Our Tenth Year of Marriage!

Today marks a great achievement in today's marriage standards-or lack thereof. Greg and I happily celebrated our TENTH wedding anniversary. I can't say that we did anything of grandeur or expense but we did the most important thing for both of us, we spent time together. We both talked about how significant TEN years really is and how different we thought life would be after TEN years of marriage. Sooo, this year we wrote down where we think we'll be in another TEN years, put our predictions in an envelope, sealed it, not to be opened until August 7, 2019. It'll be fun to see where we are compared to where we think/hope we are after TWENTY years of marriage.

Greg is my best friend. He is always encouraging, supportive, faithful and so full of life. We have lived in two states together: Texas and Iowa. Been out of the country twice. Lived in a total of eleven residence-eight of which were our "permanent" address. Achieved four and six year college degrees. Birthed and are raising two beautiful children. Since marriage, Greg has had eight different jobs and I've had four. We've survived a tropical storm on Galveston Island and three winters in Iowa! Greg has played in bowling leagues, multiple softball leagues, a flag football league and golf tournaments he also coached basketball. We have been through seven cars. We've owned only ONE refrigerator, microwave, washer, dryer, wok, toaster and kitchen table. We've buried four grandparents, welcomed seven new nieces and nephews, been in three weddings and thrown multiple wedding, baby and lingerie showers. We've watched movies until we've laughed ourselves to tears, stayed up all night to see the sunrise, gone to bed before the sun, exhausted ourselves watching TV shows, saved a puppy and gotten locked IN our apartment. We've kissed each other good night (excluding nights we're apart of course and those nights we talk on the phone until one or both of us fall asleep) every night and never gone to bed mad at each other-honest. I'm convinced that we are a perfect match-though I had my doubts-and we just couldn't be happier. . . TEN years later.

Balloon Festival

This past weekend, we attended our first annual

balloon festival, along with our friend Kevin. It was in

a little town south of Des Moines and we were really wowed

at what we saw! For a small town, it was quite impressive. It's

always fun to have your expectations exceeded and not the other

way around. We arrived, through miles worth of a single line of

traffic, about an hour before the great launch. It was great

timing, the kids were just getting restless when they gave

the "green light". The balloons began to fill and we

watched around one hundred hot air balloons

launch in about thirty minutes.

We were so close! The kids

enjoyed seeing the fire

and all the different

colors and designs of

balloons.

Alea is convinced that she is going to have her own balloon festival "with only pink balloons".

We had a great time. . .

Our Little Soccer Player

For the past four weeks, Alea has been playing soccer. She had two practices and two "games". I should have known before we even had her play that she is not a soccer player! She did not like the contact part this contact sport. I pictured it differently . . . I pictured all the little ones being polite and taking turns kicking the ball . . . NO, they were really aggressive for little four and five year olds. Not to mention there were three boys to every one girl-if that tells you anything. They would literally swarm the ball like little flies. Alea spent much of the time out on the field jumping up and down watching her shadow, inspecting the grass, planting sunflower seeds (??) and giving us thumbs up. She did make two goals tonight!! Whoo-Hoo-but did I mention it was for the other team? I'm glad she experienced the sport of soccer but I'm convinced she will not ask to play again.

They spray painted parts of the field orange and she was fascinated!

-This is during the game.

Is there really a soccer game going on around me?

-Still during the game.

There's our STAR--just go the other way!

Happy? Birthday to ME

The signs were obvious, though I chose not to listen. I'm getting older. This one seems different for some reason. I'm getting older. Why can't I just stay in my 20's, that seems so much softer than the 30's. I'm getting older. Birthdays use to be something to look forward to and enjoy. I'm getting older. My grandma said I could stay sixteen forever--if only?!? I'm getting older. Oh, embrace and let go, it's already come and gone-I'm 30 and getting older!

If you haven't guessed, I turned 30 (on the 10th). It was so much more fun to pick on everyone else in my family when they turned 30 than to experience it myself. Ug, I thought I'd be OK with this, I've even been practicing saying, "I'm thirty" for a while now and that didn't make it any easier to bridge that gap. I'm not depressed, I'm just not eager to let go of the 20's. I did have a wonderful birthday! Greg took the day off and we shopped, walked, swam and ate. I couldn't ask for a better husband or children to spend the WHOLE day with-they made it so wonderful. Thanks to everyone for all the texts, calls, emails and cards-they helped dull the pain!

Happy July 4th

We hope everyone had a wonderful weekend celebrating our great nation's birthday with family and friends. We were so busy but had a wonderful day. We were in another parade with the church-this time it was cloud covered and rainy (the high was only 67)! We followed the parade with me and my dear friend Amanda trekking off to the outlets leaving the daddys to care for the little ones. We then reunited for dinner and fireworks. Alea was so excited about watching the fireworks she was squealing all evening. Benton did wonderful during the beautiful booms going on all around and we all went to bed happy and tired.

This was our second year to enjoy the local fireworks with our friends, the Charlton family. We are so blessed by their friendship and enjoy many dinners and playdates with them. They are so faithful and encouraging, the kind of friends you can always count on. They help to fill the big empty spot left from being so far from family. I hope we continue to make memories and enjoy each other's families as long as we can. Thanks for sharing this wonderful day with us, Charltons!

Benton Earns Dessert?

We made a cake and have been whittling away at it the past week. During dinner, I did the typical mom thing and told the kids that if they ate all their dinner, they'd get to finish off the rest of the cake. Alea didn't miss a beat and her plate was completely wiped clean in minutes . . . Benton, not so much. He was too busy playing and still had a plate full. I thought it wise to explain to him why Alea was getting cake and he was not. I showed him the empty plate and said, "Alea ate everything on her plate, see, it's empty, now she's getting cake. You will not get cake until your plate looks like Alea's, OK?" He agreed and slowly walked back to their table. Out of the corner of our eyes and amidst muffled giggles we watched as Benton slowly, piece by piece removed his dinner from his plate. Oh, not into his mouth, onto the floor under their picnic table! What a sneaker! He, with a grin on his face, reproduced the empty plate to me, but still did not get dessert.

Oh, Mother!?!

Really? My four years, one month, thirteen days old child has an opinion on what she wears for church, really? I remember the times-few I'm sure-that I would come out all ready for going wherever, totally expecting and even encouraging mom to step in. Following the "look" and "comment", she would send me back to my room for another try. Yes, I remember, but I was FIFTEEN!

While getting ready for church Sunday morning, I suggested to Alea that she wear a skirt, shew, that went over well, she picked a nice pink one. Now time for the shirt. Deep sigh. After a few suggestions, she relentlessly insists on, yes, another pink one. I tried to tell her that it was pink overkill (whatever that means to a four year old) and that she needed to break it up some so she didn't look like a pink dot. I found a jean vest that would have looked great. She attempted to get it on and then had a panic attack and threw it across the room. Uggg. She replies, "But mom, I want to look like a pink dot!" To which I replied some smart mom remark I'm sure. Grrr. On to the shoes. . . I suggested some nice pink butterfly flip-flops to which she curled her nose and said she wanted to wear high heels-pink of course. To this I emphatically said no and she melted to the floor while I removed myself from the situation. Are me and my four year old really going round and round about what to wear? Really? This should happen years down the road! I continue getting ready and here she comes down the stairs prancing, "Mom, I look perfectly beautiful" . . . looking down to the red and blue Incredibles socks and tennis shoes. Nooo. I lovingly said that she is beautiful but those shoes and socks were not going to work-for church, sob, stomp back up the stairs. She reserfaced with nice white and pink socks and pink shoes. We ended up compromising on the entire outfit-oh the joy of an opinion!

The "Perfectly Beautiful" Outfit

The compromise

What is she going to be like as a teenager? HELP . . .