Welcome to the world, Caleb Andrew Schuler!

Our friends Manda and Jacob had their baby a little over a week ago. His name is Caleb and he is a beautful, healthy baby boy! They asked if we would come over and help take some pictures of Caleb, so we spent the afternoon repositioning and coerscing the sweet boy into sometimes strange positions. He was such a champ for the whole shoot! To be honest, us adults got worn out before he did. We are thankful for their friendship and look forward to watching how their family grows! Here are a couple of my favorite pictures:

Not me Monday

I've decided to try and participate in a blogging event called 'not me' Mondays. Here's what MckMamma has to say on her blog: mycharmingkids.net "Are you feeling guilty for not changing your children's bedsheets for weeks on end? Feel trashy taking your trash to the curb with no bra on? Overcome with embarrassment after your child wets his pants in public? We'll don't be! Not Me! Monday was born out of my desire to admit some of my imperfections and reveal a few moments I'd rather forget."

So here is goes...

I most certainly did not stay in bed until 4:00 in the afternoon on Saturday. While I was not in bed all day Saturday, I surely didn't watch three whole hours of a snobby prep high school show called NYC Prep on Bravo. I also didn't love every minute of the show and have my husband DVR one episode while I was in the shower so I didn't miss out.

The only time I got out of our apartment on Sat. was not to go get ice cream and it was not already dark outside.

I didn't take me 5 days to do two loads of laundry because I kept forgetting the clothes were in the washer. Those close are not still in my living room not put away. Nope, sure aren't!

I did not only make dinner two times this past week...one of which was not breakfast food because it was so much quicker to make.

So thankful for my husbands steadfast love and God's grace!

Turning the big 2-3, ya'll.

For my birthday, Sean took me to Sycamore in downtown Columbia. The food was wonderful there and we really liked the overall atmosphere. The weather was beautiful, so we just spent the rest of the evening at a park downtown enjoying some fresh air and great people watching! :) 23 is a strange age to turn because I feel 'in transition.' I'm not a kid, but not really an adult yet. Sean and I are so thankful for this season that God has us in and are so excited to find out what the upcoming year is going to bring. We grabbed some Coldstone to continue the birthday celebration, so Sean thought it would be appropriate to order a Cake 'n Shake. aka: a piece of cake blended with cake batter ice cream and milk. It was probably half of his daily recommended calorie intake. My mom and I made a trip to San Antonio to spend some time with family after the passing of my great grandfather. His memorial was very nice -- full of stories and people who were impacted by him. The picture below is my Aunt Dana, me, my mom, and my Nanny. I love this picture! We had a great time together, despite the ridiculously HOT weather! Quick trips to TX are bittersweet because there are so many people to see that we're not able to spend a whole lot of time with any single person. Our motto was 'a little time is better than no time.' We sure to wish we could just meet up for dinner whenever we wanted to!

Float trip and remembering my great-grandfather.

This past weekend was our semi-annual girls float trip. These are all dear sorority friends of mine. Our group has certainly changed a bit over the years...more and more guys join the trip as we each get married and find other boyfriends who will paddle for us on the river! The supposed 3 hour float took us 6.5 hours, but the trip was full of laughter, stories, and lots of sun!

On a more serious note, my great grandfather, Parvin Hoffman, passed away. What a long and fulfilling life he lived! He was 97 years old and was a nationally known fiddler. He is loved by many, and his life will be celebrated this weekend! My mom and I are going to fly down to San Antonio to spend some time with family and remember the great life of this energetic and loving man!

Handyman husband to the rescue!

Sean and I returned home from a long weekend to a broken washer. Having a washing machine is something that I have definitely taken for granted. After manually getting the water out of the tub with cups for fear of flooding the place once we started messing with the cycles, we had some time to research what the problem might be. We figured it out, Sean bought the part and replaced it in about 20 minutes! I'm so thankful for Sean's willingness to serve others! As a side note, the inside was SOO dirty (yuck!) so it took some scrubbing to get that back in shape. For anyone in a marriage you know that sometimes you are just 'on' as a couple...communicating well, working together as a team, and encouraging one another. While fixing a washing machine seems like a menial task, it was so fun to be working together with my husband to solve this problem, saving time and money in the process. Way to go Sean!!!

I blame it all on my roots...

This weekend Sean and I made a trip back to Branson to visit family for Father's Day and to help Sean's mom pack up some stuff from her house. There are times that having our families in the same city is a huge blessing, and there are other times that it gets stressful to try and cram everyone into the trip. We feel like we don't get quality time with any one person because we just don't have the time in one weekend. It really was an enjoyable trip, though! On Friday Sean's mom made us spaghetti (ahem...Sean ate two full plates) then we met my parents and Sean's brother, Kyle, down at the landing. My dad made sure that Mizzou won the college fight song competition at the piano bar! (Fight tigers, fight for ol' Mizzou...)

On Saturday, we helped Sean's mom pack up some more things from her Branson home and get it ready for the incoming renters. Beth is starting her PhD program at the University of Arkansas this fall and will be moving to Fayetteville in a couple of weeks. We are so proud of her lifelong desire for learning and for holding a high value of education! We might join her in Fayetteville this time next year when Sean starts his masters!

Sunday was great...we had breakfast with Sean's dad, then went to church at Woodland Hills. The message was awesome...that God is in control of all of our lives, even the times of struggle and grief. God sends those 'disruptions' to teach us lessons and remind us of our great need for Him. As a type A personality, I'm constantly trying to control my own life...to no avail, of course. We had lunch with longtime friends and mentors Steve and Kara Shank. It was wonderful to catch up on what's going on and get to hang with their two beautiful little girls, Payton and Langley. After spending time with them as well as Sean's brother and his wife, Jess, we wished we lived closer. This weekend Sean will be busy with the MU cheerleaders and I will be going on a float trip with sorority girlfriends!

How many bones are in the human body?

205. We think. According to trivia night, the answer is 206, but Sean challenged the question because your sacrum and coccyx fuse as an adult. Sean and I played on a trivia team as a fundraiser for the local Young Life chapter and had a blast! The other members of our team were girls from my 20-somethings Bible study and their spouses. Sean and I love putting our (sometimes useless) knowledge to the test, and this was a perfect setting for that! We came is 2nd place, which we thought was pretty good considering the young age of our group.

This weekend has been really busy! The MU cheerleaders were in town practicing this week, so Sean was busy working with them. I'm interning with our church here in Columbia and this week is Kids Quest...the kids are on a quest to find the True King and gain knowledge of His kingdom. So many people have put in hours and hours of time into this event and I'm confident it's going to be awesome! I'll post pictures next week of all the fun!

Saturday night Sean took me on an impromtu date night...we went to a new Japanese grill
here in town called Kobe (it was delicious!) and then to a movie. It was great to spend some time together while being intentional to learn more about what's going on in our heads individually. Sometimes we feel that all we talk about is what there is left on the to-do list or what we are doing in 3 weeks that we forget to live in the NOW as husband and wife. We are certainly still learning a lot about marriage and through God's grace it's strengthening our relationship every day.

Sean's daddy just came in...off to dinner!