Life, Love, Laughter

These past couple months have been crazy ones! We have spent time with amazing family and friends...enjoying and Celebrating life's finest moments! This is a long winded post way past due...so hold on!

Mother's Day weekend we spent the entire weekend outdoors. We soaked up the sun, breathed deep in the fresh Spring air and enjoyed nature all around us! It sure was fantastic and we literally enjoyed every...minute of it.

Dylan was extremely happy to get out not one but both of his bikes. He even washed them all up and broke them in for some summer time fun! Skylar wasn't going too far, always keeping a watchful eye on these kiddos!

We enjoyed some time at Grandma & Grandpa Holub's house! Playing outside, blowing bubbles, playing with Dylan's new Bean Bag set and the funnest of all....a ride on Grandpa Holub's scooter! Dylan was lovin' it!

Sunday May 1st we walked for a cause. Our family and friends gathered by our side for the March of Dimes Walk and most importantly the first walk for our kiddo's! Words cannot describe how much this meant to Brad and I, it sure was an amazing event! The sun came out thankfully despite the very cold blowing wind which brought the temperature down, but everyone was such a trooper and walked right beside us for such a wonderful cause that is very near and dear to our hearts!

Here we go! March of Dimes Walk 2011!

Look at all of the people walking for Healthy Babies!

Our family Mission board for our children & Team 2 Miracles & 1 Angel!

Thank you to our Corporate Sponsor!

Miracle Mile with all of the Mission Boards

Thirsty?!

Dylan walking step by step with cousin Cassie!

Stopping for a few games along the way.

Danielle got some snuggles along the way! There were all kinds of games & bounce houses for kids!

Our team of little walkers bundled up nice & cozy!

Our amazing Team 2 Miracles & 1 Angel! Built of the most fantastic family & friends. Thank you for showing your support for this wonderful organization & for our children too. We had a fantastic time and thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your love & support!

Just a few weeks ago on one of the Friday's I had off in April we ventured up to see our friends the LeConte family! We met for lunch and then drove and ventured to the park where the kids could all play and burn off some energy and the Mommy's could catch up! What a wonderful afternoon it was and the kids all had an excellent time!

Easter came and we were excited to spend the weekend with my Dad at his new home in Des Moines. We packed up the kids and Skylar and headed out of town. Some how the Easter Bunny must have known that we were going to be gone because not only did he follow us and stop at Grandpa's house, well he also made a pit stop at our house too! The kids really enjoyed not 1 but 2 Easter baskets this year :)

At Grandpa's they have all of the fun stuff set up for the kids. Just a few weekend before the kids had spent the weekend there to give Brad and I a weekend alone and Dylan didn't forget anything when we went back again. He instantly set up his little station on the deck with Keeley. Washin dishes and Blowin bubbles were his activities and he loved every minute! He was such a big help even cleaning up some fresh strawberries for us too!

Easter Sunday we decided to try something new this year. Dad had made reservations for us to 'Feast with the Beast' at the Blank Park Zoo! It was fantastic and really a ton of fun.

Brunch was all set up and it sure was a feast! Not only Prime Rib and Ham but a full fledged breakfast buffet, fresh fish, huge selection of Pasta, fruit, all sorts of cheeses and even a kids menu with fries, chicken nuggets and mac n cheese! Perfect for our little dude. And the desserts...yum-o a large selection of lots of naughty sweets!

LOVE this pic!

Happy Easter!

Look at all of those eggs! All filled with candy. Daddy sure has enjoyed having Easter candy to munch on at work during the day. He is quite the chocolate lover!

And the hunt is on....

Dad really enjoyed having the kids around for another weekend. I do love moments like this :)

Yep, day 2 washin' away!

Since we took Skylar with us it was quite the scene watching all 3 dogs run about and play. Since Halen, Dad's dog and Skylar are sisters from the same litter it is quite comical watching those to especially once you bring Roxie, Dad's Golden Doodle, into the mix. Since he just moved in and does not have grass yet you can just about imagine the muddy mess these dogs got into.

Dylan out scoping out Grandpa's property with Daddy & the puppies!

Probably the best moments from the weekend were on Saturday when we took Dylan fishing for the very first time. Grandpa had bought Dylan his first fishing pole and tackle box and all of the gear he needed. They have this really neat little park that use to be a Rock Quarry, which is now a small lake and stocked, perfect for fishing!

Danielle and Mommy snuggled close together and stayed warm. The temperature wasn't too bad but this little girl did get a little chilly at times, nothing a Mommy can't cure!

Dylan surprisingly enough loved the worms. He enjoyed picking out the biggest, fastest one from the container and letting it crawl all over his hand and up his arm. It was hilarious watching this boy be just that ALL boy! Brad and my Dad really got quite the kick out of it!

Skylar thought she was getting a tasty treat every time someone baited their hook.

Daddy's little partner. 'Let's see Dad what kinda stuff you got in your tackle box that I can put in mine?!'

All packed up to head home. Our first weekend getaway with the kids and dog too, our entire family. And we really had a great time!

From Celebrating with great family we also did some celebrating with great friends too! Although much to our dismay, we woke up this Saturday morning Mid April with a touch of snow on the ground...it wasn't stopping the fun or putting frowns on our faces. We had a special Birthday to celebrate this day!

Miss Lila turned 2!

We headed over to the Eddins home for brunch and a fantastic Birthday celebration! Check out these homemade cakes that Lila's Great Grandma made for her special day, how super cute are these?!

Stepping stones thru the years all the way up to 2! Time flies when you are a parent!

Happy Birthday Lila!

The weekend before we celebrated not one but 2 special days, Birthday's for Mike & Taylor! This weekend my Dad took the kids for the entire weekend which gave Brad and I some much needed time for relaxation and rejuvenation. While we missed the kids dearly, we had a fantastic time just husband and wife! We celebrated Friday night and Saturday we relaxed and headed off to somewhere new for dinner! We headed up to Bluff Lake. While hearing really great reviews from other family members we were eager to check it out for ourselves. We had heard the 'roads' getting there were a bit hairy, well after checking the website the site said the roads were 'good to go'! So off we went.

Well we headed off and drove to just about our destination and came across this sign. Level B Maintenance Road....uh okay. We decided the good ole Toyota could get us thru so off we went. Well we soon figured out why so many had told us about the roads they were horrible. It was like driving on broken pieces of concrete and the ruts were horrible from the amount of rain we had. But we proceeded over this bridge and up a huge hill.......

when all of a sudden Brad yells, 'stooooop'! I stopped a little worried my car would sink, I looked ahead and my worries faded because a car had done just that, sunk in the mud. We sat there observing the situation and decided based upon what we saw that it was best to find a way out of there and fast! The people were screaming LOUD, the guy was throwing beer cans everywhere while digging cardboard out of the trunk to put under the tires for traction. It was quite the sight. The started waving and yelling obscene gestures at us and we deiced we really needed to get out of there. At this moment we laughed and giggled but were SO thankful we did not have the kids with us. So back on the main roads and we had to plug into the GPS 3 different times before it found an alternate route for us. It was another 35 minutes out of our way. But with no agenda for the evening we were making the most out of this and we were getting there one way or another!

Our new journey led us right thru Maquoketa Caves State Park. A favorite past time for Brad and I. Sadly the caves were closed because of the fear of the protecting the bats from the new kinda scary feces contamination. But fun to drive thru and see the amazing sights of the caves from the road. Soon after we got thru the park we arrived at our turn off and spotted Bluff Lake, down in a valley, it was quite amazing!

Surrounded by natures finest, on a man made lake, the place was packed, the music was piping outside and we were off to put our name in for a table. We had also heard to expect quite the wait for a table. It was just 2 of us and we did wait 1 hour and this was 5pm at night. So again, good to experience without kids so we know what to expect next time when the kiddo's are in tow!

We got a few drinks and enjoyed the bon fire outside by the lake. It was a beautiful evening and had such a great time and the food was fantastic!!! Definitely a place we will venture to again. It was worth the 'venture' getting there and the round of about drive once we finally arrived. A place to recommend for sure!

The night before we headed out on the Tiny Town Tavern Tour to Celebrate Mike and Taylor's Birthday's. Last year was our first year jumping on the bandwagon and this year we were SO excited to go again. We were all geared up for a night of fun!

Some how as the night progressed a huge roll of toilet paper got brought out and was strung all around. HA!

Happy Birthday Taylor!

A few drinks later and Brad busts out the gymnastics! Nice flip honey!

Cheers!

This nasty, rotten register vent was the culprit of several of the girls heel's getting stuck.....too funny!

A stop along the way, Melsha's Tap. I was fascinated by this liquor art on the wall!

Our ride, and once again a TON of fun! Thanks friends for a super fun night celebrating 2 fantastic people's birthday's :)

And our Celebrations started back in March with our first road trip with just Mommy & the kids! We packed up the car, got up really early and headed off on the trek to see my Mom & family in PA. I had psyched myself up for this drive praying that it would go without a hitch. It was quite the journey with 2 little kiddo's along. We left at 5am knowing I wanted to drive in daylight only, we left in the dark and just a few short hours later the sun began to rise.

Good Morning, 1st pass thru was Illinois!

Next stop mid morning, hello Indiana!

'Hi Mom, yep, I'm still wide awake back here just enjoying the ride!'

The views once we got the PA were amazing. Just as beautiful as I had remembered. It made things much easier to keep on trekking since by this point we had been in the car for about 10 hours!

At just past 7pm Eastern time we arrived to my Mom and Sister! The kids were amazing and I could never have guessed that neither of them NOT sleep the entire way. But they were awesome, we only stopped twice and neither of them had any type of fit. I couldn't have asked for two better travelers!

We arrived and were very excited to spend just over a week with our family. Grammy was super excited to have us there and I was very excited to see her and my sister and Grandpa too. We awoke the next morning and headed over to visit Great Grandpa! It had been about 1 1/2 years since we had been back there and the kids sure had grown since then.

Grandpa was very intrigued by Dylan's ipod touch and all of the movies he had on there. Dylan fully knows how to navigate that and Grandpa was in for a lesson of his own!

Before we left that day Dylan taught Great Grandpa how to start a movie, do a search and just about anything that he knows how to do. It was pretty cute.

We relaxed and got all caught up with family, had lunch with my cousin RaeAnn and it was so nice to be able to spend time with all of these people and not to have to worry about cramming it all into 2 or 3 days!

The next evening my Mom really wanted Britni and I to read the manuscript of her book that will be released this month. We psyched ourselves up for it, tucked the kiddo's into bed, snuggled close to each other on the couch and read it. It was important to my Mom that she be there with us to answer any questions, clarify any of our concerns that may arise. It was a very memorable moment and evening and I am so glad that we did this. It was perfect!

The next afternoon was spent at my Sister's first Track Meet of the season. I was very excited to be able to watch her and she did not disappoint! She is a fantastic athlete!

Britni's boyfriend Thomas!

Brit doing the Triple Jump, her best jump so far this season was 35 feet! She qualified for Districts this day and is now going to State!

Dylan had so much fun watching Aunt Britni!

Getting ready for her portion of the 4 x 100 relay! Her team is labeled the 'Dream Team' going to State and has already broken 2 school records this year. Their new record is just 50.3 seconds, wow!

When I first planned this trip with my Mom she suggested we drive into the city for a day. I was so excited about this. Ever since we went to NYC for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade 5 years ago Brad has absolutely NO desire to ever go back. Too many people for his liking. So this was the perfect opportunity for me to go with my Mom and take the kiddos!!! I was thrilled to have this opportunity! So we got up early and headed in, just a short 2 hour drive and we arrived bright and early all ready to take the Ferry over to the City!

We hopped on the bus and headed right for Times Square! Both kids were in awe by the sights and sounds all all of the lights!

Dylan had a few favorite spots himself!

First stop was Starbucks for something warm and breakfast for Dylan. He had the biggest Banana that either of us had ever seen! It was hilarious and he ate every last bite!

Doing a little shopping with Mom & Grammy!

We stopped for lunch at the Olive Garden! The 3rd floor over looking Times Square, it was perfect. A spot to warm up and relax a bit and dine on some fantastic food!

Bryant Park!

Many characters around the Park for photo ops!

This was the day after Elizabeth Taylor passed away and these Reporters stopped us on the street for an interview! Too funny, we had no idea where they were from but they got an interview!!!

The most amazing Kids Unique toy store....loved it!

As the sun began to set our time in the city came to a close. We had such an amazing time and I loved being able to take the kid's in to NYC! They were so wonderful, not a peep out of them and I really think they enjoyed it as well. So much to see, so much to do, it was a trip for the memory books that is for sure!

One of the main reasons for my trip to PA was to celebrate my Mom's 5 year journey with Cancer and now celebrating being cancer free! We had a Celebration church service for her and reception. So after we got back from NYC the preparations began for the big day!

I was preparing most of the food myself so the evening before was spent putting things together and decorating! Britni and her closest friends wanted to make a big batch of Puppy Chow, so we gathered and the girls had a fun night in the kitchen!

Getting the tables all set up!

I wanted each guest to be able to take something very memorable away from this special day. So I made cross key chains that had small diamonds on the edges, I got personalized ribbon that was put together as a favor with the crosses.

And it was made into this beautiful favor tree!

Beautiful fresh flowers

Personalized banner I had made for Mom and her book, 'Speak Life to Me'. She can continue to use these banners at her speaking engagements!

And the big day had arrived! We were so excited for this very heart warming, emotional day with our family and my Mom's closest friends. Those who have supported her thru the very challenging past 5 years. The kids were all dressed up and ready to go! Our little man was SO excited to get to wear his tie, but his 'tied' as he calls it!

Mom's church and Pastor are just amazing! They were fully on board for this fantastic celebration!

Danielle & my sister's bestie Hannah! Such a super sweet girl, she was so good with the kids!

Pastor Dave opened with a prayer

Mom wanted played the video that Chase made of Dylan for Brad's very first Father's Day! There was not a dry eye in the house. Many in this congregation have prayed for our kiddos!

A friend of Mom's was the soloist and she had such a beautiful voice. During the presentation of Mom she wanted to walk in with the kids, her grand babies who have been thru a battle of their own. Ashley sang the new version of 'This little light of mine' as they walked in

Dylan carried the candle lighting the way to the front! So precious!

He got to the front and proceeded to wave the candle back and forth thru the rest of the song. It was so precious!

Britni and her friends Hannah and Brittney reading 'Footprints in the Sand'.

Since Chase couldn't be with us this weekend we set it up so he could Skype with us and watch the entire Celebration. It was awesome having him just a screen away! He gave a perfect little dedication speech to my Mom that melted our hearts. The funniest moment of the speech was his intro, 'Look mom I finally made it to the big screen.' Then he goes on to say, 'it nothing to do this, Oprah does it all of the time.'

Danielle took a snooze in Grammy's arms.

Towards the end Mom got up and gave a speech about her journey and her battle and her fight to get thru the negativity that sprung upon her 5 years ago. But it did not stop her and she has come thru this battle stronger than ever. This is what her book is about, 'Speak life to Me', not death.

She started to struggle and hold back the tears, so before I knew it Dylan was marching up on stage to give Grammy a big hug. It was adorable. She knelt down and asked him some questions and all of a sudden loud over the microphone he said very clear, 'thank you everyone for praying for me'! Not a dry eye in the house....

A Christian band that my Mom knows a few of the band members, they sang for us the opening and closing. They have amazing voices and such a great story! They were happy to be there for my Mom and one of the band members spoke of how mom has touched his life as well. The closing song we all sang in unison, 'Amazing Grace', Mom's favorite song! It was beautiful. Here is a short clip:

We arrived back at the Irondale Inn for the Reception. I hustled back ahead of everyone to get the food into the warmers and do some last minute finishing touches. Everything turned out perfect. I anticipated 80-100 people and with just over 100 people we had just enough food!! Phew because I was nervous about this!

The cakes were incredible to say the least. From left to right, Chocolate Peanut butter, White Chocolate Strawberry and then Carrot cake with Cream cheese frosting. Seriously these cakes were to die for, they were amazing, delicious and actually kinda sinful! HA!

I don't think Dylan left the pool room all night long. He became quite the pool shark on this trip! Playing with Uncle John and his step 2nd cousins too.

My cousin RaeAnn with Danielle!

Cousins RaeAnn, Carrie and I! We had a lot of summertime fun when I use to visit them for weeks at a time when I was younger!

Thomas, Hannah and Britni

Little Miss Julieanne, beautiful!

Gotta love my sister, this is what Thomas loves about her, her vibrate personality!

Mom, her husband Tom and his Martucci family that came all the way in from New Jersey for the Celebration. So very nice of them! And my step sister Ciara too!

Precious!

Grandpa, Barbara and our family!

My Grandpa Phillips with us. Such a memorable trip to be able to go out and spend time with him and have him see the kids again. I honestly did not know if I was going to get this opportunity again. I am so thankful we did, we had an amazing trip and lots of memories were made.
Love you lots Grandpa!

And one tired little Dylan.

Sunday morning we awoke, packed things up and headed out for Pittsburgh to see my brother. We made another stop at Grandpa's to give kisses and hugs and to say our, 'see ya laters'! He was happy to see the little man Dylan once again!

Misc. pics from our week in PA!

Juicing with Grammy, seriously, have you EVER seen veggies this size. I could NOT believe how huge they were!

Dylan loved making fresh carrot juice for Grammy....

And Apple juice for himself!

We arrived in Pittsburgh, a 4 hour drive later. First stop was to see Chase in the Musical Jesus Christ Superstar! I was really excited to see him perform as I had never seen him perform since he has been in college. Danielle stayed awake the whole time but Dylan was just exhausted and was asleep in the first half hour. The stage was set!

Uncle Chase in the Green with Orange swag. I couldn't get the video's to upload but I will continue to try because it was a very moving play. The Character that played Jedus had starred in that exact role 23 times, they have asked him back that many times because he seriously was amazing! The Character that played Jesus had played it 6 times and with no acting training or anything. He was amazing and very moved by the part he played. It was very emotionally exhausting to him, he was incredible. I really enjoyed watching!

After the show we got checked into our hotel and went to see Chases apartment. Dylan loved seeing what Uncle Chases 'pad' was all about! He made himself right at home!

We went out for dinner with Chase and his best friends and his roommate Ian. Chase has the best most down to earth group of friends in Pittsburgh. They really are a ton of fun and all are a great influence for each other.

Chase, Danielle and his girlfriend Rainey!

Sadly our trip to PA came to a close. We had the most fantastic week and a half with family. We really missed Brad a LOT and were sad that he was not able to venture along. But we had such a fun time and an amazing Celebration with my Mom, celebrating life and how important it is to never take any day for granted. Life is full circle and truly it is a gift!

From watching these little egg's since February until they finally hatched at the beginning of April, these little precious baby eagles remind us of the nature that surrounds us and how unique it truly is.

There are many fantastic 'good' things in life to Celebrate..... and the past few months we have been able to Celebrate some of the things that mean the most to us! We are very thankful for these opportunities. To be with such fantastic family and friends is very important to us and raising our children and instilling those values in them also.

Go well. And smile, it takes too many muscles to frown :)