yikes!

that last blog... yeah, i wrote it on June 22 and haven't published it. let me tell you what. it's been a crazy summer.

after we got back from disney, Josh was in Atlanta for a week and then, June 20, he had knee surgery to repair a torn ACL and Miniscus. he has been down almost all summer, and we have had a time. i am so thankful for friends and family who have been there to help me keep my sanity. it may have just been God's protection of my blog readers and my reputation that i have not had time to blog during most of his recovery. there have been times where God has revealed so many ugly sides of me during the last few weeks. i love my husband more than anything. it was just such a challenge to take care of him and three small kids. our marriage and appreciation for each other have definately increased over the summer.

on to other topics. i have started running. a new buddy best friend, Rachel, has gotten me hooked. i'm not sure i like it, but i don't like letting her down, so i go. and i like to get out of the house, so i go. and, i like reducing booty jiggle, so i go. we are training for a half marathon in October. me? a half marathon? yeah, right! that's my thoughts from a few weeks ago. but, as we've trained, and prayed and shared and done life together, i think we can do it! will keep you updated (don't gasp if it takes me two more months to update my blog).

i am so appreciative of God's love and forgiveness and grace. i need Him everyday!

the most magical place on earth

we have been so SWAMPED since we came home from Disney World. nonetheless, i still need to blog about it! :) for some time now, we've been planning a trip to Disney World with Lincoln and Leslie Clark, and their 5 year old twins, katie and cole. Linc's dad lives close to disney world and he works there on the weekends. Ed was able to get us a good deal on the trip of a lifetime. we left on a friday, drove to orlando, stayed with the clarks for a day, and then hit Disney on Sunday. we started at hollywood studios and the magic kingdom on day 1. the first thing we rode at hollywood studios was the tower of terror. in my most convincing voice, i told the kids, "it's gonna be dark, and fast, and FUN!" they jumped right on and had a blast! wanna know the best time to go to disney? when your kids are AT LEAST 40" tall, preferable 44". laura grace was right at 40" and able to ride thunder mountain, splash mountain, star wars, tower of terror, test track, and most of the things that she wanted to ride. at 44", caden was able to add space mountain and mt. everest to his list of rides that he was tall enough for.

most days, we slept in, took a while getting to the park and then stayed for a while, came back to the hotel and napped, and then stayed out until the park closed. there were literally days where we closed the parks down.

on tuesday, we had bought tickets to eat breakfast with cinderella in her castle. laura grace could not have been in more awe. we got to go IN  the castle, meet cinderella and then sit down to a fancy breakfast. one at a time, the other princesses would be announced and they would come out of a door, into the dining area where we were all sitting. they would then come one by one to our table and talk to the girls and have their picture made with them. this was probably the best part of the trip.

wednesday was spent at animal kingdom. i didn't have high hopes for this place. boy, was i wrong! we started the day with lunch at rain forest cafe. the kids loved it and it was a great atmosphere. our favorite things at animal kingdom were meeting the characters (ask caden how many times minnie mouse kissed him), watching the lion king performance, and riding the safari. we saw lions and elephants and zebras and hippos and all sorts of "wild" animals. we were in a huge jeep and it was almost like a real safari. the kids loved it!

thursday we spent the day at hollywood studios. we had finally gotten in the disney groove, and had figured out how to travel together, how to not kill each other while waiting and waiting and waiting in line, and how to pack the backpacks... too bad it was our last day! :) we rode the starwars ride, we went to the Narnia exhibit, watched our favorite show of the trip (little mermaid) and ended our last night of the trip with the toy story ride and meeting buzz and woody. it was by far, our best day!

here's a little slide show with some of our favorite shots. i have intentions of putting a book together so that we can remember this trip, so ask me in a month if i've done it yet...

can you guess what i found?

can any of you identify the picture below?

 wait for it

wait for it

wait for it

wait for it

wait for it

keep guessing

think hard

it's a rare find at my house

didn't know it existed

it's the bottom of my laundry baskets. really. it's true. they exist and i discovered them one day recently. are you jealous?

memorial day

i was SO going to blog about the recent finding of the bottom of my laundry basket... or the excitement building about disney world (we leave tomorrow)... but when i was cleaning my camera card off, i completely got sidetracked by the fantastic photography skills of my husband. he took most of these on memorial day at meme and granddaddy's. i wish i took them, but when he's around, i can barely get my hands on the camera (my camera, btw).

so there they are, folks.

the next pictures you see from us will probably most
likely should be from the most wonderful place on earth!

true love

these babies sure do love each other!

it's the little things

there is always so much going on in our little corner of the world. there's football season and church and kids and family and work and coupons and housework and, well, you get the idea. we are busy.

while we are busy, josh and i have also started to focus on the more important things and have let the less important things go on without us. we feel called to nurture relationships. to create intentional friendships that will help us grow in Christ and grow closer to each other. to find real people that are willing to be open and honest. At CBS a few weeks ago, one of the girls that has been in my class the whole year, shared how her husband's dad was suffering from stage 4 cancer. several days after the prayer request went out, i emailed her a short "praying for you, if you need anything" message. i didn't know her very well, but felt like i could understand the overwhelmed and can't hold it all together feeling she must have.

just a few weeks later, we have been able to spend time at the park together, share more about our families, and become closer friends. this past week, her and her husband visited our church. they came over for lunch after services, where we found our husbands are very much alike.

friends. we all need them, and if you're lucky, you have a lot of them. don't be too busy to reach out, to share, to be real with someone. josh and i rarely sit at home. we're busy. but you know what? we're usually busy sharing life with someone. living it together, struggling together, rejoicing together, crying, laughing, eating, loving... together. be mindful of others. be a friend.

catchup

oh, how i hate to be so new to my blog and to also be so behind already! i'll try to catchup in this post. the last real post was for Caden's 5th birthday. my little man is not so little anymore. we love everyday with him and are so thankful to be able to be his parents. Caden's birthday was on Good Friday. We spent the day after his birthday at an Easter Egg hunt. There were 50,000 candy-filled eggs on 3 soccer fields. the kids were able to fill up a good sized gift bag each in less than 10 minutes and we were done!

The next day, was a big day! Granny Amy had come to spend a few days with us, it was Easter, we had special music at church, an Egg hunt at church, a birthday party for Caden and Easter lunch at MeMe and Granddaddy's house with more than 50 of our favorite family and friends. Know what I love about Easter? Jesus loved us SO much that He died on the cross for us! "Love so amazing, so divine, demands my heart, my life, my All!"

after Easter, was the most horrible day in local history i can remember. the tornados of april 27, 2011. More than 250 people across the state lost their lives that day. by God's great mercy, our family and our houses were all spared.

i think the last thing we need to catch up about is my birthday. nothing to see here... just my 30th birthday. it really wasn't that bad! :) my dear friends Jenny and Bonnie started the day off bright and early by littering my yard with HUGE signs and more Easter eggs filled with my favorite candies.

the next day was a mess. Josh had torn his ACL playing basketball that night at a lock in with Scott. Then, I had a Mother's Day Tea at church and then he wanted to take me out for dinner. We were to go early, so that we could get home in time for Jamie and Nate to go out on their date. What i didn't know (or only had a slight idea about) was that my closest friends and family members were waiting to surprise me at my house for my 30th birthday. While I'm sorry that I wasn't super surprised, I was very thankful and excited to spend the night with my friends and family. Jamie, Libby & Josh worked tirelessly to try to keep it a surprise, but also to have great food, decorations, and a fantastic cake!

We then followed up the weekend with Mother's Day and a trip to Family Court. That's another story altogether. Maybe I'll post about that later. If you've made it to the end of this post, congrats! email me for your prize :)