A Reeeeaaalll Nice Time

There are some friends that you would do anything for.  And that would do the same for you in return.  So when the DeKornes told us they were moving for the third time in 6 months, we thought we should pack up the minivan and take a road trip to New Orleans.  My mom, affectionately referred to by the others as "Geha" was kind enough to come with us and was a total lifesaver.  I barely photographed the trip except for a few treasures below.  These were from the 4 hours that Geha and I watched all 5 kids in a hotel room during a rainy morning in Mandeville, Louisiana.  Once I had sang every song in my repertoire, we resorted to toilet paper fashion.

Ava

Kaiya

Reese

Just a simple statement piece

Cruz also took his first shower there

After we returned from our big road trip, Cruz started solid food.

And he's been eating us out of house and home ever since.

At least he gets his appetite from me.

We were thrilled that Britt and Reid "Breid" decided to tie the knot the weekend after we got back from New Orleans.  They even asked Isla to be their flower girl.  The DeKorne's came back for a fun-filled weekend.

We kicked off the weekend with the rehearsal dinner at Matter of Taste.

So the big day was upon us.  After weeks of practicing "walk and fro" with her flower petals, 

our little flower girl started down the aisle forgetting her basket altogether 

when she saw her daddy at the front of the church.

Everyone giggled at her cuteness...

 and then she quickly retreated.

 Fortunately these two made it down the aisle without a hitch.

And we just hung out with the coolest usher in the church nursery.

 After the recessional, Isla was more than happy to take "her tuwn" and walked down like a champ.

At least she's cute and Breid still loves her.

 We took her back home to enjoy some quality time with her friends

God bless the babysitters including Geha who came back for more.

 The reception was lovely.

The DJs were amazing

 and the photographer even posed for a picture with me

 Lots of lovely ladies in attendance

 and many partied till the break of dawn.

These two are truly a once upon a time

A whirlwind of about 10 days, many states, a lot of fried food and the best friends ever.

Sitto's 3rd Annual Summer Splash

After a small protest, my mom convinced us to head up to Traverse to celebrate "Sitto's 3rd Annual Summer Splash" at the Great Wolf Lodge.  It was a short, but fun-fillled event.  We got there late on Wednesday night.  Dave and I left Cruz with my mom and gave Isla to Dana to lodge with Brookie and Jenna.  We headed to the Red Mesa Grill, but Dana was the one who needed the margarita.  She finally broke down and barricaded Isla in the pack n' play after a failed attempt in the bunk beds including Isla trying to get in Jenna's crib.  Dana is a saint.  Thank God I have sisters.

The next morning we woke up bright and early.  And I mean that.  Dave and I shared a room with my mom.  She was attending a seminar and set her alarm for 5 a.m.  Cruz still was not sleeping through the night at that point, so after finally calming him down, I was quite startled to hear a fog horn at 5 a.m., and 5:10 and 5:15 and 5:20....you get the idea.  But we are still grateful to mom for sharing her room with us :)  We headed to the lazy river to begin the morning.  Isla isn't a huge fan of the slides or the huge bucket of water that dumps out every 10 minutes.  In fact, she would hear the bell ringing for the bucket and immediatley started crying and saying "no bucket! no bucket!"  The outdoor pool didn't open until 11 a.m., so we would just stand at the door and wait.  

On Friday night, it was my turn to stay with the girls in hopes they would fall asleep.  After Brookie started her animal light show for the 3rd time telling Isla and Jenna about all the animals at the circus, I had little hope of them being sound asleep.  It ended abruptly when Brookie told Isla they were going to go to the circus to see the animals at which point Isla popped out of bed saying "Ok!  We go!  I get my coat on! I get my shoes on!"  We ended up dragging Isla back to our room and all four of us slept in one bed.  Ahhh the memories.

 The lazy river

 Wahoo for the outdoor pool

 We went to our local favorite, The Blue Tractor" for dinner.

Jenna loved the ranch dressing.

 Startin early with pool basketball

 Can the outdoor pool open already?

 We got some cute family pictures of everyone's family except for ours.

But they sure are cute

 Where was Cruz the whole time?

In his basinett.  Sleeping.  Bless his heart.

 I couldn't help myself

 Thanks Sitto for another great Summer Splash

Daddy's Day 2011

We've got some pretty sweet dads.  Father's Day was a bit of a whirlwind this year.  We celebrated all day long.  

I didn't get any pictures of Dave with his dad. But Joe was happy to take pictures at Jan's party, 

so I'm glad I got to be in one with him

 We started with breakfast with the Borowicz Crew.

Sticky buns and green smoothies.

Breakfast of champions.

 We went to church, had a quick brunch and then headed to my dad's house.

My buddy Cruz was a fan favorite

 I love these pictures.

These kids adore their Poppy

 Missing Dana and the girls, but with all these blonde kids, you would think we adopted.

 So thankful for my dad.  Always cooking and helping with the kids.

 And for my Dave.  The hottest, most creative and loving guy I could've ever prayed for.

 They just don't come any better.

Counting my blessing for these wonderful daddies.  

Sixty and goin strong

We like to party.  And with a three month old and a two year old, let me tell you, we are a BLAST.  But we had reason to celebrate because my favorite mother-in-law turned 60 on June 16.  You would never know she's 60.  She's beautiful, talented, strong and has more energy than I could ever dream of having.  

 Did I mention creative?  And she passed it along to her kiddos.

She painted the striped board on the left.  Dave did the one on the right.  

They were a big hit.

 4 of Jan's 7 siblings.

So if you're better at math than I am, that means her parents had 8 kids. 8.

 These two sweethearts just celebrated 42 years of marriage.

 My sweet sis-in-law Kate created a book for Jan entitled 

"If You Give My Mom A Project"

It included pictures of the NUMEROUS projects she has helped all of us with and things that we love about her.  A few of mine included being thankful for her margaritas and counting out loud while measuring cups of flour for cookies.  Pearls I tell you.

 Jason and Shannon joined via Skype from New Zealand (and announced they are having a baby!)

 Wahoo!  Welcome to the smoothie movement!

 A heart to heart with sweet Grandpa John.

 The immediate fam spent the night and we went to the park and hung out on the back patio.  It was a wonderful day.  So thankful for this lovely lady and all that she has given to us.  

Happy 60th Mom.

A Summer Preview

Just when you thought I had probably thrown in the blogging towel altogether....

Here's a little intro to our summer.  There is much more to come.  Like Cruz is 5 months old and he still spits up a lot.  Did I mention that he actually fried our Mac laptop because of spit up?  Isla is every bit of 2 and livin it up this summer.  Dave is still smokin hot and skinny.  And me, well I'm not skinny or smoking in any sense of the word, but I sure do love my family.