Tag Archives: family

Happiness Is…..

What makes you happy?

Screen Shot 2014-11-30 at 7.42.36 PMI’ve spent some time lately thinking about the things that make me happy because that is where I want to spend my time and energy!!!

I know that we have all heard the phrase – “Sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to.”  I agree that sometimes we do have to do things that aren’t really high on our list of fun things.

However…..I think that the majority of our life should be filled with things we love and things that make us happy!!!

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The things that make me the happiest have very little to do with material things (much as I love my boots and cocktails!!!) and everything to do with people!

Spending time at the end of the day catching up with my 3 favorite guys always makes me happy!!!

Screen Shot 2014-11-30 at 8.28.21 PMHaving my boys spend time doing wall sits because I chose to do 45 1 minute wall-sits in an afternoon is priceless!!!

Spending Thanksgiving with good friends makes me happy!!

Phone calls with my sister and sister-in-law always make me smile!!

Knowing that we helped our newest tenant out a little makes me happy!

Running, even if it is slow, makes me happy!!!

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What makes you happy?
Do you spend more time doing things that make you happy than not?  (that is my new goal!!!)

Happy Monday!!!

Kim

Best Friends

Best friends, BFFs, friends for life……

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Growing up I’m sure that I went through numerous best friends since I moved a lot.  In high school and even college I had some really great friends – maybe even a best friend or 2.

Of course Chris is my very best friend but today I’m talking about those best girl-friends!!!!

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The day I met my very best friend I think we both knew that we would be friends.  We were both Texans who happened to live in Kansas because of our husband’s jobs (they work together in the Guard).

She was newly pregnant and I had a 2 & 4 year old.  We became good friends right away.

Screen Shot 2014-11-06 at 2.03.44 PMWe spent many hours (almost every day) talking on the phone or hanging out.  When 1 or both of our husbands were gone (often since that’s the nature of their jobs) we spent even more time and meals together.

For many years our families spent Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, birthdays…..pretty much all major holidays together – we were family!!!

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When her dad died she called me in the middle of the night.  Our family extended a trip to Texas so that we could go to the funeral and be with her.

When she was in Texas to help her mom move and lost a baby at 35 weeks I drove all night long to be with her.

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When she had her youngest son I took the day off work to keep her middle son.

Several years her husband was gone for her birthday and/or Mother’s Day – Chris kept all of the boys so we could do stuff – important stuff like shopping, eating, movies!

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And, then things started changing.  We rarely talked on the phone – it was hard since I worked all day and she had little ones.  We would make plans but usually they ended up getting cancelled.

Her youngest was sick (as a baby) with RSV and in the hospital and I failed as a friend.  It is easy for me to make excuses but I know I let her down then.

Over about a year or so we got to the point that we would go months without talking (not even texting).

Screen Shot 2014-11-06 at 2.07.20 PMI asked her about it (through an email) once and she said we were just at different stages – we had been at different stages the entire duration of our friendship so that didn’t really make sense.

Finally she told me that I had made a comment when we were having a garage sale together (over a year earlier) that bothered her – she was a new runner and after she told me how far she had run that day I made the mistake of saying how far I had run.  (Running has been my thing for 30 years – I’ve always talked about it!!!)

Through email we basically “broke up.”  She had a lot of built up feelings about me that completely blindsided me.  I cried harder than I had over any  boy break up over the years – Chris actually came home from work one day because I called him sobbing to the point that I couldn’t even talk.

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I still don’t really know what happened to end a relationship that I thought would be friends/family forever.Screen Shot 2014-11-06 at 2.25.38 PM

I’m not sure that I will ever have that kind of friend again.  But, who knows??  Maybe one day!

For now I will just be thankful for the years and many wonderful experiences that we shared together!!!

Do you have a best friend (besides your spouse if you are married)?

Happy Wednesday!!

Kim

My Heart Is Overflowing

Sometimes there just aren’t words to express the depth of my emotions – this weekend was one of times!!!

Colonel Turner
Colonel Turner

All of the hard work of last week and lost sleep was worth it to enjoy every second of the time with my family celebrating Chris’ big day!!!!

Mandi, Dad (holding Griffin), Tim, Sam, Stacy
Mandi, Dad (holding Griffin), Tim, Sam, Stacy
Hunter, Jordan
Hunter, Jordan

I’m beyond thankful to my family and Chris’ family and some of our very dear friends for coming to the ceremony and then helping us celebrate at the party!!!

pinning on the "birds"
pinning on the “birds”
Hunter & I pinned Chris' shoulder boards and Jordan pinned the hat
Hunter & I pinned Chris’ shoulder boards and Jordan pinned the hat

My family and some of Chris’ spent almost as much time traveling during the weekend as time here with us.  Having them help celebrate made the day even more special!!!

Tim, Chris, Griffin, me, Stacy, Sam, Dad, Mandi
Tim, Chris, Griffin, me, Stacy, Sam, Dad, Mandi
Tim, me, Mandi, Sam, Dad
Tim, me, Mandi, Sam, Dad
siblings
siblings

I know how busy everyone is these days and the fact that our families basically dropped everything for a couple of days means more to me than anything.

Also, our friends who changed plans, worked around existing schedules and made it a priority to help celebrate with Chris are the greatest!!!

Even with everything going on (cooking and planning a party for 150+), hosting my family, going to Hunter’s final cross country meet…..I enjoyed every second of this past weekend!!!

I needed the time I normally spend blogging last week to prepare for the weekend and I’m happy that I took that time but I’m also happy to be back to normal blogging (and reading!!!) this week.

Happy Monday!!!

Kim

Family – First Forever!!

I write about my boys and Chris a lot because they make up my world!!!

Family
Family

Besides these 3 boys who I love with every fiber of my being, I also love my siblings!!!

siblings
siblings

Because all 3 of them live in Texas it is rare that we are all together.  In the last 10 years the only times we have all been together have been for sad occasions  – Mema’s funeral 4 years ago, Poppa’s funeral last fall and when my dad had a heart attack about a year and a half ago.

Mema & Poppa
Mema & Poppa

But…..this coming weekend we will all be together for a happy occasion!!!

Tim (my twin) and my dad are flying up Saturday morning.
Sam (6 years younger) and Stacy are driving all day Friday (12 hours each way) to be here Friday night through Saturday night and then they will drive through the night Saturday night to get home.
Mandi (my sister) is driving up (7 hours each way) with her sweet 5 month old (Griffin) Friday and will turn around and drive back on Sunday.

I’m very much looking forward to all of us being together even though it is for a super short time!!!

They are all coming to help celebrate Chris’ promotion  (the promotion ceremony is Saturday afternoon).

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I can’t even put into words how much it means that they are all taking time out of their lives to come up this weekend!!!  And, the best news is that every one of them told me on my birthday – pretty great  present!!!

Chris is worried that I will be a basket case by the time the party gets here since I’m getting our house and venue ready for family and friends and doing all the food.  I told him that this week will be all about sticking to my lists ( I’m all about check lists!!!) and making sure I get things done in advance so I can enjoy my family and Chris’ big day!!!

I will probably take a small break in blogging just to make the week more manageable.

How often do you get together with your extended family?

Happy Monday!

Kim

Home is the BEST!!

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No matter where I go, I’m always happy to go home again!!!  And when I take a trip without my family then I’m extra happy to go home!

This morning I get to spend a little more time with my sweet niece – 

Isn't the flower awesome?
Isn’t the flower awesome?
so much fun!
so much fun!

I’m happy that I was able to come down to TX and spend some time with my sister, her family and especially my new niece, Griffin!!

But…..Screen shot 2014-04-29 at 10.46.18 PM

I’m ready to go home.

I love being home with my routine and all of the things that I do in a normal day!  And, I miss my boys – 

my boys
my boys

So, this morning after another round of baby cuddling, I will hit the road and end the day back where I belong!

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What is your favorite part of a trip?  

Happy Wednesday!!

Kim