my birthday

I had a fantastic birthday on Sunday. We woke up to a rainy and dark morning, and got Nolan ready for his very first Sunday School class. He LOVED it! After church, we went to my in-laws for some always-good Subway sandwiches and a strawberry cheesecake made by Alice. My buddy helped me blow out the candles to practice for his upcoming big birthday :) We headed home to relax and (attempt to) nap. Steve outdid himself again with creative and sweet gifts for me :) Before dinner, we went for a drive through the hill country. There was a nice pause in the rain while we posed for a few pictures with the amazing landscape. Later, my mom and Don grilled out for us at their house. My mom made some bright and beautiful milk chocolate cupcakes for me, and before we knew it, the daylight was gone, and it was time to go home and get the boys to bed. Twenty-seven, I’m grateful to see you, and I’m pretty excited for all that’s in store this year :)

I kept listening to Sanctus Real’s song “Lay It Down”, over and over this weekend, and it’s full of wisdom that I’m taking with me into this year.

”But if you smile in face of trivial things,
and you learn to pray when you want to complain,
stand up straight when the earth is shaking,
and just keep breathing when you feel afraid.
Don’t you know
those problems you're worried about?
They can't keep you from living now,
when you shake them off and lay them down
at the cross where your freedom's found.”

tim & amy’s wedding

While we were in Nebraska, we celebrated my cousin Tim marrying his long-time girlfriend, Amy. Tim has always been a little brother to me, and it was so special to see him make this huge step of commitment :) Sidenote—you can see my cousins Tim and Sam are well over six feet tall (I’m 5’7” and wearing wedges in this photo). I am so hoping that Nolan and Ephraim get some height from this side of the family!

Rewinding to earlier in the day…

We drove past my high school so I could do a little reminiscing :)

We stopped at Jimmy John’s near the school to eat some delicious subs for lunch.

Mouth full :)

We were the only customers in the restaurant, and I was chatting to Steve about my cousin Katie (in a good way, haha!) when she came strolling into Jimmy John’s! Her hair and makeup were all done as sister-of-the-groom and bridesmaid, and she was picking up a party tray to take to the church (five miles away). Out of all the restaurants in Lincoln!

After the wedding, we headed to a lovely reception.

 
They had a table set for all the family in Heaven. My dad’s picture is to the far left, and these are Tim’s grandparents on his mom’s side.
 
Tim and Katie had an older sister Rebecca, who died when she was four days-old after complications at birth. I was three months-old at the time when we all still lived in Chicago, and I have always known that we would have been best friends :)

 
My sister Hannah had a seat as well :) :)

   
I was able to take all of those shots because my boys were asleep in the car. Once they awakened, I quickly passed off my camera to my cousin Sarah because there was no way I could be a mom and photographer at the same time!




I took these next ones off of my mom’s Facebook because she got some GREAT group shots :)
 


Me, Katie, Ephraim


Me, Aunt Karen, Aunt Meg, Aunt Tina (mom-of-groom), Aunt Yvonne, and my mom with Uncle John photo-bombing


 
Thanks Tim and Amy for a wonderful wedding, and a great excuse to come out and visit!! Wishing you guys a lifetime of happiness!

Xoxo.

road tripping

Two Thursdays ago we did a very brave thing by putting our two little guys in the car and embarking on a 1,000 mile road trip. Our first stop was Valparaiso, Indiana—home to my grandpa (my mom’s dad) and my mom’s two sisters.




My aunt Sally made a retirement cake for Don with four bright colored layers. She joked that she wanted to feature it on the blog :)


It was SO special for Ephraim to meet his great-grandpa Dan, and great-grandpa’s wife Gayle!! My grandpa had three daughters, five granddaughters, and only one grandson. But in this new generation, he has four great-grandsons and one great-granddaughter! They are all under four years old :)
 

Four generations!


The rest of the crew (minus Don and Steve).

My cousins weren’t able to meet up with us in Valparaiso. But skipping ahead to a few days later, we caught up with my cousin Lindsay at Culver’s in Ottawa, Illinois. Lindsay and her husband Chris had baby Tristan only five days before we had Ephraim!  It was incredibly fun to finally see the two babies together!

All of these people mean so much to me!

Tomorrow I’ll have to share my dad’s side of the family on our trip!

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