute in them!

Outdoor Malls

We love going to the outdoor mall in Plainfield. They have a fountain, rock balls that Kade likes to jump on, cool lights that Kade calls "pretty stars," a cool playground, and we just discovered tonight that they have Orange Leaf there!

We had such a fun family date night!

Basketball/Movie Night

Tonight Brad is off to play basketball with his friends, so I get to watch a girl movie!

I would much rather have a movie night with my man, but I know he would hate watching this movie, so it is much better if I do it by myself.

I rented Safe Haven.

I read the book several months ago and have been looking forward to watching it ever since. 

I hope it's a good one!

Time Outs with My Cute Kids

Today I was starting to feel like my kids needed more attention from me than they have been getting in the past week, so I decided to take them to the Children's Museum and try and leave my racing thoughts, worries, and stressed behind.

We had a great time and were able to see the new Avatar exhibit. It was pretty awesome!

Then after Tenley woke up from her nap we got to sit on the couch and read books for about a half an hour. It was so nice to have that closeness with my kids today. I needed their fun, silly selves probably more than they needed me.

I love my cute kids!

Meetings, Advice, Support

Tonight we had our first meeting as a Relief Society Presidency and it went so well!

 I LOVE the women I get to serve with. They are each so amazing and so talented.

I had asked them to think about and pray about certain things and I was amazed at how often we had come to the same decision on those things. 

They are inspired women that love the Lord and are eager to serve and give love to others.

I'm so grateful for their example. I'm so grateful for how productive our meeting was. I'm so excited to get to work.

I have been given such good advice since I got this calling from so many different people. It has been so nice to hear words of wisdom from people who have done it before or know someone who has or who has done something similar. It has helped so much. 

And I have been overwhelmed with the amount of support I have gotten from family, friends, and my ward. Every time I start feeling worried, scared, or unsure of what on Earth I am doing in this calling, someone gives me words of encouragement that help remind me that I can do this and that the Lord will help me.

The Tree

Since we've lived here in these town homes, the tree outside of our house has been a popular gathering/visiting place for us and our friends. It is so convenient that it is right outside our front door!

This summer Kade is big enough to climb it himself! He loves hanging out in the tree and waiting for Dad to get home from school.

Callings, Priesthood Power

Today I received a new calling in church as the Relief Society President. I feel very humbled by it. I know that this calling will stretch me and help me become a better person. I am anxious and excited to serve and work with the wonderful sisters in my ward.

After I was called I was set apart by the bishopric and my husband. It was an amazing experience. I felt completely overwhelmed, nervous, and scared before, but after the blessing I felt so much peace. I know those men hold special keys from  the Lord. I know that when we are given a blessing to be set apart for a calling we are given a mantel to perform the calling in the way we need. I'm so grateful for my husband and his support and the support I've received from my ward, my parents, friends and other family members.

 I feel so blessed.

Solo Runs

Normally I would prefer to go running with friends, but this morning I decided last minute to go on a run, so I just went by myself.

It ended up being just what I needed. I needed some time to myself to think and ponder and process my feelings about certain things. I have a new challenge coming my way and I'm not so sure that I'm ready, but after my run I now know, without a doubt, that my Heavenly Father will help me through it and it will be OK. I do not have to do it alone. I know that He will be there to comfort me, to support me, and to strengthen me. 

Right now, that is all I need to know.

My Hot New Dentist, Friends

This morning I got to be Brad's first dental patient! 

It was a lot of fun to go in and see him work and see his school and meet his friends.

He did a great job! Unfortunately the appointments are 3 hours long and I have to go back in for him to fill a cavity, but luckily I have such awesome friends who are willing to help take care of my kids.

Becca watched my cute kids for me today and took them to a fun pool party/playgroup. I'm sad I missed out on some fun mommy talk, especially since I've been gone for so long, but I'm glad my kids got to play with their friends.

Dollar Store Toys, Water Fights

For our long drive back home we got some good advice to buy a lot of toys from the dollar store and wrap them up to give them to the kids every once in a while during the trip. I had forgotten to do this initially, I guess because I was having so much fun, so we stopped in Montana at Dollar Tree and I bought lots of toys! The kids got a new toy every 2 hours and they loved it! It worked so well.

One of the new toys they got were some water shooters. We finally tried them out today in the backyard and they were a lot of fun. And then Brad came home and turned our simple afternoon into a water fight!

At first the kids weren't too happy about getting all wet, but they warmed up to it and they loved shooting their Dad.

Home-Cooked Meals

Three days in a car with junk food made me crave a good home cooked meal. So, yesterday I did a lot of grocery shopping and stocked up on some fresh food.

For breakfast we had eggs and toast and for lunch I had a salad, carrots, and yogurt with granola. (I never eat that healthy!) And then for dinner we had my favorite meal. Chicken fettuccine with broccoli and almonds, homemade bread and fresh, delicious watermelon. Yum! It was so good. 

Now I think I'm craving some junk food...

Mount Rushmore, Safe Travels, Family

We stopped at Mount Rushmore on our way back home because I've never been there before and I was so amazed. It is so beautiful there anyway, but then to see the huge carvings in the rocks of some of our former presidents was amazing! I couldn't believe how much they look like the actual people. It was very impressive!

This was in Sheridan Wyoming. It was so pretty there!

Crazy horse monument.

Almost to Mount Rusmore!

Kade was trying to put his arm around them. Haha!

We finally made it safely home yesterday! Brad drove the whole way. He is such a trooper. And the kids really did well. But we aren't ready to jump back into the car for another 30 hour trip anytime soon.

Our crazy experience happened in Billings, Montana. We spent the first night there at a really fancy, 20 floor hotel downtown. It would have been a great stay for Brad and I, but with kids it wasn't very family friendly. You get what you get with Priceline!

Anyway, in the morning we headed out of our room to the elevator. Kade wanted to be the leader so he ran ahead of us, pushed the down arrow, and then jumped on the elevator once it opened up. Brad was just a few steps behind him, but he wasn't fast enough. The elevator door quickly shut and our little Kade was in there all by himself!

Kade was screaming and I was having a bit of a panic attack myself. We tried pushing the down arrow again, but it wouldn't open. We tried pushing the elevator door apart, but it wouldn't open. I tried to calm Kade down so I could explain to him to push the 'door open' button. I spelled out the words and told him there should be 2 arrows pointing away from each other. He kept asking "This one?" 

The first button he pushed was the alarm. At least it wasn't a number. I kept worrying that if he pushed a number and the elevator left I would never know where to find him in the huge 20 floor hotel!

So we tried again.

"Push the button that says O-P-E-N."

"This one?"

Finally the door opened! He got it right, thankfully. I was so proud of him. 

Needless to say, Brad or I will always be the first person on the elevator from now on.

Our scary experience happened in South Dakota. We spent too much time walking around Mount Rushmore and it was getting dark, but we still needed to drive 5 more hours to Sioux Falls to make it to the hotel we had booked. Brad is always leery about driving at night, especially in a rural area, because of all the wildlife running across the road, but we didn't have much of a choice so we kept on going.

We kept seeing the 'watch out for deer' signs, and then we saw a dead deer on the side of a road, and then another, and another. Brad ended up seeing close to 20 dead deer on the side of the road that night. Luckily we didn't hit one! Our eyes were constantly peeled and searching the road. The only thing we did see cross in front of us was a mountain lion. We were both pretty surprised to see it! 

For me, though, it was so much fun to see my cute kids play together and get along so well. I really saw a bond form between them on this trip that I hadn't really noticed before. They love each other and they like to look out for each other. They still fought occasionally, but they played and laughed together a lot more. Every time Tenley fell asleep, Kade would quietly play the IPad and he would always whisper if he needed anything. I love my cute kids so much!

This was at the hotel in Billings, Montana. We didn't have a crib for Tenley, so Brad got creative.

Even though the drive home was long, it was so worth it to be able to go and see our family for a little bit. 

We are so lucky to have such amazing families! We love being with them, our kids love being with their cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents, and we have so much fun together. It is always so hard to have to say goodbye to the people we love more than anything and drive 2000 miles away from them and not know when we will see them again. But we are so grateful for the time we had with them and can't wait to see them again!

Home Sweet Home

We made it home today!

We had some crazy, fun, and scary experiences on our 3 day road trip that I'm excited to write about, but for now, we are just so grateful to be home!

Fathers

I have the best Dad.

I'm so grateful for all the he did for me while I was growing up and all that he does for me now.

He works so hard to provide for his family and he always make sure we do fun things as a family.

I have so many good memories of skiing, boating, dance parties, camping trips, road trips, and fun family vacations. I'm so lucky to have such a smart Dad that always gives me the best advice.

I love my Dad.

I have the best husband.

He also does so much to secure a good future for our family.

He works so hard at school and plays hard at home with the kids. He never ignores us no matter how stressed or overwhelmed he may be.

 He is such a good father! He loves our kids so much and our kids love him. They light up whenever they see him and get his attention. We are so lucky to have him.

I love my husband.

I have the best father-in-law.

He raised such an amazing son and worked so hard to provide for his family.

He is such a good Grandpa to his grandkids. He always takes time to be with them one on one.

I love my father-in-law.

Road Trips, Montana

We started our big 2,000 mile road trip back to Indianapolis today. 

I've always loved going on road trips. It's always fun to listen to good music or a book on tape and eat red vines and M&Ms, but I was hesitant about a road trip with two young children. Luckily our cute kids did a great job on our 10 hour drive today! They are the best. I hope tomorrow goes just as well.

Our little car is packed to the brim!

Montana is breathtaking! We were so lucky to have such beautiful scenery to look at today. We stopped in Bozman for dinner at a yummy pizzeria. Brad's sister, Kimber used to live there and suggested the restaurant.  It was delicious!