Our last days!

We are back......sorry for the long absence! Things have been a little busy around our house.....ok, so that might be an understatement! These were the last few weeks that we will be in Ames so we were packing it all in! I will just try and quickly highlight our happenings!
WARNING this is a long post!!
To go back 3 weeks....

Play dates with friends!

Small group going away party! They presented us with Hickory Park memorabilia! Click on the picture to see what the shirt says....it is actually really cute for a kids shirt from a restaurant. One of the best, most filling, cheapest, fastest places to eat west side of the Mississippi!

Since it was raining outside we new we needed something to entertain 6 little girls so we got beads and string to make "friendship bracelets/necklaces." (at the present time our small group has 8 girls and zero boys....the joke is we planned it!)

For those of you who watch IPTV you know who this crazy guy is! Dan Wardell is on his summer reading road trip and one of his first stops Ames. They had it at a park this year and Mackenzie was pretty excited. She brought a friend along and met some other friends there as well. He basically tells the kids this silly story, with much involvement from the crowd and then sent all 100 kids away with Kazoos! Thanks IPTV!

Here she is with Smiles the dog....the library mascot! Since when do libraries have mascots? She is never quite sure in the beginning about getting too close, but then after warming up they kept going back for more!

Perfect Games opened up just across the road from us and ever since we went to check it out she has been begging us to go bowling. We knew we didn't have much time left and rather than going on a weekend we decided that a week night would be much better.

We tried many different ways and she did pretty good for her first time. I think there was only one major stray ball. Kate sat in her stroller with a sucker while Mackenzie had a blast. Someday it will be so fun to all be able to participate in the family activities!

I am ashamed to say that of all of our years living in Ames we have never been to Rieman Gardens. I was planned a play date with one of my friends and I knew her little boys would probably be interested in the dinosaur exhibit that they had.

We actually got all the kids to look at the camera at the same time! They have a butterfly house that you walk through with butterflies just flying around you! Mackenzie was pretty sure that some butterflies landed on the back of her leg;)

They have some neat sculptures!

And the dinosaurs!

My good friends Beth and Wendi put together a going away party for us with all of our friends at a park nearby. It was so much fun to all be together, let the kids play and have a good ol' root beer float. I told them I was not saying good bye, but just "see ya later!"

Kate taking over daddy's spot!

Then on Friday, Aaron's last day of work in his office they had a going away open house for him! I took the girls over.....it was so nice to meet many of his clients and see his co-workers one last time. He really enjoyed the people that he worked with and will miss them a lot!

The night before we left we realized we had enough guys in one spot to move our playset to our neighbors yard. We decided that it was best to just sell it than try and take it all apart and move it. We are glad that little neighbor boy will get to enjoy it now!

The girls did their part in helping move the slide! Mackenzie was kind of sad to see it go, but Lori and Tony assured her that she could come play on it anytime she wanted! We feel so blessed to have gotten to know a couple of our neighbors the year and a half that we lived there!

We had told Mackenzie that before we move she could have her first slumber party! Now before you call me crazy I'll let you know that it went very well! We did normal slumber party things....played, watched movies, ate marshmallow popcorn and went to bed late! A couple girls came over for the evening, but opted to go home. It is so much fun seeing Mackenzie and all of her friends grow up and turn into beautiful little girls! Mackenzie is very into friends and will miss seeing them all the time! Like I said before it is not goodbye, but see ya later!

Well that about sums up our last couple weeks. Sunday was a pretty hard day as it happened to be possibly our last Sunday and our worship pastor and his family's last Sunday(We will miss you Kvernen's)! I say possibly because we have to go back to organize and pack a little before our movers come, but I don't know when that will be and if it will fall over a Sunday. Our church has been our family while we were there and have met so many amazing people. God has given our pastor such an amazing gift of teaching and preaching and we will miss that a lot. BUT we know that the Lord has another plan with a church family that we can fit right into!

Sunday we headed to my parents where the girls and I will be staying until the move. So it is not our final, final day in Ames as I said before we have to go back and move..... that will be coming up in a later post........ It's not "see ya later" yet!

7 Years

I can't believe we have been married 7 years today! Last night as we were going to sleep I leaned over and asked Aaron what he was thinking about 7 years ago that night?(Just so you know I really didn't get an answer) It's been an amazing life together and here is....
7 reasons why I would marry him all over again:
1. You understand and live out what unconditional love really means!
2. You are the best Daddy to our 2 beautiful girls!
3. You are an amazing provider and protector for our family!
4. You are a man that seeks after God!
5. You are handsome and hilarious!
6. God formed us for each other and I am so blessed to have found you!
7. You are my best friend and I couldn't imagine living this life with anyone other than you!

I love you!

Charity!

The other day Mackenzie and her friend (both 4 yrs old mind you) were out playing in the back yard when they came in in a deep theological debate over whether you should give money to poor people. Her friend was saying how you shouldn't give money to homeless people and Mackenzie was saying you should give money to people with no food and clothes. We have been talking with Mackenzie about our Compassion child and why we send money because he lives far away and we can't physically give him food. She has such a sweet heart and has brought up many times about her money in her piggy bank and how she wants to give it to the kids that don't have any food. So this is where she was coming from.....now her friend was coming at a different angle. She was saying how her bigger sister told her we shouldn't give money to homeless people, just things like "rugs" (I found out later after talking to her dad she meant blankets) because they might use the money for bad things.
Wow....So I explained to them both what the other was talking about and that they were both right, but that God does want us to help people that don't have nice things like we do.

"A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor." Prov. 22:9

Salad Spinner!

Ever since we have been married, which will be seven years on Tuesday, I have used my washing machine as my salad spinner. My friends all think I am crazy when they see me do this, but this is what my mother always did to spin out all the water after rinsing the head of lettuce.....and I must say it works very well. My lettuce always stays more fresh when I get ALL the water out after rinsing. To my recollection in all my years doing this, this is the first time this has happened. I do remember catching it as the drum was filling up with water one time from the extra rinse button being left on, which is how this mess happened!

Let's just say this is some clean shredded lettuce!

House Hunting = New House

Our house hunting journey has come to an end, but I just wanted to journal about our experience just so I remember, so if you want to skip on down to the fun part, don't feel bad!

After traveling down 3 times to look at homes we have found the one! The first round we came away thinking we might build as we didn't find anything existing....there was literally 1 house in our price range, so we were looking into doing a modular home. Our second trip seemed a little more rewarding or at least knowing what direction to go. Our realtor.....very good I must say.... had the inside on some homes that he knew were coming on the market, but they allowed us to look anyways! We found a couple in the same neighborhood that were potentials. Then that same day after sitting down and crunching numbers for building we realized that we wouldn't be getting what we wanted for our price and with the stress of it all.....much relief!
The third trip was the winner....third times always a charm! We went down to look at another house that had came on the market and decided to also look at the other 2 that we liked again while we were there. It helped so much to go that second time....you just see more after you have thought about them. We decided after that it was between those same 2 that we had looked at before, both ranches..... one being an older, smaller home on a main road and the other bigger, newer (like 20+ yrs) and on a cul de sac road. SO you ask what is the dilemma.....well the older, smaller one had been redone and the kitchen was absolutely beautiful! The family that lived there had it decorated totally my style and I could just see myself in there. The other was very nice, clean, but just not my style of decorating....silly I know, but it is just hard to picture your life in someone else's home! In the end I came to my senses and got past all the surface things..... we decided that the newer, bigger one on the cul de sac would be a better fit for our family! Once again God showed us his power and we settled on an amazing price....we were a little nervous as she didn't even have it on the market yet. A little paint (well a lot.....like the whole house) and a couple boarders of wallpaper to remove and it will look just like my house! We are thrilled to have this part over with and to know where we will be living!

Aaron starts his new position June 22nd and then we won't be moving till the middle of July. It's starting to be so real and we just continue to pray for a buyer for our home here. We still continue to have several showings a week, but so far the right ones haven't either come along or made a decision.......we know God is working on this part too!

Here is just a couple pictures of our new home. Keep in mind this is not exactly how it will look once we move.....new colors....not as much furniture.... you get the drift!

Big driveway, but no sidewalks

Living Room- it's really big and all open

Kitchen- nice, but I would like to make a few changes .... starting with the blue walls

Master Bedroom

Back yard- it isn't exactly flat, but it has a really pretty view

Funny things kids say!

The other day we were at Target(love that place, but it is so dangerous) and the girls and I were looking at clothes and shoes and Mackenzie was in a begging mood and wanted these shoes she had picked out. I gave her the little speech about not getting everything you want.....you know the drill....and she was pretty disappointed. So we started down another isle and she goes...in tears, "Mom, it's getting pretty hard to be a little kid!" It was so hard to keep a straight face.....I tried to be sympathetic. The lady walking down the same isle got a kick out of it too!


Kate is expanding her vocabulary as well. The other day after she woke up from her nap I was cooking in the kitchen and I heard her saying "nack......nack!" I turned around and she was standing in front of the pantry holding up her hands saying "nack.....nack!" I couldn't believe it....she wanted a snack! I of course had no other choice but to rewarded her intelligence with a yummy snack!
Some of her other words are "Hi" to everyone, Bye, No, Up, and she makes a lot of beginning sounds to words like no..for nose, mo..for more, da (and shakes her hands) for all done, ou for out, u for up, and is starting to make animal sounds for cow, dog, kitty, and sheep! It just surprises me as Mackenzie hardly said mama and dada at 20 months and Kate just turned 15 mo. I had heard the if the second child had an older sister who talked a lot that they would talk later because the older one would do all the talking for them. That situation sure fit, but thankfully Kate isn't falling into it.