The big 27!

This time we're talking about my age instead of the little mans, and thank goodness we quit counting in months for me a long time ago! Or well that would be a lot!!
A lot has changed since the last birthday...mostly because of that little man sitting next to me! But it was the best year yet!! I spent my birthday with my two favorite people, and could not have asked for me.
Yes, that is cheesecake from the cheesecake factory in front of me, that is where I go for all my big events. Ate there before we got engaged, before we had the baby, and to celebrate every birthday, and you know...some given sundays!! hahaha

For my birthday I received a copy of Kisses from Katie, and wow, is it challenging everything I believe and inspiring me to do so much more. So here is to 27, and making this year count.

Aaron's First Fathers Day...

Unfortunately Aaron had to work today so we celebrated Fathers day a couple of days early. The three of us went to eat at BJs and then hit up Sports Authority to let daddy get a new pair of running shoes. Eli had already gotten daddy a new pair of boots, and of course a car seat base so that they can have boys day out whenever they want!!!

Then today Eli gave daddy his Fathers Day Card and went for his first swim!! He loved it...or at least didnt mind it! Aaron held him while he sat on the first step just looking around without a care in the world! The water was about 94 degrees so it felt like the bath...only he seemed to like the pool much more.

A day of firsts

I started running again today. I know I havent technically been cleared to do so by my doctor, but Im tired of sitting around doing nothing. Plus my wonderful husband just bought me new running shoes and I was dying to try them out! I only made it about .6 miles running and .2 walking but hey I would say thats not bad for my first time back in the game! PS these Vibram 5 Fingers are awesome, and make for a great leg workout even if its only 10 minutes!! Tonight we also decided to try giving Eli a bed time for the first time. My friend Natalie recommended coming up with a bed time routine and getting them in the habit of going to bed at the same time. Now I know he is only 3 weeks old, but its never too early to start! We gave him his first real bath in his little tub, put him in his robe, fed him, read to him from the Bible and put the little guy to bed.

Needless to say, it didnt go quite as smooth as we had hoped, and we had to go rescue him like 18 times, for feeding and diaper changes and what not, but hey we gave it a shot, and we will try it again tomorrow night!

But how cute is the little robe?? LOVE IT!!!!

March in the desert, who knew??

Thats right this is what we woke up to this morning!! Lets just say I was more than unprepared (Natalie, where was the heads up?). Thank goodness for a husband who cleaned off the snow on the car and heated it up for me. I did not sign up for this....but it was beautiful I must say!!

26 YEARS old

It seems really weird to refer to something in years instead of months considering its all baby talk these days...but on Friday I turned the big 26!!! So for the big celebration my wonderful husband treated me to a day at the spa. I had an amazing hour long massage followed by a much needed mani pedi. Then we hit up PF Changs for dinner. Their orange chicken always hits the spot!! And somewhere in the middle of all that was a trip to anthro. Isnt he the most amazing husband?? Well that was our last birthday to celebrate without a little one and we lived it up!! Now I am all relaxed and ready for baby Eli.

My Sabbatical

So I decided to have one last hoo rah before the lil bambino gets here, and set out to see as many of my friends as I possible could while I was back in Texas. So it begins....

Jill...oh my old roommate, im not going to lie you were the best person I ever lived with....until Aaron!! but I still miss hosting our "family dinners" and cannot believe that you're already a mom hosting your very own real family dinners these days. Jolie is so adorable and I cannot wait to introduce her to our lil man!

KLO...first of all her real name is Katharine, which I must admit sometimes I dont even think about, like when Erin walked up and I went to introduce you as KLO, (sorry) so on my blog here you go...your real name!! It was so great to see KLO and her beautiful new ring. Her and her sweet fiance are planning their wedding. I could not be more excited for her. I know how much she loves him, plus it gives me an excuse to fly home and see her for the wedding! Here is to planning and well doing some studying on the side!!!

Patrice...I miss our Tuesday meetings more than you know. Thank you for in 1 hr just reminding me of Gods love and his sovereignty! You are a beautiful woman.

Erin....even though we still talk alot it was really great to see you in person. To have deep discussions over soup and salad and sorry about the cookies, I still dont know what went wrong with that. Congrats once again to graduating from Seminary. I am so proud of you and cannot wait for the day when your name is a household name, and you come to speak at my camp!!

Lindz...we always have such a good time when we're together! and somehow it always manages to revolve around shopping ;)!! haha, oh well Aaron loved all the little clothes. One more semester girlie...then it will be party time all the time for you...and baby time all the time for me!! haha

Haley...when I first met you I had no idea how similar our lives would become. Im so excited for you and Luke and absolutely cannot wait to meet him. Its great to see you happy and to get to share with you what life is like outside the easy world of predictability. Heres to not fighting with our husbands because love and life are greater!

April....YOU'RE GETTING MARRIED!!!! I could never have guessed freshman year that we would be having such a big year in 2011. I'm fighting hard not to post a picture of your dress on here because it is so beautiful!! I cannot wait to be there for your big day and to stand there with you as you and the man you love express your vows. We managed to have a great time despite my (cough cough) rigid attitude towards making decisions! We're all so proud of you.

Allison...it was so great to see you. So much has changed. Your house is beautiful, your husband is wonderful, and you're so very much in love. Not to mention you're a great cook! Now get on the baby train so we can raise our kids together :)!!

Christmas Tea

Every year for the past 22 years a group of mothers and daughters have gotten together to have a cookie swap. I know this has been all the rage in Real Simple and Redbook but we were doing it way before it was cool. It used to be one of those things we had to do, but the older you get the more you start to really appreciate small things like these that stay the same. Some of the girls in the tea are my favorite in the world....you could not ask for people to have more fun with!! Anywho here is me with my mom and sister celebrating year 22 of the Nibbes at the Christmas Tea.

HAPPY BDAY RAE RAE

How else can you celebrate 27 than have someone else post a naked picture of you on the Internet? :)!! You're welcome!! The picture on the right far better represents Rae Rae than the one on the left, one because of age, yes, but also because shes not so provocative, running around naked an what not, and she absolutely loves to travel. This is us in Austria, or Germany, whatever, they're like the same place. Rachel is one of the smartest people I know, she works hard at all she does, and is willing to give anything to everyone. Despite the amount of hours she works, she still manages to volunteer her time and money to help those less fortunate. So on your 27th birthday heres to doing something selfish!! Take a day off, or make your lowly assistants do the crappy jobs! You deserve a day off. Happy Birthday Rae Rae, we love you!!

The BIG 30

Thats right, I am officially married to an "old man"!! Aaron turned the big 30 yesterday and in order to celebrate we went to do something he hasnt done since he was a kid. Thats right we hit up the batting cages!! It took him a minute to get back in the umm "swing" of things but after that he looked like a regular ole pro!! You can also see pics of him openin presents!! But I must admit that the celebration started long before waking up yesterday. I wanted to do something special since this is a BIG birthday, so for the last month we have had 30 days of Aaron. Thats right, a lil gift every day :)!! If you dont know Aaron well you may not know that he is as bad as a child when it comes to Christmas or his birthday, he LOVES presents, and wants them all right then. There is no time to stop an play with one before we're on to the next one!! So this was both fun, and well some days hard for him, because the rule was ONLY 1 no matter what!! Anyway its been a good month, and great 30 years!! Although I've only known him for 10 of those years I must say he continues to get better with age :)!! So Happy Birthday to my one and only, heres to the next 30!!!

Dinner with Friends

I can count on on hand the amount of time that we have had dinner with friends at our house since we've been married. Hmmm...yup done counting. Any who we met a couple a church this past year who is well basically just like us. They are totally not PC and well lets just say we may feed off each others bad habits. I would say Aaron and Chris more so than me and Shelby. Well all that to say we had the most fun at dinner the other night, and they even brought us the most beautiful bouquet of flowers! Just had to post a pic of their sweet gesture!

The BIG 25

So on the 18th I turned a quarter of a century, yup thats right, the BIG 25. I am not complaining that I am getting old by any means, but this is the first year where I thought wow thats sounds old. 23, 24...no didnt sound old at all, but 25, holy moly. I remember when I was in high school and we had teachers and youth ministers that were 25, and now thats me. I mean can you believe that the freshman in high school now will graduate the same year as I have my 10 year high school reunion?

Anyway, enough about that...my sweet wonderful husband manages to top himself every year even when it doesn't seem possible. For my birthday he took me to eat at the Cheesecake Factory which is the greatest place on the planet...bought me some new clothes...and a new....LEXUS!! Yeah, here is her first debut on the web. We call her Pearl!!

Anyway Happy Birthday to me, and here goes 25, I feel like its going to be a good year!!

DNOW

Since all of you reading this live inside the Bible belt, I am quite certain that you know what a disciple now is. Unfortunately we do not have those out here in Tucson, but thankfully I was asked to come help out with the one at my home church.




I flew in the last week of January to see my old friend Alissa Kruse get married. I haven't seen her in probably three years, but it was really great to be there for her special day. I know how much it means to have all your friends there with you to celebrate, so heres to her wishing her all the best!


Anyway, but in Dallas I got to also see my sista, and some of my best friends. Its amazing how just getting to have dinner with my girls can make my whole day. I miss having you guys around. Sorry no pictures from dinner :*( but here is most of my girls from an old dinner.




Ok then on to the dnow in htown. I had ninth grade girls, and it was just such a good weekend of being real together. They were the most pure, open, and honest group of girls I have ever met. To bad after ninth grade we grow up, and quit being so much like them. But more than them, it was just good to be home and see how beautiful a church is when it functions as one body. Christ is truly at work at First Highlands, and I am excited to see what he does as these ninth graders grow into beautiful Godly women.



There we are on the right for the "amazing race". We may not have one but we sure looked the best playing!!