So, moving on..

Hey, so we moved!
In the last couple of months,
our little family packed up the 
little grey house with the orange living room,
and left humid Oklahoma for humid Missouri.
I have tried to write a few posts on it,
but took my sweet time in posting them, so now, we are just moving on.

When we first got here, we spent two days moving into
our temporary housing (my in-laws, Thanks Kev and Deb)
and packing for our 10 day stint in the Colorado mountains at Camp Como.

Levi helped his dad out with a week of High School camp,
and the girls and I just tagged along for fun!
We explored, drew in our nature books, which soon turned into princess books,
hiked, lunched in tiny towns,
made new friends, 
and played till the sun was behind Little Baldy
(the 12,000 ft peak I climbed!)

We stayed in an old barn,
waking up way early as the sun blazed through our windows.
Every single morning all five of us would snuggle in one bed waiting for it to be time to get up and out for breakfast.
At night I would sit outside our cabin, waiting for littles to fall asleep,
 reading, and seeing the most spectacular skies.
I am thankful for our time there,
exploring some place new,
seeing God's beautiful mountains,
walking through peaceful trails between aspens.
I loved the simplicity of being there,
I never knew the time,
never stressed about meals,
left my phone off and in my room most days,
I was unplugged more than I ever have been,
and it was wonderful!

Now that we are back home,
I am trying to remain intentional about 
spending less time in front of a screen,
spending more time playing
and making memories with the girls,
and meeting God without distractions!

Have fun this week! Shoot off a Roman Candle for me!

sunset at the pier

Now, I really really love grey fall mornings,

but today,

today I am missing the beach.

I miss it's simplicity and warmth.

Back on our vacation,

we had the most wonderful evening on the pier 

watching the sun set over the water,

following a pod of dolphins,

and enjoying the fishermen's show.

i spy a dorsal fin

our walk back to our hotel along the beach was quiet and special.

We're back!!

Over the last week, we packed up our little car,

dropped our daughters off at their Gram and Pop's,

and drove all the way to Pensacola Beach.

Three full days of sitting at the beach!

We were giddy, and exhausted,

looking forward to a restful get away.

We drove through Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama.

We saw cotton fields for the first time,

swamps, and the USS Alabama.

We suffered through miles and miles on tiny one lane highways,

passing farm after farm
after farm after farm.
We talked and asked each other lots of questions,
it was weird with no one yelling in the back seat.
We listened to our music and some comedians too!
After 13 long hours, we made it,
checked in, and crashed.

The next morning we woke up early,
ate a scrumptious hotel breakfast, and walked along the beach.
It was cool and cloudy,
we couldn't believe we were there.
Really, it took about 1 1/2 days to get into vacation mode.
I joke about parenting other people's children while I was there,
and sadly it was a little true,
I was not used to being off mom mode for more than a few hours!

But once we got into the vacation lifestyle,
we lived it up, hours on the beach, yummy restaurants,
and we even rented beach chairs on Thursday.
We felt fancy, and had a blast people watching, reading,
and taking breaks from sitting to search for shells and sand dollars
to give to the girls.
The weather was gorgeous!
Sunny, high in the 70s and a nice breeze.
Ahh, the life.

Thursday night, we paid for a walking pass on the pier.
We watched the sunset,
took pictures, and saw a pod of dolphins!
There were a myriad of fishermen,
it was fun watching them toss fish over the side of the pier,
smack them on the ground, making an art out of their work.
It was so peaceful watching God's glory set on the horizon.
(more pictures to come later of this adventure)

Friday was great/terrible.
We followed our usual routine,
we had grown accustomed to relaxing,
and we liked it.
After a few minutes on the sand,
we got pretty hot and headed into the water.
A girl asked us if we were brother and sister,
which Levi began nodding his head yes.
Another girl told me about her crabs at home,
Freddie and Mr. Spongebob Krabbs.
It was cute and made me miss my girls even more.

While looking for shells,
we found numerous tiny crabs still in their shells drifting along with the waves.
I was a little creeped out, and began walking so cautiously around.
Then I spotted it, a perfect sand dollar, white, that was the size of a half dollar,
(we had only found pieces, many pieces of sand dollars, no whole ones,
we joked about us vacationing to a "sand dollar graveyard", 
it was funny to me, maybe you had to be there)
I bent down to pick it up and found one silver fish with a yellow tail
(if you clicked on the link, I couldn't narrow it down to any specific fish, 
because as you can see there are many silver fish with yellow tails)
started swimming all around my legs,
and soon more appeared, really freaking me out,
chasing me away from our perfect sand dollar.
Every step back I took, more appeared,
it was completely irrational, but I thought,
what if they bite?
Shortly after they got tired of scaring me,
someone found a jellyfish nearby.
I was done.

So I parked my keister, do people use that terminology still or is it just me?
Anyway, I sat down to read more,
but it was so hot in the direct sun,
so I moved to the poolside under a free umbrella, and that was nice,
then I started to feel a heat rash,
it burned and itched,
so I went  upstairs, showered and took nap,
it finished the trip nicely.

check out the couple walking the beach, so cute!

We headed back,
after a few minor setbacks,
one being my first flat tire,
past the millions of farms,
we made it home to an adorable banner,
and three snoozing loves.

We were so thankful to have had the opportunity to go,
and so happy to be home with our girls again!

What have you all been up to?

A Toast to the Happy Couple

My baby brother married the most beautiful ballerina 

this weekend,

in the Smokey Mountains.

It was a wonderful, simple ceremony,

oozing with love and joy.

---

Let me catch you up on the longest trip of my life.

we woke up early on friday, ready to make what google maps told us would be a 13 hour drive to North Carolina.

we dressed and packed up our little car, Melvin, and headed east on I-40.

Not far down the road we needed to stop, I took all three girls to the restroom where within a matter of minutes,

i was reaching in a gas station toilet to get my keys that my precious baby knocked out of my hands while wiping, washing, and dressing my two other children.

18 hours later on the road at the great hour of 1:30 am,

we arrived, after a bajillion stops, terrible traffic through Nashville, and winding mountain roads.

Don't you feel sorry for me? 

You don't have to, I was pitying myself hardcore.

---

So the ceremony was followed by a cute lunch of sandwiches and southern sweet tea in mason jars, yum! 

It was crazy to look at the head table and see my little brother and his WIFE,

eating and smiling together. 

My brother asked me to stand with him,

and boy was that an unexpected honor.

As his co-best woman,

I felt like I wanted to make a toast,

but because of corralling my littles for their nap time,

I didn't,

so I am sharing it here.

(with a lot less tears, and hopefully it is way more coherent.)

---

*Chink, chink, chink*

Hi, I would like to make a toast for the happy couple.

My baby brother is one of my most favorite people in the world.

He was always so fun, and willing to play anything with me,

barbies, dress up, tea parties, the list goes on.

As he grew, I noticed how much he loved Jesus,

I was amazed by his diligence in his quiet time,

and his convictionsHe also became incredibly sarcastic and ornery,

cracking jokes became his love language.

Hugging him was like hugging a tree,

stiff and scratchy.

(insert obligatory chuckling here)

I always knew he loved me,

he just wasn't very affectionate.

Fast forward to last year,

I got a call from my brother,

which was a rare occurrence.

He told me about this girl he had been talking to,

the ballerina.

He oozed affection just talking about her,

he was giddy, telling me,

"She is not like any other girl in the world!"

I thought it was sweet.

then he told me he was going to marry her,

he knew it.

I loved that.

Then I met Grace for the first time this past July.

I had heard so much,

my family bursted with love for this girl.

And as I stepped back into my childhood house,

we were introduced, and she hugged me first thing. 

Then Bracken hugged me, 

and it was like hugging a boa constrictor,

so tight your eyes bug out a little.

(big laugh)

and I knew they would be an amazing couple together.

And from that day on,

love has just saturated everything about Bracken and Grace,

and today it was wonderful to get to be part of this celebration.

I look forward to seeing how God will use your intense love,

I am excited to see little Brackens and Graces running around hugging everyone.

(me sniffling right now)

I love you guys, I love your love for each other and your families.

So let's raise our glasses in honor of their love,

may it be full of blessings, perseverance,

and hope.

Best wishes and

Bracken, thanks for my new sister!

Cheers!

*clinking of glasses and lots of sniffles*

We're so happy for you Mr. and Mrs. Bracken Shivers!

lately

Here's a little peek
of what we have been doing
lately.

Catalyst
Last week,
Levi, Pen, and I drove to Texas,
(the big girls stayed with Gram and Pops)
to attend Catalyst,
a two day conference packed with
intelligent speakers
encouraging us to make,
to do, to start now.
We listened to them.
We were overwhelmed by them.
We were affirmed by them.
We are thankful for them.

I had my very first and second In-N-Out experience!

she loved the hotel!

finding new coffee places, our favorite
The Pearl Cup

May Summer Shape Up
My dear friend, Aanna, began a workout program
designed by her friend, Abby,
and invited her readers to join her.
Since I just finished #nomakeup430,
I was ready for a new challenge.
Plus, about 25 people are joining her as well,
and that is just fun!
So I have been lifting canned beans,
dancing till I sweat,
getting incredibly sore,
and
LOVING every minute of it!
More on this to come.

Potty Training Cord
She is getting it!!
Her Gram and Pops were consistent with her,
and after many accidents,
she is doing so great!
She however cries when she poops in the froggy potty.
(It isn't like I make her clean it, she just knows it belongs in the big potty)
She now cheers when anyone goes potty.
When she hears "Yaya" (Daddy) flush, "Yay Yaya!"
When, she watches me, (Is privacy still a thing? HA!) "Yay Mama!"
When she and Nora sit side by side on the potties,
"Yay Nahh, Yay Dahdee!"
And when Pen has a dirty diaper,
she says, "Yuck, no no, pah-ee."(potty)
Oh yea, it's fun!

Getting back
once we were reunited with our girls,
(finally!! it's interesting how quickly you miss them!)
reality came back really, rrreeaallyy fast.
AND,
the weather is getting warmer!!
Soon, we look forward toward
-spending all day in our swimsuits
-popsicles
-grilling
- camping
-road trip to my parents!

What have you all been up to lately? What are you looking forward to this summer?