Deanna Rose playdate

Today was another gorgeous day outside so we decided to head to Deanna Rose & spend a couple hours of fun in the sun. This time we asked if Greyson could join us & his parents agreed so we stopped by his house to pick him up & to say the boys were excited is an understatement. 

We had brought the wagon which ended up being a good choice on our part & the boys loved riding in it throughout the farmstead while checking out all the animals.

The boys saw the goats, pigs, sheep, rabbits, calves, fed the baby goats, fed the ducks & played on the playground equipment. They had a blast!!

Halfway through the afternoon we stopped to get a snack & drinks & cool down a bit as it was a pretty hot day!

We ended up running into our friend Hannah & her Mama & spent the rest of our time there playing hanging out with them. 

Afterwards we all headed to Chick-fil-A to have a late lunch & then returned Greyson back to his family & headed home! It ended up being such a fun day with these littles & are so glad we were able to take Mason's best friend Greyson!

Bennett Springs State Park

We are headed to Lebanon, MO where Bennett Springs State Park is to do a little camping on the Niangua River. We have never been camping here before so we are super excited to check it out, do a canoe trip & some trout fishing!

The campsite was an awesome place & once we got all set up we took a little walk around the area, threw some rocks in the river & met some folks along the way who were camping there as well.

Our 2nd day there was spent touring the fish hatchery, feeding the fish, watching the expert fisherman catch rainbow trout & then my boys tried some fishing themselves.

Our last full day camping here at Bennett Springs was spent taking a canoe trip down the Niangua River. I was SO nervous about taking this canoe trip with Mason on board & Shane later told me he was also! I had no idea how deep it would be, if it would be treacherous or hairpin turns or not & my fear of losing Mase down the river was enough to make me ill. 

The lady at the office assured us the river wasn't any deeper than 2-3 ft, it was crystal clear so you could see the bottom & it was a very calm, peaceful 3 mile trip. So we agreed to go & the nice thing about this campsite was that they had shuttles that took you to the drop off site & your canoe trip ended right at the campsite. SO nice!

So I strapped that life jacket on my child as tight as I could get it, sat his little chair in front of me so I could see him at all times (& grab him easily) & away we went down the river. 

For someone who had never been in a canoe before I was scared to death. Not for myself but scared to death the canoe would tip over & I would lose my child down the river. As you can see in the pics it was a super calm & peaceful ride so I was able to relax a bit.

Mason was enjoying it for about a mile & then for some reason he got scared & kept saying "I hope the alligators don't get us." I tried to reassure him that there weren't any gators in the water but he didn't quite believe me. 

We pulled over half way down the river for some lunch & let Mason fish a bit. It was so quiet & peaceful on the river. I was SO enjoying our little afternoon excursion until out of the corner of my eye I see something moving on the rocks & spotted a baby Copperhead snake wiggling it's way towards my son. One thing about me is I don't do snakes - especially poisonous ones. I had no idea where the Mama snake was & I wasn't about to find out so I quickly scooped Mase up, threw our stuff in the canoe & we got the heck out of there & fast. 

 Turtles sunning on the log

Around the corner was a fork in the river. We had encountered several of these forks & would always take the left side which proved to be a good choice. There were two teenage kids sitting on the bank & we asked them which way to take & they said the right side is better so that is the way we took. A**holes. Those kids were a**holes. They told us to take the right side for a reason because they knew what was ahead. 

Two minutes later we are in a turbulant area with a 90 degree hairpin turn, Class VI rapids (okay maybe I am exaggerating a wee bit here but it felt like it at the time) tree limbs are down & we are ducking to avoid from hitting our heads & doing what we can to avoid tipping over the canoe. I have Mase between my legs scared to death, Shane is steering the front, I am steering the back & by the grace of God we managed to get out of that death trap without tipping over or losing my child or getting a divorce. Man nothing challenges your marriage like a canoe trip let me tell you!!

Once we made it back smooth territory we looked back & saw that those two kids had left. Imagine that! I was SO mad - clearly they saw we had a child with us!? I made Shane pull over to the bank so I could calm down & pray to God for saving us. After that little situation Mason was done with the canoe trip & so was I. Unfortunately, we still had at least a mile yet to go. 

The rest of the trip down the river was smooth as glass & the river was super shallow. It was actually quite enjoyable & Mason was able to calm down a bit & enjoy it as well. 

It took us about 4 hours to canoe down the river & we got back to the campsite around 2pm. We turned in our canoe, got our fishing poles & sat on the bank to do a bit of fishing. We saw trout in the clear, shallow water but sadly never ended up catching any.

The next morning we sadly packed up the camper & made our way home. I always hate packing up & leaving our camping trips. We absolutely loved it here at Bennett Springs State Park & are looking SO forward to heading back there Memorial week in May. 

I just love all these awesome memories we are making as a family & all the quality time we are spending together! Warms this Mama's heart!

Cell Phone Dump

My new favorite summer beverage - Redd's Strawberry Ale

Chick-fil-A ice cream cone - Mason's favorite!

Love seeing this come in the mail after my annual GYN visit - ALL GOOD :)

I love how Snapchat makes me look 30 instead of my real age!

My grey-haired, smooshy faced girl!

Haven't worn these shoes in awhile...looks like I will never be wearing them again!

Future Rockstar!

Daddy is out of town so it is date-night for me & this little Mister!

Saw this on the shelf at Wal-Mart & let out a little squeal! Fall is around the corner!!!

Free 2 weeks of Sirius XM & I get to listen to my favorite station. Taking it back old school!

Jarin & Mason - what I see every morning when I pull away from daycare. 

Playdate with G

Once a month Mason's best friend Greyson spends a Saturday with us while his Mama goes to work. I absolutely love these days & look so forward to them because for 6 hours my child is entertained by someone other than himself, Shane or I. 

Those of you who have only 1 child know what I am talking about. Unlike a child with siblings, the parents are the ones that end up being their childs' playmate. They are the ones who they play games with, puts puzzles together with, plays with Play-Doh & colors with. As much as I love spending time with my little man it sure is nice when he is distracted by a friend for 6 hours time :) I can get a whole heck of a lot done in 6 hours time without distractions.

And I love watching the two of them interact together. They love like brothers & sometimes they fight like brothers & sometimes it makes me sad that Mason is an only child. They have SO much fun together, love spending time together & to see their different personalities come out are fun to watch. 

Greyson is a shy, timid, hesitant, quiet little guy. A follower. My kid is the outgoing, wild, ready & willing, loud little guy. A leader. So to see the two of them interact & play together is fun to see. They are a good balance together & I can't wait to watch them grow up & experience life together as they get older.

Today was a gorgeous day outside so we took advantage of the nice weather & did some playing outside. The boys went cruising to the park in Mason's truck, they blew bubbles on the front patio, played with Play-Doh, had their favorite Mac-n-Cheese for lunch & then went swimming.

We absolutely love Greyson & our play-dates with him & look forward so many more in the future!

KU Heart Clinic

Today I am headed to the University of Kansas campus (home of our beloved Jayhawks) to help volunteer at the St. Lukes Heart Clinic for all the incoming freshmen & transfer student athletes. Every athlete that plays for KU gets an overall heart & health assessment by our Cardiologists - many of whom I work side by side with everyday.

At this clinic we take blood pressures, do EKG's, Echocardiograms, take their weight/BMI measurements & then a wellness interview of their overall health is done by the Cardiologist using the results of all the screenings we did for the day. 

These two awesome co-workers of mine assisted me today with blood pressures & EKG's. We had SO much fun meeting the athletes, talking with them about what sport they played, what they wanted to major in, where they were from & all hanging out together. They were a group of pretty awesome kids & those southern ones were quite respectful as they kept calling me Ma'am. Talk about feeling old - especially since I was old enough to be these kids mother. Yikes!

After the day was done, we ended up seeing almost 100 students in 6 hours time & you know what was the best part? We got paid for having fun, hanging out together at our favorite college campus & meeting students from all over the US! Can't wait to get to participate at another heart clinic in the future! Maybe I will be lucky enough to get to do the football & basketball team in the fall?!?

Birthday

Looking back, I have had some good birthday celebrations in the past.

There was that time where I met Lil' John & he gave me a birthday shout out & toast....

Or that time when I was 3 months pregnant & turning 40 & all my closest girlfriends made it such a special day...

 But none of those beat out the amazing birthday I had today!


You see, these girls right here.....

These girls are my Mama Tribe & they are amazing. Every Mama needs a Mama Tribe & I couldn't ask for a better group of girls to be in mine. 

These girls right there in that picture each took the day off of work to spend the my birthday with little ol' me. LOVE.

We all met at First Watch for brunch where I was showered with love, gifts & breakfast by these lovely ladies. One of my favorite gifts was wrapped in a barf bag - LOL! Hilarious.

We had a yummy brunch & then made our way to the movie theater to see the movie Bad Moms. We got to our seats & of course ordered cocktails. I opted for the "Mama-politan" & the girls surprised me with a yummy, gooey, fudgy brownie treat! It was oh so good!

The movie was hilarious & I loved how I could pick out the personalities of the girls in my tribe & apply them to the Mom's in the movie. We have the loud, crazy one, the conservative one, & the practical, routined, always on a schedule one. I won't tell you which one I am :)

After the movie two of the Mama's ended up having to go but Dana, Sara & I had a couple of hours before we had to get the kids so we ended up at the mexican restaurant across the street for apps & 'ritas.

We were the only ones in the place so we bellied up to the bar where we all enjoyed our drinks, chips & salsa. There were lots of great stories & laughs shared with these two & I feel so blessed to have such an amazing group of Mama's by my side.

We all parted ways around 4:30pm & I made my way to the daycare to pick up my little man & headed home for round 2 of birthday festivities.

We got home, ate supper & Mason was SO excited to have some birthday ice cream cake & sing Happy Birthday to his Mama! Ugh I love this boy so much!

It ended up being an awesome birthday spent with those that I love & as I turn another year older I am even more thankful for all the blessings in my life.

The next day at work I was surprised by my co-workers with a birthday lunch...

And my most favorite cheesecake by my friend Stetson - White Chocolate Raspberry! Ugh he truly loves me :)

And if the day couldn't get any better, I get a surprise visit by two of my most favorite girls....Ms. Jen & her daughter Ava Jean. 

They brought me the most cutest birthday present - a personalized rug for our camper. I absolutely love it & love them!

So as you can see, turning 44 years old wasn't so bad. I was surrounded by the bestest friends & family that a girl could ask for. Here's to another amazing, healthy, happy year!

Splash

There is a new park & splash pad that was built in Overland Park called Roe Park this past spring so Mase & I ventured out on this hot day to check it out.

Mason had a blast playing on all the equipment, walking on the trails & running through the sprinklers! 

This is one park that we will definitely be coming back to again & again! 

And everyone knows a visit to a park isn't complete without making a trip for ice cream! We ended up stopping at Dairy Queen on the way home & had us a chocolate dipped cone & cherry freeze. 

YUMMY!