Special Relationships!

We are so thankful for the special relationships our kiddos have with their Ga-Ga and Mze! I am constantly reminded how blessed we are that our kids know, LOVE and adore their Grandparents!! My mom and dad know our kids SO well, they love them and take such good care of them!! Anytime we go anywhere with my parents, Maddie is walking with my mom holding her hand, and my dad has Zack in his arms, telling him about some CRAZY adventure they are going to share! :) It warms my heart SO much to know that my parents, the people who poured themselves into me, will do the same with my children!! They are teaching M and Z about God and His love for us! We pray together at every meal, and now Maddie says prayers for our meals, always thanking God for her Ga-Ga and Mze!! They are teaching them about sharing and adventures and so many exciting fun things, that only grandparents can say to their grand kids!! Whew, what a blessing!! :) I sure do LOVE my parents!!!!

I am also thankful for the relationship that my sister and brother-in-law have with our kids!! Tre-Tre and Unk are SO important to Zack and Maddie!! Maddie constantly tell me that Ga-Ga and Tre-Tre and I are her best friends!! Ahh, melt my heart!! :) I love that I get to know and be close to my nephew!! He is so precious, I don't know what I would do if I couldn't see him on an every other day basis! He is growing and shaping my sister and BIL into even more amazing people, and it is SO fun to watch!! Today, and everyday I am reminded that my family is a true BLESSING!! God is SO good!!

My Birthday Weekend!

Two weeks before my birthday I received the sweetest e-vite from my two BFF's Sarah and Katie! They were inviting me away for a surprise birthday weekend! The e-vite instructed on what to bring/wear on our weekend, but it gave no specific direction as to where we were going!! Of course I replied "yes" and our weekend was set! For 10 days I waited for my birthday to get here, I knew it would be amazing, but I didn't know exactly HOW amazing!!

On Friday, Catrina and Maddux came and picked up Zack, Maddie and I and we went into town for lunch! First we stopped by CCH to take a look at the new paint and couches and then we were off to lunch with my mom!! My family is the BEST at celebrating birthdays!! We enjoy each other so much, we love to celebrate together!! Catrina and my mom were so thoughtful an d bought us lunch at one of my favorite restaurant's--Maria's!It was SO much fun! After lunch at Maria's we stopped for yogurt...YUM-O!!! Wyatt came home that evening after being out of town all week! He took me out to dinner and we had a nice evening just being adults! I love my husband so much, he had been gone all week and it was wonderful to have him home!

The next morning my BFF Sarah picked me up at 6:30 a.m. and we headed out on our girls' weekend!! We had some amazing chats on the 3 1/2 drive to get Katie! Sarah is one of the most genuine, honest, caring, loving and unconditional women I know!! She is simply amazing! We laughed our heads off, cried maybe a tear or too, and anxiously awaited picking up our Katie!! When we pulled in we ran up to her door whooping and hollering, we all hugged and squealed with excitement...it was the perfect start to our weekend!! After Sarah and I loved on our little Max and Sophie, we were OFF!! We went to a really fancy shopping mall, to walk around and dream...and to people watch! It was so much fun! After our first round of "shopping," we went to a delicious upscale pizza restaurant!! Then we headed to the Galleria!! :) It was a BLAST!! We shopped and shopped and shopped!! One of our favorite things to do is stick Sarah in the dressing room and bring her clothes to try on!! She is a teacher so she really needs nice new clothes and we are happy to help!! Well on this particular day she needed shoes, so we went everywhere looking for the perfect pairs of shoes! We found them and celebrated with ice cream!

After several hours at the mall, we headed to our hotel!! Wyatt had taken care of the hotel for us with reservations and valet parking! It was a beautiful hotel, we had a view of the arch from our window!! After checking in we went to our room (on the 21st floor) and laid on our beds and chatted for about 2 hours!! Now, I imagine that with anyone else after awhile we would run out of things to talk about, but we didn't!! Thus one of the best parts about having dear friends!! We are so close, that we can (and do) talk for hours about everything, never getting tired of one another's presence!

Around 6:45 we started getting ready for our dinner reservation! We were all so excited about getting dressed up and going out!! Our restaurant was just 5 blocks from our hotel so we walked...it was so much fun to just be us!! Not mommies, not teachers, not even wives at the moment, just the three of us...the best of friends!!!! Dinner was amazing, it was quite the experience! Our waiter was fun, he really enjoyed having three hotties at his table! Probably the funniest part of our evening was when he asked us what we were celebrating! We told him it was my 30th birthday and he went on to tell us how TERRIBLE his 30's were!! WOW! Not expecting that at all, but we laughed none the less and enjoyed the rest of our diner, including the complimentary chocolate cake...ummm, YUM-O!!!!!!!!!!!! After dinner we were walking back to our hotel when we saw a horse drawn carriage! Sarah said, "let's go for a ride" and Katie and I said "ok," so off we went!! We must have looked ridiculous all three of us in the same bench, but it was so much fun!! We were riding through downtown St. Louis just the three of us laughing our heads off! It. was. AWESOME!! When we got home we put on our pajamas and chatted late into the night!! The perfect way to end the perfect day!!

On Sunday morning we woke up to the beautiful view of the arch, chatted some more and then decided we were hungry!! Thanks to Prudence, Katie's handy dandy GPS system, we found a St. Louis bread close tour hotel (after going the wrong way on a downtown street) and settled in for breakfast!! The rest of the day was spent at Target (with Sarah in the dressing room and us bringing her all kinds of cute clothes), eating lunch and being best friends! Sadly around 3 we took Katie home and started our trip back to Springfield! Our weekend was over!! But it was the BEST birthday weekend I have ever had! Sarah and I talked all the way home, laughing and crying some more!! It is amazing how God has changed our lives since we have known each other! It is so good see His glory shine through what He has done!!! I came home totally refreshed, encouraged and energized!!!

THANKS to Wyatt and Nick for keeping our kiddos!!! And THANK YOU to Katie and Sarah for being such incredible friends!! I am SO BLESSED to have you in my life! I love that we know each other so well and have such an awesome friendship!! I love you girls!!!

The Proverbs

I have been reading through the book of Proverbs a lot lately...it has become one of my favorites books in the Bible! In the verses all throughout the book of Proverbs, I find much encouragement and also instruction on how to live, and on how NOT to live!! The Proverbs talk a LOT about the foolish, and about the wise, and I am striving each day to be wise! I am really working on being a better wife to Wyatt this busy season, I love him so much and he needs to know that EVERY day!! As many of you know, Wyatt is an accountant so our life right now is CRAZY! Many times in the past I have met him at the door with disdain and dis-respect..not at all because I am mad at him, just because I have had a rough day and no one to talk to except two small children! So I am really trying to change that this year and all of the years to come! Wyatt works hard to provide for our family, and for that I am SO thankful! He doesn't have a "normal" job, but as long as he enjoys it, we will stick with it! As I was reading my daily reading, I came across this verse! It hit me SO hard, kind of out of nowhere! It is one of those verses that just STICKS in my mind and I am constantly held accountable for my actions with and against my husband! This verse is found in Proverbs 12:4, and it says:

"A wife of noble character is her husbands crown, but a disgraceful wife is like DECAY in his bones!" Proverbs 12:4

WOW!! DECAY in my husbands bones, no thank you!! I think that sounds terribly gross and quite uncomfortable! But... it really has made an impact on my heart!! Those 19 words have changed my heart! THANKS God for reminding me of who You are and who You are molding and making me to be!! So this week, along with the last few weeks and I hope, the remaining weeks/months/years of my life, I am going to focus on making my husband proud of me and for simply being a woman of noble character, instead of decay in Wyatt's bones! (YUCK! :))