A Wedding Weekend!

This weekend one of my best friends since kindergarten, Amy got married! I was lucky enough to be involved in all the weekend festivities and everything went so smoothly and I had a lot of fun! I think that it was one of the calmest, smoothly flowing wedding weekends I have ever been involved in...what could I expect, Amy has always been the ultimate planner :)

To top it all of many of my other friends from school were in town and involved in the weekend as well! Philip and I were so happy to host my dear, dear friend Jenae who flew in all the way from Utah for the wedding. It was so nice to have her at the house all weekend and just spend time relaxing between wedding events and catching up. Levi loved her as well! It is always a little bittersweet when Jenae and I get to spend time together because we just love each other and have so much in common and I know I would really love having her close by!

On Friday we all went to the rehearsal dinner (which was wonderful!) and had so much fun catching up with a bunch of the other elementary/middle/high school friends! Here are all of us that have been friends since High school: Amy, Jenae, Me, Philip, Peggy, Nikki, Deanna and Matt. Nikki, Jenae, Amy and I have been buddies since Kindergarten (yes, that's 22 years!) and Deanna joined our wonderful little gang in the 5th grade! I'm so blessed to have such special long term friends!

The wedding was Saturday evening and it was BEAUTIFUL! The church was picture perfect, the wedding party was lovely, the flowers were like nature...but so much better, and of course the bride was stunning. The reception was really fun and had the feel of being in a pristine garden with fountains and candles and flowers and paper lanterns everywhere. So pretty! The food and cake were delicious and there were so many neat personal touches.

Amy, thank you so much for including me in you wedding! It was perfect! I hope you are having a wonderful honeymoon! Can't wait to see you when you get home! Jimmy, you are a lucky guy, and I know you will take great care of Amy...she's lucky too :)

10 Month Old Party Animal!

This weekend was very busy, but lots of fun! Levi's best friend Autry had her first birthday party and then we headed straight from there to Abilene for cousin Kynlee's 4th birthday that was the next day. Both parties we so fun and cute! Levi wore himself out with the excitement.

Autry's party was such a cute, pink, girly swim party. She was just precious in her little swim suit with matching hat and she LOVED her cake! The decorations and favors were too cute! Levi had fun swimming (once Dad got in with him).
We had so much fun with our family Saturday night and Sunday! Everyone was there and Levi enjoyed trying to keep up with his older cousins! We even managed to get some pretty good group pictures of the 4 of them after church in coordinating colors!
Kynlee's princess party was a big hit and the girls were so cute all dressed up! I know I'm partial because she is my family, but isn't she just the sweetest little thing!
He wasn't much for naps during the weekend because he was too distracted by all the excitement! Needless to say, Levi crashed in the car on the way home and slept the whole 2+ hour drive!

Levi also had a birthday of sorts this weekend. He turned 10 months old on Sunday! Only 2 short months 'til we will be having his 1 year party...weird!

Here are the usual updates:

new skills:
-walks ALL the time (getting close to running)
-bends over to pick up toys while walking without sitting down and just keeps right on going
-says daw-gu/ku (dog) and baw (ball) and we think ba-an-a (banana) along with his mama and dada
-throws a ball
-claps (often!)
-bounces along to music
-waves hello and goodbye (with enthusiasm and to everything…such as his stuffed animals)

things that are lots of fun:
-music/singing
-dogs (especially Penny and Jessie)
-fruit of any kind
-his favorite books (especially Pat the Bunny)
-being outside
-yelling into empty cups

things that are not so fun:
-be kept out of interesting things (the fireplace, dog bowls, toilet)
-having to wait for more food
-having his diaper changed
-being dressed

Levi sure is developing his own personality right now and he is so funny! We are really enjoying watching him learn to communicate more and more and become more of a little boy and less of a baby...but it makes us sad too! He "talks" all the time and his babbling sounds a lot more like sentences or attempts at actually saying something rather than just making sounds. He is very curious and affectionate. We are so blessed!

Week in Pictures

My busy busy little boy....

playing with a HUGE ball at church!
loving having the big black dog Jessie over to play!

learning the art of throwing a fit...I can't play with the fireplace screen!!??!!fun with friends at the zoo!!

now that I can walk nakie time is even more fun!

Mother's Day in the Great Outdoors!

For Mother's Day weekend we went on our first family camping trip with Levi. The last time we went camping I was about 34 weeks pregnant:

I was a little worried about how Levi would do being away from home for 2 nights and sleeping in a tent, but he was so happy. He took good naps and slept all night in his pack n' play in the tent (although he decided 6am was the best time to wake up!). He played hard all day and loved being outside where he could study his surroundings and explore. He enjoyed all the musts of a camping trip :) Swimming, playing with the dog, eating watermelon, admiring some nice views and relaxing by the campfire.


The weather also cooperated for us, and although it was pretty windy we got no rain and a good mix of sunshine and cloud cover. Luckily Levi was so distracted by all the fun that he kept his hat on a lot and so he managed to avoid the sunburns Philip and I came home with. The wind did make fishing hard, but Philip and I each managed to catch one little large mouth bass.

We stayed at one of the "primitive" camp sites at Meridian State Park (where neither Philip nor I had ever visited) and really enjoyed it! The only primitive thing about it was that there was no water or electricity. You could drive right up the the site. It was however very neat because it was right on the water and there was only 1 other site in view. Meridian State Park is pretty small and there are only about a total of 10-15 tent sites, which we really enjoyed because you seem like you have the park to yourself a little.

Probably our favorite activity during the trip was hiking. The park had some nice trails and we have a neat backpack to carry Levi in so we hiked about 6-7 miles of trail and all 3 of us loved it! There were beautiful wildflowers to look at and nice views of the lake and lots of green everywhere!
I'm so happy that the trip went so well. We are planning on going camping as a family on a regular basis. Philip and I both grew up loving family camping trips and can't wait to make memories with our little family! It was an especially nice way to spend my first Mother's Day! Philip did all the work while we were there...I didn't even cook one meal or help much with the set up or packing up! I just played with and fed Levi during meal prep time. Philip even brought me a sweet card and gave it to me on Sunday and then when we got home we showered up and went out for Chinese! I'm a lucky girl :)

Letting Go of Your Child(ren)

Yesterday my Mom was so sweet to take my sister Kate and I to a lecture based off the book "When I Lay My Isaac Down" by Carol Kent. The talk was focused on how to give your children over to God and live life as a mother in His peace that passes understanding. I really enjoyed listening to the speaker and I think she made some excellent points. I hope that I can remember her advice as Levi grows and I have to let go more and more of my control over the direction of his life. I know this will be something I struggle with. The book being discussed was very good, but also upsetting and heart wrenching. I would recommend reading it, especially if you find yourself to be a bit of a control freak :).

I had three favorite points from the lecture:
1. do not allow the strong bond you have with your child(ren) turn on you and make you overwhelmed with worry and guilt - God wants to you to live a life of faith and peace!
2. your parenting/control over your child should be like a V with them starting off in the bottom of the V with very little wiggle room and then progressing towards the top where they are only guided by your example and have room to make their own decisions
3. pray for your children and for the children of your family and friends (and their Moms too!) on a consistent, regular or best daily basis

I do think that one of the best ways to find God's peace is through prayer and by knowing that others are praying for and with you. I have had moments where I thought that the amount of time I spend blogging and reading other peoples blogs was a bit of a problem (obsession). But I have come to realize recently that it is through blogging that I am able to keep up with my family and friends and be able to know how best to pray for them, as well as feel the love and support of my friends and family when I know they are praying for me too.

Sooo...I would like to let you all know that I try my best to keep you all in my prayers daily and I would like to be so bold to ask you to pray for me; that I can be the best Mom God wants me to be and build a strong family of faith. I am immensely over blessed by wonderful Moms and women in my life and I'm so grateful! I would especially like to say that my Mom and my sister Kate (who will be a mommy to 2 in December...I'm so happy!) are so amazing! Since Mother's day is just a few days away, it seems right to let them know that I love them and think they are remarkable and that I hope that I can be like them and grow into a wonderful Mom too. Happy Mother's Day!