Great friends - Great weekend!

What a GREAT weekend!!!! Our great friends Heather and Evan came to visit this weekend. They moved away a year ago....so it was SOOOO great to have them back!!! I LOVED it and miss them so much! Their little Tyler is already 7 months old...so it was so fun to play with him too. He is getting so big already!

Friday night, Heather and I went to see the Broadway show "Wicked"!!!!! I had already seen it before...but last time I saw it, I was thinking about Heather through the whole thing and was like "I HAVE to see it with her!" So it was a blast and a great girls night out! It was our early 30th (ahh!!) birthday present to each other. :)

Emily and Little Tyler
Hailey given him her love :)
The only baseball hat we had in the house that fit him - of course it was pink...but he took it like a man. :) He is SUCH a good happy baby!!!!!
Then Saturday, we had a "friend" reunion for Heather and Ev and had a bunch of us meet at the Brewers game to tailgate! It was SOOO nice to go to a game without my beautiful girls! Even though I'd like to say I could actually watch the game now....I somehow never knew what the score was because I was too busy talking to friends without the usual interruptions from our lovely children. :) So it was SUCH a great night to get away! Here I am with some of the girls...

Heather, Heidi, Alison, Jen, me, and Kara

The guys made us girls try the "speed pitch" to see how fast we could throw. I had high hopes that I could throw as fast as Ryan... :) but nope....only 45 mph. :) Still, not bad! :)

Especially when I threw before Heather! My former high school cheerleader BFF threw a whoppin' 12 mph throw. I'm not sure what pitcher in the major leagues throws with a million dollar smile like that. No wonder it was only 12 mph! :)

Here were all of our reactions when we heard how fast she threw it... :) :) :) :) :)

I love you Heath!!!

And here was the biggest Brewer's fan - my friend Kara's 2 week old baby boy Micah. :) He isn't supposed to even be here yet...but had to come early since Kara just got diagnosed with Lymphoma...the SAME week that my cousin's wife got diagnosed with Lymphoma. CRAZY!!!! These two women are my new hero's though. They have OUTSTANDING attitudes as they face their new monster in life, tremendous trust, faith, and strength in God, and it's just AMAZING watching them handle this. If you ever think of it, please say a prayer for my friend Kara and cuz' Laura as these next few months will be rough. THANK YOUUU!!

Here's little miracle Micah :)

Colorado!!!

Hi! We're back! Whew!! Last week, we flew to Denver to see my whole family. It was so great to just all be together again! The girls traveled like champs since this was the first time that Ryan and I flew with them with no help! And we did it! :) Ryan is amazing. We get on the flight and he somehow gets Hailey to sleep in record timing. Then I am sitting in between Addy and Emily with NO luck whatsoever in getting them to sleep. So we managed to switch places and then he gets BOTH of them to sleep too! They were great! And, the way home was the same story! He got all 3 of them to sleep too! Unbelievable! So the travel was no big deal at all which was SO great! The hardest part of it all was just carrying 3 girls, 3 car seats, 3 suitcases, and 4 backpacks. :) :)

Here's my awesome fam!!!

And the MOUNTAINS!!! I LOOOVVEE COLORADO!!!!!

On Friday we all drove up to the mountains (minus my brother Kyle and his fiance Heather who had a wedding out of town) :( but we got a cabin and attempted to have a great time!!

Here we are hiking.... my sister and I...

And this was Addy. Every time we wanted to catch our breaths...Addy was like "Come on! Let's go Mom!!" She LOVED hiking and wanted to race on ahead all the time.
Hailey and Em preferred this method of hiking. :) Thanks Ry and Uncle Cory!! :)

Taking a breather...
So after the hike, things started to go downhill. Emily threw up, then my sister Kara, then Addy, then my mom, then Ryan, and then my brother Kyle...so our fun weekend up in the mountains wasn't as fun as we would have liked. Not sure if they all got food poisoning or some random bug...but it was not pretty!!! Even with all that sickness, we still managed to do some fishing and some outlet shopping. :)

The girls!!! Laura, Heather, me and Kara!
The weather was H.O.T. when we were there. 100 degrees is a killer - even WITH no humidity!!! So Addy , Hailey, and Em LOVED being in the pool. They are getting so good at swimming now! :)

Sisterly love! (HAE)

The cousins! Kamryn, Em, Bryce, (poor Bryce) :) Addy, Hailey

Bryce, Addy, Em, Kami, and Hailey

Hailey had a ball with Auntie Kara's high heels. :)
Playing with my cousins Jordan and Jenna...

I couldn't get enough of my niece Kamryn and nephew Bryce! SOOO wish we lived closer!!!!

And before we left, we went to the Brewers/Giants game! This is how into the game Emily was... :)

And so we had to go to the kid section. I think we both only saw one pitch of the whole 5 innings that we were there. :) (HAE) But it was still a great time - too bad the Brew Crew lost...

An All-American (or All-Milwaukee) Kinda Day...

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Yesterday, it felt so good to have a family excursion with just the five of us. In the past, we have always needed help to go to a beach or whatever...but now the girls are old enough that we could handle it! It was so fun!

We decided to head down to the Lakefront for the afternoon. We got there around 4....biked around...and then stopped at the beach so the girls could swim and play in the sand. They were LOVING it! I love seeing the drastic changes in all that they can do from summer to summer. They just seem so OLD this summer! I love their confidence and excitement in everything! They had a ball in the sand and the water. Then, we biked again, and found a spot to grill some brats. Mmmm....summer in Wisconsin. :) Then we biked again :) played at the playground, and then found a place to sit for the fireworks! This is the first year we attempted letting the girls stay up late! We were VERY hopeful that they'd sleep in ...but going to bed at 11 unfortunately didn't phase them..up at the usual 6A.M. Oh well.. :)

Overall, the day was sooo fun! It was a perfect day out and the girls were loving all the people watching and excitement. I did however, take the girls to the lovely port-a-potty's a total of 24 times in the 6 hours that we were there. :) The grossness of port-a-potty's are starting to not even phase me anymore! Next time we go though, I'm taking glow necklaces so we can see in the dark..and hand sanitizer. :) But, I love it when I can say "NO ACCIDENTS" after all that work! :) Here's our little fam....getting ready for the fireworks to start...

The girls were non-stop action at the beach....giddy like crazy! :)

Em made friends with this little fellow :)

Hailey Grace

Emily - and her eyes really are that blue! No editing! Crazy!
Addy girl
Ry - grillin' brats...mmmm
Kisses for Em :)
Mom was havin' fun taking pics while we waited for dinner.. :)
Addy on my bike...
Hailey and Emily behind Daddy...
And here's Hailey's expression while watching the fireworks.

It was pretty fun watching the girls see the fireworks for the first time. Let me just set the scene for ya...

Everyone around us: Silent while watching the fireworks

Hailey after each firework: "Beautiful! Boootiful!!!"

Addison screaming at the top of her lungs: PURPLE! GREEN! RED!! (or whatever color they were)

Emily and Addy during the 1 second intervals between fireworks: Again! AGAIN!! AGAIN!!!

They LOVED them and wanted the fireworks to go faster and faster. :) We were pumped that they weren't afraid of them...but the poor people around us were probably glad when we left early. :) Hope you all have a great weekend too!!! :)