Happy Father's Day (little bit late of a post)

When I met this man 11 years ago, little did I know that he would be the best father to my two kiddos! I love him more every day and without him, we are nothing! Thank you daddy for being there for us when we need, for supporting our family so mommy can stay home with us, and for your unconditional LOVE! We love you!

Prayer of the Children

I have always loved the words to this song...I feel that they give me hope when I think things are hard in my life! We have kids not only in international countries, but in the USA that struggle everyday and the only thing that keeps them going is the hope from God that they will be safe! This rendention is sung by none other than David Archuleta! I know a lot of people look past the voice of this young man, but the passion that he feels when singing this song will bring me to tears! I think that so much hardship is on our children with foreign wars, hunger, homelessness, broken families, gangs, and everything else that our children may face! I look at the life that my children have and know that we are blessed to have it so well! I pray that everyone will take 6 minutes to listen the the words of David Archuleta and listen to the prayer he tells in this song! YOU WILL BE AMAZED!

SPRING Is in the Air!!!

Ahhhhh finally, I hear birds chirping, the grass is showing flicks of green, the ducks are flying north, the time changes forward to daylight savings time, and most importantly, I am getting that Oh so spring feeling in my house! I began cleaning my house from top to bottom inside! I just cannot believe how I can accumulate so much junk in 2 years! So the trash bins are filling up and the dust bunnies are coming down! I LOVE SPRING! We have had such great weather the past couple of weeks, with the exception of a few cloudy cool days! I still think that mother nature is flirting with us just a little bit with spring weather!

I can hardly believe that in ONE MONTH my girl will be 8!!!! I mean seriously, I feel like just yesterday I was bringing her home! I love the person she is becoming! Okay, so sometimes she is a little grumpy in the mornings, she procrastinates, she is a slow mover, and she stuggles with math....SOUNDS LIKE HER MOM!!! She is beyond excited that American Girl Doll Store is opening up in Denver at the end of March! She wants to be one of the first 100 girls in the stopre to get a goody bag and a chance to win the new 2010 doll of the year! We will see how early we get out of here to make the 45 minute drive!! Don has her convienced that she can bring a sleeping bag and stay the night by the doors!!! Oh does he have her fooled!!

Well I will post more when the birthday girl is officially 8 and I have some more pictures loaded on the computer....on back upstairs to finish SPRING CLEANING!

HURRAY FOR KAITLYN!

I want to give a shout out to my WONDERFUL DAUGHTER! On Wednesday, she will get to go to an award ceremony thing they have at her school every month to recieve a SOARtificate! These are given each month to students in every grade that show SELF-CONTROL, OPTIMISIM, APPRECIATION, and RESPECT! Parents are invited to the ceremony! I am so happy for my sweet Kaitlyn and just wanted to write a new post to BRAG!!!! GOOD JOB KAITLYN...Mom, Dad, and Kysen sure are proud of the young lady you are becoming! We love you!

NEW YEAR.....NEW GOALS!

Well.....it is half way throught January and once again, I am behind in getting another post up here! So here it goes....a recap of Christmas!
Christmas was quite interesting this year! We decided to head out a little early on our 10 hour trip to Don's parents in Ponca, Nebraska! I declare myself a mean mom as a traveler. We started to hit freezing fog and drizzle with about 3 1/2 hours to go so my kids were not allowed to drink in the car for fear we would have to stop and go to the bathroom....and just when I was going to pull in a drive through to get them something to eat, it started to sleet harder so I through the snack bag at them and told them to eat up! We made it to our destination in 8 1/2 hours and only had to stop once three hours in to gas up! And yes, I did feed my kids dinner when we got to their house...even if it was 9:15 at night! They survived and so did we! Well the snow started to fall and fall and fall and fall...FOR THREE DAYS STRAIGHT!!! We ended up with 17 inches of snow, 50 mile an hour winds, 10 foot drifts, and 8 people cooped up in a house for 3 1/2 days! Talk about CRAZY kids! This was nothing compared to the drive home!!! Kysen decided to puke in the car, pee in an empty pop can, and wrap his seat belt around him so tight we had to cut the seat belt from the car! HOME NEVER LOOKED SO DELIGHTFUL! So, Christmas was a little crazy for the Mohr's but we all survived and it went down in the record books as EVENTFUL!
For the rest of this update, I am going to post it in pictues, since I actually have them all loaded on my computer!


We attended our first "Ugly Sweater Christmas Party"! These were pretty hideous outfits but it was a lot of fun and we had some wonderful food there!

Kaitlyn had her Christmas Party at her school and what a fun time it was! We decorated cookies, played games, and just celebrated with the class!


We took Kaitlyn and my cousin Bryson to an Avalanche hockey game! Our seats were only 9 rows up so the action was pretty close! THE KIDS LOVED IT!



We let the kids open their presents here a little early since we were going out of town. Kaitlyn got the book she has been wanting from her Granny Great. Kysen got a train set from Granny Great and a really cool personalized book written by a fellow classmate of mine from Grandma Sherri!



And finally, we rang in the NEW YEAR! We went over to a neighbor's house and yes, the kids stayed up past midnight and helped Don and I ring it in! And no, that is NOT our puppy! The kids would like it to be, but it's not!

I would like to show you all that my hubby can be a cowboy if he wants to! At his company Christmas party for the Wyoming and Colorado people, they gave each of us custom fitted COWBOY hats! I apologize that this picture is not high quality, but my phone was the only camera that I had.....how do you think he looks?

Well that about wraps up our holiday season and the beginning of a NEW YEAR 2010! I pray that each of you celebrated as much as we did! I look forward to 2010 and the excitement that it has in store!

HOLIDAY CHEER!

I can hardly believe that the holiday season is upon us already! I think I am the furthest behind in shopping, cards, cookies, and decorating that I have EVER been! But hey, I just remember when I am stressed out what the true reason for the season is!

I have been super busy with Kaitlyn's school functions! I headed and worked the Santa's Secret Shop at her school, which meant I was there for 6 hours every day....WITH KYSEN! I was a champ and all the students were so excited to buy things for their moms and dads! It was a lot of fun to see those smiles on those kids' faces!

I had a cookie exchange with all the ladies on my block....9 dozen if you are wondering how many! Lots to bake, but hey you get that back in return! It is a lot of fun!

I had my MOPS Christmas party today...what an inspirational time...It is the first event that TRULY got me in the Christmas spirit this year! Our leader, who happens to be a friend of mine, spoke of Mary! I think that Mary gets fortgoten about during this time! Katie made the point that this young woman was 12-15 years old when she was approched by an angel telling her that she was pregnant with the Savior...and yet her words were OKAY I will do this with honor! Can you imagine being that young having a child having not been with a man! I know I would beg for mercy and plee that it was not me that this was going to happen to! Under the circumstances that they were in, poor, young, and kids themselves can you imagine what was going through her mind! What a strong woman she was...a woman that I would love to be like! In our daily lives, we may not be approached by an angel telling us that we are going to be the mother of a Savior, but we are faced with other challenges that God places in our hands and we must handle them like Mary did...without hesitation! God challenges us to make us stronger people, he challenges us so that we may grow in faith just like Mary did! So this Christmas season I challenge each of you to be a Mary!

I hope all of you have a blessed Christmas season and a blessed New Year! Safe travels to all and God Bless!

BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!

Eight years ago was the best day of my life....this was the day that I married my best friend, the man I laugh with, the man I live with, the man I love, and my soul mate! It almost seems impossible that it was this long ago! So much has changed in our lives....two kids, new houses, new states, new furniture, new attitudes, but one thing remains my devotion to only him! Without him I am nothing, without him I have nothing...but with him, I am whole and happy! Thank you my love for 8 wonderful years...I look so forward to spending a lifetime with you making memories!

LOVE YOU!

In Memory of Grandma McCune

September 4, 2009, my beloved Grandma McCune passed away from a stroke. She was such a wonderful woman! A woman who was strong, a hard worker, a great cook, a caring and loving lady, a nurturer, and most of all a WONDERFUL GRANDMA!

It seems that when loved ones pass away memories start to flood our minds and the only memories I have a good ones. I most of all remember all the Christmas Eves we did at her house. We would walk the block and a half to the church, worship Christ's birthday, then walk back to her house and enjoy sitting around the wood burning stove sharing stories with the whole family. It was a large family(10 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren). We would open presents, sing, eat until we rolled around with our full stomaches, and just be a family!

I also remember the fried chicken dinners and homemade pumpkin or apple pie! Best I have ever had and of course it was ALL made from scratch.

I always remember going to her house a little kid and walking across the street to the swimming pool or going in the back yard where there was a wooded area and we built a fort. She was always there for her grandkids and her family. I don't think she missed one single concert or play that my brother and I were in! She always made the 23 mile trip from Clay Center to Hastings to support us!

I remember that her favorite color was purple and for some reason I can always picture her in her purple jacket with her broach so nicely pinned to her lapel and a scarf to cover her just done hair that she had done at the shop every Friday!

I will miss you Grandma! I will miss your famous "Hello" when you answer the phone and I will miss your great stories! But I know that after 23 years of living without the love of your life, you are up there together again, watching over your family and guiding us to live a life as great as yours!

Rest In Peace Grandma McCune! I will always love you!

Where Does The Time Go?

Well it has been a couple of months almost since my last post....I blame that on the busy schedule that we are following! So here it goes, a little recap of what is all new in the Mohr household.
Kaitlyn started 2nd grade a couple of weeks ago! Can you believe that! She is the same age I was when my family moved from Colorado to Hastings, Nebraska! I am just baffeled by that idea! She is doing great and it is amazing how well she is reading from this summer! Kaitlyn is just a blessing to me, she is so caring of others around her...that makes a mommy happy. I guess Don and I have done something right. She gets in trouble everyonce in a while at school for talking but hey, I would rather it be for talking then hitting or being mean to others! She takes after me in this category! She also got glasses right before school started...they are pretty spiffy and she sure can see a lot better! Now she has no excuses why she cannot see to pick up her room! HAHAHA!

Kysen sure misses his sister when she is at school. I dropped her off the first day and not 2 minutes later he goes I miss sissy when does she come home...lets go pick her up! It was way too cute. He got to be a ring bearer in his Aunt Candi's wedding in August! Can I just say HEART BREAKER!
He has been so fun lately (except for the fact that those 2 year molars are coming in!)
I have probably had the most change in my life. I started to work at home again doing medical transcription for a physical therapy office! I LOVE IT! I don't have to pay daycare and it is a little extra cash in these hard financial times. I also took on the duty of Fundraising chair at Kaitlyn's school and now the financial head for the MOPS group I go to! It all keeps me busy and that is good!

Don is doing super duper with his job. It should be done here in the next 3 months or so! Hard to believe that he started that project in April of 2008! Time flies!
Well this is just a little recap and a few updated pictures....enjoy!

Prayer Request

The blog world not only acts as a way to share family stories and pictures with friends and family, but it is also a way to reach out to other bloggers who are in need of prayers. This happens to be the reason for this entry. In a previous blog of mine I wrote about a young family that lost their 10 month old to cancer. I regularly check their blog now to see how the family is doing and to let them know that I am praying for them. Yesterday in her blog she had a prayer request for a young girl named Kate from Arizona. She is a five year old girl who has a spirit for life. Her family is dedicated to their faith. She started to have tremors in her right hand one night so the next day they took her to the hospital to have an MRI and she was diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer. The location of the cancer in her brain is where the communication takes place. She underwent surgery to remove 50% of the tumor which in fact was cancerous. She has not had much movement in her right arm and hand since the surgery. You can read about the rest of her story on this website www.caringbridge.org/visit/mcraekate
After reading this journal, I once again was brought to tears, not only because a five year old girl is going through such a tramatic experience, but because not once have the parents questioned why God has lead them down this path. They instead are asking how they can take this experience and use it to show God's unconditional love. In one of the mother's journal entries she tells of a time a few months ago before they knew about the cancer. She said her three children would all be calling for "mommy" and as any parent gets, you sometimes just say to your children to just leave mommy alone for a few minutes. She said she told her kids that for 10 minutes they could not say mommy. Now she is sitting in a hospital room with her five year old who just had major brain surgery and could not say mommy. She said she would give ANYTHING to hear those words out of her mouth! What a word I take for granted most days! I was suddenly relaxed as both of my kids were asking for me. Their voices are so precious and their fire for life is contagious. We never think this is going to happen to us, but it can.

I ask you take a few minutes to read their story and include them in your prayers. I know that you don't know them, and neither do I, but she is a child of God and our duty in life is to pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Another Hodgpodge Post!

I just had to start out with a story! We had a garage sale the other weekend and so I did not have a constant eye on my kids like I usually do. Well, this all came in to play today when I went to go load pictures off of my camera to our computer....while I was selling stuff, my kids got a hold of my camera and here are a few of the 20+ pictures that I was suprised to see....because I sure did not take them.



All I have to say is....thank goodness for digital cameras where you can delete the ones where all you can see is boogers in the nose...but I did keep quite a few and will always have them to look at when I need a laugh.

We have had quite the storms in our town lately. Last night, it was clear skies and within about 30 minutes from out of no where a HUGE storm system built up over our town...and I mean HUGE!! I told my grandma that it was as if the skies opened up and God was just letting the heavens explode with tears. We all stood outside for awhile and watched the pouring rain come down, and then the lightning started to get REALLY bad and the thunder was so loud that I thought pictures were going to fall off the walls. The kids, needless to say, were cuddled up to us! We lost our satalite connection to the tv, phone, and internet, so it was as if we were shut off from the world. I was outside just watching a cloud bank rotate....thinking it could have funneled at anytime...but I figured the sirens would go off if I need to worry....BOY WAS I WRONG! I learned this morning that our town does not have sirens! Are you kidding me? Do they not think that we don't have tornados in this area? Did they forget that a tornado wiped out a whole area of Windsor last year that is just about 10 miles from us! I was floored to find this out! I guess I won't rely on that next time! Well the hail and rain fell for about 2 1/2 hours total and I think we got like 2 1/2 inches or something like that!





This week is supposed to be in the 90's for the most part so we are just trying to stay cool and lather on lots of sun screen! I always think it is funny when Coloradoans are complaining about the 55% humidity! I laugh and tell them boy I think it feels pretty good compared to the 90% humidity we are used to in Nebraska! I was eating my words today when the air conditioner in my car when kapooie! So we get to deal with that now! But, when all else fails and I start to get discouraged with all that, I take my kids outside in the pool and just relax...and laugh at how silly they look in their new goggles!





We hope all of you are enjoying your summer as much as we are...so far!

Summer Fun!

I can hardly believe that my daughter is now out of first grade. It seems like just yesterday I was taking her to her first day of kindergarten. She has grown up so much the past two years. Kysen sure likes having his sister home ALL day! I think he is actually getting on her nerves because he does not want to leave her side all day. We have so many things going on this summer that I am seriously having to look for a week where we can head back to Lincoln and see all of our family and friends.

God has blest Colorado with so much rain these first couple weeks of June that we have not had to water the grass and flowers....however, it is hindering the outside time my kids so desperately need. So we have been finding indoor activities to do and we have also seen ALOT of movies the past two weeks. I am ready to get that pool out and so are the kids. But, we will not complain about the green grass and all the beautiful flowers that have bloomed at our house.

Don's job is going really well. The inside of the building should be done within the next couple of months. The whole job is scheduled to be complete around November. Hard to believe that it has been over a year that he has been working on this project. It is amazing to see it go from flat land to a helicopter hanger for Blackhawk helicopters. AMAZING!!!

We took the kids camping with our neightbors over Memorial weekend. Don's brother and his girlfriend were down that weekend, so they tagged along with us. We told them to pack some warm clothes...she only brought shorts. I guess they are not used to the Colorado cold spring nights!!! It was pretty chilly out and rainy, but we enjoyed ourselves for a night. I was amazed at how well the kids did. They especially liked the idea of sleeping in a tent. I wish I would have captured more pictures, but I was more worried about watching for bugs and having a blanket over me to keep me warm. We only stayed one night but had a lot of fun. I am more of a cabin person, as is Don, but the kids would stay in a tent again....we will have to see!






The month of July will bring about several fun activities and birthdays! My birthday always kicks off the month on the 1st and then Don's grandpa Don's birthday is on the 2nd. We plan on enjoying the 4th of July right here in Wellington. I guess they have a whole day of activities planned and then we will BBQ with the neighbors and watch the fireworks show from our street! Should be a good time. Then my Mom and Grandma are coming out that next week to visit. Then, Don's birthday is next on the calendar on the 20th. The last weekend in July we are going to take the kids on their first plane ride to Omaha. We thought that would get their feet wet with flying...since it is only an hour and a half flight. Don's sister is getting married on August 1st. We are really excited for this. Kysen is going to be a ring bearer for the wedding. Imagining Kysen in a tux just makes me smile! He will be too cute! We are then going to drive back to Colorado and bring Don's other sister with us for the week while Don's parents go on a short vacation. They are then going to fly back into Denver and stay with us for that weekend......and then a week and a half after that, Kaitlyn will start school again.

Our summer is definately full of activities! We are more than excited for all the fun stuff we have planned to do. Hope everyone's summer will be as fun as ours. I will get some pictures posted once I get them off the camera. Our computer got zapped by lightning here so I have to get the program reloaded to do all that.

Easter Extravaganza...And A Birthday TOO!!!

Easter weekend was pretty quiet for our family....with family all in Nebraska and us in Colorado it was hard to get to travel back there, so we enjoyed it with each other. Our events started on Saturday...Cheyenne has a huge Easter Egg Hunt Extravaganza....and I am stressing the word HUGE! They have a helicopter drop around 40,000 plastic eggs out while in the air onto a HUGE field! I thought it would take FOREVER to get all those picked up. Boy was I wrong....it took about 2 minutes TOPS! I would say there was 3000 or so kids there. It was quite a sight to see. The kids really really enjoyed it! It was super duper cold out, so we did not stay long after that! We then went home and dyed Easter Eggs with the kids. Since there was only 4 of us eating them, we only dyed like 8 eggs, so it did not take that long but we had fun anyways. That night we suprised daddy with his Easter present. He has been wanting this hat he found (he calls it his Colorado hat) and so Kaitlyn and I snuck out of the house and got it for him...he was pretty pleased. Sunday we went to church and then we came home and either watched the Masters, or took a nap. It was a quiet day but the time we spent with each other was great.







Kaitlyn celebrated her 7th birthday on April 8th! It is hard to believe that she is now 7 years old. She has grown up to be such a polite young girl...at least to other people. She can still be a little sassy to Don and I! We celebrated her birthday a couple of times. The butterfly cake was for a little get together we had at Pete and Shara's house. We also had the neighbors over to eat some cake! She got a new camera from us, which she absolutely loves. Talk about expensive tastes, she asked to have grilled steak on her birthday! WOW....along with the Olive Garden meal she asked to have the weekend before her birthday! Anyways, we love to spoil the kids while we can!





I am also posting pictures on here of the job that Don is in charge of in Cheyenne! These pictures do not do it justice....the place is huge! It hold 8 or 9 Blackhawk helicopters just to give you an idea of the size. Then, there is also an education center where they will do teaching and stuff. It is quite a sight! They are hoping to be done with it in October or November! It will be exciting to see the finished product!





Other than that, we have just been getting ready for spring, attending Kaitlyn's end of school stuff, and just enjoying the nice weather that we have finally had! We hope all of you had a wonderful Easter weekend with friends and family!