WOOWWWW. March 6th is a looonng time ago...

Well people, sitting here with my book (not reading obviously) and a spinach/fruit smoothie thinking about what to write..... actually I've been thinking about what to write for a few days now since we did a TON of stuff in the last 3 weeks. Ry went in to work to finish up some stuff from today so I will try to knock this one down in the time he's gone. GO

Can I just say that I love this song on Pandora right now. Sara bareilles, Many the Miles. awesome.

Back to the story, first of all we had our lovely friends Todd and Liz here visiting from Kansas City. We have been living in this house for a little over 2 years and they still hadn't been here....but they FINALLY made it! Too bad they didn't come in the summer as their cool getaway to the beach since it's in the 100s and humid most days there. BLEH The time went really fast, that was the weekend of the time change, so all the kids needed some adjusting, especially Olivia (2 years old) since that made us a 2 hour time difference from what they were used to. She went to bed at 3 the first night. WOWZA. hahaaaaaa AAAND Liz is 1/2 pregnant with their #2- so there was lots of talk about kids and such which is always fun. They actually just found out that it's another girl-woooooooo!!!!!!! But we did the ring test while they were here so we weren't surprised. So this post doesn't get ridiculously long, I will highlight in list form:

In no particular order.........
1. Dinner out at Silver Beach Pizza
2. Olivia enjoying EVERY BITE of food that went into her mouth...EVERY
3. Watching Ryan and Todd get excited about NCAA...laughing like school kids. And Liz and I laughing at them...a lot. This was so good for ryan cause obviously my sports brain didn't make it out of the womb with me. He needs time with people who think like him.
4. Bounceland in Holland! Too bad ry couldn't come with us, we all loved it, the kids had a blast and it was fun to get out for a day. We will totally be going back there sometime soon.
5. Dairy Queen indoor play area for lunch one day, we were there for 2 hours. haa
6. Watching the movie 'The Fighter'. Thought it was great, could have used a few less F's, but whatev
7. Some long overdue time with great friends after the kids went to bed catching up on life and hanging out. SOOO SOO glad they came. =)



On to the next.....Dallas and Caleb get married!!
So we had about a day and a half in between when Arasmiths left and we took off for NEB, so I had some crazy running around last minute snack shopping and packing to get done before Friday when Ry came home from work. but we finally got on the road and headed out for the plains. (haaaa. just kiddin NE people.) We stayed at Steph and Brad's house, which worked out great since it was opening weekend of March Madness =). Anyhoo, got in late Friday night, were jam packed with things to do and people to see as usual. Dal's wedding was Sunday night, so Ryan flew home after the wedding to avoid missing work Monday morning. Josh flew out Monday afternoon, then Erin and I stayed together for our trip back to MI, and she and Renae and BoyBarricklow hung out here in Mich with us until Sunday....but I'll get to that later. Back to the highlights, here's how much fun we had:

Order of events:
1. Coffee with the sisters, such a great time together since we all live so far apart.
2. ZOOOOOO!!! That was a first timer for the boys! They loved it!
3. Dinner with long lost friends Brian and Jenny Conklin. Haven't seen them....maybe since I was pregnant with the boys....waaay too long! Didn't miss a beat though, it was a blast!
4. ROCKED MY SOCKS OFF doing wedding hair. Dall looked like a million bucks. not to toot my own horn, buuuuttt....
5. Havin someone to borrow a smokin outfit from- top to bottom = Steph Plouzek. Too bad we don't live closer maybe I would be more stylin. hehe
6. Deb and Bill to hang out with kids during ceremony = PRICELESS.
7. Speaking of ceremony= I HAVE A NEW BROTHER!!!!!!!!!! It really was great seeing their own personal touches thoughout the evening, which is the same to going to any wedding...but I feel like their style really was shown in the decorations and the atmosphere....so much fun. Two VERY creative people. =)
8. Ryan went to airport (boooooo)
9. Dinner out with the fam and got to sit with Grandpa Schweitz. I love him.
10. Reception of the Year!!! BOO YAAAAAAA but we had to leave early for bedtimes.... dang
11. FINALLY got to go see Briana's house after the kids went to bed. Deb stayed with them and Steph and I ran over there quick before B had to get to bed, you know, school night. Her house is super cute!
*BREATHE*
12. breakfast at Deb's, totally thrown on her last minute which she of course acquiesced (yessss good word) because that's what Deb does, she hosts and cooks for small villages like it's nothin. GREAT food and GREAT time with Cale and Meg, Ev and K, Josh and Erin, and dad and beth stopped by too....before we all headed our seperate ways.
13. Erin and I head to Lincoln with the boys, girls stay with Deb. Hair cut appoint for me with Courtney at Envy salon (or used to be 'A Formal Affair') on 48th and Normal, totally recommend her for anyone in the area...that was great to see her again and catch up.
14. meeting LUCY
15. holding LUCY
16. boys holding LUCY. loved every minute with her. too bad there werent' that many minutes we could stay....she. is. beautiful.
17. LUCY's mom. =) there is so much I could say here about Heather and her sweet babe, that I can't come up with anything. They mean the world to me. What I would give to live next door to the Eigsti's and do life with them.
18. SIIIIGHHH, moving on.....back to Omaha to pick up the girls and hang out at dad's for the evening (first time since we got there on Friday-didn't even see them until the wedding!)
19. Pack up the van-digity for another road trip, this time with 4 kids....head out to the Children's Museum with Dad and Beth for a last attempt to wipe out the kids before nap time in the car. What a great place! Everyone should go there....and pretty sure everyone was there, cause it was crowded. but so fun! Good thing the adult to kid ratio was 1:1. hahaa
and lastly....20. saying goodbye to bedtimes and consistent naps for 5 days and NOT looking forward to our 'recovery time' here at home again...... haaa. but it was worth it. =)
(bonus #21. Rufus didn't eat my kids!) hahaaaa

Reason for the visit and the thing that was the greatest of all= watching Dall and Caleb get married and thinking thru the vows they said to each other and that Ryan and I said to one another 4.5 years ago....I'm hoping every wedding that we go to will always make me remember our own special day and seeing the happy couple and thinking back to how special ours was to us. What a neat thing to do with your spouse!! ...Caleb and Dal, God has blessed you SO MUCH! I love you guys!!



OKKKK, and on to the last 5 days of the trip, back in the MICH! So good to be home and the kids sleeping in their own beds! One last list, but much shorter:

1. Preschool enrollment!! woop! (find out next week if they're in-more on that later)
2. Erin's sis-in-law and mother-in-law came for a visit for a few hours
3. Catie came to hang out for a while, we've known each other since birth, all the way back to Oakland! NICE. she and her hus live in Detroit. Don't get to see them often enough!
4. Ashley's variety show, which she was the emcee, wore my junior year purple prom dress and looked better in it than I did! Did her hair for it, she looked amazing. But besides the way she looked, she was fabulous and I would encourage everyone to consider her for your next event.
5. GREAT 2 hours in the car Sunday night, allllll byyyyyyy myyyyyyselffff after dropping Erin and Big R off at the airport. Totally great time to regroup and not listen to any noise. Just what I needed.

ANNNNNND if you're still reading this you get bonus points cause this was longer than the Twilight series. Ry just walked in from the office, so we are going to bed!