Life Ain't Always Beautiful

“Life ain’t always beautiful
Sometimes it’s just plain hard
Life can knock you down
It can break your heart

Life ain’t always beautiful
You think you’re on your way
And it’s just a dead end road
At the end of the day

But the struggles make you stronger
And the changes make you wise
And happiness has its own way
Of takin’ its sweet time

No, life ain’t always beautiful
Tears will fall sometimes
Life ain’t always beautiful
But it’s a beautiful ride….”

-Goodman & James—Performed by Gary Allan

This song seems to apply to many situations that those in my life find themselves in right now, and it works perfectly since we were fortunate enough to attend the Gary Allan concert (thank you Mom!)

We love you Kieley Marie and our prayers are with you!

On a much lighter note, I have provided some pictures of our wonderful experience at the concert.

Happy Birthday Kevin!

Happy Birthday to my amazing son Kevin! Kevin—we are so proud of you! You have grown into such an amazing boy; you are kind, compassionate, wise beyond your years, funny, and oh so loving. You have already excelled at those things that you put your mind to! And you are a wonderful older brother, son, and friend! We look forward to the many more years of watching you grow!

Thank you to everyone who came to the party, for the wonderful gifts, and for the warm birthday wishes!

We had a awesome (and quite large) birthday party for Kevin at Chuckie Cheese—here are the many wonderful pictures from the event!

Party Guests Jami, Noah, and Draven

Grandma Traci & Draven

Freaky Eye Brittani, Jordane, Ryan & Travis

Cortney, Kieley & Aaron

The Great Grandparents Gang!

Well "Hello" there Mr. Aiden!

McKenzie & Jackie

The lovely Lily and Becca

Kevin and his pals Shealan, Kyeden, and Colten

Jerry Keith & Allie

Double Trouble

Kelly and Isaac

Fun, Fun, Fun!

Me and Kelly and our crew!

Little Lucas

Kelly and her nephew Aiden

Check out Miss Manners!

The proud parents of the birthday boy!

The group of kids eating pizza!

Jessica, Gerard, Marianne, Dave & Chaz

Isaac and Paul--sporting their football jerseys

"Happy Birthday To You!"

The guest of honor and Chuckie Cheese

Kevin preparing for the super cool Ticket Blaster!

Opening Presents

More Presents!

Little Baby Kieley

Isaac, Lucas, Kyeden, Kevin and Thomas

End of Summer :(

Well, of course our little family has been keeping busy! Kevin has had a couple of soccer games already, completed 2 weeks of kindergarten, and even missed a day of school due to being sick. He is thriving at school—and he’s having a lot of fun! Lucas and Thomas seem to be adjusting to Kevin’s absence fairly well; although, yesterday morning, Thomas went into Kevin’s room, put on one of Kevin’s shirts and then trounced back to me and told me he was ready to go to kindergarten too!

We’ve had many visitors lately—Isaac and Draven met us in Colorado Springs, and Kieley and Kenzie came over for a nice visit with the boys. Both Kieley and Draven are getting bigger each day…and they are both doing very well!

Me and my soccer boy!

Mema and Jessica at her baby shower (only 5 weeks to go!)

Kieley, Kenzie, Lucas, and Thomas

Lucas holding Kieley

Kenzie's always willing to get right in there when there's snacks involved!

Chowing down!

Isaac in the Jumping House!

Water balloon time!

Thomas is bound and determined to soak someone!

Getting Great Uncle Keith!

Little Aliens having a blast!

Papa Tom, Paul & Keith--chillin' in the shade

Draven, Lucas, Kevin, Thomas, and Isaac!

Quick Update

Happy Birthday (August 31) to my awesome brother Ryan! And since I seem to be consistently late, Happy Birthday (September 5) to Aunt Linda as well!

Well, Kevin has successfully completed a full 6 days of Kindergarten! He is enjoying it thoroughly. He checked out his first library book today (and took the responsibility very seriously). He was so cute about the whole thing!

Thomas and Lucas seem to be adjusting just fine to their brother’s absence. They are becoming more and more vocal and expressing their independence each day. Thomas told me to “chill out” yesterday, and today, after I declined his request for some money, he told me he was “going to Uncle Ry-Ry’s.” I really am going to have my hands full with that child! Lucas is also trying to do everything “me-self” and is a little Kevin-copy cat. He isn’t quite as attitudy as Thomas is though!

Here are just a couple of random pictures!

Thomas just loves his umbrella and rain boots!

Let it rain!

Lucas says "Cheese"

The twin's in our homemade tent

Kevin with his Hero!