happy happy birthday baby!

Yesterday was Zach's 26th birthday. For the next 4 1/2 months we will actually be the same age! How exciting for me! Having a birthday on a Sunday usually means there will be a lot going on. Zach was at church from 8ish until 3ish because they had a special practice after church was over. He got to come home and relax for about 2 1/2 hours but then it was on to Olive Garden to save a table for all our fabulous friends who were helping us celebrate. Unfortunately it took a little longer than I had thought. By the time we sat down Micah was already ready to go. Not good! I did my level best to keep him semi quiet and appeased but a different part of his personality was still seen by all. I think the Lord was trying to make me swallow some pride!

We made it through a yummy dinner and braved our way through the nasty weather back to our house to have dessert, drinks, and games. Super fun! We played a round of Taboo and then half the group had to head home to get much needed sleep. (thanks for staying up past your bedtimes!) Six of the group stayed (because they didn't need to get up early) and we played Mad Gab. That is not an easy game, but it is very humorous to listen to.

Pictures of our entertaining evening
*Make sure you look at the multitude of confused faces during the games!

deeper still

I spent this past Friday and Saturday with 18,999 women at Philips Arena in downtown Atlanta for Deeper Still. Deeper Still was a woman's conference sponsored by LifeWay and the speakers were Priscilla Shirer (daughter of Tony Evans), Kay Arthur, and Beth Moore. 13 women from our church went together and it was a weekend full of God's Word, Grace, Mercy, Worship and Fun!It started Friday night evening. We got there early to gets seats. I personally had no idea of the mad rush it was going to be to sit down. My goodness! Priscilla spoke the first night and she was my favorite of the three. She spoke from Exodus on being in the "wilderness" and the reasons that God allows us to go through struggles. Very good. She was better at analogies than anyone I have ever met. Her stories and scriptures went together so seamlessly you didn't catch until she was done! After it was over we went back to the hotel and of course stayed up too late talking. The people in my room had an awful nights sleep because our room was HOT!

Bright and Early the next morning would stood in line for breakfast, then stood in line for seats and then listened to Kay Arthur. I'm pretty sure she has the entire bible memorized. It was seriously amazing. I have a long ways to go before I could even come close! She was really good too. Very firm in her beliefs and so knowledgeable in the word.

After lunch there was a panel discussion which was very entertaining and then a break and then Beth Moore spoke on John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We could see His glory, the glory of the one and only who came from the Father full of truth and grace.

I am still pondering on the things I got out of the weekend. So much to hear it such a short time! The main thing centered around the word TRUTH. Truth can't come from us because Truth is God. You know Him by His Word and through His Son and there is no other way. For something that sounds so simple, it is so hard for so many people to believe! Praise God He lifted the blinders from me long ago and is still continuing to help me see!

**Thanks Leslie for watching Micah on Friday so that I could leave with everyone else.
**Thanks Gina, Magda, Andy, Dale, Martha, Dana, Leslie, Mary, Alicia, Lori, Delyn, and Stephanie for making the great weekend even better!
**Thanks to my in laws for taking care of my handsome husband and son while I was gone.

living with blue bear

Micah has many friends in his life but the one that is placed above all others on his list is blue bear. Blue bear is his buddy and don't try to make him your buddy because there will be none of it. Micah has slept with blue bear since our friend Magda gave him to him as a newborn. (Which reminds me...Magda where did you get that because we need to have a spare just in case!)

Last week he became super attached to him while Zach and I were away so I am suffering the consequences this week. Blue bear has accompanied us almost everywhere, however he stays in the car when we go in stores, church, the park, etc. I can see how easy it is for parents to let their kids cart around old (and sometimes dirty) objects because (1) it's much less drama and (2) it's so darn sweet and cute at the beginning. It's not until the so called object has been dragged everywhere and looks like a walking germ that you start to think maybe we should have some separation!

Here are some pictures of Micah and blue bear's friendship thus far!

cookies and milk

My favorite snack would probably be cookies and milk. LOVE THEM! Oreos, chocolate chip, macadamia nut, peanut butter, etc etc etc. This morning while I was sitting with Micah eating breakfast I happened to see a bag of chocolate chip cookies on the table and couldn't resist. I already had a glass of milk so what better way to finish it. Micah saw me dunking my cookie and had to try it so I broke off a little piece and handed him the cookie and the milk cup.

Just look at the joy it brought~

M & M: Beach Trip days 4-6

OK so I decided to make this two posts. Now taking a break will be so much easier for you!!! Just make sure you read 1-3 first or you could be totally lost. Well probably not but atleast then you will read more of my blog and make me happy!

Day 4: Seaside! We spent most of the day walking around the cute little town of Seaside. For those who don't know this is where the movie The Truman Show was filmed. There was a lot of new construction which was kind of sad because it took away some of the charm, but it was still pretty cute. We walked in a lot of stores and bought nothing because it is all ridiculously expensive, we checked out the cute beachy houses and imagined what it must be like to have money to buy one, ate lunch at a taco bar, and took tons of pictures. We ended the trip by eating frozen yogurt. Yum-o!
Day 5: The boys woke up around 5am and went fishing. It was the last day of their license. I think they may have caught one thing, but I'm sure they had great bonding time. Steph and I went to the beach for the morning and got some sun. We were trying to save up our energy for the evening. That night we went to Baytowne Wharf. It is the coolest place I have ever been while at the beach and was probably my favorite thing we did all week, but only by a little. I am determined to go there on a family beach vacation because everything you could want or need at the beach is in this one community. We got there about sunset so the view right off the bat was incredible. The shops were awesome, the restaurants were awesome, they had an awesome playground and that night they were showing Wizard of Oz on the lawn. Can you think of a better place to chill with your family!?

After Baytowne Wharf we went to Big Kahuna's in Destin to play putt-putt. I got two holes in one but considering I also got a few bogies it wasn't my best night. Zach won by how much I don't know. His prize was a cherry slushy from Sonic. What a win!

Day 6: Last Beach day! We spent all day at the beach...I seriously mean ALL DAY! We took advantage of every ray the sun let loose! We also flew a kite! It was the easiest kite flying experience of my life because the wind was so strong all you had to do was let it go and off it went. It was Justin's first time ever to fly a kite so that was pretty cool. Our kite's name was Oscar and he was an Osprey. He only got two good flights in though because he was a cheap Osprey!That night we went to dinner at Uncle Ernie's Bayfront Grill. It was so yummy! We sat on the deck right by the water and got to watch dolphin's while we ate. It was a great and relaxing way to end the week.

It's funny how quickly vacations can go. It felt like we had been planning this week for so long and then it just ended. You also get so wrapped up in what your doing while your there that you can't really appreciate it until you get home. That's how I feel about it anyway. I looked back at the week at all the fun times, moody times, semi awkward times, tired times, and straight out fabulous times and have realized that you can never look at one specific incident to decide if something is worthwhile. You absolutely have to look at the whole picture. It's like this in our lives too. There are many times when you are concentrating on one incident in your life and you get so mad, sad or depressed because all you are thinking about is that one thing then, hopefully, you remember that God is Sovereign!! All those small incidents both good and bad make up the life that He has given you. It is not until you concentrate on that whole picture that you can truly praise Him for what He is.

*Amazing what a little trip to the beach can teach you!

M & M: Beach Trip days 1-3

Last week Zach and I traveled down to Panama City Beach with two of our best friends Stephanie and Justin. I am not going to bother telling you about them because I mention them in like every other blog post so by now you should all be acquainted! We had decided to not bring Micah on the trip. We went to the beach last year with two of our other best friends Matt and Leslie and had Micah and Isabella with us then and while it was a fun trip there wasn't much beach time involved since we had a 14 month old and a 4 month old in tow. Zach and I have frequently ask ourselves what we were thinking. I guess our naive parenting minds assumed he would sit quietly under an umbrella while we lied around. So not the case!

We were temporarily childless and staying in a great beach house (thanks to Justin's dad Tommy) which gave us unlimited possibilities to do everything you can't do with a toddler. I missed my little boy terribly but still I had a blast!! There is a good chance this post could be kind of long because I am planning to give you a day by day update with pictures included but I won't cry if you don't read it all at once. Feel free to take a break whenever necessary!

Day 1: BEACH!!! Beautiful!!! It was so breezy and beautiful on Sunday. Very dangerous for your first beach day because it's a great way to get FRIED and then have a miserable rest of your trip. We did pretty well except for Justin's burned face, Zach's burned chest, and my burned booty. Ok so Stephanie did well.
Day 2: To give our skin time to heal from the first day we decided day 2 would be perfect for shopping! We drove down to the outlets in Sandestin and spent a lot of time and a lot of money. The boys racked up! They both looked so handsome in their new work clothes and it's always great to have someone else their to encourage Zach to actually spend money on himself. On the way home we stopped at Camp Helen State Park. Very cool apart from the old insane asylum type buildings and the signs saying beware of crocodiles, but I am a scaredy cat and am always envisioning the worst so don't take my word as truth! We walked down to the beach there and took pictures under the old pier. Very cool. I love old piers you know the ones just sticking out of the water. It makes me wonder what it used to look like and who used to play there.


Day 3: Justin's dad had gotten us all a Pontoon boat for the afternoon. We drove down to the harbor in PC and set out for Shell Island. Earlier that morning the boys had gotten 3 day fishing licenses so they were eager to see what they could catch. We through the anchor not far from the bay side of the gulf and walked across the island to the ocean side. The water was GORGEOUS! Much nicer than the seaweedy water we had the first day. We swam and threw the football. I ended up going to sit on the beach and let the waves crash on me when I saw the other three coming in to shallow water pretty quickly. A nice sized shark was swimming about 10-20 yards from where we had been swimming. That put an end to that pretty quickly. The rest of the afternoon we sailed/drove whatever around the water spotting dolphins and trying to find good places for the boys to fish. It was a great day!

week away

Home Sweet Home! We got back this evening from our fabulous and relaxing trip to the beach. I will share pictures and stories from that in the next day or so when I have the energy to walk to the kitchen, pick up the camera, walk back to the computer and download them. Now is not that time though!

While Zach and I were getting some quality time with friends and each other Micah was being SPOILED ROTTEN in the great city of Enterprise, AL. He spent the week with my parents, his Mimi and Papa, my brother Tim, my brother David and his wife Christina and their precious little girl Haley, and also my sister Jen and her little butterball Keelie who had come down to visit for the first part of the week.

I of course called about 2-3 times a day just to see what he was doing so I could envision it in my head as I went about my vacationing and each time I heard him having a ball in the background. They went swimming, went on walks, and played played played! I kept receiving text messages from Tim telling me all the things they are letting him eat, drink, and do that I don't. I even got a few pictures of the spoilage!


Here are the top 5 things he learned/did while we were away.
1) ate coconut cream pie
2) drank capri suns
3) drank diet coke
4) learned how to beep his nose (says beep when he touches his own nose or someone else
5) stayed up late (they are central time zone people)

I am glad he had fun with them since he doesn't get to see them a ton, but I was definitely ready to take him back. It's going to take awhile to catch up on all the hugs and kisses I missed this past week, but I am up for the challenge!