SURPRISE!!!

One of my close friends Brenna turned 30 this year! Woot woot. Craziness I tell ya. Her sweet husband Andy asked us (Me and Liz) to help throw her a surprise party. and of course we said "hell yeah". He ended up inviting 150 people including kids (what!!!), but it worked out perfect. Thankfully not all 150 showed up. About 65 to 70 came which was perfect. We did Italian themed, so we had tons of spaghetti, fettuccine, lasagna, wine, salad, bread, cheesecake, the works. In fact we had a ton too much. I think they literally ate leftovers for a week. Better too much than not enough, right? It was a lot of fun and hopefully she enjoyed herself even though she told us to "just say no" next time he asked:)

Thanks to my mom for letting us steal all her plates and platters for the day.

Shockingly we had a lot of this left.

So good.




This little man has a special place in my heart.

Thanks goodness for good weather!

Lots of babies! and kids!



No Nancy is not posing, she just as that silly grin on her face all the time.

Gotta get at least one of these.

are they related or what???

Brenna is doing something really weird withe her head but I had to put this photo because Ashlynn looks so stinkin cute!

Dave did a photo shoot of the birthday girl. Good thing she likes having her photo taken.




Yes we are all as exhausted as we look.

We have known each other 14 years!

My under-paid babysitter. and by that I mean not paid.

This is how I felt by the end of the night.

Happy Birthday to an amazing friend!
You are beautiful, hilarious, gracious, kind, loving and patient.
A great mother, a fun friend, and an awesome wife.
One of the most laid back people I know,
you are my friend that messes up all sayings with me,
cooks great food and doesn't mind having impromptu guest even though
you have your hands full,
Takes me to consignment sales,
watches stupid cheesy movies,
rants about our hate for dogs and our dirty houses,
listens to me talk about the same thing over and over and over again
Friend.
Love you lady!!!

My son George

I called Judah George yesterday. I am not really sure what that means besides the fact that I am losing my mind. He was doing something like banging his train set, or throwing it on the ground and then saying "uh oh" and looking at me with his big innocent blue eyes and I said "No, George, don't do that". As soon as I said it I thought "That was weird. I don't even know a George." I guess it is just something he is going to have to get used to. Me calling him George, or totally forgetting his name when a stranger ask. Maybe something is seriously wrong with me. Oh well what do you do?

Maybe I should change my blog name to "oh well, what do you do?" because I feel like that is how all of them end.

Judah also had his first traumatic fall this weekend. I was visiting a friend who had stairs. He had not paid any attention to them, so I didn't even think about it when I left the room for 30 seconds. LITERALLY. 30 seconds. A lot can change in 30 seconds. I walked back in just in time to see him flying down the stairs. I am still not sure who was more scared. He started screaming at the top of his lungs (and let me just say he is not a crier. or at least a pain crier. he is a "I am mad" crier, or "give me what I want" crier or a " I want attention" crier, but not usually when he gets hurt). I am not sure if he was crying from the pain, being scared after flying down who knows how many steps, or from me snatching him up and smothering him with a million hugs and kisses, or me almost crying and bouncing him around the room saying" your ok, your ok, your ok". After calling everyone I know that is a nurse or has ever made contact with a nurse I came to the conclusion that he would probably live. He had a black eye and a big bump on his head, but boys are supposed to have war wounds, right?

Last night he also fell face forward and hit Jenna's brick fireplace right on his big mouth, but he also survived that with some minor bleeding. Jenna and I were definitely the more traumatized ones in that situation.

Then he pulled a dollhouse over on his head. At that point Jenna said "It is amazing that that kid is alive" All in all I am learning that boys are crazy and rough and everywhere. God is giving me lots of practice on how to love them and sooth them without smothering them and making them big babies. I still need some more practice though because every time he gets hurt I want to cry harder than he does and then lock us in our house and never leave and keep all the mean and badness away from him.

but oh well, what do you do?

Family photo.

Couple things I have learned. Make sure your baby is well fed and rested and my husband is a complete poser! Thanks Karis for your help!

Ladies night out!

I got the great pleasure to go with my friends, Holly and Sarah, and see a show. It was super fun to get dressed up and go out just for the heck of it. I had never heard the band (don't remember the name) but it was a group of absurdly stylish, cute, and very talented girls. The night was definitely a success!

The beautiful Sarah who was playing scrabble on her phone with Holly(who was across the table)

The also very beautiful Holly.

Take note of the 50 year old's skirt behind us. Inappropriate much?

Supper Club.

One of my sweet friends, Susan, had the fabulous idea to do a supper club. It is a great idea because she doesn't live as close as she used to so this way we get to see each other, eat great food, and have a night away from the kiddo. It is at a different persons house each time so you get to relax the majority of the time. My house first and it was lots of fun!

Happy Valentines Day!

I love Valentines Day. Shocking, huh? No, but really I do. Surprisingly that love comes not from Dave (all though I am sure he has helped keep it), but was passed down from my mom. Growing up my mom always made a big deal about Valentines day. She would get us gifts or cards and then later on we started a tradition of having "Waffle House". No, we did not go to the actual waffle house because that would have been crazy with 10 kids. She and my dad would cook all sorts of breakfast food including waffles (I am sure my dad was wearing a waffle house hat), the first year they made menu's and we ordered and they made us WHATEVER we wanted. I know that might not sound super exciting, but when you are a 10 year old home school kid who comes from a family of 10 so you only eat out maybe once a year (and you probably didn't get to choose off the menu), it is AMAZING. So Valentines to me was always a holiday were we all hung out as a family and loved on each other. I hope to carry on the tradition and pass it on to Judah and all other unborn kids I may have. All that to say that I know some of you may not have the same love for it that I have. A lot of people say it is a commercialized holiday or depressing or whatever. But I decided to come up with a list of reasons you should love it just like me, whether your single, married, dating, married or dating someone who is clueless it doesn't matter.

1. You can buy massive amounts of sweets, specifically chocolate, for very cheap the day after.

2. It is the one day of year that you can wear way too much pink and red AND incorporate hearts into your wardrobe without looking crazy.

3. it is the one day besides my b-day that I actually check the mail just in case i got something other than bills.

4. You can buy chocolate in the shape of ANYTHING.

5. You can eat mass amounts of chocolate and nobody says anything.

6. If you are not a verbally affectionate person it is a great time to tell the people around you that you love them without them thinking you are about to die.

7. You can dress your child in red, pink, hearts, suspenders and other ridiculous things without people thinking you are crazy.

Hopefully I have helped you become a believer. I just realized that I do most of those things all year round, but at least there is one day a year I don't feel crazy for it:)

Here is some pictures from our V-day morning.

A tradition I am trying to star for our family is to make pancakes on holiday's. You know pumpkin for Thanksgiving, peppermint for Christmas, pink heart shape for v-day. The plan was to wake up at 6:30 and have them ready for Dave before he left. The plan didn't happen.

So Judah and I ate them around 10. Sorry Dave! Judah did not know what to think. I guess he has never seen neon pink heart shape pancakes before.

He eventually warmed up.

Chocolate shaped tools. How cute!

I found chocolate hidden around the house.



Judah in his Valentine shirt
(on sale at target)

Happy Valentines everyone. I love you all very mucho!!!

PS go to allthecloudsrollaway to watch a very sweet valentines video!

Play date.

We had our friends Brandon and Katie and their adorable daughter over for a little play date recently. Now that we have kids our double dates have turned into play dates. We ate food, played with the train, and just hung out. Besides the fact that we just enjoy each others company we also wanted to get Carson used to being over here. In April and May I will have the pleasure of watching the little bean while her mom is at work. She seemed cautious, but they were both in not so good moods. She warmed up eventually until Judah starting hogging toys. Oh well they will get used to it eventually, right?

Favorite thing to do at our house. Play with the spices.

Judah trying to impress her by standing up.

I couldn't get her to smile, but how dang cute is she???

Our little book worms. They are going to be geniuses.

Well at least she will.

The boys entertaining themselves.

We need to work on the whole "sharing" thing.