Flashback Friday

Andy and I celebrate 20 years of marriage this month.

Here I am with my brothers on my wedding day.

Blessed Friendships

Savannah and I enjoyed the opportunity to spend some time with some of my treasured friends this past weekend.  We traveled many hours and had a great time.

We were close enough to my travel-mate and fellow blogger Allie to meet her for a yummy lunch.  Allie adopted at the same time that we adopted Wyatt, and we were in the same travel group.  She traveled with her two oldest boys, and we think her family is super.  I truly enjoyed the opportunity to catch up with Allie over lunch and am thrilled we were close enough to reunite even if only briefly after five years.  Hopefully, we will someday get our entire families together.

We traveled with my friend Kim to attend her cousin's wedding.  The wedding and reception were fantastic!  Marissa really knows how to engage a crowd, and Savannah and I collected some great ideas for that someday when we hopefully plan a wedding together.  

I have heard about Kim's family often over our 20+ year friendship, and I have met a few of them over the years.  They are such a warm, fun, and open group of people.  I really enjoyed visiting with them.  Kim's kids are so sweet and good little travelers, so we really enjoyed the trip.

beautiful bride

This license plate was tossed under a tree at a shopping center.  What???

sweet Gemma

Wild man Benton

an extra touch from hotel housekeeping 

our view on the road, I am hoping to take the family on a road trip to St. Louis sometime 

A few families have told me that they really enjoyed visiting there, and there is fun to be had for kids of all ages.

silly face

Gemma too!  

In the last few hours of the drive, God reminded us that He is with us.  We stopped for gas and enjoyed watching the sun slip behind the clouds over farmland.  Less than an hour later, a huge deer ran into the path of the car.  Fortunately, the deer was spooked and turned and ran back into the woods, and I swerved enough to avoid a collision.  We prayed for God's travel mercies, and we received them.  So thankful.

Please continue praying for my friend as she finds her footing in a life very different from the one she expected.  With her husband gone, she has a long road ahead.  I ask that you pray also for us also as we strive to support her from afar.

Happy Birthday America!

The day starts with a chilly and rainy but fun swim practice.  Why go?  This is the only fun practice of the season, and we are glad to attend.

It rains most of the day, so we clean, run errands and do fun stuff like that.  Savannah and I prepare to join my friend Kim and her two children on an out-of-town trip so that she can attend a family wedding.  Andy takes Julia to pick up Sadie.

We make it to my Dad's house for a cookout in the early evening.  Because Savannah and I will miss Andy's birthday, we celebrate there.  Of course, the big reveal (see previous post) occurs not long after our arrival.

Joshua provides the fireworks and he outdoes himself this year.  We enjoy a spectacular show and for the first time ever deal with debris falling all around and on us and a burning ember in Logan's hair. It's all good though.

a very sad attempt at an hadoken

check out that skyline!

We leave after 11:00p.m.  Savannah and I have to be up very early.

Happy Birthday to the Land of the Free, and the Home of the Brave!

Let Freedom Ring!

Thanks so much to those who have and continue to fight so that we can continue to have this freedom!

The Big Reveal

Tessa and John learned the gender of their baby yesterday on what would have been my parent's 44th anniversary.  They kept the secret until today when the family gathered to celebrate our nation's birthday.  We learned through a DQ cake that a baby girl will be joining our gatherings in November.  WhooHoo!  Isaac will be here at the end of the month, and Kinsley Noelle will join us later in the year.  Noelle is my sister Tasha's middle name.  Tasha is Tessa's twin, and she went to Heaven just two weeks after she was born.  A newborn boy and a newborn girl = so much fun and lovin' to come.

Meet Sadie

Julia has wanted a hamster for months. Months!  Julia, however, is easily distracted.  When her birthday arrived, I thought she would be all about the hamster since she did not get one for Christmas.  However, she wanted clothes.  A trip to the pet store for something else reignited her interest.  I tried to convince her that we do not want one of these smelly animals in the house.  Julia saved her own money and with a little help from Andy and me purchased everything necessary to have a hamster.  So, on Independence Day, Sadie got her ticket out of the pet store.  We are still awaiting the habitat we ordered online, so Sadie has a temporary home in an old aquarium.  She seems really sweet and is admittedly cute, but we have a rodent in our house - on purpose - a rodent, people!

Why Sadie?  Julia wanted a male hamster so that she could use a name from Duck Dynasty such as Willie or Commander.  I know the people on Duck Dynasty would be so thrilled to have a rodent named after them.  However, when checking out the hamsters at the pet store, this particular female was sweet and friendly.  The males, not so much.  I pushed for Gertie but suggested several names.  Julia latched onto Sadie since there is a Sadie on Duck Dynasty, so Sadie it is.

So far, Julia is an attentive owner.  She is concerned that Sadie is not drinking and has cleaned up all potty messes immediately.  If only this would last and extend to the house in general. sigh

In other strange Julia news, she wants a American Girl type doll.  Julia has never played with dolls but says she plays with these dolls at her friends' homes and likes them.  Wow! At nine she wants a doll for the first time ever.

Celebrating 70 Years

We gathered on Sunday, June 30th to celebrate my dad's birthday.  We tried to fix his favorite meal, and I think we were successful other than giving up on the coleslaw which was fine because he likes salad too.  My sister-in-law, Danielle, managed to pull off one of my dad's favorite desserts beautifully. She used my grandma's cream pie recipes.  I had forgotten how good those pies were. I tried to buy Dad one a couple of years ago from a really good local baker, and it was horrible.  I may have to make them sometime now that I have the recipe in hand.  Danielle's double chocolate cake was spectacular too!

Dad let Regan help with the candle.  He was in rare form.  Normally camera shy, he actually asked for pictures with his cars for his Facebook page.  Then he had me help him load several other pictures on the page as well.  I know Dad loves looking at pictures.  He must visit the pages of those on his friend list and just click through their profile pictures.  He wanted his pictures set up that way, so I had to change his profile picture seven times so that you can click through the various pictures together on his page.

trying to get a good shot of my oldest two, the neglected when it comes to pictures

photo bomb fun

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Check out this artwork from Wyatt

The further he goes with this, the more I see talent.  I am certainly not a trained eye in regard to the arts, but I love the shading in this piece.  It may be time to buy him some of those artsy pencils that allow for cool shading.  Wyatt just draws at the dining room table whenever the urge hits him.  He then just leaves his drawings there, and I get to enjoy the result.

Wyatt teaches himself and draws completely freehand.  When I have offered to pay for the after school art classes available at his school, he refuses them.  You are looking at raw talent, folks.