morning

Good morning, friends.

February has been good.  busy season is pretty brutal thus far, but I've had a few fun moments (other than work which is fun) to pass the time.  Luckily, some of these moments involved the busy man himself!

A post full of photos....

I've gotten to pick up my favorite little gal from school a few times and we have dance parties in the car.  I know she knows who I am (and loves me :)), but every time she sees me she excitingly says, "Teeeeee?!?!?!" This is what she calls Uncle T.Dud and it is so sweet how she loves him and asks for him.  My response lately is, "He's at work," and she'll say, "T wowk."  

A note, I didn't take this photo while driving, we were at a stoplight.

 This is Austin. T's not-so-little brother.  He was in his first musical and had a solo!  He did so awesome and it was so fun to see him looking so grown up with his beard.  People, I met not-so-little brother when he was in 4th grade (they are 10 years apart) and now he's a SENIOR about to go to college!

Leslie and I took Granny to lunch (Leslie takes her every week, I joined them this week), and then took her to Muddy's for a cupcake.  It was her first time there and she loved it.

Since I got into sewing in the past few years, I've wanted to sew up a quilt top to make into a quilt for our family.  I found this fabric and thought it was so cute, so I finally started cutting the pieces to sew it up.. I know this will be a long process, but glad to finally start!

Valentine's day 2013.

Friday evening wine and cheese.  Thanks to Aldi for these items, and my valentine for those flowers.

New thing we tried on the green egg... Lobster!  It turned out great (I love lobster) and I think T enjoyed it also (he hadn't ever had it before).  He even tried the broccoli.

Start to (another) new project.  I saw this pattern and immediately fell in love with the words and flowers and colors.  I want this to be a pillow for our bed.  So far I'm really enjoying this during our evening TV time.

 T man's 5 seconds of fame on Fox Sports South.

Sunday morning muffin date.

Sunday afternoon leaf blowing.

February 2013 has been filled with joy in my life, and I'm so thankful the busy time is passing with these moments.  Savoring every one of these moments.

the new me

Glasses.  I always wanted them, but never needed them.  T and everyone in my immediate family wears them.  My dad didn't need glasses until he was 50, so I figured I would follow in his footsteps and not wear them for years.

Recently I noticed while reading and using computer (what we do ALLLL day) that I was straining my eyes to read, and then when I looked up I'd have to readjust to focus my eyes for distance vision.  Who knows how long I've been doing this, but I hadn't been to see an eye doctor in, oh, maybe 15 years?  So I thought, maybe it's time for a vision test... But I can see!

I finally went.  Read the chart like a champ, and then he began to test my up close vision and things were a tad bit blurry.  Oops!  He said it was time for some reading and computer glasses.  I said, "but my dad didn't need them until he was 50! Surely I'm the same?"  He said that my dad probably NEEDED them way before that time.  So here I am, joining the rest of my family in the glasses party.  At least glasses are cool, right?  Jonathan, looks like you're next!

If you follow me on instagram, you've already seen this photo.

My good friend CindiLou helped me pick out these glasses and I'm liking them!

I'm now the lady who puts on her glasses to read, and then takes them off to look up. 

:)

back to school

I'm working at a preschool now, so it's come back around that August means back to school time.  We had "meet the teacher" last night and it gets you ready for the upcoming school year and the excitement of something new.  More new-ness to me than my co-workers, but I'm continuing to live in the present and put my heart into what I'm doing at the moment.  Being present.

Another SUPER exciting thing for me in August is a trip.  Leslie and I are going to see our [not so] little brother in LA and are pumped.  Neither of us have been further in the US than Colorado/Arizona. We are calling it our first annual "sister retreat."  We haven't ever traveled on a trip just the two of us and I know we will have such fun and crazy-ness.  I'm sure she'll spill on me (and not her) or roll her suitcase over my foot multiple times, but that's my sister (right Jesse?) and I've recently come into her clumsy-ness so maybe I'll get her back.  :)

Also, our family celebrates 3 birthdays this month... My mom, Granny (she'll be 92!), and now Juliette.

Sounds like we are in for fun in August!

Oh, and you can catch the August desktop calendar (if you're interested) ----> here.

the egg

Well we finally pulled the trigger (and stained the table) and got our little [big] green egg!  We had no idea what we were doing, but everyone said "it's so easy and heats up in like 10 minutes."  So here we go.... 2 nights in a row and they were both a big SUCCESS!

Night 1: Hamburgers and Apple Crisp

 burgs...

 apple crisp...

After much research (and youtube video watching) T found that you should start the egg off by cooking things that require lower temperatures.  So we started with burgers.  I'm not a huge burger eater really, but I will say this one was perfectly cooked.  So even. So juicy.  My favorite part though was the apple crisp.  What can I say, I'm a dessert kind of girl.  Remember when I made apple crisp for 2?  Well, we were celebrating Ross' bday on Monday night and I wanted to do a dessert on the ol' egg and thought this might just be the thing.  It was SOOOO good.  I mean I can't explain why, but it was much better than the oven version.  Thank you, green egg, for living up to my dreams of making desserts on you.  MMMM good.  We topped it with blue bell, just for Ross.

Night 2: Pork Tenderloin and Biscuits

We threw out the idea of doing a pizza our second night, but T read those require higher temps so he found this pork tenderloin recipe instead.  He made his own rub, which is now called the "fiesta rub" and it was the best most perfectly cooked pork I've ever had in my life.  No joke.  No part of it was chewy.  I'm telling you, perfectly cooked pork tenderloin.  We put our homemade biscuits on there to cook, too, and they were just as amazing (if not better) as baking them in the oven.

 fiesta rub

The Green Egg has lived up to the hype so far, and I know it'll only continue to be so fun for us!  Like T said on Monday, if you need us this summer, we will be here...

some recent favorites

I thought I'd share a few things on my 'favorites' list.  Then later on, I can look back to see the things I was enjoying at this time of life...

• My Monday night Bible Study : My bff aud invited me to join her bible study group this year on Monday nights and I've been loving it.  We are studying the gospel through the book of Galatians and it has really been changing my thoughts to be more in line with the gospel.  It is always encouraging to know that there are 10 other women who struggle and battle with the same sinful thoughts as I do and we can spend a couple hours in discussion and prayer for each other.  Tim Keller's Galatians study is amazing and I'm truly blessed to be a part of such a real group.
• Morning Coffee, as always.

• Our backyard and gardening with T (as you can tell from this post).  When we first moved into this house he wasn't that interested in having any plants, but last year he really started to get into it with me and we've loved looking for different kinds of plants to enjoy and loved spending time outside together.

• Arizona tea's Arnold Palmer packets.  I don't love sweet tea or unsweet tea, but I do love the combo of unsweet tea and lemonade.  Much more satisfying.  I'd been mixing a Crystal Light unsweet tea and lemonade packet (to make my own Arnold P), and then Leslie Poe told me that there were now pre-made Arizona AP packets.  GENIUS!

• Hanging out with Geritta and Gerisha and getting to know them has been so fun!  They are twins that Mandi and I mentor together at Streets Ministries and we see them weekly for tutoring time.  This past week we got to go to the Grizzlies game with them.  I never truly understood the whole "twins" thing, but now I do.  They love to be together and feed off each other, but they also want to be completely independent.  Mandi and I love to watch them grow and laugh and tell us hilarious stories.

 Mandi & Gerisha

Geritta and I

When we first met them in 2010 they looked SOO much alike and it was hard to tell them apart, but now it's so easy and they don't look alike at all to me.  Isn't that what all parents of multiples say?? Now we understand.  :)

• And this face, as always.  He really is the cutest dog in all the world.  We tried to get him to wear some bunny ears for the upcoming holiday, but he didn't understand.  I guess he felt safe in his bed.

Life is so great around here!  God has really blessed us and we are loving this stage of our lives.

that time again, really?

the summer has flown by, and I can't believe we are already in August.  this month brings us lots of changes and other fun happenings...

- OFFICIAL marathon training begins this week.  I'm taking on this 100 degree plus weather and doing this thing.
- mom's birthday :)
- granny's 90th BIRTHDAY, yes, you saw that, she's going to be 90!
- some fun visits to oxford
- the stephens prepare to leave for italia! bittersweet I tell ya.

- elise & ellen leave for school, which gives me fun new places to visit. again, bittersweet.
- lots of bike riding with the hubs (he got a new bike over the weekend, and I'm babysitting laura's during her italia adventure)

I hope august brings us many other exciting happenings.  in lieu of t's new purchase, and our new hobby together, I bring you the august desktop.  [leslie also thought it'd be a cute idea.]

Good luck to those of you headed back to school, and enjoy life.  take it one day at a time.

august 1024 x 768

august 1600 x 1200

august 1680 x 1050