4 more sleeps...

and i will be on a plane...

headed here.

 to minister to these adorable, precious, beautiful,

appreciative, sweet,

(did i say beautiful?)

hondurans.  

i.can.not.wait.
(i will be gone july 3-10. prayers are appreicated! thanks friends!)

save the dentist drama...

for someone other than yo mama! :)

nate and i took the boys to the dentist to have their teeth cleaned yesterday. if you remember, trace had a tooth pulled when he was barely 2, and he loves the dentist now. really, he always has! most every visit has gone pretty smooth. however, i knew this wouldn't be the case with lucas and his first visit. trace did soooo good. he laid on the chair by himself, watched tv on the ceiling, just chilled. he even went with the hygienist to get xrays, and was such a big boy! actually, nate and i were so busy with lucas, i didn't even realize trace had left until he came back in!!

the big boy!!

so proud of him!!

anywho.. yeah. luc screamed the whole.entire.time, and clung to me like a spider monkey held tightly to mama. poor thing. i wish so bad i could have convinced him it wouldn't hurt, i would never let anyone hurt him. i wanted to take away his fear, but i couldn't. so instead, i took a pic. and nate videoed the dentist drama! ;o)

the not so big boy! 

we use dr massey at trussville pediatric denistry and we love him. he really is awesome, and so is the whole staff there. it's so kid friendly. the parents can go back with the kids, and some place don't allow that. so hopefully we can convince lucas of how nice they are when we go back again in 6 months! btw, both boys teeth looked great. no cavities or problems. hooray!! and of course they didn't leave empty handed... luc had a new tshirt, and both boys got cool new toothbrushes, floss picks, and of course, a toy! they picked these tiny little ninjas that i pulled out of luc's mouth no less than 87 times last nite. i think we conveniently lost it at bedtime. yay! darn.


warning: i did not know nate was filming. i was trying to calm lucas, and at the very end i looked at nate, and said- oh my gosh, please tell me you are not vidoeing this! so the answer was yes. and now i'm sharing it with the world wide web. are we the worst parents ever? :) please don't call DHR on us friends. i promise, we were JUST getting his teeth cleaned!

contrary to popular belief... lucas grew up and became a dentist. they all lived happily ever after. ;)

c.o.u.s.i.n.s.

first of all, credit goes to shannon for taking this first pic. look at Sweet T.... ohmygoodnessgracious!! i could just EAT this boy up. i will take credit for the cute outfit tho... jj loves to buy that boy clothes! :)) timothy is 8 months old now, can you believe it? soon i will do a whole post on this little cutie! seriously... he is so sweet. he brightens my day!!! can't get enough of him. and he seems to have that effect of everyone!

and thanks to meme for taking the rest of these adorable pics! i don't know how she does it... but i totally love all of them and had to share!!

 2 1/2 years old...

 and although they look like angels here...

 they are in the terrible twos no doubt. at least lucas is... i'll let rach speak for mason. ha!

 and the two big boys... caden is 5 now and trace is 4. they are the best of friends!!

 and don't forget the drama queens sweet girls! they are great helpers and little mamas... always taking care of sweet t, serving lunch, cleaning, etc! love my beautiful nieces, kenley who is 4 and lala who is 3 1/2!!

 and the grand finale...

all seven blessings! can you believe how big they are??

i try not to take for granted the fact that our kids are all so close. they really are more like brothers and sisters than cousins, and i LOVE that!!

god is so good to us! <3

saturday fun

we finally got the kids new pool set up last weekend... and of course, they loved it!! seriously, best $25 ever spent! i can't wait to spend the next several saturdays soaking up the sun and swimming!

i mean, could they be ANY cuter? i just want to eat them up with a spoon!!

hats: check. boats: check. water guns: check. goggles: check. diving toys: check.

cute boys: CHECK CHECK!

an extra special part of the day... fun with my long lost bff!! most of you probably know that loni moved to hawaii last summer. it was soooo good to finally see her again! she came home for a visit and we got to hang out two saturdays in a row. i'm not gonna know what to do this saturday though when she's back in hawaii :( we went shopping last weekend, and had a blast at the outlets. this past saturday, she came over to enjoy our new kiddie pool. ;o)

 when they kids took their nap, we took over their pool. and water guns :) i love that no matter what's going on, or how long it's been since we've seen each other, we pick right back up and have such a good time.

 haha. notice our pop-ices that match our bathing suits! yes, we know. we are dorks. but supa cool dorks in tha baby pool. :)) love this girl!!

 we managed to get one decent pic when the boys woke up from their naps! they had fun with aunt nini, and loved their treats she brought back from the island! (however, the toys they are holding are their goodies from disney from their cousins, not hawaii!)

 wow... check out this post from last summer, right before loni moved. loni looked great then, like she always does! but i def am loving the new and improved, skinnier, longer haired me, this year vs. last year!! ha. it really was great seeing loni and hanging out with her. she was a busy little lady while in the states, acting like a politician... visiting tons of friends and kissing babies left and right!

btw... nate and i are planning a trip to visit loni and jake next may, and we are SOOO excited.

hawaii 2012, here we come!!

2 words: FIRST ROW!!!

true story.

yep.

libby and i were hooked up.

with first row tix to see this guy.

zac brown?!?

ohhhh yeah. that's right!

up close.

and personal.

besties having a blast!

they.were.awesome.

yes. that is me. about 10 feet away from zac! no, i'm not naked. it just appears that way.

zbb is so talented, down to earth, amazing, and puts on an incredible show!!!

me, rockin' my new dress i bought for the concert, and of course i had to wear my boots. :))

seriously. i can not even tell you how much fun we had. or how awesome the concert was, esp from the first row! i can't wait to go back next time they are in town, or maybe close to town. road trip anyone?? :) thanks to my uncle for the hook-up, and to josh and shannon too, for swapping seats with us! my first zbb experience could not have been better!!

life lately...

Life lately… has been crazy. There’s so much I want to say, but I don’t even know where to start. I will just say it’s been a super long week. Very tough at times. I’m so glad it’s Friday and a long weekend, so I don’t have to use my brain too much the next 3 days! But through the ups and downs, I have felt God’s presence and his peace. I know in the last post I shared a few songs with you, but one more that has really really really spoken to me and rang true is Strong Enough, by Matthew West.

Here are the lyrics.


You must
You must think I'm strong
To give me what I'm going through


Well, forgive me
Forgive me if I'm wrong
But this looks like more than I can do
On my own

I know I'm not strong enough to be
everything that I'm supposed to be
I give up
I'm not strong enough


Hands of mercy won't you cover me
Lord right now I'm asking you to be
Strong enough
Strong enough
For the both of us


Well, maybe
Maybe that's the point
To reach the point of giving up


Cause when I'm finally
Finally at rock bottom
Well, that's when I start looking up
And reaching out


I know I'm not strong enough to be
Everything that I'm supposed to be
I give up
I'm not stong enough
Hands of mercy won't you cover me
Lord right now I'm asking you to be
Strong enough
Strong enough


Cause I'm broken
Down to nothing
But I'm still holding on to the one thing
You are God
and you are strong
When I am weak


I can do all things
Through Christ who gives me strength
And I don't have to be
Strong enough
Strong enough

Maybe someone else needed to be reminded of these words. The awesome thing, is it’s more than lyrics to a catchy song. It’s the truth. God promises to be strong when we are weak. And for that, I am so very thankful!


and because I HATE a post with no pics, here’s a few pics from my cell phone from this past week…

eating at coldstone... my fav place for a yummy icecream treat!

the boys went fishing with poppi and they have talked about it all week. today lucas asked me- next time, you want to go fishing with us mom? :) so sweet!

trace was catching them faster than poppi could reel them in!

mama and silly lucas!

daddy and one of his mini-me's!

we went to the outlets in leeds, and forgot the stroller. quickly realized it was well worth the $4 to rent one! for the most part lucas rode in it, but of course trace wanted a turn! so watch out, wreckless driver!

dirty dirty boy! right before bathtime!

awwww. me and my tracecar! love it!!

i am soo excited for this weekend. tonite, it's date nite with the hubs. tomorrow- it's chillin, then zbb concert with lib! sunday- church at big springs park then a picnic. sunday nite- swapping baby sitting favors and letting caden lala and sweet t stay the nite. and monday- cookout at meme's then hanging with rob amy and jack! busy but fun! hope ya'll have a happy and safe memorial day!

tornado benefit relief concert



again, i'm over a week late on a blog post. oops. here. look at these pics from the concert at the BJCC. it was awesome.

love love love rush of fools. hate they didn't do more songs. but they were awesome!

self photo :) love it!!



laura story... one of my most fav songs right now is by her. here's the video... watch it. seriously. it gives you something to think about.



tenth avenue north... they have some incredible songs as well. love "you are more." the lyrics are just amazing.  also another video for you to watch. i really just love them!

david nasser BROUGHT THE WORD! he spoke on isaiah 41:10. it says "DO NOT FEAR" (comma). not a period. that is god's command for us. nasser said when everything else is coming at you, god still says DO NOT FEAR. even in the "you have got to be kidding me" moments, remember the COMMA. god still says do not fear. but ya know what comes after the comma... "BECAUSE I AM WITH YOU!" don't know about you, but i need that DAILY reminder. what an awesome verse.

10 So do not fear, BECAUSE I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." AMEN!

love some third day!!



i love him. with all my heart.

 

waiting for our fav band to come out!!! we love some third day. in case somehow you missed this post, check it out. it's kinda long, but you will def see why we love third day so much! :)

they.were.rockin.

their line up was awesome! it had some old school stuff, like i've always loved you (the song nate and i got engaged too) call my name, god of wonders, as well as some newer stuff- lift up your face, make your move, etc.

all in all, it was an awesome concert! the whole thing was just so good. i love when you go to a good concert, and there's thousands of people there, passionate about jesus! each band was rockin it out. yet there was still many times of intimate praise and worship. something about seeing that many arms raised is just incredible! the bands, speakers, artists... i give it all an A+. especially for a $10 donation for an amazing cause at the door! :) oh yeah, i think they said we raised over $104 THOUSAND dollars. in one nite. all for the tornado victims in alabama. gotta love a band who is willing to do a benefit concert on their off nite from their tour!