Birthdays, Mother's Day and more :)

So many people have asked me about being sad that Blakes is a year old, and too be honest, I'm not and I think it's because we had such a great time celebrating her first year of life!! :)

According to Ross we packed her birthday weekend with too many events, but I think looking back on it...we planned just enough! ;) Ross took Friday, B's official birthday, off and, let me just tell y'all...She loved it! He says he's going to make it a tradition now to take all birthdays off. :)

Friday consisted of family pics with our favorite photographer ever, Susan, down at the Art Center. Then we headed to Blakely's 1 year doctors appointment...I know who's mother schedules a doctors appointment on a birthday?!? But B did great after receiving 4 shots and heading back to my parents' house for the prep of her 1st birthday party!!

We were so blessed to have family and friends come and celebrate her birthday! After a long day and eating her first cake with icing, we all went to bed to get some rest before heading to Pella on Saturday for Tulip Time! We met some of our friends and even though it was hot and we didn't do all that much, it was a great time! :)

THEN! The best surprise of the week happened when Uncle Cole showed up mid week from Ames! We were so excited to see him that we didn't even notice that when he came through the front door there was someone else behind him...YES! UNCLE TAY!!! It was sooo great having all of our family together for our birthdays and Mother's Day!

Ross did an amazing job of planning a super fun day for my birthday! We headed to Winterset to drop B off at Frama and Papa's with her Aunt Kare and cousins so that we could sign all of the papers for our new house (!!!!) and to enjoy take out from our fav Mexican restaurant and picnicking at the park. :) Then we headed back to Waukee for a complete Owens family pic with, again, our fav photographer and concluded the day with Jimmy John's at the house. :)


Of course, I do not have any pics to show for all of this because our camera is still in storage and using our video camera to take motionless pics was too difficult... BUT as of this past weekend, I was totally blessed by receiving a new Nikon camera from my wonderful husband and both sides of the family! So here are some of the 91 pics I took just in the first day ;)

Pic with lens #1

pic taken by same lens :)

new fav thing...slides!

playin with granddaddy :)

baby robins in my parents' tree in the back yard

walkin with just one hand help from granddaddy :)

yeah that's right...i just got the Diet Dr. Pepper :)

Try and stop me from enjoyin the best drink ever!

No milk (of any kind) for this girl...just water and  DDP! :)

Love being with Uncle Presty :)

Happy Mother's Day Mom! 

Oops...forgot to ask dad what he got her before buying the kids' gift for her :) 

Lovin' bath time!

so pretty  :)

Uncle Love!

I just love her :)

Owens Fam :) 

The banner I made for B...thanks Susan for getting a pic :)

5th degree virus?

Yesterday, I noticed a horrible rash on Blakely's arms and stomach while we were walking outside at Jordan Creek with Holls and Kypton. Of course, a thousands things ran through my mind of what the rash was... After an extremely long night of no sleep and Miss B tossing and turning plus screaming, I noticed the rash spread to her entire body, yes even her lower abdomen area. :(  

Upon waiting an hour at the doctor's, we were informed that she has a 5th degree virus and the rash is actually a good thing?? Who would have thought? and who knew there was something out there called a 5th degree virus? Needless to say, this whole ordeal of worrying, wondering, and yes, even a few tears from both B and myself (surprise, surprise ;)) reminded me that Blakely is a blessing/gift from the Lord and ultimately she is His and He has everything in control. :) She is doing just fine, she's actually sleeping as we speak, and I am so very thankful!

It's kind of weird not to have pics to share with everyone, but it doesn't mean things are any less crazy around here!  Blakely is practically standing all by herself; we're just waiting for the moment she takes her first steps! Her first birthday is next Friday and I am so very excited to celebrate with her! I'm also really excited to see what God has planned for our family in the year to come!

I just received all of the requirements for my two internships I am completing in the Fall and I must be honest, it's going to be ALOT. I'm starting to think it will only take a miracle from God for it to all go the way it's suppose to! I also received the syllabi for my summer courses and while I'm being honest, I think it's going to take another miracle for me to complete them in addition to moving to a new house and all of the weddings we have this summer. In all seriousness though, I wouldn't have things be any different! :)

I hope everyone's enjoying the gorgeous weather and having a wonderful week!

And it begins... :)

Blakely experienced her first taste of Ross's Easter Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Egg and....she loved it! :)

That's right...I just ate chocolate, mom!

And...I love it!!

I love my daddy too!

B's new room...don't mind the clothes everywhere ;)

Presty's room transformed! My family has been so kind and great for doing all of this!

Again, don't mind the clothes...living out of laundry baskets right now ;)

And as for the pics I promised of all the newness in the Owens home. Please forgive the blurriness and poor quality of the pics...they were taken with our video camera. ;)


Last week, we received some bittersweet news that one of our family friends had passed away. He was around the same age as my dad, and has a wife and three children. Even though I felt sadness for his family here, his wife posted a really sweet and profound post on facebook and it basically said, she did not lose her husband, she knows exactly where he is and that's in heaven with Jesus. :)

The time we have spent with the family has helped put my life in perspective and motivated me to really try to make the best of the time I have with those I come in contact because only God knows what the next minute, hour, day, etc will bring. :)

Move #1 Complete :)

Who would have thought the room covered in N*SYNC (mostly Justin Timberlake) posters, pics of middle and high school memories, American Girl dolls, and so much more that I so dearly loved as a child/adolescent/teenager/college girl would be transformed into the room my daughter will be spending the next two months??  (I would have pictures of this but of course, our camera is still in the desk drawer that is packed in the back of our storage unit. :) )

And to add to the story...the room my brothers spent the majority of their childhood in would be our new location for the next two months?? Crazy and somewhat creepy for me to think about it ;) In any event, we are sooo thankful for being here and for all that our families have done for us!!

We decided to move in to my parents' house a week earlier than planned, which meant one crazy weekend of packing and moving things into storage for Ross's parents, Ross, B, and I. (I don't suggest anyone, including ourselves, to ever do it! ;) ) However, it has been a blast being back in my parents' house. Blakely has enjoyed the extra time with her Nini, Grand daddy, and uncles. I am pretty sure Blakely has said, "woof woof" and "yeah yeah" a hundred times a day from her uncles asking her to! :)

Blakely's first Easter was great! We spent the weekend with both sides of the family, which included seeing all of the cousins on the Rethmeier side, and yes, even our new cousin/nephew Sage was there! :) Blakely experienced her first Easter egg hunt at Frama and Papa's house, dying of Easter eggs at her Nini and Grand daddy's, and Good Friday and Easter Services at HOPE even though we spent the majority of the time in the family room. ;)

Similar to Christmas, this Easter had a new meaning for this first time mom. During one of the services, Pastor Mike showed the scene from the Passion where Mother Mary longed to protect her son from the beatings Jesus received while carrying his cross. I have to be honest, I cried (surprise, surprise :) ) but I also realized how thankful I am for Christ and for the blessings in my life! 

We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend and I will hopefully have some pics of all the "newness" soon!

MUCH LOVE!!

We're Moving! :)

That's right! We're super excited to be moving to a new house. Actually, it's not all that new to us since it was Uncle Nick and Aunt Kelsey's house before they moved to Indiana. It's kind of a crazy story how this all worked out... 

The Rethmeier side of the family has had an awesome last month or two! God has answered so many prayers. Number one, Nick and Kelsey are moving back to Iowa, Pella to be exact. (We're really happy about this! :)) Number two, after quite a few discussions, Ross's parents have decided to purchase our house and to turn it into a rental property. Frama Gayle looked on craigslist one day and found a family who was seeking to rent a house in our location and who would have thought, after they looked at it, they want to rent the house! They're actually moving in April 1st!! So we will be moving into my parents' house until June 1st when we will be allowed to move into our new house! The third prayer God has answered. :) 

When Nick and Kelsey first told us they were moving to Indiana, something inside me said we should buy their house here. My best friend told me the same thing when she found out they were moving...I guess we think alike at times and we should listen to her more often! ;) 

Of course, at the time we thought we were meant to find a place closer to Ross's work, but after house searching in that area, finding nothing we were really 100% about and Ross's parents buying our home, we finally decided to buy Nick and Kelsey's house! :)  I'm not sure if this all makes sense, which is okay, because either way God has provided so many blessings! :) 

We will have to upload pictures of the new house once we are able to be in the house. (There are renters in their until June 1st.) It will be a crazy next few months with a new cousin coming soon, Blakely's 1st birthday party, finishing up classes, starting 3 more classes, moving in with my family, and moving out of my family's house into our new house, but we can't wait!! :)

Sorry, I just want to watch the DVDs in this box! (I love her so much!)

Stop packing for a snack? Yes, please!

I can get them myself, thank you. :)

Ouch! Just it my head on the box...ugh, can't wait to be in our new house without all of these boxes in my way!

Mom, let me read the book!

Are you listening??

K, here goes..."Blue Hat, Green Hat, oops!!"

Lovin Life :)

We have been so blessed with more gorgeous weather! We have enjoyed going for walks with Shaddy and Ells, in hopes the walk would help our new baby cousin/niece or nephew arrive sooner ;), playing outside and at the park with Nini and Grand daddy, hangin out with Griffin and Kypton for a grill out and going to the zoo for the first time with Jess and Carmen, even though our trip was interrupted by a thunderstorm. I guess we need rain every once in a while. ;)  I have to admit I was a little nervous about how Blakely might react to the animals at the zoo, but for the short time we were there, she seemed to love them! Especially the super cute red pandas! :)

On one of the nicer days last week, Ross and I tried putting super cute flip flops Blakely got from her cousins, Aubrey and Neely, on her but of course, she hated them! However, we were able to get a few cute pics of her in them while smiling. :)   

One of B's new favorite games is flinging herself on our bed into a pile of pillows! (Sorry for the blurry pics, but I thought they were too cute not to post. :))

Hope everyone's doing well and enjoying this week! LOVES!!

Givin' the wink ;)

Mom, give me your sunglasses!!

Stylin' :)

My turn to take pics :)

I think I'm done...too tired from laughing and flinging myself back!

Ready to go to the zoo!!