It's Friday! A Week Review In Pictures

I'll start this post off by telling you that I've met an AMAZING friend this week.

Her name is Kylee....which confuses me every time I say it because it's like meshing my 2 brothers names together... Kyle and Lee...but not really... but I keep wanting to say it that way. I'm sure she hates this! ha! :)

ANYWAYS, She really is amazing and I am so glad my friend Holleigh introduced us.

She is originally from Ohio and moved out with her husband this past Summer.

It's nice to have another friend here who understands how hard it can be to live so far away from family.

So.... Here's Her Blog: Ramblings of a heart learning to love and how to blossom 

Go, NOW, and check out her really cute Clutch she just made! (I saw it in person and it really is as cute as it is in the pictures!)

Now, on to my very CRAZY week:

Sunday night we had our very first meeting about the Beautiful Mess in the basement we will be meeting at to do outreach...did that sentence even make since?   This whole Beautiful Mess stuff should have had it's own post but man when do I have the time...something HUGE is going on this week...

 Do you know what happens if you leave a one-year-old alone in a room with baby wipes??

Well, this is what mine does:

 Every. Single. Time. Why do I keep leaving them where she can get them??

 So, This HUGE thing that's been going on this week...and the surprise I talked about last Friday, HERE is that we are MOVING!!  Just to another place in the same area...it just has a back yard, dishwasher, bonus room (for the girls toys and guest to stay), and two bathrooms!!!! Which we don't have ANY of those things in the house we are living in now....well, I mean, we have a bathroom, just not 2. ;) So, this week every day I've been loading up my car with boxes and taking them to the new house.  I'll do a moving post soon and post more pictures.

Box tunnels are the best!

Brooke, Breanna, and Maribel

Look! Our closet is CLEAN!

 Seriously, I LOVE these pictures! I love these girls so much.

 (Don't let all these pictures fool you, they do fight a lot too!)

Yesterday morning we met one of Deci's friends from school at a local indoor gym to play.

Since Brooke is here visiting us in Oregon at the Moment, I'll leave you with a post (click HERE) from the past about the one and only Brooke and I'm thinking maybe I should get her to potty train Journey while she's here. 

And, I'll leave you with this picture.  I've never been a fan of BIG sunglasses but there is just something about Oregon that makes me feel like I can branch out...what do ya think?

Haha! These are Breanna's that she got at Forever 21 for like $2.  I think I need some! Kerrie would be proud!

Wow, That was packed FULL! Happy Friday Everyone!

Wednesday's List: Bucket List

It's Wednesday!  That means it's time for Wednesday's List. Join me and write a post in list form, (doesn't have to be bucket list) then leave a comment and let me know you are joining me so I (along with others) can check your list out! I LOVE LIST!

Can I just tell you that I've been wanting to share with you my bucket list for a while,

BUT at the same time I feel that my bucket list isn't yet complete...

I started a bucket list several years ago in a Journal and that Journal is currently boxed up. So I'm going to try and remember as well as I can what was on that original list.  Plus I've added some and taken some off.

My Bucket List:

 (in no particular order)

1. Visit all 50 States in the USA

2. Ride in a Hot Air Balloon

3.  Take my daughters on a foreign mission trip

4. Visit New York City

5. Go on a road trip across the USA

6. Go skiing in "real" snow.  I've only skied down a hill when I was 10 on fake/man-made snow.

7. Run a 10k...or a 1/2 marathon...

8. Adopt a child...or two

9. Go see the Grand Canyon

10. Get a Tattoo

11. Learn to Knit something that's not square or rectangle (not a headband/scarf/ear warmers)

12. Go on an overnight hiking trip

13. Scuba dive with my Dad and Brother somewhere besides my dads pool

14. Volunteer somewhere at least once a year, every year

15. Visit the 7 wonders of the world

16. See my girls give their lives to follow Jesus...to make their life about Him.

17. At some point, live in a State that is closer to family

18. Ride on a Train

19. To be dept free. We only have my student loan left to pay off!

20. Buy and sewing machine and learn to use it.

21. Get another passport (mine expired in 2009)

22. Take Journey to Mexico (Deci went when she was 13 moths old)

23. Have a street party for our neighbors.

24. Memorize a HUGE chunk of Scripture

25. Personally feed a homeless person...not as in spoon feed them but buy them food and hand it to them.

I would like to add that sometimes I feel like we make bucket list and they are very selfish and worldly.  Mine is no different.  When I think of a bucket list I think of things to actually do to cross off...it's hard to cross off "be less selfish" or "learn more about the bible"  or "Be a better Mom." etc... but there are several things that I would like to change about myself before I "kick the bucket"...I'm just not sure that I'll actually be able to do these things and cross them off a list...they are ongoing.  Maybe that's another list post...

Bucket list items that I took off my list:

-bungee jumping
-sky diving
Like I ever really had enough courage to do either of these and now I have 2 kids that would have a hard time living without me if something went terribly wrong...but maybe one day when they are older I can add these back on my list...maybe. ;)

Have you posted a List lately? I would love to read it!
Happy Listing!

Another Beautiful Day in Oregon

We've had very unusual weather lately in Oregon...either that or I'm getting use to the cold and rain...

No, I think it's just been a little unusual.

Last March it rained EVERY SINGLE DAY in Eugene.

We've actually had sunny days a lot this past few weeks and I LOVE IT!

So we spend a lot of time outside when it's pretty.

(I decided to take my "real" camera out this day, you'll be thankful for the change from my blurry phone pic's!)

Don't let Deci's outfit fool you.  It was warm but not quite warm enough to be in a Summer dress.  She's just a kid with tough skin.  I think it was 63..or 65 this day.

We went to visit a rose garden and got to see this lovely tree that is 130 years old.

From what I hear, I need to make a trip back to see it in late April, early May because it blooms these pink flowers.  It's a Black Tartarian Cherry tree.

Deci decided she wanted to take a picture and why not? If you're a mom you understand the lack of pictures I find myself in with my kids...

We also went to visit a new park.  I am honestly still amazed at how many parks and playgrounds are in the area.  I've been in Oregon over a year and I find new parks every week.

Journey is just at the age now when I can let her go down some slides by herself and she loved this one! I couldn't get her off of it!  Too bad somewhere along the day we lost one of her shoes so she had to walk on the mulch barefoot. Ouch! She's tough though and if it meant she could go down the slide again she didn't care.

Deci wanted to take one more picture and this is what we get:

I think it's perfect...maybe the best Q and A picture yet. ;)

Journey's First Haircut

Journey's hair is growing so fast and I have no idea how to fix little girls hair.  With Deci all I've had to do was brush it in the bath and then leave it alone.  God knew what he was doing when he gave this "Tomboy" a girl with curly hair... Now I'm having to "fix" Journey's hair and I'm trying to do the same thing that I do with Deci and it doesn't always turn out.  It's not as curly as Deci's but not straight either... 

I decided that I should get her hair cut...just in the back at the bottom.  Deci didn't have a "professional" haircut until last year. I say professional because I trimmed Deci's once myself just to get rid of some of the baby hair so it wouldn't tangle so much.

Our friends, Thania and Maribel, stopped by!

Our friend Katie cut Journey's hair and Maribel took pictures. :)

We put on Yo Gabba Gabba Video's on the computer to keep her still.

She did SOOO Good! It was way easier than I thought it would be.  Yo Gabba Gabba was a big hit.

Deci got her hair trimmed also since she hasn't had it cut since last Summer.

before pic.

Deci and Katie

Deci did great also and Katie was so fast!

(For some reason I forgot to take after pics.)

It's Friday: A week Review in Pictures

As I mentioned last week, I'll be introducing you guys to one of the blogs I follow every Friday.

Today... Our neighbor and her family over at:

Jo Jo's ramblings

I've talked about her blog before on here but I wanted to tell everyone about her blog again this week because of her recent post about a movie review.  They own a Wildlife poster company and one of their posters was in a movie they were watching! How fun is that?

Also, after next week we will no longer be neighbors. eeeek! Our big surprise I'll tell you about next week! (and no, we are not moving away from Oregon!)

Last Friday night Q and I went on a date.  We ended the night with our friends (and fellow Crash members) at a local arcade.  This was seriously sketchy...like, we had to walk down a dark alleyway to get there, sketchy and of course my husband LOVED it and can't wait to go back.

 Saturday Breanna and I went out shopping at some local 2nd hand clothing stores and ate lunch at one of my favorite restaurants Mucho Gusto AND we got to eat outside!

We have really had BEAUTIFUL weather this week...not Alabama 70+ degree weather but It's been in the 60's and I'll take it!

 

We went to 3 different parks this week!

Two of them we had never been to before.

Journey has started trying to put on her own clothes...It's not working out so well.

We've got to hang out with our neighbors twice this week!

She fell asleep reading.

Brooke's HERE! 

 You can read more about Brooke HERE on Q's blog.

Today, I felt like this:

Today I'll send you back to a post I wrote on November 29, 2009 about Living a Great Life.

It was such a fun post to write.  Have you ever said, "This is the best day EVER?" I have.  Go read about it HERE and I encourage you to live a great life! 

(Plus, it's talking about Donald Miller and my favorite book by him, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years.)

Happy Friday!

The start of Q and A

When I think back to when I met Q it's hard for me to remember all the details.  Our lives over the years have meshed so well together into one life.  I honestly can't remember when we first met.  Oh, I remember when I first had feelings for him...  I just don't remember meeting Q. It's probably because we went to school together in this small town in Alabama.  One of my best friends at the time went to Church with Q and so there is a chance I met him there.  One thing I know for sure, the first time I wrote about Q in my journal was 

April 17th, 1997.

It's just a sentence with his name in it about this friend of mine going to his car to eat because her brother and Q were best friends.

  

Q's not mentioned again in my Journal until July 9, 1997 we were at the same house swimming.  I wrote: "I would like Quinton except _______ and him are kind of going out."  He called me Lee's little sister and I joked with him about being Wades big brother.  

On July 21, 1997 we went on the same church beach retreat.  When I think back in my memory of when I had a crush on Q it was this trip.  He mentioned one day about liking bell bottoms and I just so happened to have some on the trip.  So of course I wore my bell bottom pants that night! Why in the world did I own a pair of bell bottoms in 1997?

Church beach retreat. My friend Joseph, Q, Mandy and Me.

Aug 9th, 1997 I wrote in my Journal about how a bunch of us girls got together and called a bunch of guys to ask them to the movies...not really as a date...just a bunch of friends.

I called Q and he said yes but I don't believe he had any idea that I liked him.

The next few months we became best friends.  He would come pick me up and we would meet a group of friends over at the First Baptist Church to play basketball.  He would talk to me about his girl problems.

Sometime early 1998 he asked me to go to prom with him as friends and I said yes but shortly after he started dating one of my friends.  I thought it was only fair that they go to prom together.

Are you wondering where this is going?? Well...

March 8th, 1998... 14 years ago

Q asked me if I would go with him to help plan a date for him and his girlfriend to go ride horses in Mentone, AL.  I know, I know, dumb idea.  Keep in mind that I was 15 at this point and he was 17.

I had no idea if he liked me or not so I figured if I couldn't date him than at least I could be his best friend...so not fair to the other girl.  I was immature, okay!

ANYWAYS, so we ended up driving out to Mentone, AL.

We went to see waterfalls, we found a Frisbee on a roof and Q held me up to get it so we could throw the frisbee around.  We went hiking in the woods and stopped to sit on some rocks and talked about life.

We didn't hold hands or kiss or anything...we just got to know each other better.

He told me later that is when he knew he loved me.  He ended up breaking up with his girlfriend.

Ohhh, horrible, I know!  Geez, Audrey!  

(For some reason I don't have anything recorded for the month of March 1998 in my journal. It would have been nice to have more details but I do remember it well.)

So he ended up asking me out...I'm not sure if it was this night or not but it seems like when we talked about when we started dating, we always said this date.  I did end up going to prom with him.

And that, my friends, is just the beginning! 

It would take WAY too long to explain the next 7 years that we dated...

We got married 2005, had Deci 2007, Journey 2010, and here we are in Oregon 2012! :)

The whole point of this post was to celebrate today. March 8th, 2012.

It's been 14 wonderful years. Almost 1/2 my life I've been with this man and he's made my life SO much better! Go check his blog out! :)

Wednesday's List: Funny Stuff about Me

So, I went to Barnes and Noble over the weekend and got this new Journal:

If you know me, you know I LOVE journals and I LOVE list, so this journal is perfect.  

The inside has questions like this:

I decided that I would incorporate this onto my blog with Wednesday's List!  On Wednesdays I'll try and post a list post.  Some may be random, some serious, but always in list form.  I would love for any of you to drop in at any time and join me then leave a comment and let me know you did so I can check out your list.  

Today's list: Funny (Random) Stuff About Me:

-I've watched every season of The Biggest Loser and a few months ago I started all over again with Season 1.  I'm currently on season 7.  Who does that?? Who watches reality T.V. shows over and over again? ME! I'm a reality T.V. Junky!

-I DESPISE the rain and I live in Oregon.

-I could possibly have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder... Or maybe I'm just a germaphobe...  I've never been diagnosed but I'm sure my husband would say that I'm OCD about washing dishes and how food gets cooked.

-If there is a box of Little Debbie's or Ice Cream in our house it WILL be gone in 24 hours.  I have no self control when it comes to either of these things.

-I'm not even 30 (but will be in May! eeek!) and I knit and love puzzles. 

-I LOVE change...like in the fact that I love when the seasons change.  I love moving. I love rearranging the furniture.  I can hit the scan button on the car radio and be just fine with the change of songs without ever picking one to listen to fully.  

-We eat pizza almost once a week.  It reminds me of my childhood.

-I can be over sensitive and I can over analyze...

-I love LIST! List of "to do" for the day, Things to do in Oregon in 2012, Crossing number 8 off my list, These are a few of my favorite things 2011, In everything give thanks, Bucket list...

If you join me let me know! Lists coming soon:

-Bucket List

-Differences between Alabama and Oregon

 Happy Listing!