I SURVIVED!

Mary Berry, a breast cancer survivor was in Phoenix visiting family and she came out to support us at a cheering station. She has been a huge supporter of our team during fundraising this year! Thanks Mary...we walk for you!

I SURVIVED!!!! My mom, my sisters and 5 others walked the Susan G. Komen 3-day for the Cure. 60 miles in 3 days. We walked Phoenix this year. Some seriously questioned if I would make it, myself included. Well, drum roll please....I walked 52.4 miles!!!!!! I consider that a success!
Sisters at a pit stop. Pit stops provided food, water and potties. For me they also provided medics. I frequented the medic tent to fix my 9 blisters!

There was a great crew of SAFETY. Most rode motorcycles decorated in pink and bras...hilarious. They would bump some serious dance music to get our spirits up and take our minds off the pain! And of course they helped keep us safe along the route.

Jill took over 500 pictures in 3 days. She had a camera in our face constantly. We laughed a lot, but definitely thankful for the pictures!

Team Breast Friends supporting their Hawkeye pride! Thanks Rage Grafix for printing our shirts!!!!

Jill got to carry the "my aunt" flag. My dad's sister is a breast cancer survivor, we walk for her!

Jamie at a cheering station. She sure has lots of booty to shake! And she was always shakin it :)

Team Breast Friends! This is after closing ceremonies. If you enlarge you can see the seams splitting on my shoes because my feet had swollen to twice their normal size. I was limping so bad on the last day, Jill took video she thought it was so funny.

This was the most amazing experience. Our team had a blast walking, laughing, limping and eating together!!!! We are thinking Dallas next year in November. We would love more team members! You don't have to walk...there are great crew options and you can still be on our team!

Trick or Treat

Great Grandma Shay with Iron Man, Princess and Duck
It is impossible to get all 3 sitting still, looking at the camera and smiling at the same time!

Shay and her cousin Kinzie (minnie mouse) trick or treating.

Conley (Iron Man) & Isaac (Batman) RAN the whole neighborhood and collected a TON of candy. They were always way ahead of Princess & Minnie Mouse.

Chloe was a vampire. Shay was terrified of her. Chloe tried to hug Shay and poor Shay almost started crying. Shay was pretty much terrified all night of the decorations at each house and the scary music. So funny!

Minnie Mouse must have lost her ears and you can't see Shay's costume because she was so cold she had to put on her jacket and her hat. They all made out with a ton of candy and had a blast playing together as always!!!

Quick update!

Shay is potty training...sort of! She goes potty before bath and bedtime and always goes in the morning. She then will go randomly throughout the day, both when asked and telling us she has to go. I'm not pushing it and don't care when she learns. It is fun to watch her and Conley get excited when she goes. Hopefully before snowpant season she is ready to go!!!!

Nate made a tire swing for the front yard. The kids LOVE it. It is perfect height, so they can get in and out by themselves. They love pushing each other!

Table 1 Shay 0

When my mom picked up the kids at daycare today, she had to sign an accident report. Apparently Shay had a run in with a table and the table won. She has a butterfly "bandaid" strip on her eye and I'm sure it will turn into a black eye by morning.
She loves her bandaid and won't let me take it off.

She is posing to show the camera her bandaid. Luckily we haven't had any ER visits yet, but I'm sure our time is coming.

Dells!

We went to the Wisconsin Dells this summer with my family and had a blast!!! It was my parents 30th anniversary this year, so this family vaca was a treat for my parents from us girls. We had a blast and of course it was the perfect vacation to take with kids!
Conley LOVED it! He went full steam all weekend! My sister and mom took lots of pics, so I will have to get more from them...but I did pull out my own camera a couple of times;)

Shay had a blast just doin her own thing! She loved any area where the water shot out of the ground.

Swimming with grandpa. It was windy while we were there, so you needed to be in the sun to keep warm.

If you zoom in Shay is crying. She didn't want to go on any slides...however, we forced her down a couple. Aunt Jill took one for the team and took the crying Shay down this slide. Lots of people would stare, but we want her to learn to like it.

The crew on a water ride. Conley loved it!

Mr. Pancake House. Best pancakes EVER!

Shay decided Jill didn't need to see when walking at night. She would always put her dress over Jill's head. She thought it was hilarious, little did she know that her life was endangered;)

It's been 2 months!!!

This is what happens when I leave Nate and Con alone for too long. Con in full costume, with his red neck teeth (black sharpie marker)....seriously. The two are quite hilarious and will always keep Shay and I guessing!
Conley has started soccer and LOVES it! He has the full outfit and definitely understands what is going on. He is now in the "big kid" room at Depot. It is a full preschool program this year and so far he is doing great.

Shay is still hilarious and entertaining. She moved up to the 3 year old room at Depot (she will be 3 in February) and I think it is making a huge difference in her speech. She always has been a great speaker and is very easy to understand. She is a little diva and loves to dance.

We love Aunt Jamie!!!

My sisters are awesome with my kids! They love playing with them and are great to watch them when they are in town. Here are some great pics of my youngest sister Jamie with my kids. Thanks for being so awesome Jamie!!!
Reading with Shay. Not sure about the outfit Jamie, haha! Jamie is quite fashionable and always looks cute! Notice Shay has the crazy hair going on!!!!

My grandma's 90th birthday party. Bad outfit choice for Shay that day!!! She got called a boy many times, oops! She needed to leave the hair bow in and still some guessed wrong, seriously!

Just hanging out! Jamie and Shay have one sweet thing in common...Frantz Hair! Straight, thin and silky...can't do much with it!

Shay and her "mimi" (pacifier). She loves sitting with Jamie!

My sisters and my parents took Conley to cut down a Christmas tree. It is a family tradition!!!

Conley thinking Jamie is hilarious!!!!

Yes, we got in trouble with Nate for this one. Although it was a great pic!!! Notice the spiderman baseball and bat, plus the hat...so that still makes him "manly" :)

Baby Shay Shay and Aunt Jamie snuggling on the chair!

Out for lunch in Minneapolis. We had a great time visiting Jamie this summer! Excited to make it back up there again in the fall!!!

I love vacation!

We went to Minnesota for the 4th and had the BEST TIME!!! The kids swam in the lake all weekend and had a blast! I didn't take many pics, sorry! We were able to spend some time with my sister and with some friends...great trip!
Conley caught about 50 fish during the weekend...not exaggerating! His spiderman pole pulled in a fish every time on the lake. Here is the only family shot we got.

One of Con's many fish. He had the best time fishing and hanging out with the guys on the dock.

Our friend's parents bought this for their lake home dock. It is a 6 person float. This was the best invention. Many people floated in the sun throughout the weekend.

My love! I don't think he left the dock all weekend. He fished from sun up to sun down. When we retire I want to move south to the beach and sun...Nate wants to buy a fishing lodge in Minnesota. He wants to fish all summer and get snowed in during the winter. We will have a while to iron out the details of that situation! :)

Even Shay got in on the fishing action. She screamed, jumped, laughed and more each time she caught a fish. Each time she was more excited than the last as if it was a new experience...so funny!

The boys fishing at dusk. Nate on the left, Conley and our friend Ben Stubblefield on the right.

Father's Day

Father's Day fishing! We went fishing at a small pond in North Liberty for Father's Day. We all caught lots of fish and as always had lots of fun!
The kids tormented the fish in the 5 gallon bucket for A LONG TIME. Surprisingly they survived and Nate set them free!!!!

Conley had his shirt off, so Shay had to go topless as well.

I'm working to get caught up to present time.