I'm 30!

I turned 30 on Saturday.  On Friday, my classroom was decorated for my birthday.

 

My parents came that night and brought me this fun gift.

I plan to do a garden this year, so they brought me a tree covered in seeds.  My mom also took me shopping :)

Zach and I were also given luggage from his parents for both of our birthdays.  It has been wonderful to have.

My friend Danielle and I are 12 days apart.  We decided last year that we wanted to have a 30th birthday party together. 

We decorated for the party, and then had to take a picture.

My sweet girl

We got a sitter for Monroe, so we had to take pictures before we went.

We did a photo booth

We also each printed pictures of us when we were young.  They were on all the tables.

Danielle's aunt made our cakes.  They were adorable and tasted delicious!

The birthday girls

We had a really good turn out at the party.  We invited our families, friends from outside of school, and our Newell friends.

One thing I was really hoping to find when we were booking a location, was a place that had karaoke.  Nathan Detroits said we could bring someone in if we knew of anyone.  My friend Shelley has a friend, Libby, who came and did it for us.  

Zach and Troy were the first brave souls to sing.

Here's their first song.

Then, Zach and I sang Waterfalls by TLC so that I could do the rap.

My family

Emmy and Patrick

Derek

Kristi and Dave

Our first Newell picture of the night

Kurtis and his dad both had fun with karaoke

Us with our cakes

Birthday song and blowing out candles

Danielle and her parents

This is the awesome wreath that Danielle's mom made me.  She also got me some really cool chevron coasters.  She must know I'm a chevron fanatic :)

Joey and Megan

Some of us girls sang Katy Perry's Roar

I don't know what Zach was doing, but I had to include this picture.

Ashley and Megan

Shelley and Clint

Zach's family

We made Zach's parents sing before they left.  They were great!

My sis

Another Newell pic

I don't have any non-blurry pictures of my family singing, but you can watch the video below.

Jackie

Kurtis and Danielle

Danielle, I'm so glad we turned 30 together!  What a fun night!  Love you, friend!

Go Storm

Last Friday night was the Grand Island Public Schools night at the Storm Hockey game in Kearney.  We had fun at the game last year, so a bunch of us from school planned to go again.  We drove down with Troy and Ashley.  We were hoping there would be a few seats by us, and there were.

The Goosics, Eickhoffs, Dudos, Splatts, Boslaus, and Dubbs families were all there.  

The kids were dancing to the music and got their pictures up on the big screen.

Monroe and Landon had a great time together.  The whole drive home, Monroe kept saying, "Landon was my favorite part of the hockey game!"

Here's the whole gang!

Monroe was scared of Stormy the whole night.  On the way out, however, she willingly gave him a high five and took a picture with him.

We are dogless

We got Sawyer five years ago when we found out pregnancy wasn't going to come easily to us.  Before buying him, I was very vocal about never wanting to own a pet.  Then, one day, (after a year of trying with no baby) I walked into a pet store in Denver and held up a puppy.  I told Zach I wanted to buy him.  He tried to talk me out of it, but I was insistent that I needed something little and helpless to care for.  He agreed, and we became parents.

Having Sawyer was therapeutic for me during the next year and a half of infertility.  He gave me something to love, cuddle with, and focus on.  Then, our dream came true, and we became pregnant with Monroe.  

Fast forward 3 1/2 years:  Sawyer is the perfect pet.  He is a happy, healthy dog who loves people.  He and Monroe get along well.  He is so easy to have around.  The problem is that for the last couple years we've found him to be more of an inconvenience than a member of the family.  We started to think that he may get more love elsewhere.  

This is where our close friends Troy and Ashley come in.  They have loved Sawyer for a long time.  They watch him when we go out of town, love up on him when they're at our house, and Ashley has even borrowed him when Troy was out of town a few times.  

Troy and Ashley bought a house in January and started looking for a dog of their own.  They weren't finding what they wanted, so they called one day and asked if they could borrow Sawyer for awhile.  We weren't sure what they meant, but we took him to their house with food and treats.  A week later, they came and got more food.  A week after that they needed more.  Finally, Zach and Troy had a heart-to-heart.  Troy and Ashley decided they wanted to keep Sawyer.  

The transition was really easy because there were no good-byes.  We can see him anytime we want and can even walk to their house from ours.  We told them we would like to take Sawyer when they go out of town, so we will get to see him often.  Monroe has taken it well.  When I asked her if Sawyer could stay at Troy and Ashley's, she said yes.  The only time she has gotten upset was this weekend.  We had Sawyer overnight on Saturday.  When we took him back on Sunday, Monroe was not happy about it.

I think Sawyer has great new parents.  He is getting the attention he deserves.  We knew we had done the right thing for Sawyer when we found out the Troy leaves music on for him during the day so that he doesn't feel lonely.  

I am thankful for the companionship that Sawyer gave us for five years, but I am also glad he has found a new family to love him.