Beautiful Ink

Yesterday I took my wonderful friend David to get more work done on his sleeve. He goes to a place called Pure Imagination Tattoos, Bridget Ware is his artist. This sleeve starts with flames, which will be completely changed the guy that did his flames did an awful job and refused to fix them. So Bridget will be changing the flames at his next appointment.

So it starts with flames and then goes into smoke which now has animals in the smoke and that goes into the amazing native american angel on his shoulder. It is seriously such an amazing piece and Bridget did a wonderful job!!!

Prayers Please

My family is in need of some prayers and good luck.

My beautiful niece Evey (Mindy and Casey's daughter) was diagnosed with Nystagmus yesterday. This morning they are seeing an ophthalmologist to find out what type she has and if she has lost any vision yet.

We've noticed that her eyes constantly bounce from side to side, but Mindy thought it would be something she would outgrow. Her daycare provider mentioned it to her on Wednesday so I told Mindy to contact their family doctor right away and get her checked out. I did a lot of research and thought it would be Nystagmus but I was so hopeful it wouldn't be.

Evey is such a sweet, happy little baby. I'm sad they will have to go through this struggle but I also know that Mindy and Casey are very strong and they will get Evey through this and help everyone understand her condition.

Evey will be one of those adorable little toddlers with glasses and she will have more support than anyone could ever imagine!

Peaceful Joy

Yesterday I made the decision to start volunteering once a week for Iowa Equine Rescue & Awareness League. It began with me following a posting about 50 horses being sent to the Kalona, IA auction on March 5th.

I got so engrossed in this because the woman taking these 50 horses to the sale has them all marked to go to a slaughter house if they don't sell at the auction. Come to find out this woman has taken 50 horses to two previous sales with the same stipulations. Along with this story there was a video of the Kalona horse sales, it had me sobbing through the entire video. I personally can't take on any horses at this point, even batting my eyes at my dad and the sad story won't get him to have any at his place ;)

My parents really want to sell their house and land next year, but I know my dad did kind of think about it for maybe 10 seconds :)

So I was wondering what in the world can I do for horses in our area since I can't go to the auction and just buy some of the ones marked for slaughter. I found the rescue league and contacted them right away.

I was thrilled to have a response already today. I get to meet with the gal in charge of volunteers tomorrow over my lunch hour and I get to meet some of the horses I will be working with too. I'm just elated to be doing this, it will only be for one to two hours a week but I get to do something so wonderful!

It has been far too long since I've been involved with horses, they truly bring a sort of peace to my life, their smell, their demeanor, everything about them, yes even cleaning the stalls, just makes me feel at peace. Someday in this lifetime I truly hope I can somehow have a place where I can have my own horses.

Growing Up

Sunday morning Bella told me she wanted me to cut her hair short, not as short as mommy's but shorter than what it is. I explained to her that she should wait so DJ can cut it, my best friend and the most amazing stylist in the world, but I could cut some bangs.

She was so excited!!! It shocked me when we were done to see how much older she looks and how she looks exactly like I did at her age. I will have to dig up some old photos for proof :)

She is really growing up, it's hard to believe but we will be registering her for Kindergarten on March 2nd!!!! Love my sweet, amazing little princess :)

Love This Wall

I finally found a great frame for the amazing photo we got from Zach. I just finished my new "photo wall" today, it is the wall heading downstairs to the basement. I LOVE all of these photos so much :)

Our Marine

Zach graduated from Marine bootcamp on February 10th! I was fortunate to be able to make the trip for his graduation with his girlfriend Carley and my parents. We had a wonderful trip and it was an experience I will never forget.

I will have more photos to post later but here is one of us from yesterday, Zach went to church and stopped by so we could get a family photo with him in his uniform.

I cannot even begin to describe the feelings of pride and love I felt as we went through the events in San Diego. Family day was wonderful, our first glimpse of Zach was when he ran by on their Moto run. He was in the last platoon so we had to wait through about 300 Marines before we saw him, I will never forget that feeling.

Spending the day with him and meeting those closest to him in his platoon was amazing. As we walked around the base and Zach was constantly saying "good afternoon sergeant" and saluting, it was just so cool. He truly enjoyed his bootcamp experience and made life long relationships with so many.

Graduation was amazing, so emotional to see all these young men choosing to serve and protect us all. There were so many people, so many, there to support and celebrate the new Marines.

Thank you Zach for being the young man you are. You will accomplish so much in life and will have us supporting you all the way. We love you and could not possibly be any more proud of you.