Abe's FIRST trip to the ER

Abe has officially had his first trip to the ER.  The kids were playing hide-and-seek while I was getting dinner made and Abe's hand was in the door jam when Adi slammed it shut.  It amputated his poor little finger tip!  We're almost 3 weeks out now and it still looks awful.  I'm talking him to Evansville's wound clinic on Thursday for them to take a look at it.  I am so grateful for my good friend Leigha, who works. there.  She got me the appointment and will be there when we go Thursday.  I'll post progress in a few weeks! :)

Kawasaki

Brandon and the kids have been talking about catching a turtle since we moved into the new house.  While Adi and I were at VBS Brandon and Abe went for a ride on our Kawasaki and almost ran over the little guy.  The kids are loving feeding him and watching him in his little home.  This is the PERFECT pet for us right now.  A dog is just too much work for now! :)

Summer Fest 2014

It was a fun Summer Fest again this year; hot too!  It's always nice eating lunch at Kathleen's with Joyce and her family.  Adison has been asking about getting candy at the parade for the last 6 months!  She was so excited to fill her bucket (and her brothers too).  It is always a great way to offically start Summer!

Swim Lessons

Adison completed two weeks of swim lessons every day.  It was quite possibly the longest two weeks of my life!  Our poor little thing was terrified to go to the lesson.  She was always fine when I picked her up.  Her biggest fear was jumping in off the side of the pool.  She didn't overcome that fear, but she made so much progress in many other ways.  She learned how to put her head in the water, dive for the rings, kicking to move herself quite a bit, and float on her back!  We're so proud of you for finishing what you started!!!

Negril, Jamaica 10 years!

We had an AMAZING surprise trip to Negril Jamaica to celebrate our ten year anniversary!  We were having a difficult time trying to decide where to go to celebrate our big anniversary.  While Brandon was in Japan he called me and said our trip was booked.  It was so exciting that I didn't know where we were going until we were checking in at the airport.  I can't believe we have been married for ten years and in love for 15!  I am truly blessed to be married to a man who loves the Lord, loves me with an unconditional love, and has given me two beautiful children! I can't wait to see what the next ten years bring!

On to our trip, we stayed in Negril, Jamaica at a Couples Resort called Swept Away!  It was an all-inclusive trip which made it so very relaxing and enjoyable.  We ate unbelievably good food, had tons of yummy drinks, and were able to do a lot of really fun things.  

It's so fitting that the first picture is a picture of food.  I love discovering the new and unique food when we travel.  This is Jack fruit, which I'm pretty sure it is native to China.  It was delicious, and it tasted like a mix between cantaloupe and pineapple. 

Straight from the tree coconuts were probably my favorite drink of the week.  We had yummy fresh coconuts everyday and became pretty good friends with Elliott who cut them open for us everyday. 

 

Here's our buddy Elliott, he was such a sweet guy!

 

Us at dinner one evening!

We did a sunset cruise two of the evenings.  I thought this cool little lighthouse was pretty!

Another awesome Couples employee, Juliann, taught Brandon how to sail these fantastic catamarans.  Brandon is now a pro, and if we ever move near the water I definitely see a sailboat in our future.  We loved riding on these.  Brandon got us so far out into the ocean a couple times I was honestly amazed how quick these things would whip through the water.

One of the most special things about the trip was another surprise trip to a really nice restaurant, Ivan's.  We literally ate our anniversary dinner out on our own private cliff.  Below the cliffs were beautiful caves.  When the waves came crashing in the sound of the water and wind that came up through the blow holes were spectacular.  It was probably the most romantic dinner we have ever had!  Oh yeah, the Jamaican food was out of this world!

Below here are some of the smaller cliffs that were below us!

The grounds at the resort and on the beach were gorgeous!

 

These two below are us at Ivan's.  I couldn't get them to move up!

 

We did snorkeling excursions with our buddy Juliann.  He was AWESOME.  He got in and swam with us.  He let us hold sea urchin, starfish, feed fish, sea cucumbers, and all kinds of other super cool sea creatures!  Here are a few we got to hold after we got back on the boat! 

This was the trip of a lifetime!  I love my hubby so very much and had an amazing time unwinding and celebrating!  Love you babe!!!!

Strawberry Picking 2014

We DEFINITELY got more strawberries, which was the goal.  Lindsey and I picked 40 pounds of strawberries, double what we were hoping for.  We went with the Pettigrew's this year as well.  We were told that a buck held 1.5 pounds, that was incorrect.  A full tub holds 5 pounds.  Picking strawberries is one of my favorite things to do in late Spring/ early Summer.  The kids love picking, and I am really hoping to have my own berry bushes by next season here at the house.  

These two cuties got tired of picking and started eating!

These are the 10 buckets we ended up with.

This is what we were left with when we finished making jelly.

The majority of the jars were pint jars.

I also froze 2 twenty ounce bags of strawberries.

Next year we would be good with 20 to 30 pounds of strawberries.  We don't need 40!  Also,  As we make batches dump them all into my large stock pot and fill jars after mixing all batches together!!! MESSY!!!

Louisville Zoo with friends!

We had a fun overnight trip with our great friends this week.  It was nice to hang out together and get away in the middle of the week.  I love the Louisville zoo; the exhibits are really nice and even though the weather was a bit warm we spent a better part of the day there.  It was really nice swimming with the kids in the afternoon and shopping the next day.  Here are some pictures of our sweet little animals!