Time Well Spent...

This past Saturday, my best friend Jordan and I took a little day trip together. Her sister in law was having a 'Butterfly' party with a few women at her home in Franklin, Indiana and Jordan asked me to tag along! We were kid-free for the whole day, while our sweet husbands got to spend some time with their little girls! We both love our daughters to pieces, but all you moms out there know how nice it is to have a WHOLE afternoon with no kiddos! She came to pick me up at noon, and it took almost 2 hours to get there, but it went by so fast! I seriously felt like we were in the car for maybe 45 minutes...I guess because we were having so much fun talking!
Before I go any further, let me just tell you about my friendship with Jordan. I love her so much and she is just so precious to me. I met her when she was in first grade, and I was in kindergarten, so we've been friends pretty much our entire lives. I was telling her the other day, that I honestly don't even think of her as just my friend, but rather my sister. She's very much a part of my family. When we were little girls we were inseparable! And almost as far back as I have memories, she's in them. We did some of the craziest things together, and we were always making each other laugh (in that regard, not much has changed). One time, I guess we were about 10, we decided that we would video tape ourselves doing a cooking show. We thought it would be a good idea to make peanut butter cookies. Hilarious doesn't even begin to describe it: I actually peed my pants in the middle of our kitchen floor during the "cooking show shoot" because I couldn't stop laughing. I wish I could find those tapes...I'm sure they're tucked away somewhere at Mom and Dad's. I could go on for DAYS (literally) about the memories we've made together.
I'm just so thankful that God blessed me with a "life-long" friend like her...a friend that I can trust know matter what, and who knows me inside and out, and still loves me anyways! Now, we are both married with 2 sweet little girls of our own. It makes me smile when I think of Cameryn and Sawyer being able to grow up together like Jordan and I did. Right now, they are a year and a half apart age-wise, but soon enough they will be able to play together. The stay-up-all-night-giggling-sleepovers will be her before we know it...and I cant wait.
Anyhow, so after the party, we headed back to Louisville to meet our husbands for dinner. We decided to grill out at our house, and while Preston would tell you that he over-cooked the burgers, I thought it turned out wonderful! We all had a good time eating and playing with the girls. I got to take some pictures Of baby Cameryn while the guys were outside grilling. We've actually decided to start planning a weekend trip to Gatlinberg in the Fall! Grandparents will be keeping the girls, and I think it will be fun to get away for a couple of days.
Other News: I'm strongly considering taking Sawyer to the zoo by myself this week. Is that an insane idea? Because, honestly, I could picture it going well, but I could also picture it being disastrous. Normally, if we go on day trips like that, Preston and I take her together because its just easier, but I think I want to go on a weekday rater than a weekend. Who knows...we might get up tomorrow morning and go...or not...I'll decide later.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun...

This past Monday, I told the girls all morning that after they got up from their nap we were going to go outside and play in the "bouncy" (our inflatable bouncer).
They seemed to be pretty excited about it, but unfortunately when they woke up it was POURING DOWN RAINING outside! They kept asking to go out, so I opened the front door so they could see the rain for themselves. It was pitiful...you should have seen their little faces. They just stood there at the door, staring out at the rain. Of course I thought they were standing there disappointed and sad, but I'm sure they were just amazed at how hard the rain was coming down.
Luckily, we ended up playing and having a good time inside...I let them use Sawyer's bed as a bouncy. I know, I know...I can just see all of you reading this shaking your heads, thinking I'm crazy to let them jump in the bed, but if you would have seen their faces I promise, you would have to. They were having so much fun jumping around and screaming like little wild animals! Im a firm believer that one of the keys to a happy toddler is letting them get all that energy they have OUT! The great thing about a baby bed is that you cant fall off the edge, so I figured why not just let them go at it?
They are sleeping right now, but the weather is looking nice, so I'm hoping they will get up soon and I can redeem myself from Monday when we got rained out. The real bouncy is waiting outside...

Exactly What I Needed...

So, I mentioned in my previous post that this hasn't been the best past few days for me. We just put Sawyer to bed a little while ago, and I was reading one of my e-mail devotions. It was EXACTLY what I needed to hear. Thank You Lord. I'm so grateful that I serve a God who knows me inside and out. He knows my heart...my fears, doubts, and deepest desires. He knows when I'm troubled and when I need encouragement. He just knows whats best for me!
Anyhow, I thought Id share the devotion with you guys...

Do the Next Thing
27 May 2009
Marybeth Whalen

"Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: 'Give careful thought to your ways.'" Haggai 1:5 (NIV)

When I was a new mom, I often felt overwhelmed by my circumstances. The crying, the whining, the mess. I would look around at it all and just want to sit down and have a good cry. At some point during that time, I heard Elisabeth Elliot speak on the concept of "do the next thing." She talked about how, after her husband Jim died, she would have been overcome if not for this simple concept. When her emotions would start to run away with her, she would simply ask herself what the next thing she needed to do was. And then she would do it. And then she would do the next thing, and the next, and the next. And all those little "next things" made up her days.

I adopted this principle and began to whisper to myself, "Just do the next thing." Sometimes the next thing was to change a diaper, or start dinner, or return a phone call. Even now I move through my day doing the next thing. Sometimes my next thing is to homeschool my children. Sometimes it's to tidy the house. Sometimes it's to sit down and hammer out an article I have due. Whatever it is, I focus on that one task until it's done. And then I ask myself what's to be done next.

I always knew I learned this concept from a godly woman, but I never thought about this concept being from God. My reading in Oswald Chamber's timeless devotional, My Utmost For His Highest has helped me see that it is indeed a spiritual truth that God wants us to learn. Consider these two quotes:

"We look for visions from heaven, for earthquakes and thunders of God's power... and we never dream that all the time God is in the commonplace things and people around us. If we will do the duty that lies nearest, we shall see Him."

"When the Spirit of God comes, He does not give us visions, He tells us to do the most ordinary things conceivable... whenever God comes, the inspiration is to do the most natural, simple things—the things we would never have imagined God was in, and as we do them we find He is there."

Chambers referenced the scene in I Kings where Elijah is running from King Ahab. He is hungry and tired and very depressed. (Ever been there?) In that scene God sends an angel to him who says simply, "Arise and eat" (I Kings 19:5). What was Elijah's "next thing" he needed to do? Get up and eat something! Sometimes just moving forward in the most basic way is all God needs from us. With our obedience comes the solution we are seeking.

I hope this thought will help you or someone else who is feeling overwhelmed and even depressed. What "next thing" is God asking you to do? Get up, do whatever it is, and find Him there.

Dear Lord, help me to do the next thing when I feel overwhelmed. Help me to remember that You are right there waiting in that next thing. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Tired...

Sawyer and I went to the inflatable play-day at church this morning, and we're both very sleepy! She was so worn out that she fell asleep on our way home, and is now in her bed taking a nap. I think I need to lay down for a bit myself...even though I have SO MUCH to do. We're showing the house tonight, and I also have about a gazillion loads of laundry to do. Laundry isn't my favorite.
Last night Preston and I ended up getting to go to the Bats game. The rain held off, and it ended up being pretty nice out. Our seats were up pretty high, so we even had a little breeze. I was really glad that we got to go and get out for a while. Yesterday was sort of one of "those days" for me. I was feeling discouraged and a little "down" about some things, and Preston cheered me up (as usual). I'm so lucky to have him...for my husband, but also for my friend. And maybe the next few days will be better!
For now, I'm going to go lay down and rest a little while...or maybe a long while, who knows? I'm just going to close my eyes and try not to listen to all that laundry calling my name!

Rain Rain Go AWAY...

And you don't have to bother with coming back another day...
We have a Bats baseball game were supposed to be going to tonight! Mom and Dad are coming over later to watch Sawyer while we go...I guess IF (weather permitting) we get to go!
Sawyer and Kendall are taking their naps right now. We went and played outside earlier and they both enjoyed picking some of my flowers (the ones that were nearly dead) and throwing some tiny rocks on the sidewalk. We took a bunch of toys out on the side porch and turned on some music...they were both gettin' down! We also had to bust out the bubbles, but unfortunately we had a little incident, and Sawyer accidentally spilled them all over herself. That was when we decided we would go in and watch a Veggie Tale while I got their lunch ready.
As I type this sentence, the rain has stopped, and the sun is shining...now lets just hope that it stays that way!

Sweet Thing...

My little bug was looking extra cute today in her pigtails, or "piggies" as she calls them!
Bless her heart, she wore herself out playing at Chick-Fill-A today...she was having so much fun. I took these pictures before we left this afternoon, and I'm glad I did, because she was looking rough by the time we came home. Even more so after she spilled the chocolate ice cream I got her all over herself! Oh well...bath time is even better after you've gotten extra messy!

Our Fun, Full Weekend...

We've had such a GREAT weekend!
Friday night was blissfully uneventful. Preston and I were so worn out from not getting enough sleep this past week (we can be some real night owls) so we went to bed super early...it was wonderful.
On Saturday, Preston and I got to spend the afternoon just hanging out at the house. After Sawyer got up from her nap, we took her outside to play in her pool for a little while. It started sprinkling just a little bit, but we weren't quite ready to go in yet so we decided to let her play with her sidewalk chalk on our side porch. She really went to town with it. After that, we headed out to Sam's to get a few things, plus I needed to develop some pictures. Every time I have EVER visited Sam's on a Saturday or Sunday, I promise myself I'll never do it again because its so packed, but this Saturday wasn't bad at all. I'm guessing it was because a lot of people were out of town. Sawyer found a little pink car, and she loved it so much we let her play with it for 45 minutes...I was waiting for my pictures anyways. Normally, I would say that looking around Sam's for an hour sounds pretty boring, but it was actually really nice...we weren't in any kind of hurry, and we had no where to be! When we got home that evening, Mom and Dad came over because Preston and I (really it was his idea) decided to make Philly Steak & cheese sandwiches for dinner....SO YUMMY!!! We all sat outside while Sawyer played in her pool some more...she was having too much fun. Oh, and this was too funny - Dad had his head turned talking to us, and Sawyer comes running up with this huge bowl of water from her pool and dumps every bit of it in his lap! We were ROLLING! I wish I had it on tape...his face was priceless.
Today, we unfortunately had to miss church because Preston had to work (from home) for a few hours. He could have done it this afternoon, but we were supposed to be at Mom and Dad's at one so we could celebrate my Mamaw's birthday! We had a delicious lunch, Mamaw opened her gifts, then cake. Sawyer was being a little ham (as usual) so we all got some good entertainment out of her running around being crazy. She really is just too funny. Sawyer went to bed a little early tonight, and right now Preston is on his way home from playing golf with Evan. He' stopping on the way to rent us a movie to watch. Yey :)
We have a pretty busy week coming up, so I'm glad we got to have a fun, relaxing weekend...now, I have to go water my flowers!

How I Spent Yesterday Afternoon...

Only the best way possible...
Sawyer and I spent our afternoon playing and relaxing outside yesterday...enjoying this nice warm weather. Our little makeshift pool came in handy once again! Last night when Preston came home, we put up her new pool, so hopefully we'll get to utilize that one very soon!

Big Helper...

Sawyer and I got to spend the entire day outside in this gorgeous weather! We went over to Mom's because she was going to be out doing yard work all day, and it gave Sawyer a chance to play her little heart out! She was SO tired when we left.
We put her in her bathing suit, and after mom sprayed off the patio, Sawyer went wild splashing around in all the puddles! Mom also gave her a few gardening tools and a rake so she could "help." After she was finished digging in the mud and playing in the water, we did a little exploring and found two little turtle doves under a tree in Mom's backyard. They wouldn't fly away no matter how close you'd get to them (I think because their babies were up in the tree,) so Sawyer and I got a close up look at them, and she was loving it! It's so neat to see things again through the eyes of your child. Children are so full of wonder and curiosity, and seeing them so excited about the simplest things is awesome.
I was feeling so inspired by the beautiful weather that I made a little trip to Target to get Sawyer a pool! I found the neatest one, and I think Sawyer will love it. It's in the shape of a huge whale, and you can hook the hose up to it so it will spout water out the top. I cant wait to get it out so she can play in it...hopefully it'll get even warmer before too long!

My Favorite Way to Spend the Evening...

Relaxing on the couch with my favorite little girl...

Key Lime Cake...

My mom made a cake today that was so yummy, I just had to share the recipe with you guys.
It's called Key Lime Cake, and its a great summer dessert...plus it's SUPER EASY to make! So, if you want to make something sweet, give this recipe a try.


KEY LIME CAKE

- 1 box lemon cake mix
- 1/4 cup key lime juice
- 1 small box lime jello

Mix jello with cake mix, then add wet ingredients; those listed on the cake mix box (e.g. 1 1/4 cup water, 1/3 cup veggie oil, and 3 eggs) plus the key lime juice & mix according to the directions. Bake as directed.

KEY LIME ICING

- 8 oz cream cheese
- 1 stick butter
- 3 tbsp key lime juice
- 1 box powdered sugar (5 cups)

ENJOY!!!

Temptation...

I thought this was great...I laughed my head off.

Scary...

So, this morning I was cleaning up the kitchen, when Sawyer runs in and exclaims, "Mommy Look! I found bug!"
She then proceeds to open up her tiny hand, and there is a half squashed, but still very much alive, dime sized spider! Okay, maybe dime-sized is a bit of an exaggeration, but still...it wasn't little. There was even a little hair hair on its body, making it even more ferocious. In my book, there is nothing more NASTY (aside from snakes, of course) than spiders. I just know there are more around here somewhere...*shudder*
I'll be informing my husband that we are going to need to spray for spiders ASAP!
Oh, and a side note: I think it's COMPLETE GARBAGE that Danny Gokey got voted off Idol last night. Seriously...I might boycott the show, because I now honestly believe its set-up. So disappointing.

Time For A Baby Pool...

A couple of weeks ago, we had an abnormally warm day. I mean, it was hot. And what do all little girls want to do on a hot day? Go swimming of course! We haven't bought Sawyer a baby pool for this summer yet, so this is what I came up with: A storage bin from our basement! I don't think she minded her little makeshift pool a a bit...as you can see from the pictures, she was having a ball. Hey, whatever works, right?

Pretty Girl...

After I ran some errands today, Mom came over and helped me put in all my flowers at the house. Sawyer thoroughly enjoyed playing in the dirt (as usual,) but before she got completely filthy I was able to take a few pictures of her playing in the back yard looking sweet! The last pic is my favorite...she has the most beautiful eyes.

Mother's Day...

My Mother's day was fabulous...
We went to church this morning, and afterward we all went over to Mom and Dad's and grilled steaks, opened gifts, and spent some time together outside in the beautiful weather!
My SWEET husband went WAY overboard this Mothers Day...above and beyond :) He and Sawyer (he informed me the presents were from both of them,) got me a gift certificate for a massage at Z-spa, a new tripod for my camera, two of my favorite candles, a beautiful bouquet of pink shag roses, and also wrote me the most precious cards Ive ever read. He's so good to me. Its such a blessing to be Preston's wife and Sawyer's Mommy. Its looking like I'm going to have to step it up a notch this year for Fathers Day!
Mom and Dad got me a gift certificate for a pedicure, another gorgeous bouquet of flowers, and Mom made me the cutest new monogrammed diaper bag! I'll have to post some pictures of it later...she did an awesome job. My Mamaw got me a dozen yellow roses, and they smell so good! Our family really doesn't do Christmas with all the gifts and such, so we do a little more on other "holidays," especially things like Mothers/Fathers Day, and birthdays.
After lunch, Mom, Mamaw and I went shopping for flowers to put out for this summer at all of our houses. I wanted to put mine out before we left for vacation, but I never got the chance.
I was so glad that I was able to spend the entire day with my mom. My Mother's Day was exceptionally wonderful this year. I hope everyone else had a wonderful Mother's day too!

Vacation...

We're back home and feeling rejuvenated from our family vacation...we had such a great time!
It rained every day except for one, but we still had so much fun, and more importantly we got to relax and enjoy each others company. It felt so nice to have nothing on our schedule for an entire week! The resort where we stayed had just put in a brand new indoor pool/gym/rec center, and it was awesome. Sawyer loved going swimming almost every morning, and she looked too sweet in her new "baby-suit," as she calls it. Swimming flat wore her out, and she was more than ready for her naps each day. It was also nice because Preston and I were able to nap while she slept.
There was a lake right behind of our condo, so when it wasn't raining, Preston was able to literally step right out our back door and go fishing! There were also 4 really nice playgrounds at the resort, but unfortunately I was only able to take Sawyer one day because it was so wet :(
One day, Preston and I took Sawyer down to the marina and let her feed the fish. There were HUGE catfish popping up right out of the water on front of us, and she was loving it! We considered putting Sawyer in a life-jacket and renting a paddle boat to go explore a little, but I'm not that brave yet. I could just picture her having a complete meltdown out there, and we'd be stuck in the middle of a huge lake with nowhere to go. Maybe next year...
In the evenings, my family made dinner together and then we'd go back to our villa and play cards or watch movies... just relax :) One pretty neat (and kind of random) thing we did while we were down there was visit this ENORMOUS (8000 square ft) tree house this man built. Its called "The Ministers Tree house," and it is really a sight to behold! There is a really interesting story behind it, so if you re ever bored, check it out online. There were also some neat little shops and a nice outlet mall in the town where we stayed, and one day, all of us girls took off for a few hours and went shopping and out to lunch.
I'm pleased to say that Sawyer did WAY better on the ride to and from vacation than we expected! A 5 hours is a long time for and almost 2 year old to sit still in a car seat, but she didn't cry once. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that my grandparents loaned us a portable DVD player, so she was content to watch Veggie Tales much of the time.
We're glad to be back home, and feeling very thankful that we were able to get away for a while! I cant wait for our next adventure...