a cherished trip to see family

happy 4th of july! - independance day!
its been a while, i know. i got back a week ago from a long trip with my parents up north. sadly, jordan wasn't able to go with me. he had to be a responsible farmer and stay home. we drove up to minnesota and spent a day with my grandparents whom i rarely get to see anymore; then we headed up to wisconsin as i was in my cousin, brianna's wedding and my dad helped officiate it. fun times! i love brianna dearly and miss my fam up there so it was a great time! beautiful wedding! my sister julia and her 2 kids, story and susanna, met us up there for the wedding (they live in SW wisconsin). then we all drove down to LaCrosse and spend a day with Scott, Julia, and the kids. my parents then left to head back to my grandparents while i got a few more days with my sis and sweet neice and nephew! this was such a highlight! its really hard living so close to family you love so much. we had so much fun playing with the kids, taking them out to do fun things, going for walks, to the park. then i got to babysit one night so they could have a nice date and celebrate their anniversary! the kids are growing and just are more beautiful every time i see them! i could not believe susanna! the cutest thing ever! she flashes you this huge, shy grin! priceless!
sidenote - i LOVE it up there! i grew up in the northwoods and being back up there made me wish i lived there! its so beautiful! i love being surrounded by trees and driving on hilly roads! mmm - triggers some nostalgia.
it was so sad to say goodbye after a few days. i met up with my parents and spent another day/night with my grandparents. mom and i got to take gram out to some stores and just hang out. it was really sad to leave them too. i grew up 5 hours from them and we saw them several times a year. it had been 2 years since i'd seen them!

what a blessing family is. i am so thankful for mine!

neices & nephews & long talks with great friends!

so i was in castle rock a couple weeks ago to visit my sis and 2 little lovies! it was such a great time snuggling, rocking, feeding, burping, playing outside, getting in and out of carseats several times, laughing, tickling, making coffee and cookies and chatting with my sis, seeing my brother in-law play in the worship band, . . . man, i love these kiddos!







oh i just love that little smile!

my other 2 little loves are Story and Susanna, my sister Julia's kids who all live in wisconsin! so do you think i ever get to see them anymore??? i miss them like crazy! and i miss my sister so much! what a blessing great sisters are! but it just plain sucks when we are so far apart!





doesn't this one just crack you up? she is just beyond cuteness!


you know what just absolutely made my day yesterday - i got to have a great talk with my dear friend who is in egypt for 2 years! what a blessing and encouragement.

happy thursday!

Rock On!

so i've never watched a whole lot of american idol. just a bit here and there. this year i was die hard! but it was SUCH a fun group and season to watch! i loved basically the top 8 with a few favorites.



here's my favorites.

David Cook - loved his voice since the very begining! definitely my style of music



Michael Johns - just amazing. really missed hearing his songs in the last weeks. the songs he chose completely rocked for him!




Jason Castro - such a unique sound. his album would be an amazing easy listening, along with john meyer




David Archuletta also just had a really amazing voice


can't forget Karly

ok so its been a while. sorry
thursday afternoon i drove down to my parents. spent the night. then dad and i drove out here - colorado. dad flew out to north carolina for a few days and i'm staying with my sis, brother in-law and neice and nephew!
they were playing outside when we walked up to their apartment. zadie came running to me with her arms out and gave me lots of hugs! how sweet! it's so fun to be here, see my sis, and spend time with the little rugrats! nick is 2.5 months old and is so cute! he is such a little chunk! and such a sweet baby! ~ tonight brett and naomi are gonna get to go on a date while i babysit. i can't complain!
i'm so flexible for my wonderful husband and my flexible job that i can come visit like this.
today jordan's planting corn on our land! they're super busy and i think he's getting a little burned out and maybe even getting sick. i hope not!
we're so glad to be living in our own place! we still have a lot to do. i haven't done any decorating yet, have nothing in the guestroom yet. need to paint another coat on the bathroom and paint our dresser. jordan has flooring to put in the entry room. but its nice and we're enjoying it!

ok.... anybody have an opinion?
dish network or direcTV? they're both satelite, can they really be that different? but we have no tv channels yet cuz we don't know which one to get.

hey - just a quick note.
tomorrow i will get to admit my first own patient to home health and will be their primary nurse.

we're getting lots of crazy rain, big storms, warm days then waking up to a little ground covering of snow! craziness!

i started painting my kitchen last night and was super excited about the color . . . until i saw it on the wall! it looked like neon green! now i would have loved that color, in fact i would have worn it every day when i was in grade school! ha. but not quite what i was going for. so..... i made a color i really like mixing it with a little of one of our grays. sounds weird, but we'll see.

jordan's busy farming and being all tan and sun burned already! he likes holding his arm up to mine. the other night, he was gathering the eggs in grampa's chicken house and this skunk walked in! so he shot it in the head...... then it sprayed and left the chicken house in an awful stench! shooooeeeee!

time for bed. night night!

paint, paint, paint, paint. . .

I LOVE THESE KIDS!

just a quick update. on sunday, the lady living in the place we bought called and said they were heading out and needed to give us the keys! ha! we had no idea when she was leaving! so we have our little house! and i have most of my paint picked out for every single wall to be covered! my mom is here to help me paint all day today and i think all day tomorrow! we should be able to get a lot done. the thing is - we have to prime i think everything!
we also picked out carpeting and flooring as it is all 20-something years old!!! lots of furniture and stuff that was left in the house that we need to take care of. it will be fun to see the transformation into "our" home. we'll be taking lots of pictures so i'll post them sometime when this is all finished! hope you all have a great weekend!

happy belated birthday to my fabulous sister and friend, naomi! her birthday was on the 16th!