Best SIL - She's Mine!

So life has had some "stressful" moments over the past month, we get stresses in our life often but the past month has been exceptionally insane.

I always try to make the best of every situation, I really do.  But lately I had moments of, things won't get better this time around, woe is me.

I'm so, so grateful to have the most amazing sister-in-law, she lives in California but we email daily and have for the past few years.  She listens to me vent, we go through struggles together and I couldn't possibly be more grateful to have her in my life or love her more than I do.

I got the best surprise in the mail this week, a beautiful horseshoe necklace that has definitely brought the Iowa Griffin's some much needed good luck this week.

Not the best photo in the world, but seriously, how stinking cute is this necklace???  My phone takes horrid pictures, I'm still using a non-smart phone so it can't be helped.  Hopefully very soon I will join the rest of the world and upgrade to a "smart" phone :)

Just feeling very blessed today for this amazing relationship I have with my sister-in-law, she is truly one of the kindest, sweetest, encouraging people I know and I cherish our sistership.  

Yeah I made up that last word, it works for us :)

Goodbye Summer...

I hope everyone had a truly wonderful summer, ours was pretty darn good.  We had plans nearly every weekend and loved seeing family at different reunions and events.

This year is flying by, I still can't believe Bella is in Kindergarten, she LOVES school.  I love it every night when I come home she is super excited to tell me about her day and everything she learned.  She did have a couple of "boring" days last week, but she still had fun.

Dance is back in full swing, Bella was so happy to see four kids from class last year are in her class this year.  She is learning a lot of new tap steps and ballet moves, she has truly grown to just love dance.

We went to Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines, we just love that zoo.

Bella really loved the seals.  It was HOT that day, like 100 degrees, humid, we were just dripping sweat but still had a great time :)

Bella's big "brother" Tybalt turned 7 this year, his age is really showing but he still acts like a puppy.  Those two have such a strong bond, I love this photo.

Bella and Grandpa before the Lamont Days parade.  My dad and his brothers drove old tractors in the parade, it was awesome, my dad was so excited and proud to do that :)

The Koch reunion hay ride is always a blast :)

We took a family trip to Adventureland, Bella LOVES Adventureland and so do I! :)

My beautiful baby nieces Evey and Lyla, they have grown so much, I just adore them.