Nashville

Nashville was a ton of fun. It was a little bitter sweet though. I had a riot but missed the boys and Jason so much. The MOPS conference was held at the Opryland Hotel. The hotel is amazing. It is basically a giant atrium with a river running through it. There is a waterfall and gardens through the entire hotel. They even do boat tours. The conference itself was great. There were over 4000 women who attended, speakers, singers, writers and even comedians. It was quite awesome to see that many women together in place and know that you were all there for a common purpose. Saturday night we got to venture into Nashville. It was a beautiful night to walk around and check out some sights. It was good for me to get away and I really got a lot from the conference. I hope I am fortunate enough to attend again next year.


I of course had to bring the boys home some cowboy hats and a guitar. I soon realized I was foolish for not buying two guitars.

It didn't take long to completely fill this room.

Jenny, Mary, Julie and Julie waiting for the fun to start.

Alisa and me.

They had some great Christian musicians play for us this weekend. Matt Redman, plum and Mathew West just to name a few.

This is just a small area of the hotel. I didn't even get to check all of it out.

the brick building area in the center is an island in the middle of the river in the middle of the hotel. it has shops and restaurants and is set up to look like a French village.

just a glimpse of some of the beautiful flowers in the hotel gardens.

another area of the enormous hotel.

all of us and a couple of horses.

Downtown Nashville

we enjoyed a meal at the wild horse saloon. It was a really fun place.

I just really liked this door. The stairs below it take you to the Coyote Ugly bar.

a moment with Elvis.

this sign cracked me up.

This was a sign on the side of a building. My camera lens didn't open all the way and it made for a pretty cool picture I think.

One more pic before heading back to the hotel.

I'm off

I'm leaving in 40 minutes for my MOPS conference in Nashville. I am very excited about going but dreading it and the same time. I am just so sad to leave the boys for 4 days. It will be good for both of us I'm sure. Actually, they probably won't even notice I'm gone. They are going be having lots fun with their grandmas. I'll post lots of pics when I get back. Say a prayer for me.

A Sunday Afternoon

Micah was eating a dandelion.

Hanging out on warm Sunday afternoon is hard work

A party for Wildwoman

On Saturday 4 of us went to Grand Rapids to celebrate Melissa's last couple of weeks as a single girl. We started out going to the mall. We all realized we had nothing to wear so we needed a shopping trip. 5 hours later we left the mall and checked into our hotel. I haven't shopped like that in so long and it was a lot of fun. Now that we are old, boring moms, we just don't get to go shop like that. At 9 pm we finally left our hotel room and went to dinner. We went to a great tapas restaurant called San Chez. So good. We didn't leave there until 11:30 pm. We finally made it to the Bob, which for those of you who don't, The Bob is a big old building that has a bunch of different bars and restaurants in it. We found a classic rock band playing and hung out there. It was fun. Afterwards, we didn't feel like walking to our hotel so we hailed a bike taxi. all four of us piled on this little cart and this poor guy on a bike had to haul us 5 blocks to our hotel. We paid him extra. It was so nice being out of town with great friends. I think we should make it an annual trip!





Melissa (aka wildwoman), me, Kathy and Jessica at the bob.


hotel room photo ops

I like this picture so much I put it on here twice.........oops.

Meliss got these fun stickers in her bachelorette gift. We had a riot with these stickers. Melissa would just walk up to people and stick them on whatever they were drinking. She is such a riot. For example, she found the biggest dork in the place and put a "slut" sticker on his beer. He didn't get the irony but we thought it was classic.

We are so happy for the bride to be even though I did buy her a sympathy card for her bridal shower. we love you and Aaron both and wish you all the best!

Grumps

I love it when its 6 am and both of the boys are up and both are super grumpy! I love my kids with all my heart and soul but kind of glad to be going to work today..........oy.

a day on the lake

Max got a bloodsucker on his finger. He was intrigued by that little thing on his finger.

a little salt and Max's new friend was gone.

a bandaid made everything better and it was back to playing.

I'm not sure what Micah was planning here, but he looks devious.

Max was very serious about tying this buoy to the pontoon.

It didn't take Max long to go to the boat next to us and pick up a chick.

Micah had lots of fun too.

Do you think he was hungry?

Max and grandma tried to catch some minnows for Max's bucket. They were unsuccessful.

It was a great day out on the boat. The weather was perfect and I'm so glad we got to head out on the lake. This will probably be our last outing for the summer. It will most likely be snowing here in two weeks.

finally done painting.

I think it took longer to paint the door than it did the entire living room and hallway. The inside of the door got painted the same color as the living room walls and the outside got painted this great color called chipolte paste. What a fun job to name paint colors. anyway, the inside got two coats and the outside got 3. We actually left the door off over night because the paint wasn't drying enough to hang the door. So yesterday after church, we finally got it put back up. I am very happy to be done with painting. Now I just need to get that bathroom done and we can sell the house and start all over. That is a lot of wishful thinkful thinking!

Painting

The old living room color


The new living room color

I decided to paint our living room, hallway and the ceilings of both. I have been wanting to do this forever but just haven't gotten it done. So when I was buying paint for our new door the other day I just picked up paint for the living room and hallway too. I took the boys to daycare yesterday and got started. 9 hours later I finished. The next time I decide to paint half of my house I hope someone reminds me of how much work it is. I do love the feeling of accomplishment after a project like this though. I am really happy with the results. The light color just opens everything up and makes it so much brighter. Its amazing how a little paint can make you fall in love with your house again. Now if I can just get Jason to finish our bathroom I'll be all set.