Trip to STL and Tulsa

It has been a busy few weeks for our family. Last weekend, we went up to STL with my parents to watch the Cardinals play the Cubs.  It seemed just a month earlier that it would be a pointless game but it turned out to matter a lot int he wild card race and the Cardinals won in the bottom of the 9th...exciting!  From there, Ben, Kaydi, and I went to Tan-Tar-a for a conference.  Then this weekend (October 1) we headed to Tulsa for Matt Vassar and Natalie Wakefield's wedding.  Both trips were a lot of fun....Kathryn is such a good baby!

Family and Friends

This has been a hard week. Friday night, a member of the Fair Grove community lost her son (a 4th grader), husband, father, and uncle. They all died of hypothermia when their boat overturned in the Niangua river. Additionally, a long time member of my home church (FGUMC) is at home on hospice care. When things ike this happen, it hurts so bad and it is unfathomable what the individuals who actually lost the family members feel. It is times like this that you feel helpless and all there is to do is pray and rely on your faith is Christ. For me, part of the coping/healing process is to count my blessings and remember how lucky I am to have such wonderful family and friends.

Last night, Clay and Elissa graciously let Ben and I take one of their unused deep freezers for our house. We got it moved over here and then also had dinner as a family. Kathleen, Cooper, Brent and Kristy also came over. It was so much fun having three little ones running (or sitting) around everywhere. It is hard to believe that if the same group comes over in another 3.5 months there will be 5 little ones! Children make everything so much more fun. Cooper did so well playing on the floor (even by himself at times). William ran a million miles an hour until he got put to bed (which he did not like). And Margaret stayed up so late being cute as always. She eventually laid down on the couch next to Kristy and fell asleep as Kristy read her books. It was precious.

I took several of these pictures so don't expect good quality but they are still cute! (I just realized that apparently I did not take any adult pictures-oops!)

The Boyd's Wedding

I can't believe how fast summer is coming to a close. I haven't posted since our anniversary but August was a great month. It was topped off perfect with Byrdo and Jayme's wedding!

Last weekend two of our wonderful friends got married at the lake. It was the perfect location for the perfect wedding! On Friday we relaxed in the water and then had a rehearsal and dinner at Jayme's dad's house. Saturday morning started off early. We met at Jayme's mom and sisters cabin to get ready. Jayme has a huge family so one of her aunts did our hair (and did a great job)! The wedding was at 10:30 right next to the lake. We spent the rest of the day playing on the water. I finally got to tube with Jayme, it had been a long time. That evening was the reception.

I really don't think the day could have been more perfect, all of the Fair Grove crew was there. Brent pointed out that it had been since Clay's wedding (4 years ago) that the entire crew had been together...it has grown a lot since then. There were spouses, and babies, HOW FUN!

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Boyd!

The Tradition Continues

(Because this summer is so busy, I want to make sure I post about all of my fun things for our sake, if you would like to read as well then go right ahead but it may be boring :))

I was trying to figure out this weekend how many years I have been to the I-70 series in Kansas City. I think I began going with my friends in 2003 but I know I went with my family at least one year before that and probably two. Since I began going with my friends, we have always stayed at Roo's parents house. His parents are wonderful and are the perfect hosts. This year it just so happened that Roo was going to be out of town with his dad (among others) and Debbie still offered to let us stay there. Our typical agenda is to tailgate on Saturday because it is a night game. Well this year both Saturday and Sunday were day games so we had to get there early. Saturday morning Debbie made us a great breakfast and then we were off to the K. Although it was scorching hot, Shelley had a canopy so it was not too bad. There were 18 of us in all and tailgating was fun as always. After the game Saturday, we went back to the house (Debbie had left for the weekend), showered, ordered pizza and just hung out. Some people went to the casinos, some went to bed early, and others played games. It felt like we were high-schoolers throwing a party because our parents were out of town. Pretty strange since all of us have our own places now. Sunday was another game, much milder this time (and disappointing since the Cardinals lost). We enjoyed the game and then headed back to Springfield.

Now its a new week and next weekend there are more fun activities. The fourth of July which is also Ben's 30th birthday. Additionally, Ben is getting baptized and Holly and Shelley are throwing him a party!