The 4th of July..

was 10 days ago...and I guess that is how far behind I am...
and this post is actually about the Sunday BEFORE 4th of July because I have yet to get my pictures loaded from the actual day!
We (the girls and I) decided that we were going to go to Bellvue for the 4th of July celebration that they have every year...we were leaving church and asked if we could call Aunty to see if they could go with us as well! They agreed, so we went to pick them up and headed to Bellvue for a evening a fun! The kids had a blast and the weather ended up to be PERFECT...cooler with a nice breeze (Thank you Jesus!!)
Here are some pictures of the evening! Happy Birthday USA!!

My baby isn't a baby anymore...

She is a POTTY-TRAINED little girl, and she even slept in big girl panties last night!! WhooHooo!! It seemed like Avery was going to be the child that went to Kindergarten in her diaper...she had the concept down pat...but didn't want to put it to use! And we have been so stinkin busy lately, that we just kinda forgot about it...We just continued to changed diapers/pull-ups and never really said anything to her...and all of a sudden, she was telling us when she needed to go potty and she was doing it! I can't believe that I don't have "babies" anymore...my girls are growing up, but I can honestly say that I probably won't miss changin all those diapers...and we should become rich, quick! Diapers are outrageous!!

It's OFFICIAL...

and God is good! No, God is GREAT!!! After several weeks and 4 houses later...We now know where God wants us live! What a stressful past couple of weeks it has been...but God has worked it all out (with the help of Richie, our wonderful realtor...he's paying me to say that!) We found out last night after long hours of deliberation that we will, for sure, be home owners in Collierville, hopefully by August 10th! What a relief to know where we will be very soon! I took these pictures off the website and thought I would give you a sneak peek to what our "new" house looks like! What are certainly blessed and looking forward to moving and starting a new chapter in our life!

It was HER idea...

I promise, I never once asked or encouraged her to do it...She came up with the idea and bugged me about it for at least 3 weeks...
We have been talking to her for the past 6 months about taking care of the stuff that she has...She really wants a Nintendo DS and a Puppy dog, and we keep telling her that those are very expensive things that take alot of attention and responsibilty and right now, we can't trust that she would be responsible...She kept asking if she could get her ears pierced and take care of them to prove that she IS in fact, responsible...so Friday June, 26th (the same day that we got our new car, 07' Silver Ford Fusion) she begged us to let her get them pierced and so...we went to Claire's in the Collierville Mall
She had just picked out BLUE Saph-a-phires (thats how she pronounced it!)

calling Uncle Chad to tell him that she was going to go ahead and get them done before he got there (I think she might have chickened out had we waited on him)

the before picture...

and the after picture...they did both of her ears at the same time (thank goodness!) and I took this picture right after she said, "OUCH, that hurt"! But there were NO tears!

PROUD AS A PEACOCK AT HER NEW EARRINGS!!

YEP...she got her ears pierced...
and she has been SO good about taking care of them...she cleans them at least 3x's a day WITHOUT being told! We have been very proud of her for being so responsible...Does that mean that she thinks she deserves a Nintenso DS and a puppy dog? Maybe we should have thought this through a little better :)

He's getting so big...

Rowan, that is!! (our baby nephew/cousin)Several weeks ago we all (even Ray, which is rare, because he works all the time)went to Dickson to visit with family...and as usual...had lots of fun! This was the first time that Ray or the girls have gotten to spend any time with baby Rowan...and my girls LOVE him! They both wanted to hug on him and squeeze him...Brenly wanted to feed him a bottle and try to get him to sleep...and that she did...She was holding him and he feel straight to sleep, and she was SO proud!
I am sure in the 3 weeks that we have been away from him, he has grown even more, but I wanted to be sure to put these pictures on here!

I am so far behind...

and don't even know where to start...but I have good reasons for being absent...
It seems that our life has been turned upside down..in a good way. God has lots of things in store for us and we are certainly very excited about what he is doing in our life...but it has caused us to run ragged!

I have written before that Ray felt that God was calling him to transfer to Shelby Co. (and with a little resistence, Ray accepted God's calling) however we thought that his transfer was going to start late Sept. or early October...Because Brenly starts Kindergarten in the fall, our plan was to live with Kristy until Ray got transferred and then start looking for a house. We later found out that Ray's transfer is going into effect August 9th (and Brenly starts school August 10th) which is a huge blessing...(I wasn't looking forward to living two seperate lives again, like we did during his Police Academy Days!) But that made us step it up into high gear...So for the past month I have...
*starting packing up our entire house
*continuing to drive back/forth from Bolivar to Memphis
*working full time
*keeping the girls involved with different things, so that they will have a fun summer
*searching for the PERFECT house
*Losing 3 of those "perfect" houses (we now have a contract on the 4th...please pray)
*we've been out of town alot more than usual this summer, and preparing for our family vacation

and I am exhausted...mentally, physically, emotionally...praying that God will give me enough strength for just today...knowing and trusting in the fact that with God all things are possible...

So I promise that my hiatus from my blog hasn't been because I am lazy...Its because our life is C-R-A-Z-Y!!!

I hope and pray that in the coming days we will have some real exciting news about where God is going to place us!

Until then, we would love your prayers for peace and patience!

Me and my babes...

I just love'em to pieces!!




A few weeks ago, we had the opportunity to go visit Great Granddaddy Jack at his new place...he just recently moved to Sharon, TN (where he was born and raised) We had a great time and really enjoyed visiting with him!

I know I say it often...

..but is there anything cuter in this world than your very own children...I realize I am a little biased...I mean, they are mine and all...but I literally could eat them with a spoon!

A wedding to remember...

at least that is what my daughter tried to do!! UGH, leave it to my child to be the major distraction during this blessed occasion
...So Brenly decided at the last minute that she would rather go fishing with Grandfather than to get "dressed" up and go to the wedding (That should be NO surprise to any of you!) So Chad and I get the other two girls (Avery and Baylee) dressed up and head to the wedding (As horrible as it is, my batteries in my camera died so we have no pictures from the occasion, but I guarantee that the memories of the day will be forever etched in our brain!)

This picture is from the night before but there expressions do the story great justice!
We arrive Cheekwood Botanical Gardens at approx 6:15, because there was no need to arrive early we have two children the age of 2 (well almost, Baylee has a birthday coming up!) It is an outdoor wedding and the location is beautiful...It was a gorgeous day, flowers were everywhere, deer grazing in the background...a picture perfect day for a picture perfect wedding (that is until Avery arrives :) I walk up to one of my cousins (who was a groomsman) and explained to him that Chad and I needed to be on the back row...After all we have these small children...He looked at me and laughed, as if to feel sorry for us, and said, "well, sorry but the only row that is left is the second one from the front, right behind the mother of the bride (who is also my cousin but still, US on the SECOND row!...just great!) So we are seated and the time comes for the wedding to start...
We had threatened both of our angels, trying to explain to 2 year olds, why it was necessary to be silent...not that they understood, but we felt it necessary to TRY! Right at 6:30, the music plays and the wedding starts...grandparents, the moms, the groomsman, the groom the bridesmaids...everything was beautiful, the sun was setting, the temperature was becoming tolerable...and then we saw her...The bride...absolutely beautiful...walking towards the "congregation"....we proceed to stand to watch her make her way to her groom, the one God has chosen for her...I was holding Avery so that she might be able to see what was going on and she (keep in mind, she is my RED headed child, in every sense of the word!) decides that "I do it myself"!! She wanted to stand on the chair by herself...Normally, this would be a battle that I might fight, but because of the situation...As to not get loud and start a fight with her...I gave in...and she stood on the chair...That is until, Brandi got right beside our row (remember, we were on the stinkin SECOND row!) and my child proceeds to shift her weight and fall through the back of the child...hitting her head and pinch her finger in between the folding chair!!! She proceeds to let out the loudest blood curdling scream anyone has every heard in their life! I quickly drop to my knees in my dress and cover her mouth (as to try a slight suffocation method...for is she suffocates, she will be quiet, right? --FYI, I am totally kidding, do NOT call child protective services...I LOVE MY CHILDREN and would never cause them harm!!) My brother finally leans over and says, "let her breathe and RUN!!!" I try to maneuver her back through the chair and make a run for it...but where am I to go...this is an OUTSIDE wedding...It's not like I can go anymore OUTSIDE to get away from the wedding...I was stuck, running in my high heeled sandals, on the grass, down a huge hill with my "SCREAMING AT THE TOP OF HER LUNGS" child...MY blood pressure is about at stroke level...I feel SO bad that we have totally ruined THE MOMENT! But what was I to do...Praise the Lord that as we reached the bottom of the hill, there were 3 huge deer grazing and I told her that we had to be quiet so that we wouldn't scare the deer!! and just like that, she quit screaming...and we continued to watch the wonderful creations that God had placed there in that moment to save me from complete humiliation...I mean I was humiliated...don't get me wrong...but at least she only screamed bloody murder through the first 5 minutes of the wedding and not the entire thing...But please know that I miss the ENTIRE wedding...I am sure it was as beautiful as Brandi was...but I will never know...for instead of watching my cousin get married, I was able to watch 3 deer grazing in the distance...
**NOTE TO SELF...Never again will I attend an outdoor wedding with my children...until they are half grown...for the scars of humiliation that I endured that day will last for a while!

John and Brandi...we love you alot and pray that your marriage will be much more uneventful that the day of your wedding...thanks to my child..We pray that God will bless you immensely and we are very happy for the two of you!

A weekend with the Deaton's...

or two of them, at least (we missed you Aunt Ronni) This past weekend was a BUSY one for us! Chad and I, along with the 3 girls headed to Nashville for our cousin's wedding (Congrats John and Brandi!) and you must know that when Uncle Chad is around there is fun waiting to happen...He picked us up around 5:30 Friday night and we headed to Casey Jones' Village in Jackson to eat...and there just so happened to be a miniature golf course there as well...so we ate and played golf! LOTS OF FUN!







(That is Avery doing a little dance for hitting the ball, screaming "I did it, I did it!"


(Avery and Baylee LOVE each other...I love this picture!)



Me and ALL my girls! I love every single one of them more that they will ever know!




(This is a CRAZY raccoon that came up to us...He was alittle scarey!)

They got to feed the fish while we were there...Avery and Baylee loved the fish...MUCH more than they loved the golf!



The following morning we decided to go to the park to wear the girls out, so they would take a nap, so they would be decent for the wedding...(A totally different post will have to be written about the wedding...stay tuned!)









The next morning we were able to meet up with Lance, Sherri and Maggie and eat at Loveless Cafe before heading to Sharon, TN to see Granddaddy Jack in his new place!