So Thankful

 We want to wish you a very happy Thanksgiving!  Hopefully you are getting to gather with family and friends, eat a lot of yummy food, and take a moment to truly be thankful for all of the blessings in your life!

I'm so thankful to God for the MANY gifts He has given me...a wonderful husband, incredible family, and these two little miracles are the delight of my life. I'm truly grateful each and every day that God chose me to be their mommy.  They bring joy to my heart beyond anything I could have ever imagined!

Will and Jack are thankful that they get to run!! =)

I'm so thankful for my mom, my best friend!

And my list goes on and on and on...

Happy Thanksgiving!

First Dallas Zoo Trip!

On Saturday Justin and I took the boys, my mom and my brother to the Dallas Zoo.  What a special birthday gift from Aaron and Sara, and the boys absolutely LOVED every minute of it!!

We played the first half hour or so in the Children's Zoo section, and the boys had a blast running around, climbing, sliding, riding on wooden horses, seeing the farm animals, looking inside the koi pond, and being big boys! They definitely don't like spending too much time in their stroller any more!  (Will is in blue pants, Jack in green)

 

 

The boys wanted to walk from then on, and they had a great time exploring all over!

The boys loved the monkeys... they were swinging all over the cage and amusing us all!

We try to get them to hold hands, It's pretty cute because they can't quite figure out whose hand gets to be on top!  =)

We went into a parrot sanctuary and were surrounded by tons of little parrots!

They were beautiful!

The boys were fascinated by them...

Until one flew into Justin and Jack's face!  It startled them both!

But one got a little friendly with mom, climbing up on onto her shoulder and literally sticking it's beak in her ear!

Aaron had the touch!

Aaron has an amazing camera, and he was able to get some great pictures of the animals we saw:

This condor's wingspan was 11 feet across!!!

By far, our favorite part (that we had to spend the least amount of time at) was the Wilds of Africa side of the zoo.  The boys loved the giraffes, zebras, lions, and elephants.  

 Looking out at all the animals

The boys had fun finding and pointing out all the animals they saw =)

 Such big boys! (Sniff!)

What a fun day!!  We will definitely be going back to this zoo again and again!!

So Proud!!!

About 98.5% of my posts have been about our boys, and rightly so.  But today, is a post on how extremely proud I am of my hubby!!

Today is a very special and important day, and one to share with everyone!  He will most likely be embarrassed that I posted this, and say it's no big deal, but I beg to differ.  And I honestly don't care if he's a bit embarrassed!  Justin is such a hard working, talented and incredible man, and he is so humble and not every wanting the attention on himself.  But today, My Love, you deserve it!!

Justin got a big promotion today!  Read this note that was sent out by his boss...

I am pleased to announce that Justin Steiner has officially been promoted from the Sales Team Lead position to the Sales Manager of our new Southlake office.

I have known Justin for years and have had the pleasure of seeing first hand his many contributions that include top performance as a Loan Officer to successfully building and leading teams. He is an authority on products and processes that has helped him become an excellent resource for his team.

What’s more is that I have always been able to count on Justin doing the right things for the right reasons. I couldn’t be more pleased than to have Justin on the team and leading the opening of our Southlake office.

Congratulations Justin on your success and to what I know will be a highly successful launch of our newest office!

He is managing his very own branch of his company (he is the big boss at this location!) starting today! He has done such an amazing job over the last 8+ years of working his was up in his industry.  He is truly gifted at what he does, is a leader that his teams and bosses have always respected, turned to, and trusted. He has done and continues to do an incredible job at providing for our family.

(A few shots of his new office--will post one with him at the desk soon!)

But what I am most proud of is what his boss said in the third paragraph, "I have always been able to count on Justin doing the right things for the right reasons." Justin is a man of integrity--in his home life, his life as a Daddy, but also in his business life.  This is something that can't really be said about that many in today's society, especially in the industry he is in.  Too many just make the wrong and immoral choices, and I am so blessed to have this man, who honors God in all areas, to share my life with!

Justin, I love you so much, and appreciate you more than you know.  You are my very best friend, and I am the luckiest woman in the world to get to share life with you! Congratulations on your promotion and your very own branch--you deserve it!!

The Fair!

In October, we spent a really fun afternoon and evening with Gigi and Boppa at the State Fair of Texas.  I love going to the fair...well, I think the truth is I love fair food.  Even though is is ridiculously expensive to eat anything there, I still have to try as many things as I can! =)

The boys had so much more fun this year, now that they can walk along with us.  They still spent a lot of time in the stroller, since it was so busy (and they got pretty tired), but they really liked getting to explore!

The boys sat for a bit watching and listening to Big Tex...sadly, this was the last time the boys would ever see this Big Tex.  He burned down because of electrical shortage a few weeks later.  So sad!

Boppa got one of the booths on the midway to give the boys each a balloon, and they were in heaven!!

And we finished off the night watching the Fair Parade of Lights!  I had no idea that they even had a parade--we usually go during the day, so it was fun (for the boys and for us!) to be there at night and get to see the parade!

What a fun night with Gigi and Boppa!

And one last look at the beautiful lights! 

 I love getting to see all these things that are so familiar to me through my boys' eyes--everything is new and amazing!  What a gift children are to us...we forget how wonderful the details of life truly are! I'm so thankful for my beautiful boys!