Life Lately.

Well, here we are in the last day or April.  Life has changed dramatically since my last post.  We have a feeling of emptiness as our family suffered a tragic loss on April 19th.  Tyler's cousin was taken from us at the young age of 21.  Over the past several days the outpour of sympathy and support from our little community and friends has amazed us.  Tyler's families' strength and faith during this difficult time has also amazed me and has brought much comfort.   As Tyler's uncle has instructed us to do, "let our hearts be flooded with wonderful memories..."  We're focusing on just that and reminding the little cowboys how much their cousin loved them.  He was so good with them and they were so special to him.

 He was the first one to get on the floor with them to play at family functions.  He would attempt at anything to make them smile.

Keeler tried to emulate Karlton in so many ways.  He thinks he needs to wear the biggest belt buckle he can find and has a strong desire to start showing animals in 4H (just like Karlton).  He's still a year too young for 4H but one of our sweet family friends and my job intern, Miranda, has offered to take Keeler under her wing for fair this year.  We're hoping she can "teach us the ropes" so to speak.

Today we went out with her and Keeler worked on getting familiar with her animals.

 Both the little cowboys loved it.  I'm sure Karlton was looking down with pride.  His passing will never set easy with me. He was just too young but Tyler and I will not let him go forgotten.  We will share with the little cowboys our memories of their fun spirited cousin, Karlton.  Rest in Peace.

Friday Favorites

It's Friday!!  I'm linking up with Erika, Narci and Andrea to share my Friday Favorites.

{one}  Favorite buy... When my SIL Erica was in town for Easter she told me she had heard good things about Sally Hansen Miracle Gel polish.  It's advertised to last up to 14 days so I was eager to give it a go.  Verdict: I am VERY impressed.  It didn't last two full weeks but I went 9 days without any chipping.  I applied the gel topcoat to my gold OPI and it seemed to make that polish last longer too.  I'll be buying more shades :)   SH Gel Color: Pink Up

 {two}  Monday night, my favorite ladies from Junior Civic had a lot of fun at our spring party.  We went to the local art gallery and had a painting and wine pARTy.  Seriously, so much fun!!  It's so nice that we have such a fun thing in our little town.

 {three}  Favorite moments... The little cowboys have been doing so well playing together lately.  Over the years we have accumulated so many toys and it seems that they don't play with anything for than more than five minutes and it drives me crazy.  But over the last few weeks something has changed.  These two are all about going down to the basement and setting up elaborate farms and will actually play well together.  It makes my heart smile and I love that they are using their imaginations.  Kallahan has always been "a player" and I think he's taught Keeler.  Backwards, I know. 

Ahoy there matey!! {four}  My favorite pirate!  Today was Pirate Day in Keeler's kindergarten class.  He's been looking forward to this day for a while.  He told me this morning, "I'm Captain Keeler, aarrgghh!!"   I'd like to say that his costume is all DIY but this mommy just used Amazon Prime and ordered this Melissa and Doug costume last week.  The little cowboys have several of the M&D role play costumes, they hold up very well and they love them.  This will be a fun addition to our collection.   
 {five}  My favorites... forever and always. 

Last weekend I was out of commission with a TERRIBLE sinus infection.  Have you ever had one that in addition to the bad headache made your teeth hurt?  It killed me to simply turn my head so I pretty much stayed in bed all weekend.  I never do that and I hated it.  Anywho, Tyler really stepped up and made life easier.  He did the grocery shopping and hosted a fun pizza making night.  How did I get so lucky?

This weekend we're looking forward to more cattle branding and I'm working our local business expo - which is always fun.  It's very dry in our area and we keep missing out on any chance of rain {nothing new}, so we're all praying for rain!

Linking up with: Erika/Narci/Andrea

Our Easter

Happy Easter to youl!   We had a fun weekend full of family, food, faith & several Easter egg hunts.

We love when family comes to town.  Most of Tyler's family came Thursday evening or early Friday so "good" Friday was especially good with loved ones around.  The little cowboys were excited to have Bryon out at the farm.  They all stayed at the farm while us girls made a quick shopping trip to the city.

 

Well, it wasn't just the girls that went shopping... we had this cutie in tow.  OMGosh, could be be any cuter?  That smile.

We had some of our favorite house guests stay the weekend {uncle Tim, auntie Erica and my favorite puppy niece - Sprinkles!}.  On Saturday, the boys headed back out to the farm so us girls, Sprinkles included, took our time getting ready and had a nice "21 Day Fix" approved lunch before heading to Amber's baby shower.  

That's right, I've started another attempt at getting healthier along with starting the 2nd half of Insanity Max 30... but that's a complete post on it's own.

Erica and Tiffany were great and helped me get everything together to help host Amber's baby shower.  Before the shower started, Erica and I took a photo to show off our matching new Kendra Scott Drusy Necklaces.  We're calling them our "sister necklaces."

We can't wait for baby Avery to arrive.  We need more girls in this family.  I loved helping with this shower.  Amber had the best request - a headband station - versus the typically baby shower games.  

I had never heard of such (oh the life of being surrounded by little stinky boys).  But I started searching around and found the best site, Sunshine Shoppe Supply.  I ordered in two kits so that we'd have a nice variety of colors and styles.  Everyone seemed to have a great time and little Avery will have a headband for every outfit!  It was such a fun shower :)

After the shower, we rushed back to Granny's and started our family Easter festivities.  

We celebrated Saturday night because some of our family members had to travel back home early on Sunday.

The kiddos loved the egg hunt..

and dying Easter eggs.

On Easter morning the little cowboys were excited to see and go through their Easter baskets tool boxes. 

I also gave them personalized pillows.  They look less than thrilled but they really do like them.  I'm a sucker for anything personalized (obviously).

After we were ready for church we had one last little egg hunt at home.

We were blessed with the best weather on Easter Sunday.  After church, we spent most the day outside playing in the mud and with water balloons.  It was the best kind of holiday and we made some special memories.  

From ours to yours, Happy Easter!!

My Birthday Weekend!

Happy {good} Friday!  This past weekend my family came up to our part of the world to celebrate mine and my niece, Jacey's birthdays.  And we got spoiled for sure!

We all met up at a hotel and then went to dinner.  The weather was perfect for patio dining and catching up.  Man, I've missed my family.

I LOVE time with my big sis!

On Saturday we crammed in A LOT of fun!  We went and watched the new movie Home.  It was adorable and the little cowboys are already planning to go see it again when it comes to our local theater.  

We took the kids to their favorite restaurants {with play places of course} and my birthday weekend would not be complete without a little retail therapy...

Samantha and I scored the cutest {matching} dresses for Easter.  Don't worry, we'll be in different states.  Then we went and had a little Easter egg hunt and silly string fight.

 Seriously, the MOST fun!  The kids were all about getting Grandma Kak.

 We also managed to squeeze in some pool time.

All our silly little fish :)

 This one is going down as one of my top birthdays EVER.

I'd like to click my new converse heels and go right back there ;)
But wait... today truly is a "good" Friday!  I love Easter weekend and everything it represents.  I hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday!