Meeting Keeley and Much More..

When you live 12 hours from your family, you do not always get to be apart of big moments right that minute. However, when you finally get home, it doesn't make it any less special. Let me explain. I went home a couple weeks ago and met my newest niece, Keeley Wynn Birt. I may have been a little late to the "party", but she was still the most perfect little thing. I was so excited to meet her and get to have some time with her and Christy. We enjoyed changing her clothes and taking pictures often, as well as watching her sleep and trying to get little smiles out of her. She has grown so much already and can't wait to see her again.

While in Kansas City visiting, I got to enjoy seeing all my brothers and sisters and spending some time with them all!

We enjoyed a nice little "girls night" and went to a very fun place downtown called Snow and Co. I am so glad we could all get together and catch up! 

I was able to go home to Great Bend for a couple days and catch up with many things. I spent some time with dad and mom and got to meet up with friends as well. We went to Larned and got to watch baseball and meet Ben and Jenny's new little boy Eli, another adorable little one! I am so happy I got to get back and enjoy this time. Although, I never feel like it's long enough it was great to see so much family! 

Keith and I also have some more exciting news! He has accepted a position at Fresno State University in Fresno, CA. We will be moving shortly and enjoying the year round warm weather! We will miss Louisiana and our awesome friends we have met, but know this too will be a great adventure!! I will be posting about the move after we arrive and get settled!!

Month Long Celebration

I absolutely love birthdays. I think that you should get to celebrate it as along as possible. I know that as we are getting older, birthdays do not seem as fun, but I still think they are great! That is why I wanted to make sure Keith was able to celebrate all month long! Lucky for him, one of my very good friends Andrea's birthday is also this month, so we decided we MUST celebrate together. This year wasn't just any birthday though, they were getting to celebrate their 30th birthday's together! I know that neither of them were as excited as I was, but I think they both ended up enjoying it.

To begin with, my family has always had this thing that during your birthday month, you are allowed to choose, or not choose, in Keith's instance what we do all month long. Pretty much, if we go out to eat, you get to decide where, if you are trying to plan something for the weekend, the birthdayee gets to plan. However, in Keith's eyes, he decided since it was his month, he didn't have to decide a thing. That is quite annoying if you know me, because more times than not, I really don't care where we eat because I will get the same thing everywhere. (Chicken Strips or Hot dogs and Macaroni). Anyways, I planned with Keith's parents to meet in Oklahoma City for his actual birthday weekend. Keith and I left a day early, stopped in Dallas and met up with our friends Brent and Colton and then golfed the next morning. Keith picked the course and we actually both played well and enjoyed the beautiful weather. We headed into Oklahoma that afternoon and were able to spend some quality time with his parents.

I wasn't being mean by posting this picture, Keith knows he was making this face :)

In Oklahoma City, we hit up a Piano Bar, a Minor League Red Hawks Baseball game, and another round of golf. It was very windy when we were playing, but just an easy excuse for my score. I love going to Oklahoma City during Basketball season, because the fans there are so proud of their Thunder team. They always have so much pride around the streets and great food and drink deals!

 

 

We headed back for another work week until Thursday came along. Because of Mardi Gras break being when most people's Spring Break is, we always have a late "Spring/Easter Break". Ours happened to be this last weekend and it worked out perfectly. Keith and I headed down to Pensacola Beach (Perdido City) to be exact and met up with some more good friends Oliver and Andrea.  We spent Thursday-Monday enjoying some great beach time, and the boys managed to find a very nice golf course to play that included alligators!! (Not on purpose of course)

In Pensacola, we made an Easter Dinner, hit up a famous bar called the Flora-Bama, and made it into Pensacola to eat at a well-known Irish Pub. We played lots of cards and just talked about everything that has been going on. It was a perfect view and a great way to celebrate Keith and Andrea's 30th birthdays.

 

 

 

As this month is coming to an end. I believe that Keith is excited for it to be over. But, I also believe he had a great time celebrating all month. I am so glad we were able to see so many people and enjoy the time celebrating together. I am excited for next year already, but much more to come before then!

 

 

Final Four

Cross it off the Bucket List. For all of the basketball I have endured throughout my life, I have always wanted to go to both the Women's Final Four and the Men's Final Four. A was able to go to San Antonio a couple years ago to see the Women's Final Four, so now I was just waiting for the opportunity to be able to go to the Men's. This year, that opportunity came!

I had not planned on going really, but had the idea in the back of my head for awhile. It was in Dallas, TX, so only being 4 hours away, I knew I wouldn't have to decide until it got closer. My parents love going and are always there, and this year, my brother and his wife Jana were taking a few days off from parenting and heading down. I knew Keith was heading to Nashville for the Women's tournament, and not being able to take as many days off and head that way, I decided Dallas it was for the weekend! I packed up and jumped in with some friends who were also going and we were on our way.

Not really knowing what we were doing, we end up parking in the first car garage we could find. The people I was with, had plans and needed to be getting on their way. I told them I would be fine and started walking the downtown streets of Dallas, trying to find anything that looked like it could be with the Final Four. I googled and map quested and just kept walking and 6 miles later found an arena that looked like it was something I was looking for. I had been waiting to hear from my family, as they were in Arlington checking out the practices in Cowboy Stadium. Just as I am about to go in, my parents call and they are headed back to the Sheraton. Great! Only 2 miles back from where I came from. I finally met up with them and let the trip begin!

We had so much fun doing all the Final Four touristy things. We went to Bracket Town, hit up the free Jason Aldean Concert, saw some great games, and an awesome stadium with a massive video board (thankfully). It was so fun to meet up with people I hadn't seen in quite some time of coaches and college friends I have met along the way. I was even able to meet up for a day with some Great Bend folk and enjoy some Dave and Busters!

I am so glad I was able to go and hang out with my family and enjoy this experience. Pictures are so much better than words, so here you go!

March Madness

Yes, this term always brings one idea to mind, that time of year that basketball is on 24/7 to reach a NCAA National Championship. However, this term means a lot more than just that around me.  It means that Keith is finishing up his season as well and a lot of traveling will take place.

The Sun Belt Conference Tournament was held in New Orleans this year. I have been before previously, but not long enough to actually enjoy all the sites there are to see. I went ahead a took off a couple days so I wouldn't have to worry about getting back late or missing any ULM games. I headed down on Tuesday to make sure I would be up and ready to go for the first game of the tournament. ULM vs. Arkansas State women's game! Although it did not end how we had hoped, we took a 9 point loss and ended our season after a hard fought game.

 

This began my "vacation" for the week. With a 12:00pm game, that left us with lots of time to go enjoy the city. We went and ate, walked, and toured the French Quarter and Bourbon Street. We were able to go the New Orleans Zoo, which was very cool and huge. I am glad that we took the time to actually see the city and all the craziness that New Orleans has to offer.

 

 

This time of year also brings a lot of traveling for Keith. Always heading somewhere to watch more games and players. He got to return home to Kansas to spend some time with his family and watch the NJCAA National Championship week. With still much more basketball to come in the next month, I am glad that it is starting to wind down a bit. With no games to actually travel to, it will just be basketball games on TV to watch and enjoy with friends!

I cannot leave out the wonderful that addition happened to our family as well this week. Mitch and Christy welcomed their beautiful baby girl, Keeley Wynne Birt on Thursday. I cannot stop staring at all the pictures that I am receiving of her, and am not sure how I will ever let her go when I actually get to meet her!! Congratulations!!

Surprise!

 

About a month ago I received a card in the mail inviting me to my oldest sister, Christy, baby shower. I saw it was March 1st, realized I couldn't go, and placed the invite on the fridge. I want to go back when Baby Birt is born, so I knew it was pretty close and couldn't fly back twice. I went to work the next day and kept telling myself to just look at flights and maybe see how much they were, just in case there was a deal. Well, I was in luck. 

For some reason I am all about surprises. I thought it would be fun if no one knew I was coming. I continued on with this, telling Jana, because I needed someone to pick me up at the airport. With all sorts of situations going on, I didn't know if I could keep it a surprise. Somehow though, we got thru it all keeping it from Christy and Mitch and Erin and Cindy. 

Friday my parents and I were watching all the little ones. Matt called Christy and asked her to go to lunch. We went out and met her and I surprised as I was walking down the road! She had no idea and I was so excited to be there.

The baby shower on Saturday was great. Christy's friends did a great job of putting on a great event, and has Baby Birt all ready to go. Christy got some great things and we all enjoyed hearing stories of how Christy is preparing to become a new mom. You can come out whenever!!

We had a great time the rest of the weekend, hanging out, celebrating Baby Birt, preparing for her arrival, and just getting to have some family time. With a snow day in place, it gave us an extra hang out day to continue to lounge around. I truly am so blessed to have such a wonderful family. Thank you to all that helped make the weekend so much fun!