life is beautiful

Archives for April 2014

“Be Not Afraid”

celebrations, sisters

 

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a  phrase that st. john paul II was known to share!  one that my sister and i remember especially.  we took a pilgrimage to rome  for pentecost in 1998.  “be not afraid” was on the back of our t-shirts when we made yet another pilgrimage to new york city.   we created so many memories on those trips.    i was beyond excited to know that she was taking her oldest to rome this easter to celebrate his canonization.   from a few of her text i could tell she was experiencing the beauty of the church all over again.  this time the magnitude of it all!  a lot like what i experienced at world youth day in germany my senior year of college.   i had to share her instagram picture and quote.   she said it so beautifully!

“Words can’t explain the ora of it all.  To have millions from all over the world be so reverent and all participating in the Mass as one body was so beautiful and unforgettable!  We were all surprised the canonization took all of 2 minutes … but then reflected on it realizing, these men were instruments.  They brought Christ to  others all the glory goes to Him! The Mass was the most important part!  The focus was on Christ.  It was powerful!”

so, so happy that her and gabrielle made the pilgrimage there!  also so happy she is back!  i’ve missed our coffee/phone dates 🙂

st. john paul II and st. john XXIII  pray for us!

xxoo

spring festival 2014

kids

spring festival at our church this last sunday was a hit!  we tried about every kind of food there was…

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of course corn dogs for the win!

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oh and marshmallows on the ground from the little marshmallow guns…. this was a new experience they are always a pain when you step on them but you, samuel, wanted to eat them all!  you two had a great time playing around in the bouncy houses.

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oh and i was super excited to find a headboard for 7 dollars!!! i wish it could have had a foot board.  these pieces are so hard to find… i’ve been looking!

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i have no clue when and where i get to use it but it’s easy to store 😉

we came home and you boys still played hard… outside of course.   it’s where you are both the happiest.

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xxoo

 

 

everyone loves a texas girl

cousins

 

 

especially our girls 🙂

well i think we did it all!

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whataburger – check

good mexican food- check

gramps’ bbq – check

blue bell ice cream – check

thank you so much chad and mendy for letting taylor come “home” for her senior year spring break.   i know the girls created great memories!  it was a really, really busy week but just knowing she was here and happy made me so happy!   you don’t realize how much you miss them till they move away.  i can’t believe she’s getting ready for college.

my first babies are growing up so fast!  growing up beautifully!

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i love you so much taylor,  i’m posting this exhausted picture of me.   next time let’s not wait till last minute to get a picture together!  talk about baggage claim under my eyes ha!

  so excited for your adventures ahead sweet girl!

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xxoo

 

backyard barbeque

friends

there is nothing else like it!  richard recently got in touch with friends of ours and worked on getting us all back together.  it has been quite a few years since we have all been together.

technically 10 kids ago 🙂

it was so much fun to catch up and watch these kids play!  i really regret not stopping all of us to get a picture together.  but i guess that means we just need to make this happen again…

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i think the kids would have no problem playing together again 😉

xxoo

enjoy the little things …

field trip, friends, kids

like family

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friends

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and ice cream!

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it really is the best!

our attempt at blue bonnet pictures afterwards gave us many laughs.  i am determined to go back but for now i had to share these.   this is during their normal nap hour,  so i would say we did pretty well boys!  oh and girls…

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{ we made sure jack and sienna got another photo session as well }

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oh my too much for this mama!

xxoo

easter weekend 2014

celebrations, cousins, kids

alleluia what a beautiful weekend!

  i don’t know if it was a good idea to get that new memory card for the camera…  another picture overload post.  but these boys just look so darn cute hanging on to their baskets 🙂   we headed out to bc on saturday evening and got so busy playing we almost forgot to dye easter eggs!  it was okay though because jack,  after two eggs you were done and samuel it was bed time for you as you tried to color everything in site.

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rise and shine!  sunday morning you boys woke up only twenty minutes before go time ( getting in the car to get to mass on time!).  you  checked out your baskets, ate  breakfast and put on your sunday best.

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DSC_0058this was the beginning of taylor’s spring break.  we were so happy to have her here for easter!  it’s been almost four years since she has spent an easter with us!

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DSC_0106{jack i just realized you look like you are about to take off in this picture. silly boy}

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DSC_0200we missed our neighborhood egg hunt so this was the only one jack was able to do this year.  he absolutely loved it!  especially because it was just him and joshua and all the eggs they wanted.  samuel once you found one you wanted to open it!  i have never seen you eat so much candy before.  sweet tart jelly beans must be the way to your heart.

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DSC_0257we spent almost all day outside.  jack i don’t know how you kept going all day.  samuel you crashed before we left the neighborhood.   we just love days like this, so thankful for the family we have near by!  we sure miss those that can’t always be there with us!

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happy easter 2014!

xxoo

keep em comin’

cousins

 

the surprises just keep coming!

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saturday afternoon we picked up taylor from the airport!   we haven’t seen her since last summer in gulf shores!  boy is she missed, as is the rest of her family!  we are so lucky she decided to spend her senior spring break in the great state of TEXAS.   we asked michaela to meet us on our way out of town for the easter weekend.   i told her i had some things i wanted to give her mom but it was top secret. needless to say, there was lots of squealing and hugging 🙂  they went on their way to surprise the rest of family and friends.  we have lots of things on our to do list with her this week.

  we are all so excited!

xxoo

good friday tradition

friends

 i was a little bit picture posting crazy on this last good friday.   we carried on the tradition of praying for the unborn with our babies.  we were so blessed to be able to go to confession that day too.    i wish we could have taken pictures from the beginning of this tradition.  these babies have grown up so beautiful and handsome 🙂

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these babies are such a gift.   that afternoon i think i enjoyed them more than ever.  it was a beautiful day and we just enjoyed every bit of each other outside!

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xxoo

lordy lordy look who’s forty….

celebrations, cousins, sisters

 

  so brace yourself for a post with picture overload.   we laughed, we cried, we pulled off a great surprise weekend!

it was a weekend full of surprises!  dinner on thursday, a birthday party on friday and a girls night out on saturday!    we only wished our other sisters could have joined in on the fun!  thank you holly for making the long haul!  you really made the weekend special for our seester!

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dana your girls were such a huge help and i’m sure everyone is relieved to not keep these secrets from you anymore.  thank you to michaela for taking over baseball practice so your dad could be there for dinner and to erika and bailey for watching our little ones.  dinner was all about the birthday girl and not the kids running around the table 😉

these two were were inseparable and oh so adorable!

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we were able to squeeze in a t-ball game saturday afternoon.   talk about cuteness overload,  as jack would say ” joshua ran super fast!”

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saturday evening us girls went to palm sunday mass together.  it was so special as always and such a treat to not be distracted by little ones… thank you gramps!!   thank you also to granny, gramps and bailey for watching the little ones while we went out for the evening to dinner and find our hidden talents at painting with a twist 😉

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so many memories made this weekend!  what would we do without our dana?!  she is such a blessing to the entire family!

cheers to 4o years beautiful sister!!

xxoo

 

 

old friends are the best friends…

celebrations, friends

not that thirty is old or anything 😉

this month has been a big birthday month!  my best friend since i was only a year old turned thirty on april 3!

her sister gave her tickets to the astros vs. yankees game.  they played the day of her birthday and we just happened to obsess over a certain player since we were both in our early teen years.  obsess may be an understatement.   this is his last year to play and it was my first time to see him play!  what a fun night it was!

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DSC_0757so many laughs that night,  we felt like teenagers all over again 🙂

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happy birthday stinks!  yay for being the same age for just a month :/

xxoo