Happy 40th Birthday, Rachael!

I turned 40 years old last week and I had a great time celebrating with my family. Carl, Evan and Preston made me feel really loved on my special day. 

Preston woke up early and came into my room with a flower that he made with paper, glue and markers. He was SO excited to give it to me and to wish me a happy birthday. I was then led downstairs, where I had an amazing surprise. Carl had set up a trail of 40 flowers and had included pictures from my life throughout the trail. It was amazing! He worked so hard and it was a really great surprise. 

The days was filled with lots of calls and messages from family and friends, which was really nice. I was surprised later in the day, when Carl had flowers were delivered! 

Grammy and Granddaddy came over in the evening and we went out to Los Aztecas. We came back home for cheese cake and some time to relax.

Carl and I  finished out my celebration at the Melting Pot on Saturday night. It was nice to have a night away with Carl and the food was delicious.

I am grateful for special people that made me feel so wonderful on my birthday. I am so fortunate to have such wonderful family and friends! I am hopeful that my next year is filled with health, happiness and fun adventures with the ones I love.

Velentine's Day 2019

We had so much fun celebrating Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day was Thursday and both boys had parties at school. We went out for a family dinner that night and then the boys had a 4 day weekend!
We did so many fun things, but the best part was going to Mega Quest. We all had fun doing the awesome obstacles! Carl and I also got to go out to dinner, which is always a nice treat. I am so happy that we got to have such a nice weekend together.

Ice Skating

We went ice skating a couple of weeks ago. Evan went when he was very little, but we just pushed him around the rink in a big bucket! It was really like this was Evan's first time trying to ice skate. Preston had never been before. Evan caught on pretty fast and was able to skate without falling much. Preston got frustrated at first, because he wanted to go fast and he wasn't able to do that right away. He listened to someone that gave him some great tips and he kept working hard. He was able to skate around the rink at a good pace without falling in less than an hour! He was SO excited! I was proud of his hard work and persistence. Both boys had a great time and I am happy that they both enjoyed skating.

Evan's 11th Birthday - January 25th, 2017

Evan is eleven years old! That seems really hard for us to believe. Maybe it is because he is getting ready to go to middle school in the fall. He has some tween moments, but overall, he is super sweet. He even asks to be patted to sleep some nights. He is doing well in school and hopes to try out for soccer this spring. He is a HUGE Fortnite fan and I am certain he would be happy to play all day long, if we let him! We are looking forward to a great year with Evan and we can't wait to see how he grows and changes over the next twelve months.

A few days before his birthday, we took Evan to get a bearded dragon as an early birthday gift. He has been wanting one for a VERY long time, so he was thrilled! He named his bearded dragon Spike. She is super cute and we all really like her.

On the day of Evan's birthday, I took cupcakes to his classroom so that he could celebrate with his friends. I was pretty happy that he still wanted me to come to his class. I was a bit sad though, as they don't do class birthday celebrations in middle school.

When he got home from school, he opened his presents. We also went out to to dinner with Grammy and Granddaddy. Evan chose Red Robin, which is one of his favorite places.

Evan's birthday party was on Saturday. We went to House of Boom and then we came back to the house for playing, as well as for pizza and birthday cake. The Congletons, the Amshoffs, Grammy, Granddady, Uncle Ron and Sam were all able to join us!

Fun in the Snow!

We haven't gotten a big snow this winter, but a couple of weeks ago we did get enough snow so that the boys could go out and play. They played together in our yard for awhile and then they joined their friends for some sledding in the woods. They had a great time and are hoping for more snow this winter!

16th Wedding Anniversary

Carl and I had our 16th wedding anniversary on January 6th. We celebrated a few days later at Mojito Tapas, which is one of our favorite places to eat. We came back home and watched our wedding video, which we have been doing since our very first wedding anniversary. It was a really nice night.

We are fortunate to have had so many good times together and as a family over the past 16 years. There were some tough times, but when we look back, it is the good times and fun adventures that are most often remembered. We are lucky to have each other and we can't wait to see the great things that this year brings!

Key West - Christmas Break 2018

After a wonderful time celebrating Christmas here in Louisville, we headed off to see Bonnie Mom and Grandpa in Key West. As always, it was an amazing trip. We had a great time doing many of the things we love. The weather was great and it was warm and sunny for most of our trip. We had lots of fun adventures, including a stop in the Everglades where we rode a fan boat! Our trip was a great way to spend the last week of our winter break.

The boys spent a lot of time in Grandpa and Bonnie Mom's pool. 

The waves were pretty big at Fort Zachary Taylor and the boys had a blast playing in the waves.

The beach at Lagerheads was always calm. The boys had a great time swimming, climbing on the rocks, looking for fish and other marine life, and jumping off the pier into the ocean. Preston also enjoyed being buried in the sand!

The boys spent a lot time catching lizards. I think this is one of their favorite things to do while we are in Key West! They even worked together to catch a small iguana!

We didn't let Evan catch this lizard, but he REALLY wanted to catch it! We decided that we should just take the picture instead. 

We visited the botanical gardens a couple of times. I enjoyed the flowers, while the boys enjoyed catching lots of lizards!

We loved the ultimate adventure we took in the summer.  Unfortunately, the water was just too cold to do it this visit. We decided that parasailing would be really fun to try again. We all had fun. The boys were lucky and got to go up twice! They let them go once with Daddy and once with me.

We went to the several playgrounds while we were in Key West. We visited the two playgrounds by the beach, as well as the new playground and splash park. 

We visited the Key West Wildlife Center, where Evan caught lots turtles. We also saw a man call the ibises and they came to him! It was really cool!

We went to Geiger Key, which is always a lot of fun. It is really beautiful there and it is not usually very crowded. The boys had a really good time searching for sea life. They caught lots of crabs, as well as some small fish. They also had fun climbing Red's Fort. We also had a great lunch at the Geiger Key Marina.

We saw a beautiful sunset on New Year's Eve and we had a fun celebration of the new year as a family. Once the boys were asleep, Carl and I headed out to Duval Street. It was lots of fun! We had a great time and even saw a drag show! We rang in the new year on the beach though, which was nice and quiet!

Each time we are in Key West, Carl and I do a sunset sail. It is one of our favorite traditions. We didn't get a good sunset, but we had a great time.

Evan did handstands and flips all over Key West! I think this is my favorite picture of his handstand.

We had to head to Fort Lauderdale to catch our early morning flight. We decided to go up extra early and visit the Evergaldes. We had a wonderful trip to Everglades Holiday Park, where we rode on an fan boat. We saw two wild alligators, as well as iguanas and lots of birds. The captain was really knowledgeable, so we learned a lot as well. 

After our visit to the Everglades, we spent the evening at Embassy Suites. The boys love the pool there and we had a nice evening before our flight home the next morning.

As Evan always says about any trip we take, the best part of the trip was being with family.