Iowa trip

The kids and I took a trip to spend some time with my family. Landon actually got to go a week early and spend time with my parents. This smile shows how much fun he had! 

Landon and Olivia got to spend time with my childhood friend's kids which was fun to see :)

All the cousins got together and made Christmas cookies, they all had such a good time :)

...and we got to celebrate my niece, Gwenyth's 1st birthday! 

She is such a doll and was so excited about her party!

I also got to spend some time with some awesome friends. Ten years ago we all spent our freshman year together at Emmaus. We had a great time catching up and picked up right where we left off...

It was so nice not to feel rushed, but to have plenty of time to spend with everybody. I was so thankful for a relaxing week with my family and friends. I was planning on driving back home by myself, but mom insisted she help me do the long drive. We didn't know how she would get back, but she said she was trusting the Lord to get her back. The very next morning, back home, I went to BSF and ran into a friend who was headed north and was willing to take my mom along. So thankful for the Lord's faithfulness!

Summer

This summer has flown by and I can't believe we will be meeting our sweet little baby in just a few days! I have totally neglected this blog, but I hope that will change... Let's see, my last post was April. I'll try to recap our summer:

May - Landon turned 4 and had his first friends birthday party. The kids had fun playing games with water balloons :) It was already getting very hot!

June - Getting hotter... We stayed inside a lot, or played at the mall. Landon took swimming lessons and finally got comfortable in the water! This was a huge accomplishment for him. His teachers were great. I never would have thought of telling him to hum when he goes under water, but that really helped him not to get water in his nose and take away his fear of going under!

A sad thing for us that happened was Seth's sweet aunt, Donna, passed away. I really enjoyed getting to know her these past several months, she was an incredible woman who truly loved the Lord and trusted Him until the very end. I am thankful for her sake, she isn't suffering anymore, but miss her dearly.

July - Hotter still... We made it up to Iowa for the annual 4th of July conference. It was so refreshing to spend time with family and friends and being reminded of the Lord's love and faithfulness. We had a new niece born, Evy, and got to meet her on our way home. She was so tiny and precious!

August - I didn't think it could happen, but yes even hotter... Went to Lake of the Ozarks with my family. We celebrated Olivia and her cousin, Aubrey's 2nd birthdays. They were very excited about their pink watermelon cake :)  It was such a sweet time. We enjoyed watching the olympics, boating, swimming, late night talks, so much fun! I couldn't believe how Landon was in the water. He was doing flips off the side of the boat! Such a change from last summer. We had a break-in, but I am thankful that the kids and I weren't here and it truly has been a good reminder not to hold things here dear. We can take nothing from this world with us - only what's done for Christ will last.

September - Still hot... Labor Day weekend, most of Seth's family came into town and we had a work weekend at his parents house.... well, the guys worked while the kids played and the ladies talked - it was great! I feel so blessed to be a part of such a wonderful family. My labor day didn't come unfortunately ;) but we are patiently waiting this little one's arrival. We can't wait to find out if this baby is a he or a she. I already know he/she is a night owl (must take after daddy). Every night my favorite activity is to watch my belly jump around :) An induction is scheduled for Wednesday at 6:00AM, but I'm praying that I will go into labor on my own. Anyway, can't wait to post next time as it will probably be about our newest addition!

Florida

The kids and I had a great time in Florida. This was sort of a last minute trip for us, so it was a little crazy right before we left. We had a Valentine's Neighborhood kids club on Saturday and then left on Monday morning. Here is a picture from the club...



Anyway, it was hard leaving Seth for almost two weeks, but it was nice being with my family that I don't see very often for that long. The kids did pretty well on the airplane. Olivia slept most of the time and Landon watched a movie. He was almost asleep so I was putting away his DVD player and he woke up. Boy, was he cranky when I did that! He eventually settled down and we made it...





We spent most of our time at a condo in Fort Myers - it was so nice being able to all stay in the same place. We all had a part in putting this puzzle together. It was fun putting together a puzzle that was more than 24 pieces ;)



The weather while we were there was perfect - 80s most days and I don't think it ever rained! The beaches in Fort Myers were crowed, but they had the most pretty white sand. We visited Sanibel Island a couple of times. The shells there were beautiful and the beaches were really nice. We actually saw a dolphin only about 50 feet away from us at this beach! Landon loved playing in the sand more than anything. He loved making castles and then breaking them. He would get scared of the big waves. Olivia loved running her hands through the sand. Logan, her cousin, was so excited and loved the beach! It was so fun watching him, he would throw sand over his head and eat it and crawl everywhere - he had a blast. Poor boy though had to have stitches while were there! Clayton and Halle loved looking for shells, getting buried in the sand, and braving the big waves.







We found a fun train park that the kids (especially train lover Landon) really enjoyed. There was a miniature train that we all rode and a little water park. It was a lot of fun.











We rode back with my parents, so it was a very long trip for the kiddos. Nanny bought Olivia her first doll which helped - she loves it!



We had such a great time. Goodbye Florida!

Sammy Bear

We decided to spend our Memorial Day weekend in Eureka Springs. We found out that there is a real train that you can ride on, so we've been telling Landon about that. When we were getting all packed up last night,
Landon said, "Bring Sammy bear on the train?" (Sammy bear is the bear we got a while back to remember our sweet Samuel, thanks Brooke and Robin!).
Seth and I looked at each other and smiled. We said, "Sure, we can bring Sammy bear on the train."
Landon replied, "Make Landon happy!" He smiled his cheesy smiled and gave Sammy bear a huge hug.

Even though we don't have our Samuel here on vacation, it's sweet to have this little bear to remember the part he has in our family.

Catching Up

This has been a crazy week. My grandmother passed away after breaking her hip. She will be dearly missed. We went to her funeral last Wednesday. My brother shared and it was a wonderful tribute to her. She lived with us growing up so there is a great void at my parents house now. We know that she is much happier though, no more pain, no more sorrow - she is with our Lord.

On our way up we stayed with Shawna and Rex. It was fun for Landon to spend some time with his cousins.

The rest of the weekend was spent out at Hidden Acres. I have spent every fourth of July weekend that I can remember at this camp. We always look forward to the annual conference. This year Warren Henderson shared about discipleship. I look forward to getting the CDs since I was distracted with my little guy much of the time. This was the first time back to Iowa since Landon was born, so it was nice for many of my friends and family to finally meet him.

Then, Saturday evening Landon got sick, so the drive home wasn't very pleasant. He is doing much better as of today, I even finally got a smile out of him! He's still congested, but I'm sure in a few days he'll be back to normal. Thank you for all the well wishes!


My Grandma



Cousin Miles and Landon



Cousin Kate-Kate and Miles



Cousin Brookie and Landon