Some Randomness For You

Is it fall yet? Oh my goodness I am sooooooo ready. We've had the windows open in our home for the past few days (partly due to it being a smidgen cooler and a bigger part due to our last electric bill, ugh) and I just keep wishing we could go ahead and bring out the pumpkins and cardigans and my denim jacket for crying out loud. Shawn says that thing is my safety blanket. He even asked me if denim jackets were still in style. What? They will always be in style for this girl. I'll be the 80 year old with the denim jacket over her polyester suit. They go with stinking everything....well except for jeans. I draw the line at paring denim and denim.

I had to run to Target the other day (of course I could have chosen Wal Mart, but umm, no thank you very much) and although I just needed toilet paper I moseyed on over and through the clothing section and goodness gracious they had their fall clothing out! I fell madly, deeply in love with this beauty. And no, Leslie, I'm not joking. ;) I am in LOVE with this little lightweight rain jacket. It has a hood, it's a teeny bit longer in the back, and it is floral people! Unfortunately I didn't fork over the cash to purchase it but I'm hopeful that she will be mine one day. So hard to walk away from those you love, right?

In other news, I tried to shoot a bow the other day. I'm not strong enough for Shawn's. :( So, I might try my hand with a gun this fall. Look out y'all!

 

My car has been an absolute disaster for a while now. Like, you couldn't begin to even see the floor below the kids' seats. Dis-gus-ting. So, last Sunday I finally worked my tushy off and cleaned it out. It was gross. I'm vowing to never let it get that bad again. We shall see. Anyway, I decided to finally make one of those cute baby-wipe containers turned first-aid kit/whatever other necessary items you might need. I got all fancy and used my glue gun to stick that fabric on. Impressive, I know.

Then, I just filled her up with all the "necessities" for our little family. A few extra diapers, bandaids and antiseptic spray, tissues, ibuprofen, diaper cream, Chapstick, sanitizing wipes, and hand sanitizer. It makes me feel so much more prepared! I still need to add some gum (definitely a necessity) and a binky for the dude (in case we *gasp* forget to leave home with one and he is fussy!)

Random, right? You're welcome!

The Follow Up

It's been such a long time since I bared my heart here. Cracked it wide open and let all the icky spill out and onto this space. It was a difficult time for me. If I'm honest, it still can be. Oh, the medication has been a life saver and I don't still feel those same raw edges that cut me every time I moved. But I know how close I was to losing it. And though I know it isn't the right thing to say, that still haunts me. The loss of those months haunts me.

Scarier still is that I know how close I could be today and in this very moment to losing it. It's there. Under the surface pushing for a chance to release and God and these pills choke it out day after day after day. Sometimes hour after hour.

Who am I now? Now that I've been that far gone? Who is this person re-emerging? Some days I feel as though I'm finally pushing that last bit of dirt off of myself and seeing the bright, too bright, light of the real world again. I lived in gray for so long that the sunshine burns. And I shield myself from the light and in doing so push friends away, push things away, push everything away. I can only handle one intense thing at a time and the sun is it right now.

But God is merciful and he is unchanging and he is not surprised by how long this mending is taking. So, I take it day by day and he gives me enough grace to make it to the next.

Healing? Yes. Healed? Closer than yesterday.

"I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me." Proverbs 8:17 

Dining Room Progress

I snapped these pics late last night as I stood back and realized we were getting somewhere on the dining room. We still have a lot of little touches to go (and that mirror won't be there...something I heart so much will be) but I am so excited that things are moving along.

So far we've:

completely replaced the back wall (the one with the dresser on it)
painted the walls a nice deep grayish-brown (Sherwin Williams Anonymous)
spray painted the chandelier a white matte
purchased a Craig's List dresser that is awaiting its paint day
bought burlap inspired curtains
hung a shelf above my office area

Still lots more to do, but the heavy lifting so to speak is done. Phew!

Small Town - Big Impact

Saturday morning I woke up bright and early to head to my hometown. The church I grew up in was having their annual women's conference and my mom had asked me to teach one of their breakout sessions. Before you think I was teaching on something uber spiritual let me tell you the name of my class.....Bath Salts & Sugar Scrubs. Haha!

My sweet mama took me to get a pedicure on Friday afternoon so my toes would be purple...the main color for the conference! :) Honestly, it was such an awesome time with her. Usually I have to share her with my kiddos :) but for that hour or so I had her all to myself. It was wonderful.

I drove by myself to H*Ville and it was an awesome morning. I had my music blaring and didn't have to do anything but drive.

I took this pic as I pulled into my hometown. There is the one lone blinking red light. It always feels so good to roll into town. It's so familiar and welcoming.

As soon as I got there I had to recruit several guys to help me carry in all the bath salts and huge jugs of oil. I was so thankful to see my daddy there and to have his help! The men of the church went above and beyond on Saturday. They helped the ladies set up their rooms, served breakfast to the almost 400 women in attendance, prepared tables for lunch, served lunch, cleaned up, refilled drinks, and literally did not sit down the whole day. It was such an amazing example to me of the church working together and ministering to others.

Here is my room set up. I had almost 30 women in my class. My sweet friend Kelly was supposed to come and be my sidekick, but the poor thing got the stomach flu a few days before and was s-i-c-k! Thankfully, my other mama Bernice stepped in to help me. And, help me she did. That girl worked! :) I absolutely LOVE her.

Let me just tell you how special it was to be a part of this conference. The time and attention to detail the ladies in charge put into this thing were amazing. I cried a bunch and got to see both of my darling grandmothers. It really was the absolute perfect day.

There is my cute mama. She worked her little tail off making sure everything was perfect for all the ladies in attendance. I adore her servant heart and I know so many others are blessed by her as well.

I can't wait for next year!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eli Young Band!

Last Sunday my sweet hubby surprised me with tickets to see the Eli Young Band in concert. I've loved them ever since my middle brother introduced me to their music and when I heard they were coming to town I was SO excited!!! I spent the days leading up to the concert listening to them on Pandora and dancing around the house.

When Friday finally rolled around we were both R to the eady to have a date night! We are so blessed to have parents who love spending time with our kiddos. Shawn's mom drove down (2 hours!) to watch our babies and spend the night so we didn't have to worry about getting back early! Thank you, Bev!!!

This picture reminds me of us when we were dating. Of course back then we didn't own the family car or the two Britax carseats in the back. ;)

Yes, I'm a total goober but we went to Chipotle to eat (YUMMY) and I couldn't believe how humongous my burrito was. I'm not going to say how much of it I ate. ;) 

The concert was in the parking lot of PFI Western store which is right next door to Shawn's office. We decided to hang out there for a bit instead of waiting in the huge line before doors opened. I'm pretty proud of that man and I had the chance to look at some of the projects he was working on....phew. Way over my head. WAY!

We got there in time to get AWESOME seats. We even snagged up an extra two for our friends Kasey and Jeremy who were meeting us there a little bit later.

I was so excited to hang out with Kasey. She loves the Eli Young Band as much as I do and we even ended up getting the same tee-shirts there. :) Yay for sweet friends!!!!!

I know this picture is poor quality (I was singing and jumping up and down and dancing, hehe) but look how close we were!!!! The only down side was the couple in front of us who just needed to get a room already. It was totally awkward and gross. 

They sang my favorite song ever, "Guinevere" and I might have screamed and clapped my hands together really loudly when I heard those first few notes.

We had such a great time with awesome friends. Can't wait to do it again!!!!

A Little Picnic & Kickball

Shawn's work does an awesome family get together each year. One year we did Silver Dollar City at Christmas (fabulous!) and a couple of years we went swimming at a huge local pool (had it all to ourselves!) This year they reserved a local park and we had a picnic and kickball tournament.

The kids absolutely LOVED it. First of all, there were several different areas of play equipment for them. Easton was my little fearless one and went down every single slide by himself. And, I was so proud of my shy little Lauren as she talked to the other kids, gave several adults high fives, and got right in line with her daddy to number off for the kickball teams. It was just too much!

Here are Lauren and her friend Nate waiting in the kickball line. They are just a few days apart in age so it has always been fun to get together with them!

Easton was all over everything about the day. The dirt? He loved it. The heat? Didn't bother him. You have water balloons? He'll take 7. He was quite the little trooper.

I was cracking up because we had a pre-game rules talk. It was awesome and so up my alley!

My man and my babies taking the outfield. You didn't want to mess with right field. We had it covered.

Lauren played HARD. So hard that when we got home later that evening she had little blisters on her big toes. Poor thing!

Easton? Well, Easton played in the dirt. A lot. His toes may never be the same.

We had our game faces on! I love that Shawn is so alert and ready and that Lauren was giving that don't mess with me look!

My absolute favorite part of the game was watching all the little kids get their chance to kick. I could not have been more proud of Lauren as she went right up to kick!

She was ready and kicked her little heart out. I was cheering her on as she ran the bases with Shawn right beside her. It was perfect!!!

They were so cute taking a little breather between kicks. :)

Thank goodness for some Capri Sun rehydration!!!

 

The water fountain was a pretty big hit too. It was crazy hot after all!

Oh, and see that gold cup? Yep - our team won and we teased over and over that Easton was learning to enjoy the sweet taste of victory. :)

We had so much fun and even though it was hot and very HOT we enjoyed getting out and playing together!!! Here's to next year!

Our First Official Family Movie Night!

Even before I had kids I dreamed of creating fun and memorable memories with my family. Life has been an absolute crazy train the last year and just the other day I looked at my kids and realized the obvious. They are growing up. Thank goodness I still have some years at home with them before they do something crazy and go all out in the real world, but still.

Sometimes, ahem, okay, I always have big ideas and plans and dreams but I rarely have the follow through. It's become an increasing frustration with myself over the past few months but something I believe can be changed. :) So, in that spirit, I decided to quit pinning ideas and just do something.

Enter our first official weekly family movie night!

I was originally going to show Toy Story, but Lauren just got a new Tinkerbell movie and hadn't watched it yet so I figured we would start with it!

I'd planned on making homemade pizza using this recipe and it turned out amazing. We did finally get a pizza stone so I think that it helped, but seriously - that crust was amazing. I made the kids a pepperoni and cheese pizza while Shawn and I ate this beauty...

Tomato Basil Pesto Pizza

After dinner we did baths and jammies early. Of course Lauren had to get her Tinkerbell doll and wear her matching jammie dress.

Earlier in the day the kids helped me make cupcakes and while they napped I decorated them. I just did a simple green icing with purple sparkles, very Tinkerbell-ish. They were a huge hit with both Lauren and Easton!!!

Here is a super fuzzy picture of my little family. :) They were so cute all ready for the movie to start. Even Easton was pretty engaged and excited. 

We popped popcorn and enjoyed our little family evening together. Shawn and I had a no cell phone or computer rule (although I did break it to grab these pictures on my phone) and Lauren absolutely loved the cuddle time and complete undivided attention. This is definitely a tradition we look forward to continue! (Side note....I love this picture of my babies)

He is a popcorn lover just like his mama. :) It made me way too happy to see how much that little guy put down! 

We can't wait for our next Family Movie Night!!! We are hoping to see The Lorax!!!