Disney day 1

I'm going to do a in depth post on each day we were here but thought you guys might want to see some pictures from the first day of our trip! We are having a blast and the kids are being so good. It's hot but not unbearable.
Hope everyone isn't missing us to much! :)

Friday's Letter

Dear wonderful husband, Today is THE DAY!!! We leave for Disney in 13 and a half hours and I've never been more excited! I'm excited about our first "real" vacation as a family of four. I feel really grown up. You would think 2 kids, a mortgage and a real job would make me feel grown up but I think this trip is going to seal the deal! Dear Tropical Storm Matthew, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE hit any state but Florida this week. PLEASE! Dear Ryleigh and Tanner, I'm looking forward to a week with you guys making "magical memories"! (man that sounded corny! I think I've read one to many Disney websites this week!) Dear Sarah, I hope you are able to make it through the week while I'm gone. I know it will be hard but you can do it! Dear Dawn, enjoy your week off!! I know you are probably as excited as us to see us leaving! Thanks for all you do to help us everyday. Dear Ryan, the McDonald's Frappe you brought me to work this morning was the perfect start to my morning. You know how to make me smile. Love you more than Disney and Frappes!!

Peace out everyone talk to you guys next week!!

2 days!!

We've gone from 31 LONG days...

To just 2more days!

and we couldn't be more excited!!!

Weekend in the Woods

This past weekend my WONDERFUL mother kept the kids for Ryan and I so we could have a weekend away before we leave for Disney (in 3 days!!!!!!!!) We took advantage of her having them and went to our friend Traveis's hunting camp. We had so much fun!!! We left Friday night around 7:30 and got there around 9:30.

I love this picture of Ryan. He HATES having his picture made!

When we got there we loaded up the 4 wheelers and went riding. There is like 75,000 acres so there is PLENTY of room to ride!

This is my friend Shelby all dressed up and ready to go!
We rode until 2 in the morning! Yes, you read that right. I was up until 2 am! Actually 3 am by the time we got back and actually got in bed. I don't think I've been up that late since...well, ever probably! :)

The next morning we got up and cooked a huge breakfast and just laid around and watched college game day and the first part of the Arkansas and Georgia game. Then the guys wanted to go outside and shoot stuff.

Ryan got a new bow last year and has been wanting to practice with it. I really thought I would be able to do it.

But obviously I couldn't! I love the face I'm making in this picture. I was trying really hard!

Whitney commented on facebook and said "Do you always dress the part for whatever it is you are doing?" I answered back "Of course, doesn't everyone!" It's more fun that way!!

I can't wait for everyone to see our Disney shirts Gill made us to wear!

This is a look of intense concentration!

After the bow shooting they wanted to shoot clay disk...are they called skeet??
Unfortunately we didn't have a thrower so we had to do it ourselves. That's what I'm doing in this picture. Even though it looks like I'm an interpretive dancer or releasing a bird into the wild! I did throw it the complete other way than which way Traveis was aiming.

Those ears muffs were AMAZING!

I tried shooting the gun a few times. It was actually a lot of fun. It's a great stress reliever!

I shot 2 skeet when they were actually in the air! I was so excited! Even Ryan said he was proud of me.

After that though I went inside. It was like 100 degrees out there and everyone knows me + heat + outdoors = not a happy camper!

The girls took a nap and then we all watched the Bama game and cooked again.

We had a great time!!!

Thanks Traveis for inviting us up!!

Show us your life FRIDAY (on sunday!)

So I blog that I love to read is staring a series called Show us your life Fridays! Every Friday Kelly @ Kelly's Korner shows a different part of your house/life and encourages other people to join in and link up. My friend Sarah and I thought it would be a fun thing to do!!

This week it's show us where you live- Living rooms.

Ryan and I built our house about 3 years ago. I love it and there aren't many things I would change other than a 4th bedroom. But here is our living room....

This is when you come in the front door.

It looks kinda dark I should have turned the light on. I really want to get some lamps to put in there but there isn't anywhere to plug them in since none of our furniture or tables are against the wall. With 2 kids, cords going all over the place isn't a good idea!

This is looking in from the hallway that goes to the kids room. The walls aren't yellow I guess it just looks that way with the sunlight. I love the picture that hangs on that wall. My Nana painted it for me.

This is looking in from the kitchen. Notice the play cottage in the middle of the living room! We've actually come a long way from toys in the living room. They used to be everywhere but now we are down to just the cottage. There is no where to put it in Ryleigh's room and they still play with it pretty much everyday so I hate to get rid of it.

And here's our fireplace. I need to get our fall decorations out. I love our fireplace when it's decorated for a holiday!!

Next Friday is Master Bedrooms. Not sure if I'll participate in that or not since we will be on our way to Disney World!! Woo Hoo!!!

Friday's Letter

Dear Ryan, Your ability to pick out a 4 years old girl's clothes and make her happy and going with the theme at school today makes me smile. You picked out a shirt that said "cute as a bug" a yellow tu tu and a yellow bow! Since she was so pleased with your outfit you can start picking out her clothes everyday! Dear Ryleigh, the above picture of you makes me laugh. You are your mothers daughter!! Dear Butterfly, I think Ryleigh did a wonderful job of making you to take to school today. You really did look great! Dear Aunt Cheryl, I have on your black dress today and have received many compliments already today. You may or may not get the dress back! Dear Whitney, I have really enjoyed the enormous amount of time I have spent with you the past week. Although me may have had one or two domestics you are still such a dish and not a failure as a human!! (I love the Spin Crowd!) Dear Lindsey, only 22 more days! Can't wait!! Dear Ryan, I hope you have a good day off today. I look forward to hanging out with you this weekend at the hunting camp. But more than that I'm looking forward to not having to fix my hair or put makeup on for 2 whole days! I love you more than Ryleigh loves tu tu's!

6'6 and 16

Ok, I'm not making this up. My cousin Jordan is 16 years old and is 6'6!! Isn't that crazy!! Everyone says that I'm tall so I had Whitney take a picture of us standing together...look how much taller he is than me!!!

Isn't he just the cutest! I just love him!! Ryleigh and Tanner love him to. He is so good with them and always plays with them. He is a junior at MGM and plays on the varsity football team. I can't wait until the next home game so we can go watch him play! He's going to be our money maker when he graduates college! Jordan, Ryan said we will pay for you to attend the Alabama football camp this year. That way when you go there on a scholarship in college you can let us have the 2 tickets you get! We'll look at it as an investment for us!

I wear a size 9 1/2-10 in shoes he wears an 18! Look how big his foot is compared to mine!

He also got braces a few years ago and when he went the other day the orthodontist said he could take them off but that Jordan will probably have to have them again in college because he's not done growing yet!!! Can you believe that?!?

Jordan I know we laugh a lot about how tall you are but I think it's wonderful! I'm so proud of you and the young man you have become! I look forward to what God has in store for you in the future...if it happens to be a crimson and white football jersey and a multi million dollar contact after that then so be it! Just don't forget about your favorite cousin, ok? :)

Scuba Steve

So Ryan is certified to scuba dive! He's been doing the classes for the past few weeks and they completed their final open water dive this past Saturday. He's pretty excited about it. A ton of our friends are certified and go diving almost every weekend. They also go spear fishing where they shoot fish underwater. Not my idea of fun but to each their own! :) Here are some pictures that our friend Tracy took of them getting certified. Her husband, daughter and grandson where all in the class to. I'm proud of you Ryan and I hope you don't get eaten by a shark!

Friday's Letter

Dear goofball husband of mine, the above picture is one of the many reasons why I'm glad I married you. Thanks for making me laugh when I feel like I'm going to cry. Dear week of September 6th, you are dead to me. I'm so glad you are over at 6:00 today. Dear little people who call me mom, I'm looking forward to our slumber party and picnic in the living room tonight. I'll bring the pizza and you guys bring the cuddling! Dear Lindsey, thanks for making me starve myself for the next 4 weeks. I got my bridesmaid dress and if I gain 1/2 pound it officially won't fit! Dear Ryleigh, I blame it on the incredibly stressful week I've had that I had you dropped off at dance on the wrong night. I think this is something we will laugh about when you're older. Hopefully! Dear Ryan, good luck on your last part of scuba certification tomorrow. Is it selfish of me to be glad it will official be over tomorrow? Probably, but since when do I care about being selfish! :) I love you more than you love scuba diving.

Hip Hop

I know this may come as a surprise to most of you who know me well but I'm unfortunately not a good dancer! I know, shocker. Actually that is one of the reasons I liked Ryan so much in high school because although he can dance (I've seen him try it a time or two) he hates to do it. So we would always go to school dances to just hang out.

Anyway, Ryleigh starts dance tonight again and this year she is taking Hip Hop. For some reason she has it in her head that she doesn't want to take it. Every time you say something about dance she says "I don't want to take Hip Hop!" I know if she will just try it she will love it. So last night we were talking about it and we put on some loud hip hop music and started dancing around the house. After we were done I said Now, doesn't that seem fun!

No lie she looked at me and said...

"Yea, that does seem fun but I really hope I don't look like a chicken tomorrow night. That would not be cute!"

I said, "You think I look like a chicken when I dance??"

She replied, "Mom, lets talk about something else, I really don't want to hurt you're feelings!"

Lets just hope that starting hip hop this early will give her Ryan's coordination and not her Mom's chicken dancing skills!! :)

Tanner

All

By

Himself!!!
Even some jumps without floaties!!

Labor Day Weekend

I am exhausted!! This weekend we went to the beach for one last trip of the Summer. I'm so sad to see Summer leaving but so happy for what fall brings...cooler weather, football, Disney and Lindsey's wedding!! We went down there on Friday and stayed through Monday. We didn't really have anything in particular planned. Saturday Ryan and a bunch of his friends went fishing and scuba diving while the kids and I went to the pool.

Saturday night we had our second annual Bama on the Beach! It was a lot of fun. The kids were pretty good the whole time but around the beginning of the 4th quarter they were getting antsy so Mrs. Kim and I took Tanner to walk on the beach and catch crabs. He literally caught like 20 all with his hands. He was SO proud of himself!!!

The weather was so beautiful for watching the game outside!!

Me and my girl ready for the game!

The 2 cutest guys on the planet!!

I don't think there's any hope for us getting a good family picture!

The kids got to go kayaking and were SO excited about it! Matthew's dad asked Ryleigh if she wanted to stay out in the kayak and watch the sun set and she sad, "No, we better get back before the game starts. We don't want to miss it!"

Tanner was over the moon excited about going kayaking! He's wanted one forever!

Sunday we took the boat out to an island and hung out and went to a drive up restaurant that you take the boat to. I love those kinds of places! Sunday afternoon we went bike riding. The kids didn't actually ride their bikes the whole way they rode in the cart behind Ryan's bike since we rode about 12 miles. The funny thing is we judged the time wrong and ended up riding back in the pitch black through the trails in the woods. It was a little creepy!

Monday was a lot of the same thing. We went to the pool, took the boat out to lunch and came back. We loaded up and headed home around 6. Thankfully traffic had mostly died down by then.

It was a great weekend!!

I will say though when I was eating breakfast this morning I felt like I could fall asleep with a honey bun in my mouth! :)