Jamie's Tea Party Baby Shower

It's always so much fun to plan a baby shower, but it's even better when it's for your beautiful sister and sweet nieces! Family and friends showered Jamie for her special day and we planned a big sister tea party for Hannah and her girlfriends too.

 We went with a pink and green theme. I loved this mason jar idea I found on pinterest for the centerpieces! 

The big girls tea party table... 

The little girls tea party table... 

 The little girls tea party food...

 And the big girls tea party food...

 We had a yummy brunch for all the guests, including homemade french toast, breakfast casseroles, a yogurt bar, mini cinnamon rolls, and fruit.

Hannah and her friends sipped pink lemonade, ate lots of oreos, and played dress up!

Then it was time to open presents. Hannah had her own chair and loved all the big sister gifts she received. 

 Jamie was so grateful for all the wonderful gifts for Hadley.

We had a great morning celebrating Jamie and her girls and can't wait to meet our sweet Hadley in just a couple of months!

Mommy's Birthday!

My birthday was wonderful! The boys woke me up the morning of my birthday with lots of fun gifts. Matt had helped them make handprints and footprints onto concrete stepping stones and then painted them, a very special present! We went out to lunch with Daddy too.

 That evening, my mom and dad made me my favorite dinner and it was delicious!

Love technology! We were able to facetime Jacob and Brooke so they didn't miss the important parts of the night! 

My big surprise was an iPhone! I was not expecting it at all, and was really excited. They spoiled me with several other great gifts too. Extremely blessed! 

So thankful for my wonderful family and all that they did to make my day so great! Next year, it's the BIG 3-0! 

Carson the fisherman!

Matt took the boys out fishing Sunday morning. They had some true fishing stories to tell me when they got home! I can't believe my babies are big enough to fish with Daddy. It makes my heart so happy to see them enjoying the outdoors with Matt. Matt put bread on the end of Carson's fishing line, and within seconds, fish were biting!

Carson hooked his own fish, then reeled it in all by himself! Tanner was just as excited as Carson! When I asked Carson what Daddy said when he hooked the fish, he said, "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Yank up Carson!" Ha!

Our big boy with his first fish! 

Matt had him put all the fish he caught (a total of 8!) in a bucket. 

Then Tanner took a small net and moved the fish from the bucket back into the water. What teamwork!

Can't wait for more fishing stories!

Camping in the living room!

Matt and I are just loving the age that our boys are at. They think everything we do with them is just the best, and we've been having a blast with our family fun nights on the weekends. One of our activities on our "summer bucket list" was having a living room campout.

Our family sized tent barely fit in our living room without having to move the furniture around!  

We rented a movie, set up the tent with sleeping bags, pillows, blankets, and flashlights! 

 We ordered pizza and ate dinner in the tent while watching our movie.

Towards the end of the movie we made smores! The boys had never had smores before and weren't sure what to think. 

Mmmm.... 

Our 2 little sleepy campers... 

We took the tent down and all went to bed. The next night however, I came home from a girls night to find my 3 boys fast asleep in the tent. I guess the boys were wanting to sleep in there for real this time and they convinced Daddy to put the tent back up. I snapped this picture in the dark of my sleeping boys. So fun! 

Mommy goes running!

Back in January, Matt and I started running. We did a program called Couch to 5K and honestly could barely run 1 minute straight...it's the truth! We set a goal to run a 5K (3.1 miles) and in March, we ran our first one.

After our first 5K in March, I fell in love with running! It's a great time for me to clear my head, relieve some stress, and listen to my Mommy only music for awhile, all while getting exercise. Carson and Tanner say "Mommy goes running". I mainly run in the early morning before the heat is too much to handle. Carson always greets me at the door when I come in and knows I head straight for our fan in our bedroom after I grab my water bottle. This past week, he wanted his water bottle too and sat with me beside the fan. So sweet!

Now I have a goal to run in a half marathon (13.1 miles) in December and have ran over 155 miles in the past 3 months! I went from barely being able to run 1 minute straight, to running 70 minutes straight. My training schedule for the half marathon is pretty strict, but has definitely built up my endurance and long distance running in just the 8 weeks I've been doing it. Matt and the boys join me too sometimes and we go as a family in the late evening. 

We recently ran in another 5K and our boys ran in the kid run. It was fun to race together as a family!

I'm so appreciative for my supportive husband! When we run together as a family, he always pushes the stroller so I can focus on my run, and even hooks up his Iphone to a speaker and blares kid music for the boys! We look a little silly but the boys stay entertained! :)

Today my long distance run goes up to 7 miles and I'm getting close to my 13.1 miles! When I feel like quitting, I repeat Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." This running Mommy has a goal to reach and I can't wait to do it! Half marathon here I come!

Family beach day!

We spent a relaxing Saturday morning at the beach! Our weekends can get filled up with activities fast, so we were happy to have a morning to relax! We went to a more secluded beach on the east coast and loved it!

 There were maybe 6 other families on the beach besides us and we had this whole section to ourselves. It was perfect!

 The boys love it when Daddy can join in on our beach trips because he takes them out a little further than Mommy does in the ocean!

 The boys built sandcastles and their own little ocean pool...

 TT the sand monster! He buries himself and rolls around in the sand. He loves it! 

Thankful for a relaxing morning at the beach with our family!

Grandma's Birthday

Grandma celebrated a birthday this week! We took her out for dessert at The Cheesecake Factory. Of course you can't go out for your birthday without the waitors and waitresses singing to you! She got a delicious piece of cake.

 

 After dessert we headed to a park near the restaurant. Grandma is just a kid at heart, she hopped right up on the play equipment with the boys! :)

 

 The park we played at was next door to the civic center where Matt and I were married. We thought it would be fun to take a picture with our boys in the spot where we said "I do!"

We love you Grandma and appreciate all that you do for us! Happy Birthday!