Yes, I know.

I've got to be real. The wait for baby #2 is tough. I'm such a planner and so you'd think that going through infertility and adoption would prepare me for tossing my plans way out the window. More than anything, I know God's plan is way bigger and more beautiful than mine. I can not imagine Declan not in our lives. Declan is the direct result of MY plans failing and God's plan for our future PREVAILING. So, it's been proven in the past. I've already gone through this. Trust, and God will blow my mind with blessing.

Yet, my heart still aches. There are babies and pregnancies everywhere. And it's not that I'm not thrilled for those who's families are expanding. It's just that I still fail to understand why it's so hard for us to expand. We are good people. We love the Lord, love each other, love our families. We're established and thriving in life. Then when I come back from my pity party the same thing in me arises: "yes, I know." I know there's a plan for me. For our future child. For our family of however many. I know God has it all figured out and I need to trust. I need to ground myself in the contentment of our current world: our happy family of 3. So blessed. Just need a knock on the head to remember it sometimes.

Mahoney Adventures

This year marked 26 years of Mark's family and two others getting away for a long weekend and invading Mahoney.State.Park. Boy, has it changed! My first time out was pre-dating (ya know, the "we're just best friends" stage of things) 11 years ago. We sat around in sweats, played games ate junk and relaxed and morphed in to slugs. This was the pattern year after year until Declan and his screaming lungs joined us at 4 weeks old. He had a (so far undiagnosed) milk protein intolerance that made him, well, not-so-pleasant to be around. That year was a blur.

The next year was fun but it was hard to do anything but try to keep a busy 1 year old from getting in to all things un-childproofed (which was the entire cabin). Last year was more of the same with a super active 2 year old where most activities were a bit too old for him yet. This year was da bomb! Yes, I busted out some 90s slang. But, it was. Loved loved loved it! Declan had an absolutely blast and is still asking to go out to "howne-ee". It was 70 degrees and sunny every day (amen) and so there were loads of outdoor activity. We covered a lot of ground: climbing the tower, indoor play place, paddle boating, fishing, craft making, made up out door games (including a giant branch...don't ask), etc. The little man pretty much melted in to a pile of exhausted by night time. Which was good considering we all 3 shared a room.

Several activities listed above were done with just Mark while I got to snuggle my week old nephew, Soren, and log some good Kindle time. Bliss, I tell ya.

 Showing off his leather stamped bracelet (arm band to Decs). If you run in to us ever this week, he's still wearing it on his upper arm. What a fashionista.

 How are these boys so old already?

 First time fishing with daddy.

 Declan loves his new cousin Soren (and his grandma)!

 Ipad with Grandpa. I remember my bother-in-law showing me his ipod 10 years ago. I was like "whaaaaat"...it seemed SO high tech. :)

Wordless Wednesday

"big" zoo

We live less than an hour from the fabulous Henry.Doorly zoo in Omaha. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, we haven't ever taken the little man. It's been too hot, Decs has been too much of a busy body, one of us has been too sick, blah blah blah. Well, this last Thursday we had slotted the day for our annual Mahoney.State.Park trip so we stole another family member's idea and tacked the zoo on to the beginning of our long weekend away from home.

Let me just say that there is no way we'll ever halfway recreate the experience we had. Not only was it the first time for Declan to see some amazing exhibits (there's nothing like a million "wows" and curiosities) but there was NO ONE there. Seriously--we had several "are they closing this place down early??" moments. Apparently 2pm on a Thursday is the exact time to have the zoo to yourself.

So, to conclude my ramblings, it was fabulous. Declan was in awe, we were loving it and it couldn't have been more fun for our little family. 

testing...testing..

Sometimes when your mama is a photographer, you get volunteered to test out a photo shoot concept. Sunday's was a "splish splash" shoot. I don't think Decs minded a bit.

No way!

Several people have told me that when they turned 30 the lines started to appear and joints started to ache. I'm in the best shape of my life so I shrugged those comments off UNTIL this picture from today punched me in the face.

 

Well, helllooooo CROW'S FEET!

Yikes.

It's just "character" right? ;)

30 Feels Good

On the 4th of this month I said sayonara to my 20s. I have never felt so loved and celebrated! Last weekend my husband gathered both sides of our family to celebrate [my dad's famous] fajita style. It was fab. Earlier that week my girlfriends took me to my favorite little place to eat too much, Lazlos. Such fun.

Never too old for party hats, right?

 My bestie and shindig organizer:

 

I very much look forward to this next season of life. I feel like my 20s was such a time of change and self discovery and I'm ready to coast along for awhile. Don't get me wrong, I love certain change (hello!! can't wait to be a new mama again!) but feel good at where I am and where I'm going. Cheers to getting older!