Unexpected blessings

In March Poppy asked if we wanted to come down to Orlando for a few days while he worked a trade show. What?! Would we like it?! What kind of question is that?! Going to Disney at this time in our life is not even on our radar. To have someone offer to pay for your trip is an unbelievable blessing. And how do you thank someone for something like that??
You write a blog post and fill it with fun pictures of your trip and say "Thank you Poppy and Maw Maw for making this possible for Lily....for us."
This was an incredible experience for our family and we made memories that will be cherished for years to come!

Here is our first trip to the magical world of Disney!!

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Nana

What a generous Nana Lily has! She has a timeshare in Destin that usually falls on the last week of June. This year she offered our family to stay for the last part of the week. So, we got to spend a couple of days with Nana and her new husband (YAY!) Brett when we first arrived and we had a GREAT time! And then we had a couple of days to spend alone with Lily. It was really a perfect vacation and I am grateful to my Mommy for blessing us in this way. Here are a few photos of our time together -

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Memphis Zoo in December - BRRRR!

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A picture is worth a thousand words...especially pictures of Lily :)

Where have we been? I keep asking myself that same question :) And I've been wanting to update the blog...remember, this is Lily's baby book and I'm quite behind. So, to give you a "picture" of what we've been up to lately I've put together a few slideshows. I guess I should begin with the amazing weekend we had to celebrate Father's Day. The whole thing is a neat "God story"....don't we serve an awesome God! He is such a good provider and blesses us beyone anything we could imagine. I won't go in to all the details but to sum it up - God provided an incredible weekend for our family. Here's a peek

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Face to face

We FINALLY took a trip to Birmingham to visit one of my dearest friends, Kristi and her family. And we had a fabulous time! Even though we talk on the phone or facebook just about every day it is so much better to be face to face and sit down and have a cup of coffee or a good meal together. Not to mention having our little ones play together and for Kristi to get to know my hubby a little better. It was nice being "face to face" :)

When you think of your closest relationships, who you think of? Yesterday at church our pastor talked about the access we now have to God through the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. It is really breathtaking if you think about it.....we can have a "face to face" relationship with Him every day if we are walking in obedience and trusting Him. I'm talking the Creator of the universe!! I think we get so busy with life that we forget what a priviledge it is to know Him and experience His love and forgiveness. 1 John 2:1 says, "My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate WITH the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous..." That little word "with" means face to face relationship. I pray as you begin this week that you enjoy that intimate relationship that God has offered us!

So, back to my "face to face" visit with the Whitings. I have to say that we were completely pampered while we were there! She cooked wonderful meals for us and Sophie gave up her comfy, TALL bed for us and we were able to just relax and have fun. The pictures tell most of the story....

Beginning with our stop at Peach Park

(if you are EVER driving north on I-65

and passing Clanton, AL -

you MUST stop! they have homemade ice cream

and the best chess cake ever) Lily's first taste of peach heaven :)

oh yeah!

the result:

playin' at Peach Park

And then there's love at first sight

she's not real sure

but he's persistant

and determined

not giving up :)

While we were there visiting Lily learned many things:

"how to be a princess" taught by G.G. (I mean Ariel :)

"how to squeeze yourself into a kitchen drawer"

taught by Shep

and "how to really give your friends some lovin'"

reminds me of the song that her Maw Maw sings to her:

"I love you, a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck" :)

us Mommies sure love our babies!

we spent some time at the park near Kristi's house and it was so beautiful -

the waterfall and the baby!

Lily loves Sophie....and I do too!!

after a day at the park:

as you can see.....Kristi's youngest 2

he is "all boy"

and she is "all girl"

and the only picture I got with all 3

Lily did great on the trip including the drive -

snacks are so helpful!

I wish we lived closer so we could spend time like this on a more regular basis. Maybe one day....

Lily's first vacation

I can't believe how long it's taken me to post photos from our summer vacations! The last week of June we joined my mom for a few days at her timeshare in Destin, FL and we had such a good time. It was Lily's first time to go to the beach and see the ocean and I was really suprised at how much she enjoyed it. She loved the waves and just squealed and laughed every time we would wade into them. Here are a few snapshots of our fun... we liked hanging out at the pool

(not having to deal with the sand :)

getting ready for a nap in her stroller
she was mesmorized by the birds flying around the pool -
she wouldn't take her eyes off of them!
a lady at the pool let us borrow this swimsuit / intertub contraption -
it didn't work very well....but she sure did look cute :)

Lily loves her Nana

100% pure sweetnessspending a beautiful sunny day with Nana

at Baytown Warf

sunbathing beauty

rolling around the condo and getting caught in the curtains

Lily never meets a stranger
driving her Ferrari
up a tree with Daddy

loves playing in water!

There are more photos to come....from vacation #2....with my Dad in Olive Branch, MS :)