Summer lovin'!

It is very hard to believe that in just a few weeks summer as we know it will be pretty much over... as the kids start back to school and football season begins! We are still very much embracing the nice hot days we still have to enjoy. This past weekend was a busy one! Brad's youngest brother Nick is getting married in just 3 short weeks. This weekend was the memorable bachelor/bachelorette party!

Brad and his mini me...Nick!

During the day the guys went boating in Coralville! It was a LONG day for these guys. They left just before 9am, stocked with their beverages for the day and a few fun things for Nick to enjoy. They had a great time from the stories they have shared. It was a HOT day, these guys were sun fried, tongue tied and stupefied! Thankfully I had a very fun day of my own! Golfing in the Putts for Pets fundraiser for CVHS with my best girlfriends and lunch after! Brad and I both had our much needed day of fun!
That evening the guys venture back to Springville. We met up with them at our place so most of the guys could enjoy the air conditioning and a much needed shower, before heading down to Nick and Sarah's house for the evening festivities!

This suntan line was just hilarious! Nobody is fessing up to putting this straight line of suntan lotion on Matt's back, but OMG, look at the sizzlin' sun burn...ouch!

The evening brought lots and lots of laughs. Some were pretty burnt out from the long day they had already had, but the rest of us hung in there until the wee hours of the morning. I think this was just before midnight, lots of alcohol brought out the barbers in the house....we decided that Klev needed a haircut and Trent was up for doing the deed!

Gross, look at how dirty his feet are!!! Nick decided that they needed some tending to so the sanitizer wipes cleaned them right up!

And Brad used his make shift 'hairdryer' to rid of the access hair. An air compressor worked wonders for that! Ahhh, the laughs! Well the 'Bride' tank top that we got for Sarah, Nick thought looked better on him! So he used a few of his make shift 'toys' from the day, and dressed himself up....oh lord!

There were gifts of all sorts....funny, funny stuff! Brad and I kept laughing remembering back to our bachelor and bachelorette party's, we were sure glad this was them going thru this and not us!

The kids spent time in Des Moines with my Dad for the weekend. Grandpa and Keeley were very happy to have the kids during the day on Saturday and over night! Dylan was very excited to go to Grandpa's house. They took the kids out and about and did some really neat things! The first stop was the big Des Moines Down Town Farmers Market. Dylan loves the Market here and was just thrilled to venture to a new one! They also went to Indianola to a Air Balloon festival. There were all kinds of things for the kids to do. Here Dylan is seen in one of Mario Andretti's Race Cars!

Eating Peaches off of a stick! I just couldn't believe it, expanding his horizons with Grandpa!

And look at ALL of these beautiful Hot Air Balloons! They said this was just the most amazing thing to see. There were literally hundreds of air balloons and they all released at the same time. All of the colors are just beautiful! Dylan is still talking about how much fun he had!

And here are just a few of the balloons after the release! AMAZING, look at all of them! A pretty big change has recently taken place over the past few weeks for our family. Daddy started a new job! He is VERY excited to be venturing into this new adventure. Daddy is doing bridge work. Anything from working on the bridge to pouring the concrete for bridge deck approaches. The first week Daddy was gone for 3 nights. This precious picture was taken the first night before Daddy left. Dylan crawled right up on the couch next to Daddy, snuggled himself in and fell asleep. Sweet little guy, this melted Daddy's heart.

A few pictures showing the type of work that Brad is now doing! He is now into week 3 and things are going very well. He was home 3 nights last week and will be this week also, and that is perfect! He will only travel occasionally, when he does it sure makes us cherish our family time together even more. We created a calendar 'x-ing' off the days until the big 'star' when daddy comes home. It really helps Dylan understand the concept of time, and he looks forward to making the 'x' himself too!

A new change was needed for Brad, for more than one reason! He is very happy with his choice and embracing this new opportunity.

The weekend before Brad started his new job we decided to have a super fun weekend with the kiddo's...it was HOT outside so we decided what a better way to cool off than to take a trip to the Water park!

We ventured to Lost Island water park in Waterloo. It was a HIT! We got there right as they opened at 10:30 and had a full day staying until 4. To say the kids had a blast is a bit of an understatement! We truly had a great time!

There is SO much to do for kids of all ages, and adults too! They have a toddler park area, then an elementary school age water park area, two of them actually, plus the lazy river and the BIG slides for adults. Then they also have mini golf, go-carts etc. The kids had no fear of the water, they are truly water babies. Danielle just loved every single minute of being in the water, in fact...when we went to leave she cried and screamed and cried because we took her out of the water!Brad was very excited to take Dylan and venture on a couple of the BIG water slides. Dylan was so thrilled. This tube ride was a hike up to the top holding onto a little guy and a tube, but Daddy did well!And the trip down was a blast. Dylan was begging for more and more and more!The family slide was really a hike to the top. Not quite the 10 stories like the one we went on in Minnesota, but pretty close!They let just the two of them go down together! I love the look on Dylan's face after going down a slide like this, pure thrill and excitement! So much fun!

And after a full day at the water park the kids were exhausted! It took Dylan the whole next day of laying around and sleeping on and off to get his energy back. He was pooped out! The sun and water took a lot out of him but he sure had so much fun, and so did we! It was a perfect family fun day, one that we will for sure do again!

So, a few changes going on at this Holub home. But changes for the better we say! We still have more fun to be had in these remaining weeks of summer. Much to look forward to! Thank you lord for blessing our family with these memory's in the making.~

Precious Moments....

Grammie came to our house for a week long visit! It was so wonderful with her and Britni here, we really soaked up all of those precious moments. She arrived on the Friday before the 4Th of July and came bearing gifts for the kids! Dylan was SO excited to dig in and help his sister out!

Danielle loves her little Dora doll so much. I really think she loves the hair on her the most, she loves to play with her own hair and now she likes to play with Dora's!!

We had lots of pool time and time in the sun with Grammie and Britni! Grammie was also here for her 35 year class reunion, this afternoon she was off to a picnic, but not before getting some snuggles from the kids!

Dylan was very excited to have Aunt Britni in the water with him. She dug right in and played with his water toys and let him do what he wanted. He threw water on her, she laughed, he threw toys she went and got it for him. We love Aunt Britni so much and Dylan loved having lots of play time with her!

Our water baby little girl! She is so smiley and relaxed when she is laying in the sun, a girl after her mommy's heart!

And after the day in the sunshine, means tired eyes at night time! Ahhh, we love relaxing summer days!

For the 4th of July we had our annual get together with the Hahn and Eddins family! Dylan loves so much when Lila and Henley come to visit. He always keeps a watchful eye on his little sis Danielle, and very much a watchful eye for these little girls too. Here he isn't letting Henley get to far out of his sight.

Danielle was all decked out in her 4th of July gear! Play time with great friends are those precious moments that we remember forever!

The daddy's kicked back and relaxed and cooked us a delicious dinner!

The two boy sparklers in my life!

And then the rain came, the terenchal downpour! Mike was quick on his feet and grabbed the umbrella to put over the grill to try and save the fire. Well we didn't realize that there were mist holes in the umbrella, it made for 3 soaked guys!

Auntie Monica came bearing super fun glow sticks! We had our very own light show, perfect for this 4th of July celebration!

It has been a great tradition to have our 4th of July festivities with great friends. And to think that now we add the sweetest kids ever to the mix, each of us have our own babes to join in the fun!

The next morning Mommy and Daddy both had off work. It was very nice to sit back and enjoy the morning after a late night the night before. We awoke and Danielle had some play time with Daddy and Grammie.

And Grammie brought a few of my childhood memories back for Dylan to embark on. Hopscotch!! And the super funny thing was that Dylan knew exactly what it was. We had never done hopscotch here before, not sure where he did it, but he was super excited to color with chalk in the driveway and play hopscotch with Grammie!

We laughed and laughed and laughed!

And Dylan just had the best time ever!

Grammie got Danielle this super fun playtime piggy bank. Danielle frequently uses this toy at therapy and we were SO excited when Grammie got it for her to practice and play with at home! She loves it..clink...clink...clink, in goes the coins!

While having one of our afternoons in the pool we were curious how tall Danielle was actually standing next to her brother. So Britni held her up and mommy snapped the picture. WOW, she is just a hair under being up to his shoulders! Good for her and those long leggies!

Dylan still asks weekly to go out and ride his 4wheeler. This is a toy that he doesn't ever put aside and forget about, it is truly one of his favorites! Taking after his Daddy!

While venturing to the Farmers Market Britni picked up this super cute tie dye dress! I had totally forgot that Danielle also had one very similar just a tad bit different color. It was perfect to have them match for a quick Kodak Moment!

Brad has been trying to keep up mowing at the lot! Every time we venture out there it is so serene and we both try and picture our perfect home built in amongst the tree's! We aren't quite ready to build yet, but it is really fun taking a drive and just knowing that the spot has already been decided. The wonderful things our future holds!

Right in the middle of the summer it sure looks like a forest, Brad has his work cut out for him every time he goes to mow. But that is his little getaway spot, a place to relieve a little bit of stress from ordinary life and he really enjoys his time spent there, soaking it all in!

We were very excited to take Grammie and Britni to the big Cedar Rapids Downtown Farmers Market. We love to venture there on Saturday's as a family, Dylan begs to attend the Market! We usually have to remind him to hold on tight to his balloon, after a few got away I think he is finally getting it!

And walking around listening to the music, smelling the fresh produce and grills going cooking up breakfast and even lunch...all of that is hard work for a little man. Dylan fell asleep in the stroller at Market this day!

Seeing thousands of people come out and support the Downtown District and local vendors is such a wonderful sight. So much goes into putting this market on 2 times per month. We look forward to every single one we can attend.

We had such a wonderful time visiting with my mom and sister for the week they were here. As always time goes all too fast and we wish there were more minutes in the day. We cherish those precious moments together with family. The kids love, love, love the snuggles and play time and we all love sitting back and giggling at the kids being kids also. Thank you Mom and Britni for coming to stay and we are literally counting down the time until your next visit. We don't take any day for granted, having loved ones be miles and miles away is very difficult on some days, thank goodness for technology to keep us in touch! We made a lot of memories this visit and for those we are oh, so, thankful.~