life with the "dough-mac's"

30 Things From My Childhood...

2012-02-01T16:30:00.000-05:00

I turned 30 last week.

I love birthdays. And the month of January is always full of food, fun, birthday cards, balloons, streamers, and cake every single week. I can NEVER start a New Year's Diet during the month of January. It's literally impossible. This bday was hard for me! I'm going to blame it on my hormones but I was feeling super sorry for myself. I'm not sure why but I had all these expectations of "life starting" when you turn 30 and people just being so excited for you. Too many movies and blog reading I think...... It was good for me to be mindful that joy is NOT dependent on my circumstances but on the cross!

I really did have a great birthday week! We had a family dinner on Monday to John Phillips and it was really good! I had lunch with my grandparents at Red Lobster! Guy and I had our annual "free" Benihana's dinner (sign up for their Chef's Table and they send you a $30 gift certificate during your bday month). Guy said we'll be able to document our birthday's each year with Benihana pictures that the waiter takes. Fine with me! And then Guy schemed all week behind my back and planned a little dinner at the Tousey House with a few friends and family. I was definitely surprised! It was a really sweet night with the people that I love. I of course didn't take any pictures to document my 30th bday week (except for the lovely Benihana's photo) but I enjoyed every single memory.

Back to dinner on Monday night at John Phillips....after dinner, our families came over for cake and ice cream and to open a few gifts. My dad brought in this giant, unwrapped box. I had no clue what it was. I opened it and there were 30 wrapped gifts inside, each one had a number on it. Hilarious! Each gift was an item that I had saved in my "box" from my childhood and high school. It was a really sweet surprise and a lot of fun trying to remember why on earth I would save certain things. Here is an idea of what I saved....

This is a great book.

School years memory book.

My sweat towel from varsity bball in high school. why???

My Aunt Barb made this for me when I was born!

I think my bball team all bought these during a tournament in middle school.

Anyone want some gourmet sauce?

My mom used to collect these. cute.

I used to collect Trolls.........

I couldn't turn this pic around.

Braylen hates them! "Get those out of here mom!"

I did get this sweet little rose from Braylen.

We ended my bday celebration with an awesome free sundae from Graeter's!

This is their 1870 Tower with black raspberry chip, molten cake, pecans, and whipped cream.

I could barely take 10 bites, but it was so good.

Time to take down the streamers, Thomas the Train balloons, and cards. I really hope that baby brother doesn't feel left out. :) The month of February we have lots of things before he comes. We've been working on his room and our house is a disaster. We moved Braylen into the office and moved the office to the basement and moving baby items from the basement to the nursery. Craziness. We lived with my parents when I was pregnant with Braylen, so we didn't have a room to prepare for him. It's been really fun preparing this nursery for the baby. 6 more weeks to go!

33 Weeks Pregnant

2012-01-23T14:37:00.000-05:00

I am right about 33 weeks pregnant! 7 more weeks to go. This pregnancy has really gone by quickly. I like being pregnant during the holidays because once you hit Labor Day in September there are so many things to look forward to. Family camping, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and all of our birthday's in January. In February and March, we have 2 weddings, a couple of showers/bachelorette parties, and a few other fun things. I feel like the baby's due date (March 16th) will just creep up on us in no time! The soon to be nursery is a disaster but I've finally decided to go with gray and yellow. I picked out a bumper from Target.com and went to buy it today and it's sold out online. Bummer.

Everyone says that we'll love having a spring baby! The weather is starting to warm up and we won't be cramped indoors with a newborn. I am really excited to meet our baby but super scared too! I'm hoping that the delivery goes smoothly and my epidural won't run out this time! :) Here are a few updates to keep track of how I've been feeling.

Movement:

This little guy is quite the mover. He is constantly kicking, rolling, and poking me. Sometimes his little kicks really hurt! I've been trying to have Braylen feel the baby move and he has said that he can feel him but I'm not sure if he's just saying yes! He's had the hiccups a few times too.

Weight Gain:

30 pounds. I gained almost 50 with Braylen so I'm assuming this will happen again. Bah!

Sleep:

I've never been the greatest sleeper but lately I have been feeling very rested. I like to drink more water during the night, rather than the day which doesn't help. Guy says that I am snoring like crazy but that doesn't bother me! :)

What I Miss:

Being able to sleep on my back and my stomach. Wearing normal clothes. Not having a chubby face! Being able to run and use the elliptical. I know some people are able to do those things, I just always feel so weird doing it. Being able to hold Braylen all the time. :( I know that he's 4 now! But I LOVE holding him. I still do sometimes (my doctor said that I can!).

Cravings:

Ice cubes, chocolate, cottage cheese, and ice cream. I could actually eat just about anything right now. My first trimester, I had to force myself to walk into the grocery store. I couldn't stand food! And eating healthy? Forget about it. No grilled chicken, veggies, fruits, bread...I had a baked potato everyday for about 7 weeks. I am so thankful to be passed that stage!

Symptoms:

Back pain, heartburn and indegstion, restless legs, and I'm starting to feel more swollen. Other than that, I've been feeling great! Oh, I do have a dose of "pregnancy brain." Last week Guy and I had a lunch date at Frisch's :) and after I used the restroom, I sat down at the table and told him about this email I read earlier that day. He said you literally just told me about that while we were walking into the restaurant. "I did?" He said yes, you just told me that story. "Oh........." I completely forgot that I already told him. Wow. I'm getting a double dose of memory loss because I'm pregnant AND tomorrow I'm turning 30. Fun!

Sports Wreaths

2012-01-17T09:00:00.000-05:00

This year I decided to try my hand at a few homemade gifts. I drew my mom's name for our family's gift exchange, and after browsing on pinterst, I came across a UK wreath that was so cute! The wreath was being sold from a shop on Etsy for $50! I wasn't sure if I could do it but I decided to try! I made one for my mom and an LSU one for Guy's mom.

I loved how they turned out! The difference btw mine and the ones off Etsy are that she uses wooden initials for the schools. I just used foam lettering, which was pretty difficult to cut but it served its purpose. I think I made the LSU too large but for my first time, it came out pretty good.

I would really love to start making them more and offer them for sale! If you are interested in an order, let me know!

Happy 4th Birthday!

2012-01-16T09:00:00.000-05:00

**This was supposed to post yesterday on Braylen's actual birthday!

Today is Braylen's 4th birthday! He is growing up so very quickly and I keep telling him to slow down. :) He says "but mom, I'm going to be a big brother!" Today we are having a little party with some friends and family! He has requested a train party this year. One year ago, we had a Mickey Mouse party. How quickly time has gone.

Last year's party!

Braylen brings so much joy to our lives! We are so thankful for him and thankful that God brought him into our family, during a time that was so unexpected. It's hard to imagine life without him.

Things that Braylen loves right now:
1) Being silly-he's actually quite hilarious.
2) Saying "mom (or dad), I love you so, so, so much." and then saying "gross" when we kiss him.
3) Playing drums to the Beatles with Guy. He plays them on beat.
4) Playing basketball and baseball.
5) Beating everyone in Candylane, Go fish, and running up the stairs.
6) His new Vtech mobigo.
7) Miss Tami and Miss Eli- his preschool teachers at Kid's Academy. He LOVES preschool and last week he was Star of the Week.
8) Wrestling.
9) Helping us cook in the kitchen.
10) Playing with trains.
11) Listening to Veggie Tales and singing every single song.
12) Talking to his baby brother in mommy's belly (Braylen has named him Potty Pootie and Rudolph).
13) Telling us EVERYDAY that he "wishes he could go camping with Gretta."

Happy 4th Birthday Braylen!

We love you so, so, so much!

Christmas 2011: The One with All the Singing

2012-01-14T16:29:00.000-05:00

Christmas came and went. And I barely had time to wrap our gifts. I didn't even send out cards this year. I'm still debating on whether or not I should send a Happy New Year Card. I am pretty bummed that I ran out of time to send them.

One of the christian radio stations in Cincy starts to play Christmas music the day after Halloween. I am one of those people who loves early Christmas. So anytime, Bray and I were in the car (without Guy because he is not one of those people!), we would listen to Christmas music. After about a month into it, Braylen could sing about 90% of the songs played. He loves it! And he's still singing Christmas music (1-13-12). Today it's been Silent Night. He doesn't quite know every word but he makes up his own version. Last year we sang Jingle Bells for about 10 months as his bedtime song.

My sister's family was able to spend a week with us this year and we were so excited to be with them. Little Kaleb is growing so quickly and he is as cute as ever. I can't stand that they are so far away. Kaleb literally smiles all the time and the Lord is already using him to bring joy to those around him.

Guy's aunt and uncle from New Orleans also stayed with the Domec's for a few days this year. It was so nice to visit with them! Aunt Lee is an awesome seamstress and always comes up with creative gifts for the family. Last year she made us Christmas pillowcases (which I'm still using) and this year she made table linens. Super crafty!

CHRISTMAS OVERLOAD!

Braylen is pretending to be Santa with a bundle of toys in his pack

Highlights:

*Being with family and friends for about 6 days straight surrounding Christmas day.

*Going to Fountain Square and Braylen and Guy being the last ones to ride the horse trolley before they closed.

*Watching Braylen "sing" during his preschool performance. Actually, out of all the classes he was the ONLY one to cry and run to his parents. That was a fun night. He perked up and I promised that if he sang he could have candy.

*Seeing Awaited at Crossroads. It was amazing!

*Guy having 10 days off from work!

*Braylen understanding what Christmas is all about

*Knowing that this time next year, we will be a family of 4!

Playing Catch Up

2012-01-13T16:28:00.002-05:00

For the past month and a half we have not had wifi. And our macbook is weird and it wouldn't let me connect through the cable...so I haven't been able to or had the time to go to Panera and upload pictures/work on the blog/sell things on ebay/keep up with our budget/you get the picture. Does anyone know how to use icloud by the way? I have pictures that say photostream on my phone but I'm not sure where they are streaming to. They don't seem to be on my computer.

Anyways. Here are two fun things that happened that I just didn't want to miss writing about.

**Thanksgiving.
We missed my sister's family and baby Kaleb while they stayed in Charlotte, but we enjoyed seeing both sides of my family and spending the day with the Domec's. We always see a movie on Thanksgiving night with my dad's side and for the past 2 years, they have picked a kid friendly movie so that Braylen can come with us. This year we saw the Muppets and it was really cute! Pretty funny too. My mom's side usually has our get together the day after or on Saturday and I am so thankful for that because we don't have to rush out of there. We ended up staying for a while at my aunt's house, ordered pizza, and watched the UK game. This year we made Caramel-Pecan Pie with homemade pie crust and Braylen helped us. He loves being in the kitchen. My mom usually makes this pie and it is soooo good. We also made Pumpkin Cake and it is always delicious.

**Babymoon to New Orleans
We like to visit Guy's family once or twice a year down in New Orleans so we snuck in a trip on the first weekend of December. Braylen stayed with grammy and poppy (Guy's parents) so it was a nice trip just the two of us. One last little getaway before we become a family of 4. We flew standby which is always a nightmare but we eventually made it down there. We enjoyed seeing family, cute baby Ava, and eating much food as possible. :) One of my favorite places to eat down there is called Zea's. It was especially good now that I'm further along in my pregnancy and everything tastes delicious. But the real reason for our visit was to go to a Saint's game!!! One of my good friends from high school's husband is on the coaching staff for the Saints! Seriously. She is that cool. She offered to get us tickets to a game and we were like, um yes please!

My love for the Saints is obviously because I am married to Guy, but I really do like this team. When Katrina hit and wrecked the city a few years ago, it had an impact on Guy's family too. His grandma stayed with them for months as well as another couple who stayed for a few weeks. After everything "settled" down, the Saints actually won the Super Bowl and it was so amazing. It was like a huge victory for the city! It was really emotional for everyone connected to Katrina. We took a last minute trip to New Orleans a week after they won the Super Bowl and the city was seriously crazy! People were so excited! And it was during Mardi Gras so we saw Drew Brees in one of the parades.

*If you've never gone to Mardi Gras, you should totally go! It is so much fun! It is so not like "girls gone wild" unless you visit Bourbon Street-which we never go to.

So back to the game. Kelly graciously offered us tickets and told us that we could go on the field for pre-game warm ups! Wow. I am pretty sure that if no one was watching, Guy would have ran sprints around the field out of pure joy and excitement. It was awesome being so close to the players and coaching staff. Even the owner came by and rubbed my belly. :) He said you've got something poking out of there. Can you believe the owner actually says hello to the fans? Mike Brown, take some notes! We took some amazing pictures and had the best time.

The Saints killed the Lions and after the game, we went to the post-game after party! The families of the players and coaching staff are invited and you needed a special bracelet to get in. We saw a few of the players and Drew Brees wife and Coach Peyton's wife (or ex-wife....drama.). When we were leaving the parking lot in Kelly's car a few people actually stopped us for an autograph because they thought there was a player in our car. Oh I forgot to mention that I almost met Will Ferrell. He just didn't hear me yelling his name.

We had the best time! It was a perfect, much needed trip for the two of us. I am so thankful to be married to my best friend!

On the field!

Will Ferrell! So close to meeting him! Not sure what I would have said. I love you? You're hilarious?

Pierre Thomas!

Drew Brees!

The Honeymoon

2011-11-14T08:26:00.001-05:00

Happy Honeymoon!!

babies. was this really only 5 years ago??

on top of the Mayan Ruins

Shortly after we arrived to our hotel after the wedding reception, we had to leave around 5am to go to the airport. We even missed our complimentary breakfast! We were flying to Cozumel, Mexico to stay at the Cozumel Palace. It was a very short flight but as soon as we arrived, my new groom starting feeling sick. Headache, stomache pains, feeling weak..... perfect timing! I remember having to go down to the resort store to buy him some medicine, and everything was in a different language. That was fun. We had "Mexican Tylenol" for a few months after the honeymoon. :)

Our resort was so beautiful and right on the ocean. We stayed for 10 days! We had so much fun! It was all inclusive so we could eat whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. Chocolate cake brought to your room before dinner? Why not! Steak? Sure! We mostly layed out by the pool and used the on-site snorkel equipment to swim in the ocean. Although, Guy is not the type of person who likes to sit and lay out. He didn't even bring a book to read! He has since changed his ways...well sort of. He would still rather be up and playing on the beach, rather than laying. I have no idea why but that's why I love him! We also signed up for a scuba diving lesson but they canceled it due to weather. One day we'll go back and do it!

We took a tour to the Mayan Ruins (one of them-I can't remember the name) and spent some time in Cancun. We rented a Jeep Wrangler for the day and toured the island of Cozumel. It only takes a little under 2 hours to drive the entire island. We saw a wild pig too. We were located 15 minutes (on foot) away from the "city" so we would walk there and visit shops or local restaurants.

It was such a beautiful island! We were fortunate to go back a few years after our honeymoon while we were on a cruise with our friends! That time we were told of a local beach where you can lay on beach chairs and snorkel in the ocean. It was so fun! And we finally ate at Coconuts! During our honeymoon, someone told us to eat at Coconuts and for some dumb reason, we chose not to. I am glad we went there during the cruise! It sits on top of a mountain and overlooks the ocean. It's litarally a tiki hut with plastic tables everywhere, but the views were amazing and the food was great!

What a blessing it was to be on a beautiful trip with my best friend and new husband! I really hope we can go back to Cozumel with our little family one day.

Rehearsal Dinner

2011-11-10T14:41:00.001-05:00

The night before the wedding we had our rehearsal dinner. All the bridesmaids and scripture reading friends and singers came over to my house for a mini-bachalorette party. My dad and I were sitting outside on the patio waiting for the girls to arrive, and we just looked at each other and cried! It was a happy/I can't believe I'm getting married cry! It was sweet. My dad is awesome!

We had great weather that night and after the rehearsal ceremony, we drove over to Indiana for dinner at the Applewood Restaurant. We had the whole top floor and there was a huge outdoor patio that overlooked the river. Even though it was November 10th!!, we were able to be outside and enjoy the night with our friends. Guy and I said our goodbyes and I went straight to bed. Well first my entire family came into my room and sat on my bed. But then I went to sleep. :)

Guy and I took the more traditional route of wedding day well.....traditions. We decided not to talk, text, or see each other until I walked down the aisle. Which I LOVED! Even though I was super, super nervous, I was so excited to see Guy walking down the aisle. Such a special memory! We weren't able to get a lot of awesome pictures ahead of time but it really didn't matter to us. Now that we have kid(s), we just have pictures of them around the house anyways!

This was me walking down the aisle BTW. I was a wreck. My dad walked super slow so that we could savor the moment. So fun! Thanks dad for making this moment a very special memory!

One of my most favorite songs that I wish I would have played at our wedding is by Shane and Shane called "When I Think About the Lord." I feel like that was my theme song to this day. It still is! I was just so thankful for where the Lord had brought me. And of course, I am more thankful than ever!

when i think about the Lord
how He saved me, how He raised me
how He filled me with the Holy Ghost
how He healed me to the uttermost
when i think about the Lord
how he picked me up
turned me around
how He set my feet
on solid ground

it makes me want to shout
hallelujah! thank you, Jesus!
Lord, you're worthy
of all the glory, and all the honor
and all the praise!
Hallelujah! thank you, Jesus!
Lord, you're worthy
of all the glory, and all the honor
and all the praise!

*side note: whenever I play this song in the car, Braylen says "yea. turn it up." and moves his head to the beat. So funny.

Happy almost anniversary to my husband!

Life with the Domec's!

2011-11-07T16:22:00.000-05:00

5 years ago this week, I was preparing to walk down the aisle with my sweet husband. I had most of the week off from work and we prepared programs, out of town gift baskets, gathered pumpkins and mums, and tried to stay cool and collective before the big day. I LOVED our wedding. It was one of the most special days of my life. I was so very nervous but thrilled to be marrying Guy. Looking back I wouldn't change a thing (except for adding a few touches via PINTEREST! darn you pinterest.). We had a packed house at the ceremony and ran out of food at our reception! We felt so loved by our family and friends. What an awesome way to "kick-off" a marriage.

A few weeks before the big day

Of course a lot has changed since that precious day! I wanted to take a few days this week to think about all that the Lord has done to capture our hearts and how he has brought us together to establish our little family.

To go with the 5 Year theme, here is my TOP FIVE MEMORIES!
1) Our Wedding Day!

So much has changed in photography since then, and I barely have any pictures from that day. I refuse to shell out $20 a print for an 8X10. But here is one of my favorite pictures from that night. I remember driving down the street to our reception with our bridal party and being so excited to celebrate with our friends and family. The Southgate Center has giant windows and we put candles everywhere so when we pulled onto the long driveway leading to the building, you could just see tons of glimmering lights and people socializing. So fun! We had our DJ annouce the bridal party to "Bring 'Em Out" - Guy was so "gangster" back then. :) Then Guy and I strolled in to Harry Connick Jr.'s version of "It Had to Be You," and we had our first dance. Loved making that entrance with my new groom!

2) Of course your first year of marriage isn't complete without a surprise pregnancy!

SURPRISE! You're pregnant after being married for 5 months. :) What a crazy time in our life that was. Guy was sooooo excited and he really was a solid rock during all of my emotional meltdowns and panic attacks. Seriously I had panic attacks. The Lord provided us with everything we needed to get by during those 9 months. I had lost my job when I was 4 months pregnant and we moved in with my parents. It was such a change for us. When most new mom's are decorating nurserys and buying crib bedding, I was just wondering how we were all supposed to fit in our tiny bedroom in the basement. "Baby's sleep through the night right?" Wrong. Being pregnant was hard for me. I am sooo wimpy. Had horrible heartburn and sciatica and I gained about 50 pounds!! But I did enjoy not working and having my mom make dinner for us and occassionally help with our laundry. :)

3) Welcome Mr. Braylen K. Domec!

Wow, the story of Braylen's delivery is for another post but we survived and welcomed the greatest addition to our family. Guy has is so sweet with kids. They love him! And he stepped in and took care of our little newborn when I was dealing with so many changes, and couldn't figure it out! Shew. After only being married for 13 months, and still trying to figure out how to be husband and wife, we had to learn to be parents. Thank you Lord for getting us through Braylen's first year! :)

P.S. Isn't Braylen sooo very handsome??

4) Owning our first home!

We moved into our current home after Braylen was 1 month old. We love this little house (minus the tiny closets and one bathroom!). I remember my friend Nina who said that she loves to minister to people using their home. I love the thought of people feeling loved and comfortable just by being here. We hope that people always feel welcomed and accepted. One of our college YL guys said it may be small but it feels like a mansion. I love that! God has been so gracious with our finances and has totally provided for us. We have had sooo many ups and downs and he has brought us through. He usually brings Guy through gracefully and I am usually holding onto something kicking and screaming. But here we are!

5) Guy's first day back to school!
I love this memory. Guy has always been the greatest servant to those around him. He is always the first one to help out a friend or anyone in need. He decided that school wasn't for him early on but after so many crazy jobs and circumstances, he knew that going back to school to be an elementary school teacher was the right choice for our family. I remember Braylen and I meeting him for dinner before his first day. We brought him a card that told him how proud we are of him, and then off he went! I know that this is a strange memory, but I love the thought of the 2 of us (Braylen and I) being in his corner. Cheering for him! Yelling from the rooftops that HE CAN DO IT! And Guy being in school has really defined our family the last few years. He has an intense work schedule and is going to school full-time. God has graciously guarded my heart to not be bitter that Guy is not always here. We know that the long term benefits of this decision far outweighs the present. Being in school has also taught us more about reaching and accomplishing goals. One day soon we will look back and be amazed that we made it through!

I hope to share a few other highlights from the last 5 years! What's really funny is that on "major anniversary" years, I am always pregnant. Our first anniversary, I was due in 8 weeks and now on our 5 year, I am pregnant again. So much for that trip to Vegas! :)

Big Brudder

2011-10-24T12:57:00.000-04:00

Braylen has been cracking us up lately! A few weeks ago, the two of us went to the park behind our house. I was on the phone talking to a friend but I let him out of the car to walk over to the swing set. I noticed that there was only one other mom and her little boy there. Braylen gets out of the car and screams "Is there anybody here that wants to play with me? Anyone?" It was hilarious. I was like hmm....well there is one kid here. The other mom laughed too, which was a good ice breaker so we got to talking for a bit while the boys played. She was pregnant too but still in that super sick stage (thank the good Lord that stage is over for me!!). She went to get some snacks to help with her nausau and while she was eating, Braylen came up to her and said "ohhh I'm sooo hungry!" bah!! He said, "can I have some of your snacks?" It was so funny. He kept bugging her even though I asked him to stop and she was so sweet to share her wheat thins with my crazy kid.

Guy and Braylen road their bikes to the playground yesterday. I mean when did my little baby boy grow up? My parents friends found him a bike at a yard sale for $7. Awesome. It's a real bike with training wheels. And he does a great job riding it. He's a natural. Here's a picture from when he rode in the "dark."

Braylen is not shy at all. He will go up to anyone and ask them if they are okay or ask them what they did that day. I have always asked the Lord to use him to bring joy to those around him and bring glory to Him. I really hope that Braylen continues to be excited about the people around him. Last week, we went up to MP's warehouse to visit with Guy and he had a girl there working who needed some community service hours. You could tell just by looking at her that she has had a very rough life. Braylen says, "hey mom, can I go up to him (he calls everyone a he/him/his) and say hi?" I said of course. So he just walks right up and says hello! She got a huge grin on her face and they talked for a bit. So very sweet. I love that he has no judgement towards anyone. Wouldn't you love to have that type of childlike sweetness? Just pure joy and love for those around you.

Our family has certainly been very busy. Guy works so hard for our family balancing school, work and YL. He has class every night of the week: M-Th. Craziness! I know that he is so very tired but when he has time with our family he plays and goofs around with Braylen. It's usually the two of them sneaking up behind me to "sqiurt me" and then they run off and hide. This Wednesday we find out if we are having a boy or girl! I can't wait! I am definitely NOT one of those mom's who likes to wait and be surprised. I was already surprised when I found out we were pregnant! Good enough for me. :) Besides Braylen will have so much fun telling people that he'll have a little brother or sister. He already tells complete strangers that he's going to be a big brudder. People look at me like oh really? and check to see if it's true. Which right now I just look chubby!! But I smile and say yes it's true.

I'm thinking that we need to get Bray a little camera for Christmas this year because I'm finding too many pictures like this on our camera:

Have a great week! I'll come back soon with details from our ultra sound!

Life Lately....

2011-09-15T17:15:00.000-04:00

Braylen started preschool last Tuesday and while it was hard for me to "let him go," he could have cared less. He is loving it and his teacher said he's going to be "one of the leaders of the class." I can believe that because it seems like we are FOLLOWING him all day long. :) I shed a few tears when I said goodbye AND I had to go into the classroom to give him a hug and a kiss because he left without one!! He is much more welcoming when I come to pick him up. He never wants to talk about school afterwards. "Stop asking me questions, mom" or "I didn't do anything, mom." Whatever......

I did receive a text message from my cousin Jenna which said that she heard that Braylen let out the hermit crabs from their cage. oops. on his first day of school. oops. The teachers didn't tell me anything so I asked her who told her. She said-his teacher told my friends mom, who is also a teacher, and then she told me. Ha. I guess he's already making quite the impression. Gotta keep them on their feet!

First day of school pic-making a silly face.

Once I hit 6 weeks of being pregnant, I became super, super sick! Nauseous all day long and I was "getting sick" a few times a week. On top of that I was super exhausted. Oh man it was awful. Braylen watched so much tv and my sister said she's never seen my house look so messy. :) It was so hard to go through normal routine. Braylen heard me say that I was so sick because there's a baby in my belly WAY too many times, that he started to believe he was sick because of the baby in his belly. :) The thought of food was just horrible. I think I made dinner for our family twice in 6 or 7 weeks. I just couldn't do it. I was a little nauseous with Braylen, but I would just eat a cracker or two and feel better. Not with this baby! I wonder it the baby is a girl! Just in case it is a girl, I went ahead and bought two dresses last week. :) BabiesRUS was having a buy one, get one free and everything was marked down. I couldn't resist! I kept the receipt.

I started to feel better over Labor Day weekend-Family Camp! It was a wonderful weekend and Braylen barely hung out with us. He "traveled" to everyone else's camper and hung out with them. He gave camper tours and put on few shows for people. Also singing and marching with a stick in his hand. I managed to snag this pic of him in the "hammock."

Look at those beautiful eyes.

We finally bought a car! After 6 months of being a one car family/driving/wrecking other peoples cars (seriously), the Lord led us to a great "new" car for our family. After having so many problems with our mini van, we were so nervous to buy something else. Every time we would test drive a car at a dealership, I would feel sick about it. This car we bought from an owner, and I just felt comfortable in. They knocked off $500 from the asking and we decided to buy it. What a huge burden lifted. You can read our journey to a new vehicle here.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Top Summer Memories

2011-09-12T09:58:00.001-04:00

I can't believe that summer is coming to an end and that I haven't updated our blog in 3 months! We have had a lot of exciting things happen this summer! Here is my top 10!

1) I became an aunt!
My sister Jess had her first baby in the beginning of July! Baby Kaleb is the sweetest little guy ever. My mom and I drove down when she went into labor and we arrived 20 minutes before he arrived. It was amazing to be there for Jess and Vince! Braylen loves his little cousin too.

2) Amy got married!
My sister in law, Amy, got married a few weeks ago to Dustin Gohs. She was a sweet little bride and we had an awesome time celebrating with the family. Braylen was the ring bearer and told everyone that he was a prince. He was so precious. Didn't want to take off his tux ALL NIGHT! He had blisters on his feet from his black shoes. He did great.

3) Camping trip to Loveland
We spent a weekend camping with my parents and had a great time. We went to the Air Force Museum, took bike trips, walks, sat around the campfire and roasted marshmallows.

4) Festivals and Rides
Braylen loved all things "rides" this summer. We took him to Coney Island for a day and a few festivals to ride the rides. We would be so excited for him while he was on a ride but he hardly ever smiled until he got off the ride. So funny.

5) Swimming pools!
Braylen finally gathered enough courage to jump in the pool by himself! He is still using his floaties (hopefully this is the last summer for those) but he became a little fish this summer. He even jumped off into the deep end!

6) Family beach trip!
We drove to Charlotte to stay with the Meiman's for a week and we decided to drive to the beach for a few days. We booked a trip on Priceline and stayed on the beach in Hilton Head. It was awesome for the three of us to be together on the beach. Braylen loved the ocean and the sand, and even made a little friend at the resort.

7) We climbed a mountain!
Jess and Vince live about 20 minutes away from Crowder mountain. There is a trail called Backside and it has a gravel path and stairs so it made it a little "easier" for us to climb with Braylen. He kept saying we're almost to the top of the mount. :) I was really nervous about this but Braylen did awesome. It was beautiful!

8) Landscaping
I realize this is not a top 10 thing for everyone but Guy and I actually like do this. We pulled out a few more things from our yard and put in some mulch and spruced up our yard a bit. We were able to do this for Guy's parents too. We always joke that when Guy starts teaching and has his summers off that we'll start our own "mulching" business because we're so good at it.

9) Baseball
We took Bray to a baseball game this year and he has really started to enjoy the sport. I am anxious to see what he will be excited about when he gets older. He loves music so much! I think he might just play in the band!

10) Last but not least....
I'm pregnant!
I am 10 weeks tomorrow. We are very excited. The baby is due in early March, so it will certainly be March Madness for us. :) I have been feeling super sick and tired. I am very much looking forward to the 2nd trimester.

So that is our Summer Top Ten! We still have a few more exciting things coming up! This Saturday we are celebrating my mother in law's 60th Birthday! Happy Birthday Peggy! We have leader weekend, our Annual Labor Day Family Camp trip, baby showers, a trip to Gatlinburg, and our first doctor visit for the baby. Lots of fun! Guy is also still working hard for MP and just started back to school this week. He is amazing husband and dad. Be praying that we can be good managers of our time and relationships.

Looking forward to the Fall!

I wrote this a few weeks ago and I'm finally posting it........

Walk-Talk

2011-06-17T09:05:00.000-04:00

Taking a walk in Mommy I's neighborhood in New Orleans

One of my most favorite things to do when it's nice outside, is go for a walk! I love it! The summer before our wedding I walked and walked and walked and walked! And lost about 15 pounds. :) Most of the time my dad joined me on the walk, and we had (what I like to call it) a "walk talk." A walk talk is the best for great conversation and one on one time. It's just the two of you! I really treasure that time with my dad too! I try to walk as much as I can but it's hard dragging a 3 1/2 year old through neighborhoods-especially now that he doesn't want to ride in the stroller. He's too cool for that.

Walking is so great for staying in shape but it allows you to be intentional with your thoughts and prayers. You're not distracting by the laundry that needs to be folded or the dishes in the sink......I guess you could be thinking of those things though! :) It's just you and the Lord. Last Friday morning, my mother in law Peggy, watched Braylen for a little bit so that I could walk her neighborhood. It was so great! I listened to Shane and Shane's "Psalm's" album on my ipod and loved every second of it.

Braylen and I walked (well he rode) over to Mall Road a few days ago. We stopped at the grocery store and Old Navy. It's nice to be in walking distance to the store as we still only have one car right now. sigh. Anyways. I let Bray get out and run around next to the old movie theater. He loved it. He walked up the steps to the theater and started trying to open the doors, and one of them was actually OPENED! So we walked around the deserted lobby, played in the concession area, roamed the empty theaters......... totally kidding!!!! I was like ugh...let's get out of here Braylen. I don't know why but it totally freaked me out that the doors were unlocked. I mean who could possibly be in there! :) It was only 11am but who cares? I've seen plenty of scary movies and Law & Order episodes to know not to go in there.

But back to walking real fast. I was thinking about how awesome it will be to walk in Heaven. You can talk your little heart out and not have to worry about walking faster to burn calories. Wonderful.

This weekend is Father's Day! I am sooooo incredible blessed to have the greatest dad ever. Seriously. I also have an awesome father in law who is going to host a Father's Day dinner and grill out some amazing food. You should be jealous because everything he makes is delicious.

Guy! Braylen and I love you so much! Thank you for loving and serving us. Braylen says Happy Father's Day daddy!

Have a great weekend!

A Wedding, A Shower, A Leader Weekend

2011-06-08T15:36:00.000-04:00

The month of May was full of a lot of great weekends and parties. My BFF Hillary got married and I was so thrilled to be apart of her special day! She looked stunning and her wedding reception was awesome-full of thrifty, cute, "thought of ALL the details" finds. I wish I had more pictures but here are a few.

The day after the wedding, my mom and I (although my mom did most of the work! love you mom!) threw a baby shower for my little sister! She is due on July 10th and I am ready to be an aunt! We keep telling Braylen about his baby boy cousin and he is getting excited. My mom and I enlisted friends and family members to help with food but my mom made mini red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and they were delicious. We also made cute pom pom hanging flowers, diaper favors, a blessing tree, and blue "bath time" punch. I of course didn't take ANY pictures! The only photo I have is of the bath time punch which turned out awesome! You can visit Cory's blog for more pics from the shower and here for instructions on the punch. Isn't it cute?

By the way, I ended up leaving the shower early because Guy took Braylen to the hospital! He ended up being fine but he had a 104.5 fever and seemed really sick. They gave him a dose of Tylenol and he bounced back. When I showed up to the hospital, he started crying and said "I just want to feel better!" ugh. Thank you Lord that we can take our children to the hospital and doctor whenever they are really sick!

The next weekend we went on our annual YL Leader Retreat over Memorial Weekend. This year it was at Timberwolf YL Camp in Lake City, MI instead of Rockbridge in Virginia. This is my 10th year going on this retreat! This year was super special because my family was able to stay in the same room! When I was single, I stayed with girls in the dorm and then once I had Braylen, all the moms, babies, and kids were usually thrown in the same room/cabin. Which is not the most ideal situation. Timberwolf has this awesome Assigned Team Cabin with 10 suites (2 bedroom, bathroom) a huge lobby with a fireplace, comfy couches, etc and each family had their own suite. It was so nice! Braylen had his own room and slept in his own bed! Such a big boy! Slept like a champ too. Timberwolf is on a beautiful lake and there are tons of rocking chairs, hiking trails, etc and the ATC has a playroom! I felt like someone should just pinch me. Needless to say, we had a great time. There was lots of fellowship, one on one talks with friends, and both speakers spurred us on to be more intimate with our Heavenly Father. Here are a few pics from the weekend. Oh! And Braylen went fishing for the first time and caught two fish! :)

A few other highlights from the month of May were attending my sister in law's wedding shower in Louisville. Amy is getting married in July and I cannot wait to celebrate the day with her. She will be the sweetest bride! Braylen also started playing in a soccer league. And he hated it. Which means mommy and daddy hated it. He basically only "played" in 1 game and he almost scored a goal BTW. :) We haven't gone back because, well, let me tell you mom's and dad's: it is not worth forcing your child to play in a sport when he's only 3! I just thought it would be fun. Apparently it's not. I can see marching bands and trumpets in our future..........sigh.

Sorry for the lack of posts! I hope to update soon with details from our long but fun trip down to Charlotte!

Intentional

2011-05-04T10:02:00.000-04:00

I realize that it's been a few weeks since my last post! I think I enjoy reading other people's blogs rather than updating my own! But I know that I will love looking back as our family grows.

We are still looking for another car! Using one car is definitely not easy but it's okay. Sometimes Braylen and I can take Guy to work in the morning and we'll have the car for the day. We can also walk to Krogers on Mall Road by walking through neighborhoods. I love doing that and using Bray's stroller as a cart! The problem is, it hasn't stopped raining!! I am hoping that the warm weather sticks around. Braylen also had a nasty sinus infection that lasted for 2 weeks! He was taking multiple naps everyday and going to bed early. So out of character for him. But he is back to himself and back to skipping naps. :) I didn't even try a nap today. I think he still needs one because he can be super cranky at night but what do you do?!

Guy's spring semester at school is wrapping up and he is doing really well. He's pretty excited to have 2 years of school completed! So am I. I am so proud of him. He works so so so hard for our family. He never complains and seems to manage all of his many important roles in a way that "leaves room" for loving and serving others. We continue to pray for people to join our support team with Master Provisions (where Guy works) as we are working on fundraising for his salary. If you are interested in joining our team, let me know! :)

We had a wonderful Easter celebration in NKY this year! We missed my family though-my parents and sis/brother in law were in Charlotte and other family members were up in Madison, IN visiting my uncles church. We had a great lunch at my in law's and an wonderful dinner at a friends house. We did a small easter egg hunt with Braylen that morning. We told him that mommy and daddy hid the eggs, not the bunny....... still not sure how I feel about lying to my kid about it. He loved it. We put money in some of the eggs and he said "hey that's not candy! This is not fair!" so funny!

God is so good! We feel so blessed by him and so in awe of how incredibly personal he is! I know I said this in the last post but I feel like he has been so intentional with our family. God is always intentional-from the very beginning of time. He knew exactly what he was doing. I don't think I'm ever aware of it or allow myself to slow down to see where he is working. I am such a creature of comfort and of habit. I don't allow God to work because I'm constantly putting up walls. It's not until I have built a house around me that I cry out for help. Needless to say, we are learning and growing. I hope to remember this time in our lives in the years to come.

Also I hope everyone is enjoying the first week of May! I can't believe it's May! We have some super fun things coming up-bachorlette party, rehearsal dinner, WEDDING!!, my sister's BABY SHOWER!!, and YL Leader Weekend! So many fun things. My mom and I have been coming up with a few fun things for the shower! Can't wait to bless my sis and her family with little baby gifts. I have even been using my sewing machine. Braylen is still not sure what it means to have a cousin but he'll figure it out.

The other day I had a "helper" in the kitchen:

I never thought I'd be making lunch next to a snake! Boys are so fun.

We had a giant tree branch fall during one of our many storms! Thank goodness it did not hit our house! Picking up the sticks was not fun. But a nice workout. :)

Hope you all have a great week!

Best Friends and Winning

2011-04-07T09:23:00.002-04:00

Show me is Braylen's new statement. Example:

Me- "Braylen come here for a second."
B- "Show me."

B-"Where are you mommy?"
Me- "In here buddy."
B- "Show me."

Yesterday evening while Guy was at class, I was "showing" him how to plant flowers. He liked pulling them out more than planting them. And of course playing in the dirt.

After his lesson in "gardening", we walked over to the park behind our house. Braylen slipped his arm around my leg while we were walking, and said "we're best friends mommy." I said best friends forever and just gave him a little squeeze. Then he said, "watch out for the dirt!" and the moment was over. :) I just love that kid so much. And I hope we will always be BFF. Even when is 15. That happens, right?

In another note, Charlie Sheen isn't the only one winning around here. :) The Lord has been incredibly gracious and soooooo very intentional with our family. I know that he is ALWAYS present and ALWAYS constant in my life, but I've never experienced him being so.............obvious. I guess that's the right word to use. I don't really know how to explain it. I just know that I found myself in awe of his love.

About 3 weeks ago, our family vehicle (Mazda MPV) completely died. We took it to the mechanic and they said that a foreign object had found its way into our engine and completely destroyed it. It would cost us a mere $5700 to replace. Are you kidding? I just cried as our mechanic told us-which by the way, they called us and asked if we would come up to talk about the damage. I felt like we were saying our last goodbyes or something. very strange! Anyways. We just didn't know what to do! We were stuck. That same night, we drive to Furniture Fair to return fabric samples for the couch that we were hoping to purchase with some of our tax return money. We knew that it wasn't the right time to buy furniture anymore now that the car was ruined.

The next few days we really felt like somehow the Lord was going to provide and we just clung to his promise that he is faithful and good, no matter what happens. We were thankful that our bad news was just about our car and not something worse. It's only a car! And we still have our silver bullet-'99 Honda Civic! Going on 180,000. Love that little car. But we had put a lot of money into the van because it had so many problems. That was hard to swallow!

That Wednesday, I called our insurance company and explained the situation. It was a long shot but we didn't know what else to do. By that afternoon they had someone investigate the damage. The next day they called and said they were going to cover the cost of the damage! Actually they were counting it as a total loss vehicle and were going to give us the money for car! WHAT!! Thank you Lord! Seriously. So crazy! It gets better.

That same afternoon, I read an email that said in the subject line "2nd Attempt at reaching you-grand prize winner." I was thinking it was just a scam but I clicked on it, hoping it wasn't. :) The email said you were picked as our grand prize winner at Furniture Fair. Call so and so to claim your $2000 shopping spree. WHAT!! So I called.

"Furniture Fair, this is Jenny. How may I help you?'
"Well I just got this email saying I won the shopping spree???"
"Oh my gosh! Congratulations! That's so exciting. Hold on and let me get Rick."

Ha! I was literally pacing the floor and cracking up. Could this really be happening? Who wins a $2000 shopping spree? Well it's for real and our new furniture will be delivered in 3 weeks. :) Remember when I turned in our fabric samples? While I waiting for our salesman, I entered into their contest not even thinking that God had something very special in mind. The drawing was from all 8 stores too. So very crazy.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to share this story or not. God is good and faithful without these extra blessings. He still would have provided for us in a great way. It's just this experience has been so shocking and awesome that it has greatly affected how I view how intentional he is with all of us. I hope that I always notice how he is moving and working in my life and in the lives of my family and friends.

We are so thankful for our friends and family who provide such a great support system. We are constantly surrounded by people who love and serve us. This weekend my aunt and uncle are letting us borrow their car while they are out of town. We are still down to one vehicle while we are waiting for our check from the insurance company. It's just awesome how willing people are to help! I hope that these special gifts that God has given us will be used for his glory.

So long MPV!

We will miss you but not that much.

I wonder what we will be driving next......

Braylen wants us to drive a yellow truck.

Spring Break.......

2011-03-19T17:10:00.000-04:00

Guy had a spring break last week. Kind of. He still had to work everyday, including Friday night and Saturday night. And had two papers due. And a test. Seriously. What is wrong with teachers who assign homework during the break? So my super-awesome-doesn't-complain husband did not really have much of a break. I tried to make it a fun week: we went to IKEA! :) And that's about it.

Braylen and I did make a trip down to Bowling Green last week to watch my dad ref in the girls state tournament! It was a lot of fun. We stayed in a nice hotel with a pool and watched a few of the bball games. My dad did great! They pick the best ref from each region so he was one of 16 refs in the entire state of KY picked for the tourney. He is a really good ref too. Very humble, smart, and encouraging to the girls. I like that about my dad. My mom was there too-which she never goes to many of his games around here because she gets so mad at people/fans yelling at him. People are seriously crazy. Anyways. It was a fun time. We stayed from Thursday until Saturday morning.

This week Braylen came down with a pretty bad cold. Wednesday was a bad day but he is feeling better now that we have given him daily breathing treatments for his asthma. I feel so uneducated about how to treat asthma! I need like an asthma for dummies book. I really pray that he grows out of it as he gets older. It doesn't seem to bother him at all. He is such a little trooper.

Some funny Braylen moments:
-He found a wedding picture of me and Guy and said there's daddy and princess mommy! How cute is that?
-He has a little silver baby cup that he fills with water and calls it his coffee. "Don't drink this mom. It's hot."
-He sings "pee pee on the potty" and dances each time he goes to the bathroom.
-After we had dinner one night, he came to me and said "thank you for making the food, mommy." So sweet. Guy didn't even tell him to say that! :)
-This morning he was looking for me and said: "What are you doing mom? Are you making food?" I said no. He said "are you going potty?" yup. He knows me all too well.

We are looking forward to some spring activities. Going to the zoo, walking to the park behind our house, celebrating Easter, and one of my BFF's wedding! Speaking of.....we are throwing her a bridal shower and it has been really fun looking at party ideas. I think that if I moved out all of our living room and dining room furniture AND knocked down a wall, I think I could do this:

Hostess with the mostess

I'm going to go ask Guy. You never know.................

Discipline & Training

2011-02-28T20:34:00.001-05:00

One day last week, I woke up and thought "I do NOT want to discipline and train ANYONE today!!!!" Life with a wild and crazy 3 year old has been wearing me down. I have been getting really frustrated with Braylen and seem to have a very short fuse. He is learning to be more independent and more "I do want I want!" Not cool........ I have been reading this book called "Don't Make Me Count to Three" which is all about getting to the heart of discipline. It shows you how to discipline without threatening your child (hence the title of the book). My friend Jessica recommended it to me and I never finished it. It's really awesome.

Potty training is super hard too. For some reason he wants nothing to do with it. I know that it doesn't help when I am showing my frustration but I can't help it! He knows how to do it but he just doesn't care. We did have a few break throughs today-he went on the potty twice! Yay! He walked around in his Diego underwear and didn't have a single accident. He kept walking by the mirror in our room and checking himself out. So funny. He was so happy with himself.

What I love about Braylen is that he really has no clue right now when I am upset with him. If I have a short fuse or just talk to him in an unloving way (like this morning he woke up at 6:45am and I was so tired that I kept telling him to leave me alone-so mean of me), he continues to treat me with kindness. He loves me unconditionally-no matter what. It's amazing. I love thinking that that is how the Lord feels about us. Unconditional love. No matter what. Thank goodness that we have a Heavenly Father that feels that way about us.

Being a mom is so hard sometimes. I love it though. This great responsibility continues to teach me about patience, kindness, endurance, selfishness........to name a FEW! It's all worth it.

It is getting close to Braylen's bedtime. Better get off here and get him to bed. Here is a picture of Bray during one of his naps. He was having a hard time winding down but finally fell asleep at some point. I decided to check on him and this is what I found.

That's one way to fall asleep! Good night!

He was still breathing by the way! And yes I took the tote off of him after the pictures.

Lately.......

2011-02-18T13:52:00.000-05:00

I feel like I am constantly saying things like "we've been so busy" or "what a few weeks it has been" but literally...............what a few weeks it has been!

3 weeks ago Braylen started to lose his appetite and was having really terrible diarrhea (not to be gross just wanting to keep track of our crazy weeks). This was on a Monday which was also the same day that I was working hard on potty training! Thank the GOOD Lord that when he had a TERRIBLE accident he was in a training diaper and I happened to change him on the hardwood floor and not the carpet. Nasty. The poor kid had a week of no appetite and diarrhea. Well, then I started feeling sick! I also felt very, very stressed out. I couldn't eat or sleep. I just kept feeling very sorry for myself and hurt (for things that I don't really want to talk about now but maybe later).

I finally started to feel better but Braylen started to have an asthma "flair up." I took him to the doctors and they gave him a prescription for cough medicine and told me to start giving him his inhaler again. Not fun! This was last Wednesday, and the next day we were flying down with my mom to see my sister and brother in law. Braylen seemed to cough less and less as the week ended.

Que Friday- we were in Charlotte having a great time and got super cheap tickets to an NBA game ($3 bucks a piece!). We came home later and I put Braylen to bed. I decided to take some sleeping pills to help me sleep because I just felt unrested. Well it totally back fired. I can't really explain what happened but my mom and brother in law ended up taking my to the hospital. It was really really scary and we just didn't know what was going on. I ended up having a reverse reaction to the medicine because of stress and lack of sleep. :( Thankfully I was fine after resting and letting the medicine out of my system. Oh I forgot to mention that our basement started to flood while this was going on. My poor husband had to deal with that on top of me losing my mind. I am so thankful that we live close to our family because Guy's precious mom and dad really came to the rescue!!

The next day we were all so tired but also knew that a certain 3 year old wakes up at 7am on the dot. Braylen was acting very strange Saturday morning and later threw up 4 times that day! Ugh. Poor thing. He continued to get sick a few times each day for over 4 days! Once we got back to NKY I was able to get him to see the doctors and the only thing he came up with was that Braylen had a reaction to the cough medicine he was taking. Braylen did not have a fever and was fine before and after he got sick. We stopped giving him the medicine and he is back to himself. However, now Guy is sick! Stay away from our family. :(

As I type all of this out, I really can't believe all that has happened these last few weeks. I am thankful that nothing worse happened and that God is constant and compassionate to our family. I have learned so much about my thought life and that I need to constantly fight to believe what is true. I get myself so worked up about things or worried that it affects everything about me. I've been feeling very misunderstood and I so badly what to voice what is true in my life but God is the one true Judge, and I am learning that I am justified by him. I can only imagine how his Son felt misunderstood his entire life. That brings me comfort! I am hopeful that instead of feeling sorry for myself or mistreated or stressed, I will just grow stronger. Stronger in my walk with the Lord and stronger in relationships.

Big sigh of relief.

Maybe next week will bring a "lighter" post. One about.............laughter and..........flowers.....or something like that.

By the way, even though our trip to Charlotte was beyond CRAZY!!!, we still had a great time. My super cute sis is having a boy! Yay! I envision Braylen and baby Meiman as best buddies forever. I'm so excited to be an aunt!

Here are the only 2 pictures that I took-which were on my phone!

Paparazzi. :)

Just chillin' at the airport. Waiting for our ride.

Thank you for reading! I can't wait to see what God has in store for us next!

One Full Month

2011-01-30T16:51:00.000-05:00

January is always a really fun month for us (as we celebrate 3 birthdays) but it is also super busy! This month Guy went out of town the first weekend of January, the second weekend we celebrated Braylen's 3rd birthday, and the third weekend we attended the Annual YL Winter Retreat at Great Wolf Lodge. Throw in a few fun bday dinners, a UK basketball game, playing in the snow, and a bridal show-you've got yourself one full month! And now here it is the end of January! This past weekend, after Guy came home from work on Saturday, we had a fun evening of just hanging out together! It seems like with Guy's work schedule, full-time school schedule and YL, family time is hard to come by so it was so nice to just be together. Guy is our hero! He works so hard for our family and Master Provisions, all the while serving and loving those around him.

Braylen's birthday this year was a little different. We had a small gathering of family and we also celebrated my birthday and Guy's the same night! It just seemed like a lot to throw a huge bday party this year-especially right after Christmas! We have come up with a few creative parties that we can throw him in the future but this year it was nice to have something small. We did a Mickey Mouse theme and my mom made a MMouse cake. It was so fun to see Braylen's reaction to it all. Here are a few pics from the night.

This is the Mickey blanket I made him.

Super homemade but it works.

We had some friends stop by afterwards!

A few fun things about Braylen right now:

-He tells random strangers that they are cute.

-If there is a puddle of water, he has to stomp in it.

-He has memorized a few stories and can "read" them to you.

-He talks himself out of being sad or of crying: "I'm not going to do it (cry)"

-He is using his imagination while playing with toys! So fun.

A few not so fun things about Braylen:

-He wants to watch TV all the time! We limit it everyday.

-He does NOT want to potty train.

-He sometimes says "yucky" after we kiss him.

Happy January Birthday's Everyone!!

Happy Birthday Braylen!

2011-01-15T14:25:00.000-05:00

Braylen! At exactly 7:43pm, you turn 3 years old!! I cannot believe how quickly you have grown. You are sweet, loving, cuddly, funny, energetic and musically gifted! You have waited for this day all week and we so look forward to celebrate with you tonight with a few family members!

Exactly 3 years ago, Guy rushed me to the hospital after my water broke around 7am. 12 hours later, along with lots of popsicles, itunes mixes, visitors, jokes, naps-oh and my epidural running out- you came!!!!!!!!!! All 9 pounds and 21.5 inches of you! The cutest, biggest baby boy. You were a joy then and even more so today. Being a mother to a boy continues to be sweeter and sweeter.

So you just keep on taking that nap right now Bray...........

because when you wake up, it's party time!

Just a few days old. How quickly time has flown by.

A New Recipe for Each Week

2011-01-11T12:00:00.003-05:00

I didn't really plan to do this but for the past two weeks, I have made a new recipe at least one time for dinner. I have been really inspired to continue to do this every week (we'll see how long I can do it for at least!!). My mom gave me the Pioneer Woman Cookbook for Christmas and I love it! She is a very good cook. I can't wait to try lots of recipes (including Spicy Pulled Pork with tortillas, Cinnamon Rolls, and pico de gallo-which I am making this weekend for Bray's small family party). I also have a ton of recipes from when I had a subscription to Cook's Country. They have awesome recipes! They tend to be somewhat intimidating but I have found that if you organize your ingredients ahead of time, they are very easy to follow. Just last week I made Steak with Crispy Spiced Potatoes for Guy's birthday dinner. It was from Cook's Country. It was delicious and super, super easy. Here is the recipe:

Steak with Crispy Spiced Potatoes
1 pound red potatoes, quartered
2 tbsps veg. oil
2 strip steaks, about 1 1/2 inches thick, trimmed of fat and halved crosswise
Salt and pepper
2 tbsps unsalted butter
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (omit if using hot paprika)

1) Toss potatoes and 1 tbsp oil in large bowl. Wrap tightly with plastic and microwave until edges of potatoes are translucent, 4 to 7 minutes, shaking bowl (without removing plastic) to redistribute potatoes halfway through cooking.

2) Pat steaks dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat remaining oil in large nonstick skillet over medium high heat until just smoking. Cook steaks until well browned, 4 to 6 minutes per side. Transfer to plate and tent with foil.

3) Drain potatoes and cook in empty skillet until browned and crisp, about 5 minutes. Add butter, oregano, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Serve to your hungry husband!!

Or if you'd rather, just pull up a chair, relax and snack on some cheerios!

Braylen's Birthday Week!

2011-01-09T17:33:00.000-05:00

Hello family and friends! My little boy is turning 3 this Friday! As Little Einstein's would say "I CANNOT BELIEVE IT!" These 3 years have gone by so quickly! Braylen has grown a ton this year! He has turned into a little toddler. He continues to surprise us everyday with his vocabulary and speech (a few weeks ago he told me that our Christmas tree was beautiful-now he says that word all the time). He LOVES music and LOVES to come up with songs. His favorite instruments are drums and trumpets. He will use whatever is on hand to make music-spoons, cooking utensils, toy golf clubs.....you name it. His new interests are playing tackle and pretending to be a cowboy (he says, "come on partner!").

Braylen is as sweet as can be. He is still very cuddly and loving; giving us hugs and kisses. Sometimes he'll just put his arm around me and say, "mommy, I love you." He seems to be very kind towards other kids and wants to play with everyone. He has his moments but for the most part he is very considerate of those around him.

We look forward to him learning more about God's word and applying it to his life. It's never too early to start right? The way that he memorizes songs shows me that he is ready to memorize some bible verses.

This year will bring so many new challenges and experiences (he wants nothing to do with potty training! ugh!!) and we look forward to this age group. He is able to sign up for soccer, t-ball, preschool, music lessons.......... so many new things!

Here is one of my favorite videos of Braylen around 8 months old! Braylen and I had a fun time going through videos of him as a baby. We laughed and laughed. I told him that he was the baby in the video but he doesn't believe me. :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRAYLEN! WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

P.S. Braylen does not want anything for his birthday except for a yellow Mickey Mouse cake. It's the small things. Good thing my mom is an excellent cake baker.

A Southern Christmas

2011-01-06T13:45:00.000-05:00

Wow. It has been a long time since I have posted anything. I do not like going weeks without updating our blog! Did you know that you can upload your blog and "X" company will create a book out of your blog posts? I really want to do that one day. How fun it will be to look back through the years!

Since we last left off.......over a month ago......Guy and I had celebrated our 4 year anniversary! We enjoyed dinner at Brio's and it was delicious. Guy's steak came out over cooked so when our bill came they said we weren't being charged for it! We talked about favorite moments in our relationship and things that we love about our family. God has certainly challenged and blessed us these last few years. I never, ever could have planned what has happened but I am thankful for where we are today.

We enjoyed spending time with our family during Thanksgiving! Jess and Vince came in town too. We ate with Guy's family for lunch and then headed over to my grandparents house (my dad's side) for dinner. Then we all went to the movies! Including Braylen! This is a tradition that we've had for years! I love it. We saw Megamind and it was really funny. This year we had Thanksgiving on my mom's side on Friday instead of Thurs. I'm so glad we did that this year! We're normally running around to three different places on Thanksgiving but we were able to slow down, visit, and enjoy our time this year.

We had a great time and Eric and Kristan's wedding on Dec. 10th-Jess and Vince came in town for the weekend so we had more time with them! Did I mention my sister is pregnant??????? I don't think so. She is about 13 weeks right now and we are so excited for them! We also celebrated my dad's birthday on that Saturday which was so nice having us all together. We went to watch my dad's bball game (he is a ref for varsity high school games) and it was at the Bank of KY Center. They were having a charity game and were giving away prizes through a raffle. Well my number was picked! We won a $150 grocery gift card to Remke's! How cool is that? I was excited. It's actually a really neat story. Ask me about it. :)

We also managed to play in the snow one day! It was freezing.

Braylen has been painting more. He is wearing his "painting" hat.

Here were are at the library for Christmas crafts.

With our leader team at the YL Christmas Party!

The next week (Dec. 16th) we left for our family trip to New Orleans! We drove all day and finally arrived at 2am our time. The next few days were PACKED seeing family, friends, eating, shopping, eating, walking, eating.....did I mention that we ATE down there? I use to have very boring taste buds until I started dating Guy that is! Now I am more open to trying new things (not oysters! or much seafood for that matter) but I now like foods with more flavor and spice! I had my fair share of red beans and rice, gumbo, and beignets. We had a wonderful trip and were so thankful to be down there with Guy's family!

A few highlights: the family reunion with the Domec's, lunch with the Noffsinger's in the quarter, seeing my super-cute/gonna-have-a-baby-soon friend Kelly (her hubby works for the Saints which raised my cool factor with Guy's fam), finally meeting baby Ava!, taking Bray on a street car, and walking around the quarter.

Guy and Bray on a street car! Bray loved it.

Guy with his grandma, Mommy I, at Peggy Joy's house

Guy and Braylen watching Polar Express at Mommy I's house (where we stayed).

Just make yourself comfy!

Braylen showing off his musical talents.

"Braylen, do you want to play soccer?"

"No!"

"Basketball? Baseball? Football?"

"No! No! No! I want to be in the band and march."

I'm doomed.......... :)

At lunch in the French Quarter!

We came home at midnight on the 23rd and were quickly thrown into the busyness of Christmas the next day! Which sadly made things go by quickly but we were thankful to be home. We missed our YL friends and family in KY. It was nice to have snow on the ground and having a white Christmas. We worked hard this year teaching Braylen that Jesus is why we have Christmas and not Santa. We read the story of his birth on Christmas Eve and talked about it before Bray went to sleep. He wore these PJ's to bed..........

Poor kid. I got a 4T and they were still too tight. We laughed so hard! He will be so mad at me one day. Worth it.

On Christmas morning

Christmas night

We had a wonderful Christmas! God is so good to our family and we continue to seek his guidance for our family. We are looking forward to what He has in store for us this year. We pray that he will motivate us to love those around us and seek Him out in all that we do.

Merry Christmas!

I mean, happy new year!

I mean, happy birthday Guy!

We have a lot going on this month. :)

Cheers!

November 11, 2006

2010-11-08T08:56:00.000-05:00

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

2010-10-28T15:53:00.001-04:00

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!

2010-10-26T16:28:00.001-04:00

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

2010-10-17T18:57:00.017-04:00

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

2010-09-22T14:29:00.005-04:00

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

2010-08-27T15:55:00.006-04:00

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"

2010-08-09T21:27:00.002-04:00

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

2010-08-04T11:31:00.007-04:00

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

2010-08-02T21:43:00.009-04:00

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

2010-07-27T13:39:00.004-04:00

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

2010-07-24T09:29:00.008-04:00

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...

2010-07-08T13:45:00.005-04:00

I'm not sure which is more exhausting.

THIS:

Hanging out with 15 energetic high schoolers

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.....

2010-06-21T15:57:00.004-04:00

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

2010-06-21T13:53:00.006-04:00

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

2010-06-17T23:34:00.004-04:00

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

2010-05-12T09:22:00.004-04:00

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

2010-05-01T14:34:00.003-04:00

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......

2010-04-30T15:43:00.004-04:00

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!

2010-04-27T23:20:00.011-04:00

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!

Trip to NOLA

2010-04-08T10:30:00.004-04:00

Hello friends and family! We have been super super busy and this is the first time I've had to sit down and write an update. I'm going to break a few entries up so that it's not a super long one. But before I share about our trip to New Orleans, I wanted to update you on Guy!

Over the past few months, Guy and I have been praying about God providing him with a new job position. God is always faithful and we have been really blessed by AWE (where Guy has been these past 6 or 7 years) but A LOT of things have changed and with the economy being so crazy, Guy knew that it was time to start looking for another job. Well, a great organization called Master Provisions has offered him a wonderful position as Operations Manager. You can visit MP's website to find out more info. Guy is so exciting to join their team. MP provides clothing, accessories, jobs, etc to economically devastated countries while presenting the gospel and sharing God's love with the lost! How cool is that! Guy will be working in their warehouse packing, organizing, shipping clothes and monitoring groups who come in to volunteer. He will also travel to different churches in the US to pick up clothes and share with the church what MP is all about. He will even go on mission trips over seas! He is so exciting to be joining MP's team. I'm so excited for him. If everything works out, he will be able to start in June! We will keep you posted.

Braylen and I spent 8 days down in New Orleans! We flew out with Peggy on Tuesday, Mar. 23 and stayed with Guy's grandma, Mommy I. She has a really nice house and it's close to the airport and the french quarter! Guy's cousin Brooke is having a baby next month, so we went down for her shower. Brooke is having a baby girl and her name is Ava Bethany. How cute is that! The shower was awesome and Ava got so many cute things. We can't wait to meet her. Braylen and I stayed until the following Tuesday-we flew home together-just the two of us. It was really fun! Braylen is so super flexible and he fell asleep on the plane (which was during his nap time) and didn't even wake up when we landed. He really is so sweet. By Tuesday, I was mega homesick and was so happy to see my even sweeter husband. I felt like I was never going to get home! Guy came to pick us up at the airport and we all had a nice little reunion!

B and I had a great trip. I LOVE going down to New Orleans. I really like the city, the people, the music, the food (minus the seafood-I could just eat red beans and rice everyday).....it's just so much fun. We hope to take another trip down to visit Brooke, Wayne and Ava. Next time we'll bring Guy.

Bray with Mommy I

Playing office

Favorite March Madness Memory

2010-03-19T22:09:00.002-04:00

A few years ago when Guy and I had been dating for about 6 months, Guy gave me the best surprise ever (well 3rd best surprise ever!)! I can't remember if it was the first or second round of the NCAA tournament but UK and UC were playing each other and the game was in Indianapolis! I am a pretty big UK/basketball fan (not as big as my mom) and since I played all throughout school, I really enjoy the sport. Anyways. The day of the game, Guy had made plans with 2 other couples (Joe and Ashley Hibbett and Kat and Tom Hansen) and we were getting together to hang out all day long and then watch the game that night. They had decided to meet up at the Florence mall to have lunch and so that Guy could pick out a UK shirt. I was frustrated by these plans because I had so much homework to do and was hoping to finish before the game. But I agreed and showed up to the mall wearing my UK shirt with my homework. Everyone else had their UC shirts on. So after lunch, they all decided that it would be fun to go see a movie down at Newport on the Levee. Guy said that he would drive us all because he had borrowed his parents van (his car was apparently "at the shop"). I was stuck! I had to go with everyone and so my plans were put on hold. We all piled into the van and started driving down to the expressway. This when I started to get really frustrated!! Here is how the conversation went between Guy and I:

Me: (I was in the passenger seat) Guy, if we're going to Newport don't you think we should take that exit? You're getting ready to pass it.

G: No, we can cross over the bridge and then get on 471 South.

M: Okay. Wait.........you're passing the way to 471! You're going the wrong way! (ughhhhh, sighhhhhhh, throwing head back in the seat!!!)

G: Oh, I know of another way to go.

M: No, there is not another way. Can you turn around? (we were in Cincinnati)

G: Yea, just let me find the right exit.

M: Okay take this one...........Why did you just pass it???????????? This is so frustrating. (everyone else is in the car with us while this was taking place and at this point we were driving towards Indiana!)

G: Andrea-where does this interstate take us?

M: UGHHHH!!!!! I don't know! Indiana?????

G: Right. And what's in Indiana!

M: I DON'T KNOW!

G: Think about it........

M: The UK game?

G: Right. We're going to the UK game.

M: What???????

Ha ha. It was so funny! And I was so surprised! We had such a great time! And the CATS totally beat UC! And a lot of our friends were there too! Like my sister!

How sweet was my future husband! He's the best. And he knows the way to my heart. :) We were engaged about a year later. I love you Guy!

P.S. Of our relationship-1st best surprise: finding out we were pregnant, 2nd best surprise: engagement, 3rd best surprise: UK game!

GO CATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stalker

2010-03-18T09:16:00.005-04:00

So the past few days I have had a stalker. He appears when least expected. I try to avoid him by sneaking into other rooms but he manages to find me.

That's right. It's ELMO! Do you see how he floats around scaring and spying on us all? We got this balloon for Braylen's birthday party in JANUARY! He's continued to "stay alive" since then but we just "cut him loose" from Braylen's chair and he's been terrorizing us since. Braylen loves him. He says "WOW!" as Elmo just floats around the house. He loves Elmo.

Last night when we were going to sleep, Guy said how crazy would it be if Elmo opened our door and came into our room when we were sleeping? We got a good laugh about that one............And then I went into the living room to make sure he couldn't follow us. Seriously. How creepy would it be to find ELMO staring at you in your sleep? super creepy. Have you heard his laugh? Or seen his smirk up close? Here is a better picture.

You've been warned.

Change...

2010-03-10T15:52:00.004-05:00

In the past 5 days, we have gone from this

sleeping in the crib

to this

sleeping in a toddler bed!

(Braylen jumped in his new bed and said "night, night")

That's right. My sweet little baby boy is no longer a baby! Braylen is officially sleeping in a toddler bed (and really needs to be in a twin size because he's so tall) and I no longer refer to him as a baby but as a boy!!!!!!! That just seems weird to me. Anyways. This past Friday, I put him down for his 4 hour afternoon nap!!, and I sat down to finally eat my lunch (and catch up on What Not To Wear-thanks to on demand) and my heart stopped when I heard someone walking down the steps. I didn't hear A THING on the monitor! I walked over and there he was! Just grinning away, like he had just walked on the moon or something. He was so proud of himself for climbing out of his crib. The next 48 hours were the hardest. He would not stay in his crib for anything-despite multiple time outs and smacks on the hand. It was like he had tasted freedom and was never going back.

Someone had given us a toddler bed so Guy cleaned it up and got it ready for Braylen to sleep in it on Sunday night. And just like that, the crib was gone and with it, all my hopes and dreams of having 4 hour naps for the rest of my life (or until preschool). Braylen does not like to stay in his bed and we are in the process of training him to sleep in it. He has been waking up in the middle of the night and at like 6:00 in the morning. No thank you! He might be teething so hopefully that has something to do with it but we are all really exhausted. He is so used to taking wonderfully long naps, and now he is down to about 2 hours-which is great, but he really has been super tired at the end of the night.

AND super energetic! He really has gone through a huge transformation! When I picked him up from child watch at the Y, two workers came out and said "who is this kid? It's like he's a new person!" And then they explained everything that he did during his 45 minute stay:

-turned on and off the tv

-threw all of the dvd's on the floor

-climbed on top of the table

-climbed on top of the book shelf

-trashed the bathroom

-and knocked two little girls on the ground

WHAT????? They were fine with it and said that he is just going through a phase and is still a sweet boy, but my goodness. I think we are entering the terrible two stage...................sigh. I thought I had this parenting thing figured out. guess not.

But take heart! Braylen still loves to cuddle up and sit on my lap. He is so sweet. We will all survive.

A Night With Friends

2010-02-25T15:31:00.005-05:00

Last night we had the opportunity to meet up with some great friends-Kevin and Katie Williams and Shannon and Kurt Baker! It's really amazing how the Lord has used friendships to keep us connected to one another. Here is the connection:

-Kevin and Katie were Guy and Shannon's YL leaders at Boone back in the day

-Guy and Shannon were like BFF in high school!

-Shannon and I played bball and soccer against each other in high school

-I met Kevin and Katie when they were just dating when I first started doing YL in college

whew........Kurt and Shannon met a few years ago-his a fireman and super cool. Anyways. We had the best evening! We met at Abeulo's at 5:30pm and seriously didn't leave until 8:30! A 3 hour dinner! Good thing we have the most flexible child in the world (knock on wood-he did manage to pour a 1/2 empty glass of water onto his shirt and my jeans. chilly.). Guess we need to reconnect with them more often! Kevin is the area director for Urban YL in Cincinnati and Shannon and Kurt do YL at Holmes high school. They have such amazing (and funny) stories of how the Lord is moving in their school communities. Katie and Kevin are going to Ethiopia in 2 weeks to adopt twin baby boys! The boys are so sweet and adorable and have NO idea how loved they are going to be. We are so thrilled for them! Wow. The Williams and the Bakers continue to live by faith alone and it is a blessing to be their friends.

I have finally remembered to post my recipe for homemade granola. I never thought I would like something like this but I LOVE it and try to make it once a month! It's a good, healthy alternative to cereal. It is from my friend Kerri who made it for a leader retreat this past summer.

Homemade Granola

Ingredients:

2 cups regular rolled oats

1 cup chopped or sliced almonds

1/2 cup pecan pieces

1/4 cup toasted wheat germ (or honey roasted)

1/2 cup honey or maple flavored syrup

2 tablespoons veg oil

Dried fruit

Preheat oven to 300 degrees

1) In a large bowl, combine oats, nuts, seeds and wheat germ. Stir together honey

and cooking oil; stir into oat mixture. Spread evenly onto a greased cookie sheet.

Bake for 30 minutes or until lightly browned; stirring after 20 minutes.

2) Spread evenly on large piece of foil to cool. Break into clumps. Stir in 1 cup of desired

dried fruit (I use cranberries-but you can use raisins, apricots, cherries,

fruit bits, banana slices). Store in airtight container for up to 1 week or store in

freezer bags and freeze for up to 2 months.

*I like to eat mine as cereal but the boys eat it with strawberry yogurt!

Black Eye

2010-02-21T21:29:00.003-05:00

So while I was doing the laundry the other day, I came back upstairs to find Braylen messing with my mascara. Notice his right eye. Lovely.

The Drive Thru Diet

2010-02-21T21:00:00.005-05:00

Hello! We have been like the energizer bunny.....going....and going.....and going! We are finally home from our road trips! We drove down to New Orleans to visit Guy's family last week and then drove with my parents to visit Jess and Vince in Charlotte! Here are a few "highlights":

New Orleans:

1) Guy took off Friday and Monday so we were able to spend 3 whole days in New Orleans!

2) We left Thursday at 5pm and had reserved a hotel in Tuscaloosa, AL-about 8 hours away. We never made it to the hotel! We stopped around Louisville to eat dinner at Taco Bell around 6:30pm. At 7pm, I came down with a stomach virus-I'm just assuming it was food poisoning because I felt sick immediately. The rest of the night was filled with stops at gas stations throughout KY, TN, and AL. We stopped over SEVEN times so that I could vomit. Yes, I'm serious. It was horrible-2nd worse pain I've ever experienced (1st being labor). We never made it to our hotel because we had to stop at a different one in order for me to go to bed. Oh, did I mention that Braylen was awake until 1am? Yup. And did I also mention that Guy got sick in the middle of the night and had food poisoning as well? Yes, it was the road trip straight out of a horror movie. I guess you can say that we were on the Taco Bell "drive thru diet" for about 48 hours. I must say that I did lose a few pounds because of it. :) It took us over 24 hours to get down to New Orleans. It was awful. We're just thankful that Braylen did not get sick!

3) We felt better by Saturday and we were able to enjoy a few parades. We took Braylen to a small family parade and he loved it. Guy and I went to a parade called Bachus down in the French Quarter and it was so fun! Drew Brees was the king and we totally caught some beads that he threw! Well, not really but we did catch some beads! So fun!!

4) We had a great time with Guy's family and enjoyed staying with his grandma, Mommy I. She is so sweet and accommodating. We loved seeing his aunt and cousins as well. Brooke and Wayne are expecting their first baby (girl) this spring! They will make wonderful parents! And I'm excited to go back down next month for her shower! Yea babies!

5) We were able to stay with our awesome friends, Jason and Emily Edwards, on our way home! They live in Nashville so it was a perfect time to visit! They made us dinner and breakfast AND helped Braylen get over his fear of dogs. Well kind of. Love them!

Charlotte (this will be short and sweet):

1) I missed my sis and bro! We were so HAPPY to be down there visiting them.

2) They have a super cute apartment with an extra room for us to stay!

3) Great dinner at Presto Diner downtown Charlotte! And we were able to watch UK beat Vandy! Go CATS!

4) First visit to World Trade Market (which was awesome!) and to the Buy Buy Baby-which is a Bed, Bath, and Beyond baby store. It was so cool. so many great baby items!

This week we will be getting back to our normal routine-YMCA!!!, naps, non-fried foods, cooking, cleaning, visiting friends, Young Life outings and meetings.

Have a great week!

Manly

2010-02-07T15:35:00.003-05:00

We went to Crossroads Church last night with some friends of ours. It's a huge church in Cincinnati. You can get more info here from their website. They are doing a sermon series on "Manly" and what the bible says about being a real man. Unfortunately the world's idea of being a man is so far from God's truth. For example, James 4:6 says "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." Think about how much we hear from media how important your pride is!! Especially for men. Sick. That's just one example.

The sermon last night gave an example from the account of Samuel and Dahlia from the book of Judges. Dahlia seduced him until he revealed the secret of why and how God has allowed him to become so powerful. Samuel was so prideful and thought he was untouchable. These two factors: pride and seduction, basically led to the death of Samuel. It made me think about how hard it must be for Christian men to stay strong in their faith. There are so many things around them pulling them to invest in things that are not lasting. But it wasn't just Samuel who played a part in this. Dahlia played a huge part! It made me think about my "part" or my role as Guy's wife. Not that I am seducing anyone!!!!!! But how am I affirming my manly man? :)How am I spurring him on to love God and love others? (Matt. 22:37-39). My responsibility as a wife/stay at home mom is not just to keep the house in order but it is to respect, love and encourage my husband.

By the way-I do not do that very well but it's so good to be reminded about it. How are you loving the manly men around you? :)

I Love John Locke

2010-02-06T15:00:00.004-05:00

Okay, so I know that John Locke from LOST is not a real person.....but I love him! It might be because he looks like my dad:

but seriously. I just feel awful for him-he was almost killed by his own father, he's in a wheelchair, he lost the love of his life, no one likes him because they think he's crazy, he's always confused, and he was killed by Benjamin Linus. Oh, and now the "monster" has taken residence in his body. Can it get any worse? :) Talk about a hard imaginary life. ugh. And there is always sad music playing during his scenes. Give the guy a break! I will be so upset if this story doesn't end semi-happily for him.

Also, how in the world is the island underwater? What's going to happen? Now that Locke really is dead, who is going to show them that there is hope to be found. Who will spur them on towards something greater?

Well sorry if you haven't seen the LOST premier and I just gave away a few things and sorry if you've never seen the show.

Hospitals and medicine

2010-02-06T14:07:00.004-05:00

We have had one absolutely crazy week! Braylen came down with a cold last Saturday and by Thursday we had to take him to the emergency room! Scariest night of my life!

Mon-Wed he had a fever of 102 every single night. He started coughing more by Wed and he was not getting better. He's such a trooper though. I took him to the doctors Thursday morning (which he started crying as soon as he saw the building-he thought he was getting a shot) and they wanted him to get a chest xray to make sure he didn't have phenomena or however you spell it. I didn't hear back from the doctor's office all day and by that evening he was just getting worse. So I called the radiology dept at the hospital to try and get the results-they paged the on call doctor at practice Bray goes to-he called us like 30 minutes later and said he possibly has viral phenomena and we needed to take him to the emergency room right away. WHAT??!!! I was so upset. I'm so thankful to have Guy as my husband. He just held it together and was very patient with me. I was really frustrated with the doctors office for not calling us with the results or offering a prescription. Anyways. We drove to the hospital and by then his temperature rose from 102 to 103.6. Poor thing. He was so sick and weak. It was so horrible to see him like that. They put us in a room where we waited for about 2 hours-Braylen got some medicine and they double checked the xray. Braylen was much better after the medicine and he went from laying with me on the bed to jumping on the bed. yes. jumping. I have proof on my phone. He's so crazy. So he was diagnosed with a respiratory virus and we were allowed to go. I just kept thinking and praising God that we have a hospital to go to. I can't imagine not being able to take him somewhere to get better. ugh. it's just awful to think about sick babies not getting better!

So we all survived our first ER experience. Braylen is feeling much better and has not had a fever since Thursday. He is still coughing but not as much. He is learning and growing so much right now. He's definitely wanting to be more independent-wants to do everything on his own. He has a few new things to say: mobie (for movie), buh bye da-da (he says that to everyone not just Guy), aw man, and he actually says love you. Well I can tell he's saying it. :)

We are definitely blessed. Guy is working so hard in school. He's enjoying his online classes but has found that it's much more work than face to face classes. God is good and we are finding out how important it is to fully rely and trust in Him alone. We are missing Jess and Vince and really hope to visit them by the end of this month!!

Thanks for reading!

blog slacker

2010-01-29T13:30:00.005-05:00

These last few weeks have gone by so quickly! it's February next week? Didn't we just celebrate Christmas? I've got my days (and months) all mixed up. I have been doing well sticking to my new schedule but ever since Braylen's birthday party, I have been slacking a bit.

We had Braylen's 2nd birthday party on Jan. 15 and had a blast! He received so many wonderful presents and he enjoyed every single minute of it. We had an Elmo birthday theme and my mom made an awesome cake. We served chili, gumbo, and broccoli cheese soup with cracker, bread, and veggies. What a great memory!

The next morning, Guy and I left for Gatlinburg for a 5 day stay in the Smokies with our good friends from YL. There were 13 of us and we had such a great time. Lots of fellowship, community, shopping, EATING, hiking, reading, game playing (mostly speed scrabble and settlers) and resting. Braylen stayed with my parents and Guy's parents and we missed him so much. We had a nice reunion with him when we came home on Wednesday evening.

Then 2 days later, we left for a YL leader retreat up at Great Wolf Lodge. Braylen was able to come with us and our favorite babysitters were there to help watch him while we attended classes and worship sessions. What a great weekend! We left feeling so encouraged and spurred on to love God and love others. We were reminded just how much the Lord wants to use us as missionaries in Boone County High School.

Then Sunday was my birthday and I got to take a nap so that was fun. :) I have two more years left in my twenties. Cool. Also Guy made jambalaya for dinner and my parents came over to eat with us. It was delicious. I love my little cajun cook. He's so cute.

Now I am back to the grind of things but just not back to my normal routine. I have way too much laundry to do and my kitchen has powdered sugar everywhere because I'm (well my mom really is doing it) making a 2 tiered cake for a baby shower this weekend. Our dear friends Katie and Kevin Williams are adopting the most adorable baby boys from Ethiopia. Couldn't be more excited for them. God is good.

Speaking of good, I have a great granola recipe that I am going to post asap. Everyone needs to try this because it's so delicious.

Happy Friday!

Ready or not

2010-01-13T14:59:00.004-05:00

Hello friends. This week has been so crazy! Cleaning, organizing, cooking, preparing, packing, "laundry-ing".............we have a YL party tonight, Braylen's bday party on Friday, and we're leaving for Gatlinburg on Saturday morning. Could we pack anymore in?? Oh yes. Jess and Vince are coming home on Thursday! Yea! Lots of really fun things are happening. We are so grateful to share these memories with the people we love! I just finished creating Braylen's birthday video and will post it on youtube after we have his party. He is going to have so much! We are having an Elmo party and mom is making him an Elmo Birthday Cake! He calls it "mel-mo." So cute. I showed him a few "mel-mo" videos on youtube and now everytime I open the computer he says "mel-mo? mel-mo?" Hilarious.

Before the beginning of 2010, Guy and I sat down and wrote out a list of family/personal goals that we would like to accomplish. One of mine is to treat my position as a stay at home mom as an actual job. I wrote about it a little bit in this post. I have finally created an organized method for staying on top of chores and accomplishing things throughout the week, month, and year. I wanted to share it with you in hopes that you would join me in prioritizing our time in ways that is glorifying to God and helpful for our families.

I by no means have mastered this way of living. I am such a procrastinator and am not self-motivated. I just can't see the big picture! I live in comfort. So it is a struggle for me to stay on top of things. I am so thankful for God's grace (and my husband's).

The "method" is as follows-and was created by someone else! :)

I went and bought an index card box, index cards, and little dividers from Walmart. I titled the dividers like this: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, January, Feb, March, April and so on.

Here is what is behind each tab-and you can change yours to what is a priority for you:

Daily: (written on one index card)
1) Consider dinner preparations-thaw meat, etc
2) Make bed, tidy bedroom
3) Have QT
4) Sweep floor in dining room
5) Laundry-wash 1 load, dry, fold, put away
6) Maintain dishes
7) Check bank account
8) Workout
9) 1 hour work for Young Life (office stuff)-at least 3 times a week

Weekly: (one index card for every day)
Sunday-
Plan for the week
Plan meals and grocery list

Monday-
Gym
Grocery store
Dust living room and clean floors

Tuesday-
Gym
Dust bedroom and vacuum
Change sheets

Wednesday-
Gym
Clean up bathroom and empty trash
Organize bills and paperwork in office
Dust and swiffer office
Trash cans out to curb

Thursday-
Activity day with Braylen-Zoo, museum, library, etc
Sweep and swiffer kitchen, Dining room, hallway

Friday-
Gym
Craft activity with Braylen

Saturday-
Gym (if I can make it)
Dust, vacuum, organize Bray's room

Monthly: (one index card)
1) Organize hall closet
2) Clean out van
3) Clean out refrigerator
4) Organize paper work

Each month has a divider:
January:Clean medicine cabinet, toss expired meds
February:Clean hard to reach places-behind stove, sofa, fridge, etc
March: Organize basement and laundry
April: wash windows and screens
May: Organize pantry and kitchen cabinets
June: Wash comforters and blankets
July: Clean and organize basement and laundry
August: Clean out drawers and closets
September: Clean out linen closet
October: Defrost and clean freezer, fridge, stove
November: Dust inside China Cabinet
December: Turn mattresses over and vacuum furniture, drapes

Two!

2010-01-04T16:21:00.019-05:00

Guy and I are amazed at how quickly two years have gone by. Braylen is going to be 2 on 1/15! I mean seriously! Can you believe that? My sweet, little, babe is all grown up! Braylen is the most wonderful blessing anyone can ask for. We are constantly amazed by his sweet personality. He continues to bring joy to everyone around him. (Side note-today when we were shopping for daddy's birthday present...Guy's birthday is tomorrow by the way! Yes, all 3 of our birthday's are in January.......I had to stop and "quietly punish" Braylen for not listening to me. I was trying to get him to look at me and when we finally made eye contact, he leaned in and gave me a kiss! ha. He is so sneaky trying to get me to stop punishing him!)

Here are a few of my favorite Braylen milestones that have happened these past two years!

1. His birth!

12 hours of labor and an epidural that ran out-it was certainly worth it!

Braylen Kenneth Domec

1/15/09 at 7:43pm

9 pounds, 1 ounce

2. Learning to sleep through the night!

(he started sleeping through the night at 10 weeks!)

3. Smiling!

4. Going to his first Young Life camp

(YL has a "no kids allowed" leader policy BUT if you are nursing you can bring your baby! My sister came with us to camp in 08 to help-it was just a few weeks before her wedding!)

5. Rolling over

(this isn't really a picture of him rolling over but how sweet are my boys!!)

6. Eating solid foods

7. Swimming

8. Walking

(it was just last December that he first started walking!)

9. Kisses!

10. Taking Braylen to the beach for the first time!

There are of course so many more great memories! We so look forward to many more wonderful milestones with our little boy! Thanks for your prayers. We certainly cannot do it without the support of our friends, family, and our Savior! What a great God we serve. He is so good to us!

oh wow!

2009-12-31T16:23:00.005-05:00

Merry Christmas friends! And a Happy New Year!

We had a great Christmas this year! Thanks to all of our family and friends who made it wonderful. We started our Christmas on Dec. 17th when we had the Reynolds Family Christmas Party. We decided during Thanksgiving to not exchange gifts this year and to "adopt" a few kids to buy gifts for. It was awesome and I hope we continue to do that. We played a game-boys verses girls. Boys won! I made some chocolate chip cookies and the recipe is from my great grandma! It was so fun to make a family recipe for others to eat. My grandma really enjoyed them and she asked all of my mom's sisters if they remembered them. That was really fun for me!

On Dec. 22nd, Guy and I went on a Christmas date. We try to do that every year-we've seen Phantom of the Opera, The Christmas Carol, Benjamin Button at the De Lux theater, and this year we went to dinner at Brio and saw Disney's Christmas Carol at Newport. It was so much fun and dinner was delicious. We had a coupon and free movie tickets so the night was pretty inexpensive for us. We were also celebrating Guy completing his first semester! Yeah! I don't want to brag, but he made the dean's list! woo-hoo!

The next night, we went to Montgomery Inn Boathouse for our bible study dinner! That was awesome! All the girls dressed "fancy" and we enjoyed spending time together. That is also a tradition that we started a few years ago. We missed Ben and Maria though-but not that much because they were in Hawaii with their family! Whatever!

Then on Thursday, Christmas Eve, we spent all day with Guy's family! We played Monopoly and Guy destroyed all of us. Why can't monopoly money be real money??? We had a great time visiting, snacking, and opening gifts. Braylen's two favorite gifts of the night: a wagon and a wooden train set! He loves trains right now. He says "choo choo" and pulls his arm up and down like he's pulling the whistle. He's adorable. After the Christmas Eve service, a few people came back to our house for a Christmas Eve breakfast party! We served breakfast casserole, pastries, biscuits, juice and coffee. This is also a tradition that we've done since my high school days (yes over 10 years ago!!). We used to go to the Waffle House but we outgrew it and have been meeting in different homes ever since. So fun!

Christmas morning we woke up around 8:30am (thanks to Braylen for sleeping in!) and went right to opening gifts! We surprised Braylen with another little train set that goes around a small plastic track when you press the conductor. He loves it! Each time he opened a gift he would say "oh wow!" It was so cute. He had a great time opening gifts. We skipped one tradition: we usually eat cinnamon rolls for breakfast but since we were so full from all of the delicious food we've been eating, we opted out of breakfast. That afternoon we went to my parents house and ate some more food! Mom fixed a ton of snacks and it was awesome! Once Braylen woke up from his nap, we played Wii (yes, Braylen did too!), ate our turkey dinner, then opened more gifts. We are so blessed! Braylen got an awesome table and chairs for our house and I got a sweet Vera Bradley overnight bag. Can't wait to use it when we visit Jess and Vince in Charlotte!

The next night, we went to my grandparents house for the Hicks Family Christmas. There are now 19 of us so we no longer have sleep overs but we have such a great time getting together. Grandma fixed turkey in a box (my fav) and I made oatmeal cookies for the fam-which is my grandma's recipe. Braylen stayed up until 11pm that night! He is so flexible. He had too much sugar I think. He kept sneaking M&M's all night. oh well. It's the holidays!

Needless to say we had an awesome Christmas! We hope you all experienced the Love of Jesus this year and all year around! Thanks for reading! I'll be posting our family New Years goals soon so that everyone can hold us accountable. Here are a few pictures!

Here is Braylen playing Wii

Mom reading to Braylen at his new table

Wearing his new hat!

Sitting in his wagon!

Mind ya' bizness!

2009-12-10T14:47:00.004-05:00

I love being a stay at home mom! What an incredible blessing!! However, it is pretty tough financially! So in order to help supplement our income, I have been trying to come up with a ton of "small business ideas" to make some extra cash on the side. You all know that Braylen takes wonderful naps everyday, so I usually have somewhere between 3-4 hours in the afternoon to be working on something. Currently I have been helping NKY YL a few hours each month. Which has been awesome! I am really excited to help grow the area and expand our donor list!

Etsy.com has really inspired me to come up with my "thing." Everyone has something that they are good at. What am I good at??? Cleaning up messes, diaper changing, peeling bananas, etc. :) I tend to be really excited about something but then it just seems to die down. For instance, last month, I learned a ton of stuff about ebay. I got all of my old-giveaway clothes into a pile so that I could take pictures of them and then I wanted to try and sell them. I uploaded one NFL football zip up jacket and had no bids. Needless to say that pile of clothes is still in the basement. ha!

Here are a few things that interest me:

-helping a family friend work on her caramel apple business (she sells over 450 every holiday season)

-learning graphic design so that I could offer personalized items (birth announcements, invitations, cards, calendars, etc) at a less expensive rate. There a people who create these items for buyers, and then they email the item to the buyer who simply prints it from their home computer.

-creating DVD/CD picture slide shows (Guy and I have created 5 slide shows for weddings and birthdays in the past year)

-creating family recipe books for people. This would work by collecting recipes that have been in the family for years and creating an actual book for them to have.

Which one is your favorite?

I don't know if any of these would work.............but I should try one of them and find out. There are so many great websites where you can advertise your "goods." Esty, ebay, craigslist, facebook.

Happy Thursday everyone!

Wild and crazy kid

2009-12-02T23:21:00.003-05:00

I have received some really nice compliments about Braylen lately. Yesterday, a woman from the YMCA child watch told me that Braylen is into everything in the playroom! She said he is so curious about things. I said yea he is pretty crazy! And she said well maybe, but he is such a good boy! My little heart melted. I was so touched! I am so thankful that we are able to go to the y so that he can have more interactions with other young children. He really loves going there. And I am so thankful for my little wild man. He really is such a good boy.

We have our Christmas decorations out and I am so excited about it. Guy and I love having the tree up. For the most part, Braylen doesn't really touch the tree. I put a few Christmas stuffed animals and books in this little container under the tree and he loves to play with those things. We are looking forward to teaching him about Christmas. And of course taking him to see Santa will be great fun. :)

The holidays will be bittersweet this year because my sister and brother in law are moving to Charlotte, NC after Christmas. We will miss them so much! They are like our best friends and things will be different once they are gone. We are so excited for them to start a new journey and to see how the Lord shapes them into who he wants them to be. I am looking forward to visiting them many times.

Organization is the key to success

2009-11-25T16:09:00.004-05:00

I had a middle school teacher who made us write "Organization is the key to success" on all of our folders. She was so right. :) I have found that if I do not have a list of things that I'd like to accomplish throughout the week, I completely slack off! Now that Braylen is taking 3-4 hour naps a day (I love that kid) it is really easy to be lazy during that time. There are so many things that I can do while he is napping. I found this blog by a very traditional, religious woman who had an awesome idea of how to organize your time as a stay at home mom. You can find her ideas by clicking here. I am going to start using her method and will let you know how it works!

Last night for dinner, I made Chicken Squares! I love this meal. My mom makes it a lot and I'm so glad that I have the recipe. It's so easy.

Chicken Squares

1 pound cooked chicken, shredded or cubed

3 ounces cream cheese, softened

Salt and pepper

1 can crescent rolls

3 tablespoons butter

Bread crumbs

1) Boil chicken for about 20 minutes until no longer pink. Shred or cube into bite size pieces.

2) Mix cream cheese with chicken and add salt and pepper to taste.

3) Roll out crescent rolls. Combine triangles to make a square (you will have 4 separate squares).

4) Add chicken mixture to square, roll up sides and pinch at the top to cover the chicken.

5) Melt butter, cover chicken square in butter and then roll in bread crumbs.

6) Cook at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.

Hope everyone has a great thanksgiving day! "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever." Psalm 101

Family

2009-11-24T15:01:00.003-05:00

Being that the majority of my immediate family mostly lives in the tri-state area, I have never experienced having to go out of town for the holidays. We just have always been able to get together for family gatherings. Wait....... My aunt and uncle used to live in Pennsylvania for a few years and we did travel to their house for Easter. Anyways. My point is that I am excited for Guy's family to be traveling from New Orleans to spend time with us in KY for Thanksgiving! What a fun way to kick off the holiday season. My MIL is picking them up at the airport as we speak and then Guy's cousin and her husband are driving in tomorrow morning.

Last night, my sister and brother in law came over to help watch Braylen while we had a Young Life meeting. Afterwards, they stayed and we watched FOUR episodes of Lost Season 5! (check it out on abc.com!) I just can't get enough of it. That show is so good. There is a twist after each episode and I'm always thinking "did that just really happen?" All I have to say is it's about time that someone else likes to watch the show. And by someone else I mean Guy, Jess, and Vince. I've spent the last three seasons watching it alone. :( And now I have LOST friends.

3 Years and counting

2009-11-23T14:59:00.004-05:00

Guy and I just celebrated our 3 year anniversary a few weeks ago on 11/11! What an amazing 3 years it has been! 3 big things that has happened: 1)WE HAD A BABY!, 2) We didn't move to Charlotte, 3) Guy started school again!

Looking back I just wouldn't change a thing. Yes it wasn't what we planned, but "you have to walk the rocks to see the mountain view!" I don't think I am quite to the top of the mountain yet (we still have the terrible two's coming up and 3 more years of college to get through! ha!) but I am thankful that Lord has been with us every step of the way.

Guy surprised me with tickets to the David Crowder Band concert, which was amazing! Jess and Vince saved us some seats and we had a great time. I used to follow that band a ton back in the day and being at their concert brought me back to a great time in my life. Worship has been such a huge part of my walk with the Lord. There are certain songs that I now hear and that have meant so much to me, that I can remember where I was the first time I heard it. For instance, I remember buying the Illuminate DCB cd at Starbucks (super overpriced) and listening to it on my drive home, parking my car on the street, and just replaying "O Praise Him" over and over. What a great memory! Their words of love and mercy just had such a special place of hope in my life! That was back in 2003! I actually made it in a picture with the guitarist one year on their website! Famous!

So we had a great anniversary! I was wondering what kind of gifts you are supposed to give on your three years? It's leather.......Hi, I love you, here is some leather??? :) Here are some cute ideas for your 3 years (from etsy.com of course).

A pink leather bowl

A brown leather journal

A leather pillow

Thank you Guy for a wonderful 3 years of marriage! I love you!

22 months

2009-11-20T22:58:00.006-05:00

I cannot believe that my baby boy is 22 months now! He is the most precious gift from God and we are so blessed to be his parents.

It has been a while since I have updated our blog. We have been running around like crazy and Braylen has been growing like a little weed. He is really trying to talk more and he yells "mommy" all the time. Awesome! Before we eat our meals, he will bow his head and hold our hands to pray. Then he says "ma-men." I really believe that God is being glorified through our little boy. Despite being unable to verbally communicate with us, he comprehends things and listens to us very well. He will grab our hand and walk us over to something he wants or he will point to it. If I say "go upstairs to get your shoes," he will do just that. It is so neat to see him understand us.

Right now we are in the process of painting our living room! Finally! It has only been almost 2 years! Bah! When you are new parents, everything else takes a back seat. I will post some pictures but the fireplace wall is a dark gray/blue color and the other walls are a light gray color. Very pretty. We are hoping to finish everything by Monday night. I am excited for the change.

I am loving this website called etsy! It is a site where you can purchase people's homemade items. It is awesome. It just makes me want to learn how to be crafty!

This is a mom contact card! so cute!

Click here to go to her Etsy store!

Monkeys and melt downs

2009-10-11T21:06:00.004-04:00

We had a good week and weekend. Busy but good. I have been helping plan the young life banquet and worked on addressing invitations this past week. Hopefully it will all come together. Guy had Saturday morning off from class so we all went to the zoo. It was so much fun. Braylen learned how to sound like a monkey. His favorite animal is definitely the duck though. He just loves to make the quack noise. So very cute. It was Hall-zoo-ween so he was able to get a few treats before we left.

Saturday night we celebrated Jon's birthday and we all went out to eat at Smokey Bones. Braylen had a melt down! We did not know what to do. I just took him out of his chair and went to the bathroom to let him chill out. He is doing this more and more. I am starting a new book on how to train your toddler and am hopeful that I will learn a few tricks. Am I going to have a "terrible two" child? Braylen has been sooooo easy going and all of these whiney melt downs have thrown us for a loop! Any suggestions?

Even though he may drive us crazy with all of his whining, we just love him so much. He brings us so much laughter and joy. What a blessing to be his mom! I just laugh at him all day long. Tonight he even cuddled with me (for like 10 seconds but it was great).

This week we are going to the Zoo again with Grammy and aunt Amy on Tuesday and on Thursday we are going to a music class at Gymboree! It's like $40 bucks a class but your first class is free (looks like it will be our last class too because I am not paying that much money). And then this weekend is cousin Sara's wedding! Braylen is the ring bearer and I am so excited to see how he reacts! Hope for a smooth walk down the aisle with zero melt downs!

Have a great weekend!

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-04T14:15:00.004-04:00

After Guy's Saturday morning class, we took Braylen to Kinman Farms and we were so excited to go as a family. We didn't go to a pumpkin patch last fall so we were eager to take Braylen to one this year. We went expecting to pay full price ($7 for a hayride, pumpkin, and a walk through the corn maze) but I played high school bball with the girl taking the money so she gave us a discount! yes! Before we got on the hayride, we let Braylen go through the barn to look at all of the animals. His favorite animal??? The ducks! He would point to them and say "quack quack!" He doesn't like to touch animals. He's afraid of them so he just likes to look at them and wave.

We took the hayride over to the pumpkin patch and Braylen loved it! He would grab the hay and hand me all the pieces. When we got to the patch, we let Braylen run around everywhere and play with the "ball." He's so funny. Going through the corn maze took some time. Braylen wanted to pick up everything. He even found an old piece of corn, which of course he tried to eat. sick! At least he likes his vegetables.

We found 3 perfect pumpkins for daddy, mommy and Bray. A big, medium, and small pumpkin or as Braylen refers to it: "mum-mum." He held his "mum-mum" the rest of the time and on our car ride home. So cute.

We had a great time together! We were so fortunate to have the time to go there! Things are so busy right now and Guy has so much work to do between AWE, school and Young Life. I know that we are still getting used to our new schedule but it is pretty crazy around here. We also know that "we have to walk the rocks to see the mountain view" and that one day all of Guy's work will pay off.

Mr. Independent

2009-10-01T16:49:00.004-04:00

Bray is doing this new thing were he wants to do EVERYTHING by himself. I guess he's been doing that for a while. What's weird is that if I tried to hold his hand or try to fix something for him he makes this whiney noise and then bends over sticking his butt straight up in the air and plants his face in the ground. It's so funny! I don't let him see me laughing. It's like he thinks that's going to keep me away from him. classic.

I will post a picture of him doing it soon. ha!

Book worm

2009-09-29T18:21:00.004-04:00

Went to the Y today with Braylen. He loves it there! One of the child care workers told me that he loves to sit on her lap and read books with her. She said that he gets book after book to read. So cool! That is definitely one of his favorite things to do. He loves to read Curious George books! We have one George book but I have gotten a few from the library. When I say "where's George?," he points to George on the book. He is just learning and growing so much.

Tonight Guy has class from 6-9:15pm! Bah! It's his longest class. We miss him so much around here! Jess comes over to watch Braylen while I go to bible study at 8pm. It's a busy night. What a blessing it is to have such a flexible, easy going child. :) Guy is planning a daddy and Bray "day" next Saturday when he doesn't have his class. That will be fun! It will be a nice little break for mommy too. What should I do.........

Tonight I made BBQ Chicken Pizza. So delicious! Here is the recipe:

BBQ Chicken Pizza

1 can of pizza dough (10/11 ounces)

2 boneless skinless chicken breast cut into small pieces

1/2 chopped red onion

1/2 chopped red pepper

1 tsp olive oil

1/2 BBQ sauce (I use Kraft Honey BBQ)

2 cups shredded cheddar or colby jack cheese (or less)

Garnish with chopped cilantro

1) Preheat oven to 400. Unroll dough on lightly greased pan. Bake for 12 minutes or until brown.

2) Meanwhile saute chicken, onions, and red pepper on hot pan with olive oil for around 8-10 minutes.

3) Spread BBQ sauce all over baked pizza dough. Top and spread chicken mixture over BBQ sauce. Sprinkle shredded cheese on top.

4) Bake pizza for 5-8 minutes-until cheese is melted.

5) Garnish with cilantro.

*Serve with side salad or fruit salad!

Tomorrow we are going to the zoo with Jess and Vince! Going to be a great time!

Rainy Weekend

2009-09-25T14:22:00.004-04:00

It has been raining so much these past few days. I actually like rainy days. It's just fun to stay at home with Braylen and stay warm and cozy. It's also nice because Braylen has been loving television lately! He watches one show everyday called "Jack's Big Music Show." It's on the Noggin channel and we watch on demand. So he could literally watch it all day long! Which I don't let him so don't worry. He grabs the remote and says "Jack" (well tries to say Jack) and then sits on the couch. It's really cute. The show was canceled a few years so they don't sell anything like toys or stuffed animals-I've looked everywhere! Anyways. The songs from the show HAUNT me every night! I try to go to sleep and I'll hear "Come on everybody give your foot a tap, come on everybody give your hands a clap.........!" I've tried to switch to "Melmo" as Braylen calls it (Elmo/Seasame Street) but it's just not what he wants to watch! It is really neat to see him start to prefer certain things. He is just so smart!

I have been so interested in learning how to cook lately. I've watched a few shows on the Food Network and Jon and Peggy got me a magazine subscription to Cooks Country-which is awesome! I've also been trying to establish a menu every week for our family. My friend Jenna told me about this website moneysavingmom.com and she has a ton of tips on how to save money at the grocery store by using coupons and menu planning. For some reason, I just don't get how to do it! But I've listened to a few blogs from her so I'm going to start working on it next week. Apparently she spends $35 a week on groceries for her family of four. Including household items! wow! I'll keep you updated on how it's going. Any ideas out there?

Have a great weekend! Here is Braylen saying "CHEESE!"

Taco Soup

2009-09-22T14:33:00.003-04:00

Tonight I am making Taco Soup for dinner and thought I would share the recipe because it's so easy and delicious! Please who doesn't love soup in the Fall!

Taco Soup

1 pound of ground beef or ground turkey

1/4 cup of chopped red onion

1 1/2 cup water

1 can corn, undrained

1 can pinto beans, drained

1 can black beans, drained

1 packet of taco seasoning

Sour cream, guacamole, chopped cilantro, shredded cheese

Cook ground beef and onions until no longer pink. Drain grease. In a large pot, mix beef and onions with water, corn, beans, and taco season. Simmer for 30 minutes. You can also add more water or chicken broth.

Serve with sour cream, guac, cilantro, cheese

Makes 4-6 servings.

So bad at keeping up with this....

2009-09-22T14:01:00.006-04:00

Well, I can't believe it's the first day of Fall! Time sure does go by quickly. We have had an amazing summer! We went to 4 weddings, Young Life camp in Virginia, Clearwater Beach, and on Family Camp! So many fun times and memories. We also threw my mom and dad a 30th Anniversary Surprise party! We had over 40+ of my parents friends and family come and celebrate this rare and special event! We had a great time and my parents were so surprised! What a great night!

My parents are so cute and they are still so in love. They have set a wonderful example for us. God is so good and I'm so thankful that my parents made a decision to follow him. I've just been learning so much about how the choices and decisions you make today really do reflect and change the outcome of your future. And not just for yourself but for everyone around you.

We also went on the annual Labor Day Family

Camping trip a few weeks ago to Brookeville!

We had a blast! Braylen had a great time & loved being outdoors all day long. There were two

highlights of the trip: 1) Fried oreo's!! Yum!, 2) Mom saying, "it's on the loose!"-referring to a boat that came loose and was rolling down the street. It eventually crashed into the woods and managed to not hit anything else along the way. It was crazy. Here is a picture of our family on the last day.

Guy is in the midst of trying to balance working

full-time, going to school full-time, being a dad full-time, being a husband full-time, and being a Young Life leader FULL-TIME! He is our hero! He has been working so incredibly hard for our family. He is so anxious to be a teacher. If only he could speed through school!

Next month is my cousin Sara's wedding which we are excited about. Jessica is a bridesmaid and Braylen is the ring bearer! I'm so anxious to see if he will walk down the aisle. It could go either way. He might love it and wave to everyone or he'll just be super shy. Hopefully he will get a good nap in him beforehand. For Jess and Vince's wedding, he fell asleep right before going down the aisle in his stroller. So cute!

Thanks for checking in! I will be posting more things for sure!

A Walk in the Park

2009-08-26T22:14:00.003-04:00

Tonight, Guy and I took Braylen up to Central Park to walk their trail. Guy brought the back pack so we didn't use the stroller. Braylen loves to be on daddy's back! Then we took him to the playground. The boy has no fear when it comes to climbing on things or sliding down huge slides. He climbed up a slide tonight and almost fell off. He just laughed. We also ran into some friends-the Hart Family! They have 2 boys and it was good to catch up with them.

Braylen and I recently came back from our Florida trip! We had such a great time with my mom and sister. Braylen loved the ocean and the sand. He was so amazing this trip. He didn't cry or whine once! When I would say, it's time for bedtime, he would go right down. What an amazing kid! He ran right into the ocean and would laugh when the waves would knock him down. He didn't even mind the salt water being in his face. He's crazy. He also loved the sand. He would take his shovel and play with it and put it in buckets. He also liked throwing it which wasn't as much fun for me. :) He usually ended his time on the beach with sand in his hair, face, mouth, and shoes. Thank goodness for swimming pools!

Braylen was like a little celebrity everywhere we went. He would wave and say hi to everyone. Most people wanted to stop and talk to him. One time he climbed out of his chair at a restaurant, walked over to another table, and climbed up in one of their chairs. The couple ended up being from Louisville so it was nice to talk to them. At the airport, he walked up to this lady and climbed up into her lap! She was an older woman and it just made her day. We continue to pray that the Lord would use Braylen to bring joy to those who need it! Joy and kindness seem to burst out of this kid. He's so awesome.

This weekend we have our leader retreat and next weekend is Family Camp during Labor Day! Lots of things happening! Hope everyone has a great day! Here are a few pictures from our trip!

Summer Fun

2009-08-07T15:34:00.004-04:00

We have been on the go this whole summer! We've had so much fun though! Last weekend we decided to go to Idle Wild park in Burlington to take a walk on one of their trails. When we got there we saw that they were having a "Touch A Truck" event. They had tons of huge trucks for kids (and adults) to check out! Braylen was so excited! He loved sitting in the drivers seat and "turning" the steering wheel. One trucker accidently left his keys in the ignition and Braylen tried to start it up! If he would have kept turning the key, he would have! Guy captured the moment below-

He is so sneaky! He got on fire trucks, ambulances, police cars, tractors, semi's...just about every truck you can think. We thought he might be nervous from all of the loud noises but it didn't phase him a bit. He even honked the horn a few times-even the big semi horn too. He's so cool.

On Monday we took him to the Boone County Fair. We were meeting some of our YL students there so it was a good opportunity for him to go and ride the rides. Which of course, he loved. He had so much fun. Just loving life. He just runs around like crazy. And then Wednesday we went to the Red's game! So fun! Braylen danced and waived to everyone. We taught him to say "Go!" and point your fist out in the air. It was so cute.

He has been learning and growing so much. When we say, what does a cow say? He says moo! Same with a dog-woof woof! But everything is high pitched and cute sounding. Please! Mama! Baby! Dada! so cute! We are so amazed that the Lord brought this little boy in our lives. We pray every night that Braylen would have confidence in Jesus and be so secure in his faith. Only time will tell......

On another note, Guy is starting school in a few weeks so things are about to get a bit crazy! We are so proud of him for going back. He is going to be the best elementary school teacher ever.

Hope everyone has a great weekend! We are headed to a YL 40th Celebration tonight and then Goetta Fest tomorrow! Woohoo! :) It's the small things in life that are the most fun.

A Much Needed Update

2009-07-21T13:47:00.003-04:00

Hello! Hope everyone is having a great summer! Braylen is napping right now so I thought I would update the blog. It's been too long. I have the windows open and it is so nice outside. I would be sitting out there but the kids next door are screaming. Plus they are like magnets to our fence whenever we are out there. They just stare at us......weird.......Anyways! We have had a really fun summer! In June we took 9 Boone students to Rockbridge Young Life camp in Virginia. We left Braylen with my parents and Guy's parents and it was very very hard to leave him. But our trip was amazing. Perfect weather, entertainment, food, club talks, music...everything. The staff was amazing as well. Our group was awesome and everyone got along wonderfully. We are now doing follow up work with the students by having hang outs at our house (we watched a movie outside! It was cool!), campaigners, and bible studies. We really want to start Club this fall but we're not sure how that will work out.

We had a busy start to July with the holidays and back to back birthdays-mom and Vince. Also this past weekend, Guy's cousin Brooke and her husband Wayne came to visit. We went to the Dayton Air Show with them all day on Saturday and it was freezing! The clouds were out and it was really cold. Good thing my capri's rolled out into pants. Braylen stayed with Grammy (Guy's mom) so we missed him. He'll love the air show one day!

We also got our house painted! It looks awesome! We are so pleased with it. It's a lighter shade of the previous green color. We have been working hard on our landscaping and everything is looking really good. We have soooo many projects we want to work on. The landscaping on both sides of the house and the back needs a lot of work! Frankly it just needs to be removed (sorry Madden's!). We'd also like to put a small stone patio in the back by our fence so we have a place to hang out and put our fire pit! Can't wait for it to be completed. We also just painted our bathroom. I love it but Guy is not sure about the color. It's a turquoise color. We painted the cabinet and sink white so it ties together. Stop by and see it!

Braylen has been amazing! We are trying to get him to repeat lots of words right now. He actually tries to repeat things but they just don't quite come out correctly. He can "say" amen, please, ball, woof, moo, mama, and dada. We've been working on more sign language so that he isn't as frustrated when we don't understand what he is saying. With sign language, instead of just babbling when he wants something, he can sign it and show us. Our bedtime routine is the best. We give him a cup of milk, read a story, sing a song, and say our prayers. Then he says amen and puckers out his lips to give us a kiss! Soooooo precious. I could just melt everytime he does that. He has been testing us a lot more too. He's so busy and gets into everything! It's also really hard to not laugh at him when he does something wrong or doesn't listen. He's just so darn funny. When he gets mad, he literally shakes his head and makes a fist and screams. But then he laughs about it. He's crazy! But we are all learning right now and I'm sure we will figure it out.

Next month, we are going to the beach! yea! Braylen has never been before so I am so excited for him to go. It's just going to be me, Bray, mom and Jess. The boys can't get off work! I can't wait!

Next week is mom and dad's 30th anniversary! Can't wait to celebrate with them. They are so amazing and we are so blessed to have a Godly example of marriage in our lives. Thank you God for my parents!

Hope everyone has a great week! I'll be updating more often!