Fishing, creeking, & camping

We are so glad to finally have Daddy home for vacation!

Our first item on the agenda was to go fishing.

Tim absolutely loves to fish.

He's still trying to teach the kids!

They really do enjoy it though!

We went to Lake Atalanta in Rogers.  

We saw catfish, bass and blue gill and caught some blue gill.

We saw geese, ducks, scissor-tail flycatchers and other random birds too.

It was very peaceful early in the morning.

(side note- C has finally learned to put her own hair in a pony tail really good!  Yay!)

We fished for 3 1/2 hours!

We were starving so we headed downtown and ate at Lucy's Diner.

It was SO GOOD.

Tim had hamburger steak and I had breakfast (pancakes, eggs & bacon).

I love good old fashioned cooking!

There is a playground and a nice creek at Lake Atalanta.

We headed back to let the kids play in the creek for awhile.

They had a blast exploring and splashing!

We came home and all took naps.

And we decided to camp in the backyard!

And have a fire with roasted marshmallows and s'mores!

RIP chocolate Easter bunny.

The kids had so much fun.

I love watching them make memories!

 Our air mattress lost half of it's air during the night and the birds are SUPER loud first thing in the morning, but Tim made pancakes with fresh strawberries on top and coffee!

Him

In honor of Father's Day this past Sunday, I wanted to say some things about my husband.
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He is one of the best things that has ever happened to me.


I was thinking last night back to our early years(and recent years) and I realized that we went through some pretty rough times.


We were married and then suffered a miscarriage. And he was right by my side.


   We then had a nice year and a half of being together and working and traveling before C Girlie was on the way. 
My pregnancy was SO HARD.  And once again, he was always by my side.  
A lot of our friends were getting jobs and moving away, but we still had each other and our precious little girl.  
   We soon found out that we would be expecting AGAIN!
Once again, another extremely hard pregnancy.
    His first Father's Day, I was on bedrest for the upcoming birth of our SECOND child.  Cray Zee.
With our family and Tim missing a lot of work, we made it through and welcomed our precious little boy.
    
   When B Boy was 6 months old, I started having a ton of pain one day.  It would not go away.
Tim finally hauled me off to the ER. After the CT, they determined I had appendicitis AND my appendix was adhered to my small intestine.  I had to go in for an emergency appendectomy.  OF COURSE it ended up being complex.  They tried to do it laparoscopically, but then had to do an incision anyway.
I don't remember much about my 5 days in the hospital, but I do know that my husband and his mother took care of my babies while I was there.
   
   Tim's second Father's Day, we were selling our house and preparing for a move to a new town.  What a hectic summer that was!  It was such a good move for our family and Tim's career though.  That fall and winter were a very magical time for our family.
   
   Going into 2008, things were still very good.  But then, I started having some issues that were a result of my pregnancies.  I ended up having a surgery to fix it because it became a very big issue for me.  I thought things were VERY good after that.
   
    The next March of 2009, I started having an issue that I had to see a doctor about.  I ended up having a small surgery to remove an abscess in a delicate area.  BUT, it never healed.  I went for months with pain.  I was finally referred to a surgeon and then a very specific specialist.  I then had to undergo 3 surgeries to correct the problem.  Tim was my rock during all these health problems that just seemed to come one right after another.
   
   It is SO VERY HARD to be a new mom to little toddlers and go through a lot of health issues.  There were days where I so wished things were different because I wanted to be a better mom to them.  I wanted to feel good and be healthy.  Tim encouraged me so much.  He will never know how much that meant to me.  He has always made me feel like I am the best mom in the universe.
   
   By February 2010, I was FINALLY better from my "issues."  I was feeling better and things were going very well. Well, for the most part.  Tim had taken a new job the previous July in a town far, far away.  We had put our house on the market and Tim was staying in Fayetteville during the week for his job.  BUT, he would wait until Monday morning and wake up at 4am to leave by 5 to drive to work so that he could spend Sunday evenings with us.  He would also drive home on Wednesday nights to spend a few hours with us during the week and then drive all the way back on Thursday morning.  It was hard on all of us, but we made it work.
   That summer, we finally decided that we could not live apart any longer.  The house still had not sold, but we decided to suck it up and find a home to rent and just wait for the house to sell.  That move to Bentonville almost killed me.  I remember crying on the way home from Bentonville because I did not want to move.  I know it frustrated Tim so much, but he tried so hard not to be mad at me.  I'm very "anti-change."
    
   But, we finally moved. It was very hard on me learning a new town and being away from family.  And then, less than two months after moving, we lost Tim's mom in September 2010.  I really can't get into this very much still, but this was VERY hard on me.  I'm sure it was on Tim too, but I know personally how I felt.  I went through a depression of sorts and then got very sick.  Tim took me to the doctor twice and the ER twice.  No one could figure it out.  I finally saw my doctor again and we are pretty sure I had gastroenteritis and he diagnosed me with IBS.  This was last February 2011.  
   
   I have been through more health issues than a person my age typically does.  I have went through family fall-outs, and changes in my life that I did not want to happen.  Through it all, Tim has been the person I have told everything to.  He has been my best friend through it all.  He has been my partner and my equal.  He has changed diapers and listened to me rant about all sorts of things! He has encouraged me to do things I want to do.  I'm not saying we are never at odds with each other, because believe me, it has happened!  
   He goes with me to family things on my father's side of the family.  He has went to kid birthday parties and dealt with many ugly cries from me.  
   
   I never take my health for granted anymore.  Even though right now, I can say things are good, I know that it can change at any time.  Our kids have been so loved and taken care of, that they don't even know these bad things have happened.  They knew momma was sick, but they can't remember much of that now.  They have a golden childhood and for that, I am so thankful.
  
   I'm very thankful that Tim goes to church and has faith.  I have always wanted my children raised in church and I'm so lucky that we are on the same page.  Those early years, when we had to get two babies ready for church and drive 40 minutes to church were H-A-R-D, but I'm so glad we did it.  We didn't go every Sunday, but we went as much as we could.
   
   I know this is long, but I want the kids to know our story and know how much we love them and how committed Tim and I are to each other.  It is hard work to be married, and even harder work to have children.  They are our joy and have made us a family. But, at the end of the day, it is him and I.  When the kids are all grown, it will be us two.  I'm so thankful that we make time to connect and stay close to one another.  
   It seems crazy that we have known each other for 10 years.  It doesn't seem possible that much time has passed!  
   Tim, I'm so glad I raced back from Branson that day to meet you at Romedio's.  

Surprise!

My brother planned on coming to visit yesterday to help celebrate Tim's birthday and see the kiddos before he leaves for his military training again.  He got here around 10 am and rang our doorbell.  Of course the kiddos knew it was him and ran to answer the door.  They were so excited greeting him and stuff when I came around the corner. As I was saying hi, Jessica jumped in from outside and gave me the shock of my life! lol.  I was SO surprised and SO happy that she came!  I have missed her so much lately.  It was SUCH an awesome surprise!!!


It was so wonderful spending the day with them.  They went to storytime at the library with us! They had fun watching the kiddos do stuff in their daily routine!  Since it was Tim's birthday, we went and picked him up from work and went to try a restaurant we had been wanting to try for a while, Smokin Joe's Ribhouse.  It was SO SO yummy!  I am very excited to go back there again!


I just have to say, I have one of the best brothers ever.  We had a flat tire on our riding lawn mower, and Tim is not the most "mechanical" guy out there (sorry babe, I love you!).  So Keith researched a place to take the tire to and we took it out there to be looked at.  It ended up not having a hole, it had just been pulled away from the rim.  That was really good news!  So he put the tire back on and now we are good to go.  We really need to mow too!


Before Keith and Jessica left, we sang Happy Birthday to Tim and had some cheesecake!


Tim had a great birthday and we all had a great day because we were able to spend it with family!

Deli treats

Gruyere, pepper jack, genoa salami, and pastrami

Daddy's surprise yesterday for celebrating Christmas break!