Go Sam!

Here's a video of Sam going down the big inflatable slide at our church carnival last month. I didnt realize at the time how many people were there cheering him on! Go Sam!

Busy, busy, busy

Busy. That pretty much describes our life this past month and a half. Between church stuff, family stuff, working, and traveling, our days have been full. So, here's a few highlights of this past month.
Walter's Pumpkin Patch - This was our first time at the Pumpkin Patch and we had so much fun... especially Sam. He's a little bit too small to do some of the fun stuff they had for kids, but there was still loads for him to do.


Wedding in Tulsa/Tulsa Run - Mark's cousin Spencer got married the end of October. The wedding was beautiful and the reception was lots of fun. They had a live big band style orchestra which was awesome. Mark also participated in the Tulsa Run with some other fam, including the groom. He was super sore afterwards because he didn't train at all beforehand, but still did really well.







Halloween - Sam dressed up as a very cute dragon this year and we are still working through his cookie jar full of Trick or Treat candy.


My birthday/Pastor's Retreat in Estes Park - In the beginning of November (on my 29th birthday), Mark and I headed to Estes Park, CO with our pastor and his wife for a few days of relaxation and renewal. The speaker there was excellent and the views of the Rockies were beautiful. We took a quick picture on our way out of Estes.... unfortunately, we never really had any time to enjoy the mountains up close.


Building Hope Carnival - To end our church's building fund campaign, we had a big carnival to celebrate. It's so great to see what God is doing in people's lives at Hope!



Well, that's our lives right now in a nutshell. Next week, my sister is coming to visit and then we're heading up to Clay for the big Habluetzel Thanksgiving get together. I can't wait!

Oh... and Conan is still flipping upside down and still alive. :)

Conan

Conan is our goldfish - I won him a year ago at the State Fair. I used to win fish all the time at the fair when I was a kid (throwing ping pong balls into the fish bowls) and wanted to see if I could still do it. I won Conan on my last throw. Well, yesterday Mark and I were talking in the dining room with Sam and I glance over at Conan's tank and Conan is just floating on the top of the water clearly looking dead. So I ask Mark, "Is... Conan.... dead?!??" We watched him for another ten seconds and we agreed he was definitely dead.
Now, I never thought I would get emotional over a fish, but the next thing I know, I start crying and have to leave the room. I always wondered how I would feel when Conan died, but I didn't think I would get THAT emotional. Well, about 20 seconds pass and then all of sudden Mark says "He's okay! He's okay!". I rush into the kitchen and there's Conan swimming around like nothing ever happened.
Is this normal? Are fish known to play dead like dogs do? Are fish known to come back to life? Do fish sleep upside down on the top of the water? Was Conan trying to liven up his mundane day by playing a trick on us?
We may never know.
(And yes, Conan is doing just fine and I'm very happy he's still with us.) :)

He's gonna be a rockstar!

Samuel is getting pretty good at playing the drums.... and he's only two!

Nebraska/Colorado pt 1

Here's a few pics from before (and during) our visit to see Mark's brother Adam. We totally slacked on pictures in Alliance, but Mark took plenty of Colorado pics that he'll be blogging about soon.
Here's Samuel singing/doing the motions along with the Wiggles. He's starting to sing a lot more now... it's so cute!

We took THREE pictures on our Nebraska trip... how pathetic. :(
I think this is on our way to Alliance. Sam was very excited to see Uncle Adam, who he affectionately calls "Crazy Adam".

While in Alliance, Mark and Adam played disc golf...as always. Sam liked following Mark around and picking up the discs for him.

Alliance has a really big, pretty park. Sam was having fun looking out on the lake and watching the ducks.


We had lots of fun at Adam's. Hopefully, Mark will blog about his guy's camping trip in Colorado soon. I guess one of the guys is putting everyone's pictures together onto one CD, so it'll be fun to see all the pictures we get!

Sam

Mark, Sam, and I are heading out tomorrow to see Mark's brother Adam in northwest Nebraska. We're going to hang out for a few days and then Samuel and I will come home while Mark goes on to Colorado for a week of camping with Adam and some other guys. He should have lots of fun... and be very sore from all the hiking and climbing mountains they're going to do.
So, here's a pic of Sam and a video to hold you over till we return. Enjoy!

This is how Samuel prefers to watch TV in the mornings.

Sam

Since Mark and I have stopped using our blog for bickering... at least for a while, I thought I'd post a fun pic of Sam. This is from our church's Vacation Bible School this year called Power Lab.

Revenge...

Well, I wish I had some goofy picture of Lisa to post so everyone could laugh and leave comments, but the reality is that Lisa looks extremely hot in every photo I have of her! What can I do? If I post them, people will just be in awe of her glorious beauty and leave comments like, "Wow, Mark sure is a lucky guy!" or "I have seen the face of an angel! What must I do to be saved?"... and that would only make it more difficult to get back at her. I will have to think of something else.

-Mark

Haha

Whatever do you mean?

I'm still here, thank you, my dear Lisa. It is only because I am so enraptured by your blazingly glorious baby-blue eyes that I haven't had any time (or ability) to write on our blog. I am sorry my dear, but if you would like me to be more productive, you should really not look at me so often with that stunning flutter in your gaze... I simply do not have the capacity to handle it and will quickly drift off into la-la land should you continue to be so beautiful.

A little behind....

Now that Vacation Bible School is done, I finally have time to update the blog. This WAS supposed to be a shared blog between me and Mark.... haha. Mark did really well the first couples weeks, and then.... well.... it was nice while it lasted. :) Anyway, I thought I'd post some pictures from Fourth of July weekend. We got to go up to Clay Center for a few days and be with Mark's parents, grandparents, sister Carrie and her family, and lots of friends. It was a very fun, very busy weekend.

Here Sam is making Mickey Mouse dance. You would probably say he is attacking, even strangling Mickey..... but Mickey is dancing.... I promise.

We had a picnic over at Grandma and Grandpa Habluetzel's house July 4th. What a blessing to have all four grandparents still with us! (Boy, that corn must have been good) :)

This is a picture of our youngest nephew Caleb. It's amazing that he has been with all of us for almost a year already! And he LOVES to get his picture taken!

All the nephews with Sam. It's hard to get them all smiling and looking at the camera at the same time. :) I'll take what I can get.


Four generations of Habluetzel men. How cool is that?!?

Here's a few videos from our weekend as well.
Samuel thinks Caleb is chasing him, but he's totally not. :)


Awwwwww... boys. :)


And for the finale, Sam's first experience with SPARKLERS!!!

5 Years

5 years ago today my mom passed away. I thought I'd be super sad and depressed, but I'm really doing okay. I actually forgot that today was "the day" until about an hour ago. I know that things like this get easier with time, but I think a huge reason I'm doing okay today is because I KNOW where Mom is at. She is in a place I can't even begin to imagine, a place more absolutely amazing than anyone on earth could even start to dream up. And although I do still miss her a lot, and can't get past the joy of where she's at. Instead of today being a day of sadness, I want to celebrate the day she went HOME.



I was so blessed to have a mom like her. Her spiritual wisdom and guidance made a HUGE impact in my life, and I know I wouldn't be absolutely, sold-out, in love with God if it wasn't for her own love for Him. Thanks Mom! :)

Boating

On Sunday, our friends Jason and Michelle Daniels took us out in their boat and we had soooo much fun. Highlights were: getting to swim in the very brown El Dorado lake water (yuck!), outlasting a HUGE boat party (there were at least 10 boats tied together), Sam helping Jason drive the boat, Mark cutting his foot on the propeller, eating tons of Animal Crackers, and the Daniels getting Sam a brand new Thomas the Tank Engine beach towel! Woohoo!:)
Here's some pics of our relaxing day.

Mark and Samuel enjoying the boat ride

Could Sam be any cuter? :)

Having fun in the brown, brown water

Sam chomping down on animal crackers

"Helping" Jason drive the boat

This is one of Samuel's favorite people.. Braylon. Samuel LOVES Braylon and talks about her everyday. :)

We all had so much fun!

Florida

Soooo... first off, Tyler and Erin - you can stop waving now, we're back from our vacation. :)
Well, I've been feeling pretty cruddy and tired since we got back from Florida and so this blog is way overdue. Turns out I had sinusitis pretty bad and my thyroid levels were low (which is not good), so I'm on some medicine now to make me feel better; but enough with boring health stuff. :)

We had an awesome time on vacation with my sister and her family and thought I'd post some pictures of our time together. :) Most of the pictures, of course, include Samuel.




This is my sister Lori, her husband Jeff, and their boys BJ and JoJo. No, those aren't their real names... and yes, this is the first family picture I have ever had of them. :)

Here, Sam is completely flirting with the princess at Medieval Times. He gave her a flower, danced around a little bit, and then proceeded to hi-five her, the king, and all the royal guards. It was awesome. :)

Samuel is ready for the beach!

Having fun at the beach. The beach was BEAUTIFUL! The sand was super, super fine and practically white. It was a private beach too, so there weren't a lot of people around.

We stayed at my aunt and uncle's condo down in Siesta Key. It was very private and quiet which was great. Sam had lots of fun playing basketball and ping pong, but had the most fun playing in the pool! His favorite thing was to jump in the pool... over and over and over again. :)

Mark got incredibly, crazily burned while we were in Florida. Here he is feeling sorry for himself.

Mark, BJ, and JoJo are showing off their muscles....

and here, Mark is showing off his mad boogie board skills. haha. :)

Me and Sam at Animal Kingdom

The last time my sister and I had a picture of just the two of us was probably 20 years ago. This picture was long overdue!

Florida, here we come!

Well, we're off to Florida today to spend a relaxing week with my sister Lori and her family. Woohoo!

Silly Samuel

Here's a couple fun (and a little disturbing) photos of Sam. :) I promise... Samuel accessorized all on his own.

Failed Attempt

Well, I'm down to watching just one baby instead of two now. Maddie's last day with me was a couple weeks ago, so I decided to get a picture of Sam and the babies all together one more time before she left. I tried to get a picture of all three of them looking at the camera at the same time, but I failed miserably. I still got some cute pictures though. :)