November 11, 2006

This week, 4 years ago, I was married to my best friend (everyone always says that! But it's true. so, oh well!). 


I woke up earlier than normal this morning, took my shower, and came into our room to find the boys "hiding." And then they "roared" at me. I pretended to be scared and they laughed. :) I never would have guessed that part of falling more in love with Guy has been watching him serve, love, play with our sweet little boy. What a blessing. I was a nervous wreck/emotional mess the day of our wedding. I had to sit down practically the whole day! Walking down the aisle was super emotional for me. I was just so thankful to be Guy's wife! 


Before Guy and I started dating, I had been single for almost 3 years-I went on a few dates here and there but nothing big. During that time, I grew closer to the Lord than I ever had. Clinging to him with everything. Looking back now, that time in my life was so hard (one summer I went to 12 weddings! and was in 2 of them!) but I am so thankful for it. I know that the Lord was pruning, growing, shaping me to be who I am today. To prepare me for what was to come. One of those things was to be Guy's wife! Yay! 


One of the verses that was read during the ceremony was from Psalm 40:1-3. And this is how I truly felt about this new phase of life. 

"I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear in the Lord and put their trust in him." 

It is really fun to think about our wedding week. There is much more to write about including a very funny/not so funny at the time story about my wedding veil. 

Our friends Pete and Joel carved this during the reception. We had Fall decorations: pumpkins, mums, candles, leaves....They carved a bride and groom and put it on our table. Cute! 

Happy 4th Anniversary!

The Chronicles of a Babywise Mom

Since mentioning how Braylen is a Babywise baby, I thought I would give you a little recap on our experiences. My aunt Barb raved about this book called Babywise and said it is such a wonderful tool to use when training your baby to be on a routine. I read it while I was pregnant and learned a ton! Everything about the book was new and completely changed my thought process on how to raise a baby. Some new terms for me were PDF-parent direct feeding, and ODF-on demand feeding. PDF is what Babywise teaches meaning that it's the parent that ultimately guides, trains and directs feedings, sleepings, and playtime. ODF, which is what most parents do, and is also why you see and hear about soooooo many sleep deprived moms, is just that-feeding your child on demand. Whenever they cry, you feed them. Even if you just fed your newborn 30 minutes ago, you do it ago. There are so many things that determine these two terms and there are many studies to go along. PDF really made sense to Guy and I. And it worked! 


All through college I babysat kids. The youngest was a 3 month old baby, named Ella, and I remember giving her a bottle while trying to get her to sleep-per her mom's request, although I had thought that is how you should put a baby to sleep. The routine for babywise is to feed your baby, play with them, and then put them down for a 1 or 1.5 hour nap. You do this every 2.5 or 3 hours everyday and your babe will be sleeping through the night in no time. And YOU will be sleeping through the night. I can't tell you how much of a difference just one night of rest makes. Having Braylen on a schedule was such a blessing. It may not be the best thing for every baby but it was for us. I couldn't resist adding some pics of Bray sleeping when he was a little babe.

There are, of course, many experts (and peers) who disagree with Babywise. One reason is that you train your baby to CIO-cry it out! People argue that you are not loving your child by letting them cry. This was this hardest thing for me to go through as a new mom. As part of PDF, you allow your child to CIO if they are having a difficult time with naps or bedtime. However, you let them cry for 10 minutes (that's it!) and then go and check on them/comfort them. Do this for a day or two, and you're babe has learned to self soothe themselves. Even though 10 minutes may feel like 10 hours, it is so worth it for your baby! And because Braylen rarely cries, we know that when he is crying, it's because he's hurt, sick, etc. We know what each cry means. People have always told me that he is so well mannered and that he never cries! I say well you're not with him everyday :) but it is true that he is a very happy child. That is because he is well rested, well fed, and ready to explore. 


I hear moms say a lot that when you have a baby, your world revolves around them. I love Braylen more than anything-he is amazing. But he is not the center of this family. Our lives have not stopped now that he is apart of it. He has come along side us as we strive to love Jesus and love those around us, especially our YL students at Boone. Bray comes with us to games and YL outings. He sings with us in campaigners. He stays up a little bit later at night, while we meet for bible studies. And he loves it! Putting Braylen on a schedule has taught him this principle and has given us the flexibility to do ministry. 


I know that this option may not work for everyone but it's important for me to share our experience so that we can remember what it was like raising a baby-and to maybe help other mom's out there who may need to try this technique. Remember that when mom is happy and rested, so is everyone else in your family! 


Check out this mom's blog called Chronicles of a Babywise Mom. She has everything you need to know about the schedule. 


And! so that when I look back and Braylen does not nap anymore, I can remember the "good ole days:" Braylen at 33 months takes one nap a day from 1pm until around 4pm. And sleeps from 8:30pm until around 8am. 

PUMPKINS!

Last weekend we took Braylen to Kinman Farms in Burlington, KY and we had a blast! We rode the tractor down to the pumpkin patch, went through the corn maze, sat by the bonfire, sipped apple cider and shared a funnel cake. When you ask Braylen where he went or where he got his pumpkins, he says "At the farmer's house!" so cute. This year we went at night and there were not many pumpkins left! We had to use a flash light to find them! :)

Last year we went during the day and we took some amazing pictures of Braylen. I just remember Braylen running up and down the dirt road, so happy that he found his pumpkin! He barely has any hair! 

The year before, 2008, here is Braylen peeking out our front door. I just had to include this "pumpkin" picture because it is so darn cute. Look how little he is! 

(Try to ignore the reflection of the house across the street!)

What a cute little boy. He is all about pumpkins right now. We have 3 on our porch-mommy's, daddy's, Braylen's. He likes to kick his off the porch. I do not like that as much. 

What I do like though is this delicious recipe for Pumpkin Sheet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting! Oh wow. It is soooo good. I am new to baking with pumpkin but I love it. This is my mom's recipe but when I read the directions I noticed there were no instructions for how long to bake it. When I asked my mom how long, she said I don't know. Like 30 minutes? I love my mom. She is a great baker. I found this recipe at Tammy's Recipes that uses the exact same ingredients and has proper instructions on how to bake it. 

Happy Fall!!

The Beach

Four weeks ago we were here....

With my family......

Doing this......

Eating here.....

Playing there.....

Oh it was such a great getaway vacation with my family. We really enjoyed seeing Jess and Vince who have been living in Charlotte, NC for almost a year now! We rode down to Destin, FL with my mom and dad, and had week long vacation on the beach! Our days consisted of waking up (sometimes at 6:30am when Bray would wake up!!), eating breakfast, playing tennis or walking around the resort, heading to the beach/pool for the rest of the day! When 12:30pm rolled around Braylen was practically begging us to take a nap. It was so wonderful. We all took a few shifts here and there to stay with him in the condo.

Braylen certainly LOVES the ocean. He would play in the sand all day long. We had to watch him like a hawk otherwise he would have swam his little heart out in the ocean. He loved being in the water. He would laugh and giggle each time a wave would hit him. So much joy in his little heart.

A few fun moments:

-Braylen made a few "girlfriends" at the pool one day. There was a group of older women on a little girls trip and Braylen chatted them up. They even offered him a lounge chair that he would lay on and relax with the girls. :) It was so cute. If one of them feel asleep, he would wait for them to wake up and go right over there to talk. Hilarious.

-Braylen developed a rash during the last day or so from his dry skin and sunscreen. The sunscreen would burn his skin! So I gave him 3 options before we went to the beach: 1-wear sunscreen, 2-wear a shirt, 3-stay inside! When I asked him what he wanted, he said......hmm...Ice cream. bah!!!!! I said you want ice cream? Yes. Well sorry bud, that's not one of the options.

-There was quite a bit of algae in the ocean which made for a ton of fish close to the shore. But that also meant tons of dolphins! Each day we would see lots of dolphins really really close to the shore! It was so amazing. (or as Bray would say "amazin")

-Jess, Vince, Guy and I went "surfing!" Well kind of. We rented the Yolo board which is a stand up paddle board and it was awesome! The ocean was so peaceful when we did it. Guy and I tried to do it together which was hilarious. I kept freaking out that the board was going to flip so I would try to steady it-which actually MADE it tip. We laughed so hard. It was much easier to do on your own! Here's Bray on the board....

Up next:

-Pumpkin Sheet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

-Working at the "truck" wash

Lately

My last post was about a month ago and since then we have done quite a few things. We had family camp at Brookeville which was so much fun, but flew by! We didn't go on the boat or go on a hike. Braylen decided to skip every single one of his afternoon naps that weekend, which you can imagine how crazy he was the rest of the evening. He is super whiny and down right cranky (although my mom would say he's a perfect little angel!). But he slept great at night and had a fun time with the other kiddies there. We had the annual cornhole tournament-with an opening ceremony-and my dear ole' dad won first place! He's so cool. And he's the best cornhole player in the league. :) My mom bought our family matching tshirts to wear. Don't we look so cute? Not redneck at all! Kidding mom!

The next weekend, we had a Young Life leader retreat in California, KY at the Gautraud's house. They have a gorgeous home that over looks the Ohio river and allows for 60+ leaders to stay the night there. My friend Maria and I have planned the retreat for the past 2 years and we really enjoy doing it. We plan the menu, sleeping arrangements, schedule, etc. We love gathering everyone in their home for fellowship, teaching, and encouragement. I left feeling spurred on to pray and consider where the Lord is working at BCHS. Things at our school have been down right tough! We are still rebuilding the ministry there and it is hard. Students just have their own busy schedules and don't want to be apart of something else. We know that "in all things God works for the good of those who love Him," so we will keep at it!

Last week I had the privilege of helping with the annual YL banquet. This year we hosted the banquet at the Syndicate in Newport. We had around 200 people show up and the night was very successful. Coordinating the banquet is hard work! There are so many i's to dot and t's to cross. I love being apart of it though and look forward to making improvements for next year.

September has FLOWN by and it's not about to slow down because in a few days we are leaving for this place:

It has been 3 years since our last family trip to Destin, FL and I am so excited. We planned this trip over a year ago and I can't believe it's actually here. 3 years ago Jess was not even engaged yet and I was 6 months pregnant. So much has changed! We are looking forward to some wonderful family time and much needed playtime in the ocean.

P.S. Braylen has been talking like crazy. It is so fun to hear him learn new phrases and songs. We have a Veggie Tales Sunday School cd and his favorite song to sing is "Joshua Fought the Battle of Jerricho"! His new favorite phrase-which is not so cute-is "but I don't want to!" And then throws himself on the ground. He usually says this before leaving the house or naptime. He is just as sweet as can be though, and today he hugged my leg for no reason and told me that lunch was yummy. :)

The Last Week of Summer

Braylen has been such a momma's boy lately (WHICH I LOVE AND HOPE THAT HE STAYS THAT WAY FOREVERRRRRR! sorry Guy!) but it is so sweet to see him want to be like his daddy. I wish you could have seen the way Braylen's face lit up when Guy strolled into our living room on Monday wearing a shirt and tie. Braylen was so excited and said "Braylen tie too? Braylen shirt too?" I said you want to wear a shirt and tie too like daddy? "Yea! Like dada!" So up we went to his room-he picked out a blue button up shirt (from Easter) and Guy helped him put on his tie. It was so adorable. We put him in some khaki's too. Braylen would go up to Guy the rest of the day and stand right next to him and say "Pants! Tie! Shirt!" It was so cute. He also kept hugging us and saying "thank you." Oh boy.......you are welcome!!!!!!

We attended a funeral that day for a coworker of Guy's who died suddenly of a stroke. Tom was a believer and my family has known his family for many years. The service was a worship service and it was amazing. Tom knew the Lord and so it was very comforting to everyone he left behind. Braylen did a great job that day. He was very well behaved and went around to everyone, and I mean everyone, showing them his tie. And he sang his little heart out while we were singing hymns. He of course had no idea what he was saying but he didn't care. He sang loud and proud. My mom was holding him and she knew all the words. It was so precious. I think he knew we were singing to Jesus. :) Afterwards an older man came up and said to my mom, "I so enjoyed watching your grandson." I pray every night that the Lord would use Braylen to share the gospel and to bring joy to those around him. Of course Braylen has his moments, but he is so personable with people. He will stop and "talk" to anyone who makes eye contact with him. I don't know if that is how the Lord is using him at 2 years old but I like to think so.

Braylen and I were watching daddy cut the grass one day this week, and he says "Braylen cut grass too?" SURE! We went and got his little mower and he followed Guy around with that little thing for a while. Of course when Guy got too close to him, he ran away. Here are a few pics of the boys working hard.

Look at how happy Braylen is!

Working so hard!

We are attending a wedding this weekend for a child hood friend of mine. The house we are in now is the house he grew up in! We are excited! And next weekend is family camp!

We hope that you enjoy your last few week or so of summer!

"Pream"

Wow. I can't believe it's already week 2 of August! This summer has flown by. We had a great night tonight at HOME! One of the rare evenings that we are actually here. As we are still so super tight on our budget, I have been coming up with new (and cheap) meals to prepare. I have discovered a new love for cookbooks! I love my Betty Crocker (wedding) edition and found a recipe for Red Beans and Rice. Guy grew up in New Orleans and I have come to really love the food down there! Well, minus the seafood, which is basically all they serve in NOLA but I love the non-seafood stuff like Red Beans and Rice! Guy's family is down there visiting and since we were unable to make the trip, I decided to feed my addiction and whip up a batch of it. I love Red Beans and Rice! There is an awesome restaurant down there called Zea's (yum!!) that serves this dish and it is soooo good. Tonights meal was pretty good too, although Guy was looking for a bit more flavor. You can pretty much flavor anything though with hot sauce. :) Did I just say that? weird.

Anyways. After our meal, Guy took Braylen on a bike ride and I went to JoAnne's Fabric. Have I told you that I am learning to sew? I'm super excited. I made a few burp cloths and a baby blanket. Then we all met up at Dairy Queen for some "pream." We split a small blizzard into 3 cups-which comes out to about $1 a person. Not bad. We have been saving change so we were able to use some of that. What a great way to end the night.

Braylen has been so sweet lately. He told me that he loved me all on his own the other day.

My. heart. melted.

How can one little person change your life so much? He came up to me tonight and just wrapped his arms around my leg and said "hug!" I just want to squeeze him all day long. He truly is an amazing little boy.

He continues to teach us more and more about the unfailing, always committed, never ending love of our Heavenly Father. What an awesome example of God's love for us.

DIY: Fabric Bulletin Board

I made this a few months ago and of course didn't take before pictures, but I really like the way it turned out. This is like my first DIY item ever! Not counting the time that I was obsessed with making homemade candles. I gave them as Christmas gifts one year. I have a book on it if you'd like to borrow it. :)

Supplies:

-Any picture frame (I bought mine from Hobby Lobby for $10! It had a few broken pieces of wood around the frame)

-Peel and stick bulletin board (Micheals)

-Sand paper

-Fabric

-Staple gun

1) Remove the glass from the frame and sand all of the wood down to where it is a smooth finish.

2) Once it is finished, you can apply a coat of paint or wood stain. I didn't use either because I loved how it turned out.

3) Measure the inside of the frame to make cuts for the bulletin board.

4) Cut bulletin board and stick on the back of the frame.

5) Cover with fabric and attach using your staple gun.

6) Attach to frame!

*You may need to add foam before you attach the fabric. The bulletin board is a little thin. I just use long needles to attach things to the board because they can slide in sideways.

We hung up the frame in our hallway which is right next to our kitchen. It's the perfect place to hold family news, cards, invitations, pictures, etc.

I didn't know that I had bought "designer" fabric but I have seen it all over the place in different blogs and etsy!

Kojodesigns Bow Tie Tutorial

Nursing Cover at Etsy

You can buy the fabric here.

Camping 101

My family has been going camping for years! Back then we used a tent. I have really fun memories as a kid going camping. Nowadays, we use my mom and dads camper. Some people say it's not camping unless you are in a tent, blah, blah, blah. These people have never owned a camper. :) We love going camping with my parents! Tons of games, snacks, camp fire food, hiking, and relaxation! Over the weekend, the three of us went camping with my parents and we had a blast! Here are a few "must-do's" if you are wanting to go camping!

1) Pick your campsite. Mom booked us a site at Fort Boonesborough Ky State Park. Mom and dad have been all over the tri-state with their "camping group" so they know the fun places to stay.

2) Make sure you hook your truck up to your camper. Make sure that it is nice and secure.

3) Bring a wheelbarrow to unload things like wood for your campfire.

4) Don't forget to pack a warm, comfy hat. Sometimes it gets chilly around the campfire.

5) Be ready to play lots of games. We like to play Euchre, corn hole, and hide and seek in the camper.

6) After you've enjoyed a nice meal (like BBQ, baked potatoes, corn on the cob and green beans!), sit back, relax and enjoy your evening. This is the life. :)

We enjoy camping so much! Our next trip is to Brookeville, IN for the Annual Family Camping Trip. I wrote about it last year. We have been doing this trip for about 10 years now and it is a blast!

One of our favorite campfire snacks is Cinnamon Biscuits. You have to try them.

Supplies and ingredients:

1 can of biscuits, roasting sticks, cinnamon, sugar, and butter (spray butter is easy to use)

-Take one biscuit and slowly stretch it out to make it long enough to twist around the top of a roasting stick. Twist it around the stick. Roast over the fire slowly. Once it is no longer doughy, remove from the stick. Combine cinnamon and sugar. Take cooked biscuit, roll in butter and then roll in sugar mixture. ENJOY! It is sooooo good!!!

Happy Camping!

Sunday Breakfast

Since we are on a very, very limited budget these days, I have been trying to be more creative with meals and using what we have in the house. So I thought I would do a little research on the internet. You can find TONS of super delicious recipes in blog land. Most blogs link to other blogs so the possibilities are ENDLESS! I can browse all day.......... anyways. I came across the blog Making Chicken Salad and found this recipe for Oatmeal Pancakes. Braylen loves "meal" and asks for it a few times a week for breakfast. I bought a giant box of original oatmeal from Sam's months ago and I usually just make a small serving of it for Bray and mix it with applesauce and cinnamon.

It's a very simple recipe and most of the ingredients are staples that you would have around the house. The recipe says that it makes 8 but I only made 6. I think next time I will not make them as thick. They were very good and Braylen was able to help mix the ingredients. He ate 2 pancakes up before I even finished my 1! Next time I might put applesauce on top of Bray's too instead of syrup.

Guy had to work all weekend so it was just Braylen and I for breakfast!

How cute is that little mug? I got that for Guy for his first Father's Day over 2 years ago!

Being creative in the kitchen is a lot more fun that I thought! Now if only I knew what to fix for dinner tonight........any thoughts?

You Think You Know But You Have No Idea

Braylen has been impressing me with his sneaky-ness. For example, he told me that he finished his cheerios the other day and he even put the empty bowl in the sink for me. A few hours later, I found this:

Last week I was cleaning up around the house while Braylen watched Super Why (which I am convinced he learned his ABC's by watching this crazy show), and I just called his name to see how he was doing. When he didn't answer I started to look for him. I could not find him! I went around the rooms and finally went into our room and noticed that our hamper was upside down. He was in it. Then he started walking around........

He is so funny! He is growing so much this summer! He is 3 feet 4 inches and weighs 36 pounds. He's like a little giant. I'm so proud of him too. Counting to ten, saying his ABC's....he's also strangely good with directions. He will point to which way to go when we are driving to grammy/poppy's or my mom and dad's. I think that's pretty impressive. He's also a very good cook.

Well, kind of. He doesn't know that the plastic will melt while cooking on the stove. We'll save that lesson for later.

We are having a great summer! Guy has been loving his new job and we are at 50% towards reaching our MP Support Goal (yay!) but we still have a super long way to go. We continue to be on a very tight budget (we only spent $36 in dining out for the past month! which is crazy.) and we are using the envelope system. We have tried that in the past but now that Guy only gets paid once a month, I think it will be easier to use. We are hopeful that the Lord will provide us with the remainder of our goal but we also know that we need to work hard to make process.

Here are some upcoming things that we are excited about:

-Camping!

-2 Weddings in August for some great friends

-A baby shower

-Family camping in Brookeville over Labor Day!

-Leader Weekend!

-The BEACH!

Have a great weekend!

Like lightning in a bottle...

I'm not sure which is more exhausting.

THIS:

Hanging out with 15 energetic high schoolers

Or

THAT

Keeping up with an energetic toddler

Both are super fun and super rewarding but shew.......I am worn out. :) We left for Sharp Top Young Life camp in Georgia last Sunday, June 27th and returned July 4th. It was a long trip and I missed Braylen soooooo much. We didn't see him for 8 long days. He spent his time with grammy and poppy and then with maw-maw and paw-paw while camping. He had so much fun. And I think that he grew like 12 inches or something because he looks like a giant now. Braylen is saying his ABC's and can count to ten. Yay! He "sings" twinkle twinkle little star" all day, everyday. And usually changes the word "star" to whatever he's playing with or eating. Adorable. If you are having a bad day or need a laugh, call Braylen. He will lift your spirits immediately.

Back to camp: we really had a great trip. We took all sorts of different "types" of students: athletes, cheerleaders, video gammer's, band players......or however you say it. But everyone really got along and we feel like we formed our own little family. It is so great for them to know that they have a family of believers and have friends to help them out. If you've never been to Young Life camp, you are seriously missing out. It really is one of the best weeks of your life. I've had 10 best weeks.......and I've never been disappointed. The food is so delicious!!!!, the scenery is breathtaking, the entertainment is hilarious, and there are so many fun things to do. And to top it all off, these young adults get to hear the message of Jesus-sometimes for the first time-and always in a way that introduces so much freedom for the things of life that weigh them down. We are really looking forward to what the Lord has in store for our YL friends.

This is our little group on top of the mountain that we climbed!

Camp was awesome! God is great! And I'm glad to be home with our favorite little man!

Also happy birthday to my dear Mom and bro-in-law Vince!

And congrats to my sis-in-law Amy for getting engaged! Woo hoo!

Happy Day! To the Daddy's.....

We had a great Father's Day weekend! Saturday we spent with my in-laws and worked all day in their yard! Weeding, trimming, mulching, cutting grass.....it was hard work but the end result was great! And Jon was so grateful for the help! I really like working in the garden! Then we had a big cookout! Thanks Jon for being a wonderful father to Guy and Amy and a wonderful FIL to me! You're an awesome "poppy" and Braylen loves spending time with you! We love you!

Sunday was a great day too! We spent the entire day in the pool. Seriously. The whole day we were in water. Braylen loves swimming right now and every chance we get we are in the pool. My dad worked soooooo hard putting in their swimming pool and I love seeing him enjoy the fruits of his labor. Actually I love to enjoy the fruits of his labor. My dad is the greatest dad in the world. I love him so much! He never complains and he is ALWAYS there for us. He is such a hard worker. My dad has to work super early in the morning and I remember as a kid (well teenager) when I would wake up around 4:30am and I would see that the light was on in the living room, so I would go out there to give my dad a goodbye kiss. He would be reading his bible! He does that every morning. It is such a great memory to me! Thanks dad for being awesome! :)

Happy Father's day to my wonderful husband too! Braylen and I love you so much! I love watching Braylen light up when you are around or when he hears your car cruising down the street. You are the best daddy! My heart melts to see the two of you together! We love you!

Summer Update

So I was looking through my calendar and realized that next week is July 1st! That is so crazy to me. I am so amazed at how quickly time goes by-especially the older I get. Wow. James was right when he said "you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes!" I have been learning so much these last few weeks about different things and look forward to sharing them, but let me back up. Here are some highlights from the past month!

1) Guy finished his first year of school! Yea! He made the dean's list both semesters! PTL! He is enrolled in summer school right now so keep him in your prayers.

2). We went to the annual Rockbridge YL leader weekend over Memorial Wknd and had so much fun! We learned a ton (about making daily choices that will affect the rest of your life and that Jesus will meet you where you are-John 11), we had delicious meals, and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.

3). The next weekend I went on a girls trip to Nashville! Oh we had so much fun! Stephanie, Jenna, Nina and I packed up and left our kids with our husbands and enjoyed a wonderful weekend of fellowship, eating, bonding, singing, dancing, shopping....I could go on. The last trip we took together was 7 years ago!! on spring break in Destin. I should go scan an old photo of us in our bikini's. :)

4). Guy started at Master Provisions! Another praise! We are so blessed to have received support from so many of our friends and family! We are at HALF of our monthly goal so Guy was able to start full-time! We are on a SUPER, SUPER, SUPER strict budget but it is so worth the sacrifice for Guy to be at a job that he is passionate about. We have been learning so much about God wanting us to rely on him for our daily needs-to find hope and joy in Him and not material things. I struggle with that a lot because before when we had extra money I could go and get whatever I wanted, when I wanted it: food, clothes, movies, music, accessories... And now I am asking Him to provide it and if he doesn't then maybe we don't need it. I don't know. Still learning! I am just kicking myself for not living this way before. Everything is so temporary and you just don't realize it until it smacks you in the face! Ask my sister about this too!

5). We leave for summer camp on Sunday morning and I am getting excited. It will be a special trip because Jess and Vince (or Dess and Bence as Braylen calls them) will be there too! It will be awesome to share the week with them.

6). Also Braylen can swim by himself with his floaties! It's awesome! He loves it! He laughs the whole time! He is learning and growing so much!

We are thankful for everyone who reads our blog and hope that you find encouragement to trust in the one who made you and has a plan for you! See ya soon!

Bad blogger

I am a horrible blogger right now! I promise to update soon! We have been enjoying our summer and look forward to some more fun things planned. I finally got some pictures uploaded from a photo session we took in Sept with my friend Abbra. I will leave you with a precious family picture! Braylen of course looks so much bigger now-it's hard to believe that it was taken almost 9 months ago!

Asthma & Mother's Day

We are learning more and more about Braylen having asthma. I had to take him to the doctor on Saturday morning because he woke up feeling horrible! The inhaler helped a little bit but he was just struggling to breathe and didn't want to do anything! The doc told me that his body is zapped of energy because it's working so hard to breathe. Poor thing. They gave us a nebulizer and he has to do a breathing treatment every morning. He's doing pretty good with it. It really does help him. It's like as soon as he is outside he starts coughing or sneezing. I just feel really bad for him. Hopefully as the spring season goes away, so will his symptoms! Another funny part about Saturday-Guy had to go down to Louisville for Amy's graduation ceremony so I was alone when I took Bray to the doc. They gave him that breathing treatment and he was as good as gold. Walking around, saying hi to everyone, eating suckers. He was a new kid. Then I went to Kroger Pharmacy to get his prescriptions and while we were waiting I did some shopping. We were in the produce section and then Braylen threw up. All over himself. Right by the salad bar. GROSS! There were some napkins so I did the best I could. No one saw it either. He started dancing right after. I was like Braylen! hold still! ha.

That's a good story to lead into Mother's Day. I love being mom. Throw up and all. Braylen is such a wonderful blessing. He brings so much joy to our lives. Watching him grow up (he's dancing right now while I type this!) is one of the most amazing experiences. I guess I should be "watching" him instead of blogging. :) Recently every time I tell him that I love him, he says thank you. Wow. You are welcome buddy! You are the sweetest little babe.

Thanks mom for being a great mom too! I certainly wouldn't be who I am today if it wasn't for you and your prayers, patience, kindness, and loving example. I really have a great mom and mother in law too! Braylen sure does love his ma-ma and grammy!

Looking forward to seeing Jess and Vince this weekend! We've been trying to come up with a few things to do! Kings Island, Starlight Bowling, Aquarium, Zoo, Museum.........Maybe we'll just hang out and play games. Or maybe we'll make this delicious dessert.

There's something strange in the neighborhood

A few weeks ago, I woke up out of the bed, with the lights on, and Guy was hugging me. My heart was throbbing and I was completely terrified. I just woke up from a night terror. Ever heard of them? Night terror's or sleep terrors are when you have a horrible dream that you can't wake up from and it usually involves sleep walking or screaming. They are terrifying.

I started having them when I graduated from high school. I remember one night when my parents ran into my room and turned on the light. I sat up holding my stomach and looked around the room. All of my covers were off the bed and my dresser had been knocked down. My parents said that I was banging on the wall screaming for help! And I had these red markings on my stomach. I had no idea what happened! How crazy is that!

I have had a few night terrors since Guy and I have been married and they are so scary! Guy says that I wake up screaming and screaming. What usually happens is he thinks that I'm being attacked, so he jumps on top of me and gets me out of bed to protect me-which you're not supposed to wake anyone up when they are having a night terror. When I finally come to, I actually think that I AM being attacked so I freak out even more! It's usually dark and he is shaking me to wake up. It's so horrible.

I have read up on night terror's but there is really no way around them. Has anyone ever dealt with this? Strangely Braylen has them too! You can hear him crying in the middle of the night. Like a painful, scared cry. We'll go up to check on him but he never wakes up. He just stops crying.

Well, this is one random post but it's just something that has been bothering me lately. It's such a strange thing to deal with. I bet if the ghostbusters were real, and if it was a ghost haunting me, that they could totally get rid of it for me. :)

Processed Food: To Eat or Not To Eat......

Ever since we watched the Food Revolution with Jamie Oliver, our family has been trying to eat out less and we have minimized how much processed food we eat. That also means less fried foods and soft drinks! I don't know why I've never questioned what I eat but watching that show (we actually bought the book too!) has really inspired me to cook with all natural items. I don't mean organic, I just mean using items that are fresh! I have always cooked with "convenient" food items so it's been really fun to be creative with our meals. I remember that when Guy and I were newlyweds (I guess we're still pretty new!), I was going to make pancakes one morning when Guy said, why don't we make them from scratch? I thought- you can't make pancakes from scratch! Silly boy! You have to buy it in a box! Guy-very lovingly mind you-told me that you can make pancakes from scratch along with most processed foods. WHAT???? Like I said, I don't know why I never thought of that before, but here I am ready to conquer the cooking world.

Last night I made my first homemade marinade for chicken! It was teriyaki chicken-I used 1/4 cup of water, 1 tbsp of light soy sauce, 1 tbsp of lemon juice, 1 tbsp of packed brown sugar, 1 tsp of veg oil, 1 clove of garlic chopped, and S&P to taste. Mix it all together and marinade chicken (or other meat) for at least one hour and no longer than 24 hours. My super cool husband grilled the chicken along with sliced pineapple! If you've never grilled pineapple before, DO IT RIGHT NOW! IT'S SO GOOD! We had brown rice and zucchini as our other sides. Braylen ate like a champ too! I hate to pat myself on the back, but I was pretty pleased with how things turned out. I'm still pretty new to cooking but I have enjoyed finding new meals to make.

I never realized how bad processed food is for you! I've been looking at nutrition labels and have no idea how to pronounce some of the stuff that is in certain foods. Crazy! I've been really mindful of this while shopping at the grocery store. Although there are some things that I'm not ready to give up. Like tortilla chips, frozen waffles, juice drinks, fruit snacks, to name a few.

On another note, Braylen has been so much fun lately. He has come up with this super funny fake laugh. And he does it all the time. Especially if he feels shy or if a stranger says hello. It is so cute. He is so friendly to people. He is saying his ABC's too. Well.....kind of. He sings "a, b, c, d, e, e, e,...a, b, c, d, e, e, e,.... over and over. And then sometimes he'll say "p" or "v" or "me" like it's the end of the song. so cute!

On Tuesday while we were meeting for bible study, Bray was looking out the window and waving to cars. We had the window open, so when our friend Rick showed up for study, Braylen said "Hi! Hi baby! Hi baby!" It was so funny. Sometimes when he's playing by himself I can hear him say "hi mommy, hi daddy, hi baby." He just brings so much joy to people. I am so blessed to be his mom.

Happy Day!

The past few weeks after New Orleans have been so much fun! My sister Jessica and brother in law Vince were here for a whole week in the beginning of April! We celebrated Easter with my family by going up to Madison, IN to hear my uncle Bob preach at his church. I love doing that every year. It is so amazing to see how the Lord continues to bless their church in growth and fellowship. I was encouraged by the message of "Doubting Thomas" and I really loved the worship. Thank you Jesus for the cross!

Here we are after the service. I have the most handsome boys!

Jess and I took Braylen to the Red's Opening Day parade. It was so cool (not like Mardi Gras cool but still fun) and I had no idea how popular it was! Braylen did not like it at first and was scared to even watch it.

But he eventually warmed up to it.

We had two weddings in one day! On 4/10 Jess and Vince were in Keenan and Jen's wedding, which my mom also made their cake, and Guy was the best man in Stephen and Susan's wedding. The weddings were no where near each other! But Braylen and I were able to attend both of them-well 50% of each. :) Braylen was such a trooper and a very handsome date.

We were both super exhausted and slap happy by the end of the night.

Thankfully, daddy was there and he gave us the energy we needed (well mommy needed) to continue our fun night!

We also enjoyed some time playing Just Dance on Wii with my family. I mean it is the coolest game ever! Even Braylen got into it!

Braylen also knows how to play video games while wearing these suckers......

Those are mommy's shoes buddy!

We are teaching him the difference between girls and boys. :)

Until next time, I will leave you with a little blast from the past. Stay tuned for updates on my time at my 10 Year Reunion! Can you believe I've been out of high school for ten years? Look how short my hair used to be?

Have a great week!