Feeling sentimental....

Last night as I was tucking in Alexa, just looking at her made me realize how truly blessed I am with my life. Some reasons why....

Kyle - My true love. He has been a great husband and a great father. Yes, there are times I want to just scream at him, but some of that is just me being difficult too! He has stuck by my side through my tough times and makes me feel extra special when I really need it!

Alexa - my little miracle! To think, 3 years ago we were anxiously awaiting her arrival! Her little personality has so much character. A true joy to be around. Some days I still can't believe that she is really mine and how much she has blessed our lives with love and fun!

My parents - My relationship with them has just grown more and more over the years. I admire them for all they have been through. When I'm having rough times with Kyle I think of how they have made it through some tough times and how much they are still in love! It truly gives me hope that no matter what I will have a marriage that is as strong as theirs!

My siblings and their families - growing up we were the typical siblings and fought A LOT! Tracee, I did wear your clothes even though you told me not too! Ben, even though I thought you were the biggest brat, I would have done anything for you! Now we get along great and I really look forward to being with them. I absolutely LOVE my nieces and nephews and hey, my in-laws are pretty cool too!

My Parents In-law - I am very fortunate that I get along great with my in-laws! I know there are some out there that really dislike going to the in-laws, but I've even gone and stayed in Cedar Rapids with mine without Kyle...how often does that happen? I know we have our differences sometimes, but hey, who doesn't!

All my other friends and family - I am surrounded by great people! There are so many that we have a ton of fun with! You know who you are.

So all in all...Thank You to EVERYONE for enriching my life and making a positive difference in my life. I am truly blessed to have a great circle of friends and family!
Take Care and Love you all!

A fun Birthday weekend...

As of Sunday I am now 34 years old...man that's starting to sound old!

My weekend started great. I got off of work about 1:45...as my boss said, "it's the last Friday of summer, no one should have to work today!" I stopped at the store, came home an picked up a little and then went and got Alexa from daycare. That night a few friends stopped by to grill and have some drinks. It was laid back and fun!

Saturday, Alexa and I lounged around in the morning and then got ready to go to Omaha for the night. Once Kyle got off work we headed over, checked into the hotel, and waited for my parents to show up. Once they arrived we headed over to the Old Market to browse and get something to eat. There's a fun little Christmas store that had LOTS of neat stuff, called Tannenbaum's. Definitely check it out if you really like to decorate for Christmas.
We ate a Southwestern American grill called Stokes. It was really good! Service could have been better, but oh well, it's a chance you take going to a new place.

On Sunday we took a trip to the Omaha zoo. Make sure you are ready to walk hills! There are lots of them. The zoo has definitely changed in the last 15 years. Some very cool exhibits and for being there for 6 hours we didn't even see everything! I would recommend it to all! Some of my favorite pictures of the day.

Kyle and Alexa checking out the Tiger.

I LOVE Polar Bears...this guy was walking around and swimming when we went by...very cool!

This gorilla liked Alexa...he crouched down by her and checked her out!

I also think flamingos are really cool. Very pretty!The butterfly house was one of the coolest things we did. Our camera doesn't do so good with still shots...this is one of the better pictures.

What has been going on...

A few weeks have gone by and we've been a busy family!

After the Hickory Grove Triathlon I had my sight set on completing a good CyMan Tri on Sept. 7th. Well, I got lazy! I didn't train like I should have, more maintained than anything. I had about the same time as HG, but all in all it should have been faster as the bike was shorter. You can read my account here.

On Sat. Sept 6th Alexa headed over to G'ma and Papa Sedore's for a week vacation. She had a lot of fun and I got her room painted while she was gone. It is now Daddy's Little Girl Pink! Basically a little girl pink. She loves it! Her comment last night, after being home since Sat. was..."look at this pretty pink room!" She just can't get over it. I also ordered new valances to go with her pink curtains to break up the pink a little bit. I'll post a picture when I get the new valances up.

Kyle has started Cyclocross practices. He is gearing up for the last race of the season. On Nov 29th and 30th is Jinglecross in IA City. This year the Cat 3 riders are staged with the Cat 2's. Making it a harder race and he wants to do good! So every Tues. night is practice with other training rides in between. Cyclocross is fun to watch. The riders have to go over barriers and run up hills with their bikes. So it's ride, get off and jump over barrier, hop on and ride some more, hop off and run up a hill, back on and ride some more, barriers, etc. I'm excited for this season of racing to start!

Alexa is still enjoying SONshine Preschool and Daycare. Last night we had the family picnic. She had a lot of fun running around with all her friends. The preschool is based at our church and we are very happy with the program. She has been there since May and was excited to go back after her week at G'ma and Papa's. On Sat. she asked, "Mom, do I get to go to preschool tomorrow?" I had to inform her that she only had one more day to wait and she was so excited!

I know there is more as it seems I've been running around like crazy...but I just can't think at the moment! This weekend is a trip to the Omaha zoo...pictures to come!

PUPPIES!!

My sister still has 4 puppies that they need to go to good homes! Comment if you are interested!
There are 3 black and 1 yellow lab left. The yellow is female and one black is female.