It could happen....

....more details to come!!

ZIDA...

Now most of you know about my mother-in-law's AMAZING store, but for those of you that don't let me just tell you about it quick! Zida a trendy boutique carrying designer inspired handbags, jewelry, hats, scarves, wallets, and more! The best part about it...affordable prices! Their store is located in Minnesota and is the most adorable place you have ever seen! Everyone that walks in just falls in love with the fun atmosphere, wonderful assistance provided and of course the INCREDIBLE accessories!! So some of you are sitting here reading this in TX, NC, maybe even Japan :) thinking well that is great for everyone in Minnesota, but what about us!! Well now you can enjoy the amazing accessories too! How do we do that you ask?!? www.shopmyzfa.com It is an easy way to shop and right now they have a promotion going on where you can save 20% off your entire first purchase. Bad news: it ends tomorrow. Good news: they are going to extend this offer until the end of the month ONLY for my blog readers!!! So stop what you are doing and go check it out...I know you will love it!! *You can also find them on facebook and twitter!*

Even in the smallest details...

God is SO GOOD!

So I won an AWESOME giveaway today and I am just bursting with excitement and filled with joy! Whatever could this AWESOME thing be!?!? Well let me just tell you about it quick...

Sweet Cassie was hosting a giveaway for a Vintage Pearl gift certificate (if you are unfamiliar with The Vintage Pearl, you MUST go check it out...it is amazing!!) and while I do LOVE The Vintage Pearl for myself, I had someone else in mind! An INCREDIBLE someone I might add. A someone who has gone through a lot and has an incredible amount of strength and has truly touched my life! I had been telling Adam that I thought we should get them something from The Vintage Pearl and not too long after saying that, I look and see Cassie was hosting a giveaway! I was like okay I never win anything ever, but I just have to try and see if I can win this for them! (Sidenote: I don't want to say who this someone is yet because I don't want to ruin the surprise!) So I read how to enter and got started. I have never done an online giveaway, but I was somewhat familiar with the concept of how to get "extra points or entries" by facebooking, twittering, blogging, etc. So I don't know how to Twitter or really know what it is, but was determined to do all the other "extra" things as well. I commented on Cassie's blog, became a follower of the incredible Erin (who owns The Vintage Pearl) and then was trying to figure out how to somehow make a facebook status that had a link to Cassie's site. I do realized I sound like one of those silly technically challenged kinda people...well that is because I am! So I was getting kind of bummed and just decided to leave my facebook how it was and just log out when I saw I had a message. It was from Cassie and I know she probably wouldn't want me to bring this up, but I just want to share how precious she is and what an amazing heart she has. She told me she read my story and that she wanted to give me a gift certificate to use for my friend even if I didn't win the giveaway on her blog. She said she was still going to draw a name and she would just talk to me later about getting me a certificate. I teared up when I read that and was touched by her generosity and kindness. What a beautiful heart she has and an incredible eagerness to serve and bless others! Well I looked today and saw I had a message from Cassie, and her first words are "Did you see the blog?" I got goosebumps as I read the rest and she told me that she promised she randomly chose a number, and guess who it was...ME :) I looked on her blog and she was right, she really does enter it into this random number generator thingy and I really was the winner. It was a total God thing, don't you think!! She ended her message with this, "Congrats! God is really good, even in the smallest details:)" Just gives me goosebumps! I will tell you all more about who this "mystery" someone is and about their powerful testimony...it kinda makes this story even cooler, but I didn't want to share all of it in case they read this and saw they were getting something amazing from The Vintage Pearl :) Thank you again Cassie & Erin for everything, you girls are a blessing!

train of thoughts tuesday

Cabo...
*arrived in cabo recovering from the stomach flu...i think it officially healed me
*excited to see ash & spenser
*the first bite of chips & guac were heavenly
*we didn't waste anytime and went straight to laying out...i was totally okay with that
*ate incredible food the entire trip either at the resort or out in town...oh my seriously some of the yummiest food ever...still think about it sometimes
*the resort was huge and absolutely incredible...rick i can't say it enough...thank you!!
*saw a momma and baby whale jumping around in the water while we were laying out at the resort...a truly breath-taking sight...reminds you how amazing God is
*miami vice was a tasty drink, but stayed faithful to my malibu 7 for the most part
*so thankful for family time
*chips & guac still heavenly
*taught the fam how to play bohnanza...might have made up our own rules, but it was fun
*took a catamaran to go snorkeling...the boat crew was awesome
*laughed so hard with ash trying to run in our flippers
*boat crew laughed so hard at me, as the waves took me down while trying to run in flippers
*everyone went snorkeling and it was wonderful...ash and i got kinda cold, but that's just a minor detail
*put sunscreen on my lips everyday to prevent cold sores...i forgot the day of the snorkeling trip
*last bite of chips & guac even more heavenly
*last night we went into town to have dinner at a hole-in-the wall restaurant...kinda, but the boat of seafood we were served was so stinkin good
*ended trip with some hagen das ice cream...good idea ash & amanda
*overall the trip was incredible and i will post pictures later (or if you are on facebook...they are there)
*wanted to do a mexican thank you dinner for rick...oober excited because i found the recipe for chipotle's stuff...it was yummy

Mother's Day...
*was reminded how truly blessed i am
*got to go to brunch with my beautiful mother-in-law (and gary, abbey & adam) and celebrate her and all of the wonderful things she does for us!!
*thank you mom for loving me unconditionally and for teaching me how to love others...you are an incredible example to so many and especially to me...you make me want to be a better woman and strive to one day be a mom like you! i love you to the moon and back times twenty four and forever and always! :)
*thank you kelly for loving me as i am your own...you have no idea how grateful i am to have you in my life...some of my favorite qualities in adam are the ones so evident in you, thank you for raising the greatest man and for sharing him with me... you are a wonderful blessing in my life!
*thank you mary for taking us as your own...you are so loving and kind to us...you deal with the good side and the not so good side of us and still accept us for who we are! thank you for all you do for us!
*happy mother's day mom, kelly, mary, grandma zaumseil, grandma foster, grandma berres, gloria, betsy, kris, and karen! you are some of the greatest women we know and we are so very thankful to have each one of you in our lives!!
*p.s. happy first mother's day to the beautiful brittany gauntt...anna grace is lucky to have you as a momma

Life...
*1 year anniversary coming up sooo soon
*going to grand view lodge to celebrate...couldn't be more excited!
*abbey is graduating in less than a month...it has been so fun to watch her grow and blossom into this indredible, Godly, beautiful (inside & out) woman!!
*realizing how much i use the exclamation mark and trying to cut back on it...don't look at the sentence above
*ashley moves back to minnesota (hopefully) june 1st
*tons of family will be in town for abbey's graduation, and i cannot wait...i love family
*dan & dana are getting married in june and we are so excited for them...adam is a groomsmen (probably the best looking one too!)
*wishing i was either at trader joes or laying out right now
*i would wish that i was doing something with adam, but he would be working...so i would wish that he wasn't working and it was raining and we could snuggle on the couch and watch a movie and eat double stuffed oreos
*actually i wouldn't really want to eat oreos...i have recently been on a chips and salsa kick (so yummy) and a trader joes animal cracker kick and a dark chocolate peanut m&m kick, so i would probably have one of those...or all :)
*i wish my mom lived in mn (or somewhere a bit closer)
*my sister had a really fun weekend, and i haven't got to talk to her at all about it and i am oober excited to hear about it and just to talk to her
*my best friend brittany moore had appendix surgery last week and just got out of the hospital and i am anxious to talk to her as well to hear how she is doing
*adam and i are going camping with my dad & mary & nikki sometime in july and we are pretty pumped
*zida cut their store in half because it really was too big, and now it looks awesome (i have to brag...kelly did all the design and rearranging, and it looks incredible)
*i truly believe in a vegan lifestyle, but cannot afford to be one
*my husband is incredible and everyday God reminds me how amazing he truly is and how blessed i am to have him in my life
*jess and i are really starting a business that will rock your socks off, but we haven't found a weekend yet for us to start creating things...it will happen soon though
*i wish adam and i could go to north carolina this summer
*i absolutely love my nanny job, and truly believe he is the cutest little boy i know
*reading people's blog is a lot easier for me to do, than to keep up with my own...i would like to be better about it so i don't have 10 page posts every time (like this one)
*i am subbing today, and am able to write all of this because it is my prep time and have nothing to prep...i am teaching sign language which i was excited about because i love sign language, but they are watching a disney movie today (it has nothing to do with sign language...hmm)
*a new boy walked in to class today and said "sh*t, you are fine!"
*i told him i was fine sending him to the office if he chose to use language like that again...i didn't hear much from him the rest of class
*a girl in one of the classes (i have subbed for this teacher several times) noticed i chopped off all my hair and had a sweet comment about it...after she left the class, i prayed that when adam and i have kids that they are more like her, than the "sh*t, you are fine" boy...is that bad?
*adam is playing for trinity's (our new church we go to) softball team, and so does gary...which i think is neat they play together
*they have a game tonight and i am excited to go and excited about it being nice outside
*he is also playing with his uncle's team again, and aaron is playing this year too...i haven't been able to make it to a game, but i hope to make it to this weeks
*might be starting a garden...more like a few pots with tomatoes, beans, and maybe blueberries...really wish i could plant some peonies, but i haven't looked into how to plant those!
*currently my toes are so cold that they burn and my fingernails are turning blue, the rest of my body is okay temp wise...all because i drank ice cold water from the fountain...poor circulation stinks (this is why i order water w/ no ice...i promise i am not being prissy...i just don't enjoy my fingers, toes, and lips getting so cold they feel like they are on fire!)
*class starts again in 5 minutes and i have already gone through a venti coffee...should probably visit the restroom before the kids get here
*sorry for the lengthy post and hopefully i will be better about posting

what's on the mind on monday...

the location...
the crew...
the malibu 7 drink...
the chips & guac...

yes that is what is on my mind on this marvelous monday morning :) 7 more days!

a little bit of everything

so i know it has been a while since i have posted anything...i don't know why i thought i would good at this! so now i am way behind and every time i thought about writing i would think, that is just going to be way too much to write about! so i just decided to give some highlights and random thoughts :)

*garza and mom came to visit... it was so fun having garza up here! i so enjoyed his visit and getting to spend some time with him...we decided that he should move up here! then mom came in on saturday morning, so she and i had girls day and garza, adam & rick had guys day! i know the boys had a good time, but couldn't tell you all the details of their day because i obviously wasn't there! i do know it consisted of town hall brewery, u of m tour, and maybe lunch at bww! i do know girls day was oh so fun!! i miss my mom so much, we always have so much fun together (and with nikki too!) so we started the day of going straight to grand ave with the idea of doing some shopping, but we made it through one store and decided we needed lunch in order to effectively shop :) so i took her to cafe latte... i think one of my new favorite places to eathttp://www.cafelatte.com/index.html! so mom and i shoved our faces and in between bites had rory & lorelai (mom & daughter on gilmore girls) like conversations! lunch was so so so yummy, and having mom there with me was even better!! then we went to bread & chocolate and samples all the delicious desserts :) then once we were re-fueled we were able to start shopping! we walked all down grand (which by the way it was a perfect sunny day in minnesota and was so fun to be walking outside) and stopped in all sorts of fun stores and boutiques...and of course all the while talking each others ears off! mom got to experience my downtown driving and parking skills...haha...and learned how small my bladder really is at starbucks...i won't go into details and it probably won't be as funny (one of those had to be there moments!) we seriously stopped in almost all the stores, and then headed off to home goods, and then came back home to meet the boys for a good home cooked meal made by all! we got to take both garza and mom to our new church on sunday which was exciting for us to show them our new church home! we then enjoyed a yummy sunday dinner with kelly & gary and then had to send zach back to texas :( while the boys went to the airport mom and i went to get a chick flick (i won't say the name in case people liked it) which mom and i must not have been in a girly mood because we spent most of the movie making fun of it and giggling at the cheesiness :) oops! the next few days we enjoyed mall of america and all it has to offer, general store, zida, pink door, kazolees, and much more! she came and nannied with me mon & wed, and also fell in love with sammy boy! we got to just hang out at the house some too which was nice i know for adam to steal in some time with her! we also had to send mom back to texas which was no fun! we definitely enjoyed both of their visits and would like to remind them and everyone else that our guest rooms are now empty...just saying!! (p.s we have no pictures with mom or garza...sad day! we were just having too much fun to remember to bust out the camera!)

*home shows...all three home shows are done and were huge successes!! i got to "work" one day (pretend i knew all about laminate counter tops, estimates, etc!) at the minneapolis one and it was so amazing at how big it was!! holy moly! the honey-doers booth looked AWESOME and got tons of traffic and lots of leads! the lakeville and apple valley shows weren't as big size wise as the minneapolis one, but got just as much business or more from those two shows together!! for those of you that haven't seen any of their honey-doers work you should check out their site http://honey-doers.com/ they do phenomenal work...and if you live in minnesota and need some work done you know who to call!! okay i will stop!

*speaking of business...i need to double check with my business partner (jess) before i reveal too much, but let me just say jess and i have come up with a fabulous new business i know you all are going to love...i promise to give an update once i make sure we can officially let the world know!! YAY!! we are pretty excited!!

*march madness...i am not going to brag, i wish i joined a money league because i didn't do so shabby! adam didn't do so shabby in his league and won second place...wahoo! the most exciting thing though is that the TARHEELS W-O-N!! i love me some tarheels...and i think i have a small grandpa crush (aka: kinda wish he was one of my grandpas) on good ol' roy williams!

*dance show....so i actually didn't get to go to ashley's dance show (i had posted previously that i thought i was getting to go) and i was super bummed about that! all the other sisters got to go so i was even more sad to miss out on that part as well :( i heard only wonderful things about the show and can't wait to watch her video! she is such an incredible dancer, and will be sending any daughters adam and i have straight to aunt ashley to learn to dance! speaking of sisters...i am excited because i think adam and i are going to get to make a trip to milwaukee to see dr. deveneau! that is so crazy to write and know that she is a doctor (and from what i have heard, only the world's greatest doctor!!)

*speaking of trips...rick, ashley, spenser, adam, and i will be in CABO in eleven days...wahoo! :) i cannot tell you how excited i am bout this trip! all i can think about these days are warm sun and delicious chips & guac!! YUM!! it will be such a wonderful trip, i cannot wait!

*hair cut...well i am finally using abbey & ashley's christmas present! they gave a certificate to spalon to get my hair cut! i have been wanting to cut my hair off and i finally doing it! i am doing locks of love http://www.locksoflove.org/ so i for sure cutting 10 inches, but i think i will do a bit more!! i am not sure if it will look the greatest, but it is hair and it will grow back! :) the is the picture i think i am bringing with me...i might even go shorter...yikes i know!

well this is a pretty lengthy post so i better stop here! i am sure there will be a part two! plus adam and i have a walk to get to w/ harley! then some yummy dinner, maybe a movie, and off to bed! we hope you all have a wonderful week and a fabulous easter!! love you all!

march madness

happy march everyone! so there are some fun things coming up in march, and i am super excited! we start the madness off on the 4th, which just happens to be rick's birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY!) it is also the day i start subbing for french (no i don't speak french...yes this will be interesting) and this is also the kick-off day for the home show! adam just picked up their 10' x 8' pop up display that he designed and it is way cool! he did a great job on it, and has done an awesome job getting everything ready for the show! the home show ends sunday the 8th, which is also the day that we are taking abbey to the dave barnes concert (that was her bday present from us) i am super excited about the concert and getting to spend some time with abbey! the next week i do another full week of subbing french (i will let you all know how that goes!) and then the fun continues... GARZA is coming to visit!! he will be here the 12th-15th, and we are so excited about his stay here...we've been thinking of all sorts of fun things to do while he is up! (sidenote: he just has acl surgery, so if you are reading this say a quick prayer for him and a speedy recovery!) the fun doesn't stop there... MOM is coming to visit too!! she will be here on the 14th, and is scheduled to go back to tx on the 19th...we'll see if that happens! i am hoping that she has so much fun that she can't even think about going home :) hey i can dream!! then of course the real march madness starts! i love college basketball, but i realllly love march madness! i may have skipped a few classes in college so i could watch some of the games! oops :) the next event is the 28th... ashley has her dance show that hopefully i am getting to go down for...that is the plan so far! she is a very talented dancer and anyone that is in abliene should go check out her show the weekend of the 28th! well then we get into april....and since i am pretty pumped about it, i will go ahead and share my excitement for april...rick is taking the family to CABO! doesn't that sound so amazing!?! i can't wait! well then after april, comes may which means...our one year anniversary :) we have been looking at some places to go in mn to celebrate and get away for a weekend! check out some of the websites...and you can tell us your opinion :) or if you live in mn and have some better ideas, let us know!
http://www.grandviewlodge.com/default.asp
http://www.moondanceinn.com/
http://www.stcroixriverinn.com/
http://www.roundbarnfarm.com/
those are just the ones i can remember! i forgot to bookmark the places after we looked at them...oops! then after that we head into summer with abbey's graduation, dan & dana's wedding, kelly's birthday, nikki's birthday (hopefully a visit to see her, or she comes here to visit), mom's birthday, etc...and the list could keep going until i got to christmas! which since i realized i titled this blog MARCH madness, maybe i shoud just stick to march...there is just such much excitement it was hard to contain it all!! we hope everyone is doing well and love you all!