Life takes you in unexpected directions.

And this is how I feel at times. The excitement of new things ahead. Though other times I tend to focus on looking back and asking "what if...?" Regardless of where we are living I know that eventually we will feel settled. For now, it seems that Iowa is the place. Which I am okay with as long as we can visit Colorado at least 2 times a year! So, with that being said, say hello to the new home of the Ekarts!
It's a 1927 charmer! We love it. It needs some work, but nothing we haven't done before, minus building a garage. We are so excited to finally have a place to call home. Now I spend all my free time trying to decide what colors to paint and I am at a standstill! I will figure it out I suppose. I've never been so indecisive!

Hadley will love having a fenced back yard to play in. He LOVES being outside. He gets so excited when we mention walks or the park. He is always ready to go. He is becoming such a little boy. A naughty little boy at times! Good thing he is cute. I have a feeling I will be saying that the rest of my life! He gives us a run for our money, but is one of the most wonderful parts of our lives. He is a talker and he is so positive he knows what he is saying. We can understand him half of the time. He is learning more words each week and becoming so much more aware of what is around him. This spring/summer will be so fun with him!

Happy Monday! It's suppose to be in the 70's in Iowa all week! Love it!

A year older, wiser?

I celebrated my birthday this past weekend. It was great, filled with lots of fun. Loren too me out on a birthday date. We went to see The Vow. It was cute, not quite as good as I was hoping. The whole time I could only think of how terrible that would be! But, regardless it was still fun. Then we met up with a few friends. Loren's good friend Adam was so sweet and had cheese cake waiting for me and then we went and had a birthday martini-yum! We were a little late planning and didn't make reservations until that day. We should have thought of it earlier. The only reservation we could get was at 9pm! As some may know, we typically eat late. Most of the time it is because we don't start cooking 'til 6 and Lor always has a "detailed" recipe. So, 8 o'clock is very common for us. But, having reservations at 9pm, was still a bit late for us. We went to Lucca in the East Village. One word- EXTRAORDINARY! Lucca, in my opinion, has the best food in Des Moines. That may be a bold statement, but it is so very true for me. I see it becoming our "special date" place. If you live in Des Moines, please go there. You will not be disappointed!
Sunday(my actual birthday) was spent with my family. We had chicken tortilla soup and Loren make a delicious carrot cake(my fav).

This next year of my life I would like to become a better me. I want to grow in God's love and shine his love to other people. I want to be the best mama for Hads. I want to enjoy all the little moments with him, as I know they pass too quickly. I want to be a supportive, loving wife. It makes it easy when I have a great husband who I have 100% confidence in no matter what path he takes us. I want to be a better friend, daughter and sister. Most of all I want to focus on the things and people in my life that really matter. Life is too unknown to not invest and enjoy relationships. Thank you to all who have made my life thus far, lovely.

Happy Love Day!

Hadley sends his kisses to you today!

Post 100!

Ha. I'm not sure what even made me notice that this is my 100th post. I guess I better make it a good one. I'll try. We are keeping busy around here. Poor Hads has a bad ear infection which has attacked his eye, giving him pink eye symptoms. It's pretty icky. He's on medicine now and it seems that hour by hour he is acting more like himself. And right now that is "terrible two'ing"! A little early but I guess that means he will come out of it sooner right? Oh my can he kick and scream. It always seems to be for the craziest reasons. He also loves throwing/pushing things down the stairs. Not so good when he pushed a heavy metal and leather dining room chair down and put a big hole in the wall. Or his little bike that left more damage. He looks up at me and says, "uh oh!" Ah...that is just the beginning. He is way smarter than what we think!

Good thing he is so cute!

Loren is continually keeping busy, which is great. He has done quite a few videos for the YMCA of Des Moines and they seem to be loving his work. He also has been doing photo shoots and other random video jobs. He really enjoys all of it. If he can make it work, this is exactly what he would like to do. We are currently at a crossroads. As much as we love and appreciate our parents, it is time to make a change to our living situation. So, are we committing to staying in Iowa? That is the question...I feel different everyday. Having our family so close is WONDERFUL. However, pieces of us are still in Colorado. Uhg. I hate it. We have looked at some houses which has been fun. It just seems weird to me still. I don't know why. I just really miss all our friends. I thought by now I would be use to it all but that is a big NO! I guess they are irreplaceable friends. I know and believe that God has a perfect plan for us. I would just like Him to hurry it along! I can ask for that, right? I would like some consistency and order in our lives. We just need to figure out if that is here or somewhere else.

Well post 100 has been informational?? Now you know what is going on in our lives. Big decisions are to be made. It seems like we are always put in "risky" situations lately.
God is continually reminding us to seek and trust Him for everything.

Here is the 2nd love of my life!
I need to upload pictures, not from my phone. Isn't he the cutest thing you have ever seen?
I love him... even when he puts holes in the wall!

happy new year.

We have gotten off to a bad start.

We all managed to get bad colds over Christmas. Loren ended up with a terrible sinus infection and finally went to the doctor after a few days and got put on medicine.

New Years Eve was our 5 year anniversary.
We had planned a night out before Loren was really feeling bad. Loren was still not feeling the best but decided to go out to please his insistent wife. I really wanted to get out and have a fun
night since we had been in dealing with sicknesses the past few days.
I told Loren that we had to do something since it was our 5 YEAR ANNIVERSARY.
Well, lets just say it didn't end up so great.
We went to dinner at a very well reputable restaurant downtown (I'm not going to say the name because I do believe it was a complete fluke and we will try it again).
It was our first time there and we were eager to try it. Everything was wonderful from the ambiance to the food and to the drinks. We really had a lovely time celebrating us!
After dinner we met up with some friends and rang in the new year.
Then next morning we both wake up with churning stomachs. Yep, food poisoning. We both spent the whole day sick in bed. I guess I should not have forced Loren to go out after all.
We would like a re-do for our anniversary when we are both healthy!

Then this weekend poor Hadley came down with the stomach flu! And the list goes on of people
he has shared that with, including me. Hopefully that will come to an end.
He is feeling better but is still a bit sluggish.
Ah, to be healthy again. That is all I want.
I assume it's all uphill from here.

So, HAPPY NEW YEAR 10 days late.
We are looking forward to 2012 and direction in our random journey that we are on!

Family photos.

Merry Christmas from us to you!

Christmas time is here!

I LOVE IT! Christmas is everywhere! I no longer feel like I have to keep it "semi" bottled up! Yes, I have been listening to Christmas music since July and drinking egg nog (AE egg nog is by far the best-We've sampled many!) since October-but I love every bit of the wonderful season. This year is a bit different. No decorations of my own (except our stockings, I had to hang those). No lights on our cozy house. No hosting our annual Christmas party. No work Christmas Party. It's a different "season" for the Ekarts. When I think of all that isn't happening I tend to get really sad and lonely. So, none of that! All I have to do is look at my boy, Hadley. Nothing else in this whole world matters! He has been my companion and constant (in addition to my hubs) in this journey since we left everything that was comfortable. We took Christmas photos last week. I will post them soon, I promise. Until then, here is what brightens my day.