so much change!

Hello.

I know, I've had quite the hiatus. A lot has been going on since my last post in April. Not only do we have a running, talkative, attention-seeking, adorable toddler, but we also have a new little addition on the way! Yes indeed, our family is adding another little baby to the mix. We are very thrilled and can't wait to meet Baby Bauer 2 in January.

My blog has taken a backseat lately because I have been exhausted. I realize being tired is the life of all parents and pregnant people. But it's true, whenever Graeme is sleeping, whether at nap time or at night, I can barely bring myself to do much of anything. Writing a blog has sounded like a tiring amount of work. Ha. Come on, second trimester.

Everything about this pregnancy so far is very similar to my pregnancy with Graeme, with a few exceptions. I have way more cravings this time. Not sure why. Specifically Chick-fil-a, Goldfish crackers, and Pirate's Booty cheese puffs. I have a strong aversion to eggs again. I have been pretty sick for the past six weeks. It seems a little bit worse this pregnancy just because this time around I can't really stop and rest whenever I want. No matter how I feel, there is a little ball of energy that feels great and ready to play! I do my best to rest or nap when he takes a nap. And Aaron will tell you that I pass out on the couch by 8:30 or 9pm every night. 

Knock on wood, I have been way less nauseous for the past three days, so I am hoping I am done with that! With Graeme, I started to feel better around 13-14 weeks and then had an amazing pregnancy for the remainder of the time. Here's to that happening again.




Graeme, of course, has changed pretty drastically since his first birthday. He is fifteen months old now! He's had his first major haircut that was more than a trim, although you wouldn't know it now. In two months it has grown out to be just as long as before.

Graeme Grayson
July 2, 2015

He wasn't walking by his birthday, and he wasn't in too much of a hurry after he turned one either! Right around 13 months he went from crawling to walking around within a couple of days. He didn't waste time once he decided to walk! Now, he runs and dances and walks backwards.

Graeme talks A LOT. According to the all-knowing internet (ha), the average 15-month old says about six-eight words. I don't know how accurate that is since every kid is so different. I started trying to make a list of the words Graeme says. Now, not all of them are pronounced correctly, of course, but my list consists of about 70 words so far. I might be forgetting some. I have no explanation for this other than:  God made him unique, we read him hundreds of books and have done this since he was born, and we talk to him all of the time and tell him what things are and what we're doing.

Much to our delight, the boy loves to read books. At times, we will go through a pile of 20 books and he will still ask for more. They are mostly board books, not novels, but we're still impressed. He has expanded his tastes in books a little bit and will even let us read new books more often and not the same ones over and over.

He loves Batman and Curious George. He and Aaron will sit and watch the old Batman TV series with Adam West on the weekends and he constantly asks to watch Curious George. His favorite character on "George" is the little dachshund, Hundley, so we have watched all of the episodes containing him about one million times. Yes, he still loves dogs the most. And no, he still doesn't consider "Peppy" (Penny) a dog.

We took him to the beach at the beginning of June. He had been to the beach when he was four months, but this time he could participate more than just laying there. He was not a huge fan of the actual ocean and sand part of the beach. The ocean scared him and he didn't like getting sand on his hands and feet. He did enjoy the little inflatable pool we brought him to play in on the beach and his beach toys. So, it was not a total catastrophe. He loves the swimming pool, so there is still hope.

Aaron and I took our first extended trip away without Graeme for our fifth anniversary. We went to our favorite place. Obviously that is Disney World. It was wonderful to get away for four whole nights and focus completely on each other. We of course missed Graeme like crazy, but it was very worthwhile to reconnect and not have a schedule that we were constantly making decisions around for a few days. We came back home overjoyed to see Graeme and he was just as happy to see us. Next year on our anniversary we will be leaving two kids behind...crazy!

On Sunday, 12-weeks-pregnant Me is perhaps insanely embarking on a solo plane ride with a 15-month old. In order to visit my grandparents and family in Florida, we devised a plan that Graeme and I will fly down to Tampa where my parents (who are already down there) will pick us up. We will spend a few days with family and then drive back to Raleigh through the night with my parents next Wednesday. Aaron and Penny are staying home this time, sadly. If I can make it to a seat on the plane and somehow entertain a restless Graeme for 1.5 hours, it will be a piece of cake. Yikes.


Well, I am not planning on waiting three months before I write again. Maybe once a week is doable for now. We shall we. Happy Independence Day!

finally...it's been awhile!

Hi.

It's been awhile.

After Graeme turned 8 months, the insanity of the holidays hit in full force. No matter how hard we try to keep our schedule simple, it seems almost impossible this time of year. There's just no way around the busy-ness. So, we make the very most of our time at home together. Tonight, Aaron is at a meeting, Graeme is asleep, and so I am taking advantage of the evening and trying to get a blog post up!





A lot has been going on around here. Let's see, I suppose I should go all the way back to Thanksgiving first! Graeme's first Thanksgiving was super fun and super tiring! We are fortunate to live near all of our immediate family, so we spent time with both families over the course of two days.

Two nights of being out past bedtime (6:30pm)...we really partied. 

His cute bib from his MiMi and Grandy

Family picture at GiGi's house

Aaron's younger (taller) brother got engaged a couple of days before Thanksgiving, so they had an engagement party on Thanksgiving night.
This photo is of the Bauer family (us, Andrew and Lauren, GiGi and Pop, Adam and Becca and Samuel and London).

Aaron and I ventured out for some Black Friday shopping, but we waited until the more reasonable hour of noon on Friday. Graeme hung out downtown, and we enjoyed a shopping/lunch date. Of course, a lot of what we bought was for Graeme, including this awesome orange vest.

Speaking of shopping, we have ONLY shopped for Graeme so far for Christmas. Yeah...we've got some catching up to do. It is so fun shopping for him, and he doesn't even care yet. I know it will just get better and better. 

Anyway.






What else has been going on?

We paid a visit to one of our very favorite families:  Bensen and Keyen and their lovely parents. We don't get to see them nearly as much as we'd like to, but we try to make visiting them as often as possible a priority. Graeme loves them and he really loved checking out their awesome Christmas village.

Graeme is cutting his top teeth. One of them is finally through. When he got his bottom teeth, Aaron and I were like, "Oh, this teething thing isn't so bad..." Yeah, well, we didn't know. The top teeth are apparently much worse! They don't seem to bother him too much during the day, but when it's time to sleep and he has nothing to distract him from the pain, that's when he's so pitiful and I feel awful for him. We have tried some gels and tablets, and I'm not sure how much they help. He usually just wants to be held. Poor little boy. Teething even kept him from enjoying Pullen Park.

Sad swinging

We have a lot going on at Journey this month too. This past Friday night we had our Christmas FX. Aaron got to put his acting skills to use. I don't see him act very much, and I didn't have the privilege of knowing him in his college theater years. He's a very talented actor and watching him was my favorite part of the night. But everyone else in our FX was awesome too! It was the first event I had been to at Journey in quite awhile since I usually skip out to stay with Graeme. I had so much fun! I miss being there for everything sometimes, but I know as Graeme gets older we will participate more and more.

Well, I will try to not wait so long before I post again! 

Last note:  Graeme started saying Da-Da yesterday! It's just about the cutest thing. He's also waving bye-bye now. Goodness, time is speeding away. I sure love that boy.

Graeme Grayson

in Florida

Hello from sunny Florida and Happy Independence Day!

Graeme is asleep in the pack-n-play for his second nap, and I thought I'd pay some attention to my neglected blog.

We are having a great trip. We left Wednesday afternoon right at 2:50pm and we rolled in to my grandparent's driveway at exactly 2:15am on Thursday. We stopped three times on the way, and Graeme only cried a few times. He wasn't too keen about falling asleep in his carseat for bedtime, but once he did, he was fine. For a twelve hour trip with a 3-month-old, we can't complain at all! 

We've kept him on his routine and he's taken to his new surroundings like a champ. He is, of course, the center of attention!



Aaron had to work on Wednesday until we got in the car to leave, so I was in charge of packing. I didn't mind, and even though Graeme must have sensed my to-do list and didn't want to take long naps, I got everything done. When I got it all downstairs, I was pretty certain there was no way it was all fitting in our little Honda Civic.

Graeme was asleep in his swing at this point, so I began the task of loading the car. After a huge fight with the stroller and the rock-n-play (which I finally won), I was pretty pleased with myself for getting everything in the trunk except for the four little bags that were filled with things for Graeme and needed to go in the backseat.

Yeah...I'm not sure how that's ever going to work again. Especially since Aaron has since acquired a ginormous, orange stuffed owl that he found at Cracker Barrel for our new preschool set at church.

My grandparents have an in-ground pool that's screened-in. Graeme has been in the water both days that we've been here and he loves it.

We didn't bring his little bathtub down here. It obviously would have either sat in someone's lap or been strapped to the top of the car! Graeme took a bath in a couple of inches of water in the regular bathtub last night, and apparently we wasted our money on the Finding Nemo baby bathtub with infant sling. Graeme was all about the big bath. We will have to try to video him in there next time. He would have stayed in the bath for a very long time and been so happy. I'm so glad he's a water-loving baby.





I am so glad Graeme is down here making memories with his family. He is surrounded by five grandparents right now, so he's getting plenty of snuggles.

Getting kisses from Great-Great-Gramma Pierce while his Grandy looks on.

Graeme is the fifth generation from his Gramma Pierce. How awesome is that?

"And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation."

Luke 1:50

about our party animal baby (and other things)

What a crazy week it's been. Excuse my absence on the blog. My brother is officially married as of Saturday, and I am so excited to have another wonderful sister-in-law.

The wedding weekend was a lot of fun, but it involved three late nights for our little guy who is accustomed to being in his crib at promptly 7pm every night. And we learned that he is definitely a boy who needs to be in his bed to go to sleep at night. No, he didn't cry and scream about it. But he just would not sleep. He's like a party animal. Couldn't miss out on any of the fun. He was happy and awake until really late every night of the weekend. Even on the car rides home. Not until he hit his bed would he be out for the night. Crazy kid. He's slept SO well since the wedding. We've had six hour stretches in his crib every night. It's been pretty great.

We got to see most of my extended family and introduce Graeme to many of his great aunts, great uncles, and second cousins.

He's now met all four of his great grandparents and his great-great grandma. I am so, so thankful that he not only has all of his grandparents around, but also their parents, and my dad's grandmother! What a loved boy by up to five generations!




In other news, Aaron and I celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary tomorrow. I can't believe it. It seems like just yesterday. Usually, we take at least a week's vacation to celebrate this time of year. Our honeymoon was spent on a cruise, our first anniversary was a week at Disney, our second was a week at Daytona Beach with one day at Disney, and last year we went on another cruise.

This year, we are foregoing a long trip for obvious reasons, but we are taking the time to spend one night at Carolina Beach sans baby and dog. I am excited. I'll admit, I'm a little apprehensive to leave Graeme overnight for the first time. I'm not at all worried about the care he'll receive (my parents are keeping him), but I know I'll be sad to leave him when the time comes.

My excitement for a night away with Aaron will stop any tears as soon as we get in the car and head towards the ocean. I have no doubt that we are doing the right thing! Time away together alone will be non-negotiable, and we might as well start early. Going for one night will make going for longer easier the next time.

Check back tomorrow for a special, bonus blog post as I reminisce about the happiest day ever. June 11, 2010. Our wedding day.





Two more things...

One, I chopped my hair off! About a month ago, my hair that I had been growing out for like a year started to bug the crap out of me. It was SO long. But, I didn't want to cut it before the wedding so I could wear it up. I scheduled a haircut for the Monday right after the wedding, which was yesterday. My hair stylist, who is my friend and has been cutting my hair for like six years now, asked me what I wanted to do. And I said I just wanted to go for it. Cut it off. My two stipulations were as follows: no bangs and I wanted to be able to put it in a ponytail.

It's a pretty big difference!

Two, in not as fun news, when I was leaving to go get Graeme from my mom yesterday after my haircut, I noticed that my car felt weird to drive. At first I thought it was the road being bumpy. But it didn't stop. You know me and my lack of car knowledge, but I supposed I should pull over to check since I was still in my neighborhood. I also remembered that I thought I was supposed to turn my flashers on. I wasn't sure if it mattered in my neighborhood, but I did it anyway because it's not too often I get to push that button and I actually know where it is! I got out, and was disheartened to see that my back tire was totally and completely flat. Yuck. I made the short drive back to the house and called Aaron. My mom brought Graeme to me, and then Aaron came home early to mess with it. He surprised me and changed the flat tire himself! We drove it to the tire place and ended up having to replace it. The world just wants all of our money, I guess. I'm just glad I was not out on a big road and that Graeme was safe.


Lastly, I can't finish a post without at least one picture of my cute kid. He's eleven weeks old now, you know.

about Graeme's first Easter

Graeme celebrated his first Easter this past weekend. Well, we probably had more fun celebrating it with him. He figured it was like any other day I suppose.

We started the celebrations on Saturday with the Bauer family. Graeme wore his Easter onesie that I bought him before he was born.

Cute, right?!


We went to his GiGi and Pop's house where he proceeded to take a long nap with Pop.

We all ate dinner while he continued to sleep. He was pretty sleepy that day.

Aaron and I took on the responsibility of opening his Easter basket goodies. He got way more loot than we did, as it should be I suppose.



Sunday, we spent the whole morning at Journey. I resumed my preschool worship leader duties that I've missed for the past few weeks. We had a great day and saw 100 people go public in baptism.

Graeme was looking pretty sharp in his Easter outfit. My friend Jessica made him some adorable bow ties and he wore one of those.

We got home from church and took a brief nap before it was time to head to Outback to celebrate Easter with my family.

Graeme was a sleepyhead through dinner again. Afterwards, we were all given our Easter baskets. The four big kids (me, Aaron, Tyler, and Sarah) got little baskets filled with candy and my mom's amazing homemade chocolate peanut butter eggs. Graeme got the biggest Easter basket known to man. Here's a size comparison:

He definitely made out pretty well for a four-week-old who was clueless to the Easter experience.

We got him an Easter basket too. It was not nearly as stuffed as the ones from his grandparents. Also, the chocolate bunny was in his basket from GiGi, but I think we will eat it for him. :)

We had so much fun celebrating our risen Savior with Graeme and can't wait to share many Easters with him. Also, we can't believe he turned four weeks old yesterday!

two weeks into this thing

Two weeks ago at this time I was sitting in a hospital bed holding my brand new baby boy that was born just that morning. I can't believe he's two weeks old!

Me and Graeme before we moved out of the delivery room.

Before we were parents, we heard countless times, "They grow up so fast!" or "Time speeds by!" or "They'll be grown in the blink of an eye!"

Yeah.

That's all totally true. We get it now.

I have cried about four times in the past 24 hours just thinking of how much he's already grown.

His going home from the hospital outfit (pictured) is about to be too small already! :(

Anyway.

I am not sure the goal of this blog post other than a random assortment of catching up. Here goes...



Graeme was born very early on a Sunday morning (figures he would come on the busiest day of the week for the majority of his close family and friends...even his own father). We could have stayed in the hospital until Tuesday, but the thought of another night in the hospital bed with the constant interruptions was not appealing to me at all. I just can't sleep well at the hospital. It was the same when I had my thyroid removed.

Despite hardly any sleep while we were at the hospital, I was on an adrenaline high or something. The fact that I had gotten about eight hours of sleep in 48 hours didn't hit me until we did get home on Monday night. I wasn't sure what kind of sleep we would be in for that night with a newborn and no nurses to whisk him off to the nursery. To my delight, we have an angel baby who SLEEPS SO WELL AT NIGHT.

We are two weeks in now, and Graeme has yet to have a bad night of sleep. I am just waiting for that all-nighter to come. Of course, I don't want it to, but I am waiting.

We feed him one last time before we go to bed between 11:00-11:30pm. We lay him down still awake and he puts himself to sleep. Then I have to wake him up for the next feeding. Last night, I totally slept through my alarm to wake him up in the middle of the night. (Our pediatrician doesn't want him to go longer than four hours at night for now.) I accidentally slept an hour past when I had meant to wake him up. When I did wake up out of the blue, Graeme was still sound asleep. I felt a little bad, but I know if he was really hungry he would let us know!

Anyway, after he eats and gets his diaper changed in the middle of the night, he goes right back to sleep in his little Rock-n-Play all by himself. Then, he sleeps until between 6:30-7:30am. I am okay with that wake up time.

Tonight, we are going to try to make the transition from the Rock-n-Play to the Pack-n-Play. (That all-nighter I'm waiting for might be fast approaching...) I am hoping he's not too attached to his little "taco bed" as I like to call it, after just two weeks. We don't want him to get so used to sleeping in it that it comes back to bite us later. A flat sleeping surface is headed his way in just a couple hours. We'll see how it goes. And then before too long we will promote him all the way to his crib.

This is where he's been sleeping at night. It's pretty cozy.

So that's how night sleeping is going.



The daytime is just as fun. We implemented the eat-wake-sleep routine as soon as we could. He took to it like a champ. I sure do love him. The routine is good for all of us.

When he's awake, (which isn't ever for terribly long, although in the past week he's been much more alert) he likes to listen to music, listen to books, look in the mirror, watch his swing mobile, have tummy time, or just listen to someone talk to him. He sure is easy to entertain right now. He and Aaron are reading Peter Pan together. At night, we are all reading The Jesus Storybook Bible.

Things Graeme does not like include diaper changes, clothes changes, sponge baths (he's had one full bath since his cord came off...he wasn't as angry about it as a sponge bath, but didn't love it either), having his face wiped, getting the straps put on him in his carseat (once it's buckled, he's fine), and when his food is not quite ready at his demand.

He really hated his first sponge bath at home...

That's how the daytime goes.




What else?

Well, my mom was a HUGE help for the first two weeks. We didn't do laundry, cleaning, or anything really. Aaron helped occasionally, but he was usually sent away to sit down and rest too. She took care of our house, made our bed every time we took a nap, and even got us groceries. It was awesome. She's the best.

We have also been completely spoiled by our wonderful church family. We have had dinner brought to us almost every night. It has been amazing. Meals are still coming this week. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to remember how to cook or ever want to again. We feel so loved and appreciate everyone that has helped us so much.



I guess I'll end with a sentimental paragraph now...


I have always wanted to be a mom. I can't believe I finally am! It has made me love Jesus more. It brings His love for me into a brand new light. It has made me love my husband more. Watching Aaron be a dad and tackling this new adventure with him has been the funnest part of our marriage so far. I love Graeme so unconditionally and feel like he fits right in to our family perfectly. One of our wise friends told us this about becoming parents:

"Your kid is the only person you love before you ever get to know them. You love them right away. Anyone else in your life, you get to know them before you love them. They have to earn your love. Not your child. The moment you see them, you love them unconditionally."

about our Christmas (all three of them!)

It's hard to believe another Christmas has come and gone. I tried to enjoy every minute of this Christmas because I know it won't be the same ever again. In a good way though!

Aaron and I started the Christmas fun on Christmas Eve. We headed out with all of our wrapped gifts for everyone in tow (as not to worry with them the next day).

Stoplight selfie. Penny is hiding in the back seat with all the presents. She's not a big fan of the car.

Our first stop was the Bauer household. We put our presents under the tree that was already overflowing with gifts. Then we had breakfast with Aaron's older brother and his family (which includes our adorable niece and nephew), his younger brother, and his mom. Dad had to work, unfortunately.

We spent the morning and early afternoon with them, and we enjoyed some rare quality time with Samuel and London (nephew and niece). Since we live way up in Wake Forest and they live way down in Fuquay, it's about an hour drive. We usually only see them at church on the weekends.

London and Penny. 

Penny and her "cousin," Bear. She's not so sure about him still...his head is the size of half of her body.

Later in the afternoon we packed up again and headed to downtown Raleigh for Christmas Eve dinner with my family. 

Great view driving in.

My parents and my brother and future sis-in-law were there with a delicious smelling ham in the oven. We watched Jingle All the Way while dinner was finishing up and then ate way too much food.

Since Sarah wasn't going to be able to be there the next morning, she got to open her gifts and we all opened ours from her and Tyler. Tyler and Sarah know us so well. A Disney Store gift card for Aaron and a Target gift card for me (already long gone). Plus an "I have the best uncle" onesie for Graeme and some adorable socks.

Sidenote:  It's more fun to open gifts for Graeme than my own gifts! I can't wait until he can semi-help open his own gifts next year!

Aaron and I left to go home around 8pm so we could complete our Christmas Eve tradition of watching A Christmas Story (which I ALMOST stayed awake entirely for).


Like I said yesterday, I was awake at the ridiculous hour of 4am on Christmas morning. Graeme woke up too, and then it was hopeless to go back to sleep. His kicks and jabs amused me for about an hour, and then Aaron woke up.

We start our Christmas morning early anyway because we have a tight schedule to keep. Around 5:30am we headed downstairs. After the coffee was made (and a quick breakfast snack for me and Graeme since we were starving), we sat down for my favorite part of the day:  reading the Christmas story together. We've started reading it from The Jesus Storybook Bible every year. If you've never read The Jesus Storybook Bible, do it. Do it. It's amazing. I cry all the tears. Even when I'm not pregnant.

We opened stockings next and then Penny got to open her gift that she's been smelling all week under the tree. She loves Christmas too. Aaron spoiled me rotten per usual. Guys, you can always win with jewelry. Always. And it doesn't have to be "real." Jewelry, chocolate, and a full length mirror were my wonderful Christmas presents.

I think I did pretty well too for him. An iPad stand, notebooks, journals, pens, and Disney trinkets.

We briefly enjoyed our gifts and our Christmas tree, and then it was time to get ready to head out the door. At 7:30am, we left and enjoyed an empty Capital Boulevard all the way downtown to my parents'.

Penny was nuts for whatever she could smell under the Christmas tree. She waited very impatiently for the coffee to be made and the Christmas story to be read again.

Lots of Penny pictures, but she's still our "baby" for now. Next year, it will be a different story!

After she got to open one of her gifts to keep her occupied, we all took turns opening the bajillions of gifts. My parents got me the majority of the keys for my long-awaited skeleton key wall. Then they came to hang them a couple days later.

They also got us some more fun things for Graeme's room which I am not posting pictures of yet!

We had our traditional monkey bread, bacon, and eggs (no eggs for me) breakfast after gifts, and then Aaron and I hopped back in the car around 10:15am to make the drive to Willow Spring and the Bauer family.

Our third Christmas within a 4 hour span began. That one of course is much more lively with seven adults, two little kids, and a curious Penny dog. Gifts were here and there and everywhere, but we tried to take note of everyone's cool stuff and enjoy watching Samuel and London open all of their fun things.

My in-laws contributed to my key wall, as well as getting me a mirror that I've been wanting for next to our front door.

My dad and Aaron hung this bad boy up the day after Christmas.

They also surprised me and my sister-in-law with necklaces that have a "B" pendant as well as our kids names on a pendant. I love my little "Graeme" pendant necklace.

Penny finally wore herself out enough that we could get her to sit still to put her Santa hat on for a picture. She just loves it. Not.

We enjoyed a delicious lasagna lunch and an hour of relaxing before we concluded our Christmas day with a Christmas day movie. Aaron's family, my family, and Sarah's family all met up to see Saving Mr. Banks. It was amazing. 

Then, with full stomachs, a full trunk, and full hearts (just throwing some corny sentiment in), we picked up a worn out Penny from her Gigi's and headed home.

Twelve hours later, we were sitting back in front of our Christmas tree and reminiscing about what a wonderful Christmas day it had been. We have so much to be thankful for, and most of all, we are thankful for our little super hero that will be here in no time at all!

We slept soundly that night, and then didn't waste anytime the next day. Call me crazy, but Christmas has been up around this house since mid-November, and I am ready for my house to be back to "normal" after Christmas day. 

We said goodbye to the last remnants of Christmas 2013 and look forward even more to next year!

about Tyler's graduation

Wednesday afternoon, we drove downtown to celebrate my "little" brother as he graduated with high honors from NC State University. He has grown up to be somewhat of a genius. He was one of the valedictorians for the class of 2013, plus he received the highest grades in the English department. He even got to give the student speech at the English department graduation (which was the one that we went to)!

Tyler is the second one there. (But we also go to church with the lady in front of him which was cool!)

Like me, he is not a fan of public speaking. But he did SO well.

After the ceremony, we went out for a late lunch. We already had so much to celebrate, when on top of all of it, he got a call from a place he had interviewed for a job and he got a job!

Talk about a great day!

We are so proud of all of the hard work he put in at NC State and he is going to be amazing at his new job.

Love you, Tyler!

hello from Tennessee

Hello from the Smoky Mountains!

It's been a great few days visiting family. My parents blessed us with a cozy cabin to stay in, and it's been such a nice setting for our trip. Especially the hot tub!

Since we've been here, we've gone outlet shopping, had too much food, and played our favorite family board game, Aggravation.

I can't believe it's already time to go home tomorrow, but we have a busy weekend ahead. Only three more days until we start Saturday services!

Speaking of Journey, we have a new App available. You should check it out.

Not much else to share today, but check back tomorrow. It's the anniversary of one of my favorite days ever.

about our Florida trip

Well, so much for blogging in Florida, huh?

Sorry for the false hope.

I count it as a win anyway since I was hanging with my fun family instead!

We had a great trip. Here's the majority of it in pictures, but I'll save our day at Disney for a different post...

We headed out early last Monday after stopping for gas and giving Penny her prescription "happy pill" for the car ride.

We prayed for a much better experience with her this trip. Thankfully, it was.

We hit the the road and headed down I-95. There was a lot of rain, but thankfully, no traffic.

South Carolina 

Georgia 

Florida (I was driving and Aaron was asleep, hence the bad photo of the Florida sign...)

We ran into so much rain once we got into Florida, but we finally got close to my grandparents' house. We knew we were close when we saw this...

There's quite a few rednecks in those parts!

It was so great to see my family, and Penny got to meet her "cousin," Marley.

Needless to say, Penny lost tug-o-war.

While we were at my grandparents', we played card games, pool volleyball, and worked on three 1000 piece puzzles. This one was the hardest:

At least I thought it was...

We attempted exercise one day and went on a walk with my parents. We realized my grandparents lived near a famous person...

It's Tow Mater from Cars!

But I don't think he's allowed to pose for pictures...

While we were there, we had a baby shower for my two cousins that are having baby girls in the next couple months. My aunt and uncle own a store that sells things from estates, so we had it there. My dad even found a motorcycle to ride around.

I guess it's hard to see, but he's riding it behind that tan couch.

This was on the 4th of July, so we got to sit out front to watch the fireworks. It was a little uncertain if they would even happen for awhile...

Also, the back door looked like something out of horror movie during the torrential downpour:

Thankfully, the rain stopped in time for the fireworks.

It was sad to leave everyone yesterday. Penny didn't even want to follow us out to the car. She was a little dejected on the way home, missing her new buddy, Marley.

After sitting in traffic for an hour and a half yesterday, we got back home and crashed on the couch.

Summer trip number three is complete.