He makes me laugh. A lot.

Can you take this guy seriously? Sometimes I don’t know if I can, but he DEFINITELY won’t be left alone at the park with my kids…

…not with that ‘stache anyway!

Woohoo to five years!

Thanks, sweet husband, it’s been great so far.

We had fondue Thursday night with the kids.

Luke and Natalie loved the cheese balls.

Darin surprised me with flowers…

Then Darin and I took off Friday night for our first overnighter without the kids! We headed up to Jasper, Indiana for our stay at a little bed and breakfast. Talking for 3 hours, just the two of us, uninterrupted was fabulous.

We arrived at the Bates Motel, oops I mean, Powers Inn and were quite warmly welcomed! Our overeager hostess showed us to our room, which definitely was decorated by a great-grandma! I mean, the antiques were cute, by the pink, flowers and lace were a bit much! But it was clean, comfy, and quiet!

The first thing Darin said was, “There’s no TV in this room!” No worries, we had a great night without one!

Here is our cute sitting area, and bathroom (I liked the dresser vanity).

In the morning we had breakfast in the dining room with a sweet old couple who also stayed the night (the lady let Darin know that her husband also noticed there was no TV right off the bat, but that they didn’t need one! can we say eewww!?!)

The breakfast wasn’t really Darin’s favorite (breakfast casserole: hash browns, eggs, cheese, peppers, bacon all rolled into one, served with cantaloupe, grapes and banana read WITH raisins (none of which Darin cares for!)

Then we headed off to Holiday World!

We were at the park from open to close… 12 hours on our feet! Our favorite waterslide, Bakuli, kinda flushed you like a toilet! Our favorite rollercoaster, The Voyage, left every muscle in our bodies sore! We had to ride it once more in the dark before we left and that was even better! We had a blast playing, just the two of us! We drank tons of free drinks, enjoyed some burgers and dogs, and of course… funnel cake!

This is only the beginning, but it has been quite an adventure thus far. We both agreed that our favorite memories list is topped with the birth of our children. Funny how important they become! We missed them and are ever so thankful for a brave grandma to take care of them all weekend! Now it’s time for her to go on vacay!

grateful for our freedoms and happy to show off our pride!

We mostly went with the red and white on the attire…

but made sure blue was included in the food!

This was the American flag cake I made, when you cut it, your slice looked like a flag, but I forgot to take a picture of that! I got the idea from make it and love it and we LOVED IT! (At least I did, I had 4 pieces over the following days.)

Luke and I went on the boat and swam in the lake with Grandma, Aunt Dawn, and Uncle Aaron.

Darin grilled some yummy (thanks Mom and Karie!) burgers and dogs. We pigged out, then headed to the park for some games. The kids loved the bouncy slide and bouncy race (I raced with all the boys, multiple times). Karie and Dawn faced off with the bungee thing, followed by Nathan and Aaron. It was too funny!

(I obviously didn’t get enough pics, because these don’t really do the hour of fun we had any justice!)

We also got to see a Black Hawk helicopter, and the boys even took it for a “drive!”

Then we headed back to Grandpa and Grandma’s for a firework show put on by Darin, Dustin, and Nathan.(Thankfully they didn’t hurt themselves, but a few times we were worried!)

Around nine, we piled 12 of us in the van, drove down the road, and watched Smyrna’s fireworks. Of course, Luke was so tired all he did was roll around on top of the van and in my arms…but hey, its all in the name of holiday fun!

In other news, Natalie was sleeping through the night, until this tooth starting bugging her! With a little tylenol though, she’s back to cuddling in the corner of the crib! She is quite mobile, even tried some stairs today. She loves to play with, shriek at, and climb on Luke, but she totally tattles on him for anything he does that she doesn’t like!

(I had to post these…our best efforts at a cute picture on Father’s Day! We love you Darin! I promise we weren’t bribing them to smile, those are Darin’s treats! Can you tell when I took the candy away?! LOL)

Luke is a handful, but only because he is so smart! Our conversations these days are hilarious (and a bit frustrating, but only because we are both stubborn!)

And yeah, I’d say he is potty trained, we have had accident free days! Hallelujah!

They are always so nice, eh?!

They have great candy (and I’ve probably tried it ALL!)

They have cute accents and say such funny things sometimes!

I have to admit, I got a real hottie Canadian to marry me…

so perhaps they are easily tricked?!

haha, they make for FABULOUS FAMILY & FRIENDS!

HAPPY CANADA DAY!

(not really all the reasons I love Canadians, just a celebratory comment!)

AFTER:

OH YEAH! COOLER ALREADY!

(bedheads discovering our Easter basket surprises)

p.s. Thanks Grandpa & Grandma Payne for the Kindereggs—they were devoured in less than a minute—and for the children’s songbook, already used in FHE last night!

(Luke’s no competition egg hunt was a success, next year he’ll have to race Aliali!) 

We love this spring weather!

thanks to all for making Darin feel special on his birthday!

Luke discovered he can really use the chair or his stool to do just about anything,

including opening the fridge (dang it), and climbing on the counters.

I’d like to say he was caught up here, eating the last cupcake, but he actually announced to me (I was in the other room) that he was “Up here!” and then waited until I walked in the room to shovel a chunk of cake in his mouth!

We also caught a case of the giggles from Natalie on film!

(sorry it’s large, but I think she’s so cute!)

She just thinks Luke is the best.  It’s fun to see them play and interact with each other.  She thinks he is so funny and loves playing peekaboo with him and watching (and imitating) him jump.

We also started our little seedlings for our garden, but I’ll post more about that adventure later! Needless to say we are excited spring is here and we are ready for more fun in nature!

 Nati-locks stopped by and decided she would join in on the lively conversation.

Papa Payne told about his exhausting day at work.

Mama Payne told about the yummy treats they made for the party.

Boy Payne told about his success on the potty.

Nati-locks squealed in delight as each told about their day.

And all was well….                     

                     ….for now!