The Noehren's

Well, now that I have finally updated the blog - I saved the best event of summer for last!  After 40 years of living and raising their family in Morgantown, West Virginia, my parents decided to relocate to Lexington!  It has been nearly a year in the making...almost to the day.  This time last year my parents were kind enough to watch our kids while I tagged along on a work trip with Brian to Vancouver, Canada.  They have always loved Lexington, and have even looked casually at houses in the past while visiting - but never with any serious intention.   So, before I left, I mentioned that they were building some garden style homes nearby and we walked through the model together.  I could tell they really liked it, but never in my wildest dreams did I expect or anticipate that 4 days later, before we had even returned from our trip, they would purchase a lot where their future home would be built!  To say it took me and my sisters by shock was an u...

 This cute dark haired beauty turned 11 this August!  I just wish I could go back and hold that tiny baby again for a day, especially knowing all that I know now as a mom.    We celebrated early with Mimi and Papa in July and then had a small dinner and ice cream party with Grandma and Grandpa for her actual birthday. I am so in love with 11 year old Haley!  I might want to visit baby Haley for a day, but I am more excited for the future.  It is so magical to watch her grow and mature and figure out life.  I love it!  I just know that good things are in store for this girl.

The summer FLEW by and before we knew it, school started!  Haley started 6th grade (middle school) and Grant started 2nd grade.     Now that we are a month into the routine things are going great for both of them!  Middle school has been surprisingly better than any of us anticipated, which is such a blessing.  Last year was super tough on many levels for Haley and Grant too in his own way, but I feel like they are both coming into their own and thriving.

Brian goes to Vanderbilt University a few times a year for work and we finally got the chance to tag along.  We stopped in Bowling Green Kentucky on our way to check out the big sink hole in the National Corvette Museum.  It was actually pretty cool, but so sad for the cars that fell in!  I read in the paper that they have to fill it in for insurance purposes so I'm glad we got a chance to see it. We wandered through the Opryland Hotel.  That place is crazy huge and super nice.  Right across the street from Vanderbilt is the worlds only full scale replica of the Parthenon in ancient Greece.  We went to walk around it since we could see it from our hotel room and decided it was so cool we had to go inside.  Inside is a seriously big statue of Athena.  You can see just how big she is by comparing how small Brian and Grant look.    I sometimes get sucked into the American Pickers show, so I thought it w...

Even though I had just seen my sister Amy and her family at the beach, I hadn't been to her actual house in years so the kids and I made a quick trip over the Champaign, Illinois to say hi.  They took us to the coolest (and super yummy) old fashioned soda fountain shop, and we got to meet their adorable new cat.  Thanks for having us!!   At night in Illinois, Grant tucked in cousin mousy and baby mousy.  The kids and I played lots of Monopoly this summer.  Or maybe it was just one really long game over many days.  I can't remember!  I do remember Grant totally winning though.    We grew soooo many cucumbers and turned them into pickles.  I bought myself a miter saw (which I love!) and made frames for two of our bathroom mirrors...which reminds me...I still need to make the one for our master bath.  Where does the time go?  We had lots of dishwasher drama, which ended exceptionally well thanks for Lowe's...