A Wonderful Decade

Eleven years ago today Lane and I went on our first date, and ten years ago today, we got married! It has been a wonderful (and unbelievably fast) decade.

We got our first digital camera right before Rhett was born, so my photo documentation starts there. I really wish our wedding/honeymoon photos were digital. Here are a few pictures of us from 2004-present:

March '04--our first baby!

Seattle, August 2005

Vegas, October 2006

(Expecting Alexee)

Our baby girl, February 2007

Gulf Shores, AL, May 2008

Blessed with our third beautiful, healthy child

Welcome, Crosby! March 2009

Houston, March 2010

February 2011

Match Day, March 2011

Such an exciting day!

Fun trip with older two kids

Disney World, April 2011

***

Today...

Happily married for TEN years.

(self-portrait, obviously)

Yesterday Lane's parents called to see if they could come up today to keep the kids while we went out for our anniversary. Of course we were excited about that! Thank you VERY much, Bob and Rose Mary--we really enjoyed our afternoon/evening out. Lane has been in orientation for two weeks, and tomorrow is his first "real" day of work. He had the day off today though, so we got to spend the whole day together. This morning we all went to the gym-Lane and I did Betsy's cardio-mix class while the kids played in the maze. We stopped by the grocery store on the way home so I could buy milk and a few other groceries. Lane's parents arrived around 11:30 and we all ate lunch at the house. Then I dropped L off at the hospital for a meeting and I made a quick trip to a stationery warehouse sale. Some of the goodies I found at the sale:Then I went back to campus to pick Lane up, we went by Starbucks, then to an afternoon movie (we saw Super 8, which we both liked). From there we went to dinner at Ferneau--it was delicious--we loved it!

It's in a neat building in a nice area of town.

tomato & mozzarella flat bread appetizer

mango sorbet

I ordered the special: Mahi Mahi with crab meat, corn and fried green tomatoes. I ate every last bite. It was so good!

Lane had the beef tenderloin-yum!

We've been trying to cut out most desserts lately, but we splurged tonight and enjoyed this awesome double chocolate cheesecake. I might go back tomorrow and get one to go--ha!

On our way home we drove by the hospital where L starts his first rotation tomorrow. He has to be there very early, so he wanted to find the right parking lot and make sure his parking card worked, which it did.

I pray that God will continue to protect and bless our marriage and our family.

I love you, Lane!

Happy Anniversary!

A Fun Day with James

Yesterday we had the pleasure of keeping my friend Gretchan's youngest son for the day. Rhett, Alexee and Crosby all thought it was really fun to have James around. Rhett kept saying funny things like, "Things are going to be really crazy around here with four kids!" Alexee said, "You don't have to worry about keeping up with him because I'll take care of him." :) For some reason she had the hardest time remembering his name though! I kept telling her that it sounds almost like my name, only without the "ie" on the end. She'd say okay, then a few minutes later she'd ask, "What's the baby's name again?" And sometimes she called him Carson. My cousin's baby's name is Karson, so maybe she was thinking of him because she saw him recently??

James was honestly no trouble at all--he was SO good and SO sweet. He never cried, and he just played with toys and took a long nap in the Pack & Play. He didn't even cry when I put him down for a nap even though he was in a new place. He and Crosby napped at the same time (in different rooms)--C slept for 2 1/4 hrs and J slept for 2 1/2 hrs. He might have slept longer, but I think C cracked the bedroom door open to check on him while I was getting Goldfish out of the pantry.

Crosby and James are about 5 months apart in age.

C was trying to give him a hug...

...but I'm not sure if he wanted to be hugged at that time. :)

This cracks me up of Alexee. She was in helper-mode all day yesterday.

She liked that their outfits kind of matched. She said several times that he had on a cute outfit.

James would say "cheeeese" when he saw I had the camera.

They had fun riding the little cars around in circles.

Alexee and Crosby fought over who got to sit in the chair next to our guest, so I moved Alexee to the end so they'd both be by him and Rhett would be across from him.

While we really enjoyed having James with us for the day, I wish it had been under happier circumstances. While James was here, Gretchan attended the memorial service for a dear friend of their family. I can't stop thinking about this family and the loss they've experienced--my heart just breaks for them. Please keep them in your prayers during this very very difficult time.

Got Milk(weed)?

We've started a new science project. Inspired by Gretchan's Monarch butterflies post last summer, I bought two milkweed plants for our back yard. Rhett and I planted them on Saturday. The lady at the nursery told me that they lost a lot of their leaves due to heat shock so I hope the plants survive, and I hope the caterpillars find them. They have a really pretty bloom.

Birthday Bogart

Last Friday (6/24) was Bogart's 8th birthday. To celebrate his special day, he enjoyed a big scoop of ice cream topped with two bacon treats (Rhett's idea). The kids had ice cream, too, and I thought it was cute that they wanted to sit in the floor with Bogart. I warned them that as soon as B was done with his bowl he'd start trying to eat out of theirs!
We gave him two new packages of treats, and Alexee wanted to give him the cardboard building she made at VBS.
"Bobo", as we call him most of the time, has a very specific place that he likes to go to eat his treats--he always carries them to this corner of the dining room rug.
We got Bogart on Labor Day weekend in 2003--I was pregnant with Rhett. He was such a tiny, cute little ball of fur. He has been so good with the addition of each child, and we all love him! Happy Birthday, and many MANY more! :)

VBS Week: Big Apple Adventure

June 20-24th was a week the kids had been looking forward to for months: Vacation Bible School at my parents' church! The theme this year was Big Apple Adventure. This was the third year for Rhett and (my niece) Jaiden to attend, but Alexee's and (nephew) Jeryn's first year. Since there were four kids going this year, my sister and I split the week in Flippin to help out. We met Micaela in Conway last Sunday afternoon so that R & A could ride there with her, and she stayed through Tuesday afternoon. Crosby and I went Wednesday morning and got there at noon, just as VBS was ending for the day. We stayed through noon on Friday. It was a fun but busy (and tiring) week. We joked about wishing Mrs. Duggar could spend the week with us to help keep things running smoothly! It seemed wild at times.

So Monday morning Mom and Mic got the four excited kids all ready and even had time for a few front-porch photos (wow-how they've grown in a year!). Alexee loves to wear dresses and usually gets upset if I try to get her to wear shorts or pants, so I sent mostly dresses for her to wear.

Visiting with Mrs. Judy

Mo & 4 Grandkids--won't be long until Crosby can go too!

We were very blessed to have cooler than normal weather last week. It was around 85 degrees for several days, I think, which felt a lot better than 98! Because of that, we spent a lot of time outside. Wednesday afternoon we took the bean bags to the front yard and sat in the shade. Alexee, Jeryn and Crosby chased butterflies and picked flowers while Rhett, Jaiden and I played that game "I'm going to Grandma's house and I'm taking a..." (A-Z memory game).

Watching for butterflies. I miss the country.

Wednesday night Dad grilled hot dogs and made snow cones using Micaela's snow cone machine.
Alexee was so exhausted that night that she actually said she just wanted to go to bed--she said she didn't even want a snow cone. Crosby went to sleep early too, but the other three kids had been looking forward to a good game of "Giant". Giant consists of Dad being the giant and the kids attacking him/defending themselves by using the bean bags as their "weapons". :)

Ready to go on Thursday morning

I took them to church while Crosby stayed home with Mom.

That afternoon Crosby took a good nap while Mo & the other four went to check on Banner at the barn. I made chocolate chip cookies while C was asleep, and he was happy to be the first to sample them when he woke up. Well, second to sample...I ate 1 or 2 or 7 right when they came out of the oven.
These pictures were taken earlier in the week. I hate that Banner is having foot trouble that causes him to need these treatments, but I think it's very sweet that the kids took such an interest in helping him. My Mom has such a heart for animals, and all the grandkids see that and learn from her! I love how Jeryn has his arms on the pony.

Mom said that Rhett asked 1,000 questions about the treatments, how/why/etc. Maybe he'll want to be a vet?

Rhett helped Mom put the special shoes on Banner's feet.

Thursday night we ordered delicious, award-winning pizza from Nima's, and we ate outside then the kids played in the water. I love the expressions on their faces and the way Crosby is standing in this picture.

Dad & Clay watching the kids play

Brothers :)

Friday morning Mo made biscuits and chocolate gravy (everyone's favorite!)

While the kids were at church, I packed up all our stuff and then we went to the closing VBS assembly at 11:30 before leaving to come back home. Rhett (in the black shirt) joined the other kids on stage to sing the Big Apple Adventure songs.

Rhett LOVED getting to see Kiley every day!! Kiley helped with the music, and she wrote down the words to the songs for R & J so they could practice at home. :)

They had such a fun week, but all good things must come to an end. It breaks my heart to see Rhett get upset when we leave. I always have to fight back my own tears when I see him crying. Even after six days, he wasn't ready to go. :(

As I said before, a fun but TIRING week.

The first thing they did when we got home was hang their magnets on the fridge.

I'm thankful to my parents for letting the kids come visit for VBS and thankful to those who taught/served the kids so faithfully all week!