Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Memorial Day

Pictures from Brads redeployment ceremony

This was part of his unit, waiting to be released to their families.

Our 1st kiss since r&r

12 Months apart - and FINALLY together again. :)



A big thank you goes out to all those service men and women who have given their lives so my freedom can be secured. I am honored, I am humbled, and I am forever grateful to be an American - to be protected by those who sacrifice so much so that I may go to Church without persecution, so that I may have opinions that do not always agree with our government, so that I might live knowing that I am free.

This Memorial Day, I hope that you had a wonderful day off of work, I hope that you had friends to eat with, to drink with, to celebrate with. But I do hope you remembered those who made the ultimate sacrifice so that you have the opportunity to do all those things you love. I am forever humbled and forever grateful for them and their families, and will continue to try to never take my freedom for granted. I have seen the sacrifice those have made first-hand, have wept with fellow military wives as they have told me their stories of the sacrifice their husbands have made, and I am forever impacted because of them.

Freedom is not free. But I am proud to be an American, and proud to be an army wife. I know my husband has put his life on the line many times so that we can be an amazing, free country, and I am very thankful that he has made it back from war zones to be with me.

So please, if you didn't get a chance to yesterday, join me in a moment of silence honoring our fallen heroes.

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Mother's Day & ETC 05/12


Hello, folks. How was your mother's day? Mine was well, thank you.

Brad woke me up with the smell of sausage and pancakes. MMM... so delicious. Quite a wonderful change from my normal cereal morning :)

We had a baby dedication at Church. Where the pastor called me Jennifer. And I decided not to correct him, we only know a small handful of people there (seriously like 3) so nobody would have noticed his slip. And Brad and I giggled under our breaths about it.

But it was beautiful. And something I desperately wanted to do. Every night as I rock Colton I pray that he would grow to know the Lord in such a real and meaningful way. I pray that he would thirst for the Lord and live for Him. Everything else seems so trivial compared to this - and so this is my daily prayer for him. And this is why the baby dedication meant so much to me. Of all things I could pray for him (health, happiness, successfulness, contentedness, etc.) this one is of eternal importance, and this one takes care of all others. And so I pray for him - I beg the Lord to get his grasp on Colton early - to never let go - to put people in his life that will point him towards Jesus - to help Brad and I to be shining lights of who the Lord is and how to trust Him as we parent Colton - and I have faith, I believe, I trust that since this prayer is in His will, it will be answered.

And after Church, Brad made me lunch. Okay - he made me a chicken salad sandwhich, with the chicken salad I had made the day before. But the point is, I didn't have to make it for us. He assembled the lunch, set the table, and let me be lazy. The rest of the day was spent laughing with Colton, going on a walk, hanging out, playing games, etc. And definitely not worrying about how I hadn't cleaned at all. Brad did the dishes and we decided that the house could wait and we would spend the day just enjoying our little family of 3. It was oh so perfect.

I didn't even have to make dinner. Brad ordered Pizza Hut. My husband is so good to me.

I forgot the best part.

I didn't have to change even one diaper the whole day.

Not that I really mind changing diapers, but since it has become such a part of every day life, it was nice to remember what it was like to not look at poop every day. And know that I will be there again and will probably miss it when I am. That is probably when it will be time to consider trying for another, I suppose. :)

Oh, and I got flowers. Which I never get flowers. They were so unexpected because i got them on Friday.

Seriously yall... I have the best husband in the world. Ever. And he gave me the best mother's day. I know it wasn't lavish but it was exactly what I wanted - a day to enjoy being the family of 3 that we are. A day to not worry about the house or what we'll eat.

I will leave you with some pictures. :)


On our way to Church for the baby dedication. Such a happy baby!


Right after Church. Man what a good lookin' man I've got. :)

I wanted a kissing picture... and this is how it went. He's so funny.

Colton and I on our back deck.

These are my flowers! They are beautiful aren't they?




That's all for now. See you next time bloggity world!



Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Swimming!

We bought a baby pool for our back deck and were SO excited to take him swimming for the first time! Here is a little photog recap of how it went yesterday:

Daddy and baby so excited to try out the new pool!

Here we go:


MOM ITS COLD I HATE THE POOL! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME?


Oh.. I got my paci.. I'm loungin in my baby floatie... it's not so bad.


Now this is the life:


Yes, I would say pool time was a success... With only a minute or two of crying, and then some splashing fun! We have a baby pool party at a friends today, hopefully it goes just as well :) Also, we are BEACH-BOUND this weekend! My in-laws will be coming in town so we got a beach house. There will definitely be TONS of photos to share, as I will be documenting Colton's first beach experience. Be on the lookout :)
PS. It is so weird to this KS girl to be able to drive to the beach. Y'all.. I can pick up and drive less than 2 hours and be loungin' on the sand, listenin' to the waves, readin' the Nook, workin' on my tan. It is taking me a slight little while to really get this understanding in my brain. I have only taken advantage of this ONCE (with my mom while my hubby was at SERE school last summer!) And I definitely think once is not enough. I am so looking forward to this little mini family reunion on the beach.
Also. My parents are coming to visit us, and they booked a beach house for one of the weeks they will be here. That's right folks, they will be here in the beginning of July and we will be beachin' it. And I just can't wait. Can you imagine watching fireworks on the beach? I can't, but I will be sure to let you know how it goes :)

I know. You all wanna come visit now. Well, there's no stopping you. You're totally welcome. Come on over and we'll take a day trip (if not a weekend trip or longer!) to the beach.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Embrace the Camera 5/5


On Saturday, we ventured out to the great Dogwood Festival in downtown Fayetteville, NC. And may I say "WOAH!" It was way bigger than I expected little ol' Fayetteville to put on. And.. completely free. Unless you count the cost of buying some yummy fair food. Or buying anything from the local vendors (which I didn't.. pat me on the back, because there were several things I had my eye on). I have been trying my hardest to remember to take more photos with Brad and I in them and this time, I ACCOMPLISHED IT! Here you go:


This is Brad and I. He's such a hottie.

And here is Colton, napping. And chewing on his lip. Gotta love this baby!!


Also.. there was this awesome "kiddie tent" or something with a similar name that had some really fun toys and activities (free! Woot woot!) for small children. Colton loved it but mostly he liked looking at all the other children running around, sliding, rocking on the horse, blowing huge bubbles, jumping in the mini bouncy houses, etc. We tried this horse, a slide, and the bouncy house. This is the only one he really enjoyed.


How can you resist this face? You can't. Way too cute for words.




linkin' on up peeps. Be cool and do it too. :)

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Colton wants to crawl so bad!


Isn't he cute? I suppose it won't be much longer until he really figures it out :( My little immobile baby is no more. Soon I will no longer be able to do the dishes while he plays on the floor and come back to find him in (generally) the same spot 10 minutes later. But, crawling opens up a whole wide world of possibilities and endless fun so I am excited to see what the future holds and watch him while he tries to figure it out even more!

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Colton got a new stroller!



Look how comfy he looks! We found it on Craigslist for $50 :) I love good deals!




Also... ALL THIS for $20 :) Can you believe it? I am seriously a craigslist addict.

So we are selling our Britax Vigour stroller on craigslist. Anyone interested? :)