the perfect date

Michael and I recently celebrated our five year anniversary. He planned the whole day. It was so nice to spend some sweet time with him. We went to the movies, had thai food from some hole in the wall place at the beach, took a stroll on the beach, and then capped the night off with double scoop ice cream waffles cones from Kilwins.

I must say it was the perfect day. 

As we walked along the beach we talked about how crazy it was that we were spending our anniversary on the beach. We sure didn't know we'd be living here in Florida when we got married five years ago. 

(there was some serious wind blowing hence the wind blown hair)

The day was full of great talks about our history together and even talks of our future. We even came up with a mission/vision statement for our family (which I will post about eventually). We're actually going through the "Real Marriage" series with our young couples small group which encouraged us to write a mission statement for our marriage/family. The series has been so wonderfully awesome for our marriage. Lots of honest conversation that is truly blessing us. I highly recommend it: "Real Marriage" and honest conversation. I also recommend Kilwins ice cream.

Silly girl

Here's an amusing conversation Michael had with Annabel...
Michael: "Annabel, where does Jesus live?"
Annabel: "Tucky."
Annabel seems to think Jesus lives in Kentucky. Priceless.

Have a little faith

Here's my latest piece. I did it for a good friend of mine at church. Actually it was for her daughter, Faith. Their family does this super, cool thing. When each one of their kids turn ten they take them on a trip anywhere they want to go. Faith chose somewhere tropical and sunny. After returning from their tropical and sunny trip she divided to decorate her room in bright tropical colors, hence my bright tropical color palette for the painting. I love how it turned out!

Five whole years!

Today is my wedding anniversary. 

Five whole years. Go us!

here we are the night of our rehearsal dinner. this is one of my favorite pictures of us.

this is typical of us: he's paying attention to instructions and i'm totally distracted and goofing off...

he wasn't happy about this last minute decision on my part to stuff the cake up his nose...he was a good sport about it though.

our wedding weekend at the greatest b&b that ever existed. i want to live there.

best weekend ever.

sitting in the airport in route to Naples, Fl where we honeymooned. this is probably where i caught food poisoning. i spent the first night of our honeymoon hugging a toilet. still a good time though. michael made it enjoyable even though i was hating my life for a couple of days.

fishing... (obviously)

mission trip to guatemala.

fun picture of him taken by one of his old students. he used to be a teacher and he was a darn good one.

michael and lloyd the postdog. yes, we were those people who dressed our dogs up for halloween. 

thanksgiving 2009

my birthday. he always bakes me a cake. such a sweet man.

it's blurry but it's one of my all time favorite pictures of us. it was at my cousin's wedding. they had one of those photobooth things. too fun.

first picture as a poppa. 

our whole crew. 

Oh how I love this man. I can't say enough about what the last five years have taught me: about myself, Michael, marriage, living with a boy, love, faith, patience, and so on. Our marriage has taught me and continues to teach me about being selfless and extending grace and receiving grace. It's such a beautiful picture of the gospel. I'm so thankful for a husband who is committed to Jesus and because of that committed to me and our relationship. I'm thankful for a man who is patient with me. A man who has taught me about our Lord and our faith. A man who has led and continues to lead me well even when it's hard. A man who takes his responsibilities seriously. A man who is sweet and thoughtful. A man who loves to serve me. A man who is kind. A man who works hard and with integrity. A man who loves his family. A man who loves to learn. A man who is open to growth and doesn't want to stay the same but wants to better himself always. A man who is my friend. A man who has stood by my side during two births and was such a ginormous support to me. I could go on and on but I won't. Point is I've got myself a catch. I adore my husband. Now don't get me wrong there are moments where I've wanted to slug him but I believe the whole point of marriage, to quote Martin Luther, is "to make us holy." In believing that, I know that marriage is going to be tough and challenging. The important thing is how we respond to it. I pray that God will continue to refine me through my marriage and that He would never stop. 

I love you husband. I am beyond blessed and thankful for these five years. I pray for many more. I'm glad that I can go through this life with my BFF. You are awesome, not perfect, but wonderfully imperfect.

10 years ago...

Remember in high school when people would always ask "Where do you think you'll be in five years? Ten years? At least that's what I got asked. I never knew the answer either. Sure, I could say "Um, I'll probably be working and married maybe with some kids." Who really knows though? 

Well here I am ten years from the day I graduated high school and it's not what I imagined. Since high school I have gone to three different colleges, graduated from college, gotten married, traveled, adopted two dogs, moved to Florida (from my home state of Kentucky), and had two kids that I stay at home with and I do custom art in my spare time (ha, what's that?).

Married May 19, 2007

Mission Trip to Guatemala 2008

Our two pups we've aquired...

Torre

Lloyd

(Don't you love my popeye?)

Old Fashioned Road Trip 2008

 

Cruise 2009

Preggo with Annabel 2009

Moved to Florida January 2010

Annabel born in July 2010

Pregnant with Sam in 2011

(I look the same pregnant with Sam as I did with Annabel plus I'm having trouble downloading pics and I'm lazy and tired)

Sam born in February 2012

So ten years from my graduation day. Here I am. Happy as a lark. I love our life and wouldn't trade any of it: the good, the bad, or the ugly.

So that's that. I'm just gonna end the post with cute pics of my kids. Can't go wrong ending it there.

Love Sam's face.

He's probably wondering why his sister has him in a choke hold and I'm just snappin pictures. 

How bout you? What does your ten years later look like?

To Annabel...

Dear Annabel Ruth,

You will forever hold a special place in my heart. 

You are my first and because of that every experience with you is a first. It's thrilling and scary all at the same time.

You are beautiful. Smart. Hilarious. Sweet. Stubborn. Tender. Determined. Obedient. Oh so cute. And so many other things. 

You're such a character! People are forever commenting on your facial expressions and how funny and animated they are. You're very expressive to say the least. 

Something funny you've been doing lately is to call your daddy by his name. You say (with an accent I might add) "Michael, dop it, dop it." Translation: Michael, stop it, stop it. You absolutely crack us up! I'm sure other kids are funny but you're by far the funniest (to us at least).   

You call your brother "Sammy" even though we call him Sam. We recently went to the zoo and you got so excited to see the monkeys. You ran over to Sam's stroller and told him all about the monkeys. You said over and over "Yook Sam! Yook! Monkeys! (insert monkey imitation here)." It was one of the sweetest things I've seen. You love Sam so much. You always give him "big kisses" on the cheek and forehead. You've really taken to him and we're so proud of you for accepting him with hardly any hints of jealousy.

We pray for you daily. That you would trust Jesus at a young age. That you would seek him always and forever. That you would love him with your heart, mind, and soul. It's the greatest prayer I could ever pray for you. I always pray for your health and safety but ultimately and more importantly I pray that you love Jesus and that you experience his grace. Your name actually means "beautiful grace." We named you that on purpose. We've experienced God's beautiful grace in that He's extended his saving grace to us and it is surely the most beautiful thing.

I love you sweet child of mine.

Love,

Mommy

Momma Mia

I thought I'd do a short walk down memory lane with it being Mother's Day and all... so here goes.

This is me with Annabel shortly after she was born. I was freakin exhausted. It was a long and hard day. I was induced and she still put up a fight even at ten days past my due date. She's a stubborn one. Must get that from her daddy...

Here I am with Sam shortly after he was born. He was still late (eight days late actually) but that felt early compared to Annabel's ten days late. He at least came on his own and boy did he come fast. I went into labor at 10:52 pm on a Thursday night and had him the next morning at 4:11 am. Might I just add that I had him with no drugs at all... Do I get extra mom points for that? Or just extra stupid points? Ha, either way (with drugs or without) having a baby is hard work and every mother deserves a birthing medal (those exist right?).

This is Annabel meeting her baby brother for the first time. It was one of the sweetest things I've ever witnessed and I will cherish that memory for as long as I live.

God has so blessed me with my two children, but in writing this, I don't want to be naive to think that everyone who reads my blog wants to hear about how much I love being a mom and how grateful I am to have my kids. I'm so thankful for them and I think I should express that but I'm very mindful of those who want children and are having a tough time and also those who have lost children. I know today can be a tough day for folks for different reasons and to be honest I'm so grateful that it's not a tough day for me. I feel as if that sounds weird or arrogant but I don't mean for it to. I say that because I do have kids and I can't imagine the thought of not having them. I pray for the couples I know personally and even those I don't know who are struggling, those with hopes of a child but are still childless and those who have lost. I pray that they could experience the blessing of a child and if not that God would give them a comfort and peace about it.