GIRLS TRIP!!

A few weeks ago I took my very first girls trip! We went to Panama City Beach and the seven of us had soooo much fun!

Waiting to take off!

For some reason this picture cracks me up! What adult can't keep their eyes open for pictures? Silly Jene!

Our first morning, we rented bikes and rode around the beautiful gated/golf community where our hotel was located.

I rarely get a chance to ride a bike and for some reason, riding one while wearing a dress made me feel like some sort of turn-of-the-century girl on her bike going to her job at the newspaper or something!

Then we were off to the beach! Jene and I rode a jet ski, we lounged, read our books, ordered yummy drinks, and giggled tons!

Selfie time!

Since Cindy had to leave the next day, we all went to see Pitch Perfect 2 and laughed some more!

 left to right: Jen Statham, me, Tori Stevens, Cindy Hansen, LeeAnn Fuller, Kaity Zollinger, Jene Hansen

The beach was beautiful with perfect sugar sand and refreshing water!

LeeAnn was my pale girl beach buddy! We stayed cozy and covered up!

 While some of the girls went shopping, me, LeeAnn, and Jen stayed in and chatted/napped and of course giggled! I wanted to take a picture of us, which led to more giggling and laughter!

A HUGE thank you to my mom for watching the kids and to Kevin for being supportive in me going! The timing of this trip after the miscarriage was heavensent

May

What a month!

May was really great, but a lot of it just sucked...sorry, but it's true.

Things started out great!

The Hansens invited is out for a Rangers game!

Eric making silly faces!

Then the shiz hit the fan (excuse me please)

We were eating dinner at the Hansens on Monday night for FHE and while the boys finished digging the hole for their in ground trampoline, I started bleeding.

So we went off to the ER and it took them 3 hours to let us know that a miscarriage was imminent and that our baby had died three weeks earlier.

Poor little Christian Thomas Grady was just not ready to join our crazy family on any of the three attempts we made! 

Unlike my previous two miscarriages, this pregnancy was public knowledge and so I had to do a sort of apology tour on social media.

And the outpouring of love and support started.

I retreated into my room the next day for a nap and woke up to so many sweet surprises on our doorstep. It meant everything to me to know that I had a team of friends there to love me through this. I love you all.  Thank you.

Even the kids received yummy treats!

Naturally, I miscarried just days before Mother's Day. 

The timing wasn't great.

 But this card from my mother was great!

Not to mention the fact that my mom changed her travel plans to come stay with me several days earlier than planned to help me with it all.

And of course she came bearing lots of fun surprises!

Kinetic Sand was a huge hit!

We also got to jump in our pool for the first time! It was freezing!

For Mother's Day, Nana watched the kids and we went to see Newsies! I had coerced Kevin into buying the tickets and it was wonderful! A MUCH needed distraction!

Is it coincidence that the wettest May on record happens the same year we build a pool?

Reagan and I gave ourselves pedicures!

Bluebonnets

These kiddos make my heart do all sorts of acrobatics from such intense love and pride to frustration and impatience of the most acute kind!

But the love always wins out...

how could it not?

They are such an incredible blessing to me. They have kept me smiling, sane, and on solid ground through the last year of on and off pregnancy, morning sickness, crazy hormones, depression, loss, anger, and grief. 

 They are essential to keeping my life in perspective each day and I thank Heavenly Father constantly for them and the gift that is motherhood.

Who knows if it will just be the four of us in our family, but one thing's for sure - I can't feel anything missing when I am with these little crazy cuties.

Huzzah!

Did you hear that we met Henry VIII? And I think Anne Boleyn as well, but she might have been Catherine of Aragon...honestly, it's hard to keep track of his wives!

But where did this time-travelling feat take place, you ask?! 

We were all transported back to a time and place that never actually existed...a combobulation of a medieval-renaissance-fantasy-Dungeons and Dragons type of world where one could grab a roasted turkey leg on one side of the path and buy sexy chain mail for the bedroom on the other. Where one could watch a joust and portly belly dancers perform in the same day.  Where all of your leather-clad, corset-wearing, fairy-wing-wearing dreams could come true!

The Scarborough Renaissance Faire!!

And boy did our dreams come true! It was officially one of the best days of our lives!  

The SRF is one of the premier Renaissance fairs in the country, and by that I mean we were the freaks wearing tennis shoes, t-shirts, and shorts instead of leather, velvet, iron, and lace.  Yep, what a freak!

Can I even describe the people watching? It was surely at its finest! And do you know what? I was almost convinced to mortgage my kids' futures to buy one of them dang outfits at almost $1000 a pop!  But not quite!

 

These guys weren't performers...they were just guests like us!! HOLY MOLY!

Oh boy...this guy was special!  We saw him shopping and couldn't help ourselves! I mean, look at this level of commitment!  He's bare chested and practically wearing a leather speedo and horns, not to mention Wolverine blades on his hands. Yikes! But he was so sweet and flattered when Cindy (after a dare from her husband) asked for a picture with him that I almost feel bad for laughing at him.  But seriously!! What time period is this from?! 

My favorite part about our whole conversation with him, though, was when he mentioned that this was just ONE of his many outfits. WHAT?!?!

Reagan has two mothers. Me and Cindy! She absolutely adores her second mother!

On our way home from Waxahatchie, we picked up this little cutie for a cousin sleep over party! The kids had so much fun with cute Molly that we might have to steal her again soon!