morton. green soda. go-carts galore.

so for our anniversary
Justin and I took a little trip
it was an exciting road trip, really
except for when we passed these horrifically scary things

i'm not sure why but windmills freak me out.
(am i the only one?)

but ANYways
we had some really cute guys join us on our weekend

we love them.  they really wanted a vacay.

so we took them to the exciting city of morton, illinois.
why are you googling morton right now?
what do you mean you've never heard of it?!

okay, so we used to live there.
and Justin was officiating a wedding for an absolutely adorable couple.
it's a good thing benny doesn't read my blog or he'd be mortified
i called him and his new wifey adorable.
but they totally are.
imagine a pic of a toat adorbs couple here *****

ANYways
here's another pic of justin and i
(this is a post about our romantic anniversary weekend...)

this time at the wedding
taken by jonathan
with a window behind us that kinda ruined the shot
---------------------------------
i believe it was taken like 2.6 seconds before matthias spilled his green soda
all over his side of the table.
and before the 'friendly' butter knife duel broke out between the younger two
right after the prayer for the meal.  which justin gave.
and our boys didn't realizing we were praying
and i tried to make them quiet
but i kept getting louder and louder to make them quiet.
and right before caleb got smacked in the head with a dinner plate
and started crying from lack of sleep.....(or because maybe it hurt)
mercy.
(us moms realize those crazy moments
are really crazier for us than those around us, right?
right?!)

is anyone at this point wondering where charity is?
she stayed home with the grandparents
(and i got a weekend off changing diapers)

and while we missed her....
she was having fun, getting spoiled, and being held.
(almost every moment)  
ahhh, the life of a 16 month old

our busy weekend would've been a bit much for her.......

did i mention we ate at the pizza ranch?
and justin and i grabbed a smoothie from here?
and we got to meet up with  friends for lunch,
and more friends for swimming,
and even more friends for late night chats in our hotel room?
and we got to go to one of our fav churches?

yeah.......it was a fun weekend.
and we ended it with an exciting trip here:

and the boys got to do this

and this

matthias would drive right to the outer rail
full speed ahead and then turn.  at the last second
(thank you for all those near heart attacks, son....)
jonathan's goal was to pass all cars in his way
and yell out directions to his (younger, not-as-wise-or-experienced) brothers
and caleb
well, caleb held that steering wheel at 10 and 2,  hugged the inner rail
and alternated the brake and gas pedal quite well
---love how personality shows up even on the go-cart track!---

we ended the trip with our last hour or so in the car
complete with the suckers-cookies-trail mix-capri suns-crackers mix 
we'd been noshing on all weekend.
holla vacation food

happy anniversary, babe.
can you even imagine what our life would be without our kiddos?
yeah.  i really can't either.  we're so blessed.


i'm pretty stoked to hear my absolute fav preacher this weekend (wink, wink)
have a super weekend, all!