Family Trip to Michigan

In May, we ventured to Michigan for a 10 day trip.  Jeff & I hadn't been up north for that long since our trip after he got back from Afghanistan so we had many reasons to come visit, the biggest being my mom, Sue, was getting married!  We managed to roll  A LOT into that 10 days...many of which are shown below.  Of course, with our luck, all three of us managed to pick up some sort of bug and were all sick...thank God it wasn't all at the same time!  Here are some pics from our visit. 

Cash got to celebrate his 2nd birthday twice while we were in Michigan.  His cousin, Jacob, shared his birthday party with him and Aunt Jenny even got Cash his own Thomas cake!

Here we are celebrating Jeff & Cash's birthdays with the Ouellette's.  Aunt Rene and Uncle Gray opened up their home to the family to come visit with us and we had a fantastic time.

We were very lucky that we got to meet our newest nephew, Elijah, while we were in town.  Here are the brothers, Jeff & Dave, with their boys, Cash and Elijah.

Cash was able to enjoy the cooler Michigan weather and play outside a lot during our visit.  Here is Papa Gordie (my dad) and Cash playing at a park.  I was so thankful that Cash got to spend some time with his grandparents...Gabby (Barb) and Papa (my dad) were such wonderful hosts to us and let us take over their house while we were staying with them.  As crazy as it all was, I'm sure that they missed us after we left!

I got to have a Girl's Night out with my college roommates while in town!  Jessie, who lives in Maryland, was in town to see her newborn niece, and Monica and Hayley still live in Michigan so we had a college roommate reunion.  It's been 10 years since we all lived together, but that night, it felt like we were back in college!  We even closed down the bar...that's say a lot since 3 of us are now moms!  I am so blessed to have these beautiful ladies as some of my dearest and best friends!

Since we were in Michigan for Jeff's birthday and I knew that we wouldn't have a problem finding a babysitter, I surprised Jeff with Tiger's tickets.  We hadn't had a date night in over a year and we had a great time even though it rained some and the Tigers lost.  Nothing beats spending time with the man you love!!!

Here I am with my Tiger, Alex Avila!  I was so excited to meet him before the game and as much as I wanted to, I resisted from giving him a smooch on the cheek or a pinch on his butt!!!

Our newest family photo, courtesy of my cousin Christine at Mom & Rich's wedding.

What a blessing that I was able to share in Mom's big day and that she had all her kids and grandsons with her.  Here is our newest family photo. 

I am so very happy for my Mom and Rich.  They are just too cute together and he is such a wonderful man to her.  I am so glad that she found someone to spend her life with and that he treats her like a queen! 

Well, there was our trip in a nutshell.  We had a great time are so thankful we got to see so many friends and family members.  We aren't sure when we will make another long trip up to see everyone, but we will definitely make sure to let everyone know.  I want to thank everyone that helped to make our trip such a great time...Dad & Barb for letting us stay with you; The Turland Family, especially Jacob, for opening your home up to help celebrate Cash's birthday; Aunt Rene and Uncle Gray for having another birthday celebration for Cash and everyone that helped keep Cash busy so that Jeff & I could visit with all of you.  Thank you again!!!

Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans...

I'm sure that many of you can relate to the great John Lennon's above quote.  As a SAHM (stay at home mom) to a 2 1/2 year old, that quote couldn't be more of my every day life.  I had very high hopes for this blog when I began it quite a few years ago.  At that time, I was thrust back into being an Army wife, keeping my family and friends updated on my husband's deployment and our ventures to buy a house.  I had all the time in the world to sleep in, go shopping, go to the beach, hang out with friends and spend hours updating everyone via email or the blog.  Well, times they have changed.  My days are now filled with cartoons, snack time, going to the park, watching the same movies over and over, playing cars, trains and planes...all while taking care of the home and keeping up with the laundry, grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning.  Oh and let us not forget that independent, full of energy and spirit little boy!  Normally, I would apologize for not keeping up with the blog and for not posting in such a long time.  Am I sorry?  Yes, I am.  I know that this is a way for many of you to see what is going on with our family and to see new pictures of Cash.  But I will not apologize for NOT taking time out of my busy day to do a weekly blog post because I feel obligated.  Time with my baby boy (I know, he is almost 3 and most definitely NOT a baby anymore) and family time with my husband and son are far more important...especially now more than ever.  We will never get back these days and moments.  And while I would like to choose to forget certain times and moments (can we say terrible twos??), I am trying to soak in every single moment and lock it away in my memory.  So I will say this...I will do my best to update more often.  Will it happen as often as I would like?  Probably not.  Will it happen as often as some of you would like?  I don't know.  All I can say is that I will do my best to make monthly posts.  With that being said, I will try to get caught up on our year so far.  With Thanksgiving coming up the end of this week, I know that I have so very much to be thankful for...including those of you that are still following along on our blog!  So thank you...and I wish many blessings to you and your families during this holiday season!