A Blessed Life

I am so thankful for this life. Sometimes we get caught up in all the things we need or want, but when it comes down to it...I have everything I could possibly ever ask for, want or need. I have my faith, my amazing husband, 4 smart and healthy kids, a beautiful home, an awesome job and Christian friends to surround me. It's a pretty great life! At church these past few weeks, Pastor Andy has been doing a sermon series about simplifying your life. Each week I leave church with a renewed commitment to do just that. I am well aware of the areas where my struggles are and where I need to make changes. I pray that over these next few weeks I will make some changes that will have a positive impact in who I am and who God created me to be. 

My sweet family is always on the move and I love capturing each of our celebrations, accomplishments and just plain fun.

First day of school this year. Kanon is a senior, Parker is in 8th and Grayson is a 7th grader.

Falcons game with awesome friends.

Grayson and I shopping for her birthday. I love that she wants to spend time with me.

Lifelong friends...Mötley Crüe concert. I must say I'm not a big fan of Mötley Crüe, but always love spending time with this crew. The fact that we went to his concert definitely shows our age. 

Birthdays, swim parties and much more...

Parker turned 13 this year. He is growing up so fast. I am so proud of the young man he is becoming. His heart is huge and his faith is unshakeable. Love this sweet boy more than words can express.

He and Grayson have a great group of friends and they love to get together on occasion.

This summer flew by so fast. We have enjoyed some sweet family time on a few of those summer days. We enjoyed dinner out at the station house one evening and Grayson and Parker got their feet wet for just a bit in the fountains in Chattanooga.

I have to grab pictures of the two older boys when I can. My picture taking drives them crazy. I did however, get this amazing picture of Tyler on the train. Trains were a big part of his childhood. They were his love and obsession until about the age of 10.

Celebrations

We spent Fathers Day weekend at the lake. I am blessed with an amazing man that is the best father to our children. What a role model they have to look up to. I also enjoyed spending time with my dad. My dad can make me laugh and is always up for an adventure of some sort. As my dad's health is not great, it really puts into perspective how little time we have to enjoy each other. 

After Fathers Day, my birthday rolled around. I enjoyed dinner with my sweet family and relaxing by the pool at home.

Life is so sweet now and I feel so incredibly blessed. I look forward to my next 43 years even more. 

And....

After steeplechase, we have had so much going on things are in no particular order. As a family we enjoyed getting to meet baby Audrey for the very first time.

And we enjoyed celebrating our first born. I can't believe Tyler is actually 19. I look at him and still see that sweet little Thomas the Tank Engine lovin little boy who used to be scared of car washes and riding in the car after dark. Now, he is definitely not afraid to be running around at night in his own car with friends or driving his own car through the car wash. How life changes so fast....

This crew that I love calling family has been definitely enjoying our time on the lake. The boys are great with the jet ski and I actually got up on the knee board. This is just the beginning of lake memories to come.

We are still alive an kickin....

Let me start off by saying I'm not even going to pretend I'm posting like I should anymore. I'm just excited to finally start the whole catch up process on our family blog. After my prom post life just began to move faster than I could keep up with new job and all. Just the fact that I am now posting again means I survived training for work and even the pepper spray. I'm tougher than I thought I was.

This post is going to be full of pictures of some great moments as a family, so here goes.....

GDay is always a lot of fun each year and by far the most affordable uga game, haha it's free! And for our big ole family that sure helps!

Me, Don, Parker and Grayson had a blast at steeplechase this year. Parker enjoyed taking his friend Zach and hanging out with other friends there. Horses were by far Grayson's favorite part while I think Parker enjoyed the social scene the best.

The month of May was pretty much a blur to me and my family. I spent four weeks at the police academy training for my new job as a probation officer. I feel like I am finally where I am supposed to be career wise. No more piecing it all together with consulting jobs, but finally back to working full time with benefits and steady pay, not to mention I LOVE my job. I am so blessed and thankful everyday. 

I promise to update some more tomorrow.  

Prom 2014

High school memories are the best! Kanon went to his junior prom a few weeks ago and had a great time. He definitely came out of his shell a bit and we were so proud of him. Even though the weather struggled to cooperate, the rain held off in the evening just when it needed to. Kanon didn't even complain to much about all the "mom" pictures. He is growing up so fast.

My sweet friend Lora and I always have a great time taking pictures and enjoying seeing off our sweet babies. Don says this part is definitely a mom thing!

Love all the sweet memories we make each and every day.....

Yes, we are crazy...

Dressing up is all part of giving back to our  community. At least it sounds so much better than a bunch of 40 year olds dressing up reliving their teenage years as the group DEVO. Yes, we did it in the name of charity. I normally hate to dress up. I was never very big on Halloween as a kid. I don't know.....maybe it's the whole attention drawing thing to me that I don't like. This years CSL dance was a blast I must admit. Our friends were definitely a hit as the group DEVO. We love these sweet friends and they are always friends who we can count on no matter what. I wouldn't trade them for anything.

Lots and lots of exciting changes and fun...

My apologies in advance for this post. It is random and may be a little on the rambling side.  First, let me say as usual we are busy and going in ten thousand directions. Well, maybe ten thousand is a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the picture. Parker and Grayson just got back from a mock UN for y club and as usual had a great time. Parker almost won best debater award. I'm impressed he was even in the running, look out for Senator Breedlove in a few years.

Way to go Parker!!

Remember my post from awhile back about the place on the lake? Well, lucky for us my dad did get the hint about that jet ski purchase and we can't wait to try it out. Where are you warm weather????

This summer is going to be a blast!!

I warned you this post was going to ramble just a bit. There will probably be lots of blog updates over the next few weeks since I have given up Facebook for lent. I'm sure that is probably the best thing I could have ever given up cause it's such a time waster( not sure that's a word). I definitely feel out of the loop now cause you know FB is wonderful for nosy people like me.  I think it's more like a habit. But,  I'm happy to say I'm breaking that habit. Good riddance, I'm choosing to spend my time with God and Family. That's where I should have been all along.

First place again...

Grayson chose interior design for this years 4-h Project Achievement. She was excited about this topic and chose to show the re design of her own room. Her posters turned out great and her speech was well written, but I must admit I was a little worried because she didn't have the time to practice this year like she has in the past. Well, she proved she is fast on her feet and she had enough natural ability to sail through the event. I am so proud of her for coming in first place once again. Of course she is always a winner in my book! 

Snow, snow and more snow

We have loved being snowed in these last few days. We have watched movies, made new desserts, played 5 hour monopoly games and just loved not having to be anywhere.