I am married to an amazing man! He treated me to an amazing night out on Thursday by taking me to the Daughtry/Lifehouse concert, which are by far my two favorite bands. The special part about it was that 7 years ago Jeff and I went to a Lifehouse concert and that’s when I realized I had feelings for him. Last time just as friends, this time as eternal companions. I love that we love the same things and enjoy being with each other no matter where we are or what we’re doing.

We were lucky enough to hang out with Niki and Flavio before the concert and go to dinner at Chili’s. Spending time with good friends whenever you can is always a must. Between the snuggling and homophobia-ness, we had a good time. We had different seats for the concert so after dinner we went our separate ways.

Jeff got amazing seats for us and we were 5th row on the floor! I have never been that close before and I loved every minute of it. I brought some earplugs just in case because I didn’t know how loud it would be so close, but it wasn’t too bad. Don’t get me wrong, it was really LOUD, but not unbearable. I love going to concerts and feeling the beat of the drums and the bass guitar rumble through you as if they were coming from inside you. I just love it and physically cannot stand still at a concert. I turned to Jeff halfway though the concert and asked him how he can just stand still because I just have to move!

Lifehouse was first and they were incredible! They played so many good songs and put on a good show. We had fun laughing at their lead guitarist because he is proof that even though you’re a millionaire, you can still be white trash. The lead singer of that band, Jason Wade, has an incredible voice and I love the sound of it. They played ‘Hanging by a Moment’ near the end and that was fun because they played that one at the last concert. Just awesome!

Daughtry was last and they put on an incredible show as well. I hadn’t had much time to really listen to their latest album so there were a lot of songs I didn’t know, but loved all of them! I can’t wait to listen to it more. Daughtry sang a remake of the Phil Collins song “In The Air Tonight” and it was just awesome! He is so talented. The bass guitar for Daughtry showed off some of his guitar skills and he was incredible and so talented as well. The lead guitarist for them seemed like he was a really nice guy. There was a girl on the first row whose birthday was yesterday and he leaned down and gave her a high five, and a little bit later there was a little 10 year old girl on the front now and he blew her a kiss and when they came back out for the encore, he put his arms out and gave us all a big air hug. And every time he looked out into the audience, it was like he was so blown away by us and still in shock that we were here because we love them. He just seemed like a genuine guy. Daughtry was like that, too. When he would get closer to the edge of the stage and look out into the audience, he had that same shocked look in his eyes, like he still can’t believe this is real. Believe it baby! You rock!




The very first song Daughtry sang for his encore was ‘Home’ and he invited Jason Wade from Lifehouse to come out to sing it with him. Minutes before that, I had told Jeffy it would be awesome if they sang a song together and they did! Awesome!

The pictures and videos don’t do the concert justice, but you get the idea of how fun it was.

It was an incredible night and I’m still on an emotional high from it! All I want to do is listen to their music! Thanks again Jeffy for an incredible night! I love you so much! And thanks to our neighbor Brooke for watching the kids until Laura got home. And Laura, THANK YOU for getting the kids and putting them to bed and keeping them safe! (And again, I’m really sorry for not actually asking you to do that. Still can’t believe we did that…) Goodnight blog!

Well, the duathlon has come and gone and I sometimes still can’t believe it’s over with. I looked forward to and was anticipating this event for 2 months. It was incredible. It was seriously the hardest thing I’ve ever accomplished and now that it’s over, I realize a little bit more every day what a big deal that really was and I’m proud of myself! I ran/biked 24 miles that day! One word: incredible.

Jeffy was a huge support to me during the race. He was really disappointed that he wasn’t able to participate with me, but that didn’t stop him from supporting me and cheering me on. He was there at the beginning and end of each leg of the race, which gave me a lift when I needed it. When I started the bike leg of the race, he jumped in the car and drove around until he found me on the trail and yelled and screamed at me to keep going. He encouraged me even when I wanted to stop and for that I am so grateful. He was there at the finish line to congratulate me AND to hold me up because my legs were DONE. As hard as it was and as painful as it was, I look forward to doing it again next year with my man. You get an incredible feeling when you cross that finish line and I can’t wait to do it again!

About 10 minutes before the race started, sporting my gear and my GU.

And I’m off!



When I finished the bike leg of the race, I wanted to cry but I kept going!!

Almost done…

…seriously almost there…

…FINISHED!! 2:06 hours later.

I did it!!!

My grandparents are very special to me. They are my mom’s parents and they are the only ones I have left and I feel so blessed to be able to visit with them every time we go to California. My kids are incredibly lucky to get to know them because they are both very incredible people! I love them dearly and they mean so much to me. I’ve grown closer with them over the past 10 years and I’m so grateful for that. I love listening to their stories for two reasons.
1) Their lives have been amazing! They have taught me so much through these stories and they have been great examples to me.
2) My grandpa is a funny, funny man!

I love the time we get to spend with them and I hope that Jeffy and I are still out-of-this-world in love with each other when we’re in our 80′s and 90′s like my grandparents are with each other. They are so cute! We love you Grandma and Grandpa Bocker!

Our first day in SanDiego we went to SeaWorld and the second day we went to Legoland. What an adventure that was! It was a lot warmer that day and Logan was less happy, which made for a little bit more stressful day, but it was still fun. Lindsay had a blast and Logan had a blast as well, when he was happy.

This is how Logan looked for most of the day. Poor dude.

There was so much to do at Legoland that we hardly made a dent, but Lindsay had fun playing in these water fountains.

There was a whole section of little playhouses and things, including a little train ride. Logan loved this part of Legoland.



Logan learned how to go down a fireman pole all by himself. He was super excited about it!



I don’t think those things were really made for adults, but I gave it a shot myself.

A car made from Legos. It was lifesize and incredible!

The ride Logan loved the most were the driving cars that he got to drive all by himself! Lindsay liked that ride, too.

Logan’s number one!

He liked it so much we waited in line twice to do again.

The last thing we did at Legoland was play in the water park section of it. Logan fell asleep so Lindsay and I went and played while Jeffy stayed with Logan. We don’t have any pictures of us but it was a lot of fun. Logan sure can sleep anywhere.

It was a fun two days! I love my little family!

We decided to go to California for the kids Spring Break this year. But I wanted to go and do some things that we’ve done before. So, we decided to take the kids to Seaworld one day and Legoland the next day. The rest of the time we’d spend with Grandma and Grandpa Snider at their house.

The kids and I had never been to SeaWorld before, but I think Jeffy had been at least once before, but not since he was a kid. I didn’t really know what to expect. I just knew that we would see lots of cool things and animals. And boy did we! We got to feed and touch so many cool, different animals it was so fun! I’m just going to have to do a picture by picture post because we just did so much!

I have a soft spot for these cars because I used to own one and they are so super fun and I thought this one was too cute.

Then we went and saw the sea lions and we got to feed them! We all picked up little slimy fish and threw them to the sea lions. And I held onto mine for too long and seagull came and grabbed it right out of my hand! The sea lions were one of my favorites of the day. They are just so cute!


Then we saw the sharks! There are so many different kinds. I had no idea!


Me and the kids in the shark tunnel. Very cool!

Lindsay’s “I’m terrified!” face.

Penguins!!


We were walking towards something else when we saw all of these flamingos just hanging out, so close to the people. Lindsay really liked them and wanted them to come up to her so she waited very patiently and after a few minutes, one of them did get very close to her!




Logan didn’t really like the flamingos.

This SeaWorld had a really tall tower that you could go on and it would spin so you could see everything around you. It was one of the kids favorite things at SeaWorld!
The kids and daddy on the tower.

A cute little baby duck we saw!

These were some whales and dolphins we saw in the Shamu pool while they were doing their show. Logan was asleep at this point.

I love these two pictures of Lindsay. Her face says it all.


We went on this backstage tour of SeaWorld and had the opportunity to feed all sorts of different animals. It was amazing! Logan slept through the WHOLE thing, , but the rest of us had a blast! We got to learn how to make the dolphins do tricks, pet and feed them, feed eels and sea turtles, and see the cutest little sea lions there ever were! Lindsay loved every minute of it and she’s such a natural with dolphins.

Funny tricks.



BIG jump!



The tank of eels. Eels eat squid, which meant that if we wanted to feed them we had to touch squid. For people who don’t like fish or seafood, it was hard, but we all wanted to try so we sucked it up and did it and I’m glad we did! It took forever for the eels to get the squid that Jeff and Lindsay were putting down the hole.
And Lindsay enjoyed asking the tour guide questions…

Snack time!

We went to the Shamu show and it was amazing! We sat in the soak zone but didn’t get wet at all. I think the kids were secretly glad they didn’t get wet.



Amazing animals!

There is a huge pool of water with starfish and you can pick them up and play with them, as long as they stay in the water. The water was freezing but Lindsay had a fun time playing with them. Logan didn’t want to touch them at all.

Waiting in line for a ride.



It was a beautiful day and we had so much fun together as a family! We are so blessed to have all of these incredible animals on earth with us. I can’t wait to go again!

We had a really simple Easter this year. The Monday before we had a really nice FHE lesson on the Resurrection, with a scavenger hunt for Easter eggs that had things inside each egg to tell the story. The kids loved it. I just hope they got something out of it.

Since we went to California for Spring Break we were there Easter Sunday and guess what? The Easter Bunny found us there, too! The kids were thrilled. I’m so glad the Easter Bunny had some Cadbury mini eggs because they sure were hard to find…thank goodness for Easter Bunny helpers!

Sometime the week before Easter, we dyed some eggs, but we did it a way we never had before. Jeff found a method to dye eggs by using silk ties. So, we went through his huge bag of ugly ties that he got from his mission and picked out some silk ones and started ripping them apart. We wrapped the tie around the egg and twisty tied it and then wrapped that in some white fabric and twisty tied it. Then you boil them like normal and when you’re done, the print from the tie comes off onto the egg. It was pretty cool!

April Fools Day for us this year was not so much of a joke. We woke that morning to water all over the kitchen. It was all around by the refrigerator and I just couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. My first thought was that the water line to the refrigerator had broke and that’s where it was coming from, but the water was all the counter, too, so that probably wasn’t it. Then I just so happened to look up. Oy! The water was leaking through the ceiling! I immediately ran upstairs to that bathroom, really hoping that the kids hadn’t left the faucet running or something. They hadn’t and I opened the cupboard under the sink and that’s when I saw it.

MOLD. And lots of it!! I wish I had taken a picture of it before Jeffy cleaned it. It’s a white cabinet and when I say it was everywhere, it was EVERYWHERE! When I saw all of that mold, that’s when I put things together. We recently found out that Logan is allergic to mold and so he’s had watery eyes, congestion, cough and random hives for the last month and a half. We just thought it was mold from outside that was causing it, but we finally found the culprit! And once Jeffy cleaned it up, Logan has been doing so much better! Poor bubby.

Well, we found this all out on Thursday and we were leaving for California the next day so we didn’t have a whole lot of time to do things. We got a hold of a plumber and he was able to come and fix the dripping pipe. The little connector for the hot water pipe had just gone bad and was just dripping. DRIPPING. Who knows how long that pipe has been dripping because when the plumber cut the ceiling out to get all of the water out, there were about 3 inches of water in his bucket when he was done. That’s a whole lot of water! That pipe may have been dripping for months. I guess we’ll never really know. I have to believe that it wasn’t dripping when we moved in because I have to believe that the home inspector would have seen it. I just have to. Anyway, we have home insurance and a home warranty that we got when we bought the house so hopefully it won’t cost us anything to fix. So as of now, we have a nice big hole in our ceiling.