Wow, what a few weeks! We went to St. Louis from September1-8. We had an amazing time and loved being with family and friends. This was our kids first time to go see where Grandma and Grandpa live and they LOVED IT! Our kids were so happy the whole time. We did so much! Aliyah went and helped Grandma Karen at Preschool on Thursday and then we went up in the Arch. We got to just hang out and have a low key evening. Friday we went and visited gma Karen at work and then my dad got in town! Mike and the kids and I went to the St. Louis Science Center! We had a blast! We even got to dress up in lab coats and solve a mystery and discovery things about our finger prints. Saturday our kids got to play with Matthew and Morgan. They loved getting to hang out with their friends. We packed up in the van and headed to Gorham, IL for my cousin Christy's wedding. It was beautiful and it was great to get to be back at the farm. When we got home Brandon and Carole and baby Micah were home. We got to visit with them, hold Micah and get ourselves ready for a crazy day. Sunday we had pictures taken with a professional so we could get the whole family in a picture. Then mom and dad threw us a HUGE wedding reception. We had about 220 people there! It was great to see so many people and feel the love that people have for us! Thank you mom and dad for a wonderful day! Monday we had a swim party with family and friends. We also celebrated Aliyah's 10th birthday a few days early with the Clan. It was exciting for her to get to spend her "birthday" with her new family and friends. Tuesday the whole gang went to the Zoo. It was amazing. No one was there and we could just take our time going around the place. We got to pet sting rays and have a great video of Aliyah getting splashed. It rained on us a couple of times but all in all it was a beautiful day! Mike and I made dinner for everyone that night and we just got to relax. We went home on Wednesday evening.
We got to our house at about 10PM and then had to head back to the airport on Thursday morning. My dear friend Katie Warner came into town. We spent the whole day... welll... cleaning our house. Katie was amazing, she really helped me feel back together again! We hung out with our friend Chris that night and had dinner together and planned for our camping trip the next day. On Friday evening Katie, Chris, Mike and I oh and Brutus, heading to Union Valley for an amazing weekend away from everything. It was so needed. It was relaxing and gorgeous! The weather was amazing and we just didn't want to come home actually.
Monday morning Katie and I took the kids to school, made ourselves some latte's and headed to get the most wonderful pedicure I think I have ever had. We got our feet and legs worked on for over an hour!!! Oh and they did massage our legs with hot stones. WOW! Katie had never been to Ikea so we headed there and then to the airport.
Now, our big things have really slowed down. I feel like we can get better about being in routines about things and really getting things organized. So we are getting there. I am proud of myself because I have kept up with the kitchen for 2 days! yea! There are a couple of areas I am going to try to tackle today organizationally and hopefully it will all just keep happening and we will all feel quite settled. I'll keep you posted... but like I said we are ... getting there. :)
