my little darlings

i just wanted to post about my favorite little nieces and nephews in the world! a lot of you haven't seen them in a while, and they are getting so big!

zachary is growing up fast. he loves sports and jason coaches his tee ball team. his mom is coming home soon...so we are wondering what will be happening with our little dude. but he is excited to see her, and i know he has missed her a lot.



autumn is still a crazy girl, and as beautiful as ever. she will be in 2nd grade next year. she can talk your ear off, but her stories are very animated...she has an incredible imagination. i guess she would be my sister's "sizzlebop," sunny. :)




in fact, she very well may have two of those. garrett is a handful and a half. he is in pre-k right now and cannot wait to start kindergarten next year. he is constantly getting bruises and scrapes, and heather can barely keep up with him. he keeps her on her toes for sure!



and then there's kaylei. she is our only niece on josh's side of the family so far. she was adopted 2 years ago and she was born on my birthday! kaylei has such an adorable personality and the biggest most beautiful brown eyes in the world. she just turned two and she is brilliant! she has memorized like a million flashcards and her vocabulary is almost as big as uncle josh's already!



i love all four of these kiddos and it is incredible how fast they have all grown up! their parents are amazing, and because of them i am not AS scared to be a parent one day!!! :)

fun in the sun...

this weekend was so great! i got to go to lake somerville with my amazing friends! i love this group of friends because we all grew up in church together, and we have all stayed so close. we don't get to hang out really often, but every time we do it is an absolute blast! we try to go camping twice a year all together, and it's always such a great time...this time was no exception. daniel and courtney's family has a boat, so we were able to spend saturday skiing on the lake and getting really really sunburnt! (that part hasn't been so fun) we were blessed with perfect weather though.

craziest story of the weekend...niki and i were sitting in the pitch black in the middle of a little field by our camp sight, and a wild hog (little did we know it was a baby) came up to us and i just about died! it snorted, and at first i thought it was a dog, but then i realized it was a black pig and i took off running lake a crazy lady! (sorry niki) she was left to grab the lantern and explain my freak out to the rest of the group. the guys eventually chased the little hog to another camp sight and i survived. we had good laughs...mostly at my expense...and only one other wildlife encounter with a hungry raccoon.

here's some pics...

my favorite one of brian...doesn't it look professional?!

i love this man

the girls...tanning, of course!

reenacting the "there's a pig" face!

niki and ashley

wow josh, really?

courtney is the pro skiier

the couple that makes this all happen...ya'll are amazing!

niki tried to slolum (however you spell that), she did good but was worn out

ha! sorry daniel! i had to! no, he's not naked, but this is hilarious!

the only downer to the weekend...while we were driving to our camp sight after skiing all day, we got a message that our good friend kyle was in a motor cycle accident. he is ok now, but has a lot of healing to do. God definitely watched out for him. it could have been much much worse. but he did dislocate his shoulder and collar bone, had surgery on his foot, and lost a lot of the skin off his back, arms, and legs. please pray for him as he recovers. his family is in iowa, so we are his family right now. pray that he can go back to work soon and get back to life as usual. thank you Lord for your protection.

that's it! thanks for a great weekend guys! i love you all so much!

home sweet home

okie dokie...here it is! our first home. it is on one acre in conroe, and we are so excited to get it finished and move in. we really weren't looking to move out of our apartment for another year, but the Lord truly placed this opportunity in front of us and we just could not pass it up! enjoy the journey through building...

the first step...

a little more...

a slab!

the framing begins...

it looks like a house!

another angle...

shingles!

we got the yard cleared, but still lots of cleaning up to do...

you can finally see it from the street!

they forgot our fireplace...but we got it fixed!

finally...bricks!

almost ready for sheetrock...

ok...that's it so far. i'm sure i will post more soon. but like i said we are getting super excited! please pray for beautiful weather so that we can get in there soon. although, we are looking forward to our time we are going to live with josh's parents. they are so sweet and supportive to let us crash their peaceful home! :) they must love us!

my first blog...

so...this is my first blog! i hope that this will be a great way for me to keep everyone updated on ours lives and keep in touch with more of you.

josh and i have been so blessed during our first year of marriage, and God continues to work in our lives daily. i just finished school for the semester and we are currently packing up our apartment...our first home...and moving in with the in-laws until our first house is ready! we are so excited and we know God is working wonders for us! i will post soon about our new home, with pictures!

i just wanted to say hi to everyone and welcome you all to my new blog. enjoy!