Blessings

As I was sitting in the sun and taking in all the wonderful things about spring I began to realize something. I am SO blessed. But when you read that word "blessed" what exactly does that mean to you? If you had lived our lives from last September to now you would probably call us crazy and think that we were farther away from "blessed" than we have ever been. But in my eyes we are more blessed than we have ever been.
The more I think about it I see that being blessed is realizing all that we have and appreciating it. I think we are blessed when we can finally see the ways that God is working in our lives and what he has done for us and appreciate it. I think we are truly blessed when we realize that something bigger than us is happening and we are a part of it. I think that by changing how I think of "blessed" I can see even more how truly blessed I am.
This last year has brought Max and I closer to each other and to God than we have ever been. And the infertility has truly shown me even more how amazing the man I married is and how God truly made us so perfect for one another. Every day I love my husband more than ever and am amazed by the way he unconditionally loves me. And through God we can love each other even greater than what we could possibly imagine. I am not blessed because of the type of life I lead and things that I have. I am blessed because I recognize God's love and all that he has done for me.
I am so excited for Easter this weekend and for the spring days ahead. I realize that I have so much to be thankful for and for that I am so blessed!

Happy St. Patricks Day!!

I get my Irish from my Mom's side of the family and have always loved celebrating St. Patricks Day. As a kid I would wake up to find leprechaun footprints all over our house and little treats! There would also be leprechaun footprints at my Grammy's house too.
We also always made St. Patty's Day cupcakes. I have to tell you I like a cupcake now and then but I hardly ever make them. But these cupcakes are AMAZING! I am telling you, one bite and you will want to eat them all. Full of tiny chocolate chips and other yummy ingredients they are totally irresitable!

And one more fun thing about making these is how the dry mix turns from white to green when you add the wet ingredients! As kids we thought that was the coolest. We hope you all had a great day of Green!!!

Lake Front Living

For the last week and a half we have got a little taste of what we shall call "Lake Front Living".

Those are pictures of our backyard. The last one is looking out the door of our walk-out basement. Thankfully, the water has now gone down and we had NO water come inside our house. There have been so many others around us who were less fortunate and are so thankful that we were so lucky this time.

Winter Sparkle

February Fun!

We have had a busy and fun February! Of course I had to make some sugar cookies. They were SUPER yummy and I loved the colors I ended up with. Even Gus and Mollie were feeling the LOVE of Valentines day and decided to do a little cuddling!For Valentines Day lunch we went to Joey's Seafood with our besties from Spearfish who made the trip through a blizzard just to spend the weekend with us! It made our Valentines Day extra special! We love these guys!And who could resist adding this picture of Avery in her adorable little hat!!

We ended the month with a Bryan Adams concert that Max got us tickets for as my Christmas gift! BEST gift EVER!!! The concert was amazing. He played solo for 2 hours and 15 minutes. Just him with his guitar and another guy on piano for some of the songs. I was totally in heaven. I have LOVED Bryan Adams since I was a little girl and literally couldn't stop smiling through the entire show. I was especially excited when he played "Heaven" which is our song. My huz really is the greatest! Of course there were no cameras allowed at the show so here is a picture of us after!

Dreaming of Mexico

As the Masters rents are preparing to depart for Mexico tomorrow we have been remembering that AMAZING trip 2 years ago when we got to go along to paradise. It was one of the most relaxing and fun trips we have ever taken and we will never forget it. So until the time comes for us to go back here are some pictures to keep us dreaming! Starting with a group shot of everyone that came along that year!

We got swim in the ocean for the first time together without freezing! We have done this on the Oregon Coast but the water there is a little chilly!

We got to eat, eat, and then eat some more. All inclusive is totally the way to go people! :) The desserts were especially delicious!

Here we are happy and tan. :)

This was one of Max's favorite parts of Mexico!

I don't think there is anything better there laying in the sun getting a tan so Mexico was perfect for me. Here we are at the private pool getting some shade.

We both LOVED this little palm tree. So of course we both had to take a picture with it. All the color in Mexico is a VERY welcome site during a cold, white South Dakota winter.

I miss my toes in the hot sand, never ending frozen drinks, and the ocean. Mostly I miss just relaxing on the beach with my Bub. We miss you Mexico and look forward to the day we get to see you again!

Babies one way or another!

Leslie and I have come to a pretty big decision in the last couple weeks. We have always discussed that we wanted to adopt at some point in our lives regardless of whether or not we could get pregnant. We have decided to move forward with starting the adoption process. We have a meeting with Lutheran Social Services in Sioux Falls on Tuesday morning.

We in no way have given up on the thought of biological babies but we were basically stuck doing nothing right now. Due to the medical bills/dirtwork contractor fiasco events of the past year we can't try the IVF that we had hoped to at this point due to the cost involved. Although adoption is right around the same price as IVF there are grant options available that could help us with the adoption cost. And we wanted to get the adoption process rolling so we could get our home study done in case an opportunity for a "quick" adoption came up.

We are asking for all of our family and friends to pray for us as we go through this process. We have had an extremely stressful last 11 months but we realize that we are blessed to have all of you in our lives.