Searcey's Baby Shower

Saturday night was Chad and Jonalee's couples baby shower. Mike and I hosted the shower along with three other couples. Brown, green and blue polka dots were the theme to match Slayton's nursery. We had a fabulous turn-out... even though the women were mainly upstairs and the men were at the bar watching the basketball games!

Whitney was in charge of the cake and it turned out great!

Chad and Jonalee got so many great gifts for Slayton! It was so much fun to watch them open the presents... I can hardly wait until it's our turn!

Chad holding the diaper cake that I made them and Jonalee in her "hooter hider" :-)

Closer picture of the diaper cake. The layers were made out of rolled diapers and the cake was decorated with onesies, washcloths and Burt's Bees baby products. It was so much fun to make.

Jonalee and Suz leaving with O'Douls in hand!

The Secret!

The Christmas holiday was emotionally difficult for me because we had just miscarried. During that time Jason was home and staying with us and he told me about a book... The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. He thought that book would be a good one for me to read - I now know why.

I had thought about it on and off since then and finally purchased it about a month ago. On the way to Jason's a few weeks ago I started reading it and I have to say that it has been the most uplifting / mind-changing book that I have ever read. It's amazing how much weight your thoughts carry... The Secret is about knowing how you can have, be, or do anything that you want.

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A few of my favorite passages...

Have you ever started to think about something that you were not happy about, and the more that you thought about it the worse it seemed? That's because as you think one sustained thought, the law of attraction brings more like thoughts to you. In a matter of minutes, you have gotten so many like unhappy thoughts coming to you that the situation seems to be getting worse. The more you think about it the more upset you get.

Ask... The first step is to ask. Make a command to the Universe.

Believe... See the things you want as already yours.

Receive... Begin to feel wonderful about it. Feel the way you will feel once it arrives. Feel it now.

What can you do right now to turn your life around? The very first thing is to start making a list of things to be grateful for. This shifts your energy and starts to shift your thinking. Whereas before this exercise you might be focusing on what you don't have, your complaints, and your problems, you go in a different direction when you do this exercise. You start to be grateful for all of the things you do feel good about.

Nothing can prevent your picture from coming into concrete form except the same power which gave it birth - yourself!

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Loss, in any form, is such a difficult thing to deal with. That seems especially true when it is something that you want more than anything else on earth. Experiencing a miscarriage, for me, has been the most detrimental experience in my life to date. My mind... in relation to getting pregnant again, seeing other pregnant women and being around others who are pregnant, has been in a horribly negative place since December 19th. Before reading this book, no matter how many times someone told me to "focus on the other areas of your life that are blessed", "everything happens for a reason", "try not to think about it" my mind could not move away from feelings of anger and resentment... and "Why me"?

I can honestly say now, that finally, in reading this book my mind has shifted to a different place. It has been a long time coming... three months in fact! I am truly grateful, for all of the blessings in my life... my husband, my dog, my family, my career, my home... the list goes on and on! Expressing my gratitude for these things on a daily basis provides the most awesome feeling! Rather than focusing on not being pregnant... I keep focusing on being pregnant. I know that one of these days in the near future Mike and I will be blessed again!

Thank you family and friends for your patience, support, understanding, and unconditional love during this chapter in my life... Thank you Jason for sharing this book with me and Thank you to The Secret! This book has changed my life!

Happy Easter!

Yesterday was Easter and we celebrated the day with family (the only few missing were Jason, Grandpa and the Seckels)! How blessed we are to have everyone else here - even Seth and Abbey!

Emma Grace with Baby Emma (in matching dresses and bows).

Mike and I joined the rest of the Jenks / Koeneke clan for church, then we had Easter dinner at our house. As always, we had more food than we could possibly eat. And for desserts... even though only two people were suppossed to bring dessert... we ended up with 9, yes 9, different things! We LOVE dessert in this family!

Will, Lily, Emma and Kole eating lunch

Kelly, Stacy, JoDe and Mom

Aunt Missy, Uncle Herb and Dad

Seth and his fiance Abbey

After dinner Ummie Mike hid Easter Eggs inside because it was too chilly to hide them outside. It didn't make one bit of difference to the kids where the eggs were... they had a great time searching! And they each came away with a large bag of candy! Gussie was interested in the eggs too!

Hootman's In Town...

These pictures are from several weeks ago, but I wanted to add them to our blog to share with everyone. Uncle Steve... aka Hootman... was in town for the Heart of America Optometric Conference. We hadn't seen him since our wedding, so Mom, Dad, Uncle Steve, Mike and I went to dinner at Savoy Grill then to McFadden's in the Power and Light district for a few drinks. It was great to see him! I honestly do not think that my Dad or Uncle Steve have changed... they look the same as they did when I was five!

3rd Anniversary!

Today Mike and I celebrated our 3rd Wedding Anniversary! I can hardly believe that we have been married for three years already - - where does time go? I thought it would be fun to add a few shots from our honeymoon... Napa Valley / San Francisco. What a great trip!

wine cellar at Vine Cliff Winery

our favorite winery... Luna Vineyards

at the bottom of Lombard Street (the crookedest street in the world)

our last day in San Fran... we rented a scooter and went sight seeing... we had so much fun!

Today we both took the day off of work to spend it together. Unfortunately, I didn't feel well most of the day, so I spent it sleeping while Mike played Scrabble on the computer. Thankfully, I did feel better by late afternoon, so we were able to go to dinner to celebrate. We had reservations at the Classic Cup on the Plaza (where we had our first date), but on the way there we changed our minds and decided to stay in the Northland and have dinner at Bonefish.

Bonefish was fabulous - as always. We told the waitress that we were celebrating our anniversary so she brought us two glasses of champagne to enjoy with dessert. My husband gave the most heartfelt toast... it made me shed a few tears. I am definitely the luckiest girl in the world to have found Mike. I love him more than words could ever express.

Busy Week... Relaxing Weekend!

This has been an extremely busy / stressful week. Last Friday when mom and I were in TN visting Jason grandpa fell and hurt his back (he broke two more vertebres in his back). They got him to the hospital on Friday night, but the surgeon was not able to perform the surgery until Monday, which got pushed to Tuesday, which got pushed to Wednesday. By the time Tuesday came grandpa was so full of pain medication that he had begun hallucinating! Needless to say, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were very stressful days. After work I went directly to the hospital and sat with mom and Aunt Karen keeping grandpa company. It was so hard to listen to grandpa talk nonsense and hallucinate about cobwebs and other people that he could see in the room. I will say, however, we tried to make light of the situation and some of the stories that he told were pretty funny. We couldn't help but laugh!

Friday we got him moved to Smithville's skilled nursing facility where he will undergo rehabilitation to walk again (he's been bed ridden now for over a week). Mike and I visited him twice yesterday, but both times he was asleep and after watching him not sleep a wink for 3 days and nights I didn't have the heart to wake him up.

We just got back from Smithville today and finally grandpa looks like his old self. His eyes look much better now, and aside from being in a bit of pain still... he is alert and fiesty! I was really worried about him there for a few days. Now I know he's on the road to recovery and will hopefully be back home within a week or so.

Since Mike and I have not spent a weekend together since three weeks ago (he was in AZ then I was in TN) we decided that this weekend would be all about us! We have had the best time being together and hanging out at home... we even caught up on our LOST episodes. It is getting good! We can't wait until next week! We also spent a good portion of the weekend cuddling with Gussie. He is such a cute little boy!

Jason's Place!

Mom and I made a trip to Tennessee this weekend to visit Jason. He was busy with work and unable to come home, so we headed south! SURPRISE!

I had an idea on the flight down that we should paint his kitchen and the upstairs sitting area just outside of his bedroom... what a lofty project list for only two and a half days!

We made HUGE changes in the kitchen in just a day. I wish I had taken a before and after picture! We painted, Jason installed puck lighting under his cabinets and we furnished it with the table / chairs / picture / candleholder and mini blinds. What a transformation!

Sunday we attacked the upstairs sitting area... deciding to paint it cranberry (the color of our dining room) and stone. The two colors looked fabulous together and what a change in that room as well. It turned out great! The black and white photos of his travels will look great against the cranberry backdrop.
Jason really liked all of the changes that we made to his place over the weekend... I think mom and I will be paying for it for a few days though... today I am SORE!

Regardless, it was worth all of the effort. I would do it all over again in a heartbeat for my little brother. His first place is something he should really be proud of... I know we are! And we are proud of him too!