The Low Down

I know that it appears through my blogging that the woman's retreat consisted of food, snuggling a baby, and more food.

That is somewhat accurate but there was more, much more. In my defense I was blogging via my phone and a quick pic is a lot easier than discussing the theology of the latest session via henpecking on a touch screen.

Here's the retreat in a quick summary.

The worship really was wonderful. My favorite part was the lead singer was a woman with a lower range. I could sing with her easily which really added to the experience (for me).

There were two different main speakers. They were both very gifted and we laughed out loud several times. My only complaint is having Ms. Jess with us made me painfully aware of how little the main sessions had to offer a young single woman. Lots of jokes about menopause and child birth isolated her demographic. In OCC's defense the lion share of women were 50+. Young single ladies were probably less than 5% of the attendees.

The classes offered a wide range of topics. I attended one on leadership, one on the Proverbs 31 woman and God's grace, and my favorite was about the paradox of self esteem. How do we balance what God says about us with the command to consider others better than ourselves. I will be writing on this in the future. Very compelling.

I think most would agree that the best part of retreats like this is who you go with. It is a wonderful time of bonding and fellowship. If nothing else I hope my random images and goofy writing has perked your interest in going next year.

Our Date

Here are some pictures from our date day in St. Charles. We headed out late morning and stopped at Chevy's for some delicious TexMex. It was amazing and SO delicious. My favorite part was their parking.


After our lunch we decided to walk off some of the chips we consumed while wandering the old brick streets of St. Charles.






We had a wonderful time. We weren't able to stay too long however because of the heat. It was sweltering. Jared was manning the camera and at one point said, "Hey why don't you stand about....here looks good. Just smile." So I did as I was told and then he showed me why he picked this particular spot notice the sign above my head (and the baby bump, hee hee):

It really was a fun weekend full and we are so thankful to be home. We don't have any plans to be away from the kids in the near future and I think all our babysitters are glad to hear that. We really are so thankful to all of you who made it possible for us to go both financially as well as taking care of the boys and supporting us as a family. Thank you so much.

Home At Last

Jared and I arrived home around 2:30pm and we are both so thankful to see our little boys. It's nice to have a trip but it's nicer to come home to those sweet faces.

We have all kinds of pictures I want to share. Right now laundry is calling so keep checking back!

No, I stayed in a Holiday Inn Select

Jared and I checked in yesterday at 4 and after given our room key we very excitedly headed up the elevator. In order to get to our floor you had to use the key in the elevator. Seemed pretty fancy to us.

Once we arrived on the 6th floor we went to the room, inserted the key, opened and...the room was occupied. There was a suitcase on the floor, the bed was messed and a coffee sat on the counter with a ton of pocket change. Awkward! Apparently they double booked the room. We drug our things back down stairs to the front desk.

That poor little guy was sweating bullets. We were gifted the "suite" from Zach and Maeve because they had booked another hotel for their first night. The suite was comped by the hotel since their entire families had booked rooms and they rented a conference room for the reception. The clerk was searching floor after floor and there were no rooms available. He finally found a room on the top floor in the back corner.

The room is fine and we were finally able to cool it off. The only issue is the bed. It's not rock hard like most hotel beds, it's ancient. No joke. This bed is like visiting your grandparents and using their spare room that has the bed they were given on their wedding day 800 years ago. We both roll to the center and have to reset ourselves by grabbing onto the edge. I guess they figure newlyweds wouldn't mind dog piling in the middle of the bed.

I actually slept fairly well believe it or not. I'd ask Jared how he slept but he's currently snoring behind me while I type. I'd say he's fine :)

We went to a local mall last night after dinner at the church. We just walked around and enjoyed each other. It's really nice to have some time to remember why we picked one another. We've been able to have several conversations uninterrupted. Today's our date day and I'm off to the shower. I bought a tank top yesterday at Motherhood Maternity that says "Craving Chocolate." I'm eager to put it good use today.

St. Louie

We arrived safe and sound.  It took us nearly 5 hours because my pregnant self couldn't go to long without a bathroom break.  

Kyle D. rode a long and he and I had fun serenading Jared on the ride.  We plugged in the ol' ipod and poor Jared got hours of Kyle and I off key and really loud.  It was fun until they started talking fantasy football and I zoned out and listened to a little J.T. on my own for the last 45 mins or so.  

I am entering into the "feed me now" stage of the pregnancy.  I have been craving tacos something fierce so we had Taco Bell for lunch and it hasn't ever tasted so good.  It's funny because I think my cravings so far have been far more specific than previous pregnancies.  Butter tastes wonderful, burgers rock, and anything mexican is a necessity.  I may have to try Culver's I hear they have Butter Burgers add a soft taco supreme and I'm in heaven!

I told Kyle that I liked the name Hazel and he said if we used it he would lovingly call her Hazelnut.  How cute is that?  I may call her that myself.  I found an old friend on Facebook and she has a little girl who's middle name is Karinne (Karen but with a soft "i").  I LOVE it and think Hazel Karinne is pretty.  We have also talked about Scarlett and tonight I met a Scarlett and I asked her what she thought of her name.  She insisted that she loved it and any little girl would be blessed to have it.  Her friends nicknamed her Scarly or Letta Joe (her middle name is Joe).

Tomorrow we have a date planned for the entire day because the wedding isn't until evening.  We are heading out to the historic St. Charles for some antiquing and wandering around.  Jared said it's like old Weston.  I can't wait.  

The boys are being spoiled and so are we.  This weekend is a blessing.