27

The start of my 27th year has been great so far! It really started last night with pottery painting and dinner with my girlfriends which was an amazing time. This pottery place is Amazing- they even serve wine! Perfect for a girls night. And sure, my big coffee mug I painted might not have turned out quite as good as my friends (some of us have Zero craft skills) but it was still a great time.
Today has bee great as well. Drew gets major bonus points on his gifts this year. He went with a little photography/blogging theme (apparently my only hobbies. Truth) and completely surprised me. Which is hard to do. We met up with Drew for lunch and work and now the babes are napping and I'm watching Orange is the New Black (have you seen it) and refusing to fold the pile of laundry sitting at my feet, because It's my birthday. And I don't fold laundry on my birthday. 

We arrived home Monday night to these adorable outfits sent to us by Nike, and this shirt by Converse and Jasper loved them so much he tried (unsuccessfully) to convince me to let him sleep in them. He did have them on bright and early Tuesday morning though!

 Jasper ended up getting the Perfect outfit sent. Super cute, perfect for summer and comfy enough that he even wanted to wear it to baseball practice. An outfit that's stylish enough to be worn all day and comfortable enough to be worn for practice (and durable enough for the way this boy plays) is a win in my book. I mean how cute is this?
Tindra rocked her little Nike outfit as well. A baby in a Tennis skirt, does it get any more adorable than that? I think not. 

While I love dressing my kids in new and trendy clothes, I also really love going back to the classics that Drew and I grew up wearing. Nike, Converse, these companies have been around, and I know every time I buy an outfit from them I'm guaranteed the quality they are known for. Jaspers very first pair of shoes were a teeny tiny pair of Nikes, and I can't wait to give them to him some day to give to his own son!
And speaking of Converse and shoes, we were in Target the other day and Jasper spotted the kid size converse and wanted a pair 'just like mamma has' so now he is determined to learn how to tie his shoes this summer so we can get a pair before he goes back to school! Anyone have any tips on teaching a kid how to tie his shoes? 

These outfits were sent to us by Nike and Converse but all opinions are my own and Jasper has owned many Nike outfits over the years (and Drew and I are still Huge Converse lovers) and we have always been fans :) 

Liar liar pants on fire.

So apparently I was a big ol' liar when I said yesterday that I would be back later that night with some pictures from our trip to Iowa..buuut apparently I lied since that obviously didn't happen. BUT I did have every intention of blogging/uploading pictures last night. I went to upload pictures from my camera and was granted with the ugly words "no more room" apparently my thousands and thousands of pictures I've taken over the past 4 years since becoming macbook pro owners took up ALL the computers space. Whoops! So Drew made a quick run to Apple to buy some storage device thingy (he's a good one I tell ya) and freed up a bunch of space on here so now I can upload pictures! Yay! Like I said yesterday, we had such an amazing time in Iowa. I'm convinced my family is the Best, and I just love spending time with them. Makes it even more fun now that my brother and sister have kiddos too. My oldest brother has two girls and my younger sister (only sister) has 1 so those 5 cousins had so much fun together! It only makes me want to move back. Almost. If someone could figure out how to get rid of the humidity and mosquitos I think I'd be in. And also maybe get rid of the sub zero winter temperatures.  Our week was filled with going to 4 different pools, a splash park, hanging out in Des Moines at my moms new town house, spending time at my sisters new house just 15 minutes away, seeing my brothers, lots of nieces and nephew time, eating way too much yummy foods and playdates with old friends.  A close friend since Jr. High now has three littles, so between the 5 of our kids it's a full house when we get together! They also just moved to a great big house as well- everyone has moved since we were there last at Christmas!

 Cousin playtime! T and O are just 10 weeks a part! 

 We celebrated Jasper's birthday at a great pool! Seriously the kids (and adults) had so much fun here!

 Cousins!

 Jasper and my over 6 foot tall 'baby' brother

 All 5 of the cousins

 Apparently DQ has Amazing ice cream cake. Seriously one of the best I've ever tasted. Fudge in the middle? YES PLEASE

 Such a good looking bunch, yeah? 

 Grammy and her littlelest grandbabies! 

 Jr high school friend's littlest. He's a doll, I might be playing matchmaker. That is if Tindra and Price George don't work out. 

 Hard to get a group of 5 kiddos 6 and under to all look! 

And one with the mammas! I've got some more to share from cell phone pictures later! I don't want to forget Any of our trip! Can't wait to go back in just 4 weeks!

Oh hey neglected blog! So nice to see you again.
I (obviously) took a little (unintentional) blogging break while in Iowa for the past 10 days. Totally didn't mean to. I even brought my laptop with and everything. And then It sat in my bag and went unopened the entire time. Whoops!
It was So nice to be back though. I just love my family so much! Being with them is the best. 
I'm going to spend nap time uploading pictures (that is if I don't decide to take a nap myself, driving 11 hrs solo with two kids is exhausting you guys) so come back tonight for a vacation update! Can't wait to get caught up on all my favorite blogs! 

Vacation

Currently in Iowa visiting my family. We are hitting up a new pool every day trying to keep cool in this ridiculous humidity. Hope everyone is having a great week!

How we became 'US'

I was inspired by Grace sharing the story of how her and Simon met , so of course decided to do the same. I've gotten a few questions in the past asking how we met, so here it is!
There's no big romantic way to describe my first memories of Drew, luckily, since I was only in 5th grade when I first noticed him. 
I had moved to small town Iowa from Sweden in 4th grade, and being the only new girl in forever to have moved there AND having moved from Sweden, he definitely remembered noticing me right away. But it wasn't until the following fall when we were in the same class that I noticed him.
My thoughts on him "he was loud, obnoxious and had red hair" not something I was used to at all. The kids in Sweden where much quieter and reserved. And blonde. So he stuck out like a sore thumb. And not in a good way, I found him quite annoying. 
In 7th grade we started moving in the same 'social circles' if you will. I still found him quite obnoxious. 
By 8th grade, I had my first boyfriend. Let's call him D. D happened to be Drew's best friend since toddlerhood. Drew also happened to have a girlfriend. E. E was one of my very best friends. 
So Drew and I had out first 'date' in 8th grade. A double date. With each others best friends. We went to see the movie See Spot Run three weekends in a row. Not because it was this amazing movie (it's definitely Not) but because the boys parents were pretty strict and it was the only movie they were allowed to go to.. 
Somehow neither of those relationships worked out and by freshman year of high school I was into the older boys ( a trend that continued pretty much all of high school) and boys in my class were forgotten.
Drew and I still hung out with the same groups of friends sometimes. And we became good friends. I no longer found him as obnoxious. 
We were in a lot of the same activities all through high school. Choir, select choir, track (which I joined for one of those older boys and quit after this older boy graduated) and drama so we spent a lot of time together through that.
Once at a basketball game against a neighboring town ( I think Junior year of high school) Drew came up to me during half time and asked me to walk with him to the concession stand and 'act like we are together' because his ex girlfriend from that town was there. I agreed naturally and flirted it up heavily in front of his ex to make her jealous. He told me he picked the hottest girl there (me) and it worked, and soon they started hanging back out for a while I think. While I was busy with my older boys and going and visiting them (yeah, plural) at their colleges while stuck in high school, just itching to get OUT. 
Junior year we went away to Chicago together for a select choir trip and I think by then I could tell he had a little crush on me. I didn't encourage it, but I didn't discourage it either. Mean Darlene. I was a little bit of a flirt and didn't mind the attention. 

^The only picture I have from the trip of us that's blog appropriate..^
By the beginning of Senior year, all of my older boys were gone and a lot of my friends had graduated. I was lonely and bored and was counting the days till I graduated and could leave and join my friends at colleges several hours away. I worked a lot and kept busy with school activities.
Drew decided with my older guys out of the picture, it was his chance to finally make a move. He asked me to hang out often. And brought me coffee frequently at work. We were cast in the spring play (that began practice in January) as the leads and were 'boyfriend girlfriend' in the play. I played the ditzy know it all and he my jealous boyfriend. Not too far from real life. 
He would show up at work and offer to drive me to play practice. I hated driving so I let him. 
One weekend at the end of January I went up to UNI to visit one of my bff's. And a boy I had been seeing on and off the last year or so. 
Drew had gotten tickets to an Iowa State basketball for Sunday night and had asked me to go, so after my weekend with that boy I headed back home and picked him up (at that point he was 'grounded' from the car his parents bought and had to wait till his 18th birthday- same month, to buy a car) and drove to Ames for the basketball game. 
After the game we stopped by another friends house out in the country to hang out with everyone. As I was getting ready to leave, another friend who lived close to Drew offered to give him a ride back into town. I thought 'great then I don't have to go all the way back in' because I lived out in the country also close to where we already were. He got super awkward and said something like "Well my parents thought Darlene was driving me home, so if that's okay with her she should probably be the one to give me a ride" okaaaay buddy. Good one.
I was naive and didn't think much of it. His parents were pretty strict so it sounded legit. 
When we pulled up he didn't get out of the car right away. Just said there. It was exactly his curfew, and knowing his parents I knew he should probably go in. I kept saying "you should probably go in" and he would say something like "after this song, this is a good one" Apparently he was working up the courage to kiss me. Finally he blurted out
"uhmm, so I was wondering if it was okay with you, I mean if you don't mind, I've been wanting to kiss you for a long time, so can I kiss you?"
This was the first (and last) time someone had asked my permission to kiss me. There was the most awkward long pause ever. For some reason I Totally wasn't expecting that from my 'buddy Drew' and didn't know what to do. Finally I leaned over, kissed him quickly and said good night. 
He to this day says it was a 'pity kiss.' Maybe it was. I'm not sure. 
I was definitely confused. I knew I didn't want a relationship here. We were graduating in less then 5 months then I was out of there. Plus there was that other boy. The one I had just spent the weekend with up at UNI, where I was to attend in the fall. 
I woke up the next day to a text message that said something like "So  I kind of, sort of, think I might like you."
Okay I think that's long enough for today! 

4th.

We decided, sort of last minute, to head up to Estes Park (one of my favorite mountain towns) to celebrate the 4th. Slightly cooler temperatures and getting out of the city were our motivations! We had such an amazing time we decided it's going to become an annual thing. Except after spending 45 minutes at a stop light (I wish I was kidding) trying to get on the only road heading down the mountain at 10:45PM we decided next year, we rent a cabin. Sounds perfect right? We started out the morning with a little bike ride to Bruegers for some breakfast and were planning on timing it just right so that Tindra would take her nap in the car on the way up. Perfect right? 

^Early morning bike rides are probably my favorite^

^Tindra enjoying her cinnamon bagel. In her jammies^

^Jasper wanted 4th of july nails like mamma. Mine were done in the dark while watching an episode  of weeds ^ with Drew, obviously not my best work. Or maybe it is. I'm pretty horrible at nail painting (or painting in general) It started off perfectly, she was fast asleep. But as we were driving through Boulder and stuck at stop light for 5 minutes, she woke up. And that was the end of her nap. 25 minutes total instead of 2.5-3 hrs like normal.  Luckily she was a champ and was pretty content to go between her stroller and the hiking back back for most of the day, with another 25 minute nap in the stroller. 

 ^We sure do love Estes Park^

 ^Late lunch on the cutest little patio on main Street^

  ^We spent a large portion of the afternoon and then again night to at the Stanley Hotel. They had a bunch of things^ going on for the kids, plus food and beverages for the adults

 ^Stanley Hotel^ 

^If you don't know anything about the Stanly Hotel, it's where the movie The Shining takes places. Steven King ^ actually staying there and apparently experienced some creepy things in the night, and the idea of the Shining came to him. Or something like that. This is one of the rooms thats supposedly haunted..

 ^When we came back to the hotel in the evening to watch the fireworks, a friend and I snuck upstairs to take^ 

some pictures. Red rum red rum anyone? 

 ^Any guesses who that is^

 ^Jasper and I rode around town in an old fire truck. This boy was in heaven ^

^Did you guess Jack Nickhols? If so you were right! Okay, half right. He was an impersonator but he was a ^

damn good one! He was just as creepy as I imagined he would be. Funny thing thought people were paying him $5 to take pictures with him and I'm 99% positive they all thought he was the real deal. Listening to their conversations with him convinced me they had no clue he was a fake. 

^This kid will rock climb Any chance he gets^

We ended the evening with good food, fireworks and friends who we met up with. Such a fun way to spend America's birthday!