my dearest, xanga... so long for now

after much thought and procrastination i've decided to move my blogging from xanga to blogger. boo hoo! :) just kidding, i have really loved the xanga community since i first started reading here back in 2002. i have personally blogged here for the past 5 years. i've shared a lot about our lives over the past few years. i will most definitely continue to read here so keep posting! :)

please come and visit me over at http://cowlicksandcurls.blogspot.com and let me know if you do! comments make me happy! :)

may you be blessed in every way!

jennifer

summertime, summertime, sum, sum, summertime!

***EDIT- I just realized that I posted this as a "private" post last Tuesday. oops! :)***

today was a good summer day. lots of sunshine and swimming, spending time with friends and family, and a yummy summertime dinner.

cuz'n abby holding gracie

sarah jo

sophie (she usually enjoys pool-time by watching from the side/steps)

before we went to the pool this afternoon i prepared blueberry cobbler for the crockpot (i got the recipe here. good stuff!) and put on a pork loin in the oven. mmm mmmmm! the house smelled yummy when we got home. both the girls were so tired when we got in so sophie and daddy took a nap in the chair and grace snoozed in her carrier. i changed clothes and got busy peeling potatoes and slicing okra. so we had pork loin (slow baked in liquid smoke), mashed taters, fried okra, fresh tomato, and yeast rolls. in a little bit we'll have some blueberry cobbler. yum-o!

(not the greatest pic... but you get the idea!)

grace may not be able to eat with us yet, but she still got a good taste of summertime cooking! yesterday we ran out of baby food so i decided to bite the bullet and make her some. (you can see how much i hate going to wal-mart!) i baked a sweet potato, steamed yellow squash from ma ma ma's garden and cooked the green beans that i purchased at the farmer's market. daniel helped me puree it all in the blender and i froze them in ice cube trays. it was pretty easy and i definitely do it again. so tonight gracie b. summer squash and green beans. yummy!  

look yummy to you? :)

dan just took the girls to his dad's and i've got to get the kitchen clean... the only downfall of all that summer cooking! :)

tomorrow sophie is going to t-town to spend some time with mom and junie. she is looking forward to it and so am i. it will be a good break for all of us.

(check out grace's swirl. )

(jen with some summertime freckles!)

(laid back dan-o-soph took these pics of us)

(the munchkin herself- the almost THREE year old munchkin. crazy!)

ps- thank you so much the sweet comments and "happy anniversary" greetings!

going to grandma's house...

yesterday sophie woke up happy. it was the day to see neena and junie (and michael john, and maddie, and cats, as she affectionately calls them). but first she needed to have breakfast- some toast with peanut butter and syrup and some milk in a big girl cup. (her new favorite) then it was time to do some "work" her "poohed" work (which sounds like "pooped" work.) she really enjoys working in her winnie the pooh preschool workbook. :) she did great matching colored veggies to the correct basket. of course her favorite part was "bluing" them on. she remained quite pleasant throughout the morning as she picked out her clothes and played with grace. no major messes to report. how different from most mornings... :) she said her goodbyes to mimi, pappy and her daddy and we were on our way. mammy graciously offered to go with us for the ride. we made it to spiro and sophie was ready to go! she loves spending time with neena and junie and of course maddie the puppy! (she informed us that michael john and the cats are "mean!") we all kissed goodbye and grace let me know that she wanted out of her carseat and wanted to go with neena too!

here is sophie with two of her most favorite people- junie & neena. i love the look on her face. :)

after we dropped sophie off, mom and i thought about our eating options in poteau... burger king, braums, a local mexican restaurant? we decided to be brave and try "la huerta." it was great. all the staff loved grace! she ate some sweet potatoes and demonstrated her amazing octopus arms once again. (she has amazing range in her bumbo. long, busy arms get into lots of stuff!)  mom spent several minutes texting some unknown teenager who accidentally sent her a "disgusting" text and i had an interesting conversation about breastfeeding (in broken english) with one of the hispanic male owners. besides that we had a nice visit. :)

gracie b. with mammy at "la huerta"

after la huerta, we had a to make a stop at "dollar tree." mom & i can't some into such a close proximity of a dollar tree (without our husbands) and not go in!! we shopped for a while and i found some great preschool activity books and flashcards for sophie. grace rode around in the front of the cart for the first time and loved it.

after about an hour in dollar tree we decided we better get back in the road. mom wanted an iced coffee from mcdonalds so we found one. no iced coffee there so mom decided on a dipped cone. i ordered, paid at the first window and for some crazy reason i just drove off without the goods. so....i backed up, got out, and walked up to the second window. she looked at me funny and gave me our order. i tried to get back in the van with two drinks and an ice-cream cone... didn't happen! the poor ice cream cone bit the dust and melted as it slid down the asphalt. we cracked up! i asked mom if she wanted me to get her another one, but she said no... she felt like she obviously was not supposed to have that ice cream! :)

we made it home. the house is so quiet without sophie.

absence truly does make the heart grow fonder....

remembering

six years ago tonight i was celebrating the best day of my life. my wedding to daniel. we stood on holy ground before the God who wove our lives together and about 300 of our family of friends. had a blast at the reception and around 11 o'clock pm headed to our new home. a balloon arbor met us and daniel carried me over the threshold to a humble home with beautiful red rose petals covering the hard wood floors. there were candles lit everywhere. what an amazing night, a holy night and a beautiful beginning to the rest of our lives.

five years ago tonight daniel and i prepared for a cross country trip to southern california in a u-haul. what an adventure. we moved all of his mom's belongings including her car and i made it to the west coast for the very first time. we had such a good time. i think the highlight for me was sitting on laguna beach in the evening and having a deep and lengthy conversation about the first year of our marriage. had our expectations been fulfilled? how had we handled the curve balls thrown our way and how had we grown together during that first year. it was memorable time.

four years ago tonight daniel and i were in corinto, nicaragua leading a mission trip. our hosts kindly dropped us off at a nice restaurant where we celebrated  with a steak dinner nicaragua style! once we made it back to the mission house our group sweetly serenaded us and we all had cake to celebrate. it was completely unexpected and a lot of fun. the theme of our trip and ministry centered around sexual purity and we were able to share our testimony a number of times. what a sweet trip.

three years ago tonight i was eight months pregnant with sophie rose! we had lots of family in for sophie's baby shower. daniel came with me to the shower and we were so very blessed! what an amazing time that was... preparing for the birth of our first child. what a blessing she is and oh how she has changed our lives! the year following her birth held such delight in having her, but also much sorrow as we faced tight finances, unexpected health problems and the normal challenges of having a new baby in the home. thank You Lord for leading us through.

two years ago tonight i can not honestly tell you what was doing. most likely spending a low key night with my husband and almost one year old sweetie. we were pursing buying a new home, pinching pennies, dan was working at true north and were enjoying one another. our love has changed so much as it has grown over the past few years.

one year ago tonight daniel and i were in rogers, ar celebrating and having a much needed getaway weekend. sophie was in tulsa with my mom, i was a few months pregnant with grace and was finally getting over some of the yucky morning sickness. we spent three nights away and had such a wonderful time. we slept, ate, shopped, talked and reminisced about our wedding day five years ago.

tonight we are home. we celebrated earlier in the weekend by sleeping in and then by taking the girls to a water park today. you can tell we have small kids in the house. no trips to california this year or even to rogers. but, what a great weekend we have had!

daniel gave me the sweetest and most beautiful card that basically said "i would marry you all over again today." thank you so much, daniel. i've learned a lot over the past six years. i've changed a lot too. i've learned how different we are. to what extent you are a cleanie and i am a messie. i've learned what it means to disagree with you, but to submit and let you lead because you are my husband and the head of this household. i've learned to cook dinner and clean house and pay bills and devote my life to taking care of you and our two girls. i've learned what it means to face trials- in finances, in health scares and problems, in family situations, in work changes, in church changes, in having a baby in nicu,and in the challenges of raising a strong willed child with you. i've also celebrated with you as we've welcomed the two most precious little girls into the world, as we graduated college together, as we saw the opening of true north, as we bought and remodeled our first home together and so much more! the good has far outweighed the bad. i've learned to how hold on to your hand as we seek God together on behalf of our little family. and in the end if i had it to do over again, i would most definitely choose you again. thank you for choosing me. and thank You, Lord for causing our paths to cross and our lives to mesh into one. thank you for blessing our lives so abundantly!

six years isn't really that long. what a ride it has been. i can't wait to see what happens in the next 50+ years! :)

thanks for listening...

(i've tried to find pictures from each year but they are on different computers and on disks. maybe i can find more tomorrow. it's WAY past my bed time.)

fun filled family day!

today we decided to get out of the house a little bit and explore some of arkansas. after church and a great lunch with my parents at la villa we headed to murfreesboro, ar to crater of diamonds state park. no, we didn't hunt for diamonds today. way too hot! but, we did enjoy their water park. it was perfect for sophie since the deepest the water got was 3 ft. we all had a great time. it was just a little too short! sophie made some new friends, daddy took sophie on the slide and grace spashed herself silly. she absolutely loves the water and doesn't seem to mind that she spashes herself right in the face! my only regret is that i didn't get any pictures. after about an hour of swimming i got out to feed grace with the hope of getting back in and playing on the slide and taking some pictures. unfortunatly, that didn't happen. the thunder and lightening started! crazy arkansas weather. we decided to go ahead and go before the big storm came. sophie was hungry so we thought about our three food choices in murfreesboro, ar- subway, pizza pro, or simple simons. we chose simple simons. we had a good dinner and a nice ride back home. all in all it was a great day! we definitely plan on going back there soon.

a great way to spend our sixth anniversary! :)