Floor Refinishing Week

The week that our floors were being redone, we stayed with my in-laws. The great thing was that they were out of town for the first few days. I ONLY mean that to say that we didnt feel like such a burden since they werent there. It was SO kind of them to let us stay with them! But since we thought it was just going to be for about 3 days, I didnt take many toys and hoped to just go to the parks in the area.

But then, it rained. Literally, all weekend. We could only handle being cooped up so long, so we decided to head to the library (literally 2 minutes from their house!) for reading time! The kids really did well!

When we were walking around checking things out, the lady who reads to the kids mentioned to me that the themed bags that they use to read from (which have books, puppets, and toys!) are available for check out as well. AND pointed us in the direction of a dinosaur bag. Mack had JUST gotten interested in dinosaurs so it was PERFECT! It gave us a few toys to play with, some books, etc. I was so grateful!

Jeff was working the parking lot at Archer for their football game and gone most of the night. So I told Jeff I was thinking of taking the kids to see Planes at the movies. We had been to one other movie in the summer (Monsters University) and the kids had done fairly well. So I thought, again, something to keep us busy!

The kids expressions cracked me up. Deer in headlights, huh?!

Unlike when we went to Monsters, this time I actually remembered to get a picture!

When we got done at the movies, we went to visit Daddy at Archer and the kids had a ton of fun running around and "hiding". Till they each stubbed their toes. Redneck kids wont wear shoes. What can i say?!

That same weekend, we also had SOCCER ORIENTATION! Oh my, folks. We had asked Rhyan if she wanted to keep doing gymnastics and she told us "no. i want to play where i kick the ball". Soccer. Eww! hah. So I went that Saturday morning to orientation and met her coach. How crazy?! She's growing up!

The floors took longer than we anticipated, like I said. So when we did get to move back in, our grass was a bit out of control. Which led to Jeff and I both cutting it at NIGHT with massive lamps. HA! You do what you've gotta do sometimes, right?! Idk if the neighbors were annoyed with us or glad it was getting done!

What a CRAZY week! Whew!

Being Neighborly

I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but our neighbors are grandparents who are raising their four grandkids. They are such a nice family and my babies LOVE Katie. She is 2 years older than Rhyan. And it shows. But they still play together fairly well. This summer, they would ask if Katie could come over to play probably  2-3 times a week! It didnt work out that often, but it was fun when it did!

We really are grateful for our great neighbors! And man, anytime you can get a sighting of Jeff, the King, you should consider yourself lucky, right?! ;-)

Success School

Back in August, I attended "Success School" in Texas for Advocare! Jeff and I have been using products for over a year, and I thought it would be beneficial to learn more about the company.

Jeff was super supportive and said if nothing else, it'd make for a great girls weekend :-)

So i made my flight reservations for a super early time so they would be super cheap. And 2 other guys from our "team" (whom I had never met) made the same flight. We were talking about all riding together, but Jeff said he didnt feel comfortable with that since we had never met. So he decided to drive me.

Thing is, we dont know anything about the airport. So when we arrived 2.5 yours before my flight, Jeff just went to the biggest and brightest terminal. Turns out, thats delta's INTERNATIONAL terminal. So I had to take a shuttle to the domestic terminal. Which took forever. Why? Because despite the fact that there was a shuttle sitting right there, not busy, the driver wouldnt take me b/c she said she does car rental transfers only.

20 minutes later, a shuttle came up. She asked how long I had waited and I told her. She was pretty upset and said that they are only assigned areas when its BUSY. Which it was not. (I was the ONLY person waiting). She apologized and said she hoped I'd make my flight :-(

Make a long story short, I walked up to the terminal about 1 minute after they closed the gate. The plane was still there! The two other guys had gotten on and all I kept thinking was "I should have rode with the potentially scary two guys who knew where they were going".

THEN, the next flight which I was put on (me and the other 15 people who missed the flight) had mechanical issues. Keep in mind, I had connecting flights. SO, I missed my connecting flight.

Eric and David were SO incredibly kind. They both WAITED for me at the airport despite the fact that my connecting flight ended up landing over 2 hours AFTER theirs (my original flight). What amazing guys! Not so scary after all, huh?! So then, our next issue was getting from the airport to the convention center or hotel. Turns out that another girl, Nikki from New Jersey, had rented a suv and was kind enough to come pick us up. Talk about meeting some strangers and becoming quick friends ;-)

We made it to the convention center where i met even more people who became quick friends!

Nikki!

Stacy, from Valdosta!

The convention was at Cowboys stadium and oh my, it was massive and overwhelming!

Danielle (who introduced me to advocare) worked it out so that we could come down on the field. That is a perk reserved for leaders in the company, but she's awesome and wanted to share the experience!

There were some really cool aspects... like the cowboy cheerleaders who came out! Or the incredible speakers who shared. Or the pannel of doctors who filled our heads with all of the best knowledge!

And of course on Sunday, Michael W Smith led worship for us for about an hour. I cracked up at how he plays the piano like Schroder ;-) What a COOL experience! They even had the first ever "advo-choir" ;-)

On the way back, I stuck with David and Erik. And we ended up getting on early flights for BOTH and home a little earlier than expected! I rode home with them (Jeff came and picked me up closer to Davids house) and honestly, they are two of the most upstanding guys I know! I had to get a pic of the plan for my babies!

I learned a TON about advocare that weekend. More about the company and the products. Tons of success stories, both of health regained and finances. I met a ton of people and was more convinced than ever that these products are ones we can trust and that the company is one I want to be a part of :-)

12 Years

August 4, 2001 was the day we got married. We were 21 years old. Madly in love. Excited for the future.

August 4, 2013 we celebrated 12 years of marriage. We are older. Hopefully wiser. Still madly in love, although we are now able to restrain from making out in the driveway before our date ends ;-) We are parenting 2 little. Still very excited for the future.

Our love is definitely different now than it was 12 years ago. Its deeper. Its seen hard times. Its seen days when we werent sure we wanted to stay in this thing (although we both knew we would because we made a covenant with God that we wouldnt run away... and God has blessed our steadfastness and commitment). And so there were days we decided to put in more effort to make this thing something we wanted to stay in.

And I'm so glad we did. And I'm so grateful that each year gets better and better.

Dont get me wrong. Relationships go through cycles and ours is no different. We have the same petty arguments over and over about every 2-3 months. But we are gaining perspective on what is big and what is really nothing to fret over.

And we are learning to show our love in ways that our spouse understands.

For anyone who is married, I'd highly recommend "The 5 Love Languages" book. It practically saved our marriage after the firs year! SO beneficial!

We are both a little chunkier. We have more wrinkles. We share more jokes and have enjoyed/survived raising our kids for the last 4 years together. We are learning more and more every day how to be a team. How to support one another.

We do our best to stay on the same page or at least keep each other in the loop as to our hopes and dreams and goals for life so that we can be a part of it.Together.

Cause "till death does us part" is a long time. And I'd like to get to the end and say that we grew. That we changed, together. That we loved.

I love you, Jeff Ford. You are my best friend and I'm incredibly grateful for the man God has led you to become. I trust you with everything in me and rest comfortably each night knowing that you would never betray that trust. You are a good man. A wonderful father.  And the one my soul loves.

Last Days of Summer

Is there anything sweeter than a sleeping baby?! I HAVE to have pics of my sleeping kiddos while I still can!

On the last few days of summer (meaning, before Daddy started back to work), we made sure to soak up the sun! We headed to Mommie's house for some outdoor water fun!

Where I promptly got bit by something. Idk what. All I know is that I seem to get strange bug bites on the regular and I seem to always end up with some strange reaction to it. Geesh!

And our babies worked on riding their bikes and having fun in the neighborhood. (how is it that Mack still cant ride a bike?! he's so athletic in so many ways to be only 2 years old. Rhyan on the other hand is not. But she's been riding a bike for a LONG time but Mack still hasnt caught on?!)

We also took the opportunity to take Lydia to Lanier world with us again! The Nash's actually "hosted" her this time, and the girls had a BLAST getting to play with her!

Here was my foot 2 days after the bites. My entire foot was super red and swollen and it hurt to walk on! It ended up clearing up on its own, but wowza... who knew two little bites could be such an issue!

And I HAD to enjoy one last chick fil a milkshake as a farewell to summer!

And Mack had ot have one last "i'm worn out" car nap! I LOVE a sleeping baby! And I love babies who are so worn out from our summer activities that they need naps!

This summer was AMAZING!