17th Anniversary!

Mike and I celebrated our seventeenth wedding anniversary just the other day!!!  And like my previous post said, how can this be???  17 years is a long time, not?  But it seems just like yesterday and we remember it so well!!!  Our wedding day was one of the best days of our lives!  We were young, in love and happily off to our honeymoon! 

The honeymoon in Cancun was fabulous!!!  We loved every bit of it!!!  We were excited to get back home though and begin our new life together!!!

We've faced challenges along the way!  We've had our fair share of ups and downs.  But it was in those ups and downs that kept us falling more and more in love with each other.  Over the years, we have learned to communicate better.  To share our hurts and feelings more.  To lay down our pet peeves and accept each other for who we really are!  We've learned that if we talk and even heavily discuss our issues together it is ALWAYS better to get out those feelings instead of hiding them inside.  Or pretending like it didn't happen.  When we say we are sorry and forgive, it helps so much for when the next hiccup comes along.

Being married to Mike has been such a great journey and he has been the best gift ever given to me from God!!!  I love his character!  I love that he loves me and the children more than anything else in the world.  I'm treated like a queen.  He is so good to me!!! 

Looking back over the years of birthing our babies together and still raising our toddler and now teenager and the other ones in between, sure have shown us how to be patient when we were lacking sleep.  To talk gentle when emotions were up and down.  To cry when it hurts and to hug each other when all we need is a friend to listen.  Praying together is something we were told to do everyday when we were in premarital counseling.  And we do!  It has helped us in so many ways and with God being the head of our home, God has been our strength through the tough days!  With going through Mike's dad's death, it brought feelings and emotions that we didn't always know how to deal with.  But being together and crying out to God for direction and stability and living out our vows daily that we said years ago, has been the foundation of our marriage now today.

We would testify that marriages have different love stages or levels.  We don't know how often you climb up that ladder and take another step deeper or even how often this happens but we do know that it's been like this for us!  When we got married, I didn't think I could love Mike more!  I loved him so much and he was all I dreamed about!  But then after a few years of living together, things just seemed even a bit more better.  Or deeper?  Or more like we "really know each other now."  And then a few more years went by and the same thing happened.  And now after being married for 17 years, we are more in love!  It's a mystery and I can't explain it but it's a good thing!  We know most times what each other thinks and when it comes to parenting decisions, it has helped so much.  This has helped with our relationship and just knowing each other in a deeper level is so cool!!!

So, with these wonderful years of marriage behind us, we cannot wait to live the next 100 years together!!!  :)))  God's been so good!  He's blessed us with four amazing children, a beautiful home and love for each other that could only possibly come from God above!!!

I love you Mike!!!  Thank you so much for loving me and choosing me to be your bride way back then and still your date today!!!

Mike brought me 17 roses on Saturday!!!  He's so sweet!!!

And we went out on a date!  The Stockyard Inn has excellent food and service!!!  We loved this place!!!  Spending the evening with my handsome man was perfect!!!

Oh how I love this man so much!!!

Happy anniversary Babe!!!  You are the best and I love you for forever!!!

XOXO ~ Lori

Sweet 16!!!

Hadassah is now sixteen!!!  How in the world can this be?  I remember so well looking forwards to turning sixteen myself and now I have a daughter that is this age???  Time goes by so fast!

Look at how cute is was back then!!!

And for some odd reason, the pictures want to be side ways.

 

Her first birthday cake!!!  :)

And sixteen years later!!!

Hadassah was looking forward to her birthday for a long time and was excited to plan her party.  At first, I wanted to surprise her with a party but she kept asking about it and making suggestions.  So, I decided to print out her invites and let her do the inviting!

I went to Costco on Thursday and ordered her a cake and grabbed some trays of sandwiches and wraps, ice cream and chips and a bunch of fresh vegetables.

When she sprained her ankle on Thursday night, she was greatly disappointed.  With it being her right ankle, there was no way so would be able to drive if she did pass her permits test. 

 

She woke up Friday with it being super sore.  She didn't go to school and her ankle hurt so bad.  But, after a Motrin and a hot bath to refresh herself, we rubbed on some muscle cream and it felt so much better!!!  We decided to head in to take her permit test even though she wouldn't be able to drive.  She was just able to sit around anyway, so why not give the test a try!?!

She got lights for her bedroom as a gift!

She went for her physical on Wednesday and was ready to take her permit test on her birthday!

What a way to walk in for your permit!  Bummer!

We got there around 11:30 and got a number.  And waited.  And waited.  One hour.  And waited.  Two hours.  It was unbelievable the amount of people that needed service and our number just wasn't getting any closer any time soon.  I sat there while Hadassah went through the practice permit tests time and time again.  Finally, finally it was our turn and after the paper work was completed, she was off to take the test.

We joked that after waiting this long, she better would pass.  But she didn't!!!  We both were shocked because Hadassah is a really bright student and does excellent on all of her grades but she had a few questions that she didn't know and that caused her to fail.  It was disappointing for both us but deep down inside it was still OK because we both knew she couldn't actually drive yet anyway.  Her foot would first have to do some healing!

We grabbed a late lunch at Panera Bread.  We picked up her cake at Costco and stopped for some party supplies.  We rushed home to load up her party foods and pick up the other children before heading over to Uncle John's for her birthday party.  John and Kathy have a nice barn for basketball and volleyball!  We set up snack and Hadassah friends came out to wish her a happy birthday!  Again, it was disappointing that she couldn't play any volleyball or basketball and pretty much just had to sit all night, but her friends made it fun for her and she still had a fun day!!!

Mike gave a little speech about how he appreciates her and loves her.  So sweet!

And now that we are a teenager, we don't pose for blowing out the candles.  Here's what I could capture!  :)))

Because she failed on Friday, we went right back in to try again Saturday morning.  There was a long line out the door waiting for numbers!  Oh boy!!!  Thankfully, the lady we had yesterday that helped us with her paper work said that if we come back, we should go right in to her desk and try again.  This saved us a lot of time!

And this time she passed!!!  She was so happy!!!  Still not able to drive but now we just need to wait for her ankle to heal up some and then she can get behind the steering wheel!

I love you Hadassah and Daddy and I couldn't be more proud of you!!!  Your early decision to follow and love Jesus is going to help you so much through these teenage/best days of your life!!!  Happy birthday and thank you being such a great daughter!!!   

Sprained Ankle.

Thursday night we went to Matthew's basketball game.  They had a great game and won!  There was a high school basketball game later that Mike and Matthew went to go watch and Hadassah was going to meet up with them there after her volleyball practice.  (Does this sound a bit crazy with these sporting events?)  Meanwhile, I came home to get the little baths and into their PJ's! 

Soon my phone started to ring.  I was downstairs and not able to answer it.  Soon it rang again and again.  Ashlyn ran downstairs with my phone and said that it keeps ringing.  I answered it right away and it was Hadassah.  She was in a lot of pain and said she hurt her ankle.  I needed to go pick her up right away!  I tried to call Mike but the phone service in the school gym is not good at all.  Thankfully, I was able to leave the little ones home with Ritchie and go after Hadassah!  (Ritchie is staying here at our house while Mom Lapp is in Florida.)  I prayed on the way to the volleyball practice asking God to touch Hadassah's foot and that it would not be broke!

When I walked into the practice, Hadassah was in tears and the coaches had her foot wrapped in a tight sock and on ice.  When she jumped up to make a block, she came down stepping on another girls foot.  Her ankle twisted and is now swollen and hurting a whole lot!  Two men carried her out to the Yukon and we were on our way to Urgent Care.  She was in a lot of pain and needed a wheelchair when we got inside.  They ordered X-rays immediately and had to cut off her bandage sock plus her volleyball sock because it hurt too bad to try to pull it off.  Then we met with the doctor.  Thankfully, and praising Jesus, we were told that there are no breaks but that it's just a bad sprain!!!  They wrapped it up tight for her again and gave her a pair of crutches and we were on our way back home.  Sprains are not good either but we are so grateful and happy to not have anything broken!  Now, she needs to ice it often, stay off of her right ankle and wait for it to heal!

Waiting for the doctor to meet with us.

Only a sprain!  Thank you Jesus!

She was so ready to get into bed and let it rest!  Her nights sleep went pretty good but when she tried to move at all on Friday morning, she broke into tears.  It hurt so bad!!!  I felt so bad for her because on Friday, was her birthday!!!  Hadassah turned sixteen and now with this sprained ankle, so wasn't even sure if she felt good enough to go for her drivers permit.  I was able to give her something for her pain and after a soaking bath, and we rubbed it with muscle cream.  She did feel a lot better after all of that!!!

She's been hobbling around ever since.  The crutches help but seem to hurt her arms.  Her right ankle is still a bit swollen and her "good" ankle is a little tender from her using it extra hard now.  We are praying and wishing for a fast recovery and for complete healing!!!

"50's Friends"

Out of one, fun 50's themed party, came about a group of friends that we now call ourselves the "50's group".  Two years ago we all dressed up in 50's attire and met at Bryan's for dinner and a night of fun games and laughter.  It was a blast.  Now, we still get together randomly and do fun things.  On Friday night, we celebrated Uncle John King's birthday with this group.  Kathy planned for us to all meet at the Escape Rooms and do the "50's Diner Room".  How fitting and what fun!

The Escape Rooms are a place of entertainment that you go as a group and you get put in a room with lots of clues throughout.  We had one hour to figure out one clue that lead to the next clue.  We started off by turning on the lights in the room (which looked like a 50's dinner).  On the light switches were clues that we used to unlock a lock.  Then that lead us to another clue and so forth.  I think we all thought that we would finish all the clues in an hour but some of them were really tough and had us scratching our minds for more clues.  Our time was up and we still had two more clues to finish.  It was a team effort and we had a great time.

Then we all went to JB Dawson's for appetizers/desserts.  Mike and I had already eaten at the Smokehouse before going to the Escape Rooms so we got dessert.  Again, the time went by quickly and the restaurant was waiting for us to finish up so they could close.  We just have a wonderful time again with these friends and I'm positive that we will always and forever laugh when we are with them!

Thanks everyone for the fun night!  And a big shout out to our in house baby sitters, Hadassah and Matthew, for watching the little ones at home!!!

Happy Birthday John!

   

Back to school.

This is "real life" right here.  The car wash is a place we are going often to keep our vehicles clean.  The roads are being salted a lot to melt the ice off of them but it makes a mess on the Yukon!  Last week, Mike took the Yukon to the car wash and didn't have it dried off before pulling out of the bay.  The water froze on the sides of the Yukon and it looked terrible.  This cold weather is crazy!

 

The weather is so crazy that on the school children are having one day at home after the next!  They were home on Monday because of Martin Luther King, JR day.  Then on Tuesday, they got dismissed at 11 AM because of the forecast calling for bad road conditions later in the day.  This canceled Matthew's basketball for that night.  But honestly, it didn't start snowing until 10 PM!!!  So, the kids were home with the roads not wet till after dark!  Goodness!  At least it still counted as a school day because they all went in regular time.  On Wednesday, we started with a two hour delay but then school was closed.  Another day at home with the kids gave us time to finish up the last of our 10 puzzle collection.  It gave the kids time to go outside and play in the snow.  We made another quick batch of snow ice cream.  My mom stopped in and asked if I want to go with her for some birthday gifts.  I left the kids at home with Hadassah and Mom and I ventured out in the snowy roads.  It was SO much fun!  We started with going to Maurices.  Mom had a shirt to return and I went straight to their clearance rack to take a look.  I ended up with a few sweat shirts for 75% off!!!  Deal!!!  Then we went buying some birthday gifts and came back to the house to be with the children!  These snow days are easier than they were ten years ago.  Now, the kids can mostly get their snow gear on without too much of my help.  I never liked getting them all bundled up and then ten minutes later they would come back inside all wet and cold.  It just didn't seem worth all the effort.  But now they can adventure outside and play in the garage without so much drama!

This Little Man still needs help bundling up but he enjoys it and makes the best out of the cold tempts!

I'm content just watching from the kitchen window!!!  Matthew and Ashlyn are our snow birds and love to go outside and play in it.  Here they chose to go down the slide.  They were funny to watch!

 
I ordered new swimsuits for the boys on Amazon the other day and when they arrived, Austin wanted to wear his.  So, here he is out in the cold garage riding in circles in his new Jeep wearing shorts!!!  And the reason for new swimsuits is because we have a family vacation coming up and we will be heading south!!!

 These two have so much together!!!

Thursday and today are now regular, full days of snow!  The "snow days" that are figured in on the school calendar are being replaced with full days of school now.  But the basketball game yesterday afternoon was on schedule and Matthew's team won!  Good job boys!!!  Hadassah's volleyball practice and pictures went well too!  Then we gathered together with Mike's family last night at Mom's.  Matt's made homemade ice cream and we spent the evening at Mom's before she heads off to Florida next week for the rest of the winter. 

Matthew made the comment this morning that the week went fast.  I agree.  With some school days off and more snow on the ground, this winter is going by quickly. 

Have a great weekend!!!  Stay warm and cozy!

Winter time.

This weather has been playing us tricks ever since Christmas vacation was over.  Today is the first day that the kids are back without a delay and staying the entire day!  The weather has been so freezing cold since the New Year!  But that's changing slowly as each day goes past this week.  We've been having as low as negative degree tempts but yesterday, we started out with a two hour delay and then the sun came out bright and melted a lot of the dirty, leftover snow.  It felt so amazing to step outside without being blasted with an Arctic freeze!  It felt so amazing, in fact, that I got the blower out of the barn and blew out the dusty, dirty, filthy garage.  The garage is the place where the kids take on and off their snow clothes and it all got picked up and put back in a tubbie.  I'm secretly hoping they don't stay in there too long because I do like snow if it's cold anyway.  I even took the Yukon to the car wash because it was so nasty looking from all the winter road dirt on it. 

Now today is a little more cloudy but the tempts are high enough to melt more snow.  What's left of it is so brown and not nice anymore.  I dropped off the kids this morning at school on regular time and it felt good.  They need to get their heads back into their studies so we don't have to finish school in June!!!

Winter time is the time when I like to go through closets and declutter.  With remodeling our home two years ago, I'm trying to get rid of the things we don't even use.  Or want.  Or are just being dusted and cleaned without any purpose anymore.  I've been taking trips to Fashion Cents with stuff and the way it looks, I'll be going again soon.  I love the fact that my unwanted things can become someone else's treasures.  And then the opposite for me as I also like to shop and look around the consignment store!  I've still got two places in the house that collect things.  One in the basement.  It's the room that was used for storage when we remodeled.  There are still a few things in there that need to be cleaned out.  Two, a room upstairs.  It holds all my seasonal décor and should be gone through and organized.  But, it is freezing up there in that room, so that might have to wait till Spring time.?.

It's also a time where I can attack the pile of photos that sit in the closet!  Scrap booking is something I only do in the winter time and everyday I keep thinking I need to get started with it!  Once I get out my books and photos its an easy "go for it" but if it stays untouched in the closet, I just daydream that I'm all caught up and organized!

Winter is also the only time that we do puzzles.  At Christmas, I treated myself to a set of puzzles that came all in one big box but with about ten different puzzles.  Some small, some bigger.  I just get the biggest kick out of sipping on coffee or hot tea and piece these together!  So far, it's been taking trump over the scrap booking itch. 

Hadassah began her volleyball for the winter months and is super excited about the whole event!  She went to a scrimmage with her team on Saturday and totally loved it!  She's had a few cancellations because of icy roads but is looking forwards to tomorrow night's first official practice.  Matthew is deep into the basketball practises and games too.  It's time they win another game but the practises have been good and it's a great workout for this growing boy. 

I love the slower, longer evenings spent here at home in Winter time too!  We've been watching some of the Olympic tryouts.  Fixer Upper is always a fun watch if I control the remote!  If the hubby has the remote, it's most times Shark Tank.  Building blocks, reading books, hot baths and relaxing is priority after supper! 

Winter is here and even if it does seem like the longest season, I've been enjoying every minute of it so far!  The kick back schedule, well, most days, and quiet afternoons when Austin naps, is so nice!

Stay cozy!

First NO SCHOOL day for 2018.

We had a day at home because of the frozen tundra outside!!!  It is SO, SO COLD outside!  The tempts are in the single digits and even negative at night.  We are so blessed to have a cozy home, warm blankets and comfy beds to sleep in at night.  This is something that I am really appreciating more and more because it's easy to take it for granite.  It's something I've always had since I came into this world!  Warmth, heat, food and love! 

All Christmas vacation, we had so much fun!  I just wasn't at the point of "sending the kids back to school" yet but it was time.  Today, however, was different.  We did have a good day and I have to applaud the kids for helping me with the house chores but the two youngest just could not get started with toys!!!  It was whining and fighting and teasing all day long!  I couldn't send them outside even though they did decide on their own to go outside for a little while.  I made it clear that they were not going to go from one thing to the next without putting the first things away.  The house can get totally upside down real quick if I don't say things like this!  Plus, Thursday is cleaning day here at our home!

Bethany asked to not come help me clean today because of the weather conditions.  We had gotten a call from school earlier saying that there is a two hour delay and then school closed.  The kids and I were grateful to sleep in again and have a lazy morning!  Hadassah took Bethany's place because she was home anyway.  She cleaned all the bathrooms while I dusted, swept and cleaned the kitchen and floors!  Matthew and Ashlyn picked up the toys downstairs and then Matthew swept the basement!  It went great with these two helping me and they did a good job!  Thanks kids! 

Meanwhile, the younger ones still weren't started with any toys.  We had lunch and then Little Man went down for a nap.  That's when Ashlyn begged to watch YouTube on my phone and said she's bored.  I told her to go get out the bingo game and then we will make some paper snowflakes.  I am like a little kid when making snowflakes.  Not sure why?  I just like doing it.  One winter, I made so many so for fun.  It's a relaxing thing to do evenings and watch what happens after a few folds and cuts!  Each one gets different.  Each one is unique.

There isn't that much snow out there but its freezing cold.  This makes any outside time limited.

 They were covering each other with snow.  And after about 10 minutes, they were both coming back inside.

Then Little Miss and I made paper snowflakes.

Ryan and Tyler came over.  They didn't have school today either and the older kids all decided to go to Target.  The main roads weren't too bad but the wind was strong.  They came back soon.  Both the basketball game and volleyball practice got canceled for tonight.  Mike had two meetings that he was going to attend but they also got canceled.  This nasty weather is keeping us all at home!  And I'm just A OK with that!!!

I decided to make soup and soft pretzel wraps for supper.  Soup just seemed to be the right food for this cold day!  Now, we are about to jump in our PJ's and watch some Winter Olympic practises.  The wind is howling outside and again ... I'm so happy to be at home, out of the cold weather!

Winter is here!  The freezing tempts is keeping everyone inside.  Will we have school tomorrow?  All we have to do is wait and see.

Stay warm!  Stay inside!  Drink hot chocolate or coffee!  Cuddle with the people you love!!!