Thankful for Friendships & Beautiful Surprises!
Beautiful bouquet of flowers from a friend!
I am thankful for friendships and for the amazing blessings in my life! A sweet friend dropped this beautiful bouquet of flowers off at my house one evening with a card! Her timing couldn’t have been more perfect….isn’t it awesome how God allows friends to time a surprise so perfectly!!! It was one of those crazy busy days and I was trying to balance all the activities that were going on with our family as well as prepare for some upcoming events. I was in the middle of working with the girls on homework, making dinner, picking up the house, making lunches for the following day, among a handful of other tasks when the doorbell rang. When I heard the doorbell I didn’t think too much of it because I figured it was probably just the neighbor kids wanting to play. Jake was home and on a phone call, but he was the first one to the door. He brought back these beautiful flowers which totally surprised me and made my day!!!!
Love fresh flowers!
Even though it has been over two weeks since these flowers arrived on my doorsteps they are still in the vase on the table! I think God has allowed these flowers to remain beautiful so long to continue to remind me of his goodness and the blessings of friendships. I have only pulled out a couple flowers that were wilting, but several still look amazing! The best part about these beautiful flowers is every time I look at them I am reminded of my sweet and thoughtful friend who delivered them to me.
Friendships are a wonderful blessing in our lives. They take time to cultivate and grow much like flowers. God allows us the opportunity to walk through this journey with special people we call friends. Friendship also means we have the joy of celebrating the good times with our friends as well as spending extra time in prayer as a friend goes through a rough patch. Everyone needs these types of friends to laugh with during the joyous moments and encourage you when it seems like your stuck in a whirlwind.
Every time I see these flowers or smell their refreshing fragrance when I walk into the room I am reminded of my friendship and take a moment to pause and pray specifically for that friend. I pray for her to have the strength, wisdom, and energy she needs to walk through her day. I may not know what challenges she faces each moment or joys she experiences throughout the day, but I can still lift her up in prayer knowing that God knows what she’s facing today and He alone can give her exactly what she needs.
Thanks Dee for the beautiful flowers, your friendship, and for walking this journey of life alongside me! May we always continue to grow ever closer to our Savior. You are a true blessing in my life! Thanks sweet friend for the beautiful surprise!
Travel & Vacation: Spending Time with Family in Kansas
The plane was delayed due to rain, but now we are ready to go. Two little chickies all buckled in….one snacking and the other one with her nose already in a book. Thankful that the girls travel well.
The girls and I recently flew out to Kansas to spend some time with my family. We stayed at my parents house, but thankfully we were able to catch up with quite a few people while we were out there visiting. While we were in Kansas Jake was traveling with work so he was managing to stay busy too.
The girls even got in on the last part of my parents church’s VBS, which included getting wet with water balloons. I think the highest temperature I saw during out week and half in Kansas was 113 while it was hot the wind helped make it more tolerable.
A cooler full of mammoth water balloons for VBS game time the next day!
Lots of little water balloons too! I think by the end the count was somewhere around 300 water balloons. The kids loved it!
Karlie picked a variety of flowers from Grandma Penny’s gardens and displayed the flowers in a pie dish. They actually lasted almost the entire time we were out there!
Brina made a blue cat while Brandon is working on some blueberry cookies!
Karlie is busy socializing and creating play dough goodies too! Grandma Penny made some homemade play dough for the kids. They loved it (and were asking me to make some a couple days ago)!
Beautiful purple flower along the road in Harlan, Kansas
Some of my Great Grandma Viola’s rose bushes were blooming near the Kelly’s Store and the Post Office in Harlan, Kansas where she used work. She planted the roses many years ago and yet they continue to bloom every year! Grandma Vi had an amazing green thumb (something I did not inherit, by the way)! She loved flowers and I thought it would be appropriate to stop to snap a quick picture of one of her pretty roses while I was in the area!
Brina and Brandon hanging out in their giant tent they built downstairs in Grandpa Russell and Grandma Penny’s basement!
Three silly kiddos hanging out in their fort tent while chomping on some “spicy” candy Aunt Renelle brought for them to try!
One of the girls favorite places to visit when in Kansas! A view of my parents house from the top of Windy Point.
Bouquet of Fresh Flowers
Bouquet of flowers from my girls
My girls know how to warm my heart. Last week we spent some time with extended family in Vermont. Jake’s grandpa has a green thumb and when we first moved into our house he brought down some of his iris bulbs from his garden. Every year the girls pick some of PopPop’s flowers and bring them inside to make a fresh bouquet for a counter top. Here is a picture of one of the bouquets they brought to me a few months ago. Thankful for my girls and their little tokens of their appreciation that brightened my day. Grateful for Grandpa for sharing his beautiful flowers so we can enjoy them every year.
A Sweet Surprise!
The other day I was inside cleaning the house while the girls were outside playing when the door bell rang. I went to the front door and there was Karlie standing on the front porch with a huge bouquet of wildflowers and a cute smile. She had went around the yard gathering all the blooming weeds in the yard and picked them for me. Thankful for my girls, their generosity, and thoughtfulness.
Large vase full of wildflowers picked with love from Karlie
Beautiful wildflowers picked with love from my sweet girl
The Best Stuff in Life is FREE!
I have come to learn that most treasured things in life really are “free”! You cannot purchase these items and they come spontaneously and sincerely from the giver. They are little wonderful gifts to those on the receiving end. It is easy to get wrapped up in the day to day life and not realize that some of the best stuff that we can get in our lifetime is free. These simple acts of kindness can be a huge blessing to us on a tough day. As a Mom I am thankful for girls who freely and generously shower me with these blessings quite frequently.Here are some of the BEST things in my life that are free:
- A hug from a child
- Word of encouragement from a friend
- Smile from a stranger
- A handful of freshly picked dandelions, weeds, or flowers picked from the yard
- Simple act of kindness
- A handwritten note in the mail
- And Many More Special Blessings
I can think of so many more amazing blessings in my life that a free yet have a positive impact on my life as well as on the lives of others. Another thought to consider is……how often do I give these gifts to others? Often times it is when you demonstrate to your children, family and friends these blessing that you’ll see the ripple effect and eventually the other side of it.
What are some ways you are a blessing to others? Does it take much time or cost you too much to make a positive impact on the lives of the people around you?
Vacation: Swimming with the Turtles in Barbados (Part 2, Pictures)
We had a blast spending time on the Caribbean Island of Barbados this year!
Here are a few pictures of our adventures on the island!
We made it to Barbados! Welcome to Barbados! Jake and I near the Welcome sign at Barbados, which is our last Caribbean Island before heading back to Puerto Rico! We are ready for the fun adventures today. When we stood at this sign we had no idea how many memories we could pack into one day at the beach on Barbados!
Clouds gathering on Barbados! The big puffy clouds eventually turned into gray rain clouds, but they did not damper our time at the beach. It was actually neat swimming in the ocean and hearing the pitter patter of rain drops clicking on the top of the water. Yet another adventure I had never experienced before. When you grow up in Kansas, the majority of your water experience is on lakes not at the ocean because you are so far away from any ocean beaches. Actually the first time I saw the ocean was when I got engaged to my man, Jake, in Aruba (which is another amazing place to visit).
Cute little pink and white cottage clothing store on Barbados. This is another “princess” looking cottage we took a picture of for Brina who loves anything pink and princess. She is our “girly” girl who loves princesses, babies, and animals. Although we missed them during our excursions it was nice to snag a few pictures to share with them. They loved that we thought of them during our adventures away.
Beautiful Blue Monkey beach at Barbados. The water was BEAUTIFUL at Blue Monkey beach in Barbados. It was the gorgeous turquoise blue that you could stand in and look down to the bottom of the ocean and see your feet. The dark patches under the water in the picture above is where we saw the most colorful fish snorkeling and it was in a spot we could touch. It was nice to relax, swim and look at the colorful fish swimming all around us.
Swimming and snorkeling! For Christmas Jake got me a waterproof, shock proof camera that we were able to take into the water with us to capture some of the fish to share with the girls. Here are a couple of the fish we encountered near the coral as we were swimming just off the beach at Barbados. If you look closely you can see another fish down in near the sand in the corals.
We had beautiful fish swimming all around us. This type of fish we saw several times. I am not sure of the name but it was pretty with its face turquoise blue, a couple black stripes, and a golden yellow body. We had the opportunity to see a lot of different fish but with us swimming, but the fish were moving quickly so it was hard to capture all them.
Beautiful fish off the beach of Barbados! This was probably one of my favorite ones that we seen next to the beach. It was really beautiful almost rainbow striped with vibrant colors (taking its’ picture under water doesn’t do it justice but it is the closest we could come).
Turtle swimming right below us at Barbados! I cannot express how much I enjoyed swimming with the turtles in Barbados! It was such an amazing experience to be swimming right beside a huge turtle, beautiful and peaceful at the same time. I could literally reach out and touch the turtles. Turtles really are awesome swimming and it was almost relaxing just watching them glide through the water. I hope to do this again some day!
A couple of sting rays swimming right underneath us! Two sting rays were swimming together right beneath us. Wonder if they were a family! We seen them several times always near each other swimming. I didn’t get as close to the two sting rays but it was very excited to see them swimming with us.
Hey Friend! Words cannot explain how excited I was to swim with the turtles on Barbados! Gorgeous turtle swimming right in front of us. I never thought of turtles as beautiful animals until this experience in Barbados. We were blessed to have the opportunity to enjoy so much of our wonderful creation from animals to plants and so much more during our trip. Karlie is our girl who loves sharks, rockets, planets, matchbox cars and animals. She was so excited to see this turtle and amazed that we could be swimming with them. She had two questions for us after seeing this picture – She wanted to know why we couldn’t bring it home with us to put him in our turtle tank, ha! Her second question was “Did we get to swim with any sharks?”
A sting ray scooting along the ocean floor right below us! One of the sting rays swimming below us on the ocean floor. Simply amazing!
Josh and Amber flipped their jet ski, opps! I had my first experience riding on a jet ski in Barbados as well. It was all I could do to hold on and not fall off when we were racing across the ocean so there weren’t as many pictures of us ON the jet ski’s. Shortly after we got on the jet ski’s I look over at Josh and Amber riding and see Amber hanging off the back followed by a crash and a flipped jet ski. Although difficult we managed to get the jet ski flipped back over but they had to go into shore to get another one to ride. Thankfully, we only had to do that once. It was pretty funny sight to see though!
Mom and Dad relaxing on the beach! Mom relaxing in the shade and Dad sunning himself after getting wet jet skiing. The tide was moving in during our time at the beach so Mom, Dad and Becky thankfully rescued our backpacks, shoes, water bottles and other stuff from floating out. To this day I still don’t know how we didn’t lose something with the number of times we were chasing sandals in the current and moving the canopy back.
Beautiful flowers in Barbados! Beautiful flowers to welcome and wave us goodbye on the island of Barbados. They thought the rain was refreshing and delightful as much as we did. You can still see some of the rain drops on the flowers and leaves!
We had a blast on Barbados! Swimming with the turtles, sting rays, snorkeling and jet skiing were amazing. The time flew by so quickly! It was a great day with family! We created a lot of neat memories and had the opportunity to enjoy new experiences. I highly recommend Blue Monkey beach if you ever get a chance to visit Barbados!!!
A Vacation To Remember series is a reflection on our recent trip and ways we relaxed. Life is short and we were thrilled to have the opportunity to build memories with family and explore of of the most amazing places during our time away. Go with a good attitude and looking for fun and it will be an awesome trip jammed packed with positive memories. It is refreshing having some time away from the regular routine. Make it a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet new people and learn. You just might see or try something new that takes your breath away!
Vacation: “Sky Safari Zip Lining ” – Basseterre, St. Kitts (Part 2, Pictures)
The following are some pictures from our day in Basseterre, St. Kitts!
We arrived in Basseterre, St Kitts! We had a fun time exploring the capital of St Kitts. Basseterre was a neat place to walk the streets and meet people. They had monkeys you could take pictures with after getting off the port, if you wanted a picture with the monkey you had to pay $20. You learn quickly to say “no, thank you” because there can be so many people asking for your attention.
Dad getting an aloe massage! While the rest of us were walking through the shops Dad sat down for a few minutes at a table and ended up getting an aloe massage. The guy said he looked 20 to 40 years younger after the massage, it was pretty funny to watch!
Sailboat Cruise Ship, really neat! There was a sailboat cruise ship at Basseterre, St Kitts. We encountered a lot of amazing boats during our vacation!
Coca Cola appeared to be a universal soda of choice in many of the islands! Coke was a popular sign no matter where we went. Here is one of their advertisements painted on the side of a building in St Kitts.
Building a house in Basseterre, St Kitts! A construction crew working on a home. Often times they would go ahead and run the pipes before building the next level that way they had a head start when they were ready to build again.
Beach at Basseterre, St Kitts St Kitts had beautiful turquoise water and white beaches. We didn’t make it to the beach that day because we went on the Sky Safari but we heard a lot of great feedback from other people on the ship.
Catch of the day, Basseterre, St Kitts! The catch of the day! The fish were almost as big as the fisherman carrying them. One of the big industries in St Kitts is fishing. These guys are rinsing off some of their fish they caught earlier that morning.
We made it to our Sky Safari Zip Lining Adventure! We arrived at our excursion. They took us by bus to the Sky Safari Zip Lining adventure! It was a beautiful place and soooo much fun going on the zip lines.
Standing in the Botanical Gardens overlooking the town and ocean! Amazing view while standing in the Botanical Gardens and overlooking the town and the ocean. It was a breathtaking site, absolutely beautiful!
Fresh coconut in Basseterre, St Kitts Fresh coconuts were hanging in the trees all over the island. They had a spot where there were so many coconuts they just couldn’t eat them all. Almond trees were in abundance as well.
Beautiful flower in the Botanical Gardens, St Kitts! Beautiful flowers in the Botanical Garden in st Kitts! They had interesting flowers, trees, and artists to see!
Fresh Fruit on the trees in St Kitts! A tree loaded with fresh fruit, I think these were the goya fruits. Very popular in the islands!
Local artist in St Kitts demonstrating how she uses wax, paint and canvas to create her paintings. A local artist showing us how she does her paintings with wax and canvas. Each color takes a day to paint and dry some paintings take days before they are complete. Very interesting to watch.
Flowers & Bench at the Botanical Gardens in St Kitts! Beautiful white bench with flowers peeking through at the Botanical Gardens on St Kitts! They had plenty for flowers, plants, and trees to see or you could just relax on one of their benches.
Neat "Wagon" Wheel Bench in St Kitts! I really thought this wagon wheel bench was pretty neat. The Botanical Gardens had great stuff to see or you can take a moment to relax and enjoy the surroundings while we were visiting.
A friend running past in the Botanical Gardens! We saw several lizard or iguana type animals during our excursions. Although it was neat to see them running around I was thankful they wanted to keep their distance from everyone. I think our guide called them ground lizards.
Old Sugar Mill in St Kitts Sugar Cane was once very popular industry on St Kitts (and many of the other islands). This sugar mill was no longer active but was very neat seeing how they use to make the sugar from the cane.
St Kitts form of Poison Ivy! This is St Kitts form of poison ivy, none of us volunteered to touch. We decided to take our guides word for it on that one. No one was wanting any type of poison ivy reaction on our vacation.
Apples growing in St Kitts This is a St Kitts apple growing in their tree. Almost everywhere you walked you could see fruit growing in trees. Even though the apples are not the same as ours I am sure they are delicious. They don’t eat the skin on their apples.
Very thorny tree in St Kitts! This tree was near the Sugar Mill in St. Kitts, in the past it was said that when slaves first came to the islands they were tied up to these thorny tree for several days. I didn’t even want to touch it because the thorns were so sharp, ouch!
Jake's all geared up for the Sky Safari zip lining adventure! Jake all geared up and ready to go. My handsome man helped me get all my gear on as well. The hats and harness were pretty comfortable and everyone had a blast on the zip line. Fun times together with family!
Basseterre, St Kitts Goodbye Basseterre, St. Kitts hope to see you again! It was wonderful spending a day with you and we enjoyed all the fun adventures on your island!
A Vacation To Remember series is a reflection on our recent trip and ways we relaxed. Life is short and we were thrilled to have the opportunity to build memories with family and explore of of the most amazing places during our time away. Go with a good attitude and looking for fun and it will be an awesome trip jammed packed with positive memories. It is refreshing having some time away from the regular routine. Make it a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet new people and learn. You just might see or try something new that takes your breath away!
Vacation: “Nature’s Little Secrets” – Tortola, British Virgin Islands (Part 2)
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, here are ones that highlight our adventures at Tortola, British Virgin Islands.
A beautiful place to visit!
View from Tortola, B.V.I. looking out over some of the other islands. A BEAUTIFUL view from Tortola overlooking the surrounding islands!
Tortola painting along the road showing their history! They had a wall of history depicted through many paintings, very neat!
"Serenade of the Seas" our cruise ship looks so small from the top of Tortola! We got to see a lot of neat views from the top of Tortola, including our ship, which looks small from the top of the mountain!
Range free cows on the edge of the road! The animals (cows, chickens, horses, goats, etc…) were not fenced in so you would see them on the roads or standing next to vehicles grazing. They had no one where to go since they were living on the island.
Beautiful coves and beaches on the island of Tortola! The water was beautiful! Tortola had gorgeous beaches on various parts of the island!
Tortola had beautiful flowers throughout the island and along the side of the road! Tortola had a lot of amazing flowers that we seen along our excursion!
Yachts at the beach on Tortola! A lot people come to Tortola to sail in yachts. Another popular activity and site at these islands!
Police to the Rescue - traffic was stopped due to an accident! Tortola’s roads were steep and curvy. Thankfully, we weren’t in an accident but were held up for a few minutes by one. The police finally came and outlined the cars in the accident so traffic could once again flow!
Party place on the island in the evening, the seaside Bomba Shack! The Bomba Shack by the ocean is said to be the party place for the islanders in the evening. It was an interesting sight!
"Shack for Love" the Bomba Shack Couples that get married in the Bomba Shack can sign their names inside. No pictures were allowed inside the “shack”.
Pink house with a purple roof! We took a picture of this “princess” house to show our little princess! It was a pretty pink house with a purple roof view an amazing view of the island!
Recipe: Chocolate Pretzels, Snowmen, & Snowflakes
We were getting tired by the time we got to making the Chocolate Pretzels, Snowmen, and Snowflakes on our Christmas Baking Day. Despite being tired these turned out pretty well. Brina was determined to “help” us make them which slowed down the process but we got enough to share with our neighbors. The purple didn’t set right and the blue got a drop of water in it so it was done within a matter of minutes but we had plenty of the red, yellow, white and brown colors to make it look festival. We added crushed candy canes for a minty flavor and a Holiday flair. The neat part about these is the kids can pitch in and help. They enjoy making special candies for others as well, however, I do not recommend starting around 9:30 in the evening after baking for several hours.Chocolate Pretzels, Snowmen, and Snowflakes
- White Chocolate
- Milk Chocolate
- Mix of Colored Chocolates
- Candy Molds – we had Flower Pretzel Sticks, Snowmen, and Snowflakes
Melt the chocolates over a double boiler or slowly in the microwave (microwave for 15 seconds, stir, microwave for 15 seconds, stir) because they can burn easily. Use the molds you have chosen to place the chocolates into. You can paint the chocolate into the mold using a toothpick then fill in the reminding amount with a solid color. When doing the pretzel molds paint the flowers, fill with solid color, then roll the pretzel stick to coat. We stick the chocolates into a pan of warm water on a griddle to keep the chocolates melted while decorating, just make sure to not get any water in the chocolates at it will ruin the entire bowl. Once the tray is complete freeze for about 10 minutes, turn the mold over and the items should pop out quickly. Repeat the steps as many times as you like or until you run out of chocolates.
A Date with My Princess
Recently I had the privilege to go on a date night with my princess, Brina. She wanted to do something a princess would do on our night out together. It was “Dine Out For Mom” night where a portion of the proceeds goes to a great cause so we decided to eat out. Brina chose to eat at the “ABC” restaurant (aka Atlanta Bread Company). We split a Chicken Salad Sandwich meal and tea for about $7. She decided to wait to eat the chips later in case we wanted a snack (smile). I love seeing her think and plan ahead even at age 5. We talked about our days and giggled together over our sandwich and sweet tea.
After supper we had a few minutes in between events so we headed over to Aldi’s. For those who have never shopped at Aldi’s it is a small discount grocery store. We often get our staple groceries and fresh produce at Aldi’s. If there is one in your area I recommend at least checking it out. Brina picked out a beautiful bouquet of flowers for $3.99 to take with her on our date night. She was excited to have the princess flowers and proudly carried them everywhere we went that night. I am thrilled the flowers survived the evening despite being carried, squished, dropped, and well loved.
After getting her flower treasure at Aldi’s we headed over to Virginia College to get her first pedicure. Virginia College is a local college that has a Cosmetology School where you can get pedicures, manicures, massages, and your hair done for a great price. Brina proudly carried in her flower bouquet and announced to anyone that listened that she was on a Date Night with her Mom! Glad she gets excited about spending time with me, hopefully these precious memories continue as she gets older. Brina received her first pedicure complete with a foot soak, foot massage, and candy while sitting in a massage chair. She smiled like a princess the whole time.
We made a quick trip by Goodwill on our way home to pick up a black shirt for her “cat” costume. She picked out a little car toy for Karlie and a baby doll dress for one of her babies. On the way home we were discussing our date night and she said “Mom, I LOVE my flowers! (pause) The flowers make me feel like the lady wearing the pretty white dress (bride) at a wedding.” I smiled because she did feel like a beautiful princess that night. Although the getting married part better not be in her near future since she is only 5!
When we arrived home Daddy and Karlie were finishing up their Apollo 13 movie. We discussed the exciting adventures and fun everyone had before bath time and bed. It was a true joy having this fun and relaxing time with my precious princess. I am thankful for the time we get together to create memories, talk, and laugh. Life is too short so make sure you fit in time to have fun and enjoy the blessings you are given. We had a blast spending time together without spending a lot of money. Giving time and attention to my girls is more important than all the gifts in the world.
My husband and I started taking our girls out on dates after one of them was in the hospital for surgery and we realized at that time they had never been a part for more than a few minutes. Our girls are twins with very different personalities; we love them both and want to encourage them to grow up to be the people God wants them to be. One is into babies, princesses, and animals while the other one is into rockets, planets, space, and sharks. Having a date night set aside one night a month is something the girls look forward to and it gives us time to focus our attention on each child. We are thankful for the children God has given us and look forward to seeing them grow. A date night out with your child doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive the important thing is that you spend time one on one to listen and love them. Creating one special memory after another together.
