Busy time of year!

This past month has been CRAZY!  This past week we had two conferences back to back.  Farrah has KDO two times a week, swimming lessons on Mondays and Wednesdays and then gymnastics on Tuesday afternoon.  So needless to say....its C-R-A-Z-Y!!

I haven't been updating the blog much so this update will mostly be pictures that I want to remember.  I promise I will be better about updating!

Farrah started her gymnastic/dance and is loving it!  I think she likes the gymnastics a lot more then dance!

Farrah has been quite the mess lately!  She wanted to help with laundry and I turned around and this is where I found her......

the South Plains fair was in town a couple of weeks ago and we met up with some friends and had some fun.

We also put our house on the market a few weeks ago and hopefully we will be getting an offer soon!!

Farrah had the honor of meeting Princess Belle at a friends birthday party!  She was super excited and I think a little shocked when she walked in....haha!! 

We walked the Susan G. Komen, Race for the Cure for a dear friend. 

I've had some really fun dates with Farrah while her daddy is busy teaching CHL classes!  She is the only one eating donuts in the family so its a special treat for her!

Every year we try to visit the Pumpkin Trail as a family and we always have fun!! 

It's been fun and we are having so much fun making memories with Ms. Farrah!  She is growning so fast and not looking like a toddler anymore!  She is such a fun and spirited little girl!! 

International guests....

Things have been a little crazy around here for the past two weeks.  Two weeks ago we had a friend from the Czech Republic here visiting the United States for the first time.  We call me Czech Michal because we know so many Michael's so it just made it so much easier.  (Yes, he spells is without an e...haha!)

Michal came in for the weekend and we had so much fun with him!  Two months ago I started a new workout called Crossfit and Michal loves Crossfit as well.  So there were a couple of days he went to the gym with me and I think he was surprised how much harder it was here in the states.  

This weekend there was a Crossfit competition here in Lubbock and Michal decided to compete.  He has been working hard for the last two weeks and training really hard.  James, Farrah and I went on Saturday to watch him compete and cheer him on.  He did so good and he competed in the individual men's group and won 2nd place!!  

 

While Michal stayed with us, Farrah adopted him as her big brother.  It was the sweetest thing!  She always asked about Michal and invited him to do everything with us.  I was pleasently surprised how Michal really looked after her. 

This weekend we had our friends from Norway stay with us.  Sean, Hannah, Isaac and Elizabeth have had a pretty rough weekend.  Isaac was sick with the stomach bug and then came down with strep...poor guy!  Then Hannah became sick with the stomach bug but I have to say, these guys were such troopers!  Farrah had a blast playing with Isaac and holding Elizabeth every chance she got....haha!

Sean and Hannah are about to do a church plant in Norway.  I can't wait to hear all the exciting things that God is going to do through them and for the country of Norway! 

Dad's 60th surprise party....

For weeks my mom and I have been planning my dad's 60th surprise party.  Last night we had some of my mom and dad's closest friends and family join us at mom and dad's house.

The plan was for James to take dad to a movie to get him out of the house and bring him home later.  Once I knew dad was out of the house, I headed over to start decorating for the party and help mom with the last details.  I had so much fun decorating and knowing this was going to be so special for my dad.  The party started at 6pm and guest started showing up and the plan was for dad to return home around 6:15-6:30pm.  No problem, right?

At 6:30 we still had no dad and no James.  I called James and he said, "Well he should be about 10 minutes away."  So after 10 more minutes, mom called dad.  Well dad of course didn't know the plans so he was having fun in Lubbock by himself.  He decided to go shopping while he was in Lubbock!  Mom told him he needed to come home and dad finally arrived around 7:30pm!!  I called James and told him about dad and to ask where he was.  We laughed so hard!  James didn't know how to get my dad back home without telling him about the party and he just assumed that dad would go right home. 

After dad finally came home, we had a great party!  There were so many friends and family that had traveled a long way and it truly blessed my dad.  We are so blessed to have such a wonderful dad and a grandad for our children! 

My dad came home saying "I'm sorry...I didn't know!"  I guess you could say we pulled off the surprise party....haha! 

Family and friends who came.

Dad's favorite kids ;-)

The whole gang!  (You can't see my brother-in-law, Lance, very well...sorry!)

My uncle Eddie and my grandad came.  We sure missed my other uncles Ken and Kim!

Thanks to everyone who came to celebrate my dad!  He was has been blessed by you more then you'll ever know!

 

Game Day!

I have to admit that football season is one of my favorite times of the year!  As a family, we love going to the Texas Tech games.  This time of year reminds me that fall is just around the corner so that means cooler weather!  We also love Friday night football games.

Yesterday, we took Farrah to the season opener of the Tech football game.  We had so much fun watching Farrah.  She really gets onto the game and cheers her little heart out!  She loves the "boys", the cheerleaders, the band and is always looking for Raider Red and the Masked Rider.  This year they added fireworks when Tech scores and Farrah really liked that.  She kept asking for the "fire"......haha!

This is one tradition we will keep as a family!

 

 

 

This picture cracks me up!  If you know Farrah at all and her LOVE of popcorn you know she is one happy girl!  I bought the smallest popcorn they had and of course is was huge, but you should have seen her face light up when I handed it to her.  She said "This is all mine?!?!"  She ate more then half of that big tub of popcorn all by herself!

Allergic to West Texas!

Today, we experienced one of the worst things we could put our child through.  Farrah had to have an allergy test done this morning.  I know there are so many children who are going through issues that are so much worse then allergy testing.  We have been blessed with a very healthy little girl and we are so thankful for that!  So today was hard and it gave me a greater understanding for the parents that are walking a path with their children who have health issues.

When Farrah was about two weeks old she started having allergy problems.  Since she was so young there was nothing we could do but wait til she turned two months.  At two months old, Farrah was put on a special allergy medication.  All was great for a while and then she started having more problems.  Long story short, Farrah is on three different allergy medicines and when they work they are great, but when her allergies are bad the medicine is no use. 

Our pediatrician recommended an allergy test for Farrah.  We were glad to finally have this option...Farrah had to wait til she was at least two years old before she could get tested.  She has been miserable for months, pretty much all summer.  I knew she had some outdoor allergies but I didn't know which ones. 

Today, we had her allergy testing and we were "prepared" for what everyone had told us.  We quickly figured out that we were in fact not prepared!  They tested for 37 allergies and she tested positive to 30 different allergies.  We had no idea she was that allergic!  This poor girl never told us how miserable she was! 

Today, our doctor explained that Farrah would need to come in weekly for allergy shots for the next 6-9 months to get into the maintain phase.  After we reach the maintain phase she will have an allergy shot every 3-6 months for the next 5-8 years.  The idea is that hopefully after 5 years she will become immune to these allergies and won't have to have anymore allergy shots. 

Here is a picture of when the test had started.....

Here is the after.....

 

 

Farrah was such a trooper!  She was so uncomfortable and shed a lot of tears.  I was thankful James came with me today.  He had to hold her hands down so she couldn't scratch her back.  I was also glad I thought ahead, I brought one of her favorite books to read her and her lovie.  I'm glad we had this test done even though she was in pain.  Now we can start treating these allergies and Farrah can live a life without feeling so miserable.  

Summer fun!

I've not been able to write all the posts I had planned all summer so here are the clip notes of our summer.  I promise I will be better about this in the future!  I can't believe school starts in a couple of weeks...kinda glad to have a schedule back! 

The thing we've done the most this summer is swim!  I enrolled Farrah into two different swimming lessons this summer.  I am so glad I did this!  The first session, Farrah learned to get comfortable with the water again and just played and had fun.  The second session she really learned some good techniques on swimming.

Farrah was also a flower girl for the first time!  She was so precious and I was so proud of her!  She walked down that aisle like a pro.....her daddy doesn't want to see her walking down an aisle for another 25 years...haha! 

I went on a mission trip to my favorite country in the world, Czech Rep!  I had the honor of taking my niece, Quinn, on her very first mission trip.  It was so fun seeing the world through her eyes.  James and I can't give our nieces and nephews lavish gifts so our gift for them is hopefully the love for other nations and God's people. 

We've played a lot at the parks...such great and cheap entertainment!

We had a dance party at Church on the Rock's family fun night!  These girls are so much fun and this is only half of them.  We are surrounded by little girls and it is so much fun!

My mom and I surprised my sister with her favorite musical, The Sound Of Music, at the outdoor Moonlight Musical for her birthday.  So much fun!!

We've spent a lot of time outside just playing!  Farrah is the happiest outside.....just like her momma!  I think if we could live outside we would. 

We've had a great and busy summer.  It's also been one of the hardest summer's I've had.  I really feel like God is stretching me and closing doors that I so desperately want open.  Change is not always easy but it is always good! 

I've really learned to slow down this summer and just enjoy family.  I've also learned that I really have no control over anything but myself and my actions.  Now the challenge is teaching that lesson to Farrah...haha! 

Playroom makeover!

Ever since we moved in our house 2 years ago, I've always had the idea to make our front bedroom a playroom.  What took me so long was finding the right color to paint this room.  This room is a playroom/office so it couldn't be to girly and I didn't want it to grown up either. 

After looking at color after color I finally decided to paint the room grey.  I had the hardest time finding the perfect grey because everything I tried was either silver or had a blue undertone and I just didn't like it.  After finding the perfect grey I was inspired and did the whole room in a day.

I had ordered some prints off of Zulily for the playroom half and recycled some other wall art I already had.  For the office side I used the art I've gotten over the years from Prague. 

I also recycled an old coffee table that I bought years ago at a garage sale.  My parents used this table for years and were done with it so I brought it back home.  It was sitting in my parents garage on its side and it just screamed at me saying "dress-up closet!"  I painted it black and added a "wallpaper" to the inside and it turned out so stinkin cute!  Farrah thinks it the best thing ever...haha! 

Here's the before...

Here's the after...

Farrah loved having her very own playroom but she has discovered she also has to clean that playroom....haha!  She's getting quite good about keeping it clean. 

I found these little chairs at Garden Ridge and they are so fun!  Farrah loves to sit and color and play "school" at this table and chairs.  I've really enjoyed playing with her and seeing her imagination take off! 

Two projects down....one more to go!