Beach Trip

Myrtle Beach was great! Here are some pictures and stories to showcase our wonderful time with family.

The first night, we were there just the three of us. It was nice to have a little start to the vacation alone. We went to play gooney golf, Garyn's new favorite. He does a pretty good job. His strategy is to hit it a few times then pick it up and put it right next to the hole and then hit it in. :)

This is a video of Garyn, Tyler and Lorna in the lazy river.

The lazy river was Garyn's favorite by far. Most of the time he didn't use the tubes. He could reach the bottom and "bounced" along on his own. For the first few days, he would say "I wanna go bounce like a bunny rabbit." then he finally caught on that it was called the lazy river.

It was short but nice because I could lounge while we all took turns in there with him. This is Pop and Ryan (Lorna's friend). This particular turn had a forceful current that pulled him under easily.

The crew that went was: us 3, my dad, brother and sister n' law, their two kids plus my niece's friend Ryan. Total was 9, which as always makes for a fun trip with everyone staying in the same place for a week!

Garyn liked the beach better this year. Although, he still only liked it for maybe an hour or two. The biggest problem was the sun and he refused to wear a hat or sunglasses.

I even tried to make sand castles with him.....again, I tried

Lorna and Ryan helped keep him busy in the water jumping waves. He would keep grabbing their hands to take him back out. They loved every word and move he made!

The boy ate like crazy on this trip. He would hit everyone up for food when they were eating. Then every time we went to the beach he wanted peanut butter crackers in his wagon. He wouldn't look at me because of the sun.

Another treat was that the Cobbles and Slaughters were just 15 minutes away part of the week! We went out to eat with them and then hung out on the beach half a day with them. Garyn enjoyed the beach more having buds to play with. Here is Eli, Brayden and Garyn filling a hole with water.

The next day back at our place, Garyn played better after learning some skills from his buds!

The last day came too quick as always! We ran out for some quick family pictures before going out to dinner.

This is Garyn's favorite spot with daddy!

We watched some guys playing corn hole all week from the deck, and finally on the last night, we joined. My brother had never played and really liked it. It was great that everyone could enjoy it.

The trip was great. It was my first time to Myrtle and we plan to go back next year.

We feel so blessed that my dad gives us this trip and we can spend quality time with everyone.

Well, my next post will be from Honduras, if I can get some good internet service! Pray for a safe trip for me and that Garyn and I both survive the long separation!

July Goals

This is going to be a short list since this month is already a week in and is busy for me. BUT there are some great things to be accomplished and worth posting. :)

Fun:
Go to Honduras!!! leaving Saturday if you didn't know already!
Plan and have Garyn's 3rd birthday party!--can't believe it but that's besides the point
Go to pool at least twice

Cleaning:
Straighten house before leaving for trip and after, I'm sure it will be a disaster!
Deep clean window sills and under couches

Cooking:
Eat at home 4+ nights a week
Freezer cooking day

DIY:
Paint in basement
clean off deck (didn't accomplish in June)

Reading:
Finish Crazy Love and Don't Make Me Count to Three

Most importantly, relax and enjoy my trip to the Orphanage taking in all that God wants me to learn and experience. I hope to come back and feel more content with my life's blessings and motivated to use them for His glory daily.

June Goals Completed...

Well hello everyone!~

June has been busy and I obviously have fallen off the blogging waggon a little.

To save time and since you all probably would rather see than read those goals, I am going to post pictures that I have of the things June entailed.....

Fun:

We have been swimming a lot. This is Tyler and Garyn at Tyler's uncle's pool Father's day weekend.

Garyn is loving the water, and actually now thinks he doesn't need his arm floaties, he can reach in the 3 ft, but he does need them and it is a fight to get them on most times.

We went to Riverbend one night this year. We got pins and passes to sit on the lawn from a wonderful lady my dad works with. We chose the night Third Day was there! They were great; Garyn did pretty good.

We also made it to the beach! The real one, not Chester Frost, unfortunately. We did try to go to CF one day, but it started raining on the way. BUT Myrtle beach was great and we had a lot of good family time. More photos to come on that one.

As previously stated, we had a great anniversary and a fun time rafting.

Cooking:

Yea!! I had a freezer cooking day. I tackled more than usual and got 3 casseroles, 2 bags of Brown Bag Burritos, some chicken salad for sandwiches, 30 meatballs, and about 20 mini apple pies. It was a longer day spent in the kitchen but worth it. I'll post recipes once they are eaten and approved. ;)

I also want you to know I have been reading Crazy Love, by Francis Chan. Man it is rocking my little world of security and comfort in what I have been taught about Christianity. It challenges you to be the real Biblical Christian and not what the norm is in today's society and even in churches. Haven't finished yet but I am thinking there will be some changes to come.

Well, that's all folks!

I leave for Honduras Saturday!  I will try to get those July goals in before then.

Dinner Menu

(My beautiful hydrangeas that are giving me fresh flowers to place on the table)

I haven't been doing good these last couple weeks at making a meal plan. I have been trying to write something down, however, we still are eating out too much lately. I have got to get back into this habit of posting because it helps me stick with the plan. I am too easily swayed by Tyler if I have no plan at all!

Sunday- Ruby Tuesday's
Monday- Mexican Chicken Casserole
Tuesday- Grilled Chicken, veggies and cornbread
Wednesday- Waffles, eggs, and sausage
Thursday- Barbecue Chicken Pizza
Friday- Frozen bagged meal
Saturday- eat out

Lunches-
  brown bag burritos
  egg sandwiches
  Chicken salad sandwiches
  hot dogs
  eat lunch out
  leftovers

Rich Updates...

I haven't been blogging as much lately. I thought I would update a little through some pictures of what all we've been doing the last couple weeks...

We have been swimming some these last couple weeks. Garyn is enjoying it and is able to stay afloat with just his arm floaties, instead of the whole garb he had to wear last year. These pics are when Lakelin stayed with us after the Memorial day gathering and we went out to my dad's pool. We have also been to a neighborhood pool that Tyler's mom got us a membership to. I am pretty excited about it. It's Stuart Height's pool, only 5 mins from our house and they give swim lessons to members.

I have also been working a lot lately. I just finished 3 nights. During the summer, I try to sign up for some extra nights. I always wonder why I do it though, because its hard to work 3 nights and Tyler is still busy during the day. Nana and Poppa like to keep Garyn more in the summer, but it doesn't always work out for them to. However, we are trying to save up money for our trips, as you know. More importantly, I am going down to just working 3 days every two weeks this fall! I am currently doing 4 days a pay period ( twice a week) so it is going to be so nice to have that one less day every other week. I'll explain why in a minute... 

This picture is from last week when our pastor's wife, Heather, had her baby. Garyn and their oldest Carson were born 40 mins apart and had their first baths together. Heather and I have been friends since and I had the privilege of giving their second his first bath!

After working all those nights, I came home to this today just waiting for me to attend to......

There was another one on the floor, too. But I am not complaining one bit, because at least they are clean and not dirty all over the floor.

My sweet hubby has been helping out a lot with such things, I even came home one morning and he had clipped my coupons! They were even divided up into piles of like products. He knows what grabs my heart!

Speaking of my sweetie, here are some pics from our anniversary day

We went down to Ocoee to go White Water rafting. We used to love doing that sort of stuff, but now with Garyn its harder. I arranged for Nana and Poppa to watch Garyn while we went. I didn't tell Tyler, until the night, before what we were doing. This is us in the car waiting because I wanted to leave 2 hours before our scheduled time. Ocoee is only 40-45 minutes away if you didn't know. We had time to enjoy each other, though, I tried to convince him I planned it that way.

Here we are in our rafting attire! We look pretty goofy. We enjoyed the trip, Tyler voluntarily jumped in once and involuntarily fell out another time. I was holding on for dear life because I really didn't want to get in involuntarily. Actually, it scares me a little, especially now with Garyn. I felt really safe with the guide and such but those waters are powerful and rocks are everywhere! When Tyler fell out, he fell backwards head first with his legs and feet still in the raft. He tried to pull himself back up but then let go and went under the raft! The guide grabbed his life jacket but couldn't get him out from under so he let go. Tyler popped up quickly, BUT boy was I freaking out a little on the inside! The guide was very cool and nonchalant about it so I guess it happens all the time. The whole event lasted maybe 1 minute, that was 1 minute more than I could stand, though! I was pretty close to screaming "Help him!" or something similar! Whew, definitely an adrenaline rush! lol! Tyler said he was a little worried at one point, too.

Here we are after, on the bus ride back. You can tell that even though I did not go into the water, I was drenched!

The rest of the day was spent consuming way too much food and donuts (it was National Donut day which equaled free donuts!) We also got to see a movie, Prince of Persia, which was unplanned and good.

That same weekend, I got to go to Goodwill half off day and yard sales. I have been finding some good toys for Garyn. I got both this Woody and Buzz for him at yard sales. He is getting into Toy Story. I think that is what we will be doing for his birthday. I also can't wait to take him next weekend to see the new movie.

Isn't he such a cutie?

Garyn has been doing awesome with potty training. He has been getting to play lots of Wii games which means he has been pooping in the potty a lot! We still have some issues when we are out and about but I am not complaining! He has gotten pretty good at playing Wii and can do more games now. This is him playing swords, that's his favorite.

Tyler is taking 2 classes right now and will be finishing up his masters by August. He is having to work really hard on these classes because one is supposed to be done after the other but he got approved to do them together. They are his research paper classes so the different chapters of his paper are due at the same time. Thankfully, his mom helps him a lot! I have no interest to write a paper or do research. Nursing school did me in!

Tyler also is busy with football and now baseball! The head baseball coach is leaving and the previous assistant is now the head coach. That opened up the assistant spot. Tyler had been thinking about coaching baseball for awhile so this was the perfect opportunity. Graduating with his masters and getting an extra supplement check is the reason I get to work less in the fall. I am happy for him to do baseball for that reason!!

Well, that's what going on in this "Richest Life" for us

5+5

 5 yrs of dating + 5 yrs of marriage......

Actually, we started our little ron de vue at age 12, we were both smitten by the end of the first week of 8th grade, smitten I tell you! We were those two that flirted, giggled and turned red every time the other was even mentioned by name. Our 2 week dating period in 8th grade is not counted in our 10 year trek.

The years have been filled with excitement and craziness.

 High school was all about dates, proms, and of course football!

Every time I go see Tyler at work, our Alma mater, I think of these years and smile!

College years were filled with wonderful trips.

We have always loved doing things outdoors; skiing, rafting, and such. His parents were nice enough to always drag us along to Colorado, Denver, Seattle and more. Those years were different from high school in that we were maturing together and realizing how rare it was that we were still in love with one another despite the odds.

{BTW, could that shirt have been any shorter??}

Yes, we have had our ups and downs. There were a few breakups at the end of high school and just before college. God knew just how to heal each one, though. It was always harder to be apart.

Then we finally took the challenge of marriage,

I thought he would never ask,

those first 5 years were long enough for me to know he was "the one."

Marriage is a challenge....it tries you daily. You can't take sick days; you can't always be beautified; and you have adult responsibilities to share! I love every day of it, not every minute, especially when I have worked the night before. However, at the end of the day, I thank God for our marriage, our relationship, our love that seems to be beating the odds.

This little addition changed the dynamics instantly! We are a team now,

no longer two individuals bound, we are now three.

We love seeing ourselves in him and cherish true family time.

Sometimes we still wonder how we were so lucky to have him to nurture and cherish.

The ups and downs are a distant past now, and we know no difference than

having each other to spend each day with.

Smitten, still, I tell you

I love you, Tyler, and wish you a Happy Anniversary.
I hope the next five are just as good!

Thank you for always being there and loving

me unconditionally, warts and all!

June Goals and meal plan

June Goals

Fun:
Go to pool at least twice a week!
Go to Chester Frost "beach"
Go to Myrtle Beach, the real beach :)
Take Garyn to see Toy Story 3
Take Garyn bowling with friends
Have a great anniversary with my hubby!

DIY/Home:
Paint something in basement
Clean off deck

Craft:
Coasters
Finish the bazillion gift baskets for the bazillion baby showers

Cleaning:
Deep Clean- under couches and beds
                   clean up laundry room
                   clean/ straighten Garyn's toys
                  
clean and vacuum car before vacation
Give dogs a bath

Cooking:
Freezer Cooking day
meal plan for lunch ideas and dinner
Eat at home all but 5 meals each week (including lunch)

Financial:
Continue to save for trips! They will be here soon!!
Itemize bank statement for last month

Health/Wellness:
Go bike riding sometime
Continue Tyler in taking multivitamins (he conveniently forgets when I don't tell him to take them)

Reading:
Finish "Don't Make Me Count To Three"
Begin "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan and attend book club meetings for it
Catch up on daily Bible readings and limit Internet time when behind

Meal Plan:
(Changing this up a little to account for flexibility)

Lunches-
Hot Dogs
Sandwiches-roast beef included
Barbecue Sandwiches
pizza
brown bag burritos
pizza pockets (will give recipe later)

Dinners-
Mexican Chicken Casserole
Barbecue grilled chicken
Steaks, baked potatoes
Taco salad
frozen skillet meal (I have several taking up freezer space)