Working for the Weekend

I think Working for the Weekend was a title of some great 80's song, but today, it is the title of my blog post.  Our weeks have been so busy, I feel like the weekends are what I am looking forward to just so I can go grocery shopping, catch up on laundry, & other errands.  It feels like the days when I had a full-time job outside the home!

One of the fun things that keeps us busy is running this pretty little girl to multiple Jr. High events.  One of those, was a costume dress-up dinner night out & swim party:

Look at that cute little thing in the green shirt who posed with the Jr. High girls & interns :)

This past weekend, I was able to do some yardwork that was past due.  A few years ago, the city changed our street to a dead-end & planted shrubbery.  These shrubs were suppose to be low maintenance.  Well, clearly, they were not, so we finally started the process to get rid of the overgrown landscaping.  Here is a slight representation of the work, & of course, there is still a little left to finish. :)

The 2 pictures above are overgrown shrubs & grass

First layer of shrubs gone

Avery resting after coming home from a Saturday of work & then helping me work in the yard..He works hard on his Saturdays!

June? Are you there?

June has come & is going so fast!  It has been a busy, but a fun one for us.  Honestly, I think we needed the busyness.  It helps us after watching the Greens recently move!  Speaking of which, they were in town last week & we had a fun dinner night out with them (minus seeing their sweet kids).  Thank you Greens!

The girls have been busy this month with art camp & VBS.  Both were great, especially VBS week. Here are VBS pictures:

Isabella was able to perform a song with her friends

Go, Go, Go Joseph!

Our most awesome children's director in the whole world!

The next week was swim lessons for Brook.  She did great, even though swim lessons aren't her most favorite thing to do. She does really enjoy swimming though, & her teacher is nothing less than fantastic.  

Up for this next week, drama camp & horseback riding camp!

Until then, stay cool & a big shout out to my dad.  Happy Birthday Dad, & so thankful for your life & that God chose me to be a part of yours!  

Happy Father's Day!!

What a great gift I have.  I am thankful for the influence of fathers in my life.  It starts with my own father.  I have the best dad. The best.  He is fun & always wants us to be happy, provided for, & enjoy life.  He is very smart.  He is laid back, yet organized.  I get my love of travel from him.  He has demonstrated love & forgiveness to me, time & time again, which has created such a healthy view for me of my Heavenly Father's love for me.  My dad exemplifies God's love for me.  I am so thankful.  My dad is silly.  He gets this from his father, my grandfather, or if you know me, he was my Pop.  I sure do miss my Pop.  I really think he was pretty close to hanging the moon.  I could go on and on about him, but know I loved/love my Pop like no other.  It has been a joy to pass on stories to the girls about him & see how they love him too. I can't wait to give him a big hug when I get to heaven!  I also look forward to getting to know my other grandfather, who died when I was a baby.  He was a great man too.  I am blessed with Godly legacies of these men.  

My dad, the smartest professor at the University of Tennessee medical school

My dad & I at my vow renewal

My girls are blessed also with a great father. Avery is a great dad.  He is intentional about spending time with each of them, helping them, & has fun with them. I am thankful my girls have his example in their lives.

He let them bury him in the sand!

Papa love

A happy father's day to all the dad's, the hard working men in our lives who we love so much!

Cruisin' Fun!

Day 1:  We left for New Orleans EARLY!!  But we made it to the ship to eat lunch :).  The previous post has the food pictures...yum.  We explored the ship, it rained, we ate dinner, & watched a funny karaoke show!

Day 2:  This was our first day at sea.  It rained most of the day, but we were able to sit outside a little bit.  The highlight of this day for me was that I met a couple who works at NASA & to celebrate with Nicole that Tyler got a job!  Answered prayer!  

Watching the rain come in

Inspiration to exercise & watch the rain

A little bit of sitting outside

Day 3:  Cozumel, Mexico!  After some souvenir shopping at the port, we took a catamaran ride across the beautiful water to Passion Island. There we enjoyed the sun & most beautiful sand & water I've ever seen.  I am not a huge beach fan, but this was great.  Not to mention delicious guacamole!

Nicole & I

Me, Mom, & Lynn

My sister, Lynn, & I

Day 4:  Last day at sea, & we had sun!  This was a relaxing day with lots of sitting around & eating too.  Are you catching on to a theme here??  Actually, we climbed lots & lots of stairs while on the ship, so we did get our exercise too...okay, at least a little bit.  

Just wanted to show a picture of the bed. This is one of my favorite things about the cruise.  So much that we even have Carnival pillows at home!

Love watching the water on the day at sea

It always fun to come back to the room & find our towel animal & chocolate mint.

It was a great trip & I'm glad we've got these pictures to prove we were there, because it came & went so fast!  I am already looking forward to the next one! And a thank you to Nicole for taking most of these pictures!

Cruisin'

One of my most favorite things in the world to do is to take a cruise.  Just less than a month ago, an impromptu cruise was planned & it has already come & gone!  My mom, sister, niece, & I went on a cruise last weekend out of New Orleans.  It was a great long weekend get-a-way.  It was hard to believe we were actually on a cruise!  It hardly seemed real since it all seemed to happen so fast.

Of course, one of the highlights of being on a cruise is the food. Aw, the food.  It is fun to try new things, to order two of things that you like, & dessert every night :).  

Here is a tribute to the food:

Chocolate Extravaganza!

Nicole with her hot tea & ice cream cone!

Yummy crab cake

Hot chocolate in my cute new travel cup 

Beautiful table setting

Tiramisu

Famous Warm Chocolate Melting Cake

One of my Carnival favorites...strawberry bisque soup

Lobster

and shrimp

These pictures are just to wet your appetite & make you want to book that cruise!  More pictures to follow in tomorrow's blog.......Sweet dreams!

Life is blue without the Greens

We are beyond blessed with sweet friends.  As the girls get older, I see more & more the value of sweet friendships for them.  We have been richly blessed this last year and a half.  Our dear friends the Greens have recently moved from Memphis.  The weekend we have been not looking forward to finally came.  But, it was full of more fun memories.  This family has amazed me.  They were so plugged in here & live life to the fullest.  I never thought I would meet one of my best friends after I turned 40.  But I did.  The sweet laughter of my girls with the Green girls warms my heart.  I love seeing how Isabella has especially been so richly influenced in a Godly way by the example of the oldest Green girls.  Our lives will be forever touched by the Greens, yet never the same as we already miss them in our day-to-day lives.  But I do believe we have a bond of friendships that will last many years to come.  God has been so sweet to us to provide us with what we need & we are trusting Him as the Greens move & we stay. And, we are already have a trip planned to see them!

We were able to celebrate with the Greens and other good friends to remind them how much they are loved & how much they will be missed.  It was a beautiful night.  God provided the most amazing weather we could ask for in the midst of a week that had been hot & full of rain.  We had a very cool day for preparations & for the our outdoor evening.

We had a bounce jump for the kids...it was great!s

Sweet friends!

So thankful for these girls!

Co-hosts of the party, with Laura