Birthday girl takes a big trip!

Look who's 40!!! WOW! I am going with the theme that 40 is the new 20! March 24, 2015 came and went and I feel no different! Whew! I think this day was more difficult for my mom who kept saying, " I can't believe I have a 40 year old daughter!" 

I had a super fun day spoiled by my co-workers, dinner at Red Lobster with my mom and sister and a big surprise from Jeremy! A little get away trip to Vegas! What a lucky girl I am! 

Jeremy went all out with the upgraded room at Caesers' Palace. It was fun staying there as the decorations and statues reminded us of our trip to Italy a few years ago!

We were both thrilled to see Elton John was performing at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace and knew we had to take this probably once in a lifetime chance to see him. He didn't disappoint! What an amazing musician! 

 The second night we were there, we were getting ready to go to the show Absinthe and ran into this guy walking out of Louis Vuitton!  Jeremy was on cloud 9 the rest of the trip. Mike Tyson is definitely someone Jeremy has always wanted to meet! He has several autographed posters/pictures of him in our wrestling room, has read his autobiography and other books about him and his life. Tyson was very nice and had a very firm handshake with those big hands of his! He thanked Jeremy for being a fan of his! I was super nervous taking the picture as I knew I only had one chance to get it right! 

 The last time we were in Vegas was for our wedding in 2002. The town has changed a lot since then, but one thing was the same, the Garden Wedding Chapel we were married in at the Flamingo Hotel. We had fun reenacting our wedding day and locating the spots we had our pictures taken. It looks exactly the same! 

 One of the must see sights in Vegas is the lighted fountain show at night at the Bellagio. We were there 3 nights never saw the same show. It's so magical!

The rest of the trip we spent walking up and down the strip, laying by the pool and stuffing ourselves with good food and drinks. It was so nice to get away for a long weekend. We hadn't been anywhere together, alone since before Case was born! Yikes! So good to reconnect with each other! Thanks to our family for helping with the kids so we could go! 

Catching up (story of my life!)

SPRING BREAK 2015!

So this year's big adventure was the Adventureland Resort water park! My kids still don't expect big trips (maybe because we've never been on one) so as long as we can milk staying close to home for school breaks we will! The great thing about the water park at Adventureland was there was nobody there during the middle of the week! The kids had the whole place to themselves! Score! 

EASTER

I like tradition and we've sorta set into an Easter tradition around here! Dye eggs, hunt eggs, church, buffet dinner at Prairie Meadows with the family. Repeat next year! 

The kids found this really cool decorating kit! Crazy faces and spiky hair eggs! It made it a little challenging to peel all these to make egg salad! I think they turned out great! 

 All ready for Church! 

Wrestling "season" 2014-2015

I use the term "season" for the title loosely, as in our house, the season never really ends, only settles down for a bit. We weren't sure how the "season" would go this year as for most tournaments Carter would be the younger of the kids for the 3rd and 4th grade brackets or 9 and 10 year old brackets (being a 9 year old 3rd grader) Even though the kids have to weigh the same, wrestling a kid a year older does make a difference. I'd say finishing the year with a 40-3 record proved he can hang with the older kids! His only losses again this year were at National tournaments, losing twice to the #1 kid from California and another kid from Kansas. He was able to redeem his loss to the Kansas kid later on in the season, beating him to place at Flo Tulsa Nationals in Tulsa Oklahoma in January. 

So once you reach 3rd grade, you have to qualify for the state tournament, just like high schoolers. Up until this year, the state tournament is open to any one from K-2. The state has 8 districts, with our district being the biggest, hence more kids competing at the tournament. Carter's bracket had 24 kids in it, again a mix of 3rd and 4th graders. The top 4 finishers get to go onto the state tournament. Based on your finish at the districts, determines your seed for the state tournament. 

The championship match came down to Carter and his friend/wrestling partner Koufax. These boys wrestle each other in practice 2-3 times a week, sometimes Carter wins, sometimes Koufax wins. Carter came out ahead this time when it counted, winning 7-1.

The future of Waukee wrestling! Conner, Koufax, Noah, Thurman and Carter!

A week after districts, I got a call from the school nurse saying Carter got hurt at recess while playing basketball, his left thumb looks really bad and I need to take him into the urgent care clinic. Her words were, " I think it's broke" My heart sank.

Due to the swelling, they were unable initially to determine if it was broke, so -they put a soft cast on it for a week. A week later it was re-xrayed and confirmed it was broke. No activities for 6 weeks. The room was silent for about 30 seconds until Carter started crying, Jeremy hung his head and I sat in disbelief. It was so hard to see my non emotional son be so upset over this.

Now I realize, this is NOTHING compared to what some parents deal with everyday, trust me, I get it. I work with people who have sustained life alternating injuries/illnesses everyday. If this is the only injury we have in his athletic career, we'll consider ourselves lucky. This will heal, there will always be next year.

A few weeks ago I was cleaning up Carter's room and found this piece of paper. Now handwriting is not is strong suit, but it basically says, my goal is to be a state champion, he's going to get there by practicing, working hard and learning new moves, his parents, friends, family, team and coaches are going to help him get there, and he knows the goal is met when he is a state champion.

I asked Carter about this (I had never seen it before) and how he felt about it. He said, well, it'll still be good for next year! Yep! You are right buddy! There's always next year! 

Christmas 2014

What a blessed Christmas we had! Over the years our Christmas tradition hasn't detoured much. We do the same routine each year and I love it! I love being in our own home on Christmas eve and morning, spending time at church and our tradition surf and turf Christmas eve dinner. 

Getting Santa's cookies ready! 

All spiffed up to go to church on Christmas eve, eve! 

Prime rib, crab legs, and all the fixins! 

Birthday cake for baby Jesus! 

After dinner, we open presents from each other! We have stayed with the tradition of doing 3 gifts to represent the 3 gifts baby Jesus received ( as well as to keep our spending in check!) 

This year Case got a set of dress up superhero clothes, a tent, and a Nerf bow and arrow set. 

Claire got a Chatsters doll, a hair and body salon, and American girl doll accessories.

Carter got Pokemon cards, a PS3 game, and a Nintendo DS game

I got this awesome gift! The kids know me too well...I'm always cold and love the Cyclones! 

Sprinkling a little reindeer food and glitter for Santa to find his way! Then it was off to bed! 

Christmas morning arrived and I was quite impressed everyone slept until 7am! Santa kept his word and brought each kiddo a Hide A Way pet to add to the giant stuffed animal collection! He also left lots of goodies in our stockings! 

Late morning we headed to Jeremy's mom's for brunch and more gifts! Then it is off to Grandma and Grandpa Berry's for dinner and more gifts! 

Carter got this awesome dart board that has resulted in many heated battles of cricket and 501!

Case anxiously waiting for Grandma to open her gift! 

More American Girl doll clothes! 

And last but not least more giant animals to put who knows where! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa! 

We always take annual Christmas photos at mom and dad's which I love looking at each year! 

My sister and I with our Grandma Mehlmann who was able to join us for the day!

Grandma and Grandpa Berry and the grand kids and Great Grandma and the kiddos! 

I was lucky enough to get the day after Christmas off so we were able to stay over at mom and dad's that night. Darcie and I were able to take the kids down to see the Christmas lights at Bairds which I am hoping will be another tradition we continue. I wish I had thought to take some pictures. It's been probably 20 years since I have seen these lights and it still amazes me! If you ever get to SW Iowa in December this is a MUST see!