Our niece Ella (my snister’s youngest) turned 3 on Monday!

That’s why we were in Iowa last weekend — for her party on Sunday!

Time seems to fly when you have young people in your life. Like, how is Ella already 3?! And I haven’t aged a day?! (I kid, I kid)

Ella is a blast to be around. She has a fiery spirit and it’s been so fun to watch her grow. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for her (and our nephews too!).

We love being aunt and uncle and I’m grateful we could both be there for her party. It was such a beautiful day — an actual spring day where the temperature is just right and the sun is out and being outside doesn’t feel miserable. Those days are rare in the Midwest, and I appreciate them when they show up.

I mentioned this in another post but I feel like I need to elaborate — when you have no plans or responsibilities for the day, you feel like you have all the time in the world. It’s such an amazing break from reality. My life is very structured with fitting my responsibilities into super limited time right now and it’s a huge treat to take a day off from all that nonsense and just be. I’m so grateful for it.

I think we slept in past 8:00 (!!!!!!) on Sunday. Ha, It’s the only day in the last week my Garmin prescribed “sleep need” was met. Then we hung out until the party at 2:00 and left for the airport around 7:00 and departed at 7:55 (obviously I will write a full post on that!).

We had a wonderful time and can’t wait to see the fam again!