Happy

"The happiest people don't have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything." -Unknown.

NYC

I was blessed to share the 4th of July weekend in New York City with my wonderful husband and my awesome sister-in-law. I feel so lucky to have a sister-in-law that I can be friends with and enjoy spending time with. :) Here's a brief recap of our weekend. 

Hanging out at Battery Park. 

 One of the many views of the city. 

 Joel really LOVES Kim Kardashian and wanted to go to her store. There was a ridiculous line to get in, so a picture in front of the store just had to do.

 Since this was technically baby's first big trip, we had to bring back a souvenir. 

 Our friend Jon (who lives in New York) was able to come hang out with us. Good times!

 We love the show 30 Rock and had to get a picture in front of the statue from the show. This was as close as we could get. 

 Just outside of Time's Square waiting for dinner.

 One of my favorite pics! Joni chugged 32 oz. of water and I was 16 weeks pregnant. Too funny!

 16 week baby bump pic in front of the Statue of Liberty, which we visited on Independence Day. 

 Group pic. :)

It was an awesome trip that included a ton of walking (about 30 miles), but my wonderful hubby treated me to a pedicure when we got home. :) So blessed!

Baby Update

I had my 2nd prenatal appointment today and it went great! Baby and I are healthy and all my blood tests and such came back great. :o) Not that I was super worried, but I told Joel the other day that I start to worry that something's wrong because I'm actually feeling really good and I'm not used to that. I'm used to feeling pretty crappy. Very thankful that everything looks good. We'll get to see baby at our next appointment. Very excited for that! 

Here's a picture Joel took...it's from 3 weeks ago, I'll try to get an updated one this weekend. :) 

Great news: I've only gained 2 lbs. Love it!

Recap

Joel and I were able to enjoy a wonderfully relaxing weekend camping at Holland State Park this past weekend. The forecast didn't look too promising, but it turned out to be a beautiful weekend. It was wonderful to get away for 3 full days with my love and enjoy spending time together without the tv, computer and chores. :)

We got to the campground Thursday late afternoon and got camp set up. I took a nap of course. :) We spent the evening relaxing by the fire and roasting hot dogs for dinner. There's nothing better than a hot dog cooked over the fire!

We both slept in Friday (and I took 2 naps). Love it! We went to the beach for the afternoon and it was gorgeous! Not too hot, but not too cold either. It was nice just relaxing in the sun and reading a book. :) Friday night we had hobo pies over the fire; another camping must, and walked down to get some ice cream before chilling by the fire for the evening.

Saturday morning, we headed into town to meet Joel's sister and my brother and sister-in-law for a delicious breakfast! I even had coffee and eggs! This is a big deal since my appetite has been really picky for the past several weeks. After breakfast we walked down to the farmer's market and bought some yummy strawberries to enjoy on the beach. We headed back to the campground where my sister and brother-in-law joined us as we headed to the beach for the afternoon again. Much hotter this day, but the water was only in the 50's, so I didn't brave it (though Joel and my sister did); crazy! Joel and I decided to head into town for dinner at one of our favorite places; New Holland Brewery. Yum! ...and a trip to Holland would not be complete without a Tommy Turtle sundae, so we had to stop and get one on the way back to the campground. :)

We relaxed Sunday morning and took Koda for a really long walk before packing up camp and coming home. What a great weekend. I feel so blessed to have such an amazing husband! Love you Joel!

Break

This is the first week I've been on summer break this year and it's been awesome! Monday, I headed to Detroit with some friends for some shopping, eating out and last but not least, the GLEE concert! It was so much fun! I was pleasantly surprised at how great the cast sounded live. The best part of the night was that the Warblers were there. For those of you who don't know who that is; it's the a cappella guys group on GLEE that are amazing! So much fun!

Today, I'm getting ready to head out to Holland State Park for a weekend of camping with my love. So excited to relax on the beach, read some books and hang out by the campfire. So great! :)

Such an amazing way to start my summer break!

Bro

My brother graduated from college with a degree in youth ministry a few years ago. His dream job is to be a full time youth pastor. He's had a part time youth job and has been working as an in home care person for two boys. He's applied for a ton of jobs, but unfortunately, especially in Michigan, it's hard to find something full time. Well, he applied for a job at a local church over a month ago and after a long bout with 3 interviews total, he signed the paperwork to be their new full time youth pastor. I'm beyond excited for him and his wife! God is great! I know he's going to do great things at this church! Congrats bro!

Here's one of my favorite pics from his wedding almost 3 years ago, and yes, my hair was super short. Kinda miss it. :)

Blessings

Oh wow! I have been quite the slacker lately. I guess that's what I get the last few weeks of the school year and add on that the fact that baby's really taking it out of me. I'm not complaining though, just means baby's healthy right?!

Life is amazing right now! My mom is doing awesome! She starts her cardiac rehab tomorrow and should be going back to work in July. I'm selfishly glad she's not going back yet so we can spend some time together when I'm done with school for the summer. :)

On that note, school's done for the summer this Friday. The kids have been C.R.A.Z.Y.! We're all ready for a break from each other. :) It's funny how I start to miss them all once I haven't seen them for a couple of weeks. I'll be saying goodbye to the 8th grader on Thursday night. Always hard for me; I get so darn attached to them! Hopefully they'll come back to visit me at some point. :)

Despite the crazy humidity and heat, that's not making me feel the greatest, I'm not complaining! Finally good weather! The garden is doing great (I'll post some updated pics after I get it weeded.) We also have some beautiful flowers blooming in front of our house. I LOVE this time of year! Hope you have a blessed rest of your week!

Our pretty peonies. :)

:)