Blessed!

I'm feeling very thankful for my family!! I've been thinking a lot how blessed I am to have such wonderful family around. This past weekend my parents took the kids home with them for the weekend. The kids had a blast - they played with all the toys, rode on the loader, went to the park, saw my grandpa, visted Dave's mom and dad (aka Granny and Papa), rode the pony and loved every minute of it. Meanwhile, Dave and I had a weekend just the two of us! Now I bet you are realizing why I feel blessed! Yes, I sure do, but not only because Dave and I have parents that love our kids and enjoy spending time with them, but also for so many other reasons. I'm just so thankful for a "close" family, I'm very close to my family and have grown very close to Dave's family also. My mom is my best friend and one of the best examples I could ever have. My dad is the picture of strength and endurance and would do anything for anyone! You know how people talk about mother-in-laws, as if it's a bad word, well I love Dave's mom, she is like a second mom to me, she's a wonderful Granny - I seriously couldn't have asked for a better mother-in-law. Dave's dad is wonderful too, I love listening to all his stories and all he has been through! Yes, I'm blessed!! I think a "close" family is rare these days and my prayer is that I can pass on to my kids the "closeness" I have with my family!

While the kids were off enjoying time with grandparents, Dave and I went fishing for the day! We had a great time and caught some really big fish. I'm not as hard core about fishing as Dave is so I did a little reading too. As I was sitting there reading and looking up watching Dave fish, I kept thinking about how blessed I am to be married to him. When I was in junior high until Dave and I were engaged I prayed every night that God would give me a husband that would love me and God forever! At the time I didn't even realize what that would mean, but now looking back God answered that prayer beyond what I could have ever imagined. He is amazing and I'm so grateful for him.

Needless to say - I am BLESSED!!

Julia's Birthday

I can't believe she's 5!

Julia had her birthday party with her friends a few weeks ago. She had some of her friends over for a Tinkerbell Party. The girls had a good time playing, laughing and eating cake. I'm thinking I'll hold off as long as I can for an all girl slumber party!! ha ha I guess I just don't remeber being that "girly" growing up, I'm sure I was but I don't remember. I remember being on the farm chasing kittens, driving the riding lawn mower, taking care of our sheep and riding the 4-wheeler. I remember being dirty - not wearing princess dresses all the time. Don't get me wrong I did my share of playing with Barbies and dolls and that kind of thing, I just really don't remember thinking I was a princess. I mean I seriously think that Julia thinks she is in "princess training" or something. Anyhow, the party was cute and she had a lot of fun and I think all the girls did too. Poor Shane was out of place, I don't think he knew what to do with himself with all those girls around, he tried to do what they were doing (making body glitter and princess wands) but he just didn't quite fit in. Our nephew Tyler was here but he's too little to play with Shane right now. Although I can imagine that Shane is going to get Tyler in to some "boy" trouble as they get older - Shane will be more than willing to show him the ropes and if they are anything like their dad's were when they were little, I'm in for it!