Feliz Navidad!

Merry Christmas from the Beach!

We are back from Mexico and have so many pictures to share!  It was such a wonderful and relaxing trip and we had a great time. 

Chris' parents made a tradition two years ago to take a family trip somewhere in December.  Two years ago we all went to Puerto Rico and had a relaxing trip there.

This year...we chose Playa del Carmen Mexico as our destination!  AND...this year we decided to go over the Christmas holiday.  So...a week ago today...20 of us left for Mexico and spent 5 nights on an all-inclusive resort called Sandos in Playa del Carmen, which is about 45 minutes south of Cancun.

Here are the 20 of us on Christmas morning!

I will post more pics from the trip soon! 

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas as well!

Random Ramblings...

UGH....

I am so annoyed that I have Halloween Pics as my last post and it almost Christmas! 

I really do wish I had time to update my blog each and every day.  It isn't that I don't have things to share and pictures to post...it's more that I don't have time to get on here and get it done!

UGH!

For some reason...I always think I have to post a picture every post.

I don't!  I can just ramble and you will still listen...right?

I have been wanting to go back and find old pictures of my baby and post them to show you how much she has grown.  Our baby Brooke turned 5 on last Thursday!  She has changed so much...and her sweet little face doesn't look like a baby face anymore.  She's growing up way too fast! 

Maybe I'll get that done before we leave...but don't place any bets on it!

We have WAY to many things to do...  This is my current TO DO list...

~ Finish wrapping Christmas presents
~ Charge all iPods, iPads and electronic devices
~ Mail last of the Christmas Cards
~ Pay bills
~ Finish editing Pics
~ Finish laundry
~ Buy travel toiletries
~ Buy last minute Christmas present (sshhh...this is a secret)
~ Take Cooper & Charlie to kennel
~ Finish packing bags!

Yes...all that has to be done BEFORE tomorrow!  Crazy huh!

I love all the hustle and bustle of Christmas!  At least it's snowing and we get a little taste of a White Christmas before heading to 80 degree weather!  WOO HOO!

Trick or Treat

Here are some belated pics of the kiddos this Halloween!

 Maddie Grace

Ashlyn Reese

Brooke Elise

By the way...that is Maddie's broom that she is "riding".  And...it took a LOT of convincing to get Ashlyn to let me put makeup on her!  UGH!  You wouldn't think I would have that problem with a girl...but that is for sure the case with her...the other two would have it on all the time if they could!

I think these were my favorite costumes so far...besides the year they were the three little pigs and daddy was the big bad wolf!

This Halloween was different than past years....we were invited to a adult costume party and therefore, mommy and daddy got to dress up! 

I actually enjoyed that more than I thought I would!

September & October Fun

We have had quite some fun the last couple of months.

First, in September we went to Vegas with some friends of ours that had never been.  I think Tyson and Katie had a good time.  I know we enjoyed hanging out with them and seeing the sights once again! 

We were able to go to a couple shows...one of which was the Tournament of Kings at the Excalibur.  Katie and I were able to get a quick picture with one of the knights.

We did a lot of walking and sightseeing of many of the different casinos.  We took them to the Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino because I think it is one of the nicest hotels as far as looks.  Unfortunately it has never been that "nice" to us as far as the cards, so we didn't gamble there, but we did check out the cool decor.  I love this chandelier ball....it changes colors like all the lights inside the casino.  Katie and I were mesmerized watching it.

In all the times we have been to Vegas we have never seen the Bellagio fountains at night.  We've seen them from afar during the day...but nothing compares to the show at night!  I think that might be one of my favorite things to see now!

Secondly, we were able to get the Kansas State Fair this year on the last weekend.  Whew!  Since I grew up in Hutch, I'm not sure that I have ever missed a year at the KSF.  The girls had fun "goofing" off with the state fair signs...

/

For the last couple years, we have been able to get our faces painted.  This year we were able to meet up with Hilary and her kiddos and we all got our faces painted together.

Here is the finished faces...

Once we were finished getting faces painted, we all headed over to the rides...the kids could hardly wait...

They had so much fun and we were so very thankful that they had other kids to ride the rides with them...

This one...Aubrey (second from the right) was not so sure of.  I remember the first time Brooke rode this ride, she had the exact same expression!

We were lucky that we didn't have to ride much, but the kids made Hilary and I go on the water ride!  UGH!  This was not so enjoyable for us since you almost always get wet, but we put our brave mom faces on and tuffed it out!

It was a good trip overall...I'm thankful we made it and thankful Hilary and her kids were able to go with us!

And so...Moving on to October...

We made it a "family" event at this year's Pumpkin PaZOOla.  We have gone to this annual event at the Rolling Hills Wildlife Zoo in Salina for the past several years.  However, usually it has been me, the girls and a friend or my parents.  This year I wanted to make it more of a family outing.  Chris worked it out to take off of work that day and hang out with us at the zoo.  We invited several other friends and their families joined us in our yearly tradition as well.  We did so well, getting there right when it opened so we didn't miss out on the pumpkin patch!

Our girls picked their pumpkins...

Ashlyn

Maddie

Brooke

Tyson & Katie's kids got theirs...

Asher

Faith

Tristan

And so did Levi and Julie's...

Jocelyn

Lauren

and then we headed over to get our faces painted...

and Brooke stopped to look at an animal up close...

and the most unfortunate thing occured.  IT STARTED POURING DOWN RAIN!  Not just raining, but literaly pouring!  And...we were all the way across the zoo, almost he furthest you could be from the main entrance.  So, our eventful day ended up being rained out!  But...we DID get our pumpkins at least!

Lastly, the only other new in October is that I started a new job.  I now am working at Ottawa County Health Center as their Human Resource Director.  Ottawa County Health Center is the critical access hospital in Minneapolis, KS, which is about 20 minutes north of Salina.  I have only been there two weeks now, but I am really enjoying it and feel like it was the right move for me and my career!  Everyone keeps asking me if the drive is bad and honestly, I like it!  It gives me time to get ready for the start of my workday and then a moment to relax before I get home to craziness and busyness of homelife with my wonderful family!

Life is good!  Hope yours is treating you the same!

Playing Catch up - Summer Recap

I have had so many of you ask me “where are you?” and “why haven’t you posted lately?”. Well, I have thought about it several times…I mean, it’s been since May 20th…that seems forever ago!

But, every time I think about it, I also think about all the other things I need to do and about how long of a post it will be to tell you what we’ve been up to for the last few months.

Well…

For starters, here’s a recap…

1. WE ARE MOVED! I’m sure you remember that we sold our house. Well, we are now moved into our new house.

We LOVE it here. It’s so peaceful being out in the country!

I LOVE…

the three car garage…
the basketball goal…
my new open floor plan…
my BE-U-TI-FUL kitchen (one of the biggest selling points of this house)…
the open backyard…without looking at any neighbor’s house….
And peace and quiet!

Of course that only lasts for a moment… remember… we have three kids and two dogs! Peace and quiet doesn’t last long around here!

We are “sort of” settled in. I would post pictures, but the house just isn’t quite “picture ready”..so stay tuned!

2. We WENT ON VACATION (without kids)!

Chris and I were able to get away for a week with my good friend Dawn and her husband Daniel. Dawn and I have known each other since we were 5 years old. Crazy huh? You don’t find friendships that lasts that long, but we have a truly special friendship that I cherish very much. And, we were extremely lucky that the men in our lives get along great as well! It’s wonderful! The only bad thing is that we live two states away from each other, so we don’t see each other very often. This year, we decided to take a trip together and we had a fantastic time. We went to Coast Rica! This was my first time out of the country, so I was able to get my very first stamp in my passport!

It was bliss! We had such a relaxing time. I have so many pictures to share of our time there. We caught big fish, watched the sun set, relaxed at the pool, played cards almost every night, ate great food, drank this Costa Rican blue drink, walked along the beach searching for seashells and chasing hermit crabs, went scuba diving, had a mud bath, soaked in a natural hot spring, zip lined and went horseback riding. But, probably the most special thing that we did there was renew our wedding vows on the beach. It was awesome and a special occasion that we were able to celebrate with such great friends! I promise that I will blog more about the trip and share all the gorgeous pictures that we took.

3. Speaking of renewing our vows… Chris and I also celebrated our 13th year of marriage this June 20th.

It’s hard to believe that Chris and I have been married 13 years! That is a long time. We have been blessed with a strength in our marriage that is not only made us remember the reasons we fell in love with each other, but also the plan that God has for us for our future. We are so very thankful for our marriage and for each other. Things haven’t always been easy and we have been through some difficult times, but we have overcome those things and have grown closer in the end. This was part of the reason that we chose to renew our vows and to re-enforce our commitment to one another.

4. I photographed my first wedding.

And boy, was I nervous!! My cousin James got married to his wife Allie in Pittsburg, KS and they asked me to take their wedding pictures. As you know, I do some amateur photography and I really do enjoy it. I took their engagement pictures back in November and when they asked me to do their wedding, I almost turned them down. I was very scared about doing a wedding. What if something went wrong…like my camera not working properly or I forget to put film in the camera (that happened to my mom and dad at their wedding!). But, I guess since I don’t have to worry about putting film in my camera since we are in the “digital” age, what did I have to fret about? Surely, all would go smoothly. And, for the most part, things went very smoothly at the wedding. I got most of the shots I wanted to…well, maybe not as many outside as I would have liked, but it was WAY TO HOT to stay outdoors too long and my bride and groom were sweating to death. So, we settled with what we had. Everything went smoothly UNTIL.…

Until I got home and started searching for one of the camera cards I had used. I had switched out cards right before the ceremony so that I wouldn’t run out of space on my card during the middle of the ceremony. I put the card in my small camera case that housed my video camera. Well, when we got home and started unpacking, I couldn’t find it anywhere! My worst fear had occurred! I had lost the “film”! I looked everywhere before I made the dreaded call to my cousin and his brand new wife to find out if they had stumbled across my camera case at the church or reception when they were cleaning up. They hadn’t found it and before long I was routed to my aunt and then both my other cousins to see if they had picked it up when they were helping clean up. NO ONE had it. I was frantic!! I had all the pictures from the ceremony, but the pictures that we took before the wedding (some important ones…like all the ones with the bride and groom and their immediately family) were on the missing card. Everyone, including James and Allie were positive it would show up… but I was a nervous wreck! Well, they were right, it did eventually show up. We ended up finding it in the most obvious place…OUR SUITCASE! I know, those of you that know me are thinking “this is SO Jenny!” It was right there under our very noses, but somehow in the franticness of searching for something that we thought was missing, I missed the very thing we were looking for! Oh well, it makes for a great story right?! And, we ended up with some great pictures.

Here's a couple of my favs...

5. We spent the 4th of July at the Lake with Family

This is becoming a family tradition to hang out together at the Lake on the 4th. Since we have been so busy moving, this was actually our first time out at the lake. The girls had really missed it and to be honest, Chris and I had too! We love playing in the lake and riding the jet skis. For the past several years, all of Chris’ siblings and their families all meet at the lake over the fourth to be together and then shoot off fireworks. It was a great day with family!

The kids all had fun jumping from the boat and doing "tricks"...

We finished off the evening with fireworks, of course...

 
And before the BIG ones were set off, we all got front row seats out on the boat dock...

6.  We now have a 4th grader, a 2nd grader and a preschooler!  School is back in session and Chris and I couldn't be happier.  We were ready for a regular routine and school helps get that in place.  The girls were ready too!  They were excited to meet their new teachers and see all of their friends again.

Showing off their new backpacks...

And getting on the bus this year from our own driveway...

Brooke was excited to go back to school too...she had to pose just like her big sisters...

As you can see, it has been a busy summer for us!  I'm glad I got you all caught up and finally got my blog updated.  Whew!   I can't wait to share more with you about our trip to Coasta Rica...stay tuned!