We had a great time in Branson but are glad to be back home. I had been to Branson pre-children and once when our daughter was a few months old and I just didn't find it too appealing. With no kids - New York, Chicago or Vegas is more my speed, but with kids Branson was great - I almost kinda liked it.
I was going to post a day-by-day summary of what we did but really I'm a lazy blogger. I got as far as these few pics from the first day and then decided to call it quits. I may upload to Flickr at some point...but I don't know.
This is Happy Boy's fear face.
This is Happy Girl's making-fun-of-brother's-fear-face. I'm not sure what Happy Boy's face is here - just scary to see.
We had a great time overall. The best part? We're off! That means we came back to town shipped the kid's to the grandparent's house and had a couple of days to recoup! I highly recommend a post-vacation vacation!
This the day we headed out for Branson. Happy Girl is growing up way to quickly...this is but a brief glimpse of what will be happening in the not to far future.
In this pic we're getting ready to head out. Nothing says road trip like wacky teefers.Aren't these the ugliest trees ever? We started to see them as we neared Branson, they just look so pitiful and beat up.
We surprised our kiddos by meeting up with my brother-in-law's family. They just happened to be vacationing in Branson with his wife's family and they stayed an extra day in order to meet up with us. Aren't they the coolest??? This pic is of our four kiddos all together. The red head in the back is Happy Girl with her Happy Cousin next to her. In the front is Happy Boy on the right with his Happy Cousin on the left.
This is Happy Boy in a go-kart that is just his size.
Here is the Happy Gang. The first four on the left are my Happy in-laws. The four on the right are the Happy family.
Ever since Select Comfort came out with the Sleep Number Bed I thought...too cool! Labels: fellow blogger, stuff
But really, the only way you can "test" it out is to purchase it and if you don't like it you can return it after 30 days (but you have to pay for the return shipping yourself). Not a great deal really. I have no clue how much shipping is but it has to be well over $150.
S0, when we checked into the Radisson yesterday (we're on vacation...so why am I writing this?!) and I saw a promotional stand asking "What's your number?" Apparently this Radisson hotel has sleep number beds in all there rooms. I thought, "No way! I can really test this thing out!"
So, I snuggled into bed and set the number at a cozy 3o. The numbers go up to 100, I figured I'm mama bear and softer would be just right for me.
Wrong.
Apparently, this sleep number bed is just a fancy air mattress. The higher the number the more air and the harder the mattress. Less air, softer.
Let me tell ya, I had flash backs to my first years of marriage when we had a water bed. Anytime my hubby would flip over I'd flip in the air like a pancake! And same with him when I'd flip.
I slept like crap.
When I woke up this morning I thought - this sleep number thing is awful! But then I, being the savvy quick thinker that I am, realized I have another night here and I should try a different number. Yea, friends, I'm quick like a bullet.
So, 30 is not my number...maybe tonight I'll try 45.
But wait! I know a number that definitely suits me....100!
I'll tell you why - I've been working on starting up a real estate blog focused on Johnson County, KS - this where I do the bulk of my work. I wasn't going to announce it here yet but really I was just highlighted on another real estate blog so I wanted to share. Lani from Realtor Wives placed me in her bloglines and mentioned me on her site as the 100th feed added to her feed reader. She's been so supportive of me with the start up of my work blog I just had to share with you how awesome she is. So - all ya two readers...head over and say hello to her for me!
Here's my young real estate blog: http://www.rebekahherzog.com/. Check it out and tell me what you think. I know most of my blogging friends really will not be interested in this site - it is going to have posts mainly focused on my city and county but you can get a taste of my workin' girl side.
I've been tagged by Daneen with this meme...I actually originally posted this meme last September... but it is always fun to laugh at myself! So, I'm resurfacing this post for giggles. Alright, Shalee tagged me for this meme and I don't think she knew what she was in for. I'm supposed to list 5 things that are weird about me or my dog...I'm sure I can do both without any problem. Here it goes: I rarely(...or have I ever?) mention our dog, Heidi. She's a one-year old boxer. We adopted her when she was six months and we suspect she might have been abused or heavily reprimanded as a young pup. That said...you would think I would go easy on her but, don't forget whose typing here. So, there ya have it! Consider yourself tagged. And if you play along, leave a comment and let me know! Labels: fellow blogger, fun, meme
On a side note - the dog's days are numbered. Heidi is going to a new family this weekend. We've had her for a year and a half now and we just think she's a bit too big for our family. We aren't able to give her the much needed exercise she deserves and so we're letting her go. We told the kids we'd look for a smaller dog that would fit our family at this time a bit better. So, hopefully in the next month or so we'll have a new pet to post about.
Happy Boy: Mom, you know why our heart beats? Labels: Conversations, Happy Boy
Happy Mom: Because it's carrying blood to our body to keep us alive.
Happy Boy: No, because God is always fighting and that is the sound of the fight.
Happy Mom: What is God fighting for?
Happy Boy: For us!
Wow, wisdom beyond his years.
This weekend I had a huge "Aha" moment. Also known as the light bulb moment.
I've been complaining and yelling to God these past couple of weeks about some issues my family is facing. I've been telling him what I want, what I think I need, what I think my family needs, I, I, I.
Deep in my heart I know God has us where we are for a reason, but the grass just looks greener on the other side.
Last week I think God got tired of my complaining and said, "There. Take it." and gave us an opportunity to address our issues the way I wanted them to be taken care of. And you know what? We didn't take it. We knew it wasn't the right thing to do. And it hurt.
Sunday night as my wonderful husband and I were discussing our situation he said something that finally caught my mind and heart. He said, "Bek, we've got to enjoy where we are now."
Hmmm? That sounds so familiar (sarcasm intended). I posted previously on enjoying my children's various stages in life but I just hadn't applied it to the stages of life that God places me in. So, while I don't like this situation we're in I can choose to look at the blessings that are in our life right now. Because before long I'm going to be in a new phase of life looking back on today and I want to remember the blessings not the pain.
My response from Blogger:Hello,
Your blog has been reviewed, verified, and cleared for regular use
so that it will no longer appear as potential spam. If you sign out of
Blogger and sign back in again, you should be able to post as normal. Thanks
for your patience, and we apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.
Sincerely,
The Blogger Team
Yeah. I'm back in. Does this mean I'll be posting more often? Probably not - I'm a slacker that way. But if I do want to post...I can.
I'm not sure why Blogger is still not letting me post - I'm really starting to take this very personally. But being the persistent little gal I am I've figured out that I can email post to my blog. HA! Take that, Blogger! And to my two biggest "supporters" Dad and Addie (I'd link but, ya know, I can't access the edit post mode and all) in response to your comments on my previous post: Ad- "While she is a little weird and some might consider her to be an acquired taste" Dad - "Maybe if you tried posting more often it wouldn't forget who you are." All I have to say is: THAT IS SOOOOO A SMACKLIMENT! Smackliment defined here: http://threesummits.typepad.com/journey/2005/09/smackliment_.html Next time I visit my therapist you both are so goin' on the speaker phone!
I'm banned from posting on my own blog! This really stinks. BLOGGER - I AM NOT SPAM! Let me back in!
My little world has been spinning busily these past few months. Here is another update on various stuff. Labels: family, Happy Boy, Happy Girl
HAPPY GIRL'S DEBUT AT THE TALENT SHOW
Happy Girl could not have done a better job with her performance in the talent show. You may recall our dicussions on how proud we were that she even had the guts to audition here and then how thrilled we were when she actually made it into the show here. So, the day of the show was not without its intensity!
The drama began to brew the previous day when my mother called and said that her and my father had to be back on the other side of town by 10:30 a.m. for some commitments. (Side note: My parents are the best grandparents ever and they put a lot of effort and sacrifice to support our children in their school and extra curricular activities. We love them for that!) So, I told them they hadn't given a schedule of events and I had no idea when she would be performing. I told them it wasn't worth the risk of driving over here only for them to have to leave without seeing the performance. They live about 40 min. from us and were willing to drive through the morning rush hour traffic just to maybe have the chance to see her. I told you they were awesome!
So, the morning of...
Okay, I'm a bit dramatic - but it's not too far from reality.
Without going into a long drawn out boring story...my parents were literally standing by the door ready to leave when she finally had her turn. And she did GREAT!
Here's a glimpse:(no comments on the stability of the camera - I was sitting next to a four-year-old boy...nuf said.)
MY GRANDPA TURNS 8O!
We had a great celebration this Memorial Day weekend. Not only is it a blessing to know that my Grandfather contributed to our nation by serving time with the Merchant Marines and the Army - which we celebrate when we gather on Memorial Day. But, it also happend to be his birthday on Sunday so Monday we had a great party to celebrate with friends and family.
My dad posted a great pic of him here.
And here he is when he was a merchant seaman. He's working on starting a blog, hopefully soon. But in the mean time you can check out his awesome ministry here.
Okay, I think I've officially crammed in the most links ever in this post.
