A Beach Retreat

This past weekend we have the pleasure of going to the beach with The Mims and The McKinnons.  It was such a great time to get away and relax and enjoy the beach.  We took Friday off and headed down Thursday night.  Friday morning the guys headed out deep sea-fishing while we parked ourselves on the beach.  We all we able to read a lot (and it was kinda nice to have a day where the guys did not ask us to get in the water every 5 minutes)!

They caught lots of fish and came home that night to cook the Fresh Catch of the Day. Snapper was on the menu for dinner and it was delicious. Thank you Clayton for cooking the fish!

While being at the beach we celebrated Ted’s Birthday.  He turned the BIG 25 on Sunday and is now a 1/4 of a century old.  Please excuse the cake (long story ordering a cake from the Walmart at the beach)!  We cut the cake after the long day of fishing and the guys were exhausted. Happy Birthday Ted! Saturday morning it was raining when we woke up – but no worries as soon as the rain stopped we were all out on the beach.  Look at the beautiful rainbow that was in the sky, I am not sure how you can look at this and say there is no God. We stayed on the beach until late Saturday and then came in to get ready for dinner.  We headed to Salt Water Grill and then played some Miniature Golf after dinner.

Thanks Mims and McKinnons for a great trip with great friends.  We will have to do it again soon!

** Shealy and Laura Ann have other pictures – but this was all that was on my camera.

Happy Anniversary

Yes, Ted is in classes all day, but we are planning on going to a nice dinner tomorrow night (a day late) to celebrate. 

I could not have asked God for a better guy to marry.  He has such a good heart and I could not have even dreamed of being able to marry such an incredible man.  God is good and faithful and has blessed me with a Godly man who is devoted to his family and has a desire to serve and to reach out to others. 

Ted balances me out and keeps me in check with reality and what is really important in life.  It has been the best 2 years of my life and I look forward to many, many more.

Since we are traveling I do not have our wedding pictures with me – but I did find a few pictures on a jump drive in my purse. (From our rehearsal dinner)

Happy Anniversary and I love you!

Lack of Posts/Need your Input

I apologize for the lack of post lately. 

Work has been busy (a good busy)!  We are preparing for a conference for work, starting new projects, and trying to maintain current systems – It is always exciting around here.

Our weekends have been full with family events, moving Ted into his office, Easter and all sorts.  Life has been busy but I would rather be busy than bored.  I have been posting a good bit at Ways to Save in Lee County and forgetting about my blog. I will try and do better.

So – done with my lame excuses!

I need your help.  I will be going on 2 trips within the next month and a half to places I have never been. 

1. I am going to Iowa State University in Des Moines, Iowa for a conference with work for 6 days and I will have a few nights to see the sights and such.  Do you have any suggestions of things to do in Des Moines?

(If you happen to think of Ted that week – call him – I am sure he will be lonely and hungry :) )

2. The following week, Ted has a business trip to Los Angeles, CA he must take and I have decided to join him.  I will work remotely some during the day (and he will be in his meetings) but I am hoping that we can find some fun things to do at night.  Any ideas or fun things/places in Los Angeles that I must not miss?  I actually think his meeting is about 30 miles from Los Angeles – but I am not sure. It is definitely close enough to enjoy some sight-seeing adventures while we are there.

My Redeemer Lives

God is so Great! God is my strength! God is ALIVE!
God heals all pain and is the reason that we have for living!

Today, on Easter Sunday my Great-Grandmother went to be with the Lord. She would have been 98 years old in June. It is so hard to lose someone that you love so dearly, but what an awesome time she is having right now. How amazing that on Resurrection Day she was able to see her Lord face to face.

Ma was an incredible Godly woman. On Thursday afternoon, one of the last times that she was making any conversations, most of which did not make any sense, she stopped – looked straight up at the ceiling and spoke like she was 20 years old again – and this is what she said:
God, I love you. Please forgive me of my sins. I am praying for all my family, please keep them safe. Please come take me home!

Several times since then some of the only things we could make out were her saying –
I am going home tonight!

She was a godly woman who knew where she was going. Although it hurts us so much when they are gone – she is back with her husband after 25 years– she is working in her garden with no pain - and she is rejoicing in heaven with all the angels.

I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to have known my Great-Grandmother. She was such an inspiration and a blessing to be around. I consider myself very fortunate to have had her walk down the aisle at my wedding and that is something that I will never forget.
Please remember my family this week in your prayers as no matter how old someone is, it is never easy to left them go!

Christmas Is Coming To Our House

...Or at least the Christmas Dishes are! I decided the other night that it would be a good idea to go ahead and get the Christmas Dishes out for the Holidays. We have 2 sets of Christmas China (one formal and one casual) that we only use/display less than 2 months out of the year. I think that is crazy. So, I decided that we should attempt to get our money out of them this year. I will post pictures of the tables later.

I really love the Christmas Season and get really excited about getting all of the decorations out of the closets and attic. I really wanted to go ahead and get more Christmas decorations out -- but I will stick with the dishes for now. Ted said before he knew it - it would be Christmas all year round with the way that I like to decorate for Christmas.

I think the next project I will tackle is putting out all of my Snow Village. I am not sure who all is familiar with Snow Village -- but I LOVE it!. This is a tradition that I have inherited from my mom. I have grown up setting up the WHOLE village -- (mom has TONS of houses) -- so much my granddad built a special arrange that my dad puts together each year for the display center. But it is really special as my Dad has a train that my mom have him the Christmas after they were engaged that goes around Mom's village. So -- it was only appropriate that my First gift after Ted and I got engaged was the Bride and Groom Snow Village people that go outside the Chapel. Ted knew he was doomed. Ted would definately say that this was his Least favorite part about Christmas. I only have around 6 houses right now -- he thinks now is bad -- it will only get worse!

My goal is by Thanksgiving to have everything decorated for Chirstmas except the Tree -- We will probably do that and the Outside House decorations after Thanksgiving -- (or really whenever I can con Ted into doing it!) Have a great day!