Patrick and Amanda's Wedding

 What a glorious day!  It was our privilege to host the wedding of Patrick and Amanda Faus yesterday. It was the perfect day.  The wedding was just breathtaking, every bit of it!  The bride was stunning, the groom radiant, the sun shining, the food delicious and the company amazing! It was a complete blast too!  This couple just means the world to our family.  They have been such a  example to those around them.  I can't wait to see how God uses them to carry out His purposes for their lives. 

Their first kiss ever!

Amanda with her Daddy.  Look at those love eyes.

A sea of people!



Patrick with his happy Mama!



Mother of the bride, my good friend Lynette.

Morgan's 13th Birthday

Our sweet girl has quickly become a 13 year old young lady!  We are so blessed to have Morgan in our lives.  We love her sooo much!  This year is special because she is making that transition from my little girl to a beautiful young lady.  Morgan is beautiful from the inside out.  Many people will tell you this.  It isn't just me who thinks so.  Tonight we celebrated with Morgan's favorite meal of Italian sausage.  She came up with a new cake idea this year.  She had me make a giant cookie cake.  She wanted to do the decorating, so she did.  Next week we are having a girlfriends party.  Since we are having the wedding here this Friday our yard will be all lit up with lights.  Morgan wants to leave lights up so she can have an evening party with her friends.  They plan on swimming and Morgan wants to play flashlight tag.  She has simple ideas that are fine by me!  She has about 10 friends coming so it should be a blast!

Garrett got Morgan some ear buds for her IPOD

Justin got her the curling iron she has been wanting.

Kevin and I got her a "Purity" ring

Kevin put the ring on Morgan's finger and explained what it meant.  He told her that God had entrusted him to be her protector until  she is married   She should keep the ring on her left hand until her husband replaced it with his ring.  It was so sweet watching the two of them. 

We call her "Mojo" for short.

Happy Birthday Morgan!  We love you!

Beach Day

Morgan found another little baby to love on at our church beach day last Sunday.  Baby Isla's mommy is due to have her next baby anyday.  Morgan chased Isla through the water because she is a water baby!

Isn't she cute?!

Rocking It!

We are so excited to be hosting a wedding at our home on July 29th.  The bride is Amanda who is the oldest of our dear friends the Varnell family.  Amanda is the first of 13 kids!  So in preparation for the wedding, of course we needed to beautify things around our yard.  One of the things that needed to be done and has only been on my wish list for several years was rock in the flower beds.  I order 5 1/2 yards of rock which is a gigantic pile!  We had a lot of ground to cover.  This pile got us half way around the yard.  The rest will have to happen at another date. :) Garrett and I spent an entire day shoveling alone the first day.  We were both in serious pain after that so we had to call for help.  The following day we had three of Amanda's brothers come help.  They were some hard workers whom Garrett and I were thankful to have around.  The kids took turns swimming (because it was really hot), shoveling and eating.  The boys said they work for food, so I tried to keep them fed.  I can't imagine feeding so many boys daily.  My two boys eat me out of house and home as it is!

My newly landscaped front planter.  (Thanks to my good friend Jennifer for her design.)

Kevin's Birthday!

No birthday would be quite the same if my cake actually turned out without incident!  This time I took extra precautions to not take it out of the oven too soon, let it cool completely, chill the icing, etc.  It looked amazing after it was done.  I put it on the cake plate and put the lid on it.  Of course, the cake was too tall for the cake plate.  The lid squished the top and the icing all stuck to the lid! UGH!  I had to make the frosting again and re frost!  Kevin thought it was hilarious but I wasn't happy.  Oh well, I guess it  keeps me humble.  :(

Morgan decorated the cake.



Kevin with his favorite carrot cake

Justin was so proud that he could finally afford to buy a present!  Most of the time he uses his money to pay for things he breaks. This time he was able to buy Kevin a nice gift.  He got him a gift card to the Yard House.

Daddy's Girl!

Garrett gave Kevin two movie tickets so the can go and see Captain America as soon as it comes out.

Canyon Lake

Our friends the Hankins invited us to their lake for the day.  The kids were in the water the entire time either paddle boarding, throwing each other off the raft or playing football.  It was a relaxing time that made me feel like we were on a camp out.

Early 13th Birthday!

Aunt Roni came to town to celebrate Morgan's upcoming 13th birthday on the 27th!  What a blessed girl she is.  Aunt Roni took her to her favorite restaurant, Macaroni Grill, got her a pretty chocolate cake and beautiful flowers.

Morgan got a purple, ipod Nanno for her gift. She was thrilled!  Aunt Roni is so generous with the kids.  She is just the best!