Epic End to a Vacation

Well, vacation has ended and we are all back home.

 

Kids...hubby & me... puppies...it feels so good to be all together!

 

Now, if there were only a way to be all together and on vacation!

 

Saturday morning we decided to pull out around 8:30am. Give ourselves time to eat breakfast (courtesy of Jim) with the family, bathroom breaks, and home at a decent hour! At max, this trip typically takes 12 hours. Tears came, goodbyes were said, we yelled "Goodbye" from the truck and drove off.

 

A few sweet pictures from this week =)

 

Kyle's first jump into 8ft deep water!

Abby's first jump w/o a floaty!

 

 

Mema (not to be confused with Meme) our Princess and Super Sweet Niece!

 

I just love her smile!

Cousin snuggles!

 



 

Inseperable!

 

I love my Lukey!

 

 

 Stephen sandwich anyone?

 

 

We pulled out of the drive and headed out!

 

We didn't pray first.

 

Two hours into our trip I heard a *BANG* and felt the truck begin to vibrate! I glanced in my side mirror just in time to see part of our trailor tire explode out the back! We pulled off and found it too hot to touch right away. Our tail light cover also got knocked off from the tire! I collected the light cover just as the first wave of rain hit.

 

Did I say rain?

 

I meant torrential downpour!

 

It only lasted a few minutes but it was heavy! Stephen worked tirelessly (haha! get it? flat tire? tirelessly? =) to get the bad tire off.

 

Another wave of rain.

 

He crawled under the trailor to get the spare.

 

Another wave of torrential downpour!

 

This time I was sent to the truck to wait it out. Stephen was soaked. Cars, trucks, & semis all roared unnervingly close to our truck despite the fact hazard lights were on and we clearly needed help! I have never prayed so hard for protection on me & the kids but more specifically my poor husband who was in the rain and completely blinded from view in his gray shirt & shorts that blended in with the rain! The rain stopped yet again just in time to find out the spare was not spare - it was flat. Flat as a pancake! Flat as Indiana!

 

More torrential downpour.

 

After some effort and almost getting smooshed by the trailor, we hooked the trailor back to the truck and moved further off the road. How did we almost get smooshed? Oh, you know, because the rain softened the ground enough that the block keeping the front wheel from rolling gave way...at least I think that's what happened. I'm still so tired the details are fuzzy.

The trailor really did almost smoosh us! That part I clearly remember!

We prayed. I took the kids, left Stephen, and drove 28.6 miles to the nearest store to get tires.

 

 

We made it safely back to Stephen and he put the new tire on! Thank goodness it didn't go flat! He hooked up the boat, and we prayed...immediately! The new tire did wonderfully!

 

*PBFT!!!!*

 

Oh yeah, second tire GONE! We pulled off and quickly changed that tire out. Thankfully Stephen had told me to get 2 tires! This time a very kind State Trooper offered to help us. However, we were at the point of tightening the new tire on. Did I mention in the midst of this we had 3 important phone calls come in? I mean, the kind you really can not at all keep from answering? Yep! Thankfully there was no rain from the time we left Stephen to get the tires, until after all four of us were safely tucked into the truck and headed BACK to Walmart to fix the valve on whichever tire hadn't blown and not to be confused with the dud of a spare.

 

A Small Collage in tribute to our adventure!

 

Overall the kids did VERY well! We had about 10 minutes of "She's touching me!" "Well, he's in my  space!" They calmed, we (and by we I mean me) turned around to check on them....Do you still think they were worried with space?

 

 

Those are heads under those blankets...They had stacked their heads to sleep!

 

 

The rest of our trip was pretty smooth! No more tire trouble! We just had construction,  scary drivers that drove to close to us or tailgated (sp?) us, or drove REALLY slowly!

 

Around 5:30pm we all got antsy...how fast were we traveling?

 

Oh we were JUST at Pensacola by that point...we stopped at a Denny's and had the most wonderful restuarant service we have had in a VERY long time! Christina did a GREAT job of making sure we were well taken care of! Kyle blushed like crazy whenever she came around, but firmly stated he did NOT like her OR find her attractive ;)

 

 

See that flag?

 

It took us until MIDNIGHT to reach that flag!

 

We are still recovering from the lack of sleep from that drive!

 

Love you! Hope your trips are SO much smoother!

Family Vacation!

Before we got to vacation, some much needed work had to be done! Thanks to four different kidney procedures and Steve's back bugging him, which forced him to rest up, our little garden & "cove" (for lack of a better word) needed some grooming! Kyle & Abby came home on the 6th and we started work on the 10th! I woke up with Steve & when he left for work, I went out to start the work! When the kids woke up I had them doing "support" work. "Support" work is known as I pull the weeds, you through the pile in the trash can. Thanks to team work, lots of water breaks, playing in the hose, and two very goofy puppies! It all got done!

 

BEFORE

 

Notice the drink, snack, cell phone, iPod working on Pandora music...

it was going to be a LONG morning!

 

BEFORE pic of the"Cove"

 

 

That's right, our first family vacation! We have had too much craziness in this family so vacation to get away  & rest was a must. I did some local research on nearby attractions & places to stay - ridiculously overpriced hotel stays left & right. We looked into staying with family & landed in the state of FL. It's amazing how much less humidity there is down here. I still don't want to make this state my home, but it is SO much nicer when it comes to weather & things for the kids to do than where we currently are!

 

Thanks to Steve's ability to drive long distances we made it here EEAARRLLYY on Friday morning! My darling boys are happily staying at a local kennel that came highly recommended. I'm thankful that we were able to get them in earlier than anticipated because originally we weren't leaving until Monday. Plans changed though and this kennel was able to adapt with this! Thank goodness! I would not have at all been comfortable with any other set up except maybe if someone house sat for us.

 

Kyle & Abby have pretty much worn nothing but HUGE smiles on their faces all week long! Being spoiled by Meme (Steve's mom) and Mema (Steve's grandmother) plus add in all the huge special breakfasts that their Papa (Steve's dad) has been cooking - good night nurse!

 

Abby wakes up every morning & begs to swim before breakfast, during breakfast, after breakfast!!!! ...well, you get the picture. Kyle has also been in the pool though he is very much ok with also just relaxing on the couch!

 

Abby w/ her 2 cousins

 

Kyle LOVIN the pool!

 

This pretty much shows Audrey's determination perfectly!

 

Luke is a gun-ho sweetheart!

My favorite part of the pic?

Look at his tongue! Haha!

 

The Leading Ladies!

Meme on the LEFT, Mema on the RIGHT!

 

Chillin with Daddy

 

 

 

 

One huge focus of this vacation was to get Stephen some therapy...boat therapy! Fishing therapy! We did some searching and found the perfect boat! Saturday she came home with us & is officially part of the family! Stephen took the family down the Rainbow River &  they LOOOOOVED it! The kids felt a little nervous about the current (in truth so did I!) so we put a life line to the back of their lifejackets & they LOVED it some more! Kyle was fine as long as he was able to touch/had his mask on. Abby - I didn't care either way! She was going to have a life line regardless!

 

Kyle's favorite part MIGHT have been the fact that the slow ride up river was partially thanks to his mad boating skills! We put it at just about idle and let him drive the easy to navigate sections. HEAVEN for any 10 yr old boy! Fishing, of course, was a must! Abby caught 9 and Kyle caught 5! All small blue gill save for the little bass that Abby caught. They were all absolutely thrilled!

What is boating in FL though without a pop up storm? Around 2 or 2:30 we had a shower pop up. Because it was so fast in coming, we hid under some trees and waited it out.

 

Abby's 1st fish!

 

 

Despite multiple attempts to correct this picture, it refuses to go on the blog right side up.

But you can obviously see how thrilled he is!

Wading out into the chilly water!

 

Kyle's 1st fish!

 

Beautiful Rainbow River!

 

 

As you can imagine the kids slept like logs that night! Tuesday...Tuesday has been one of the top two days for me! We went down to Orlando to hang out w/ my sister & her bestie. They  are awesome and SO good with the kids! We went to Downtown Disney to see Despicable Me 2...absolutely a MUST see! It was hilarious! We followed that up with some Kinect dancing, pizza, & the pool! It was so wonderful and relaxing that we all wished we had packed some clothes to stay the night. The breeze was just right! The pool was just right! It was all great! Unfortunately, there just weren't a lot of pictures taken! I was too busy just soaking up the fun!

 

More to come!

...as I edit the pictures... =)

 

 



In a Funk

I'm in a funk, my dear friends.

It's truly true.

 

It's a, "I know I'm not my normal self but how the poo do I get out of it?!"

Yes, true.

 

I decided to get on a good diet. Hard core watching what I eat, doing some light exercise, reading my daily devos - all out good diet...Body, Insides, & Soul. I was pretty good for about a month.

I still had my moments. But I did ok. Now, the funk is back.

 

Yes, I know, you never have those moments. Today was a huge moment for me. I woke up great. Stephen and I had a great morning. My funk was lying at the outer regions of my  mind. I felt it. Did I reach for my devos? Nope. The funk hit hard. My side was super sore & I let it come in full. Everything hit me wrong. Doing my work around the house, all I could think were "Poor Poor pitiful me" I'm thinking like straight up Terri Clark song. It didn't help that darling Frank is scared spit less of fireworks...ok so maybe pee-less. Soaked through Kaden's extra large & his own medium sized dog bed. I cleaned that mess this morning. We (my Magnificent husband & me) went to the grocery store, had lunch, ran a couple more errands. The funk continued to grow until I felt like crying just walking around. It weighed me down. We spoke to our precious, precious babies for a few minutes. The highlight of that phone call?

 

We didn't initiate it. They called us 2x of their volition!

 

I'm working on it my friends. Promise. The funk is wearing off right now.

Prayer does wonders for that. 

 

 

That & the medium pizza, 2 cokes, & delicious dessert thanks to a fabulous friend!

Yeah, I had my first caffeine intake since Memorial Day weekend.

 

I fully intend to go back to my diet & exercising, but allowing myself to relax when needed.

 

My struggle with the diet & everything is that it doesn't seem to make an ounce of difference in how my body heals. You can get tired of me talking about God, but you'll either change your mind or just understand He is my all & everything.

 

God has really put it on my heart to do everything I can to take care of what He has blessed me with.

He gave me this body with it's ridiculous, absolutely annoying, positivily idiotic way of healing.

 

He blessed me with a husband that loves me so much more than I could ever deserve.

 

He has blesssed me with two amazing children!

 

He has blessed me with two puppy dogs that I could almost strangle after the ginormous messes they made this past weekend.

 

He has blessed me with friends in the area that I never could have believed He would have sent to us!

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

We've been playing a bit...

 

We bought a laser pointer and Frankie literally goes NUTS for this thing!

Kaden couldn't care less!

If it doesn't squeak, bounce, or roll along the ground - why chase it? Seriously, what on earth is Frankie thinking?

 

Haha!

 

It is just about as entertaining for Stephen and me as it is Frankie!

He literally will run into our double doors leading to the back porch in order to get it!

 

As soon as I remember how to link in a video & find one that fits the length requirements (aka not too long) I'll post a few. We adjusted Go Fish to a dog toy rope instead of a bottle. He hits it so hard!

Between these two games plus walking about 2 miles everyday, he should be good for now! Once I get back into better shape, I'm planning to increase the length to four miles a day.

 

I took a few photos at a wedding. You will just HAVE to go look at them! I am editing right now, but keep a wary eye out! There were some gorgeous arrangements! I had nothing to do with them, so please don't praise me.

 

Anyhoot, I'm going to peace out now my dear friends.

 

I am going to edit a few more photos for my babies' collage frames I am putting together.

Hopefully I can get those printed and done before the kids come home tomorrow!

Stephen has agreed to hang them in their rooms for me!

So excited!

 

I'll show you those too!

 

Love yas!

July 3rd

     Can you believe that our country's birthday is tomorrow?!?! One of the most amazing little men in the WORLD just had a birthday yesterday too! Check out this adorable little man!

 

 

Micah is so loveable, loved, and precious! He is blessed with a wonderful older brother that we absolutely love as well! Nolan is a Knight in Shining Armor!

 

 

How can you NOT love these two boys? Even just by looking at their pictures!!

 

Work is taking a break.

I've had a few reality checks.

It's been rough, but God has me in the palm of His hand.

Who am I to argue with what he puts me through?

 

I'm learning to control my tongue.

Did those of you who know me literally just fall out of your chairs?

Haha!

I wouldn't blame you!
It's true, I'm learning. Lots of bumps, lots of "Holy cow I just put my whole leg in my mouth, forget the foot!" Yeah, crazy. Thankfully the people I've done that too are very gracious!

 

Some lessons am I strongly fighting against. I'm not really sure how to respond to them. That being said, let's move on!

 

Remember that grill? I love it! Mostly because Stephen is AMAZING on the grill! ...well, not literally ON the grill, but cooking on the grill! My favorite is that he does the main dish & I just pull together a side dish or two. Basically we're eating fabulous food pretty much every night!

 

Friday we set up dinner with some wonderful friends! Anytime there is food & friends, you're gauranteed to have a great time! Add in great service - perfect! Yep, we had a blast! Stephen dealt with me arriving last to the party very well. I was so excited to be able to go to dinner, but wedding called. I didn't get off of work until about 7:30pm. Dinner was supposed to start at 7pm. Everyone was gracious and we had a wonderful dinner. The waitress interacted well with our group and kept us all laughing & full of water/pepsi/iced tea! It was great!

 

Sunday I woke up at 10am. Remember what time church starts? Yeah, 10:30am. We made it at 10:32am! Obviously, I was thankful I had showered the night before! 7 hours outside Saturday under tents placing arrangements, decorating, taking pictures of said arrangements & decorations...nasty hot! However, I was all fresh and so clean clean for Sunday! My eye kept watering though. So weird. Literal tears pouring out of ONE eye.

 

We came home and Stephen started playing around teasing & picking. Bless his pea pickin little heart, I burst out in tears. We all know this is NOT normal for me. He was flabbergasted.

Needless to say, I went back to bed for about an hour. The scent of food brought me out of our room.

 

Oh, and Saturday Dish sent out a great guy who set up our bedroom TV so it actually works! We can get the channels and change them without standing on our headS!

 

So happy!

 

It's those little things that are best.

 

We called the kids and they sounded like they were having a great time! We are so ready for them to come back now! Saturday evening they will be home, should be by 7pm. I fixed Frankie's bed. Kaden's will be today. You see, a few weeks ago (literally) Frankie soaked his bed like Lake Erie soaked it. Straight through. I put it in a white trash bag and placed it in the nearest trash can. I soaked up the mess...and wait, did I ever tell you what all brought this on?

 

Let's flash back - It's 3:45am, yes, AM, as in morning. It was AFER Frankie decided to NOT use the restroom at 10pm. He was fitting over the fact he got in trouble for chewing on the coffee table (now thankfully out of our house, Thank you Stephen!) I ignored Frankie at the early morning hours - four times I ignored him. I will get up at 5am. You can pee then. Nope! He didn't wait! I put him out, cleaned up the floor, and went to take the old bed filler (you know, that packet inside the cute plaid fabric) to the trash. There was literally an inch and a half of pee all along the bottom the bag. DISGUSTING!!! I couldn't save it. So, I made a new pillow for the inside of his bed. He is currently belly up spread eagle lovin his bed! He was all curled up and snoring like a train a few moments ago. Obviously, he loves it! Kaden on the other hand, his poor bed cover just died. Literally worn out and you could see through it. I can't really get upset with the dogs for chewing on something that was so completely worn out.

Yesterday FINALLY got here! Monday took three years and five days it felt like, to end! The hospital called to do pre-op. I got a newbie on the phone. I know the outpatient unit, and this one was very sweet but asking questions the rest of the people already knew. Tuesday dawned and we headed to McComb. I saw some of the out patient friends and was so excited to get the stint out!

I woke up and the short story is, I have a new stint.

 

Today I am chilling out, resting, going nuts sitting still. Lol

 

We are trying to plan a family trip for once our babies come home. We'll just have to see how it all goes. We've thrown around several ideas but are just waiting on a few details to fall together.

 

Hope ya'll are doing well!

 

Enjoy your summer!

 

June 15

It has been a good week!

 

I hope yours has been wonderful as well.

 

We had "typical" moments and "fabulous" moments! "Typical" is when little things hit you wrong and all you can think is "Humph! Typical!" Ours happened yesterday. Not fun! We both woke grumpy, left grumpy (made sure we said "I love you" even if it was an "I love you but am not happy right now." ...FYI - your mood isn't determined by your situation. It's determined by Who you are focusing on....you? or God?)

 

Anyhoot, we finished in typical us style and were all back to lovin & teasin before the day was out! I'll tell you! These days where my love is off of work and I am at work?

 

FOR THE BIRDS!!!!!!!!!!

 

But it was a good day at work, and things are always improving!

I'll see if the Boss will let me show you some of what we do. It's a pretty beautiful store, if I do say so myself. A coworker and I have been working very diligently to straighten, reorganize, and draw people in! I think we have done pretty well considering EVERYONE that came in complimented how beautiful everything looked despite the ginormous mess of reorganizing was all over the place!

 

So, we had 2 family members have a birthday this week!!!!

 

My oldest brother, Solomon! Yep! It was yesterday! He is a wonderful husband, a devoted father, and an amazing brother! I hope he had the most wonderful birthday yet!

 

ALSO!!!! My dear, sweet Aunt Helen turned a whopping 90 years young!

We are all so very blessed that she is an active part of our lives! We are thankful that she is still able to get around and hep keep her younger daughter & son-in-law in line!

 

(Love you TK & Bruce!!!)

 

My most exciting thing this week was that I was FINALLY after years!!!! (two to be precise) I have finally surprised the love of my life! Months ago he informed me I would not spend a lot of money on him for Father's Day. I had been talking up several ideas and that comment shot them all down. So...Father's Day will have to wait for pictures.

 

We will celebrate when the children return.

 

BUT!!! He didn't say a single WORD about our anniversary! After a few weeks of searching, I vented my frustration to a friend who told me she could help me out!

Yippee!

 

What did he get?

 

Tee hee!

 

Let me show you!!!!!

 

 

 

Yep! A smoker/BBQ thing....(technical female term for grill w/ a smoke box on the far end =)

 

This is dinner!!!!

Smoked red fish! Cajun sausage that I've no clue of how to spell!

We're adding in fresh fruit & veggies too!

SOOOOOOO excited!!!!

 

 

 

Forgive the work shirt! I literally came home, could smell the delicious scent of the above pictured food & got all excited again!

 

Stephen is pretty excited too!

 

 

Love ya'll! Hope you are having a wonderful summer!

 

 

June 6

It's a purpley-pink kind of post.

I wanted a soft pink, but this is pretty too!

 

I can't believe June is here and already almost through a full week.

What have we done?

Worked.

 

It is good though. Activity is vital to me. I need to keep my hands busy, keep my mind moving... It helps me relish these moments I have to sit.

 

Truth be told, I have rested quite a bit. Mostly because after working all day, I'm tired!

"But you work at a flower shop!? How is that tiring?!"

 

Well, because I clean, organize, lift 4" - 8" plants and move them any & everywhere throughout the store. Climb up & down ladders whenever my monkey arms won't reach, sweep floors, help deliver stuff for weddings, move items up & down from the basement - do that from 8am to 5ish pm and you'll be tired! I love it! It's so much  better than simply sitting & just answering the occasional phone call. Granted, the activity is from the wedding season -- but I'll take it!

 

Stephen is home and I am absolutely LOVING that!

I love coming home to him and snuggling up to him each night! I'm spoiled right now with it, but I'll take it! The puppies are adjusting to having 2 working grown ups. I think they are starting to forgive me. The first few days they barely had anything to do with me when I'd come home to let them out at lunch  time! Right now, they are both sleeping peacefully. I had my first day off this week and I kicked them out! The house got cleaned! Complete with floors mopped, leather furniture cleaned, washing machine cleaned, bathrooms cleaned laundry is just finishing drying - it was productive!

 

There are so many times I have little stories for you, my dear friends, and yet haven't the time to write them out! The time has come for an "idea journal" so I can jot notes to remind myself to tell you the stories!

 

Both children are doing well in AR. We have spoken to them twice, which is difficult. Difficult because you want to go hug them or play or tell a funny and nope - they are off visiting AR. Now don't get me wrong, we are VERY excited for them to be able to go because they get to visit family, swim in the river, stay up late, eat sugar, drink caffeine...and yet we don't have to help them off the sugar and caffeine high! haha! But seriously, they enjoy visiting and we are so thankful we live close enough that they get to do it!

 

Stephen's back is all better for now. Please pray with me that it continues to stay good! It just bites sometimes and he gets pretty uncomfortable. I am recovering nicely  from the pyoplasty. Saturday I passed a decent sized stone and INSTANTLY felt so much better! All week long I had been emotional and felt uncomfortable but didn't necessarily hurt. After the stone passed I felt like a million bucks! Sunday came and the discomfort was back. Because I have a clue of what is going on, I have a better handle on my emotions. Please pray I pass this whatever quickly. It's inhibiting my ability to clear my kidney/bladder. If this doesn't clear on it's own  by Monday, I'll be headed down there to have them figure something out.

 

Do you know what happens in 19 days??!?!?!?

Summer is here!

So many things to tell you about!

 

However, I'd rather show you what our new toy can do!

 

Enjoy!!!

 



 

 

 

 I will have to load some more later.

 

The blog is throwing fits at the size of some of the pics...

 

Hope you like these!

 

We sure do!