Timbers & Princesses (Summer Soccer -2011)

What do you get when you put a bunch of 3 and 4 year old preschool aged children out on a soccer field? I'm not sure you could actually call it "soccer" in the traditional sense but it was still quite fun to watch the chaos unfold. It became apparent rather quickly that Josiah could run fast and kick the ball, however when it came to "game time" he was happier dancing around the field and socializing with the other players on his team when he should be playing. Josiah, being very competitive, would get down right mad when someone else scored a goal even though he wasn't actually getting in the game and trying to steal that ball away. We had a very gracious coach who would try his very best to set up plays that would allow Josiah to score some goals.

The season ended with a team bbq that included Josiah's first trophy and award! What award did Josiah get do ask? Yep, Most Competitive!

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Gymnastic Time

I'm always looking for fun new things to do with Josiah. When a Groupon to a local gymnastics center hit my inbox last spring I jumped on it with a couple of other friends. It is always interesting watching a group of 3 year olds take "formal instruction" from someone. Aside from a few "toddler moments" they all did really well. Josiah loved gymnastics and we hope to try it out again in the future. I've been keeping my eyes open for some more Groupons!

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Easter 2011

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Italia - April 2011

I am feeling incredibly blessed to be able to share about another amazing vacation....all because my husband is a rock star at what he does to support our family! I would have never guessed a few years ago when I married the "Pet Shop Boy" that he would go from having no paid vacation time to fully paid for off the chart vacations. Country Financial has been an incredible employer and really knows how to treat it's "family". Thank you, Country, for another amazing vacation BUT most importantly THANK YOU, NATE, for working so hard so we get to go on these amazing vacations!!!

Due to the hundreds of photos that I took on our trip, I decided that selecting the "best" photos and putting them in a sideshow format would be the best choice.

We decided to extend our trip on the front end with a couple of our friends so we could go to a few places that the company wasn't including. We made Florence our "home base" and ventured to to the Tuscan region, Sienna, Pisa, and a little adventure on the coast. Due to us returning the following week on a "tour" provided by Country, we steered clear from doing the "touristy" things until our return.

After four days of spending time doing things on our own we headed back to Rome to connect with a few hundred other people from the company that had also qualified for the trip.  This portion of the trip was amazing.  We stayed in one of the nicest hotels in Rome and had planned excursions and meals daily that Country planned. 

We traveled back to Florence go to some museums and do some shopping.  We had dinner at a vineyard as we traveled back from Florence to Rome.  One evening we even had a private after hours tour of the Vatican and a private dinner in the Hall of Statues (where the Pope and his dignitaries have dinners).  Having this private time in the Vatican was a once in a lifetime experience and was the complete opposite experience that we had when we were there back in 2005.

We were blessed to have this opportunity to go back to Italy for our second time.  I know that I am hooked and hope to go back again as I often dream of the amazing food, wine and gelato.

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