Kentucky Derby and Mother's Day!

We always head down to Jason's hometown (Louisville, KY!) to celebrate the running of the Kentucky Derby....it's become a tradition for us! One of his parents' very best friends' throw a get-together that weekend and we always have such a good time going! The girls always look forward to going! : ) We have lots of great food, fun watching the races and lots of kiddos for them to play with. I always tease Jason that one of these days, he's going to take me to the Oaks (the race the day before the Derby) so I can wear a fancy hat and dress and walk around the track grounds for fun!

Some other news around the Massey house....recently, I've started a new exercise program....I kind of got burned out on my P90 program that I did most of last year. It worked great but I guess I'm the kind of person that needs constant entertaining (sort of like my kids...wonder where they get it from??!!!) so I am now doing the "Wave" workout and love it! It's fun so I don't feel like I'm just exercising but enjoying it too! The girls (the little two, Allie is usually at school when I work out) like to get out their step stool so they can mimic what I'm doing with my "wave" step so they join in on the fun with me! I'm posting a couple of pictures of their "workout"! ; )

The other fun event around here recently was Mother's Day! The girls did a great job (as always!) of making me beautiful cards and they had breakfast waiting for me when I woke up, along with some really pretty flowers! We headed to church in the morning and then spent the afternoon with family at my parent's house, where we decided to have none of the mommies work that day but instead enjoyed fried chicken out of the famous "bucket" -- yummy! A great and relaxing day to celebrate being a mommy and having a mom too!

Our Kids' Program at Church....

This year, our children's choir at church put on a spring program titled "Let's Do Church"....it was based off of the early church and how the believers modeled their entire lives daily around what Jesus told them to do....they ate together, worshipped together, shared their possessions with one another, encouraged one another and loved unconditionally. What an awesome message! The kids did an absolutely wonderful job and our choir directors are beyond fantastic.....in fact, the ladies actually wrote the drama and all of the songs for the program...incredible! We really enjoyed watching Allie get into this program this year. She had a great time and really liked learning the songs. She also a small part in the drama as she memorized part of a Psalm to recite...she did great and spoke slowly and loudly just like her Mama taught her! : ) After the program, we had a "church picnic" inside to celebrate the night....that meant lots of yummy food and time for the kiddos to run around like crazy and for the parents to spend time together chatting and laughing! That night after the festivities, we reminded ourselves how blessed we are with our church family and how much we love it...God is so good!

Allie's Religious Education Program and her first SOLO!!

We are blessed to have an elementary school that still offers a weekday religious education class during the school year for our kiddos! You don't have to participate but most of the kids in the class do. They also very fortunate that the little country church right next to the school is where they take the class so the kids are able to just walk next door for their class, works out great! Allie has always enjoyed the class and even though she has learned alot from our own church, she seems to always learn something new there too! Each year in the springtime, they have a program to show the parents what they have learned during the year. This year, Allie was chosen to not only recite scripture but also to perform a solo, a song about the baby Moses and the story of his life. She was really nervous but did a wonderful job....we were so proud of her! And, while driving home that night, we talked about how blessed we are to have her, to have her school and how thankful we are that we are able to have her learn more about Jesus even at her public school! God is so very good!

Conner Prairie Trip with Grandma and Papa!

Grandma and Papa surprised the girls and Mommy with a trip to Conner Prairie. Daddy happened to be away on a trip for work and it was during our Spring Break week so we all headed up to the north side of Indy for a day of fun! Allie really enjoyed learning more about what she has been studying in school this year.....Lauren just had fun watching all of the people dressed up from long ago (and asked if Papa lived back then!)....and Katelyn, well she just got her kicks out of chasing around the chickens and roosters at the Conner farm! ; ) We had a great day, the sun was shining and we really enjoyed spending time together and learning something new at the same time! Thanks a bunch to Grams and Paps for a wonderful day!

Spring Fun in Louisville

A few weeks ago, for the girls' Spring Break, we decided to spend a long weekend in Louisville to visit Nana, Papa, Aunt Tonya, Uncle Jeff, the kids, Mamaw, etc..... to get a visit in with everyone down there! : ) The weather was really nice so we were able to enjoy an afternoon down by the river at one of the nice parks/playgrounds they have there. The kids had a ball! And we enjoyed watching them play and taking in the great sunshine! Here are a few pictures from our fun!

Happy Anniversary to US!!!! ; )

Today we are celebrating 14 years of marriage and life is so very good! I have to get mushy in this post and just say how very much I love my husband and how good God is with putting us together! : ) They say that you can become more and more like your spouse, even look like them, after so many years....can't say that we look alike exactly....I'll let you know when I begin to get Jason's receeding hairline...heehee! But I do believe that we have become more alike and I don't really think that is in our personalities so much (although I think we work together nicely in that respect) but I think because of our growing love and faith in Christ, we have become over the past few years, much more alike in our desires and wants and that is a wonderful thing! I find that we are both much quicker to enjoy the simple things in life, get over the little "frustrations" of the craziness of daily life, try and keep things in perspective and when all else fails, we both tend to be getting better at just laughing at it and moving on! ; ) I praise God for my spouse and thank Him for each and every day that I get to enjoy spending with Jason! Happy Anniversary to us....here's to many many more wonderful years together sweetie!

A surprise getaway from my sweet husband!

Jason surprised me with an early anniversary gift this past weekend! We will celebrate 14 wonderful years together on March 23rd so in honor of that, he had his parents come up and watch the girls while we were able to head to the northside of Indianapolis for a night away. What a wonderful surprise for us! He had the whole thing planned out....every little detail to make this an awesome weekend. First, we headed to Keystone at the Crossing to eat dinner at Maggiano's....YUM-O! Then, we headed to the Indianapolis Civic Theater to see the musical "Carousel", loved that and was shocked how cultured Jason has become in taking in the arts with his wifey! ; ) After the show, we checked into the Marriot back up at Keystone at the Crossing. And the surprises weren't over yet.....when we got into our room, he had arranged for chocolate covered strawberries and champagne to be waiting on us! WOWWWWWW!!!! The next day, we enjoyed a wonderful brunch at La Peep (one of my favorite places to eat, from back in my "working downtown" days) and then we went shopping, where I was able to pick out two new pairs of pants! I shared with Jason on our way home that honestly, that was one of the best weekends of my life....sounds funny compared to our wedding, births of our kiddos (of course all of those days rank up there!) but this was just so awesome to have him plan all of this for us and I think w/ having a crazy busy life with the kids, etc..., I appreciate so much the times we get to spend together away like that.....absolutely wonderful! : )