Summer Time!!!!

oh y'all know how i love summer.
seriously i do. so much.
have i said that a time or two? or fifty billion. are you sick of hearing about it?
i think it took us about a month to actually get used to the crazy lack of schedule, but we are so in it right now.

we are loving. life. 
summer is the only season that i am sad to see end.
i really need to just move to alabama and call it good.
doncha think?
unfortunately, i don't think my snow-loving family would agree.
so we shall state put, where we get all four seasons, and i will hang on to every morsel of summer. :)

if these pics don't say summer, i don't know what does.

top to bottom, left to right:

1. father's day sweetness
2. sissy eats a sandwich in the cutest way possible
3. big boys pool party
4. sissy examines her nails
5. sissy is pretty
6. and then she eats my chapstick for the third time
7. picking wildflowers in the field behind our house {dreamy}
8. it was all fun & games until we discovered they were covered in chigger bites & tics
9. birthday buddies get a play date
10. free krispy kreme on national donut day...you know we were on that like white on rice
11. splash park with besties
12. her girls

1. park outing with daddy
2. my sweet meliyah girl...i love her so.
3. my blue-eyed girl
4. ruby's wall art
5. go 80's at vbs
6. sweet neighbor girls...love all the sweet friends we've made in our new neighborhood!
7. her feet. we've spent a lot o' time in the library this summer.
8. blueberry picking...so fun! and we all want to move to the country. dreams.
9. bowl full of yum.
10. oh mercy. so girly.
11. painting the patio with water on a hot summer day. it's how we do.
12. making slushies with lemonade mix and the ice cream maker.
{otherwise known as, trying to keep sane til daddy gets home}.
13. arkansas naturals baseball game!
14.  wedding shower for a friend. i love shower food!
15. craft morning. he is a buffalo. obviously.
16. hand me down boys shirt is pretty dang chic on little miss.
she left that pony tail in for 15 seconds.
she prefers the mullet look.

i like getting ready with him on sunday mornings.
marriage.
i love my life.
i can't believe i get it this good.
i don't think i have enough bottles on my counter.

have a great tuesday, y'all.
drink some sweet tea. :)

p.s. thrifted thursday will be back this week! {had to take a break for the holiday. :)}

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what we've been up to

i'm easing back into reality today.
today is the first day i've set an alarm in 2 weeks.
it's been blissful.
i do feel recharged and ready to face this new year.
so thankful for times of rest and relaxation to keep us going.
we all needed it.

our schedule is flooding back in this week.
i am trying to be very intentional about what i say yes to and put on my plate.
last semester was too much and i don't want to do that to myself again.

last week.....

last week we celebrated our avery's 10th birthday.
he asked for a fedora.
he's an old soul like his mama.

we also enjoyed the last of our sweet lazy days with AJ home.
we went bowling and had the best family time.
have i said that i love this little family of mine? i do.
so much.

then it snowed.

so thankful it happened while AJ was home so he could play out there with them and make it really fun.

he pulled them all over this yard on the sleds.
the sleds i've been saving for a year and a half, waiting for a snow.
the boys were so. excited.

we had a very mild winter last year with no snow so the boys have been dreaming of snow.

avery stayed out there most of the day and was even out in the yard in the dark.
even though i would be just as happy as a clam to always have mild winters, i was super happy for avery.

ruby stayed inside cozy warm with her mama. :)

we enjoyed the last of the glow of the christmas tree and then put it all away.
it's always a little sad to put away the decorations.
but it's also nice to feel a little less cluttery for the new year.
i'm sure you all feel that way too.

almost all of us have been sick with one thing or another since christmas.
for a few days i had a cold and a stomach bug at the same time.
not awesome but also not the worst i've ever had.
i do have amazing family who took great care of me.
so thankful for them.
finley loved on me so much and kept bringing me sweet pictures. :)

this weekend aj and i got to go to kansas city by ourselves!
oh my word, it was wonderful.
we were celebrating aj's mom's birthday so we met up with his siblings and parents.
we ate lots of yummy food and had so much time for adult conversation.
we haven't had that much talking time in years.
it was so great.
on the three and half hour drive home, aj and i pretty much talked non-stop.
it was so fun and much needed.
we need to make that kind of time more often.

before we left yesterday, we hit the first friday event in the west bottoms.
it's a thrifters paradise.
building after building full of vintage and handmade.

it was heavenly.
and so fun to walk around with my man.
we talked about booth ideas and house ideas and even picked up a sweet vintage quilt for ruby.

wish we had something like that around here.
i do feel super inspired for my booth and our new house....wherever that may be......

happy monday, y'all! let's make it a great week!



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monday morning.

guys, i'm so pumped.
the boys {and AJ and i} worked hard and got all their homeschooling done on friday and this weekend so we have none to do today!
that includes finley's rock collection project.
woo. hoo.

i really wanted them to get all their homework for tuesday done so that we could do christmas baking and crafting today.
i have been trying to do it for weeks and can't seem to squeeze it in.
cooking is therapeutic for me lately so i am really looking forward to it.

i'm also looking forward to spending time with the boys, thinking about others....who we are baking/crafting for....blessing others....giving is better than receiving, etc.

okay i have to tell you about friday night.
avery had a birthday party to go to so we all dropped him off and the rest of us went to chic fil a for dinner.
on our way to pick him back up, AJ pulled into the embassy suites.
he stopped right by the door and pulled out my overnight bag.

i, of course, started bawling.
he said, "you're staying the night by yourself.
your laptop, bible, journal & clothes are in the bag."
he also said i wasn't allowed to feel guilty and that i deserved it.

oh. my. word.
couldn't believe it.
best. gift. ever.

seriously.
peace and quiet.
i could do whatever i wanted.
and there was nothing that needed to be done.
i could completely relax for a night.

it was truly wonderful.
i took a bath, watched a little hgtv and mostly read and slept.

he also packed my 1000 gifts that i have had on my nightstand waiting to be read.
perfect timing.
i'm two chapters in and it is so. good.
just what i needed.

this is the first time AJ has ever done anything like this.
i was so, so surprised and thankful.
it was so refreshing and recharging.

i'm pretty much on a high from it and keep thinking about how wonderful it was. :)

okay friends, i'm off to start my day....

also, if you think about it, would you mind saying a prayer for sawyer?
he woke up throwing up in the night and is currently asleep on the bathroom floor.
please pray that he gets over this quickly and that it stops with him.
thank you so much.

blessings to you today!


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a wedding date.

AJ and i got to have a big ol' date night with friends this weekend.
like a six hour long date.
a fancy weddin' date.

no, AJ did not consult with me before buzzing his summer buzz even shorter three days before the wedding.
ahem.
i love him anyway. kind of.

we had friends coming into town for the wedding so we went to dinner together before the wedding.
see, i told you, long date. :)
so fun.

this was such a special wedding as we got to witness God's provision, restoration and lavish love for our dear friend, Ashley.
so, so happy for her.

a children's choir sang "Great is Thy Faithfulness" and then her four kids walked her down the aisle.
it. was. precious.

ashley does everything fancy and beautiful so obviously this celebration was no different.

i wish i would have taken more pictures {had to steal some of these off facebook ;)}....there were so many fun {and fancy} touches.
we ate more than our share of desserts, talked and laughed with friends and just really enjoyed our dressy date night together.

it was a great time...kinda sad it's over. ;)


what did you do this weekend?

anything fancy? :)


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our love story, from his perspective.

did you read our love story last week?
for our anniversary, AJ gave me the best gift.
he wrote out how our story began . . . from his perspective.
if you follow my twitter you knew this was coming today....so here you go....how we began...take 2. :)

*********************************************************************************

Here’s my take on our LOVE story:

During the summer between my freshman and sophomore year, I had sworn off all girls.  I had seen a short Rich Mullins documentary in May and decided that I liked his way of thinking.  I was going to be a Kid Brother of St. Frank and carry on Rich’s legacy of singleness, travelling, living simply, and ministering to people.  I decided that me being set on getting married someday was putting God in a box.  (This is the part where you snicker to yourself as you recall how foolish 19 year-old boys can be.)

When I got back to campus that fall, I determined that I hadn’t spent enough time with my teammates from the rugby team in the past year.  So I filled every weekend with the guys, no girls.  Ever.  It was awesome.  Sometime that semester, Young Life started and I remember that Sara came with her friends for the first time to be a leader.  She hadn’t impressed me the first time (Powderpuff; oh, the arrogance) so I didn’t pay much attention to her.  But she was funny and I was already friends with her friends, so we got along fine.  There’s the whole broken leg thing and the midnight movie thing that you all already know about.  I don’t have much to add to that except that it’s funny how someone you barely gave five minutes to one day, could suddenly become incredibly attractive to you.  She took care of me and was kind to me and she hooked me without realizing it.  Also, I can see why some patients fall for their nurses. :)

Well, obviously, my Rich-for-life plan wasn’t working out.  I amended my previous assertion to be that EITHER getting married or to being single put God in a box.  I was now willing for Him to lead me wherever He wished.  I know, that’s so generous of me.  So, fast-forward to January, 1999.  I was back playing rugby with a brace on my ankle.  We’ll come back to that.

Anyway, I really enjoyed hanging out with Sara at Young Life.  All of us would eat dinner before hand and if she was doing dishes, I would “reluctantly” volunteer to dry and put them away; anything to spend a little time with her.  She seemed to reciprocate my friendly advances, so I thought maybe I was onto something.  I determined that I would begin pursuing her, casually and slowly.  That’s how I roll.  Plus, I’m deathly afraid of failing, so I wanted to know for sure one way or another before I put myself out there.  I had no idea that she was seeing someone else at the time. 

One day, after a cold, muddy rugby practice, I came back to the dorm and walked through the common area.  Sara was there with some other guy.  Although I didn’t realize it at the time, I was wearing a secret weapon – a pair of short rugby shorts.  It may seem a little creepy for grown men to wear shorts with a one inch inseam as a sports uniform, but I’m pretty sure my bulging leg muscles caught her eye.  Plus, it’s Euro, so that makes it cool.  I, of course, noticed that she was with some other guy.  I was jealous.  I had no idea how much I really liked her until that moment.  That’s the night I confessed these things to Sara’s friend, who I thought was more my friend than hers.  I’m a little slow.

Three days later, that same dear friend said to me, “you should really consider asking Sara out.”  I told her that I thought Sara was dating someone.  She told me that, miracle of miracles, Sara had just broken up with the guy.  I didn’t realize until much later why that was.  Again, a little slow.  This was Thursday.

The next Wednesday was Young Life.  I had a plan to ask her out on the way home.  Another leader and good friend of mine, Luke, needed a ride home which would have ruined everything.  I told him that I needed a quiet ride home and why.  He found another ride and I was grateful.  I made some comment to Sara about how, “everyone seems to have left us for some reason.  That’s weird.”  And off we went.  I’m pretty sure I could literally see my heart thumping through my shirt all the way home.  We made a bunch of useless small talk because I was too nervous to ask her.  I pulled up to her dorm and I thought she would talk a bit but she just hopped right out and was almost two steps away before I blurted, “Sara, I have a question for you!”  Smooth.

I asked.  She said yes.  And I will neither confirm nor deny her allegations that I lingered there until she was out of sight.  The rest was history.  Except there’s a lot more.  Like how we determined early on in our relationship that there would be no cycle of breaking up and getting back together like we’d seen some of our friends do.  We were in it.  Period.  She was committed like a bulldog to us.  I liked that about her.  Still do.  Or how, I had to ask her dad three times for permission to marry her.  That was fun.  I think I finally wore him down like a four year old asking for candy.  Or how her biggest flaw is that she doesn’t have the same confidence in herself that I do.  I think that one might go both ways. 

It’s been a great 11 years, babe!  I am so proud to be yours.  Sometimes I feel like I’m married to a rock star.  Except for that part where we have a stable marriage and there are no photogs outside of our house at all hours of the day.  Other than that, you are a rock star and I am your biggest fan.

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eleven years ~ our love story

tomorrow is our eleventh anniversary.
having an anniversary right before christmas is a little bit of a bummer because it's often overshadowed by the holidays.
one year we even forgot our anniversary entirely.
we don't ever get each other gifts....we are lucky to go out...usually we end up celebrating after the new year.
this year i will probably be scrambling to get everything done because we are celebrating christmas on saturday.

in thinking about our anniversary, i realized that i have never written out our love story.
at least how it began . . .

AJ and i met at john brown university.
my sophomore year, his freshman year, he coached my powderpuff football team.
if you know me, you know i possess zero athletic ability.
i was on that team because all of my friends were on it and they talked me into it.
honestly i was mostly concerned about looking cute with my pigtails and eye black.
i didn't really notice AJ and he wasn't impressed with me.

fast forward to the next year {my junior year, his sophomore}.
we were young life leaders together and started sloooowly getting to know each other.
i was busying myself dating this guy and that guy and again not really being aware of AJ {sigh....hindsight}.
we were talking more and more at young life and started hanging out with mutual friends.
i remember thinking he was a really great guy but that i could never date him.
he was just tooo nice. {clearly i had some issues}.
little did i know, he liked me and thought i was flirting with him....which frustrated him because he knew i was dating someone.
i had no idea.
at the time, he had a broken foot from rugby and had a big ol' cast on it.
college guys thought it was funny to act like they were going to kick his foot or step on it, etc.
my motherly instincts would kick in and i would always shield his foot.
he liked that and that's when he really started to notice me.

one night, four of us went out to a midnight movie.
we walked into the theatre together and it was nearly full.
i headed off towards the front where there were two seats available...expecting my girlfriend to follow and sit with me.
i look up and there comes AJ, hobbling along on his crutches and sits in the seat next to me.
i'm thinking, what the heck.
the movie was enemy of the state.
whenever there was an especially violent or scary part AJ would reach up to shield my eyes.
ha ha! now that makes me laugh.
however, at the time, i loved it.  that felt so protective and sweet.
that was the first time i really took notice of him.
but, i was still completely clueless that he liked me.
some time later, my best friend came into my dorm room late at night and told me that there was someone that liked me but she wasn't supposed to tell me.
of course she did. obviously.
i. was. shocked.
shocked. shocked. shocked.
this was honestly a life changing moment for me.
i knew that the guy i was dating was not God's best for me.
i knew that i was settling and just filling my time.
that night i cried and cried.

i immediately ended the relationship i was in.

i told the Lord, if someone like AJ would like someone like me, i would never settle again.

i never dreamed that AJ would think of me in that way.
he seemed too good for me.
that night i felt the Lord so close...saying this is what I have for you.
it was good and painful at the same time.
God didn't wait for me to have my act together to give me such a gift.
He gave me the gift and that brought me to the right place.


soooo... a few days later AJ drove me home from young life.
right as i was getting out of the car, he asked me out.
later he told me he watched me walk all the way into my dorm.
he was acting like he was making sure that i got in safely, but really he was watching me shake it.  ha!

first we went on a double date and he acted really weird.
he was telling jokes and generally not being himself.
i kept telling myself, he's not usually like this.
by the end of the night he pulled himself together and it was good.
he just needed to chill out a bit. ;)
he walked me back to my dorm and as we said goodbye, he said, "we'll do this again, yes?"
i liked that.

a few days later we had ice cream in the park and then hung out outside my dorm talking.

he said hi to every single person that walked by and was so friendly.
i kept thinking, i can't believe i'm with him.

that weekend we went out on what we call our first real date {a week after our double date}.
he planned the whole night out with all of my favorite things.
we ate at this little hole in the wall italian restaurant.

and that was the night it happened. . . magic.
we were sitting across the table from each other,  eating these weird, twisty breadsticks, talking and looking right into each other's eyes, and we just knew.

we both remember that moment.
i knew that he was the one i would spend the rest of my life with.

later that night we watched breakfast at tiffany's and he asked me if he could hold my hand.
and that was it.
i was his.

and they lived happily ever after . . .

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ten year annivesary trip, part 3 {final}

happy monday friends. :)

first of all... i have to say that it is a bit hard for me to think about something as lighthearted as our vacation when joplin, mo, {a town not far from us} was so devastated by tornadoes last night. 
my mind and heart are having trouble wrapping around it all.
the boys and i have been praying today for the people of joplin.
this has been a rough spring for so many southerners.

that being said....i do want to share about our wonderful trip so maybe this will be a good diversion.

okay get comfortable...it's time for some more vacation slides. :)

we stopped at two ports on our cruise.
the first one was jamaica.

so, we did not love jamaica.

that was disapointing.
i think we would have if we had been able to do one of the fun excursions.
however, being in my special condition, we didn't think it wise to be climbing up to a waterfall or riding a sky lift through the jungle.
instead, we thought we'd just venture out, do a little shopping, and maybe relax on the beach.
well....we lasted about 30 minutes.
basically it was just really uncomfortable.
the pier led us out on this street with no shops.
you had to walk a bit to find them and about every 3 steps or so a really agressive jamaican tried to sell you something, get you in their cab, hand you something they wanted you to buy, etc.
it seemed like there were about 5 of us from the boat and about 200 of them.
it just felt weird.
not like tijuana pushy.... i can handle that....this was just weirder for some reason.
i guess you had to be there. 

 

so we headed back and decided to spend the day relaxing on a nice, quiet boat. :)

we enjoyed another wonderful day of eating, reading, swimming & relaxing. 

our second port was grand caymen.

we really enjoyed grand caymen. 

first thing in the morning, we took a tender boat over to the island.

we had a little time to shop around and find some treasures for the boys before we took our bus to the beach. 

there were many neat little shops and things to look at. 

we spent several hours at tikki beach. 

i was so excited to get my toes in the sand. 

i  love being at the beach. 

i collected a bunch of shells for the boys and did a lot of this:

we ate lunch at an outdoor restaurant right on the beach. 

aj and i shared that strawberry smoothie. yummmmm.

once we left the beach we went back to catch our tender boat. 

aj waited in the long line while i got myself a fresh coconut. 

the coconut milk was not nearly as good as i had hoped.

maybe i got a bad coconut?

 

the next day was our last day at sea. 

we did more of the same....eating, reading, relaxing, enjoying being alone together. :)

that night we took one last stroll around the deck and watched the sunset over the water. 

we had such a great time soaking in our last moments....but we were also ready to get home and see our boys.

our cruise was 5 days. 

with travel we were away from the boys for almost 6 full days. 

we decided that was the perfect amount of time...not too long, not too short. 

we are both so thankful that it worked out for us to go.

it was such a blessing and so good for our relationship.

it was great to focus on each other without all the demands of normal life.

i'm also really thankful that it worked out for us to have a big, fun trip before a new little one joins our clan in august. :)

**don't forget to enter to win my dayspring giveaway!!**

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ten year annivesary trip, part 2

our first full day on our cruise was a day at sea.
we were really looking forward to these days to just relax.

after breakfast we gathered our books and headed for the pool.

we had a great morning of just laying around and reading our Ted Dekker books we brought along.
it was such a departure from our normal lives and we truly appreciated it.

we kept saying that it was like our honeymoon, but better.
we're more in love than ever plus after 10 years of marriage, we've learned a thing or two about each other.
also, we really appreciate the time to relax and do nothing because we never have that kind of freedom in our daily life.
aj kept commenting throughout the trip about how relaxed i was.
i said, of course i am, i have zero stress!
it was great!! :)

aj went on the slide and i got in the pool a bit until it was lunch time.
another favorite thing on the trip was that we took a nap every afternoon.
it was awesome.

that evening was the "elegant wear" dinner.
it was fun to get to dress up in my $10 dress from plato's closet.

that's in the entryway of our room.

and here are some very blingy pictures from the evening...the ship was one big boat o' bling.

we went to the shows after dinner that night...i think it was a comedy show and a vegas style show.
i could have done without the vegas style show, but it was still fun to be out past 10 at night with my man. :)
every evening for the show, aj would go get us some coffee to take in with us so we could stay awake for the show.
yes, we are that old and boring.

i also loved the nightly turndown service.
each night our towel was folded into some fun creature, there were mints, & a schedule for the next days' events.

we saved the mints and took pictures of the towels each evening for the boys.



okay....meet me back here tomorrow for part 3! :) Pin It

ten year annivesary trip, part 1

last week we went on a big fancy-pants trip for our 10 year anniversary.
this was big for us.
the longest we've left our kids.
the farthest we've gone together.
it was heavenly.

friday, the 6th we loaded up our 3 boys and all of our stuff & headed to kansas.
aj's parents were so kind to watch our boys for us for 6 days while we galavanted around.
that's a big job.

saturday, the 7th, aj and i got up at 3:45 am to head for the wichita airport.
adrenaline definitely kicked in . . . we were so excited!

note: you will see lots of pictures of us with aj taking the picture himself.

case in point...us on the airplane, ready to start our adventure!

i really enjoy flying...but i hadn't flown since i've had kids so that made me a little nervous.
i had to talk to Jesus a bit on those flights. ;)

ya wanna know something about me?
i always order tomato juice and pretzels on flights.
i love the combination.
i do not eat or drink either of those things at any other time.
i only like it on an airplane.

so after spending the morning in airports and flying, we arrived in miami around 12:30.
we were thrilled that both of our flights were ahead of schedule and our luggage made it perfectly....okay minus a wheel (sorry mom) but other than that. . .

we then loaded up on a bus to our cruise ship.
as soon as we got on board we went for the food. :)
that was one of my most looked forward to treats....endless food.

that's miami behind me....and an ice cream cone in hand. :)

oooh, oooh, hey there, hottie.

he didn't know i was taking that picture...i was setting up the self timer.

aj had the idea to get a room with a window...so glad he did.
we loved looking out our window every day.
this is the view from our window once we got moving.

and looky how big our room is!

we were expecting a much smaller room, so this was a fun surprise.

we did a lot of walking around and exploring the ship on that first afternoon and evening.
we also enjoyed an amazing dinner and a fun show.
it was a very long day but so, so fun!
and our trip was just beginning! Pin It

hi.

a week ago. . . 

sigh. 

it was bliss. 

my love and i sailing the high seas. 

that's all you get for now....i planned to blog all about it this afternoon.

and then i needed to take a little nap.

and slept for three hours. 

and now it's time to load up three boys for avery's baseball game. 

that's life. 

we're back in it. 

see you tomorrow. :)

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we're in love . . .

two weeks ago we celebrated our ten year anniversary.
that used to seem so far away.
and now we are here and it's truly been ten years of bliss.
in honor of the milestone we decided to get lovey dovey pictures taken.
they were taken by the sweet and talented callie granderson.
here are some of our favorites. . .

i'm so glad that we made the time to do this even with the craziness of moving and the holidays.
i think it definitely needs to be an anniversary tradition.

if you're in northwest arkansas, callie is your girl. she does a great job and she gives you the disk full of edited photos so you can print & publish them as you like. Pin It