Our New Bed

There are definitely times when I feel like I'm getting old and that my priorities have certainly changed.  Ryan and I got a new bed and I am so excited that I'm blogging about it.  Sad?  I don't think so.

When we first got married 11 years ago, we bought the best mattress we could afford.  Needless to say, it wasn't the top of the line, and it sure wasn't mean to last 11 years.  It has gotten so lumpy that it kills my back each time I try to sleep on it.  In the past 6 months I have spent as many nights on the floor (trying to relieve the pain) as I have on my bed.   We were definitely due. 

When we got to the furniture store to get the mattress, we decided to be crazy and spring for a bed too.  In all of our 11 years of marriage we have never owned an actual bed.  We've always done the metal frame thing.  We have bought 2 cribs and 3 sets of bunk beds throughout the years, but nothing ever for us.  So if you can't tell... I'm excited.  I look forward to many nights of restful sleep!

Ta-Da!!

Now if only we had the rest of the matching bedroom set... ;)

Mueller Park

On Friday, we were able to go up to Meuller Park with some friends who had reserved a campground for the day.  I had never been up there before, but it's the talk of the town.  I wasn't disappointed. 

We started off the day with a "nice little hike".  The kids had fun chasing bugs and finding caterpillars.

We hiked for about an hour when we came to a look-out point. We asked our fearless leader how much longer we had to go. 

 

He then pointed out our final destination.

He consulted his GPS and informed us that we were probably about 1/4 of the way there.  "Umm... how long is this hike?" we asked. 

"I think it's about 5 miles."

"5 miles each way???"

With 17 kids under the age of ten in tow, and half of them being either packed on the backs of their parents or dragged by the hand behind them, we moms decided it would probably be best to turn back. 

After our hike we headed on over to our campsite for dinner and tons of fun.  Some of the highlights were: the older kids being given free range to poke sticks in the fire, tons of exploring, the discovery of a real-life whirl pool, climbing on a giant rock, smores, way too much sugar for the kids, and a kids-vs-dads pine cone fight.

Celebrating Summer

It was short day on Friday and it was also the last day of school.  Ryan surprised us all by coming home early enough to meet the kids at the door.  He thought we should so something fun to celebrate the beginning of summer vacation.  We voted as a family to go check out Thanksgiving Point.  Here are about 100 pictures of all the fun we had.

Trees!

Once again I prove just how easy it is to bring myself immense amounts of joy and excitement.  Today's example:  TREES!

We have been talking about planting trees since the first day we moved in, but for some reason they always kept getting pushed back on our list of priorities.  On Saturday we finally got some!  I'm seriously so pleased.  My backyard finally feels a little more like mine.  I even went outside and sat for a spell in the tiny little spot of shade my new trees provided.

We got a Sugar Maple,

a Sunset Maple,

and a Honeylocust. 

They should bring us (or someone else in the off chance that we actually do sell our house) years and years of joy.

Transporting them home from Lowes was a bit of a challenge.  Good thing we have the Acura.  I followed Ryan home, laughing the whole way.   I tried to get a shot of just how funny he looked.  You can kind of see.  He had one tree out the front passenger side window, one out the back passenger side window, and one out the back drivers' side window.  It was seriously so hilarious!

Seriously, Stomach Flu?  Seriously?