Shhhh . . . It's a SURPRISE!!!

I'm a little behind on posts and pictures so, here's to playing catch up . . . cheers!

Being Josh was turning the BIG 30, I decided to try and do something extra special. I threw him a surprise party! Whew, I had no idea how much work planning a surprise party was and especially had no idea how hard it would be to keep it a surprise! But, it was a success and better yet, a surprise!

My entire family, dad, mom, two sisters, niece and nephew came out for the party (or as Josh thought, for a family vacation) and it was so nice to have their help. My dad and our friend Rene took on the task of keeping Josh occupied and out of the house from sun up until sun down the day of the party so us girls could get things ready. And the reason I say task is because for anyone who knows Josh, you know that although he is a wonderful, wonderful man, he can also be a bit . . . just a teeny tiny itsy bitsy bit . . . stubborn. That's right, stubborn. And this particular weekend he was going to let his stubbornness be known to all. He was going to FISH and only fish, where he wanted and when he wanted ALL weekend long - FISH. No ifs, ands or buts about it! Talk about making a surprise party difficult to keep just that, a surprise! Thankfully my dad and Rene were up for the challenge! They rolled out of bed at 4:30 in the morning and headed up to Orman Damn to fish the day away. Thankfully they had good luck because it kept them on the lake until almost 1:00 in the afternoon. Just enough time for them to come in for lunch and a small rest and back out at it for the evening bite. It was perfect! While they fished the day away, us girls (my mom, sisters and Tahra - my mom's newly adopted daughter :) scrambled to get the food prepared, the tent up in the backyard (thanks to the RMEF men), tables and chairs set up and kegs delivered (thanks to Troy who even tapped and tested them). We finished it all, just as guests started to arrive and it was perfect!

The planning committee (I think Tahra was off running to finish up last minute details so she wasn't in the picture)



My dad and Rene brought Josh back home right on time and as he walked into the backyard there he was, SURPRISED and surrounded by 50 of his closest friends and family members! Including 6 of his friends from Wilmar, MN (the 3rd time this year a few of them had made the drive out to Spearfish!).



It was such a great evening! Lots of laughter, memories, reminiscing, kids playing in the yard and a smile on Josh's face that was priceless!




The Wilmar Clan

The Lead/Deadwood (aka Poker) Clan

The Girl's Clan


The Guy's Clan


Cowboy Clan

Unfortunately I didn't take my camera out until the end of the night so I'm missing pictures of quite a few of the guests but, as you can tell by the pictures I did manage to take, Josh is loved by some pretty great people!

Happy Father's Day

A couple of days late, I know . . . but I had to post about the greatest and most wonderful daddy in the world (okay, so I may be slightly partial).

Some of you may have heard the saying, “anyone can be a dad, but it takes someone special to be a Father.” That would be Josh, someone special, Cayel’s father.

Three years ago I brought Cayel home from the hospital and as I praised God for the blessing of this beautiful child, my heart broke at the thought of our future or at that point, what seemed like, lack there of. I was alone, a single mother, living in my parents basement, trying to pick up the pieces of an unhealthy and shattered marriage while trying to figure out how to be mommy and daddy all in one. But, during this time of uncertainty I always felt a subtle sense of peace and when I was silent enough I could even hear the voice in the back of my head say, “just trust Me, I have better things in store for you.” What did I have to lose? So trust I did. I picked up the pieces and I started my life. I started my life as a mom, a single mom. I loved Cayel with all of my heart and I vowed to myself, to him and to Him that I would give Cayel the best life I possibly could. I would love him, protect him, educate him . . . I would teach him how to be a wonderful, loving, caring, faithful, devoted, respectful, passionate man in Christ. I would be exactly that, his mommy and his daddy. Little did I know, God had something better in store . . .

Not more than 7 months later, Josh came into Cayel’s life, our life. I wasn’t ready. I wasn’t looking for some knight in shinning armor to come in and play “house” not to mention I had a brick wall greater than the Great Wall of China and to say the least, my situation was just what Josh said he would never do. Not exactly a match made in heaven, or was it? It didn’t take long for my bricks to come crumbling down and for Josh to “pick up my baggage and start unpacking.” We spent many hours on the phone getting to know each other, many trips back and forth between Madelia and Spearfish were made. After about 3 months of getting to know each other, Josh decided it was time to get to know Cayel. And from that day on, he never stopped.

I remember so vividly the first time I saw Josh out the corner of my eye kiss Cayel on the forehead while he was rocking him to sleep and whisper, “I love you buddy.” And I remember even more vividly the day Cayel said, “I love you daddy.” Daddy . . . what a beautiful thing!

Although our situation, our life, our relationship, our family wasn’t what some would say traditional, it was God’s plan and His plan was perfect! Although Josh may not be Cayel’s biological “father” and although his DNA may not be present in Cayel, God still very carefully planned to knit Josh into Cayel’s life in just the right amount of time and in just the right way. His way, the perfect way!

So, Joshua, on your very first official Father’s Day, I want you to know how much we love you! I want you to know that you are the most amazing daddy in the world and that I thank God every single day for blessing us with you, for knitting you so perfectly into our son’s life. You are the most wonderful, loving, caring, giving, supportive and unselfish husband, friend and daddy I have ever in my life met. I pray that as Cayel grows into a man, a husband, a daddy . . . that he is just as wonderful as you! That he is as passionate about life as you are. That he loves the Lord as much as you do. And that he is as faithful to his wife and child as you are.

Happy Father’s Day DADDY!!

Guess who is 30 today?!?!?!

That would be my husband, who is obviously still a kid at heart!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY my love!

Today I thank God for you . . . I thank God for giving me an amazing, wonderful, loving, supportive, faithful, outgoing, sensative, gentle, strong, determined, hard-working, dedicated, practicle, caring, passionate . . . husband and best friend rooted in the truth of Christ!

I pray that your day is just as special as you are!

I love you!

Our not so baby Cayel

Amazing how something as simple as getting professional pictures taken of your baby can reiterate the fact that they are no longer a baby. And to be honest, I'm not so sure I like it! Here are some of Cayel's three year pictures we had taken at the beautiful park in Spearfish. He is 3 going on 16 and with those bright blue eyes and blonde curls, I think he's going to be a heartbreaker . . . Then again I guess I am partial.

Did you say Elk?!?!?!

It is with great pleasure (and excitement) that I blog on behalf of my wonderful hubby and share the exciting news that he drew his very first Bull Elk tag for this upcoming fall!

From the information I have been given, he is one lucky dog (as his friend called him)! Here are the statistics: 24 licenses available to applicants with 2+ years preference, lucky dog had only 3 preference points (not so lucky dogs can wait 10 or more years for this opportunity), 873 applicants with only 24 licenses means that lucky dog had a chance of 24 out of 873 or more specifically 2.75% chance of drawing a tag. Heck, if I knew he was that lucky I would have had him playing the lottery not drawing for an Elk tag!

Elk season opens October 1st and goes until October 31st. And I have been informed (as if I needed to be reminded :) that lucky dog will quite literally be living in the woods from the beginning of September until the end of October scouting, calling, hunting and harvesting his very first Bull Elk! But guess what?!?!?! He asked his wife to come with!

On a side note, if anyone ever feels like donating Cabela's gift cards or needs ideas for birthdays, Christmas, St. Patrick's Day, Valentine's Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, New Years or any other holiday that may be on the calendar . . . his wife would be forever grateful :). Josh's need wish list for this hunt could entail becoming part owner of Cabela's. OUCH!!

The beauty of simplicity . . . .

Simplicity. What a beautiful word that is so often taken for granted. It has taken Josh and I nearly two years in our relationship to find simplicity. At the beginning of our relationship we used to naively giggle about wanting simplicity, eventually as things got harder we would cry for simplicity and finally we prayed for simplicity. God has answered so many of our prayers, the prayer for simplicity has been one of them . . . here are some pictures to prove it!



This weekend was an extremely beautiful, peaceful and simple weekend! We spent it camping at a gorgeous lake in Wyoming with our dear friends, Rene and Tahra. We were surrounded by God's beauty . . . Our tents were nestled between tall evergreen trees and the lake was quite literally in our backyard. The weather was beautiful and we even had the excitement of a Saturday afternoon thunderstorm, during which all 5 us snuggled into our tent as we listened to the tranquil sound of the rain and thunder.





Josh and Rene enjoyed the convenience of docking the boat at our campsite and each day they would greet the morning sun and bid it farewell as they sat on the lake and reeled in the fish.


Cayel spent most of his day (hour upon hour) on shore throwing rocks in the lake.



He even managed to catch his very first fish with his Scooby Doo fishing pole (that he got from Nic and Tara his first Christmas). We had all decided to spend Saturday afternoon on the boat. The girls put on their bikini's and soaked in the sun, while all 3 boys fished (we must be getting old because both of us questioned whether or not we should be in a 2 piece - I just kept saying, "it's only Josh and Rene, who cares what we look like" :). Tahra had just finished giving Cayel a lesson on how his fishing pole would jerk if there was a fish on it and Cayel had just finished reminding his daddy that he was catching Walleye so he had to catch something else, when his pole started "jerking." Cayel's eyes quite literally popped out of his head and he started to frantically say, "mommy? daddy? DADDY? PLEASE help me. NOW!" Sure enough, we reeled in his very first fish! Remember how he was fishing Walleye? Well, we had to teach him a new word . . . crappies. After that he just wanted to hold his fishing pole in the water but didn't want any fish to eat his worm. So, Rene and Josh took over.




Aside from the fishing and baking in the sun, we ate lots of yummy camping food, rested in the shade, had campfires, ate smores (I ate 11 of them throughout the weekend :), laughed, told stories, made memories and enjoyed the simplicity that God had given us!