FUN WEEKEND

FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2011
We were thrilled to have my friend Tory and her two kids come play on Friday morning and stay for lunch. The boys and Emery played on the swingset, swam in the swimming pool, and played in the water table. Bode, who's 9 months, stayed pretty close to his mommy but also enjoyed the water! We all need to get together more often! Fun is always had! Thanks, Tory, for making the trip to come play!

FRIDAY AND SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2011
Lee took a 1/2 day on Friday and as soon as Tory and the kids were gone, the boys and I got ready to take a road trip to Cedar Falls. I had just found out the night before that it was Sturgis Falls weekend in Cedar Falls and thought that it would be fun to take the kids to hang out and enjoy some of the festivities. We played outside alot at Josh and Liz's with Josh, Liz, and Grandpa Freese. We headed downtown for the fun and a big wheel race Friday evening. The big wheel race ended up getting canceled for some reason, so all the kids that had shown up for the race, just rode their bikes in the street for awhile. They probably had more fun doing that then they would have with the actual race. Unfortunately, we kept Brady's bike back in the van, because we didn't think that he would do the race. Thankfully, he did get to borrow someone else's little bike for awhile to ride it around. Before riding bikes in the street, we sat and listened to some music in the park while the boys ate some dinner and we enjoyed eating some JR mini donuts, which are the best mini donuts EVER! Saturday morning we went to the Sturgis Falls parade and the boys absolutely loved it! We then stopped for some lunch and headed back home.

Eating dinner in the park.

Liz, Tyler, and Josh.

Tyler riding his big wheel around in the blocked-off street.

Grandpa Freese, Lee, and Brady watching Tyler and the other kids ride their bikes.

Brady riding someone's bike for a bit.

Playing catch with Josh and Grandpa at Josh and Liz's house.

This is a picture of Cali on the couch after we got home from Cedar Falls. Josh and Liz have a little dog, Parker, that Cali played with the entire time we were there. Cali did not move the entire evening on Saturday. She was exhausted!

Thanks, Josh and Liz for taking us in on such notice!

SUNDAY, JUNE 26, 2011

BIG COUNTRY BASH

Lee and I left to head into Des Moines, with Megan and Brian on Sunday morning. We arrived in the parking lot of the Big Country Bash about 11:00. The concerts started at 12:00, but we tailgated in the parking lot for a good 4 hours. Grilled some food, drank some cocktails, and had and amazingly fun time! We could hear the music from our car, but we decided since we did pay for the tickets, that we better head on in to park for the concert. We had to place our chairs extremely far away from the stage and couldn't hear the music very well. After sitting in the park for a good 2 hours or so, we decided that we better leave because of the nasty storm clouds that were making their way in. Megan pulled the doppler up on her phone, and it wasn't looking good. And...I must say, we had much more fun sitting out in the parking lot tailgating and listening to the music than what we did while we were actually in the park! So, we did leave and then went to a Restaurant for dinner. We had such a great time, but are thinking that maybe next year, we just pay the $6 for parking and tailgate in the parking lot! :)

Thanks, Megan and Brian, for another great year at the Big Country Bash!

FUTURE FOOTBALL STARS

Here's our future little football stars! This red football helmet was my Uncle Kendall's helmet when he was a kid. He's letting our kids borrow it until he has grandkids of his own. The boys love to wear it around the house with a football in hand. The other morning started with the boys dressed and wearing the helmet and playing football. It may have been only 8:30 am, but we decided to put on Bears football jerseys and head to the football field to play. They had a blast and I got some great pictures!

Playing football at home first thing in the morning.

Arrived at the field and ready to play!

He looks so grown up!

I love that Brady 'cheeses' for the camera.

That's our lefty quarterback...

...and kicker.

Brady usually follows his big brother anywhere!

NEW BLANKETS

I made the boys new blankets that they have fallen in love with! They now have their own "big boy" blanket to cuddle with. They have their name on them so that they can tell them apart.

Go Panthers!

FIVE WONDERFUL YEARS!

Lee and I celebrated our 5th Anniversary this past Friday. The past five years have been wonderfully great and have gone extremely fast. We have accomplished alot in the past five years and have been blessed with an amazing family of our own. I am so grateful for what I have and am looking forward to the many more years that I get to spend married to my best friend!
We were able to celebrate our big day on our own. We enjoyed the time that we spent at the casino and then tubing down the river in Eldora. It was great time celebrating the two of us and the past five years!

TN SUMMER VACATION

We spent a great 6 days in TN at Lee's parents house on the lake. Each and every day was spent in our swimsuits and in the lake or swimming pool. The boys enjoyed jumping off the back of the boat, jumping off of the diving board in the pool, driving the lawn mower and tractor, riding in the trailer pulled by the tractor, riding bikes, and just spending time with their Grandma and Grandpa Reynolds, Uncle Mitch, and the McCabe families who were also their on vacation.

I asked Tyler what his favorite part of the trip was and he replied with, "driving the mower and riding on the tractor with the trailor."

I was not at all surprised with his answer. He absolutely loves tractors!

We all had many favorites from the trip. It was a fun-filled family vacation!!!

After a full 6 days of fun and sun, the boys were exhausted. They were excited to be back home and back in their own house with their toys. I'm pretty sure that you couldn't see an inch of the carpet in the playroom yesterday, as they spent the entire day in there playing with each and every one of their toys!

We, of course, took many pictures! You can click on the link below if you would like to see the many more pictures from our vacation.

https://picasaweb.google.com/darceyreynolds/TNVaca2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCOGC-JCUwc7x9QE&feat=directlink

I DID IT!

For the past 3 1/2 months I have been training, along with my great friend, Megan, for the Dam to Dam 1/2 Marathon! It has been an interesting experience and one that I know I wouldn't have been able to accomplish without the support from my family and Megan.

There were a few reasons that I wanted to do this race.

1. I needed a motivator to exercise.

2. I just turned 30 in April, and thought that this would be the time to do it.

3. We are not having any more babies, so my body no longer needs to be elastic! :)

The race was just this past Saturday, June 4th, in Des Moines. I woke up at 4:00 a.m., left the house at about 4:40, arrived at Megan's a little after 5:00 and then her fiance, Brian, took us downtown to get on the bus that took us out to Saylorville Dam, where the start of the race was.

We both felt ready for the race, but even more ready for the whole thing to be over with! At about 8-9 miles into the race, it started getting harder. I have had a couple people tell me that this whole ordeal is 'fun.' I, unfortunately, saw or felt nothing 'fun' about the whole experience. However, I finished and I finished at our goal time! I feel that it was a great motivator for me to exercise, it was a great thing to do since I turned the big 3-0, and I'm still working on the whole getting my body toned thing! ;)

I now have ran a 1/2 marathon and I'm pretty sure that I will never do it again.

Getting up and down the stairs the past couple of days has been pretty painful!

But...I am proud of myself and proud that I actually did this and did it for myself!

I am thankful for my support system and for all the texts that I received on the day of the race! Thank you for thinking of me while I was running and running and running!

Behind this gal in the black tank top is me in the pink tank top. This is right before the finish line!!!
After the race. Brady brought me flowers and Tyler took some flowers to Megan! My wonderful support system! Without them, especially my wonderful hubby, Lee, this would not have been done.

And I KNOW that this couldn't have been done without Megan! In this picture is Brian, Megan, myself, and Lee. Thank you, Megan, for being the best running partner there is! Now we can really celebrate at this year's Big Country Bash!

Brady and I after the race.

Getting a kiss from my proud hubby!

Some more of my support system that came to cheer me on. Josh, Liz, Parker, and Tyler. Along with Josh and Liz, both my mom and my dad came to cheer me on. Thank you to my family for being there for me and believing in me! Love you all!

Here is my training schedule that is still posted on the refridgerator. It shows such a great accomplishment! That 3 1/2 months seemed like it was going to take forever, but now here I am, limping around my house, and it's already over!!!

RANDOM PICTURES

Enjoy some random pictures of the boys.

What starts as a nice cuddly couch....
Turns into a wrestling mat!
Brady got a taste of Iowa corn on the cob for the first time this May!

A true Iowa boy!

Tyler playing baseball with Grandma Mary. He's getting really good at hitting the ball, no T needed! These two can be the best of buds when they want to be! :)

Our three little ones. Tyler, Cali, and Brady all relaxing.

Our sweet little girl, Cali. She has been the perfect addition to our family!

Tyler playing at the Memorial Day party that we went to.

Brady at the party.

All three boys in their work goggles to mow the yard.