Flashback Friday - Memorial Day 2013

Calling all delinquent bloggers. 

Calling all delinquent bloggers.

(ahem)

So Memorial Day is usually spent at my parents' house in their back yard. Cuz back yards are where memories are made.

Like this - 

 This is just one of my favorite pics everrrrrr... 

Phil is silly & crazy just like his pose. Sasha and I are just... well.. us... and Anthony is jammin' out makin' like the racket is a guitar. Typical. Yeah, Mom will definitely be seein' this shot in her yearly family photo calendar.

When OUR FAMILY gets together there's 
A L W A Y S 
sweet tea cuz yall, we're TRUE SOUTHERNERS. ;-) 
Mom manned the grill this year. Trevor was a slacker. Or maybe he was just too busy holding them babiesssss... 
See, this was back when those sweet little twin boys were just a month old. Little tiny toots. Adorbs & presh and all that! 

And we may have kinda rigged up an extension cord on some wooden posts for a makeshift net. Yeah, duct tape was involved. As if you had to ask... 
And Phil & Anthony may have run to the local dollar store for badminton stuff. 
Improvisation at its finest.

I love love LOVE this shot of the Carver brothers. 

They used to be little. But now they're kinda big. 

 and Kerlandy looks like she's laying an egg... er, a basketball egg.... lol

Yeah.... so um.... I looooove my family! 

We sit around and talk and laugh. 

We sometimes have a little church when we're all together. 

It's just good stuff. Really it is. 

Ahhhh

Onesies posing as cupcakes - a little DIY for a baby shower gifty

If you read my blog you know I love Pinterest. It's just a cool way to find great ideas. Especially when you're wanting to give a U N I Q U E gift, which is me.all.the.time. I'm not uber crafty, but I like to try ;-) 

Recently a sweet friend was prego and she was special enough to deserve a nifty gifty such as this.

Onesies packaged up like cupcakes 

Aren't they just adorbs?! 

First of all, you have to get all this stuff - 
~ cutesy gift box from Michael's
~ cupcake papers (fancy ones if that's how you roll)
~ pack of solid onesies
~ red socks (I had to buy multi packs so guess who's getting the others - yes, my niece's twin babes)
~ tape

Seriously cute and pretty doggone easy! 
But in case you need steps - here ya go 
1. Fold the onesie so it's thing and long (trust me, the snaps can cause probs later but hang in there)
2. Work the sock in there so one of the toes is poking out (don't stress over this, you can fiddle with it later if it's bein a punk)
3. Roll the onesie (with the sock) tightly 
4. Once you have the whole shebang rolled up, tape the bottom

I mean really... this is easy and sooo cute. 

Are you IN LOVE with this gift?! 

I wrapped a wire edged ribbon (from Dollar General) around the box, added a gift card and made a card with my scrapbook supplies.
There ya have it folks....

Ain't she a beaut?!

Giving credit where credit is due... the blogger who came up with this has better pics than mine AND a more professional way of 'splainin it. ;-) 
Find it here!

:: F L A S H B A C K :: Fun with Friends

I've been nicely scolded by a few faithful readers lately that my blogging has been a little too infrequent lately. I'm gonna try to do better.

I love pictures. 
So here are some from the past few months of fun things with frans (that's the hip way to say friends now fyi). 
Believe it or not, I don't photograph everything we do. 

So those UT fans... um I really love them obviously... cuz I ran in a 5K with em even though they were wearing that hideous garb. Sorry. Volhater here. Don't talk to me about it being the state I live in. I am originally from Kentucky. But seriously though this was Rhonda's first race and I was so proud of her! 

Moving on. Clint & Kyla came over recently... it was a lovely night. Really it was. We ate and chatted and little Avery played his little heart out.  

Then there was this baby shower... it was a very pretty shower for a very sweet & pretty girl Shannon. Love her and her sweet family. Her mom (in the pic) was my dad's right hand at the church for more than 12 years (bless her heart). She's a good un. 

Chippy dippy with the BRAs is always fun. They're my Back Row Alto pals from choir at church. Don't you love the acronym?! Hilarious! 

The last one is my sweet Riley on a pony at my work on "happy fun day" as we call it... Rain/thunderstorms cut that event short. Riley was pretty bummed. And so was I! 

So here we have another potpourri of frans fun. My friend Heather is preggers with a baby girl and her shower was super duper cute. 

I might have gone to a wedding I wasn't invited to cuz I wanted to see Riley in a tux. So what? 

Girls night at J. Alexander's downtown to celebrate Angela's 40th birthday? 
Yep! 
If you've not been there, go ASAP and have some of their mac n cheese. It's unbelievably good. For real though.

In the middle - that's just some cool gals from church I love a whole lot. We were together for a very important purpose that night. TO.BUY.JEWELRY. 

The red & white.. um yeah, that's just one of those funny things that happens at work once in a while. Not planned. 

Next is Anthony and his pal Clint - they been buds since elementary school. We actually spent the 4th of July with him & his wife and their babysitter (and a bunch of other people we didn't know). Had a great time AND some awesome food.

Bottom corner is a pic from Jennifer's birthday (a BRA). That night was a happy fun night & I was hyper. What of it? 

Last but not least is a pic of me and my pal Pennie - back story on her... she and I used to work together. She mentored me in photography. She was the one who stumbled on the job I currently have. She's just great is all. And now, God has brought us back together. Not only are we attending the same church, but we're teaching 6th grade girls together. 
Ahhh, blessings!!! Love love love those kind! 

Ok, enough rambling... sorry for the long post. 

Wait... no I'm not. 

Enjoy every letter of this post. Every single syllable. Every period, comma and exclamation point. 

hahahaha 
I love you sooo much if you're still reading this.  XXOO 

Halfway point of 2013... well kinda

A lot of times people make New Year's Resolutions and by the end of the month they're pretty much forgotten. 

I just flipped back through the posts I've made on my blog during 2013. 

I came across my January post where I talked about my plans for 2013. 
Here's T H E P O S T ;-)

In it I said this - - 
     In 2013 I plan to be more obedient. 
     I plan to serve more. 
     I plan to be the child my Heavenly Father can be pleased with. 
     I plan to be MORE in 2013 than I was in 2012.

So here we are a little past the halfway point of 2013 and I'm looking at these goals and thinking back to what I've accomplished so far this year as it relates to these goals.

In some ways I feel like I have been more obedient. But I also recall times I acted like a spoiled kid who didn't get her way. 

{Thank God for His grace.} 

I feel like there have been times this year God has been pleased with me. But I definitely am not the masterpiece He wants to carve me into yet. When it hurts and life is hard, I know my Master is chipping away at me. 

Onto serving more ...

Please let me rewind a bit to give this some context.

Last year when we started attending Long Hollow my friend Rhonda encouraged me to join choir (which I immediately did; no arm twisting required). Right off the bat she also told me I'd be great for summer camp. 

Planted that seed she did.

Well as summer was approaching, I had these straggling vacation days and the hub and I weren't planning a trip so... 

I started thinking about summer camp. 

Long story short, in June I ended up going to Middle School Camp as a counselor and 
I 
E N J O Y E D  L O V E D 
E V E R Y
M I N U T E 
O F
I T ! ! ! !    

And of course I plan to go back again next summer. 

While I was at camp, my friend Pennie text me about teaching a class with her when the school year starts back. I told her I'd let her know. But I already knew. God was already working on ME even before Pennie asked me. 

On Sunday we started teaching a beautiful group of 6th grade girls. I'm so excited to see what God is gonna do with these girls.  

This year has really been a year of spiritual growth for me so far. I can't share all of it here, but know that it's an incredible journey that I'm pumped to be on! God has challenged me to get out of my comfort zone in a few areas. And He's so faithful to honor obedience. It's just awesome, that's all. 

So I guess to wrap up this post and say I certainly haven't done everything right so far in 2013 but when I reflect on a few things I feel victorious and blessed and thankful and... well you get it... 
I'm just glad to say I'm a child of the one true King (as the song says) 
Watch/listen here!

Easy berry cobbler

Again, I love Pinterest. And of course that's where I found this recipe. 

See how delish it looks?

Ok so maybe it's not winning a blue ribbon on appearance, but trust me it tasted super yummy! 

sorry for the cheapy paper plate... just keepin it real folks 

Here's the link to where I found it (via Pinterest) Berry cobbler blog post 

Only three ingredients... 
JUST THREEEEE (wheeee) 
1. Sprite Zero 
2. Cake mix (white or yellow is fine) 
3. Frozen berries (I did strawberries)
Bada bing bada boom.... it's almost magic  

In a nutshell (if you're too lazy to click the link to the original poster) you put the berries in your dish, pour the dry cake mix over it, then slowly pour the soda over it. It bubbles up sorta like a cool science experiment.

Yes, I'm easily amused.

Bake it at 350 for about 50 minutes. You can tell when it's done cuz it's browned. Duh. 

You're gonna love it! 

I WILL be back... Time? tbd

Please don't think I've abandoned the blog... just busy livin' life ya know?

Eatin happy meals and what not...

Work seems to stay busy. Weekends fly by. Life just zips on by.

The older I get, the faster a month goes by.

(sigh)

The other day at work, one of the gals brought in some killer mini bundt cakes. 
And I won't lie... I was happy, happy, happy...

If you wanna try one for yourself, it's in Nashville and of course online here

That's all I have on my mind tonight... 
Sad, I know... 
Peace!

Long Hollow Middle School Camp *BOOM*

These kids have something to be EXCITED about!

LH CAMP!!!!!

Last week more than 650 Middle Schoolers from our area attended camp at Horns Creek in Ocoee, Tennessee. The camp theme was BRING IT and bring it they did!

About 267 kids made decisions to follow Christ. 
Can I get an AMEN?! 
Or a Praise the Lord?!

This was my first experience as a volunteer at our new church. And it was uh-mazing! I was a counselor with these two ladies and they were great. They're both in college and serious about some kingdom work!

These ladies and I lived in this cabin for 6 days with 8 super special girls who are rising 6th and 7th graders. 

Because I'm a goofball, I usually called our cabin "loaf of sugar" 

Here we are - the Golden Hurricanes - before heading to the adventure race/mud pit

The worship team and band were absolutely amazing, truly a blessing at each service working tirelessly and giving it 100%.

It was awesome to see the kids worshipping freely and really giving it all up to God. 

The Bible says in Matthew 18 where two or three are gathered together in my name (meaning the Lord's name), there I am with them. 
God's presence at camp filled the worship center, the cabins, the fields where we came together. Every place, every time! 

It's hard to even put into words how awesome the power of God is. I hope you know that power.

When you can get away from all the distractions of life and really focus on God and things that have eternal consequences, it's absolutely one of the most precious experiences you'll ever have.

(ahhh, warm heart) 

This pic collage is one of the ones I posted on Instagram. I think it captures some of the other aspects of camp life - hair braiding, hangin out, share time, walking through God's beautiful creation... 

yeah, this makes me smile. 

I gave up a few vacation days, several nights away from my husband and the comforts of a hot shower, comfy bed and free time, to invest in some lovely ladies - and I wouldn't change it for ANYthing! 
I was soooo blessed by this opportunity and plan to do it again next year. 

Twin baby boys...my great nephews

My niece birthed her twin boys, her IDENTICAL twin boys, on Friday, April 26th.

She went to the doc that day and they discovered one of the babies was breech. AND one of em hadn't gained nearly as much weight since the last checkup so it was T I M E to get them outta there. C section here we go.

Everything went fine although there was a tiny little scare with my niece's blood pressure right after delivery. By the next day pretty much all was well in the neighborhood with that.

Baby A is Conner Michael. Baby B is Brady Allen. Those nurses, they're clever. They grabbed some puff paint and put those names right on some little hats. 

Brady weighed 5 lbs 11.25oz. 

Conner weighed 4 lbs 8.5 oz. 

Even though Brady was the bigger baby, he had some low oxygen levels or somethin so he spent a couple days in NICU. 

My parents are great grandparents now. Um wow!

Even though Caleb is in the Army now, it just so happened he had some time off and was home during all this craziness. It was nice that God intervened with that!

I think you can tell Kerby and Kerlandy are digging their new status as uncle and aunt. ;-)

Finally late Sunday night the babies were able to meet each other and be together in Mom's room. Aw!

Sasha is 25 although she, much like her mom, has a baby face and looks like a kid here. lol If we could all be so fortunate. {sigh}

Conner was smiling because Aunt Lyndy was holding him. Yeah, that's it. 

And of course I had big plans for pics in the hospital, right? 

But I ended up mostly just staring at Conner and being amazed at how God creates these tiny little humans and blesses us, etc. etc. 

Ignore the weird crease in Conner's skull. Ew!

Of course the first chance I got, I had to go see them boyzzz at their home. So I grabbed my sweet lil mom and off we went.

This photo collage pretty much sums up my emotions. 

My brother is soooo taken by these kiddos... pretty sure he's gonna be that pushover grandpa who gives em everything they want...

Kerby and Kerlandy looooove babies... 

And Joey acts like the twins are his brothers pretty much. Silly dog!

Me, my brother, my mom and Sasha with the babes. 

(cough, cough) Mom will be seein this pic on her calendar this year. 

A pro photographer took some beautiful sleeping shots of the fellas and I could die with every shot. Can they be more precious? 

Well, even posting this makes me a little teary eyed, I won't lie. 

And if you know me, you know I'm not a cryin kinda gal. 

But these little guys, ugh, they are just such a sweet sweet reminder of God's love for us. 

So anyway, Conner and Brady need to move closer to Aunt Lyndy! 

That is all. Carry on.

Niece's Baby Shower - the R E C A P

Thanks for hangin' with me on all this baby shower madness. I appreciate patient followers.

So with BOYS on the way, we had to come up with a shower theme idea that was rough & tough. So we went with a construction kind of theme. We saw some ideas on the interweb and it kinda just went from there... 

Dump trucks haul more than just dirt and rocks! They make great cracker haulers.

I made the signs with cardstock (remember I'm a scrapbooking fool) and my Cricut machine.

Hmm.. more of that clothesline stuff showin' up ;-) 

This picture shows my brother S E R V I N G some of my aunts and cousins. Nice!

Gift openin' time!

The shot on the top left corner - Sasha thinks she looks like a goat. teehee Those cute little itty bitty wooden babies came from Shannon, who's also with child. 

My sister-in-law Leslie made the fleece blanket. They were sooo cute - Conner's was covered with robots and Brady's was space stuff. Awesome!

The giraffes in the center of the collage - they came from Haiti and were hand carved.

Excitement happened when two car seats were unveiled!

Phil might have gotten a bit carried away and  hit his head on the mantle. Oops! 

A sweet lady we used to attend church with got really creative with some diapers, blankets & socks...

I kinda got a little carried away buying stuff for these boys, but who cares?! They needed every bit of that stuff and I finally did stop gettin' stuff.

But the gift I was the most excited about was the photo book of Sasha's maternity pics... her face in this pic makes my heart full!

If you're a photographer, you know how awesome it feels to see someone look at your work and love it this much!

The shower turned out nicely and everyone seemed to be genuinely happy for Sasha & Phil. We had a room full of people from all over the place but somehow managed to keep it between the lines. It really was great!

 My mom, me, my oldest brother (Sasha's dad) and Sasha, the beautiful momma to be. 

Next up: pics of those babiesssss. You're gonna LOVE em!!!!!

Niece's Baby Shower... PART II: A little DIY gift

Again with Pinterest... I'm not apologizing. It may be mostly a time waster but it does have perks!

Like this little project... 

I was inspired by this blogger (whom I found via Pinterest...swoon)
Blissfully Domestic 
Mine aren't as fancy, but I like how they turned out.

I bought my little wooden door hangers at Walmart in the craft area. My dad cut a notch in them and shortened them a bit (for looks, not entirely necessary). The notch lets you slip them off and on easily on your closet rod. (*Note: the blogger who inspired me chose to hang hers by ribbon)

I traced the shape of the hanger onto the back of a piece of scrapbook paper and cut out the paper.

Enter Mod Podge

Mod Podge has a million uses. This was only my third time to use it. A little goes a long way.

I just brushed a thin layer and then laid my scrapbook cutout on top and positioned it the way I wanted it.

You'll see my edges aren't perfect. But you get the idea.

Let them dry completely before adding your labels for clothing sizes.

And what do ya know, my Cricut came in handy again! 

I used it to cut all the numbers and letters. I used my "Don Juan" cartridge.  

I used a glue pen to glue each of the numbers and letters. 

And here's the final product!

Sorry I don't have a pic of them hanging in the twins' closet....if I can remember, I'll get a shot of that and post it here.