kansas city trip

welp, i don't blog for a week and them bam! i hit you with a post full o' photos.
i'm making up for lost time. . . or something.

anyhooooooo....we got back last night from a super fun trip to kck.
i am happy to be home but am so sad it's over.
boo hoo.
summer is flying way too fast.

aj took a half day off last wednesday and we headed to the big city to stay the night with some dear friends in their {amazing} new house.
new, like they moved in two days before we came.
those are good friends right there.

we had the best time.
our kids play so well together.
so happy it worked out to see them. :)

on 4th o' july we met up with aj's family and spent the next four days with them.

3 boys and a girl each...pretty perfect cousin combo, i have to say. :)

they got started catching up immediately.
these cousins love each other so much. what a gift!

thursday night we went to watch a big firework show.
i always love it but it's always so late for my little ones.
bless his heart, saw tried so hard to stay awake and only made it to seeing the first few.

right before he crashed out, he said, "mama, when i gwow up, i want to make firewuks for you."
oh bless his sweet baby heart, he's such a lover, that one.

friday was a much anticipated day for my boys.
we took them to legoland discovery center.
avery had been counting down the days.
they'd read all about it in their lego club magazine so they were pumped.

{cute cousins}

my boys build and create with legos constantly so this was the perfect place for them.

munchkin land out of legos.
they had all the scenes from wizard of oz made out of legos.
obviously the pictures don't do it justice.

kansas city.

go cheifs.
so many minifigures!!

all in all, legoland discovery center was really neat.
it was a lot smaller than avery had hoped, but it was still fun.
i think the 4D movie was everyone's favorite.
they sprayed water and snow and wind on you at different points....very exciting.

we also went to deanna rose farmstead one afternoon.

this is one of my favorite activities to do when we're in KC.

ruby loved all the animals.

it was so much fun to watch her discover them and talk to them.

"hi ca ca!" {quack, quack}.

we did lots of park playing as well.

with 8 young kids, that's a top priority. 

run those boys!

so many boys and two sweet girlies. :)

it was such a fun time.

so hard to see it end.

loved the time with aj's awesome family and loved all that extra time with my AJ.

yay for summer. 

the best time of the year. 

:)

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hello, wednesday.

hello.
i'm taking this week in slowly.
obviously, since it's already wednesday.  ;)

i'm trying to get back in the swing of things after a fun weekend camping with friends.

our dear friends who live in north india are here for a short visit.
so thankful we made a plan to go camping together so that we could have some intentional, uninterrupted time together.

i love camping.
the boys love camping.
it was so, so great.
also so, so hot.

we made great memories.
the boys loved getting to spend all morning fishing and swimming in the lake.

aj and i don't really know what we're doing when it comes to fishing, but we try our best for the boys.

avery seemed to enjoy it the most.
he sat out there for hours trying to catch one.
he was in his element for sure.

uncle dave taught fin how to clean a fish.
we were enthralled.
fin loves gross stuff and i wanted to learn how to do it for future reference.
i think i could do it. ;)

i love swimming in a lake.
always have, always will.
it's so beautiful and peaceful.

and if you don't have a raft, you can just throw your queen sized blow up mattress in the lake and go for it. {that is not our group with the mattresses, btdub}. {only in arkansas}

i love camp food....s'mores, hobos, roasted hot dogs, anything that tastes like fire really.
there was a burn ban in effect so we couldn't grill out like we planned, but we made the most of it and had a blast.
we even made s'mores in the oven and they were really good!

the kids {especially avery} were obsessed with climbing up the chimney.
they spent a lot of time climbing around those rocks.

i love camping but i also love the feeling of getting home and getting clean and sleeping in my own bed.
also, i've never been so thankful for my ac!


happy weekend....happy memories....yay camping. :)



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change of plans

well hey there.

so . . .  if you follow my instagram, you know that our vacay hasn't exactly gone as planned. :/

it started off great...when aj got home from work on friday afternoon, i had everything packed and ready to go.
we loaded up the car and headed out.

we did our vacation tradition of stopping for a&w root beers along the way.

we drove and drove and drove and finally got to AJ's parent's in kansas about 11 pm.

by 7:30 the next morning, AJ and i were headed to the ER.

by 1pm, he was in surgery.
long story short, he had this weird intestine situation that needed immediate fixing.
i won't bore you with the details, but let's just say it's been a long few days.
and my love in still in the hospital and i am missing him terribly.
but God is so good to us and it could have been so much worse.
AJ is recovering and going to be just fine.
we're all hanging in there and so thankful for AJ's family who have been a wonderful support.

we've been having hospital room dates.
very romantic.

i've been pretty torn between spending time with the kids and aj's family and also being with AJ.
i've been going back and forth between the two for the past few days.
last night i met the family for dinner and then some park playing in town.

my sawyer boy is a fearless one.

ruby was loving the swing.
we kept her out late and she was tired but the swing sure made her smile. :)

this morning aj's family, the kids and i all went to a really cool nature center.
we walked trails, played in a natural play area & did lots of exploring.
it was a fun, vacationy thing to do.

ruby loved looking at the fishies.

we're all trying to make the best of this crazy situation.
i'm not gonna lie, it's been hard.
however, i am so very aware of how this could have been much worse....and many people have it much worse.
i am beyond thankful that God is showing us His favor and blessing and allowing AJ's surgery to be an easy fix.
we would not have chosen for our vacation to turn into surgery and extended hospital stay and recovery. . . but God is good and faithful and i am so thankful that this won't last forever.
my love will be back with us soon and all will be right in our little world again. :)



p.s. if you have emailed or texted and i haven't responded, this is why...so sorry...bear with me pretty please. :)






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