Laura's Baby Shower

I was able to host a family baby shower for my sister, Laura, and her new baby, Clara.  We held the shower at my parent's and had a great turn out!  My Aunt and cousins from Terre Haute, Laura's mother-in-law and sister-in-law, and two of my mom's best friends from church all joined the group.  We played some fun games and enjoyed a super yummy lunch of chicken salad sandwiches, pasta salad, fruit,  and cookies.  I was so excited to welcome another niece to our family, as the last three grandchildren have been boys!  

The guys from Terre Haute joined my dad, David, and Kyhle and went to a park and out for lunch and ice cream with my cousin's two little boys.  They played a wiffle ball game, where Kyhle fell on his back and messed up his shoulder a little bit.  Why am I not surprised? ;)  Overall, everyone one had a great day together and it was so nice to get together with our Terre Haute family!  

July Celebrations!

I just love the 4th of July!  I don't know if it's because we usually celebrate my birthday with the family that day, or if it's the fireworks or the food.  Whatever it is, I love it!  On the day of the 4th, Kyhle and I went down to my parent's to hang out, and we joined them at their ward cookout.  We had such a great time!  I sure do love the Greenwood 2nd ward.  They will always hold a special place in my heart! They had a good fireworks display at the end of the night that the Young Men put on.  

On the 5th, my best friend, Joanna, and her husband, Austin, joined us at the Symphony on the Prairie!  This is one of my favorite things to do in July!  They do a spectacular concert with all patriotic music, and an amazing firework display after the show.  Everyone just takes chairs and blankets and relaxes for the evening.  We took a bunch of picnic food and enjoyed some lemon shake ups. :)

July 6th was my 24th birthday!  We had a birthday dinner at my parent's house that my sister and her family joined us for.  We had a delicious dinner with my favorite: my Grandma's potato salad!  After dinner, we did some fireworks in my parent's back yard and enjoyed my other favorite: jello poke cake!  It was Eli's first time really seeing fireworks and he sure did love it!  My dad fixed up my old golf clubs, in hopes that I'll be able to join him and Kyhle more next summer on the course.  It was a nice, cute surprise! He and my mom also gave us the hotel in St. Louis for a birthday gift.  My siblings gave me some great gifts of dishes, a beautiful picture and a gift card.  My in-laws gave me a beautiful necklace from Tiffany's!  My first blue box!  The flowers are also from my parents.  Kyhle gave me tickets to the Maroon 5/Kelly Clarkson concert!  Sadly, I was not healed enough after surgery, and I had to end up selling the tickets.  Bummer! :( It was a fabulous birthday and I am grateful to my family for making it that way! 

July 8th was out third wedding anniversary!  Three years!  We went out and enjoyed a great dinner at The Cheesecake Factory.  I sure love this man of mine.  It has been the best three years of my life, and I look forward to spending eternity with him.  I'm a lucky gal. :)

Love in Chicago

On Friday, June 28, Kyhle called on his way home from work and said, "Pack your bag!  I am taking you to Chicago for the weekend!"  Boy, did he catch me by surprise!  He came home, we booked the hotel, and headed out an hour later.  We first drove to Terre Haute and stayed the night at his mom's house where we left the dogs for the weekend.  We left early Saturday morning for Chicago.  We had such a perfect weekend!  It was the weekend before my birthday and our third anniversary, so we made it an anniversary present to each other.  

Unfortunately, we packed for 80 degree summer weather, and were not expecting 50 degrees!!  We had to go buy new sweatshirts just to be able to enjoy walking the city at night time.  I don't know what I was thinking not bringing sweatshirts to the windy city!  I was also a dodo and wore cute shoes instead of being smart and wearing tennis shoes.  Again...what was I thinking?!  Despite my aching feet and cold legs, we enjoyed walking around and Kyhle loved really seeing the city for the first time.  We ate a yummy dinner at Girodano's pizza, and then went over to Navy Pier.  That was the best part!  We got to do two boat rides!  The first was a twilight special so it was really cheap.  It was a 30 minute ride out  into Lake Michigan to get a gorgeous view of the skyline at night.  It was perfect timing being right at sunset.  We wanted to ride the ferris wheel, but it was too windy, so they shut it down while we were there.  We then decided to splurge a little (anniversary, remember?) and we went on another boat ride for an hour during the fireworks show!  It was such a blast!  We rode a large speed boat, and got soaked, but it was so worth it!  

Thank you for such a fun trip, Kyhle!  I love you so much! 

Family Fun in St. Louis

When my sisters came home for my cousin's wedding, it just so happened that the Cardinals had a game in St. Louis the following Monday!  My family made a trip over for a couple of fun days!  When we got all checked in to the hotel, half the group stayed back and played in the pool, and half of us went over to Busch Stadium to watch the Cards beat the D-backs!  The next day, we were able to head over to the St. Louis Zoo where we got to play for a couple of hours and the kids really enjoyed that!  We enjoyed a fun luau dinner at mom and dad's house one night, and the kids had an exciting time playing in the little pool together.  So fun to have cousins to play with!  We had such a great time together, and I just love when my family comes home.