Living the Good Life: April 2010

Friday, April 9, 2010

Absolute Paradise!

Anyone who's been to Florida knows what I'm talking about. It's Beautiful!! We own a time share down in Ft. Lauderdale. Actually, it's Weston, Florida (about 15 minutes west of Ft. Lauderdale) Vacation Village at Bonaventure. We bought it when we were on our honeymoon 11 years ago. We hadn't been back down there since. We all had a blast!! We went to Disney World one day and Greg got to go deep sea fishing and actually caught something. He was so excited. I, on the other hand, didn't have a very good time. I ended up getting sick and was miserable the whole 4 hours. Greg and I both agreed that we would have never thought I would have gotten sick on a boat. Oh well....one of those things, I guess. But Greg and the boys had a great time which is all that matters. All I was going to do is sit and read a book...ha! I'm not much for fishing.

Vince flirting with the girls. He was so cute. Vince was up dancing around and this little hotty just came up and started dancing with him. She was so cute and so was Vince. I'm really going to have to keep an eye on that little charmer...

We had an absolute fantastic time. It was hard to come back. Can't wait till the next time!

Another Mojo get together

I'm finally getting caught up with my blogging. I've been a little behind with our trip to Florida, etc. Here are pics of a mini-Mojo get together back in March. What made this one so special is that it was the weekend that we got blasted with all the snow (March 20). Some of the Mojos still came out to meet me since I was already in town for a bridal shower for my niece. Let it be known that a little snow won't keep the Mojos down...haha! It meant a lot to me that they still made it out that night. There were some other friends that were going to meet up with me too, but I told them to go home because they had a much longer drive than the rest of us. But it meant so much to know that they would have tried to come out in that blizzard. I love you all! You mean the world to me. XXXOOO

Puppies...puppies...puppies!!!

Oh my Gosh!! My sister/nieces had the cutes puppies a few weeks ago. Sorry everyone, I think they're all spoken for now. They wanted me to take one home so bad. And I wanted to but my Brandy would be heartbroken if I brought another dog home. She's 15 and has been the "lone" dog queen for all those years. I've been with her longer than I've been with my husband and kids... But I was so tempted. They were so adorable!!

Jodie (my middle niece) and one of the pups

Awwwww.......

Kimberli and the one that they wanted me to take home. See what I mean!!!

Too cute...

Ok, I'm a little biased but aren't these the two cutest boys you've ever seen. How can such cute boys be so ornery at times...???? I'll probably never know the answer to that one...ha.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

She's all grown up

I can't believe that my oldest niece is getting married in May. It seems like just yesterday I was babysitting her and watching her grow up. She was the spitting image of my sister when she was little. She has grown into a beautiful, intelligent and independent woman and I'm very, very proud of her. She picked a pretty good fiance, too...

Jessica loves the Coca-Cola theme...

Yup, had to get a picture of my brother-in-law, Jeff, since he never wants his picture taken. GOTCHA Jeff!!!

Jessica and me.

Mom and bride-to-be...

Jessica and mother-in-law-to-be....

About our family

Hello! We are an average family of four (or should I say 21 if you add the chickens, horses, cats & dog) living in the heart of America, the midwest. We own our house, have 2 cars, 2 motorcycles (Harleys), 7 acres, 2 kids, some debt, and go to church. We haven't been to any exotic places or made millions of dollars. We have never suffered with major illnesses or constantly triumphed over insurmountable odds. We have had our share of good times and bad times but nothing that would make us stand out as unique or special. We have never written any best-selling books (although, I'm working on that) or had our 5 minutes of fame. We are an average American family with an average American lifestyle. I used to not be so happy about that. But now I realize that God has given us a wonderful life, full of challenges and obstacals, but nothing we can't handle. And it is the life He has chosen for us. So, we go about our average days of our average life and if something comes our way that presents a major challenge or gives us some unusual fame or fortune, we deal with it in our average American way.

How it all began...

I am a true believer in fate. If it were not for fate, and God's infinite wisdom, Greg and I would have never met. You know how sometimes you can almost feel God gently pushing you in a certain direction. Well, that's what happened to us on the night of August 24, 1996. God had his arms gently around Greg and my shoulders gently guiding us towards each other. Neither one of us would have normally been at the same event on the night of the 24th. Greg had just moved to Kansas City, Missouri and was looking for something to do on a Saturday night. I was in a lengthy conversation with a close friend involving her trying to talk me into going to the same event that Greg was on his way to at that very moment. I was tired of being the 5th wheel even though the friends I hung out with were all very close (couples or not). I had been seeing someone off and on for the past few years and was tired of being alone. My friend finally talked me into going to the Nascar races. That was where Greg and I met and it was the start of a great life together.

The start of our family.....

Greg and I got married in 1999. What a wonderful life we share. We live in Boonville, MO now and have been here ever since our 1st son was born. He was born the 2nd day we moved into our new house. Needless to say, he was not supposed to come until 10 weeks later. But he had his mind made up...ha. Greg and I were supposed to head to the innagural races at Kansas Speedway the morning of June 2, 2001. But at the last minute we decided to head east and make a run to the hospital. I had not been feeling right all night long. Well, it's a good thing we didn't go to KC because I was already dialated to 5 by the time we got to the hospital which was only 30 minutes away. Michael Lee Runnebaum was born a few hours later (10 weeks prematue) and spent the first 2 months of his precious life in the NICU.

Another addition....

Well, one wasn't enough. To be perfectly honest, I was ready to have 5 more until I had my second and then all that changed...ha! We decided two little boys running around was quite enough action. Vince was a term baby and was born January 30, 2003. We are not the typical couple although people are now starting to have kids later in their years. But I was 40 (actually 1 day shy of 41) when I had my first child. Greg is 6 years younger than I am. Our boys really keep us busy running with daily activities. There are days when I just want to drop down in a chair (most days, really...) but they really do keep us young at heart. And it makes me want to stay young and healthy so I can spend as much quality time with them as I can.