Happy Birthday Willy!

Our nephew William Werner Sigwarth turns 5 today! Happy Birthday little buddy! We love you Wil!

House For Sale!

We have our town house for sale by owner as of Sunday. We don't have quite enough money saved yet for a down payment on a house, but when we are ready to buy... we really can't do anything with this town house still in our possession. So we need to just get this out of the way first. The town houses in our neighborhood haven't been selling very fast and when they do sell, it's for way below what they are worth... it might take awhile to sell it and get what we want from it. There is a town house 2 doors down that is for sale by realtor so we thought we would take advantage of the "free" marketing since maybe people will be driving by to take a look at her place (shhhhh, don't tell). If we do sell our home, we'll most likely need to rent somewhere temporarily until we find a house or build a house. We are going to bury a St. Joseph's statue in the yard tonight. Please pray that we are able to sell our home for a decent price... sooner rather than later!

Happy Spring!

Thank goodness it is "officially" SPRING... as of Saturday! Yay! Thursday was quite the teaser with 60's and sun... before we got more cold & snow on Friday... that's Iowa for ya. But, luckily the snow mostly all melted with the sun Saturday & Sunday!

This weekend we visited Jason's parents in Sioux City. We did our "usual"... lunch at Chick-Fil-A and shopping around town. This time we hit the mall, Target, Sam's Club, and Kohl's. Of course I had to buy the New Moon DVD at Target that was just released on Saturday, I haven't even seen it yet! Jason & I bought a recombinant bike at Scheels and we got a really good deal! ...hopefully this will motivate us to work out more since now we can work out side by side... one of us on the treadmill and the other on the bike. I also bought Sketcher's Shape-Up shoes at Kohl's. They are supposed to help you "shape-up" while you walk with the benefits listed below in the picture. I can't wait to give them a whirl!












Saturday night we went out for supper to Outback Steakhouse then came home and watched the movie "Old Dogs" ...which was cute! Sunday we had lunch at our "usual"... Green Gables... We just love that place! The best chicken fingers dipped in honey mustard and crinkle cut fries... YUM! Jason's uncle Steve & aunt Jeana met us out for lunch. It's always nice to spend time with Jason's parents. George is having his other knee replaced on April 1st, so please keep him in your prayers for a speedy recovery!

Way to go Jared! :)

I'm so proud of my big brother, Jared Sigwarth! ... His name & picture was featured in the Telegraph Herald (Dubuque's newspaper) in today's Sunday paper for his recent promotion to "Assistant Vice President, Risk Management" at Cottingham & Butler. Jared has always had a great work ethic, he is one of the most hardworking people I know. Jared started working for Cottingham & Butler right after his graduation from Loras College. He often goes into work before 6:00am, works a full day in the office, comes home to have dinner with the family and spend time with the kiddos until bedtime, then goes back into work 9:00pm until midnight! Seriously, I mean... who does that?! It amazes me. He seems to balance a successful career, happy marriage, fatherhood, friendships, home/lawn maintenance, and his love for golfing and bowling with ease. So, needless to say... Jared deserves this promotion! Cottingham & Butler is lucky to have him! And I'm lucky to have him for my brother. Congratulations Jared, I'm so proud of you!

Women of Faith

I had an awesome faith-filled, family weekend! My mom and aunt Mary Rauen came to Des Moines so us girls could attend the 'Women of Faith' conference. They arrived on Thursday evening. We went shopping at Jordan Creek Mall, Jason made us mexican for dinner and then we watched the American Idol results show. (Sidenote: I am very disappointed Alex Lambert did not make it to the final 12, he was my very favorite!) Friday we were up early in the morning to get ready for the conference... 4 people getting ready in the same bathroom and out the door by 8:30am... impressive! Jason made us a yummy egg casserole dish & cinnamon rolls for breakfast AND he was our chauffeur for the weekend, he dropped us off and picked us up at the door... it was soooo nice not to have to worry about parking! Isn't he amazing? :) The conference was Friday all day 9:00am-10:00pm (with a supper break) and Saturday 9:00am-5:00pm. Over 5000 women come together in one place to laugh, cry, realize we're not alone, listen to heart-felt, hilarious messages, worship and pray. It's pretty cool. Friday night we had a little break from 3:30-7:00pm in which Jason picked us up and we went to Old Chicago for supper and did a little shopping. Saturday night after the conference we went to PF Chang's for supper then played dominoes at home. Sunday we took mom & Mary to our church, Lutheran Church of Hope, they LOVED it... for lunch we went out to eat at Chili's and then it was time for mom & Mary to head home, back to Dubuque. It was a wonderful weekend, the best part was just having quality time with my mom and Mary :) Some inside jokes from the weekend... "Smile while you talk!"... "Dad??!!"... "Milk-a-what?!!"

Happy March!

Yay for March! I am so glad that spring is almost here! I can't wait for this white stuff to start melting so we can see the green grass and take walks outside. I can't wait to see the tulips blooming! I can't wait for the smell of spring in the air! :)

Last weekend we went to Dubuque... watched American Idol with my parents Friday night (Lee is my favorite!)... Saturday went sledding with Ava & Wil, hung out with the monkeys, went to dinner at Bishop's at the mall (Wil's favorite) and we went shopping at the Kennedy Mall... Sunday we had breakfast with friends Meghan, Robert, Rory, Molly, Chris, and Alex, we got to see Molly's new house which is great!!... Sunday afternoon we went out to my Grandma's and had lunch and played dominoes. It was a fun weekend!

Have a great week everybody!

Irish Blessings

An Old Irish Blessing


May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rain falls soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.




An Irish Prayer


May God give you...
For every storm, a rainbow,
For every tear, a smile,
For every care, a promise,
And a blessing in each trial.
For every problem life sends,
A faithful friend to share,
For every sigh, a sweet song,
And an answer to each prayer.