Tuesday, February 14, 2012

It's All About Love


Happy Valentine's Day to my groom of almost 4 years! Kevin is the love of my life and I'm so grateful God led me past all the previous heartbreaks to bring me to him. Alright, enough mushy mushy stuff. The Lord has been our prime example for how to love each other and our family. He is the ultimate example of true love and forgiveness.


Here's me and my love on our wedding day, March 29, 2008.



Not only do we have the example of our Heavenly Father, but we've been blessed beyond imagination to have great married couples in our family. The picture below is my sweet Mom & Dad on their wedding day, August 6th. If I am doing math correctly, this year will be 30 yrs of marriage! Thank you Mom & Dad for showing Lauren and I a great example of a Christian marriage!



This picture is of my Dad's parents (AKA Grandmother & Granddaddy). They were married for over 55 years before my Granddaddy went to heaven back in September of 2009.



And this picture is my Mom's parents (AKA Nana & Papa). Their 50th wedding anniversary is this Friday! They have had many ups and downs, but seeing how they take care of each other now with all their medical problems is very endearing.



I'm so thankful to be surrounded by so many long lasting, committed, hardworking marriages. Kevin and I hope to keep that tradition going and plan on staying together until 2084! We have a running joke that we'll both live to be 100 yrs old and still be married. =)


And here's one last picture of our Valentine lovebug. We hope to be an example of a wonderful Christian marriage as my parents have been to us.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Friday, February 10, 2012

Physically & Spiritually Fit

So Kevin and I were talking the other day in the car on the way home from work. He was thinking about all the recommendations people have to live a better life. For instance: Work out, eat a balanced diet, pray daily, read your bible daily, eat an apple a day "to keep the doctor away", don't smoke, avoid these certain foods that are thought to cause cancer, save money, don't create debt for yourself, etc. Anyways, you get the point. If we tried to do every single thing that was good for us, we'd go crazy! It would be overwhelming!

There are so many things and expectations that either we as individuals or others expect us to do. It can often seem overwhelming at times. Kevin and I have both been saying that we need to work out and lose a little weight/get in shape. We both know we need to, but where's the time??? Kevin works 5 days/week and I work Tues, Wed, and Thurs every week. On the days I work, we carpool to work to save on gas. This means leaving the house early in the morning and not getting home from work until at least 6pm by the time we pick each other up and go pick up Addison. You get home at 6 and have 2 hrs to cook dinner, eat dinner, clean up after dinner, bath Addison, play with Addison, and get her to bed. After she goes to bed we are both so exhausted that we just want to lay down too.

Long story short, there is only about 1-2 hrs after Addison goes down that we have of free time before bed. What do you do with that time? Spend time as a couple? Read your bible? Pray as a couple? Work out? Get lunches packed for the next day?

Our pastor at church just finished up a sermon series titled "Soul Therapy". It was very appropriate for the start of the new year because so many people focus on changing habits to improve their outward appearance, yet they forget about what matters more........inward appearance/health. I don't disagree that physical health is important, but I want to be a family who is in good spiritual health and be able to pass those good habits on to our daughter. I want her to learn to pray before meals and pray for others, and just have a regular prayer life with her Father. I want her to learn bible stories. Mostly, I want her to know that God loves her more than anyone could love her and that her parents are in love with the Lord too. I want her to learn from our example.

Kevin and I just started a small group called "Couples that Pray" and I do believe it's going to change our life!! We have prayed together many times, but have never really made it a habit. We are learning a lot from this group and I pray that the Lord only continues to reveal more great things to us.


So how about you? What's important to you? Spending time on things that won't matter in eternity or spending time showing the love of God to your family and others and growing closer to your Creator? Just a thought.......


If you're still here.....thanks for reading. I just wanted to share what's on my heart and what God has been teaching our little family lately. Hopefully next post will have some pictures because we know everyone loves pictures!!

Monday, February 6, 2012

2012 Pictures

Okie dokie......pictures starting with New Years!


The first picture is Addison helping Mommy clean. She wanted a broom just like mine so we rigged the old Swiffer to be just her size! She is such a little helper, always wanting to sweep, fold clothes, pick up, etc.


This precious pic was taken one day on the way home from church. She had my notebook from church and was reading it very seriously! She LOVES going to church to see her friends!


She's not a big fan of me brushing her teeth, but she sure does like to brush her baby's teeth! Hopefully this teeth brushing will become easier and easier.

This one is too funny not to post. Addison got a Toys R Us gift card for Christmas and we were hanging out one day and decided to spend it. These glasses are the ONLY thing she REFUSED to leave the store without. I say it reminds me a little of John Lennon. =)


Now that we've mentioned Disney, this gal is not going to let us forget about taking her! She is all about princesses now!


Another funny.......I was over at Mom's house sewing and G-diddy was watching Addison. She decided she wanted to paint his fingernails. It was hilarious! She learned about painting fingernails from her new favorite show, Strawberry Shortcake!


My second sewing project. My first "all by myself" project. It's a new sewing machine cover. Simple.....yes. But it's a step!


Every Sunday at church Addison comes home with her bag of goodies. It always has her lesson she learned, her paper she colored, and a sucker. This child LOVES her suckers!


Did I mention I love being a part time stay at home mom? Here's Addison on one of our lazy days. She was getting lunch for her two ladybugs. Such a little momma. Hopefully she'll be caring like this when Baby 2 comes along (Don't get excited......we're not quite there yet!)


This is the most recent picture. It was taken yesterday. This is my first sewing project ever! I got with my coworkers one day and made the pants, then a week or two later I made the top at mom's house. I'm pretty proud of it and surprised it actually fit her!



So there's our life in Iphone pictures up until now. Hopefully I will have the discipline to keep this thing up on a regular basis. There's so much going on right now and things that the Lord is teaching our family. Can't wait to share it with everyone!

4 months of Iphone photos

So I figured since I haven't blogged since September, I would do a quick recap just from Iphone photos and hopefully go from there. On my last post I mentioned that I finally got a new computer since Kev is always on his studying for his CPA. Well, about a month ago, his computer crashed so he stole my to use for studying. As well as studying, all the pics I downloaded off my camera (Christmas, Addison's b'day, etc) are on his computer. We've ordered an external hard drive and a very smart friend thinks he can get all the stuff of the hard drive so we'll see......Anywho, I've never been big on "journaling" so I really hope to do better at this blog as more of a journal of our little family. There's so much going on right now and I want to be able to reminder this time in our lives.








Without further ado, a recap of past 4 months in Iphone pics (obviously they are mostly of Addison!):


In September, Addison added another food to her very small "like" list. It's pizza! This kiddo LOVES her pepperoni pizza!




This is Addison and Gigi the day (September 20) Addison had surgery to remove the screw from her elbow. Now the elbow fiasco is over and she has only a tiny "booboo" left! This surgery recovery did not go as well as the last. She was very irritable and whiny after this anesthesia!




4 days after surgery we drove to Auburn to hang out with Lou Lou and Uncle Blaine. Addison had a blast being loved on by her Lou Lou and Uncle "Blainer"!




I had a conference for work this October and got back the day before Halloween. This is Little Red Riding Hood who loved going around and getting yummy candy! She loves her chocolate!!




Guess I didn't take any pics in October on my Iphone (don't have her birthday on there.....I'm a terrible mom!)


In early November, Addison got extremely sick with fever and didn't want to eat. Started off on a Thursday night with her throwing up all over me at Habaneros.....awesome. We went to the ped office Friday morning and her White Blood Count was extremely high. After 3 days of PMD visits, 2 Rocephin shots, 2 urinary catheterizations, a CXR, abdominal ultrasound, and 1 ER visit, the doc thinks she somehow managed to get an infection in her bloodstream. Random....I know. This was day 3 of PMD visits when she was FINALLY feeling better. Poor baby....



This was her Thanksgiving shirt her Gigi made her! Isn't it the cutest! She added Gigi's glasses for an added effect!



For actual Thanksgiving, we headed to the beach and Addison had a blast playing in the sand! She wasn't able to play in the sand this summer due to her cast.


We decided in December to aim for this coming up December to try and take Addison to Disneyworld. She got very excited when we started talking about it and talks all the time about going to see Mickey and Cinderella's house! Let's just hope the finances come through too.....


One lonely Christmas pic from my phone. Addison had a wonderful Christmas and got WAAAAY too much stuff. She loved looking at all the Christmas lights and singing Happy Birthday to Jesus!



Well, that brings us to the New Year. Apparently I haven't downloaded the rest of my Iphone pics to my computer. But for now lunch, laundry, and Addison's naptime are calling for me. Maybe when she goes down for nap I can catch up some more! We shall see.............

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Back in Business!

Yay! I can finally start blogging again! I haven't blogged in over a month, but there is a very good reason for it. My hubby has been studying for his CPA exam since around the time of my last post. For those who don't know, the CPA exam is VERY difficult to pass. There are 4 different sections (separate tests) that you have to pass and it's a pretty long process. Kev has a computer program called Becker review that he has been VERY diligent in studying. Being that we only had one computer in the house, it was very hard for me to ever have time on it! I can't use the computer when Addison is awake and with me b/c she LOVES to push any kind of buttons. So, the only time I had for the computer was the time Kev needed to study. So, that's why I haven't blogged recently.......until now!

My awesome husband bought me an early Christmas present and that's what I am using to write this blog! That's right! He bought me a new laptop to use!! It's nothing fancy and was actually a great price! I can't believe how cheap you can get a new computer for these days!

All that to say I'm back in business and we have lots to catch up on! We are headed to a sweet friend's 1st birthday party now, but I'll blog again very soon!!

Oh......and Roll Tide! =)

Monday, July 18, 2011

Now you see it........



Now you don't!!! YAY!!!

Can you tell what's missing from the picture below??
Addison's cast is GONE! After 8 long weeks of a long arm cast, we finally got rid of that thing! Addison did great at her appointment this morning and left a happy girl! The MD said he was very pleased with how well she was healing. He said it looked better than he expected. The cast came off today, but she will need surgery again in about 6-12 weeks to remove the screw in her elbow. The screw has to come out so it doesn't interfere with her growth plate in her arm.


I took a picture of the computer screen where he had the side by side comparison of before and after. The picture on the left is from June 20th. It is after being in a cast for 4 weeks, but was actually worse than the initial break. The doc's thought is that fluid got in between the bone fragments during the first 4 weeks and caused the fracture to actually worsen. The picture on the right is from today. The bone looks much better (thanks to the screw!) and is healing quite nicely! We are so thankful that her arm has finally started healing properly!



Below is a picture of my lovebug on the way home. My little diva with her sunglasses on her head. She's one happy girl!! And she even got a treat from Gigi at the store for being a good patient this morning! I mean, every girl needs a Dora cell phone, right? :)




Monday, July 4, 2011

House Before/After Pictures

Well, after almost 2 months of living in our new house, I am finally getting around to showing you some pictures of our little casa! I love our new house and we feel very blessed at how the Lord provided for us and allowed us to find this house.


We'll start off with a few pictures of Addison's room. Quite possibly my favorite room in the house. I got the inspiration from a pamphlet at Hobby Lobby. I forgot to take "before" pics of her room, but it was a light yellow color. Addison needed something a little brighter! =)

My mom made the cover for the changing table to match the rest of the room.


We got the hanging thing at Hobby Lobby and then Mom and I "bejeweled" it with some flowers and little green jewels. It is really cute up close. We got the zebra lamp at Kirkland's and then put some hot pink fringe around the bottom of it.
My sister made these letters for Addison's first nursery. They were already black, but the ribbon was red. Now it's lime green.....and bright! My super crafty mom made the curtains for us. I got the bumper pads online and then we put the hot pink ties on them ourselves.


I also don't have a "before" picture of the kitchen, but we didn't really do anything to it, except add our furniture.

This is the before/after of the dining room. Top is before, bottom is after. We wanted to get rid of the wallpaper, but just didn't have the energy to do it. So, we just made do. And I gotta admit.....it's growing on me.


This is our living room. Again, we didn't remodel this room at all either. We just bought a new couch/loveseat and lots of decor to go here!

Most of the decor came from Kirkland's and Wal-Mart.


Below is my husband's pride and joy! This was his little "honey-do" project and he was so proud of himself! I gotta say, it looks a TON better!

Before it had wallpaper and yellow tile in the shower and I was NOT digging it!

We also replaced the mirrors, light fixtures, and towel hangers.

Next on our list is replacing the faucets and cabinet hardware.



So there you have it! A little peek into our home! We still have some things we'd like to do in the future, but that will have to wait until the budget allows. For now we are just enjoying having our own place!!