Incrediball Hydrangeas

Spring is here and I can't believe it's been nine-ish months since our last update / blog. With the various social media outlets (FaceBook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.), it doesn't feel like it's been that long. 

As it's warmed up, we've been spending a ton of time outside. Baseball, kickball, water fights, gardening, running, riding, cutting / chopping wood, burning, mowing...and the list goes on. But we're loving every minute of it. Well, except for when the boys are beating Carey in a baseball game 31-1. I don't think she's loving that. (By the way, who came up with the impossible-to-win game of 2-on-1 baseball anyway??)

While we love all the games, one of the things we look forward to most about Spring is gardening as a family. We don't have a veggie garden going yet, so we spend most of our time on the flowers, trees, and shrubs around the house. We've also spent a fair bit of energy on the grass, and that effort has paid off well with the turf looking great - especially for only have completed one full growing season. 

Outside of loosing two hydrangeas and two new trees to an overspray by TruGreen (super sad to lose a year of growth, but they took care of it nicely), everything has come back really well this year. While I love the trees we've added, I'm probably most excited about the return of our Incrediball Hydrangeas. While the Incrediball has the general shape of an Annabelle, it has a few defining characteristics: very cold hardy, stems are much stronger (keeps the heads upright during wind / rain), and the blooms are gigantic - 10-15inches in diameter. We were never able to find one to look at in person, so took a gamble with this new variety. Nate Newt, owner of Heavenly Creations, helped us locate the plants last Spring and they have been our favorites so far!

When we first planted last Spring

View of them this Spring 

View of the bud

July Highlights

July was a fantastic month!  We spent as much time as we could at the pool.  When Nate had the chance, he came with us.  The boys love to be launched!

 The boys and their friend Robin celebrated the 4th of July with special glowing masks.

The boys played 8 and under baseball this year, and their team won the championship!  What a fun season!

The second week of July, Cooper attended golf camp at a local golf course.  He LOVED it.

Meanwhile, Miles and I enjoyed our time together very much.  We got soda's together to help us survive a Walmart shopping trip.

The second weekend of July, the boys went to stay with Aunt Jenn and Uncle Matt.  Nate and I decided to ride our bikes to Springfield and back. (Actually, I decided and Nate very kindly obliged.)  It was a fantastic experience!  But also, it hurt pretty bad.

After the ride, we thought we needed some Chicago style pizza.

Sometime in there, we got a cat.  "Smokey" adopted us and just fits right in to our family.  We have really enjoyed having him around!

The last weekend in July, we headed up to Kansas City for a mini family vacation.   We attended the Chief's training camp (twice!) and got to meet Dustin Colquett!  Cooper loves Dustin, so that was a pretty big deal.

 Friday night we took the boys to their first professional baseball game.  My mom came up and joined us, even though it was really hot.  (Thanks, Mom!)  The Royals won!

On Saturday, we went back to the Chief's training camp with the Harader boys.  There were way too many people there and the rain chased us all away.  Next year, we'll definitely go on a weekday morning!

June Highlights

June started with Vacation Bible School!  It is such a privilege to be part of VBS at First Baptist because they do it so well.  Cooper (and Miles a little...) learned about and I attempted to teach 4th and 5th graders about God.  The theme this year was Agency D3, and it was so neat!  We talked through hard questions that people (we) ask about God and discovered answers.

VBS was cut short for Miles because of a wrestling incident.  Cooper took him out, football tackle style and broke his collar bone on Wednesday morning that week.  Thankfully, Nate was in town and handled the injury.  Miles stayed home with Nate while Coop and I finished out the week.  (You'll notice throughout the pictures that follow that Miles' sling was often pushed up so he could continue to use his arm.  It was super effective. :)  Thankfully, the pain only lasted a few days.)

In the midst of that, Miles lost his first tooth.

And Nate built me this AMAZING shoe shelf for our garage.  No more pile of shoes to greet me every time I get home!

In May we did some landscaping, and in June we enjoyed hydrangeas across the front of our house.  Beautiful!

The second week of June, my nephews joined our family for the week.  The boys played together so well!  Miles' "enjoyed" having someone younger than him in the house.  (Read - he bossed him around every chance he had.) We swam, ran around and screamed in the basement, played in dirt/mud, and ate ice cream.

Our family visited a local pool every chance we had this summer.  Both boys have improved in the water so much!  This is Cooper running and jumping in.  At the beginning of the summer, both boys were wary to put their heads in the water.

The last week of June, Nate headed to Canada with his dad and brother.  This has been a dream of Tom's, and so it was really important to make it happen.  It did mean no communication for 8 days and no husband for 10 days.  But we made it!

We passed some time without Nate visiting cousins.  The Enid cousins took a trip with us to Tanganyika Wildlife Park in Wichita.  They got to hold lemurs!
                                              

Here is Grandma with all the grandkids!

We spent the following weekend with my mom.  She treated us to frozen yogurt.

Miles and Nana played some mean solitaire.

We visited the campus of KU in Lawrence during our time with Nana. We enjoyed the Natural History Museum as well as a game of bowling in the Union.

May Highlights

WE FINISHED SCHOOL!!!  I'm no good at action shots, but I had to include these photos anyway because this was such a great day!!!!!

Our summer started with a weekend trip to St. Louis with my sister and her family.  We visited the Botanical Gardens (BEAUTIFUL!!), City Museum, and Grant's Farm.  These cousins can't get enough of each other!

We returned home in time to celebrate Miles' 6th Birthday.  I told him he could invite one friend to go swimming with him for his birthday, so he decided on "SilasCaleMyaOlivia."  He's good at following directions.  The day we went to the pool, a rain storm moved in just as we were sticking our toes in.  So, here are the kids getting their feet wet just before we ran like mad back to the vans.  Our "pool" party transformed to a "play" party, followed by dinner at Wendy's and a Chief's DQ cake.  That's a pretty good day, if you asked me.

San Diego

My friend, Ashley, invited me to go to San Diego with her this past weekend while she attended a conference.  Ashley noticed there was a half-marathon on Sunday, so she thought I might enjoy relaxing for a few days while she attended her conference and then running the race with her on Sunday.  (A huge THANK YOU to Ashley for letting me tag along!) Here are a few highlights:

• During our travel, Ashley and I both saw things we would like to "unsee."  The Denver airport offered Ashley a viewing of an older lady in her skivvies (there was a large hole in the wall of the stall!), while at the Dallas airport, I caught a glimpse of an aircraft engulfed in flames.  That is not something you want to see when you are getting ready to hop on an airplane.  I read later that it was just a training exercise, but the damage had been done.  (This picture is from the article I read - I was much farther away.)

•  This is Ashley and I in the "Gaslamp District."  The last time I was in San Diego I got all turned around here, so I wanted to conquer it.  It turns out, I got all turned around this time, too.  Maybe next time?

• We took a whale tour on Friday morning.  I packed some Bonine for us to help with the motion sickness, but it turns out 1,000 packages wouldn't have done the trick.  There was a high surf advisory...which brought with it some big swells.  So while most people were able to jump up and run to the right side of the boat to see the three gray whales "snorkeling" along the surface, Ashley and I sat very, very still on our bench, staring out at the horizon.  "Chins up."  When at last the captain repositioned us to have the whales on the left side of the boat, two women ran over and stood right in front of us.  I saw one spray of a whale and a little bit of the actual whale as it surfaced another time.  I'm not sure what Ashley saw - she was more concerned that the ladies blocked her view of the horizon.   Here we are with our barf bags.

• After we recovered from the whale tour, we went to pick up our race stuff at the expo.  We signed the giant SD with chalk.  Kinda seemed like a photo op.

• On Sunday, we raced.  Here is our pre-race selfie. (Clearly I need to practice taking selfies.  The double chin gives away my novice status.)

•  The post-run picture with our ginormous medals.

•  Here are my stats.  It was a PR for me, which I am thankful for but also unsure how I accomplished this.  Without Sarita running with me, I had a really hard time finding my pace.  Plus, the race was very crowded so I never really got into my "grove."  No matter what the time, my eighth half-marathon is on the books!

Jiving in 2014

Culture shock. That’s what the last eight weeks have been. Today marks the end of my first eight weeks with Jive Software and it’s been a wild ride. A fantastic, wild ride. While the transition into my role as sales director in the Midwest isn’t complete, our FY2014 follows the calendar year so it’s officially game on. I’m on my way home from our 2014 SKO in the Valley with the rest of the team and have never been more excited about work. While our SKO (sales kick off) is an unbelievable and top-shelf experience (awards of cash, watches, trips, Porches, the Dan Band, etc.), it’s the passion of our execs and product teams that one couldn’t help to be excited about. To represent a product with such market-relevance, and one that is coming into stride throughout the world, is an experience all to its own.

No matter the size of your business, it’s worth your time to check us out. www.jive.com. 

PS. A massive shout-out to my wife and sons. I'm gone a lot. Often many time zones away. It's super hard on all of them and they never complain. Each is such an amazing gift I don't deserve. 

2013 Recap

2014 is here? Say what?

Some highlights from 2013. 

• We sold our house, twice, in one month. 

Residence of nearly 10 years - we have awesome memories there and loved this house.

• Carey started her second year of teaching the boys - she's my hero.

  

  Carey's classroom

   
• Cooper lost his front teeth!

  

  Cooper!

• Lauren got married! 

  

  Hanna, Wade, Lauren, and Nate

• Attended 2013 'Cross World Championships

  

  Dale, Ira, and John

• Carey and I got some r&r in Cayman 

  

  Sun, sand, and Diet Coke!

  
  

  

  Headed to the barrier reef

• Construction on our new house was completed. 

  

  View from the driveway

  

  Kitchen

  

  Miles, back steps / deck

• Carey added a new half-marathon race venue to the list!

  

  Sarita, Carey - Go Girl Race

• I took a new job with Jive Software. 

  

  A look at my new office!
• Carey and the boys completed their first race - Miles took Carey at the line

  

  SBU Cross Country Fundraising Run

• Christmas - I know. It comes every year. But, it's my favorite holiday / season, so it still gets a place on the list. 

  

  I've always decorated my office at work. With a job change late in the year, my makeshift basement office had to do. 

  

  Our 'Charlie Brown' Christmas Tree - A Blue Atlas Cedar we're planting any day now! 

• Cooper has become a sports maniac - he can't get enough of watching and playing, especially football 

  

  Springfield Cardinals game

• Birthdays - Nate (32), Miles (5), Cooper (7), Carey (26)

  

  Recent family pic

• The boys asked if we could play more golf. Yes please. 

  

  Cooper, Miles

• We enjoyed many fires in the new house. Not the kind where you call the fire dept. Which is a welcome relief this year. 

  

  Living room fireplace

• Family vacation in FL at Delray Beach - millions of common jellyfish also decided to vacation here. 

  

  Sand was great, water was around 86 degrees

  
  

  

  An evening out in Delray

  

  Local exhibits of sea life and sharks!

• I was able to join the guys in many pre-season 'cross and road rides

  

  Dale, John, and Ira
• Donuts from St. George's. Trust me, it's an event. 

  

  Cooper

  
  

  

  Miles

• Miles has become our resident chess expert (and loves every kind of board game)

  

  His 'You didn't see that coming, did you?' look

2014 - Game On.