Fall Creek Falls

Gary and I decided that we wanted to take the boys on their first camping trip to Fall Creek Falls.  Gary loves camping and has been talking about going for months. Camping is a little out of my comfort zone, but I was excited to go and experience all this with my boys.  

 Fall Creek Falls

Owen is a good little helper...

The campsite is ready and the boys are so excited!

 Throwing rocks over the gorge...

 Andrew loves to play Candy Land everyday and had to bring it on the trip :-)

 Time for dinner and s'mores...

 The boys loved being outside...

 Beautiful Falls...

Going across the swinging bridge.  You can't tell in this picture, but I was scared to death especially while carrying a wiggly toddler.  

 Relaxing at the campsite...

 I think eating s'mores is my favorite part of camping

We survived 3 days and 2 nights of camping :)

During the day, we had a lot of fun.  Night time was much more of an adventure and why I may wait a little while before we go tent camping again.  Haha.  

 The first night we were there, it rained a lot, and our tent leaked.  Gary and I woke up at 3:00AM as water was dripping off the roof in the tent and was hitting us in the face.  Gary saw that the tent was filling up with water and quickly took our bags to the car.  In the morning, everything was SOAKED!  At this point, I was trying to stay positive, but all our stuff including our clean clothes were wet and cold.  At first, Gary thought we could just let everything sit out and dry, but our stuff was way too wet for that.  We found a laundry mat, and dried our sleeping bags and pillows.  

 Here's our tent with a small river in it.

The second night, our beds were a little damp but somewhat bare able.  I woke up in the middle of the night, and I found the last bit of our snacks dumped out all over the campsite and teeth marks on the crackers.  I put everything back, and around 5:00AM that morning, we could hear another animal eating our stuff and rummaging through everything at the picnic table.  Luckily, we didn't have many things left, but the animal took our bread, crackers, and just made a mess everywhere.  We should have left all that stuff in the car but didn't think about it at the time.  

Overall, it was a great trip and was a blessing to spend time with just the 4 of us for a few days!

Bye Bye "Sassy"

It's hard to believe that Owen is almost 2!  We have been talking about taking away Owen's paci (aka "Sassy") for a few months now.  For our family, both boys took a paci as infants, when they got mobile, I started limiting their pacis to sleep time, and then tried to encourage them to give it up around 18 months.  

With all the changes we've been through lately as we moved, I just didn't want to try it anytime soon.  Owen and Andrew go to a MDO 2 days a week, and I found out from Owen's teacher that he naps at school without his paci.  I was really surprised!  I thought surely he could do this at home too.  A few days ago, Gary and I just decided to hide them and quit offering it to him.  I thought he was going to cry and ask for it all the time, but he has only asked once.  We've distracted him with his blanket and his favorite puppy stuffed animals each time he lays down.  I know this is the perfect opportunity and that he's done awesome, but it honestly makes me so sad because he's getting so big!  I am so thankful that it wasn't a battle at our house and that he wasn't missing it too much.  Bye Bye Sassy!

Home Sweet Home

We are still praying that our house will sell soon in Auburn, but in the meantime, we are thankful that the Lord provided a great rental home for us.  It's in Bells, TN, which is about 10 minutes from our church.  

Entry hallway

Living Room

Office/Sitting Room

The boys love to read books in this room.

Breakfast Area in Kitchen

Kitchen

Hallway to the Bedrooms

 Front Bathroom

Owen's Room

 

Andrew's Room

Master Bedroom (still a work in progress)

 

Screened in Porch on the Back of the House

 Back of the House

Tennessee River

We spent the day on the Tennessee River with our family this past Saturday.  We had so much fun, and the boys loved being on the boat.

The boys aren't really up for pics at this point...

Ready to go...

 Treasure hunt on the beach...

 Uncle Nick...

 Relaxing with Aunt Carrie

 Andrew loved being in the tube and wasn't scared at all.  The last time he went, he actually fell asleep in Gary's arms.  He and Owen both took a nap while we went cruising in the boat.

 Owen is trying it out.  He wasn't really to sure about it.

Uncle Nick and Mimi

 Andrew sat at the back of the boat watching everyone ski and tube.

1st Day of Preschool in Jackson

Andrew, Owen, and I drove up to Jackson for their first week of preschool.  I am blessed to be working in the 3-year-old class 2 days a week and was asked to be there the first week before we were able to move to TN.  

The boys will come with me to the preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and then I will have the rest of the week at home with them.  I truly believe that the Lord has called me and given the desire to stay home with my children, so working part-time at their school, is a win-win for our family.  

Wow!  I love these precious boys.

We're moving to Tennessee!

We have absolutely loved living in Auburn and serving at Parkway Baptist Church, but the Lord has called us to go and serve Him at Calvary Baptist in Jackson, TN.  Gary will be the Associate Pastor of Youth and Children at our new church.  

We are very sad to leave but are excited to see what the Lord has in store for our family in Jackson.  We will soon be an hour from our family and will be blessed to see them more often!  We will officially be in Tennessee on August 15th.  

Lunch with the Odom's

We met up with the Odom's for lunch at McDonald's, and the boys had so much fun.  Gary, Andrew, and I stayed with the Odom's when we first came down to visit Parkway back in 2009, and they have truly been like family to us in Auburn.  We love them and are going to miss them so much. 

Laney, Aubrey, Owen and Andrew

Random Summer Pics

Here are just a few random pics that I took this summer...

Water time...

 Andrew loves the sprinkler, and Owen prefers the water table.  Both had a blast outside!

Time for some cartoons...

Train museum in Memphis with Mimi and Pop...

Loving some ice cream...

Showing off his new shoes...

These are their new nap mats for preschool.

Who needs fancy toys when you can make a tent?  They thought that was the greatest :)

Snuggle time...

Owen's 1st Haircut

We decided it was time for Owen's first hair cut (21 months).  

Love those curls...

 Owen had a look of terror on his face, but he did great!  

Here's our big boy :)