Off to Spain I Go

I started writing this post a couple of months ago and honestly, it was cheesy, like whoa, chee-sey.  I'm also 5 days from going and so exhausted from getting ready that I thought I would just start over.

I'M GOING TO SPAIN!!!!!!!

Last December, I attended a meeting at church about an upcoming mission trip to Astorga, Spain.  Mike and I filled out applications, miss over here finally got herself a passport, and in January we found out we were going to Astorga in June.

Can we say beyond excited?!?!

I have always wanted to go to Spain and God finally opened the doors for us to go.  Our team of 13 people is going over to put on a cultural fair for a week.  We will be teaching English classes, cooking classes, various crafts, American sports of volleyball and baseball, family activities and just starting relationships with the people of Astorga.  A missionary couple has started an evangelical church in Ponferrada and are now going to Astorga to start a church there.

I sharing so you can pray for us.  The boys are staying with grandma and grandpa a week and nana and papa the second week.  I would love for my boys to be covered in prayer as we are away for 2 weeks and for Mike and I as we travel.  My biggest concern is not losing my passport and not offending anyone because I don't know the culture.  God is doing AMAZING things in Astorga already and I'm excited to see how God uses our team during our time there.

Look for pictures when I return......

Catch up Keep up

Oh hey there,

How is it June????  And how is it that school ends next week and I'm off to Spain??  Spain.....  I'll chat more about that later, but I thought I would share a little of what I've been up to since the end of March.

Easter and these yummy rolls that were my contribution to Easter dinner at my in-laws house.

My crew of boys and me.  It was such a rare, sunny Easter day that the boys were able to have an Easter egg hunt outside and my attempt at getting a family picture.  Love my boys :)

Our spring break was the second week in April and the boys and I flew to Denver and then drove to Nana and Papa's house in Oklahoma to spend our vacation with some favorite people of ours.  My husband had to work all week, so the boys and I had an adventure.  Our trip was a lot of fun.  I got to hang out with my mom and dad and my aunt a couple of days.  My grandpa came over a few nights to have dinner with us as well.  He is the last grandparent on my side and my boys loved seeing him.

The flight to Denver was uneventful, we had a great 7 1/2 hour drive to Oklahoma, I got to have pedicures with my best friend who drove 2 1/2 hours to see me and had lunch with another friend that lives back home as well.  My cousin from Ft Worth drove up and we had a mini family reunion.  The trip home was another story......  

Great drive up to Denver, only took us 7 hours to get back.  Made it to the airport and had some wonderful people help me get luggage and car seats to the check in area.  Treated the boys with ice cream and then walked down to our gate and got on board the plane.  Well, 30 minutes after we were supposed to have departed, we got off the plane and had to wait until another plane could arrive in Denver to take us back to Seattle, because the plane had mechanical issues and Alaska decided to rather be safe than sorry and for that I do appreciate the delay.

However....instead of getting home at 8pm Seattle time, it was 1 am.  My saving grace was the fact that my wonderful husband was meeting us at the airport to take us home.  Kiddo got an extra day off from school as we all slept in on Monday.

Another great part of April is Opening Day!!!!  Since the official opening day of the Seattle Mariners was the day we flew out to OK, the Mariners held an open house the first day of the season when the M's were playing in Oakland.  (So thoughtful of them :) The Mariner organization opened the gates to anyone who wanted to come in, played the game on the massively gargantuan jumbo tron they installed during the off season and just had a fun evening showing off the new food vendors and updates to the stadium.  If you ever come to Seattle, try to make it to an M's game, we have an awesome stadium :)

May brings flowers and a month long party of birthdays.  Seriously, August was a great month for so many people as there are so many birthdays that month.  I should know, our oldest was born the day before my birthday!  I got my favorite birthday gift in the mail from Vera Bradley, went out for happy hour with some of my best girlfriends up here, went out for Mexican with my family and of course celebrated my 8 year old!

Happy hour with my girlfriends at one of my favorite restaurants, Lot No 3.

Y'all it was in the 80s on my birthday!!!!!  So we headed to the lake with some friends and I got sunburned.....  It was an awesome day.

Mother's Day is the week after my birthday and I sure am thankful for these 3 boys and blessed to be their mother.

I ran into a girlfriend of mine who lives 40 minutes away so sadly, I barely see her, but God just made sure we intersected because she has a little guy who is turning 1 in June and I blessed her socks off with an entire bin of 12-18 months summer clothes for her little guy.  It was so much fun to go through the bin of clothes and remember a 2 of my 3 boys wearing those little outfits and now another little boy gets to wear them.  I am also one less bin of stuff in my house.  Score!

I have been reading a couple of blogs and they do hair tutorials.  I have such long hair and for once in my 36 years of life am trying to be a little more girly and "do" my hair.  I also get loads of complements on those earrings from noonday collection.

Our family spent Memorial Day at the baseball game.  The Mariner's even won, too!!

So that brings you up to speed on what I've been up to and maybe I'll be better about posting, but most likely not :)  I just wanted to share some fun I've had and the blessings I've been given.