It's been about 6 months since I have given updates and so many changes have happened in a short amount of time! Beau turned 5! He has been obsessed with dinosaurs so we took him to a big dinosaur exhibit in Wichita for his birthday. He now owns almost all the dinosaurs and knows all the details about them!

 Beau started Kindergarten Sept 2nd! He was super excited about his teacher too! He really enjoyed the first 3 days of school, but I think he got a little exhausted by Friday.

 This afternoon he lost his first tooth (the real way at least!) He finally let me mess with it and it popped right out! He kind of panicked at first but then thought it was pretty cool.

He also learned to tie his shoes this summer and ride his bike! He is growing up too fast!!!!

We have had a really fun summer! Lots of swimming at the new pool at the Country Club where Jason works. Beau took a few swimming lessons at the beginning of the summer, but it didn't take him long to start swimming like a fish. He was jumping into the deep end without any floaties
in no time!

 

We've also started golfing more. Beau has really enjoyed going so we got him his own set of clubs. He was soooo excited! He asks all the time if we can go golf. It's such a fun thing to do as a family!
We've been able to go camping a few times this summer, but haven't had a whole lot of luck fishing. It's been fun to get away though.

Beau had AWANAS at church last year during school and he graduated Cubbies in May! They get the summer off, but it starts back up this Wednesday. He will be in Sparks this year so he will have to learn even more verses! I have no doubt he will do great, he has a really good memory!

 

 Beau got to ride the combine with his buddy Will, this summer. Will and Beau were in the same preschool class and went to the same daycare. Will is quite the "farmer", so they "worked the fields" all summer at daycare:)

I guess I will just assume that these updates will be me playing catch up. I don't seem to be keeping up like I should, or intend to. We have had a major change in our lives since the last update. We bought a house! We were very blessed to find a house with lots of space, a big backyard, 2 car garage, and other things that we were looking for, all in a reasonable price range. There is some work that needs to be done, but for the most part it was just what we were looking for. We moved the beginning of December, and had great weather to do it in! It is only 5 blocks from where we were so moving was fairly easy.  We have really enjoyed it here. Beau has enjoyed the big backyard, and we were so happy the previous owners agreed to leave the swing set! We have lots of projects on our list to make it our own, but we have been able to do a few things here and there already.  We had the original bright orange carpet replaced in the basement right away. That was the only thing that HAD to be done before we moved in:) 

Since we moved at the beginning of December and the Christmas season, it definitely flew by this year. The tree was one of the first things that went up when we got the keys to the house. It had lights but that was all I had time to do. Beau surprised me as we were moving things, and decorated it with his favorite planes, tools, and toys. It was so darn cute I had to leave it! You can see the picture below.

Work has been slower for Jason, but still going well. I like my department I am working at the hospital and really enjoy the gals I work with. Beau is doing great in Preschool too, and LOVES his teacher. Tomorrow we go to Kindergarten round-up......seriously...... where does time go!

 

Beau was a pilot for Halloween, so fitting with his airplane obsession!

His outfit was given to him for his birthday from Uncle Jay who is in the Navy. We knew what he was going to be for Halloween as soon as he opened it!

 

 Our new place!

Even though our holiday was hectic, Joey the elf still managed to find our new house and have some fun too!:)

 This is Beau's masterpiece!

 

 Sugar cookies were made into one giant one this year!

 

Santa brought Beau a giant RC crane for Christmas since he had asked

him for construction toys! Guess he was a good boy this year.....

 

 We haven't had a lot of snow this season yet, but we did have about 3 inches of fluffy snow to play in. It wasn't good sledding snow, but Beau had fun going down the slide in it!

And just a little taste........

 



Another way over due update! Who would have thought we would be even more busy living in Pratt than we were in Wichita, but we are! Jason continues to be busy with the golf course, but with cooler weather moving in hopefully it will slow down a bit. The course really looks amazing, he is doing such a great job turning it around. My work has been really busy too, but it is going well and I enjoy the people I am working with. Beau is officially a Preschooler now! He started this month and is loving it! His best buddy from daycare is also in his preschool class, so that makes it even more fun for him! He also started AWANA at church and has already started memorizing verses.
We continue to look for a house, but meanwhile we are thankful for the house we are in. The kitchen/dining project is almost done finally. After never ending wallpaper glue scraping, paint is finally on the walls and we just have one more countertop to replace. The project could definitely have been done sooner, but I guess other things took priority more often.
We got to go dove hunting more this year than in the 11 yrs we have been married. Mallie did really well fetching the birds, and Beau even went with us each time. He enjoyed getting his camo gear on and riding in the hunting truck. Jason has got to fly his RC planes a lot too, so we go watch all the guys fly about once a week. We've been to the range to hit balls at the golf course, played tennis, enjoyed the pool down the street, went camping a couple times, and of course see our family often!

Heading to dove hunt!

 

Fishing at Texoma

 1st day of PreK

 

 Flying his plane out at the RC air field with Daddy

 

We did painted pumpkins this year! When I say "we" I mean Beau for about 3 minutes until he asked to go play, then I finished. Beau isn't into arts & crafts so much:)

These updates are WAY overdue, but we have been a little busy:) We have moved back to Pratt!
Jason was approached about a job in Pratt, at the Park Hills Golf Club, to be the superintendent. This happened around the beginning of April, and after a few trips to Pratt for interviews, lots of prayer and discussion, it was pretty clear it was meant to be. We excepted the job, soon put our house on the market, and I applied for a job as well. Our house had a contract in a matter of a few days, and I got a job at the hospital quickly too. Then to top it off, while we were busy looking online at houses and rental options, mom and dad found a house and decided they wanted to move. So that opened up the perfect house for us to rent! It had never been so clear God's plan for us! The move was quite exhausting. We had to move mom and dad first, so we were able to get a place for our stuff, but Jason's parents were very generous to let us live with them for a couple weeks in the transition. We have enjoyed being back in Pratt and closer to family. Jason has been super busy with the course, but we knew that would be the case ahead of time. The course had unfortunately been run down due to lack of membership and money so a new owner had bought it and was ready to get it up and going again! What a great opportunity, but lots of work! My job is going well. I am working Endoscopy with the only Gastroenterologist between Wichita and the Colorado border, so needless to say we stay quite busy.  Beau is loving being around grandparents more often, and we are next door to daycare that he LOVES. He made friends right away and has had a great time there. In September he will start preschool and have a teacher that I was friends with in grade school.  We are excited about him going to school here. We were not in a good district zone in wichita and had been praying for guidance with that area. Thank you Lord for another answered prayer! We also really like the church we are going too. I went there years ago, but now there is a new pastor, and we really like him! There are a lot of young families as well, so we are looking forward to getting to know everyone.

Beau turned 4 during the transition. We did a Planes party for him and he got a few cool things to make his room special.

Beau has loved going out to mom and dad's new house in the country.  He has done everything from swing on the tire swing, to mowing on the rider with grandpa, to finding baby turtles, lizards and  horny toads, chasing butterflies, finding spiders, and who knows what else! We also are right down the street from the big city pool so we have enjoyed that for sure!

There are definitely some things we miss in Wichita, but we know this was Gods plan for us and thank him for the opportunity!

 

We woke up to 8 inches of snow Feb 4th and single digit temperatures. Then on the 10th we woke up to find another 4 inches had piled on top! The snow was super dry, just like powder, so it was light and fluffy to just sweep away but unfortunately did not make a good snowman:( Yesterday it finally was warm enough to start melting the snow so we made a snowman about as tall as Beau. It probably didn't last 5 minutes, someone felt the need to knock it down.....BEAU! Anyway, it was so warm today most of the snow is gone. It was so cold most of the days, we only played for a few minutes outside, but we still got to enjoy it! We even got to use our sled! Jason tied a rope to the sled and pulled Beau up and down our street. Then when he got tired, Mallie got to do it:) It was so funny! By the time I tried to video it Beau was diving off the sled just for fun!

 

 

Ninja Turtles, Spider Man, Skylanders, Batman, Super Man, super heros, etc...... all things Beau has NOT gotten into. Cars, Planes, tools..... oh ya, LOVES them! As I have mentioned before, Beau has really gotten into planes. RC planes to be exact. Every time we go back to Pratt, if the weather cooperates, we are out at the airport flying RC planes. Last time we were in Pratt there were several guys out flying and 4 planes were in the air at the same time. Beau just eats it up. He knows more about all those planes than I do. For some reason, this "rainbow biplane" he calls it, caught his eye and he has been talking about it ever since. Telling Jason he wants to get it for him for his birthday, or "when I get big I am going to buy the rainbow biplane." Jason's birthday is this weekend and his parents came up last weekend to celebrate. They bought him the "rainbow biplane". Oh man, talk about one excited little boy! He was sooooo excited. Now everyday he keeps asking when it will be ready to fly. The plane came as an "almost ready to fly" version, so several things must be put together and it will take awhile for Jason to get it complete. But all of this plane obsession has caused me to want to update his room to a Vintage plane theme so it will grow with him. So that's next on my to do list:)

 

 Home Depot has a free kids building day once a month. This month was a car. It was actually the first time we had ever been. It was so neat. They give you a kit and you have to put it together, hammering nails in and all! Then Beau got to race it down the ramp. He sure had fun. Unfortunately it didn't even survive the day, he broke a wheel within a couple hours of being home:(

Beau visiting Great Grandpa

 One of the guys that fly's a lot gave this plane to Beau last time we went out.

 He loved it!

We took a family trip to Kansas City at the beginning of last week. Ever since we went to the aquarium in Tulsa last May, we wanted to check out the one in KC! So, we went up on a Sunday and went to the big Cabelas and Nebraska Furniture Mart. We also ate at the TRex café. That place was sooo cool! Life size dinosaurs that moved, fish tanks, Mammoths, they had it all. It is definitely a place you should go to at least once! Then we hit Lego land and Kaleidoscope on Monday. Lego land was pretty cool, lots of places to build things and they had a 4D movie. Yes, 4D! They have air blowing and water sprinkling at appropriate times. I was surprised Beau kept the glasses on, but he seemed to enjoy it. It was only 15minutes though:) I went to Kaleidoscope when I was little, but I really didn't remember it, so I was excited to go back. Beau hasn't really gotten into the artsy stuff yet, and he was getting tired after going to Lego land so we didn't stay too long. Tuesday we hit the Aquarium before heading to Cabelas AGAIN and then back home. The aquarium was so worth it! Beau really enjoyed the sharks, of course, but they had several cool exhibits! We took our trip at the perfect time because it wasn't busy anywhere and we could take our time and not feel rushed by a crowd!

This is off subject but I have to add:) Everyone knows trying to teach manners and gratefulness is a constant battle with a 3 year old, so when a moment shines through it is so cool! Beau was asking for a second breakfast the other day (not unusual, its his best meal) and we really needed to go to the store to get groceries for company coming later, AND I was out of waffles he was asking for, SO I told him we could get a donut at the store (special treat doesn't happen often). I told him we could go get one and he said "well that would be really nice of you!" He also told me "thanks for cleaning" the other day after I was getting the house ready for company. So sweet:)

 

 Almost 110 bricks tall!

 

 all he wanted to do was build planes.... obsessed!!!

 

 Look at that Lego pit!!!

 

 They had a race car building station and then you could race them on the track

 

 Beau petting a sea urchin

 



This is some Indonesian shark, but only 8 tanks in the world have one!