Claire's Baby Shower

My sweet friend Claire and her husband Cal are expecting their first baby.  Tyler and I are SO excited for them!  And although it took some careful planning, since Claire and Cal moved to Texas (so sad!), when they came to visit their family for Thanksgiving it seemed like the perfect chance to get some girls together and celebrate this new baby!

The shower would have never happened without my friends, JoAnn and Jessica, who helped put together all the food. My favorite thing about this shower was how relaxed it was.  We all just enjoyed each other's company and caught up on time lost.  I am so thankful for these sweet friends and am so glad that the Lord blessed me with each of them.

Check out a few pictures from the shower! 

My first baby shower cake :)

We can't wait to meet Rebekah!

"Children are a gift from the Lord, they are a reward from Him."
Psalms 127:3

Santa Saturday

Tyler and I love Christmas! I guess, who doesn't?  The decorations are fun, the presents are nice, and the food is great, but what I think we love most about the holidays is the time we spend with our families. One Saturday before Christmas, however, Tyler and I set aside a whole day to spend together- just the two of us!  It is always great to just hang out with zero interruptions before things get really busy.  We wake up and eat sweet rolls, decorate our tree, watch our favorite Christmas movie, Elf, while eating sugar cookies, and this year Tyler added a new tradition- we built a lego Christmas scene. I mean people do Christmas puzzles, right? Why not legos?  This day is always so much fun. It's a tradition we look forward to each year.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Candy Corn and Costumes!

Okay, so this is way over due... I mean, its almost Christmas!  But oh well! The costumes were cute, so I had to share! While I am not particularly big on Halloween, probably a result of never celebrating it growing up, I do normally celebrate by buying those pumpkin candy corns in mass quantities (Why do they taste so good?).

But our friends had a Halloween party this year and so we were in need of costumes. Not wanting to buy costumes, we opted for the much more creative make your own option!  I saw this picture online and it cracked me up!  Tyler has a particular love for The Price is Right and so I knew he would automatically be in!  Check out our Price is Right contestant costumes.  I just had to be the $701 :)

Check out the other cute costumes!

Pumpkin Cake

Since I love to bake, the holidays are a really fun time for me!  Since my husband prefers simple tastes when it comes to desserts, sometimes I run out of options! There is no pumpkin or apple pie for us on Thanksgiving. And while a vanilla on vanilla cake definitely has its' place in this world, it's flavor profile gets pretty old after awhile. But I love my honey, so if vanilla on vanilla is his preference, that's what I will make. So instead I just spice up the outside of the cake! Here is the pumpkin cake I made for Thanksgiving. But just so you know, it would have also been super yummy as a carrot cake, for those of you who are less boring :)

Thankfulness

Every year my Aunt Jackie would invite a big group of people over to her home to celebrate Thanksgiving.  We would always participate in one of my most favorite holiday traditions. (I definitely owe my love for holiday traditions to my Aunt Jackie!) The big group would all gather in one room and  each person would share five things they were thankful for. There is just something special about being thankful together. Since I can't be there this year, I thought I would share a few of the things I am thankful for on my blog today. It should be noted that while you are reading this I will be making some of my friend Sarah's yummy pumpkin bread (you have to check out this recipe!). She made this bread last Thanksgiving and it reminds me of this sweet time of thankfulness our families have always shared.

1. I am overwhelmed by my Savior's love for me. I can't understand it or explain it, but I am so thankful for it.  I know I don't deserve it and yet I am privileged to it. I am thankful that His mercies are new every morning and that my salvation though Him is eternal. 
2. I am so thankful for my sweet husband.  He is my number one fan and my best friend. I am thankful for the way he provides for us as a family and for the way he choose to love me each day.
3. I am so thankful for Tyler's health. Overall, he has had another good year of health and this is such a sweet blessing!  I am so thankful for all the doctors and nurses that care for him and make it possible for us to spend each day we have together.
4. I am thankful for my parents.  I am thankful for their support, prayers, and guidance. I am especially thankful for the moments when I find myself saying "Oh, that's why they did that when I was growing up!" or "...oh my, I just sounded like my mom". I am very blessed to have parents that sacrificed so much to be sure my sisters and I had the things we needed.  I am thankful that they were willing to not only just teach me the qualities of being a hard worker, a generous giver, and a follower of Jesus but they diligently lived these qualities to show me just what living them out would looked like. 
5. I am thankful for my sisters.  My sisters are some of my sweetest friends.  I wish Meg lived closer so that we could share more of life!  But I love Meg's passion and appreciate her drive for life . I admire her for her bravery!  I am also thankful for my sister Amy. I am so thankful we live close by. I appreciate her wisdom and perspective on life and the way she can share both of those things with me in a such a gentle way.
6. I am even more blessed to have a mother and father-in-law who treat me just like I have always been a part of the family.  I love having a mother in law who shares so many of the same interests as I do. It is always so fun to do projects together!  I love how our relationship has grown and that we have such a special friendship.  I also greatly appreciate my father in law for the way he shares his wisdom and for the way he demonstrates what being disciplined really means. Tyler often jokes that he married someone like his dad (we have those "A-type" personalities)- but I consider that comparison an honor!
7. I am thankful for both mine and Tyler's jobs.  We are both blessed with great working situations. I know it is only the Lord who could have worked this out on our behalf. 
8. I am thankful for my sweet friend Jessica.  She is the friend I prayed for and the Lord definitely answered! I admire her love for the Lord and for the way she cares for her husband. I am thankful for her patience with me and for her accountability.
9. I am thankful for my church, Life Group, and Small Group. I am blessed to be a part of such a body of believers. 
10. I am so thankful that this year Tyler and I were able to buy our first house. It is such a blessing and we are excited for all the memories we will have in this house together.

Enjoy a special day of Thanksgiving with your family and friends today! Although I can't be in Florida this year, know I will be thinking of each of you! Let's be honest, no one can top a Florida Family Thanksgiving (shout out to the Bass and Harvey families)! 

I hope you find a time to share in each other's thankfulness!

Happy Thanksgiving!
"I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds."
Psalm 9:1

Dresser Re-do

I had been in need of a dresser for our guest room, but just wasn't interested in buying something new right now.  Instead I thought redoing something would be much more fun and budget friendly.  It just so happened that Tyler's parents had an old white dresser in their basement that no one was using and so they offered it to us. It was perfect for what I needed!

I had already painted our Master bedroom furniture, so I knew what I was getting in to.  But this time around, I had heard so many great things about this new type of paint by Annie Sloan. Its a chalk paint and it is acclaimed to be the easiest paint to use- EVER. So I had to try it!  And everyone was right. This paint involved zero prep work (the boring stuff!). You just painted it on and covered it with a wax. So simple! And I love the way the dresser turned out.  I found out the dresser was Tyler's dads when he was a kid.... after I painted it PINK...oops!  But you know me, I love a sentimental piece- even if it is revamped!

Here's the before....

And the in between....

Then I took it inside for the finishing touches! I finished it in our dining room.. since its empty for now :)

 I always love a project! 

The Running Man

When Tyler and I first met in college, I would often go on jogs after class.  One day, I had planned to run after a meeting I had to attend. The meeting was casual, so to make sure I had time for everything, I just showed up in my running clothes. Tyler happened to be at the meeting and we began to chit chat.  He told me he had noticed that I would run around campus and he love to join me sometime.  I didn't think much of it and told him he could run with me anytime.  I just didn't quite expect him to go grab his running shoes right then and join me for my run that night.  It was fun to have a running partner and like all things in life, he made the running much more fun than it would have been otherwise.

It wasn't until about our 5th date that I found out the running was all a cover!  In Tyler's own words: "my three least favorite things: spiders, dentists, and cardio exercises". Let's just say the running dates quickly faded out and I accepted the fact that they would probably never return, which is why I was surprised when Tyler agreed to run in the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's Great Strides 5k.

Like most of you know, this year, Tyler was given a chance to be a part of the Vertex 770/809 trial and that experience was life changing. After participating in the Vertex trial, Tyler realized that he needed to be doing absolutely everything he could to keep himself in the best condition possible- because we feel pretty confident that a cure is on it's way!  I totally respect Tyler for so many reasons, but the way he is diligent about his own care earns some big respect!  I can't imagine having to dedicate 2-3 hours a day to therapy and then willingly add on another hour to run and work-out, but he is going to do it! And I am thrilled about it since Tyler's doctors have told him that running is like doing an extra therapy in the way that it helps clear out your lungs.

So here is what we are up to...

Tyler has official begun his training! And we hope you will follow his progress!  He will debut his running abilities at the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's Great Strides 5k on April 21, 2012.  So y'all get ready! If you live close (or if you are up for a drive), we would love to have you join us! We are excited to have a big team to run with us this year and we promise it will be fun!  I will post more details in the coming months, but for now, just check back on the blog where I will post both mine and Tyler's running times, his progress, and hopefully we will even get some PFT reads on here too so we can see how the running helps his lungs. The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation has already given and is still giving to research so that we can find a cure, as of now they have planned to give $315 million towards the Vertex research and we want to do whatever we can to help them reach their goal.

Oh! and check out this article... Tyler's running story already made the paper! 

Road Trip!

As if we hadn't already taken enough road trips this year, we thought, why not take another?  We had been wanting to plan a fun weekend getaway with our friends, Jessica and Allen, for a while now and just had not found a weekend where we could all get away.  So when a weekend popped up just a few weeks ago, we jumped at it and headed to our favorite place...Birmingham!  Typical for Tyler and I, most of our fun revolved around where we would eat next.  But we managed to fit in a lot between eating sessions...

Filling up the car with gas and picking up snacks for the trip!

We gotta' have those snacks!

They were pretty excited!

 Jessica had never been to Cracker Barrel, so we decided we must remedy this!  What is a road trip without a stop at Cracker Barrel anyways?

Tyler's dinner- a breakfast portion that could probably feed a family of 4 :)

I don't know what they call this game, but it kept us entertained 

It wasn't long before Jessica realized the jewel that is Cracker Barrel

We even made friends... thanks funny guy for jumping in the picture! And for being patient with us at the register while Tyler decided which toys he should invest in.

 Sweet Friends :)

 Allen took a bunch of these pictures... I think he is already better at using my camera then I am. 

You just never know when you might need to practice your best karate jump...

 Tyler wanted this hat, and I must say I think he could pull it off, but the poses 

he made kept me laughing!

Couple Pics!

More pictures of our food! We love California Pizza Kitchen!

Then there was that brief incident in Claire's (the teen accessory store) where Tyler thought it would be funny to joke about getting an earring. An accountant with an earring... I can see it now. Luckily, he was, in fact, just joking!

We are so blessed with such sweet friends! We had such a fun weekend! It is sweet memories, like these, that I will cherish forever.