Big, Huge, Exciting News

 

About beginning of February Cam messaged us that he is ready to buy a ring. We knew it was coming for a while and he has talked about it a lot longer than February. We have had the ring at our house since March 9th. I am so surprised Cailey did now know he had the actual ring for that long. 

She thought the plan was to look for ring/buy a ring this past week and a proposal a few weeks/months later. Camden wanted to surprise her. Everyone knew he was doing this, except for her. He even did a countdown for a week on his Instagram profile. (he hid her from seeing his profile) 

Monday, when they were here for Spring Break, Cailey and I went to 2 book stores and to Fiesta Chicken. She thought Brad and Cam were looking at rings, but Cam was getting flowers and setting up. 

It has been so fun since last summer getting to know Cailey more and more. I know they have been dating for 2.5 years, but her moving in really has helped. It was so fun to talk with her about so many things. Always have loved her and how she is with Cam and all that she does for and with him, I loved getting to know her as herself more. I can't wait for the years to come. 

It was fun to send her inside knowing the second she saw the first papers, she would know what is coming, know he lied about having a ring and to reminisce about how it was only 21 short years ago. 

Cam made 8 puzzles for her to solve. Each lead to a different part of the house. Each had a little to do with their dating past too. 

The last one lead her to the backyard. He did a Promposal at her house that was similar to this and she liked it. I read one of the puzzles and was not clever enough to get it, but she did amazing. 

I love that Luna wanted to know what was going on too. 

Not sure what he said, we just took lots of pictures. 

She said yes!

Now for wedding plans. They are going to do a small intimate wedding and then a bigger one when a few of friends/family are able to come. We are so excited to have Cailey join the family. She's the perfect addition.

Nails

                  Brad had the idea to get the products so us girls could do our own nails. Cailey does her own often so I asked her for help what to get. It took a while, and mine looked 'special'.                                

The end products!

Zoo Day

 Today we decided to go walk around the Zoo. We have not been in years and it was a beautiful day. The kids all laughed at us going, but ALL the kids wanted to go. 

Emery and Jenna got a cool picture of a meerkat. 

The boyz and the Penguin's.

The Sloth Bear. This animal just always looks rough. 

It was fun to walk around and see the animals. They always look so sad though. Love but kind of hate Zoos. 

March Madness

 

Brad is trying hard this year to get us all into March Madness. He has a bet with the kids, whoever's bracket beats his gets $20. And to keep track, we put a big bracket up on the wall. It didn't take too long to make, but it's fun to see it up big like that. As of this morning, Camden is winning. However Cam has a 16 seed winning the whole thing, the odds are not in his favor for that outcome. More to come on who wins big. 

Projects

 

Emery and I have done a few projects recently.

I wanted to try a new hobby, so I tried a Woobles. They are crochet kits that are pretty east to follow and have a lot for beginners. I got two and have finished one so far. It's supposed to be Funshine Care Bear, but he's a special one. The more you look, the more you see things that are off. Not sure if this will be my new hobby or not, but I'll finish the second one I got and go from there. 

Emery likes to search Pinterest for small projects to do and has made a few cute ones recently. A monster mirror and a shadow box. 

Pie Day 3.14

 Jackson and Uncle Paul have one restaurant they both love, Dave's Hot Chicken. Today Paul text Jacks to see if he wanted to go get some Dave's. It is also pie day. I'm not the best pie maker, so I didn't think anything of it. However Paul mentioned it to Jacks and they went and got the ingredients to make key lime pie. It was fun watching and helping Jacks read the recipe and make the pie. It turned out SO well and so good. He was, and should be, very proud of his dessert. 

Another Fun Run

Emery's friend Jenna signed them up for another holiday fun run. This one was for St Patty's day. It was today, which was a little rainy and cool, but it helped with the run. They finished in about 40 minutes, which isn't too bad. And got a cute shirt out of it too. 

 

Best Purchase this Year

Brad and I have a goal to walk to Florida by November. For our 20th, which was last year, we are going on a cruse that departs out of Florida. For a few weeks I tracked my steps that I do just day to day and it was pathetic. A lot of my coworkers have walking pads and so I caved and got one. It was the best idea. I walk for a couple hours in the mornings. I try to get to 10K before I stop. I don't always hit that, but the amount I move now is literally miles ahead of what I did. While were working together in our miles, there is a little completion in reaching at least 10K a day. It has helped Brad get his septs too. He was the one to start and always get 10K, I just joined his party. So far we are about 460 miles out of 2500 miles! 

Friday the 13th Take Two

 February and March end up having the same day/dates so that meant there were two months in a row with Friday the 13ths. This time we did not make skin cookies, but we did get McD's and watched "The Conjuring, Last Rites." Movie was okay, not great. I think there is one more Friday the 13th this year. Maybe skin cookies will be made for that one. 

The Dogs

 Brad and I have been going on walks at lunch for the past month or so. It's gotten to the point that starting about 12 the dogs get excited and run back and forth between Brad and  I until its time to go, which is about 30 minutes. They love it but wear themselves out. When we get back, they sleep the rest of the afternoon until the kids get home from school. 

Friday the Thirteenth

 

Every time there is a Friday the 13th Brad makes what we call skin cookies. It's just sugar cookies with frosting that had melted gummy candy mixed it. The texture is kind of weir but its a must every time. We watched Halloween from 2018, which was pretty lame, but the cookies were good. 

Super Bowl

Cam and Cailey came up for the Super Bowl. It was a fun weekend to go make cookies, play games and watch some of the 'big game'. We did our annual BINGO. Beck chose to work so his coworker, who loves one of the teams, could watch the game. The prizes for this year was gift cards. One $10 and one $15 each. It was a good plan but  by half time, only Cam had one BINGO. It was still fun, we just let them pick in the end. We know they don't really care about the game, but the time as a family is what matters. 

 

Cookie Decorating

 

Today we went to Twin to learn how to decorate cookies with the girls in the Barnes Family. Thursday Beck filled the car tires; it didn't seem to work so Brad took him later that night and filled them up. The next day Brad went out and the tire was down to 19 PSI. Weird but maybe the cold did something. We filled it up and then today I went to leave and it was down to 25 PSI again. I didn't feel comfortable taking that car, so we went back and got the kid's car. A few minutes after I left brad sent me a text, the tire had a screw in it. So good we didn't take it. On the freeway that could have been really bad. Brad took it in and they fixed it for free. 

I can now see why they charge so much for these cookies. It was fun to do, but a lot of work! You have to do them in layers or parts and getting good lines is hard to do. 

She did a good step by step and they all turned out at least semi cute. 

Theses are mine. Not too bad, I think. 

Emery and Cailey's. Not going to be my next hobby, but still fun to do. 

End of an Era

 We finally got a new hot glue gun. I think my mom got this as a wedding present? Noah brought it over on the ship?  No one knows how old this is, but this is the one I always used as a kid, and yes the basket is just as old. At some point I 'stole it' from mom or it was given to me when I was married. No matter how I got it, this thing is old.  You can see there is a chunk missing, it is broken off into the basket. That basket is FULL of hardened glue. You had to let the gun warm up before taking the gun off or it was stuck to the basket. The temperature  was cold or the deepest depts of hell hot. It served us well, but today we got a new one. This has caused many of heat blisters but had also aided in many projects too. Sad to see her go, but it was time. 

Photo Dump

Cam got glasses. Not having these did not aid in his wreck. Which for an update, he is doing well. Still doesn't like being in a car, little anxiety with that, but each day, his headaches get a little better and happen less. He has check up #2 soon.  Looking good and can actually see now. 

There was a random winter dance at Emery's school. Her friend group decided to wear dresses last minute. She had a lot of fun and they all looked amazing. 

They traditionally go to IHop afterwards, even though she actually hates IHop, but tradition. 

This past weekend I went to a party with my friend from work that was call "Favorites night". You brought something that you love or is your favorite thing. You bring three of them and leave the night with three different things that others loved. It was lots of food and talking. It was my first time and so I didn't know what to bring but no one just brought one thing, it was favorite few small things.  

This is what I brought...

What I took home. While I have a small big group limit, it was a lot of fun. It was a cool concept and just fun to try new products. I am very glad I did two items since no one just did one. I was told by my friend that I have to go next year, so I know better what to bring. 

A Call You Never Want

 

Last Wednesday about 3pm Cam called me. For one, other than Sunday's, he doesn't call, he will text. Two, it was mid day and usually he's in class so I was a little worried right off. Three, when the first thing your child says is 'I'm okay but...' you really worry; especially when they are four hours away. He told me he was in an accident and T-boned and wanted to know what to do. He did call the police and they were on the scene but he just didn't want to forget anything. Asked if he was okay then talked him through what to do and make sure he gets. He said he felt fine but I told him he needs to make sure a paramedic checks him out before leaving so something is on file incase it changes the next day. 

Thankfully it wasn't a very high speed hit, but the other car tired to go across all lanes of traffic and did not look and did not see Camden. It hit hard enough the air bags went off. He said he blacked out for a little bit and when he realized what happened he quickly got out the passenger side door. He did the EMT classes and I think some of that knowledge helped him in this situation. The police and EMTs were surprised he wasn't hurt more due to how and where he was hit. When he called and said he was hit but fine, I assumed it was the passenger side. It was a shock and scary an hour later when he sent us pictures to realize it was on the drivers side of the car. He had a lot of adrenalin going through him all that day and it wasn't until the next day he started to feel little things. His wrist hurt and Cailey was worried that he had a concussion. Cam did set up an appointment at the ISU health center and Cailey was right. He has a minor concussion and sprained wrist. They gave him some instructions and a follow up. He spent the weekend with on and off headaches, but his wrist started to feel better quickly. 

He did have to go to the tow yard to get a few things out of the car. I'm guessing the other drivers bumper was kind of hooked onto the car and the hole happened when they split the cars up. Were guessing it's a total loss but insurance has found her 100% liable. 

It sucks all around, especially right now he doesn't have a car, but thankfully Cailey does. Cars don't matter though, were just so grateful he walked away from this like he has; it really easily could have been much worse. The worst part is being four hours away and not being able to just do a quick drive to hug him and help him. Yes he's a very capable adult, but he's still my baby and I worry. He's okay and that's what matters the most.