Chopped

So, I've been thinking for awhile now of cutting my hair. Ponytails day after day just weren't cutting it for me and I needed a change. So, I decided to go short. I got onto Locks of Love website to see if I could donate my hair and it said that my longest layer had to be 10". I got out my little measuring tool and pulled my hair straight and thought that I had 10" but wasn't sure. I made my appointment and thought that if I didn't have 10" to donate, then I would just get a trim and come back in a month or two. Well, I had 12" so it all got chopped!

Before the cut
After the 12" got chopped off
Finished product

The Wildlife Experience

This week, I took the kids to The Wildlife Experience. It's mostly a museum of dead, stuffed animals but they had a couple things that the kids enjoyed.

There was a place that projected fish swimming on the floor. When you stepped in their direction, they would swim the other way. I put Siahna in the middle of this and she thought it was super funny. It was really cute to watch her and I wondered what was going through her mind. You should be able to hear her giggling in the background. Super cute.

There was also a live animal presentation and you'll never believe what Case touched!

Never Go Back

Many, many years ago, my dad found this recipe for syrup and we've never gone back to store bought. I thought I'd share it with you in the hopes that you'll try it and never go back to store bought.

1 C. dark corn syrup
1 C. sugar
1 t. salt
2 T. butter
1/2 C. evaporated milk
1 t. vanilla
1/2 t. almond flavoring
cinnamon

Combine first five ingredients. Cook over medium heat. Stir constantly. Don't boil. Simmer. Remove from heat and add vanilla, almond & cinnamon.

Store in refrigerator. Heat a small portion each time you need syrup and enjoy!

It's Hard Sometimes

Jeff & I recently joined a small group at our church geared towards people with kids. We started meeting at the park this summer for picnics and have now progressed to meeting in homes and having each couple share how they met and their testimony. This past week, Jeff and I hosted and shared. All of the people in this group are new friends and know very little about it. Of course, we always have fun telling people how we met and the process it took for us to FINALLY start dating and FINALLY get married! While that's a fun story, we also shed many tears with our new friends sharing about our struggles over the past year. Siahna has been such a blessing when we thought there would be no more babies for us. We praise God for her and are so thankful that she's a part of our family.

At the same time, we also struggle with why God gave us a baby but made our path so bumpy along the way. It's easy to get discouraged at times. There's a baby in the group who is three months younger than Siahna and many times I want to cry when I see her next to him because it makes me see just how far behind she is. We try to focus on the positive. All labwork is now back and all is normal. She makes progress and does new things all the time. She's drinking from a straw. She's climbing up the stairs. She's smacking her lips to blow kisses. She's doing many things she wasn't doing a month ago.

I feel like we still have a long road in front of us and we ask that you keep us in your prayers. It's discouraging sometimes to know what she should be doing and what she's not and yet six months ago we were all miserable because she was such an unhappy baby who was tense all the time and hardly slept. Hopefully, we're learning from every step we take and God will use our lives and her life to bless others. May it all not be in vain.

Life Is Good

Bath Time!

Rock Star.

Shiloh made my birthday "cake." It's a sunflower. Thanks Holly for the idea. Love it! She did a great job.

Siahna enjoyed the cupcakes!

Happy Anniversary

Jeff and I celebrated our anniversary by going to someone else's wedding! I think that 3 out of our 6 years, we've spent the weekend of our anniversary attending another wedding. I guess that's life. Mom and dad were kind enough to take the kids for a night so that Jeff and I could drive to Omaha this last weekend to go to his cousin's wedding. We enjoyed the wedding. Spent some time in the Old Market playing darts (I won 1 of 3 games - although Jeff took it easy on me that game) and had some drinks. We spent the night at the Hilton and I ended up sleeping on the floor because Jeff's snoring and shaking leg were out of control. Happy Anniversary to me!!That's life, huh?

Bittersweet

As many of you know, my brother and his family are leaving Colorado to move to Kearney, NE. Katie applied for a job at The Buckle, got it, and moved in with my parents all within a timeframe of about three weeks. Collin has been in Loveland with the kids finishing tball season, packing the house and trying to get it rented. I keep reminding myself that at least they're moving to Kearney - maybe we'll go visit more often.

Several things to pray for as they make this transition:
1) That they'll get their house rented in CO and be able to find an affordable place in Kearney.
2) That the boys will transition well as they move to a new town, make new friends and start a new school.
3) That Collin would be able to get his photography business up and running in Kearney (if you live there keep him in mind for pictures of your children, wedding, etc). His website is in the upper left hand corner of my blog.
4) That they'll adjust to the weather of NE! The wind. The tornadoes. The humidity.
5) That they'll have safe travels next weekend as they load up the UHaul and travel to Kearney.
6) That they'll find a church that meets their needs.

I'm sure there's many more things to pray for, but those are the ones that come to mind. We will miss them terribly but look forward to visiting and hanging out in their new home.