What's hiding in the back of our bedroom closet

Shhh...don't tell the kids, but we're getting a PUPPY! I'm so excited--I feel like I'm expecting a baby--it's all I can think about. Robbie and I have always said that we're not a dog family, but the kids have begged and begged, and we decided it's time. We're getting a Morkie--thought it was going to be a girl, but we're switching to a boy, and we still don't have a name picked out for him! Any suggestions? Jack is our best idea so far, but is that too boring? I've made Rob watch a video with me about how to take care of a new puppy--he wasn't too thrilled, but we know very little about this--have always had farm dogs that we really didn't do much for besides feed them our scraps. We're getting him next Monday, the 5th--can't wait!

Busy summer!!

Wow--this summer is flying by way too fast, and I haven't blogged in ages. We've been keeping super busy, enjoying time with friends and family and time at the pool! I've got tons of pictures that I wanted on here, so this will be a hodge-podge post. We had to say goodbye to our dear friends Stu and Heidi several weeks ago. I miss them like crazy--this is one thing that stinks about Robbie's (our) job of investing in students--we get super close to them, and then they have to move away. We had a going away lunch for them, and Levi decorated the brownies--supposed to say, "We'll miss you", but some of the powdered sugar got messed up. I'd love to spend the rest of my life next door to this couple--extremely special people!
Enjoying the KS sunsets--not quite like on the farm growing up, but they still take my breath away.
Helping my little sis put together all her invitations--she's getting married in 1 1/2 months! I'm so excited for her and love her fiance, who she just met in JANUARY!!!
Aren't they cute together? I feel like he's already a part of the family--he'll sit up late and night and talk with all of us girls when we're all home (at Mom and Dad's), so he fits right in!

Helping celebrate my little brother Mark's 30th--can't believe how old we're getting! A group of family and friends surprised him last Friday night at a Royal's game. It was hot, but so much fun! Here he is with his beautiful wife, Emily.
Hot and sweaty Sarah
Me and my honey at the game
Handsome Levi
Adorable, ornery Jason

And once again, the cute engaged couple.
On Sunday after church, Rob and I made a quick trip to Chicago to trade in our dying van for one with fewer miles. A highlight of our trip was getting to spend a few hours with some dear Challenge alumni, Daniel and Rachel. They let us crash at their apartment, fed us a great breakfast, and took us to Millennium Park to walk around a bit, all just days before moving and weeks before having their first baby. We loved our time with them!

Field Day

Yesterday was field day at my kids' school. Jas was thrilled to get to play with action figures with his friend Cooper while watching his big sis and bro do their events.
Here's my sweetie with a friend and one of the best teachers in the world, I'm convinced. She's going to be SO sad to graduate from kindergarten.

And my handsome Levi. He looks way too old in this picture!
What would we do without Micah? I'm secretly hoping he'll someday be my son-in-law, but we won't tell him that! He might have to fight his cute little brother, though, cause Sarah sure adores Noah. I'm taking random cute pictures of either of them with my Sarah just in case I ever need them for a wedding slideshow. Is it sad that I'm totally serious???




My friend Heather and her 2 babies came to spend a couple days with us this week. They were troupers and came along to Field Day. KJ and Eli are getting cuter by the day--my kids loved having them stay with us!

And I just had to throw in this cute picture of my friend Jenni's daughter, Chloe. She seriously melts my heart!

Cuteness

Miss Sarah has been growing her hair out forever--at once she wanted it "as long as Ariel's", but has recently gotten tired of all the tangles and opted to get it cut. I think I'd like it even shorter next time, but she's pretty darn cute! She's looking way too old lately, though!

And here's a cute one of Jas and Daddy--all tuckered out and needing a little nap!

More Hawaii pics

Okay--here are several more Hawaii pictures in random order. These first 2 are at a coffee plantation that we toured. It's actually the largest one in the States. Robbie, of course, had to come home with multiple bags of it. I'd never toured a coffee plantation before, and I thought the coffee plants were pretty cool--I love how the cherries on some of them grow in little clusters. Inside of each of those cherries is one or two coffee beans. If I heard right, the ones with only one bean in them are rarer and tend to roast more evenly...you learn something new every day!
Here are a few random pictures of our resort. It was so beautiful--we totally felt rich!



We both took novels to relax with, and our favorite spot by the pool was the mini "beach" with the 2 lounge chairs next to the waterfall. Don't know if you can see it, but it even had sand in that area--we loved to lay there, soak up the rays, read our books, doze off for a bit, ... Ahh...quite the life!
This is a plumeria tree--my favorite. The flowers smelled soo good, and each morning there were fresh ones that had just fallen to the ground. I had to join in and keep one in my hair most of the time!


The photo above was taken on our sunset cruise. It was pretty cloudy, so sadly we weren't able to see the sunset, but the view of the mountains was so great. My favorite part of the cruise was having probably 30 dolphins swimming in front of our boat--soo cool! We also saw 2 whales, a mom and her calf, but they were a little too far away for a good picture. A LOT of people got seasick--buckets were being passed out all around us--so Robbie and I escaped to the bow and rode the waves up there. It was a pretty rough ride, but tons of fun.
Here's a little video clip of our dolphins that joined us.


There was an overlook close to our resort with this gorgeous view--these are taro fields. Taro is one of the oldest cultivated foods in the world. They grind it and make a starchy paste out of it called poi--I had Robbie taste test it at the luau. Didn't pass the test, so I decided to pass on it!

Yummy shave ice! I especially liked it with macadamia nut ice cream on the bottom. Sounds strange, but it was delicious.
This is the beach where "I'm gonna wash that man right out of my hair", from "South Pacific" was filmed. Another one of Kauai's beautiful beaches with hardly anyone on it. We were shocked that we often had almost the whole beach to ourselves!
On our last night, we walked down the path at our resort to a little private beach to watch the sunset. The picture above looks like it's in broad daylight, but it was actually right when the sun was going down. A great ending to our time there.
Here's Robbie enjoying his cup of Kona coffe at the airport on our way home. We had a blast--I want to go back. I'm dreaming of how we can get our kids over there someday--they would LOVE it!

Hawaii!!

Robbie and I are having the time of our lives in Hawaii. I wanted to get a few pictures on my blog for our kids to see--will post more once we get home. The photo above is at the U.S.S. Arizona memorial at Pearl Harbor.

Now on to Kaua'i...we hiked a trail several miles west of where we're staying--gorgeous view, but way too muddy for me! Robbie thought I was a wimp! We hiked 4 miles and I thought I might not make it down!

This beach was at the half way point--wish you could see how crazy the ocean was.

This is the hot tub at the resort where we're staying--possibly my favorite place on the island.
This picture is for Levi--beautiful birds everywhere.
Tonight we went to a Lu'au--lots of fun...great food. Tomorrow we get to go on a sunset cruise. What a vacation!

Sarah

Sarah had her first dance performance last weekend, and our sweet friend Jade came to do her hair, as I had no idea what to do with it. It ended up mostly falling out, so we opted to stick a flower in and call it good! I'll try to get a video on soon of the cute performance.

She was so proud to get flowers from her Daddy!

I was going through a pile of papers today and pulled out a few cute things Sarah has written recently. Above is a list I found of what she wanted to do with her friends when they came over. Love it!

The note above is what she wrote last night at the Challenge auction. She was being pretty "notee" (naughty), so maybe she wanted to assure herself that Jesus still loved her!


Not sure if you can read this one, but it was adorable and I just had to put it on here!