that's the good stuff

so recently lucas discovered something new- a deliciously fruity (chocked full of artificial sugar) kids drink known as a... juice box! up until now, i could give trace a juice box with lunch or dinner, and lucas would be fine with the juice in his sippy cup. ha, not anymore! lucas wants anything that his bubba has... and he will absolutely pitch a fit if he can't have it. and as you see, he won't let me help him with it either. he is mr. independent!! he will take a sip of it and then chug the whole thing til it is G-O-N-E, like he is dehydrated or something! then he will let out a big AHHHHH! :o) he has definitely figured out that that's the good stuff! so who am i to deprive the kid of such a wonderful drinking experience? plus, look at that sweet face (and orange tongue!) how cute is he with his hi-c? my baby is growing up. *tear

love these sweet babies!

when god made you...

it's always been a mystery to me, how two hearts can come together, and love can last forever. but now that i have found you i believe, that a miracle has come when god sends the perfect one. so gone are all my questions about why, and i've never been so sure of anything in my life.

oh i wonder what god was thinking, when he created you. i wonder if he knew everything i would need, because he made all my dreams come true. when god made you, he must have been thinking about me.
oooo, i promise that wherever you may go, wherever life may lead you, with all my heart i'll be there too. and from this moment on i want you to know, i'll let nothing come between us, and i will love the ones you love. so gone are all my questions about why...

oh i wonder what god was thinking when he created you, i wonder if he knew everything i would need, because he made all my dreams come true. when god made you, he must've been thinking about me.

he made the sun, he made the moon, to harmonize a perfect tune. one can't do without the other they just have to be together. and that is how i know it's true. you're for me and i'm for you, and my world just can't be right without you in my life.

he must have heard every prayer i've been praying, he must've knew everything i would need. when god made you, he must've been thinking about me.

(these are pics from nate's 10 yr class reunion, which happened to be on our 6 yr anniversary. although it's not how i thought we would spend our night without kids, we scored a fancy little car for the weekend and had a great time!)

our wedding

Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Whitt


today is our 6th wedding anniversary... hard to believe it's been that long. i don't have our wedding photos on the computer, so this pic is a scanned pic of a scanned pic. not too clear but you get the point! i ran across this article the other day that the bham news wrote up about me and nate, in the life/style section, they have a feature each sunday called "our wedding." here is the article.

jamie phillips and nathan whitt: july 17, 2004

in the beginning: jamie and nathan met at a bible study at cedar grove baptist church in leeds in july 2001. they were visiting the church with friends, who introduced them. "she was kind of seeing another guy so i was thinking i wish i could date her and she'd get rid of the other guy." nathan recalls. "i had to do my fair share of waiting."

first date: the two went to nathan's cousin's piano recital at samford university, then sat down to dinner at applebee's at colonial brookwood village with his family. during dinner, jamie accidentally spilled marinara sauce on nathan's jeans and brand new white sneakers. jamie admits she was nervous. "it was so embarrassing," she recalled. "but he forgave me and still asked me out again." the marinara sauce came out of nathan's jeans ok, but there were still little red remnants left on his shoes for a while.

first kiss: after a visit at nathan's house, jamie said goodbye and gave him a hug. he jokingly asked "where's my kiss?" jamie surprised him with a smooch.

will you: nathan proposed to jamie at a third day concert. third day, a christian rock band, was performing at jacksonville state university. he got down on one knee and asked her to be his wife. after she said yes, he went up on stage and sang "love song." nathan, a singer and guitarist on the praise team at argo christian fellowship church, was one of two random people picked out of the crowd to sing.

location, location, location: the whitt's married at springville first baptist church. they received guests there as well.

something old: a 1905 buffalo nickel in jamie's shoe

something new: her beaded halter-style gown and sparkly veil made by her grandmother

something borrowed: a coral cross necklace she borrowed from a bridesmaid

something blue: a handkerchief with her new initials from her mother-in-law. she wrapped it around her bouquet.

oops: nathan forgot black socks to wear with his tux. his brother had to buy him some at a nearby hardware store. "i was so concerned about making sure i had the ring i guess i forgot my socks," nathan says.

floral encore: four year old flower girl hadley bratton apparently didn't want to skimp on her duties. she threw her daisies as the bridal party exited the sanctuary as well as when the entered.

most popular gifts: they got four target photo albums and duplicate pieces of cookware.

favorite gifts: a quilt from jamie's mom. "because it was made from the heart with love," she said.

pedigree: jamie's parents are beth and tom phillips of argo. nathan's parents are john and terri whitt of moody.

honeymoon: the spent five days on mexico's mayan riveria. they snorkled, hung out by the pool and played volleyball.

happily ever after: jamie, 22, works in customer service at southtrust bank. nathan, 22, is a general contractor with TAC construction in trussville. the newlyweds live in moody. nathan's brother josh is married to jamie's sister shannon. "we all met each other around the same time. they took things a little quicker than we did," jamie said with a giggle.

- written by staci brown brook, 12/5/2004

i love you nate and i am so thankful that god gave us each other! i hope and pray we have many more years together!

past time...

since this is my blog, and a place where i document my kids lives (and since i can't count on my brain these days to remember important things/dates...) i think this is a noteworthy post! to you, maybe it's not a big deal. but to me, it is huge!! some of you may know that when we found out we were pregnant with trace, we were living in an apartment in moody. almost immediately nate wanted to buy a house. so our house hunt began. we wanted to move out to argo, mostly to be closer to our church. so a few months later, nate and i found the perfect "starter home." you know, the cute little house in the woods, that we could one day add onto and fix up along the way, the one that would fit our growing little family just right. well... 4 years and 2 kids later, we are still in our cozy little "starter home!" :) so often i have complained about the space (or lack thereof) and i have wished for a bigger house. but god is so good to remind me that it's the little things in life that matter most. not the size of our house! while i hope we can add onto the house next year, for now, we are just making do with what we have. and i'm ok with our little starter home, for now at least! ok. anyways, the point of this story is that lucas made a huge step this past week. he moved from his makeshift nursery (ok don't laugh... aka: huge laundry room) where he has been sleeping in a pack n play for the past year, to trace's room! i have been so worried about the adjustment of the boys sharing a room, mostly b/c of sleep issues, so i've been putting it off. but a week ago, we finally made the move! i figured it was past time for lucas to move into his crib! and for the most part, it has been a very smooth transition. (i'm telling you, sounds machines are like magic! both boys have one by their bed and i know it's made this adjustment so easy!) a few nites (last nite it happened again!) lucas woke up screaming and throwing a fit, which in turn caused trace to wake up crying as well. but after a few minutes of cuddling they both fall back asleep. it's funny how they either both wake up happy and acting silly, or they both wake up crying! there's no question that i prefer the waking up happy... but what i really like is when they are both sound asleep. look at this little angel! he is snoozing so good. this is lucas' first nite in his crib, sharing a room with his bubba!
and i took these pics yesterday. i love how they both looks so happy to be sharing a room! :)

one guess as to what lucas is saying... ok i'll help you out. it starts with hold and ends with you! :)

trace- the best big brother ever!

i'm sure we are not the only ones to live in a house a little smaller than what we would like. although most of you have probably graduated out of those smaller homes, i would love to hear your stories of how you had too many kids and not enough space. :) and also, how no matter what, god always provides! and for that, i am so grateful!

family + friends + food = fantastic 4th

happy 4th of july!

we had quite the busy weekend, but it was so much fun! i know it is said all the time, but we truly are so blessed to live in america... the land of the free and the home of the brave. god is so good to us. i'm thankful for our freedom in this world, as well as from sin and bondage! we made several visits to friends we don't see as much as we'd like and we also spent lots of time with family that we see all the time, but we still have a blast when we're together! and nate even managed to get a lot of stuff done at the house ((hung a ceiling fan, cut grass, fixed the ballast (i always thought it was balance, or valance. WHO KNEW!) in the light in the kitchen!)) anyways, i wish every week had a 3 day weekend. i'd be such the happy camper! :) we had a fantastic fourth, and we actually celebrated it the 2nd through the 5th! we decided to make the 4th a 4 day long holiday! ha. i will try and let the pics do the talking... since there's quite a few of them! the boys, nate, and i were all so patriotical (yes i know that's not a word but i like the way it sounds!) sunday. i can't believe i didn't get a pic made of us in our cute outfits. so here is the ONLY one i have of the kids not in their swimsuits. ha! (they were riding the rockin' horse at meme's)

friday night we grilled out and had fun at bobby's house. the kids haven't played in a while and it was hilarious watching them together. maddie and lucas are gonna date in a few years. shhhh, don't tell anyone! and jayzk and trace had a blast. sorry, no pics of them! but it's crazy how much j has grown. he just turned 7. wow. trace followed him around all night like he was 7 too! :) lindsay was there too... it was just a good way to catch up, relax, and kick off the long weekend!

saturday morning we slept LATE, 8:30 for me and lucas, and 9:15 for nate and trace! it was GLORIOUS!!! then i headed to shannon's with the kids... where we met ra and her kids and all the cousins had a blast on the huge waterslide! we stayed for a few hours and played so hard. we wore those kids out! this is one of my favs from the day. all six, in order... caden, kenley, trace, lala, lucas, and mason. ages 4, 3, 3, 2, 1, and 1. wow.


josh took most of these pics, i edited them some. this one below is one of my favs too!!!!

and this one :) ok. ya'll know i have lots of favs!

all 6 monkeys!

mama and her sweet boys

so handsome these two are!

when i say we wore those kids out... i mean it! we went home and mine slept for 3 1/2 hours. i got to layout some and work on my tan a little more while they napped! i also read some, and listened to zac brown band. they are awesome, btw! shout out to kris for introducing me to them... great summertime music!

we took the waterslide to meme's on sunday for some more fun after church! the kids never got tired of it! lucas and lala enjoyed the popsicle break!

the kids played. adults ate. and jacked the pool when the kids napped. haha! after meme's, since we were in moody, we decided to stop by and see rob and amy. it's been a while so it was great to see them. jack is so big, can't believe he will be 3 next month! the boys played football, basketball, puzzles, trucks... you name it- they played it. and rob cleaned behind them the whole time! ocd much? j/k... love ya rob!

and the last day of our 4 day holiday (monday), we went all the way to columbiana to visit with loni and jake... my bff and her hub who are moving to HAWAII. (yesssss i said hawaii!!!!) at the end of the month. they both found jobs on the island of kauaii and i am so sad that they are moving. i am very happy for them though, and can't wait to go visit. they don't have kids yet, so i always tell her have fun while she can. hahahaha! i better get a piggy bank now and start saving my money tho. b/c even though i have a free place to stay when i go, i've heard the airfare isn't cheap!

loni and i have been bff forever! seriously... since like 2nd grade. we were very close growing up and all through school then in high school she changed schools. but we still remained bf. since then, she has lived in springville, montevallo, mississippi, columbiana, and now she's moving to hawaii. but i know we will still be as close then as we are now. we have always kept in touch and been there for each other no matter what. good times and bad times. fat times and skinny times. ha! :) i really am happy for her and jake and i know that they will be just as successful over on the island as they are here. for now, i will gloat and hold it over her that i have a better tan than she does! ha. hey, what are best friends for, right? ~aloha my friend! ~

later monday nite... nate and i went to a friend's house and watched the bachelorette... i love that show! and nate said he wasn't gonna watch it, but he started watching when all the drama got going (which is pretty much the 2nd show. ha!) and now he loves it as much as i do! we had fun with friends and will def have another get together for the big finale in a few weeks! yes i know, it's trash tv. and i'm pretty sure 90% if not all of it is staged. but can i just say i hope ali finds love and happiness in the end? she deserves that, i think! team roberto baby! :)

ok so i think that covers our long weekend. whew, did anyone hang in there til the end? if you did, just leave me a comment with your bank account info and i'll borrow wire a dollar. bahaha. just kidding. but a comment would be nice every now and then. or you could just continue to stalk my blog. whatever you like! :)

PRICELE$$

while we were at the beach nate and i took trace to see toy story 3, in 3D. it was 2 firsts for me... first 3D experience, and first time to see a movie in the theaters with trace (nate took him to see the dragon movie a few months ago.) we had been looking forward to our movie date the whole week. before we left for vacation, i saw this adorable shirt at target and i couldn't resist buying it for trace. so on movie day he was ready- he was wearing his new shirt and had his buzz and woody in his arms! the theater at pier park in pcb was awesome... they had booster seats so trace could sit back in the chair and not worry about falling, and they also had kid sized 3D glasses. and the best part, when you ordered a large popcorn they gave you smaller snak bags to divide it up. as long as trace had his popcorn, and a few sips of our diet coke, he was good to go!! (oh, and special thanks to meme and g-daddy for making this (lucas free) date possible! we put him down for a nap before we left, and he was still asleep when we got back to the condo 3 hrs later. can we say whooped?) :)

so excited about the movie!
trace was cracking me up with that popcorn. he kept stuffing it in. please see exhibit A below... notice his little chubby cheeks. HA. he had a mouthful!

let me just say... we def splurged for this movie date. seriously, i can't believe we had to buy a ticket for a 3 yr old. that's just insane. anywho. it was worth it, and we were living it up while on vacation :o)

mama, trace, and daddy... stylin in our 3D glasses!

tickets to see toy story 3 in 3D: $37.50.

large popcorn and diet coke: $11.25.

the look on trace's face when he saw buzz and woody on the bigscreen:

PRICELE$$!!

better late than never!

i know i am a few weeks late with this post, but father's day 2010...

better late than never, right? :)

we started our celebration friday nite, where we took my dad out to dinner. it's always a little crazy when we get the cousins together, whether we go out to eat or stay in... so this year we went out. and for the most part, the kids were well behaved and we had a good time! i am so thankful to my dad for all he has done for me, and all he means to our family! god truly has blessed us with such a godly example to look up to. i remember asking my dad to come to church with us when i was young. for a while, he said no. then he gave his life to the lord, and every since then, he hardly misses a sunday at church. but whether he is in church, or out of church, he is a great man. he would give you anything you asked of him, even if it were the shirt on his back. he is the true meaning of servant. so dad, i know it doesn't get said as often as it should, but we all love you so much. you are so good to us, you give us more than we deserve, and you spoil the kids rotten! i know the past year isn't what we would have imagined it to be, def not how we would have chosen. but dad, you have handled it with grace. and trusted god every step of the way! over the past 10 or so years, you have patched more tires than we can count, changed my brakes more than they should EVER have to be changed, and fixed our lawnmowers and grills when we didn't know how! :) you always give great advice, and even better hugs. i know you are always here for me, no matter what! i'm so thankful for an earthly father that mirrors our heavenly father so closely!

so this year, father's day started off really special for nate. on sunday, we visited a church down the road from us where we got to hear coach bobby bowden speak. nate has been and fsu fan forever, and we didn't want to pass up the opportunity to hear coach bowden bring the word! i have never heard him speak before, and he was wonderful. it was a great service. coach was very entertaining. but not only did he keep us laughing, he shared a few great things with us. one of his main points was that we as christians need to be available. he said god wants you to be available, and he will use you. he said that's how he saw his role as coach at fsu for 33 years. he said he was available, and that's where god called him! simple huh? he also said if you believe, go tell others! don't be ashamed! and that is one thing i believe bobby bowden is not... and that is ashamed! i think whether you like fsu or not, or even whether or not you like him as a person, you have to agree that he is not ashamed of sharing the gospel. he and his wife have 6 kids and 21 grandkids. what an awesome example bobby bowden is, not only to his family, but the football players and fans that have looked up to him for many years. one more thing coach bowden said that i thought was so funny but true is this "we christians need to come out of the closet- everyone else is!" good point! (we took the camera but nate didn't want to act like a crazy fan, so he didn't take any pics... and i thought that meant he didn't want me to take any either. at the end of the service, i hated that i didn't take some pics, and nate said "i didn't say you couldn't take any, i just said I wasn't going to!" oh well. it was still great to hear him speak, even if we didn't get any pics!

after church, all of nate's family went to rachel and dalton's for lunch. we ate til we were stuffed, like always! the kids played and we had a great afternoon just hanging out. we spent time with nate's dad, and i think he enjoyed that. john is also such a blessing to our family. he is full of godly wisdom and advice. he's been known to get into some deep theological conversations from time to time (HA!) but it's great that he is always here for us. so often i think of how thankful i am that he and terri raised such great kids. i am so grateful that nate came from a home very similar to mine growing up, where he was raised in church, and also raised by an awesome mom and dad, who showed him tough love when he needed it! :) thanks john and terri. grandaddy was blessed to be able to retire at the end of 2009, and i know the kids have absolutely loved spending more time with him on the days they go to meme's. he helped them plant a garden, and of course he goes with them to alabama adventure. we are blessed for sure to have john in our lives!

now, i just want to say what a great dad nate is. he works hard to provide for us. he is tired when he gets home from work, but he more than pulls his share at home! he usually has dinner going when i get home with the kids. and he helps clean the house, bathe the kids, he does my long honey-do lists, plays with the boys, and usually doesn't complain about any of it! he watches the kids so i can go get my pedicures, or go shopping every now and then. i know that our boys seem to always want mama, but there's just not enough of me to go around sometimes! :) nate always steps up to the plate, no matter what's going on. as the boys get older, i know they will be all about their daddy. he is already their hero, and to see the look in his eyes when he talks about them is so precious. and vice versa. there's no doubt trace and lucas are both just like their daddy. he loves them and he is a great godly example to them. i am so thankful for a faithful father to our boys, and such a great husband as well. i could never ever make it as a single mom, and truly i thank god for nate! we love you to the moon, and back!

so for father's day... enjoy a few pics of just nate, and his boys! love it!
daddy and his littlest mini-me! :)
i love this one below, of nate flying a kite. trace was following his every step~ don't you love it?

my sweet boys! couldn't imagine life without them.

"sons are a heritage from the lord, children a reward from him." psalm 127:3