The Whitt Family

the 25 dates of christmas

2012-01-22T13:56:00.000-06:00

yes... you read that right. for christmas, i decided to be creative and cost effective, so i decided to do 25 dates of christmas for nate! no, we didn't go out on 25 dates, but each day i gave nate some sort of date or did something special for him. one nite i cooked dinner then we watched a movie, i made him personalized christmas ornaments, cool socks, massages, picture frames, youtube dates, etc. i think one of my favorites was when i surprised him and the kids and when they got home one nite, i had created a mexican restaurant in our kitchen! complete with (cowboy) hats, morrocos, and salsa music! :) the kids really loved it!!

my other favorite is a simple black frame. the paper inside reads: i love you because... and we take turns writing on the glass (with a dry erase marker) things we love about each other! it stays on my bathroom counter and i love writing nate little encouragements, as well as reading the sweet things he says about why he loves me! :-)

more christmas fun

2012-01-10T13:21:00.000-06:00

ok... this is the next to the last christmas post! :) i'm tellin ya... we had like 14 christmas celebrations this year! i'm all for them, and we had so much fun, but it will wear you out!!

on christmas morning, after we did santa at home, we loaded up for the day and headed to church. with sword and ET in hands, remember?

after church we headed to huntsville... where all 3 sets of nate's grandparents live! (they all live within like 10 minutes of each other.. crazy but convenient once we are in hunstville!) the first stop was nanny's house! we missed having nanny on christmas eve at meme's but we really enjoyed spending some time with her christmas day. the kids got all sorts of fun gifts that they loved!

meme and g-daddy are always there to help with new toys, thank goodness!

after nanny's house, we headed down the road to big g-daddy's... where i FAILED to take ANY pictures. geezlouise... what was i thinking?!? we ate a late lunch then hung out for a while. actually, i supervised the kids outside b/c they were W.I.R.E.D. my goodness! guess that's why i didn't take pics. anyways, it was great to see big grandaddy and visit with him!

last stop of the day, mamaw and pawpaw's house! this is the big shabang!! there's always tons of family there, cousins, aunts, uncles, more cousins... love it! we always hang out and have fun for a while. then we eat the best dinner ever until we are so stuffed we can hardly move! after dinner, pawpaw gathers us around and passes out the christmas story, along with some commentary he wrote. we take turns reading the different passages from the bible. it's a great way to celebrate the birth of christ with the whole family, and remember what the reason of christmas really is!

all the kiddos stay in there while we are reading... some even took turns helping to read this year! so sweet! the younger ones... well they did whatever they could to entertain themselves, and those of us watching them! :)

after the christmas story and prayer, it's always time for presents! we go to the den, where it's pure and utter chaos!!

nate helped pass out the presents! i love the pic of mamaw with hers all stacked up in her lap!!

AND... i love the pic of me and page... LOVE LOVE LOVE it! so festive with my red shirt and her green one! ha!

these last pictures are so special. i am so glad that i took time for the boys to get pictures with mamaw. how sweet are they? notice the sword and ET in the first pic... i mean, how can you miss them!?

and the second one is just PRECIOUS!! we love you mamaw and pawpaw... so thankful to be part of the family.

the last christmas celebration was the day after christmas! we went to meme's for christmas with the renfroes! we ate a delicious lunch, then the little kids got to open their presents! the boys got more transformers, batman cars, and playdough pizza makers! fun stuff! :) then the adults played dirty santa... where scarves were def the gift of the day!

love our family!

best we could get of the boys... but hey. i'll take it!

*neverstoptrying

we decided to take a pic with all the girl cousins!

from left to right: me, alexandra, caroline, rach, and shannon

oh, i almost forgot. it was also a big day for caden... he lost his FIRST tooth! :)

you can tell... he's pretty excited!

what a fabulous time full of fun, food, and fellowship with family! :)

christmas morning!!

2012-01-04T16:22:00.000-06:00


the boys looking through their stockings! trace woke up at 5 am, but we made him go back to sleep :) at 6:30, when both boys were standing by the bed yelling that santa had come, we decided to get up!

lucas was SO funny... he KISSED each of his gifts! :-) trace loved his thundercats castle... and daddy got a new coffee mug with the boys handprints on it. actually... truth be told, we were at a pottery party, and trace went first. he did his cute little green handprints, but then lucas REFUSED to even have his hand painted. i had already gotten trace to do his, so i couldn't leave a big empty space... so what's a mama to do? grab the closest kid with a similar size hand, paint it blue, get the handprint, and then write lucas, 2 yrs beside the cute little hand! ;o) thank you sweet isabella for filling in!! of course, lucas didn't surprise me.. he's so stubborn i wasn't a bit surprised! i however, surprised myself, by not having a come apart or beating him! haha. i've learned to choose my battles... and handprints were not worth it! plus, we will forever remember these pieces of pottery! :))

SO.... this was the best gift for lucas... an ET plush doll. i know, i know, it's crazy wierd that my 2 yr old loves ET like he does... but he saw parts of the movie at bitsy and poppi's and became OBSESSED! above is the picture when he opened it! just makes my heart happy to see his sweet face with such a big smile!

i mean... look how happy he is! i just LOVE these pics with his facial expressions!

for trace, this was the THUNDERCAT christmas. i didn't realize how important the SWORD of OMENS is... but apparently... this sweet 4 yr old boy could have gotten NOTHING else for christmas and been very happy and content!!

the minute he realized what he had opened, he was so excited! he learned out how to flip out the side parts, and how to make the sword long and how to make it say "thundercats HO!" and "give me sight beyond sight." stuff mama still can't figure out! ha. boys... and their swords!!

and... THIS is what mama got!! nate picked 2 of my favorite pics from our recent family photos, and drew them. he did something different this time. he's been drawing for over 7 years, and has drawn close to 100 portraits, and he has always drawn in just black and white. this time, he decided to take a chance and color the eyes with colored pencils... ohmygosh i LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE them!! nothing more special than a handmade heartfelt drawing by my incredibly blessed and amazingly talented husband of my sweet and beautiful boys! (that's a lot of adjectives!)

it didn't take us too long to open and clean up presents. it's a good thing, b/c christmas morning was just the beginning of a super long day! first stop: church. so... we got ready and loaded in the van, and off to church we went... with ET and the sword of omens in hand of course. no really... i'm serious! #momofboys

santa clause is coming...

2012-01-02T16:00:00.000-06:00

oh.... you better watch out,

you better not cry,

you better not pout,

i'm telling you why...

SANTA CLAUSE IS COMING... TO TOWN!

he's making a list,

and checkin' it twice,

gonna find out who's naughty or nice...

SANTA CLAUSE IS COMING... TO TOWN!

he sees you when you're sleepin,

he knows when you're awake...

he knows if you've been bad or good,

so be GOOD for goodness sake!

what a L O N G day for everyone... we left the house at 8:45 christmas eve morning, and got home about 6:30 that nite! we unloaded the thousands of gifts we opened earlier in the day and tried to semi organize them! they played for a little while and then, we made yummy cookies for santa! after that, they joined daddy in watching his ALL TIME fav christmas movie: a christmas story! (i have no idea why, but i hate that movie. every part of it gets on my nerves!) notice the pic where lucas has a blanky on his back like a cape, and trace is zoned out. yep, they are watching a christmas story with daddy! then, it was bedime! right before bed, we started a new christmas tradition. meme bought the boys a book that tells the (real) christmas story, and she read the story and recorded herself. the boys LOVED it... all they had to do was turn the page, and meme started reading! so above is a pic of nate and the boys right before bedtime. super sweet!!

i know the kids were so excited about santa coming... usually they talk and play for at least an hour once we put them to bed... but we told them santa wouldn't come until they were asleep, and that did the trick!! :)

shortly after, mama went to bed... knowing the boys, particularly trace, would be up at the butt crack of dawn christmas morning!! (she was right...)

fun at meme and g-daddy's

2012-01-02T15:55:00.000-06:00

after chrismas eve brunch at bitsy and poppi's, we headed to meme and g-daddy's house for more food, and more fun! :) we tried to put the kids down for a quick nap.. ends up mason and lucas were the only ones who fell asleep, but they were the ones that needed it most! :) we had steaks and baked potatoes for a late lunch.. oh my. they were DELISH!! grandaddy is the master of the grill! of course after the kids had their short rest, they were WIRED! they barely ate and they probly asked us 85 times when we would be done eating so they could open presents! anxious much? they make it all so fun though... i so love the excitement of the kiddos!! :)

we tried several times to get a good pics of the kiddos... yeah, it's so much harder than it sounds. or looks!! i still love them though, and we will never stop trying! :))

they were pumped up about presents, and there's a good reason for that. probably b/c meme and g-daddy spoil them like crazy!!!!! not complaining, jus sayin! ;o)

the kids racked up! this was the barbie christmas for the girls! and unfortunately, the boys liked playing with them too! ha. mason and lucas were loving some CARS2 tracks, remote control cars, and guns! the big boys got nerf footballs, tons of thundercat stuff for trace, and caden got his big boy toys! :) and sweet t... well he just got the cutest clothes ever, and some fun new toys. the kids were going banana sandwich opening their gifts! they oohed and ahhed over everything!

we usually go to a family christmas eve communion service at church. this year it was just a come and go service, and so we decided to do our own family communion at the house of hebrew (aka grandaddy's house!) ha. it was super sweet... i loved seeing grandaddy lead it and hearing him explain what it's all about, and he was able to talk on the kids level where at least the big kids understood it. it was just a really cool thing to do with our family. after we had all taken communion, we each prayed with our individual families. since trace recently accepted christ, it made it even more special.

we had a super fun day... long day but so fun! def wouldn't trade our family and the special times we get to spend together for a million bucks!

we tried again to get a good shot of the 7 kiddos... and i def think this one is good! :)

from left to right- caden (5) kenley (5) trace (almost 5)

timothy (1) laura grace (4) lucas (almost 3) mason (almost 3)

and we finally were able to take another group picture.. i love this!

hope your christmas and time with family was as blessed as ours!

the 12 days of christmas...

2011-12-30T14:09:00.000-06:00

we usually have christmas morning brunch at mom and dad's... but since christmas was on a sunday, and noone had to work on christmas eve, we started the festivites early! like always, we had a ton of fun! we ate too much, opened awesome presents, laughed a lot, cried a little, and took a lot of pictures. it was another blessed christmas celebration for sure!

to sum it all up... here's my version of the 12 days of christmas! sing along, it sounds better that way. let's start at the end of the song so this blog doesn't bore you all to death! :)

on the twenty fourth day of december, we had at bitsy and poppi's...

12 breakfast choices,

11 funky stockings,

10 kung fu zhu zhu pets,

9 princess barbies,

8 monster trucks,

7 beaded bracelets,

6 handmade scarves,

5 SPOILED GRANDKIDS,

4 tired parents,

3 cups of coffee,

2 awesome grandparents,

and some xanex to keep us all sane! ;o)

*you think i'm kidding about that last part?!? not so much! ha.

we really did have a great time... there were some sweet homemade gifts this year...

chex mix, scarves, quilts, drawings, calendars, photo blocks and more!

when we were through opening all the gifts under the tree, bitsy and poppi told us there was one last surprise- outside!! we went to poppi's garage and saw THESE fun toys!! 2 scooters , 2 fun riding toys, and a skateboard!!

the kids had fun trying them out... and nae nae and josh got in on the fun too! :)

luckily, noone was injured!

we love you bitsy, poppi, and nana! we are so blessed to have such a loving family. i can not imagine not having family close by to celebrate the holidays with. thank you for all the delicious food, fun gifts, and most of all, sweet memories! <3

best nite ever!

2011-12-29T23:45:00.000-06:00

so i will cut to the chase and tell you why wed nite, dec 7, 2011 was the best nite ever... my sweet trace carter prayed to receive christ! PRAISE THE LORD!!!!! we were on the way home from church... and i always try and ask the kiddos what they learn at awana's. i usually don't get much of an answer from lucas, but trace is good to tell me all about what they did and learned! so this is what i gathered from trace... their lessons was a christmas illustration where several things were wrapped in boxes. ( mary/joseph, baby jesus, wisemen... ) and trace got to open the "special" box. it had a mirror in it... and when you look into the mirror, you see that jesus wants to be your gift.. he wants to come live in your heart. so keep in mind, it's dark, i'm driving, and trace was telling me all this. so when he told me that jesus wants to live in your heart, i did what most mamas would do at this time, and asked him if he had ever prayed and asked jesus into his heart.. well he said no. so i asked did he want to... and he said YES. remember, i'm driving down the road. never expected my "what did you learn at church tonite question" to turn into this discussion!! so we were about 2 miles from home, and i was trying to stall so i could really have a deep conversation with him. but without my prompting, trace said- jesus, come into my heart!! then he said it again- jesus, come into my heart! he waited a few seconds, looked around, and said- he's not coming, mom. then, i hear him say, JESUS, come into my heart, or i'm gonna KICK YOU IN THE FACE! oh my word... did my child just say that?! is it even possible to ask jesus in your heart in one sentence then tell him you are gonna kick him in the face the next? so for the next 2 minutes, we talked about how you never tell anyone you are gonna kick them, ESP jesus!! anyways. we get home... (sidenote: nate had just gotten in from being out of town for a 3 day business trip. we were so excited to see daddy's truck in the driveway!) we walk in and bless him, nate was doing the dishes! :) i asked trace to tell daddy what he told me in the car. trace told nate about the boxes, the mirror, etc... and nate also asked if he had ever prayed that prayer... again, trace said no.. so nate asked him the same thing i asked- did he want to pray and ask jesus in his heart. and again, he said YES... but this time, there was no talk of kicking anyone in the face. ;o) we all went to the boys room. lucas sat in my lap, and trace sat in nate's. nate talked to trace, asked him some questions, and we knew he was very serious about his decision. he prayed to receive christ and it was the sweetest thing. i was crying my eyes out by time it was over. (another sidenote: since nate had been gone, it had been the worst week. the kids were awful, work was very stressful, my parents were sick so i had to find another sitter... just so much and i was close to not even going to church wed nite. it's so funny how god's timing is perfect.) anyways, trace praying to receive christ that nite was the best news ever, ESP after such a crappy few days. :-) so after we cried and hugged and prayed and cried some more, trace called bitsy and poppi to tell them the good news. it was so sweet. trace told them what had happened, and i could just hear mom and dad crying on the other end of the phone! the same for meme when he called her. it was so sweet. then he called aunt nae nae and uncle josh. i will never ever forget that moment of being so proud and happy for my baby! it was close to 9pm after trace made his special phone calls to tell family the awesome news, and i told trace that the angels in heaven were having a party for him! so of course, if the angels are partying, we need to party too!! we broke out the chocolate milk, christmas tree snack cakes and rice crispy treats, and had our own little celebration! :) i am so thankful for our church and all the people that make awanas possible. it truly means so much to me, knowing that trace has learned so much about jesus in sunday school, children's church, cbs, and awanas. it's such a blessing to see how god is moving!! i love love love that my baby boy (he is 4, will be 5 in march) made the best and most important decision of his lifetime at such an early age. we pray for him daily, and ask god to continue to speak to his little heart and draw him close. trace is so tender-hearted and has such a sweet sweet spirit. i look forward to helping him learn more about christ, and i also now look forward to the day when lucas will ask jesus to come in his heart! with christmas being just a few weeks away, this truly was an AMAZING gift!!

thank you god, for saving my sweet baby boy, and for the promise that you will never leave him. that you will always be there to guide him, and one day he will spend eternity with you in heaven!!! thank you for trusting me and nate to be his parents. forgive us when we fail you, and when we fail trace. help us always seek you as we raise him! in jesus' name, AMEN!

best friends...

2011-12-29T11:31:00.000-06:00

nate and rob are best friends...

just makes perfect sense that trace, lucas, and jack are bff's too! :)

fun with footballs, swords, guns and more.

yep... they are def ALL BOY!!

i'm sure you have noticed that jack is rob's mini me... and trace and lucas are nate's... what's fair about this?? amy and i did all the work... carried these boys for 9 months, went thru labor and everything... just for them to come out and look exactly like their dads. hmmmm.

least their daddies are pretty cute! ;o)

thankful for good friends! we don't get together as often as we like... but when we do, it's always fun! lots of loud laughter heard through out the house, from the kiddos and the adults! life is def best with good friends by your side! :)

most favorite...

2011-12-29T11:22:00.000-06:00

i love christmas!

everything about it... from trees to nativites...

to cute little boys in matching pjs...

endless photo shoots in front of the tree...

wreaths and stockings...

dressing my boys in handsome "little man" clothes...

super sweet smiles...

now you see why...

christmas is definitely my most favorite time of the year!! :))

Thanksgiving CRUISE!

2011-12-29T10:50:00.000-06:00

BON VOYAGE!!!

this is inside our cabin... having never been on a cruise before, i guess in my mind i thought the room was gonna be tiny. so i was surprised and happy with the space and set up. still small, but bigger than i expected! :) the kids loved their bunkbeds that hid in the walls! and i did too, until poor luc fell off in the middle of the night! :/ we even had him sleep above our bed, in case anything were to happen. wouldn't you know... when he rolled off, he went right down the ladder! scared me to death, but he was in such a dead sleep he didn't really know what happened! he snuggled b/w me and nate in our bed the rest of that nite.. then we made sure to use plenty of pillows around him the following nites! :) do you see all of those pillows? oh my, that was the most comfiest bed ever!!!!!!!

loved the towel art! one morning the daddies even tok the kids to a class on how to make these cool creations! they made a turkey on thanksgiving that was so cool... and on saturday nite, after BAMA won the iron bowl... we had the cutest elephant on our bed! i added the bama tatoo ;) one nite bitsy and poppi had a swinging monkey in their room! our guys name was rodolpho, and he was so sweet. he took good care of us, and loved playing with the boys. he was the nicest little guy!

fun exploring the ship!

the kids loved running around everywhere... not sure the other cruise goers loved them... but oh well :) from the crazy ninja to the beauty on the stairs, they had a blast wherever they went, whatever they were doing!

sleeping on the bench, and fishing!! boys will be boys!

MeXiCo! :) nate and i explored the city first and purchased lots of souveniers. the weather was PERFECT this day! we went to mexico on our honeymoon, the rivera, about 30 miles from cancun. but we never saw this type set up. actually, i was told that this little port city in cozumel was just set up for tourists from the cruise... but we stil had fun looking at everything, and buying lots of goodies for the kiddos and friends back home!

the market

sweet t was not only the cutest thing on the ship, but off the ship as well! hola bebe :)

the boys had been so excited about mexico.. when we go eat at a mexican restaurant back home, they say we are going to mexico. so they loved that this time, we really WERE in mexico for real! :)

the elation and all it's beauty. the kids went to camp carnival during the day... and there, they learned about a fun guy named freddy who lives in the red tail of the ship. they kept begging to go to freddy's house!!

possibly my fav thing about the ship was icecream bars 24/7! the kids also loved it.. i bet we ate a hundred ice creams b/w the 11 of us :)) and we enjoyed every last bite! we also discovered that ice cream cones are a great snack for teething timothy! :)

more fun!

before dinner one night! love these pics of my 3 handsome boyssss!

remember freddy? yeah... this is him, the red guy on the boys shirts! and they made freddy hats too... love it! such silly and happy little boys!

as you can probably tell... we had a lot of fun at dinner every nite! i was super nervous on the nites we had the kids with us.. i wasn't expecting fine china! but we didn't break anything and only had minimal spills. 2 nites camp carnival had dinner planned for the kids, so we got to relax and enjoy a little quiet-er dinner w/out them!

this sweet boy was the center of attention wherever we were! people would stop us walking down the hall and ask if that was the always smiling baby! :) he is a charmer for sure!!! he was always hamming it up for the photographers that came around to the table each nite at dinner!! everyone LOVED this boy!!! i can see why... i mean, look at hi aunt jj. clearly he takes after me! ;o))

joseph was our server.. he was so nice. great with the kiddos... removing their 14 pieces of silverware as soon as they sat down each nite, and placing their napkins in their laps! :) he caught on to how picky i was and could guess each nite what i wanted to order... steak and baked potato! and there was an incredible mac and cheese dish that he special ordered for me 2 nights! :) yummy! the bottom left pic is some alaskan dessert that i always thought was a fish. ha! and oh my word... the right is the chocolate melting cake.. it was DELISH!!! i had it every nite for dessert! shocker ;) i so wish i had some right now!!

we had a great great great greeeaatt time on our first cruise! from putt putt to hot tubs, 24 hr pizza and icecream to room service, the most comfy pillows and bedding ever, karioke shows and bingo, souveniers and mexico... we had a blast!! we will for sure go back again... but i'm thinking next time, we will go without kids! :) they really did have fun, and thanks to camp carnival, we adults were able to have more fun too! the kiddos really did love all the activities to do during the day... build a bear, coloring t-shirts, jewlry making, movie time and snacks... it was def a lifesaver for us! :) it might have been my fav part :) i would say the thing i disliked the most was the rocking of the boat!! again, my first cruise.. and most everyone had told me- you will never even know you are on a boat. uhhhh... so NOT true in our case. it never really stormed that bad, so i'm not sure why the waves were so rough, but man! i constantly took dramamine... the first morning when i woke up i felt so dizzy. nate took the kids and they explored the ship while i rested. from then on, i was better with the meds, but it was so annoying! i didn't have a sip of alcohol on the cruise, but i swear i looked drunk as i was stumbling down the halls! one nite they even had to cancel one of the shows, b/c they said it was unsafe for the performers b/c of the rocking!! but, we still had an awesome time!
thank you thank you thank you bitsy and poppi for such a fun experience! we will remember it forever, and cherish the fun times!!

hope all of you had a happy thanksgiving as well :)

ONE more sleep!!

2011-12-21T12:03:00.001-06:00

first of all... let me just go ahead and say, i've been a slacker. there... now that we've acknowledged the fact that this is only my 2nd post of december, let's get to it! and the fact that christmas is 5 days away (YIKES!) and i'm just now posting about thanksgiving. but... it's better late than never, right? well it's actually better never late, but ya know... ;o)

some of you may know that my parents blessed us by taking us on a cruise over thanksgiving!! us being- me, nate, and our 2, josh and shannon and their 3, and of course bitsy and poppi! so 6 adults and 5 kids, basically ages 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5! (lala had just turned 4 actually.) so yeah, nate and i have never been on a cruise... so we were pretty excited! didn't really know what to pack, expect, etc, but we were ready to experience it all for the first time!

we drove to new orleans the day before thanksgiving. the kids all did pretty good on the ride down... and thankfully, we all made it safely. we did have a scare, and it could have been a really bad accident but we are so blessed that it was just a minor accident. the only casualty was my wheel well, and it's probably buried a little outside of tuscaloosa! we were in the far left lane and nate was following josh... he changed lanes so we followed suit. only thing is, there was a huge 18 wheeler tire in b/w lanes and we hit it head on. it smacked our van and made such a loud noise... it scared me to death! we are so thankful for god's protection though!

anyways. we finally arrived safely in new orleans, and got settled in our hotel. the kids were wired! finally, it was only ONE MORE SLEEP until we were on that cruise ship!! when we woke up on thanksgiving, we decided to do a quick tour of part of the city. the weather was PERFECT! we wanted to be at the port early though, so we could be towards the front of the line when it came time to board, so we didn't have a lot of time to explore new orleans. we did get to drive past bourbon street... and we walked through a few nice parks. since it was early in the day, and thanksgiving at that, there wasn't the typical hustle and bustle, entertainers, painters, dancers, etc out. we did see one muscial group doin their thing, and 2 guys that were trying to sell some paintings. then, before we knew it, it was time to get on the boat!! here are some pictures from the first part of our trip! hope you enjoy them!!

on the way to new orleans...

the kids had their headsets on watching movies...

so they were actually pretty good!

exploring new orleans on thanksgiving day!

so much to see!

a few performers... the kids didn't know what to think!

we finally made it to the port! the kids were so excited..as you can see by lala and trace's faces! LOVE them! we had all sorts of snacks, cars, toys, etc, to keep the kiddos occupied til the doors opened! and for the most part, they all stayed really happy.

we lucked up and really didn't have to stand in line too long... so our plan worked to get there early and beat the crowd!! so the pictures below are some of our first glance of the ship! the kids did a little dance down the aisle with the beads and umbrellas... all loved it, except for lucas. go figure! ;o)

stay tuned for part 2...

i PROMISE (meme) it will be in the next day or so! :-)

our.crazy.beautiful.life. aka whitt family pictures of twenty eleven

2011-12-05T14:55:00.000-06:00

really... i don't have much to say...

other than page dollar rocks my face off!!

thank you thank you thank you...

thank you for making time for your cousins!

thank you for coming out to the farm.

thank you for your awesome patience and calm spirit.

thank you for your amazing ability to capture the 4 of us like you did.

thank you for being not only family, but our friend too!!

are you guys ready for these?!

may i present to you:

our.crazy.beautiful.life.

aka whitt family pictures of twenty eleven

or, as page titled her facebook album: e-i-e-i-o :))

out of 83 pictures, there wasn't one i didn't love! i did my best to pick my favorites, but that was SO hard!! so i think i narrowed it down to like 40! ;o)

i hope you enjoy them as much as we do!! :)

again... THANK YOU PAGE!!!!!

sweet sweet boys!

2011-11-29T10:40:00.000-06:00

i just can't get enough of these sweet sweet boys!

helps that they are so stinkin' cute! :-)

i.heart.my.new.camera.

2011-11-11T16:26:00.000-06:00

quick story... then i will let the pics do the talking! :)

so my birthday was last saturday, november 5. so a few weeks ago i decided i'd like a new camera for a combined birthday/christmas gift. tuesday of last week, nate picked up the kids. the minute i walked in the door... lucas said' "hey mom, my dad got you a new camera!"

so.... lucas can't keep a secret. and mama got her camera a few days early!

i had an awesome birthday... i'm blessed beyond measure!

i'm gonna enjoy my last year of my twenties!

and don't worry... there will be plenty of pics to document the next year! ;-)

i.heart.my.new.camera.

ben rector and needtobreathe

2011-11-11T10:20:00.000-06:00

my mom won nate and i tickets to see needtobreathe in concert nov 4! we were pumped! the concert was in t-town... as was the "biggest game of the century" the next day, and half of the southeast. but... despite the warnings to allow 2-3 extra hours of travel time... it only took a little over an hour to get there. we found a nice little italian place to eat, then waited for the doors to open. we finally got in and found a pretty good seat!

so we had no idea who would be opening for n2b. turns out it was a guy named ben rector and his band. and now, nate and i LOVE him! his music is really good... a lot are love songs. look him up... one of our favs is called "she is."

the lighting was dim but not too crazy while ben was singing.. so i was able to get some good pics. with my NEW camera that is! :-)

self portrait... a must.

finally... it was time for NEEDTOBREATHE! and they were awesome!!

their lighting however, was crazy. so i didn't get a ton of good shots. but it's ok. but it was just incredible to see them perform live. one of the best concerts we've ever been to for real!

at the end... they did an accoustic set that was phenominal. wow... wish we would have recorded it.

we love love loved needtobreathe before their concert... but funny how much we love them even more after seeing them. i've listened to mostly ben rector and n2b the past week!

if by some chance you haven't heard some of n2b's songs... please... go check them out! i have several favorites... but just a few of them are something beautiful, let us love, and slumber.

happy early birthday to me! it was a fantastic gift... thanks mom for your luck of ticket winning on wdjc! :) it was also a wonderful date nite for nate and i. and thanks to meme for watching the kids so we could enjoy this nite without them! :)

this def goes down in history as one of the best shows ever. only behind third day when we got engaged, jeremy camp, and my latest love, zac brown! if you happened to miss the zbb post... you can go read it here! :)

TrIcK or TrEaT

2011-11-08T10:03:00.000-06:00

this pretty much says it all! but i thought i'd add a few details of the nite as well!

we always dress up in our office... this year i found a cute ladybug costume. but these days, sadly, it's so hard to find women's costumes that don't look like they belong in a strip club. seriously! so i added leggings and a long sleeve shirt under this and made it suitable for work :)

we kept our tradition of going to josh and shannons house. we always eat chili for dinner, and it never fails, as soon as we sit down to eat... the doorbell is already ringing! so then the kids think it's time to go get candy! and so begins our adventures of trick or treating in misty pines!

i love that lucas always wants to hold my hand... it's the sweetest! shannon and caden took off and hit almost all the houses in the neighborhood! luc and i took a much slower pace! :)

most of the kids liked sitting on the porch and giving out candy as much as they did going house to house to GET candy! we had to watch them... lucas would just give like one piece each, whereas caden would give 2 handfuls of the good stuff! :)

i love love love making memories with our sweet kiddos! i always remember our fall festivals at church, growing up i know we went every single year! everyone used to dress up, even the adults!! i also remember begging my mom to go trick or treat at our neighbors house on halloween, mr and mr keith! she would make me and shannon wait til it was almost dark, then we'd run across our yard and ring the doorbell! :) i hope our kids have fun memories when they get older and think back on halloween fun.

me again :)

so.this.is.as.good.as.it.gets.

from left to right:

spiderman, fancy nancy, batman, dorothy,

lil spidey, lightening mcqueen, and the cutest little lion ever! :)

2011

superheros and fall vegetables...

2011-11-07T16:23:00.000-06:00

love my little super heros!! this year we scored super cheap (or free) costumes... i was so happy when the boys thought that spidey and batman would be cool costumes! and not to mention sooo very cute!!

the kids were *so* excited for our fall festival at church... lucas had a hard time with that name, so he called it the fall vegetable. it was adorable! :-)

libby brought connor and grace... they are really just like 2 extra whitt kids! so glad they were able to come... the kids all had a blast!

kenley was minnie and mason was lightenin' mcqueen

some kids were easier to get pics of than others... i try and keep things even.. but it's evident that doesn't always happen!

ummm... is this not THE CUTEST dorothy and lion ever?!? OMGOODNESS! i could eat them up!!!

i didn't realize that caden was spiderman too. until i saw his costume!. i love our 2 spideys!! luc didn't want the red hair.. however i thought caden rocked it!

besties!

love love love this pic of bitsy and poppi and 4 of the 5 grands! too bad the big spiderman was off saving the day...

so as ya'll saw from the vampire teeth on the last post... i'm all about having fun with the kiddos! so when gracie girl needed someone to take her up the slide, she knew her jj would!! i think she was kinda scared... but it was so fun! my screaming is probably what scared her! oops!!

i promise... only one more halloween post and then we are DONE! i'm all about costumes and festivals and pumpkin patches.. but boy am i ready for the REAL holidays!!!! :-)

pumpkins, patches, and parties oh my!

2011-10-31T16:24:00.000-05:00

*warning. tons of pics. they are cute. but there's a lot! :)

this year we went to the mathew's manor pumpkin patch...
i loved it b/c it is oh... about a mile from our house!

the kids jumped on jumpy things... rode the wagon to the pumpkin patch... and picked out the perfect pumpkins!

they were so funny... they were picky about which pumpkin they wanted! picky or not... they are so stinkin' cute!

ummm look at this sweet boy... he's so cute he gets more photos than anyone else on here! :-)

after the pumpkin patch... we made SMORES!!!! so yum! and messy.
wow... what a sticky pile of yummy goodness :))

fun times... so glad we were able to find a day that we could all go...
the tradition lives on another year!
sure wish the whitt's woulda thot to open a pumpkin patch in argo. that's all i'm gonna say...
well... read b/w the lines... we'd be R.I.C.H.

i mean... seriously. i could eat him up. one bite at a time...
just like how Sweet T is gonna eat that big ol pumpkin... one bite at a time. ha!

family picture time!

whitt party of 5

whew... glad to say we are the whitt party of FOUR!!! ;-)
love this pic of us!

so that concludes the pumpkin patch portion of this post! :)

once we have our pumpkins... we get to have our annual pumpkin party and carve them! we had a huge spread of food this year... it was delish!!

so yeah... i'm such a big kid! i bought like 12 of these vampire teeth sets for like $1.50 at walmart... they were SUCH a huge hit with the kids, that i wanted in on the action too! we tried to make funny or scary faces in the pics.. i think they are all hilarious!! :)

carvin carvin carvin

the kids (and i) painted pumpkins this year... loved it! they are some good little artists!

trace- making pumpkin soup out of the pumpkin guts. ewww!

and luc... that boy's a multitasker like his mama! riding a bike, talkin on the phone, and holding the glow stick in his mouth.

yes i know those are toxic.. i will accept my mother of the year award momentarily ;)

nana came out to see our pumpkins... and i took a chance to get the kids pics made with her!

they love their nana... and she loves them!

not sure who loves who more!!

and our fav part... when it's all said and done... lining them up.

and lighting them! :)

we have some good carvers... love all the jack-o-lanterns!

we had so so so so much fun!

this year. the halloween festivities seem to be never ending...

so stay tuned for more....

who am i kidding? not sure anyone even reads my blog. but oh well.

it's really for a family scrapbook deal anyways, to remember all the fun times. you know, since the last time i scrapbooked was when trace was 6 weeks old.

yeah, i'd say i better stick to bloggin' if i want anything recorded! :))

so handsome...

2011-10-27T16:18:00.000-05:00

sweet t

2011-10-16T12:00:00.000-05:00

can't

get

enough

him!!

lately...

2011-10-14T14:46:00.000-05:00

we've enjoyed the cooler weather

gotten new pjs

made super silly faces

colored impressive jackolanterns, including drawing the face! super proud of my tracecar for this!

had a date nite with my love at... chuy's! then coldstone!! yum!

smiled a lot

loved on daddy

wore matching shirts (shocker)

snuggled with mama while both of us were sick

loved on daddy more, from his mini me

said cheeeese!

acted like a hott mess!

and i leave you with a silly grandpa trace...

and steve erkle jr :-) did I do that?!? couldn't resist!

what have YOU been up to lately?!

swimming + slides + splash pad = summer fun

2011-10-06T08:48:00.000-05:00

we had the best time this summer staying cool. we soaked up the sun as much as possible...

at the beginning of summer, we spent lots of time in our little blow up pool at the house!

yeppp, even mama and loni got to enjoy it too :)

the kids were so spoiled by meme and gdaddy... they went to alabama adventure almost every friday! the whitt kids love some water slides!! seriously... i don't know how they did it with 7 kids... but they always had a blast. and noone ever got hurt, or lost. a few little sunburns, but hey- we'll take it!

some very generous friends from church let us swim a lot this summer. bitsy and poppi took the big kids almost weekly to mrs marsha's and mr tommy's pool. and a few weekends, mama and daddy got to take a time out from work and play as well! the kids were so brave... jumping off the diving boards and swimming in the deep end. they think they are so big!

even sweet T stayed cool! popsicles were a fun treat this summer as well :)

grandaddy got a pool for his birthday this year :) the grandkids got lots of use out of it... and again, on sunday afternoons, when the kids napped, the parents got to float around and work on our tans some too!

toward the end of summer, big springs park in springville opened their brand new splash pad! i took the kids and they loved it!! lucas was a little hesitant at first, but you can see it didn't take him long to follow trace's lead and explore the new park!

i love my water babies!! they love to play outside.. and in the heat of the summer, i can't stand to be outside, unless i'm in the water of course!

trace could have stayed forever by these fountains. LOVED it!

we will def look forward to going back to the splash pad next year!

so it's october now... i'm guessing our swimming days are over for this year.

no wait... only 49 more sleeps til our cruise... where i'm sure we will have lots of fun soaking up the sun, swimming in big pools and playing on waterslides!

#cantwait

"not me" monday!

2011-09-26T15:29:00.000-05:00

it's back....

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week. it's been a while since i've done a not me monday... but it's pretty fun. so here goes! i am not extremely sore from walking in the walk for juvenile diabetes 5k saturday... no, not me, the used to be track star! :-) i most certainly did not stop at the dreamcakes trailer to buy a cupcake for $3.50 after the said 5k. who does that?! i did not score 2 shirts for $12 at old navy... i can never find a bargain... never. i did not have a spur of the moment date saturday nite with my husband, in the parents convertible.. it was not so chilly that i wore a jacket, and had the heat on but the top and windows down so i could enjoy the starts. nope, not me! i did not hear my 4 year old tell my 2 year old "i'm gonna take a bite out of mama" to which 2 yr old replied "no you not, she's breakaful!" breakable and beautiful maybe? i will not take that as a compliment lucas! ;-) i did not join nate singing in the praise team sunday at church... and i was not nervous and self conscious at all... not me! i did not take a nap the past 2 days in a row while the kids slept. i always make the most of my time, cleaning the house and such while they nap. i would never snack on chips and cheese dip along with choc chip cookies at small group, and let that be dinner... and i most certainly did not let that be my kids dinner as well... no not me! sowhatdoyasay? what have you not been doing lately?!

l.o.v.e.

2011-09-23T15:03:00.000-05:00

legacy

2011-09-19T15:31:00.002-05:00

i want to leave a legacy

how will they remember me?

did i choose to love, did i point to you

enough to make a mark on things?

i want to leave an offering

a child of mercy and grace

who blessed your name unapologetically

and leave that kind of legacy.

not well traveled, not well read,

not well-to-do or well bred

just wanna hear instead

"well done" good and faithful one...

i want to leave a legacy...

beach trip...

2011-09-14T11:19:00.001-05:00

amazing

breezy

seashells

basking in the sun

shades

playtime with poppi

the sand

perfectection

little water babies

the waves

buckets of fun

lots of smiles

sandy feet

dumptrucks

sunrises

sunsets

dippin' dots

little monsters ;)

sea n suds

jumping waves

walks on the beach with bitsy

sand sculptures

learning to swim

reading

date nite

fearless boys

fun times with daddy

wading in the water

and lots and lots of memories

as you can see... we had a wonderful trip... it was so nice to get away from everything for a few days... just enough to hold us over til the cruise in november! :D

recap...

2011-09-08T08:09:00.002-05:00

because i have been a slacker... i decided to do a recap of the past few weeks. there are still a few posts i want to do, but for now... a recap it is.

i was able to help with the girls D-Now at church back in august when school started... it was so fun and such a blessing! love these beautiful girls!!

sweet t :) can you believe he is 10 months old? where has time gone?

my sweet boys... luc LOVES that blanky!

poor thing had swimmers ear... snuggle time with mama. and woody ;)

ummm. you can't tell here, but trace is actually using the potty. with his blanket draped over his head. wow...

M.E.S.S.

DATE NITE!!!
we went to see "the help"... awesome movie! then we went to the mexican place at the pinnacle.

leftovers from date nite... LOVE me some coldstone!!

star gazing after church last week with nate's cool app. :) love these 3 boys!

me... rockin' my new "textured elephant" shirt! get yours today at bama fever!

trace and daddy went to the drive in to see smurfs. trace says the movie was soooo good. nate wasn't as impressed.. but loved spending some quality time with trace car, who LOVED the drive in btw..

sweet boy... passed out in poppi's convertible on the way home from granny's house!
*this is the life! :)

the boys love to help me cook! we made muffins together. luc is like me, and loves the muffin mix :))

lil poser

roll tide... and don't forget.. GO NOLES! gotta support the hub's team too!
if you know me... you know i do NOT care a thing about football... but i love the food at the parties and of course, the clothing to represent nate's teams!

our storm damage... yeah, as long as your power line is wrapped up in the tree, you'll be in the dark!

we lost power at 6:30 mon nite. at 6:30 tues morning, when trying to leave for work, we discovered we were trapped by this tree! thankfully, we were able to stay at mom's. and we finally got power at 5:30 wed nite! PTL!

my love... forever and always...

2011-08-30T08:05:00.000-05:00

I want you forever, forever and always
Through the good and the bad and the ugly
We'll grow old together, and always remember
Whether happy or sad or whatever
We'll still love each other, forever and always
Forever and always, forever and always

parachute: forever and always

my boys...

2011-08-29T16:23:00.000-05:00

2011-08-15T11:23:00.000-05:00

lucas james... love this boy!

best friend and cousin- mason!

t.r.o.u.b.l.e.

fun at the park

such mischief!

trace carter, feeding the fish.

walking with poppi... love love love.

time out for some tea!

ahhhh.

trying to survive the dog days of summer!

the after-party :))

2011-08-11T09:37:00.000-05:00

(the reception)

the beautiful flowers

awww. memories from our wedding and honeymoon 7 years ago!

the ice cream sundae set-up!

tons of icecream and toppings... it was soo yummy!

and a great way to bribe the kids to be quiet during the ceremony ;)

haha. fixing our icecream. nate was excited!

our own coldstone creamery... :)

apparently i was more excited than i thought about the sundaes!

yep, we totally fed each other our first bites!

silly boy... lucas was loving his icecream!

caden enjoyed his as well!

finger lickin' good!

sweet lucas... sharing a HUGE bite with mama!! :)

sparkling grape juice for communion? yes please =)

~ picture time ~

i love him!

nate and i with joe and sharon.. so blessed by them!

me and libby... my only bridesmaid :))

so i can't tell you how much i love this picture.

even though the kids aren't looking, it's us...

the phillips family! :)

swap the parents, and add 4 more people and you have...

the whitt family!

me and libs... love her!

awww. my sweet nieces wanted a pic.

love these beautiful girls!!

and the boys... trace, lucas, and connor

(libby's son, aka my 4th nephew!)

no clue what trace is doing here... love it though!

typical lucas... super cute but lots of TROUBLE! :-)

i.love.my.family.

thanks to EVERYONE who helped make our day so special... especially my mom. things would have not have been so beautiful without all her decorations. and well, there wouldn't have been any icecream either ;)

thank you to shannon and libby for the awesome pics. i love them all.

thank you to each and everyone of you who have loved and supported nate and i. your friendship and prayers mean more to us than you will ever know.

“there is no limit to love’s forbearance,

to its trust,

its hope,

its power to endure.

LOVE

never fails.”

1 cor. 13:7-8

saying i do... 7 years later

2011-08-10T15:35:00.000-05:00

nate and i celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary,

in a very special way.

on july 17, 2011, we renewed our wedding vows.

it was a very simple, small, and intimate ceremony,

shared with close friends and family.

the lord has blessed nate and i beyond measure.

though we are far from perfect,

and of course our marriage is far from perfect,

i'd say this day was as close to perfect as it could have been.

the boys walked me down the aisle.

it was honestly one of the sweetest moments of my life.

laura story's song "blessings" was playing as i walked

toward the front of the church, where nate was waiting on me.

it was not your traditional service,

but it was exactly how we wanted it to be.

our friend, mentor, and incredible man of god, joe mayeux,

performed the ceremony.

nate and i wrote our own vows, and didn't share them,

until that day, in front of everyone.

of course it was emotional. but so sweet. we then took communion.

nate prayed for me after this. again, incredibly sweet. i cried.

we hugged, cried, and prayed some more.

simply beautiful. how god can make beauty from ashes.

i'm so happy to introduce...

the renewed and recommitted,

mr. and mrs. nate whitt!

adios honduras...

2011-08-03T12:22:00.000-05:00

a few more pics...

what a week. full of fun memories. from clinics, to truck rides, to the market...
there were so many good times.

i LOVE LOVE LOVE this pic of me and my new (dentist) friends! santos, carlos, and abdi...
i miss ya'll! OBVIOUSLY!

friday was our last day at the compound. we woke up and decided to walk into downtown el pariso. it was hot. but fun! we were able to tour the new city hall (or something..) it was beautiful. but the best part about it was- the AIR CONDITIONING! seriously... it was the first time since we had left birmingham to be in the a/c! :) then we walked back to the compound to get ready for the pastors lunch! we were able to feed close to 30 pastors and their families. also, we sent a bag full of food and things home with each of them. it was a blessing to be able to serve the pastors.

the pastors listening to sister norma while sister ortilia was cooking spaghetti!!

i already miss this beautiful place.

after we fed the pastors... we went on an adventure! :) and in typical jamie fashion, i changed everyones plans on friday! ;) kristy, janet and holli had to leave and fly out early that morning. i knew the rest of us didn't really have plans except for the pastor's lunch. backstory: so on the way home from the clinic on thursday, carlos asked if i had ever been to the canopy. of course i didn't know what he was talking about. long story short... the copan ruins (about 2 hrs away) has one of the best ziplines (canopy) in the country!! of course i had never been, but i was pretty interested! so yeah... i mentioned it to norma, chris, and lisa. they agreed we could go, and the rest is history! :) we all loaded up and drove to the copan ruins friday afternoon... where we saw the most gorgeous scenery ever! a few of us ~~risked our life~~ braved the canopy tour, while the rest went to see the ruins.

the view of the river from the mountainside

my jumpy pics... thanks SANTOS!! :-) these are my fav!!!!!

so i had to sign a waiver, basically saying i wouldn't sue anyone if something happened or i got injured. don't ya know that ~~sorta kinda~~ freaked me out ~~a lot~~!! but i signed my life away!

funny story.. on the way up to where the zipline started, we were in the back of the truck. it was me, kristen, maria jose, rocio, and nick. and the 4 zip line guides. and hey wow, they were all super scrawny looking. i was totally not convinced if something bad happened they could save me! ;) so we were joking around and singing "if i die young!" kristen translated to them and it was sooo funny! they were probably like- omg, we should have charged these crazy americans double! haha! and then i totally asked the guy if he was a christian, and if we died would i see him in heaven. he assured me he would see me there should something bad happen! ;)

so if you know me, you know #1- i'm scared of heights. #2- when i get scared, i scream. a lot. #3- at times i can be a little dramatic. jajajaja! so yeah.. that makes for one screaming crazy gringa on the ziplines! i actually had an amazing time! it was so fun.. i wish i could do it again!! how about carlos and santos said they could hear me from below. true story!! :-) they knew it was me screaming. i wonder how?!? jeje

during the canopy tour, we were as high as 350 feet high and at some places we went 35 kmph!! there were 14 different stops along the way. on 4 of them the guides went with us, but the other 10 we were on our own! :) and i will say, the guides were great, even if they could have had a little more meat on their bones. they really were stronger than they looked! ha.

it.was.so.fun.

i'm SOOO glad carlos told me about the canopy- thank you!! and now would also be a fabulous time to say THANK YOU to chris and lisa for rearranging their schedules that day.. so that i could zipline! they were in the van like all.day.long. i do wanna say i felt horrible, but in no way MADE them change their schedules :)) they were just very accommodating! ;) however, they assured me it was ok, all the while reminding me yes, it was my fault they were driving all day. haha

some pictures with our new friends before we left the compound! :( so.sad.

saturday morning we rode back down the mountain to the big city. of course i was in the awesome truck! :D we got settled that afternoon and checked into our air conditioned hotel like place, called a hostal. can you tell this southern girl loves the a/c and hates to sweat? ;o) we walked to quiznos for lunch... then we (linda, lisa, nick and i) ~~easily found~~ got lost walking to the market! but it was ok, we were just enjoying the sights! :) anywho. i decided to be brave and ask the next person i saw for directions, and praise the lord, the man spoke english! so we finally found the market! after buying ~~more souvenirs than i could fit in my carryon~~ a few things for the boys, we left the crazyridiculouslyscorching hot market!

ummmm. i totally love these pics! carlos and maria, and me and karla!

we met up with most of our group at pizza hut that nite for one last dinner. seriously, we had an incredible week. we made lots of new friendships and it really was so sad to know we wouldn't see our friends when we got up the next morning. there would be noone to say "buenos dias" to, and no bell ringing to signal our delicious breakfast was ready. no clinics to prepare for, no more bumpy truck rides. no more games of monopoly at nite, no more sharing my ipod. *sad*

BUT we had a great time at dinner and made the most of it! after tearful goodbyes, the group from argo headed back to the hostal.

i did get to see rocio the next morning at church. then norma and fares took me to the airport. i made the trip home by myself, since the others had either left friday or were driving to miami. amazingly, i got on the right flight, both in honduras and atlanta. when i landed in birmingham, i was greeted by the best sight ever... my awesome hubby, crazy boys, and my sweet parents! as sad as i was to be leaving honduras, i was ready to be back in bama. home.sweet.home.

adios honduras... see ya soon.

the boy from guatemala

2011-08-01T13:41:00.000-05:00

our last clinic was on thursday.

clinic 4: the village of el caobal

for some reason, we got a late start at this village. i remember the pharmacy was not yet set up. and when i walked into the room next door where the drs were, dr carlos was checking a little boy's heartbeat. the minute we got there, it was apparent he needed emergency care. you could tell that his breathing was so labored, and his poor tummy was going up and down so fast. they didn't really have the medicines needed, but they started by giving him a breathing treatment. the boy was 15 months old. he was screaming and fighting the mask. the next thing i knew, he went silent. i thought he had given in and fallen asleep. sadly, not the case. he was unconscious. it was like a nightmare in slow motion. before i knew it, the drs grabbed the baby up, laid him on the desk, ripped his shirt open, buttons went everywhere, and the drs started chest compressions. hands down one of the scariest things i've ever seen. i remember thinking "this baby is dying. this poor baby boy is going to die. right in front of me." i walked out of the room and went next door and i was almost in a daze. we asked people to pray. remember, it was only 2 days earlier that we had seen the very sick 40 day old stop breathing. i could barely handle it. everyone stopped what they were doing and prayed.

the precious people standing in line to see the drs started praying. and when hondurans pray, they PRAY! all together, loud, passionate, fervant. to watch and hear them pray is so humbling.
i forgot to mention this sick baby lives in a village in guatemala. his mother walked and carried her sick son 3 hours to our clinic. god is so good, and he worked all things for his glory. norma was able to drive to a nearby clinic and get strong meds for the baby. the drs worked and did all they could, and god worked through them and did the rest. the baby's fever broke and he began to slowly improve.
we have since heard that when the mother started walking back to her village, someone gave her a ride to another nearby village... where she then was able to get an ambulance to take her baby to the hospital. he was treated and is now back home in guatemala. PRAISE THE LORD!!

the people praying for the sick baby boy

sweet smiling rocio

really... i could just eat this baby up.

the dentists, and maria... hard at work.

fares... if you are reading this... i miss you SO much!
* obviously!! * :)

waiting in line to see the drs

we stopped to take photos on the way back down the mountain!

lord willin' and the creek don't rise. oh wait... it DID rise...

when we were close to el pariso, we realized all the rain had made the river flood the roads! we had to turn around and go another way. iittsshh.

thursday nite when we finally got back to the compound, we went to church. it was hot in that church building. (good thing i had taken my styrofoam plate as a fan. true story.) but hot as it was, the church services in honduras are always amazing. although the service was in spanish, you could totally feel the spirit of the lord there. german, one of our incredible translators, preached! again, not exactly sure what he was saying, but it was spirit led and spirit filled to say the least! i know that god will do amazing things in german!

ok i know it's almost been a month since our trip.. but it's so hard to write these posts. even after i write them, i'm not happy with them. words just can't describe what i experienced there.
anyways, one more post to come about the last fun days of our trip...

round two... honduras

2011-07-24T20:42:00.000-05:00

clinic 2... the village of el triunfo

another rainy, muddy, stressful, dangerous, yet BEAUTIFUL journey

the clinic was at a very small school... the doctors and the pharmacy was set up in one room, while the dentists were in another school room, way up on a muddy hill.

hence why i didn't go up there! or take pics :)

we saw around 250 patients this day.

and the one that got me the most was a 40 day old baby.

he was so so so sick. we hardly had any medicines to help him.

the doctors told the mom he was so sick he needed to go to the hospital.

the mom was scared. alone. overwhelmed.

i.cant.imagine.

she had to be convinced by most every spanish speaking person with us to come to our clinic at the compound. finally, by the grace of god, she gave in. it was a very scary truck ride home. chris was driving the truck with the mom and the baby... more than once they had to stop b/c the baby was having trouble breathing. he had a very very bad case of pneumonia, with a very high fever.

i could talk all day and nite about this poor baby. how it broke my heart that his mom didn't want to bring him to the clinic. how he was so sick and pitiful. how all i could think of was my 2 sweet boys back home. after many prayers, we got them to the compound safely. the doctors spent countless hours helping the baby. dr emmanuel, dr carlos, and dr roque, thank you for your sacrifice, and your love for your people. i am praying that god draws you close to him and continues to use your talents for his glory! thankfully the doctors were able to get sweet baby gerson stabilized. after a very long nite of power outages, he was actually doing better the next morning. i was able to see him and pray for him again before they left for the nearest hospital in santa rosa. chris drove, and took german to translate. dr. roque went too, in case there were any problems with the baby on the way.


please pray for this sweet baby. last we heard, he was still in the hospital.

the next morning, i was able to use carlos' phone and call home. i talked to the boys, and absolutely lost it. i could barely talk to them, i was crying so hard. i just kept saying i love you babies. i miss you angels.
mommy will be home soon.
all i could think about was the sick babies we had been seeing, especially herson.
my heart was breaking.
the trip was so emotional for me...

clinic 3: the village of el limon
i think we saw more than 350 patients at this clinic.
we ran out of brown paper bags, and actually had to use gallon sized ziploc bags, one per family.
now that was crazy when filling meds.


prescriptions waiting to be filled

love these awesome friends! dr carlos, me, maria jose, and dr santos

the set up... another tiny school room...

doctors and the pharmacists (7 people) in a very cramped space. but, ya do what ya gotta do!

the top pic is the drs seeing patients. then this is our pharmacy set up. liquid meds on one side... and pills/other meds in giant sized ziplock bags, huge crates, and anything else we could find to keep them semi-sorted and organized.

we were crazy busy at this clinic... i think the biggest one. the line of people never seemed to end. but, that's what we were there to do! help as many people as we could. also, dr cruz and his wife went with us to this clinic. he was very very appreciative of all that we were doing to help his people.

the CUTEST little boy ever!! look at him, so happy...even after just having a tooth pulled. i told him he was SO brave!! also, i LOVED abdi's artwork :)

iiitttsssshhhh! so while i'm being honest... i should say that i've never been a fan of going to the dentist! but these dentists were awesome! seriously... they were so kind and compassionate. so many patients came in with horrible toothaches and crazy problems. the dentists must have been super good, b/c the people didn't even make a noise or flench. even the kids... like ya'll, back home, i HATE even having my teeth cleaned. i lay there with my hands clenched and eyes closed, praying it will be over soon. and i've been known to cry while getting dental work done. just sayin. :)

anyways... obviously, these 3 guys have an amazing god-given talent. it was great to see them serving their own people. god has laid the dentists on my heart... so abdi, carlos, and santos, if ya'll are reading this, i'm praying for you! :))

dr carlos numbing up the patient.

awwww. sweet girl!

when you go to honduras, you do what you are asked to do. whether it's coral the people, give out worm medicine, translate medicine, work in the pharmacy, etc... you do it. even if you aren't "qualified." ha!

i felt privileged to work with these amazing ladies in the pharmacy. holli and i were kinda in the same boat, not very familiar with medicines! but we jumped right in and learned the system. janet has a nursing background so was more comfortable than me and holli. and of course kristy was the bomb! such a professional, even when circumstances were less than desirable. :)) i could not have picked a better group of girls to work with all week. oh, and not pictured was lisa... she took care of the liquid medicines and was under so much pressure. but she did an amazing job, and just kept on smiling! :)

stayed tuned for part three!

pics and memories... round one: honduras

2011-07-21T14:34:00.000-05:00

july 3, 2011, began my 8th trip to honduras. but it was my first trip in 5 years, so in many ways, it felt like my first trip ever. it was the first time for me to leave my husband and two small boys for more than 3 nites. and can i just say, 7 nites is a LOT longer than 3! {obviously...} it was the first time for me to fly in several years. the first time for me to go on this trip without dr. edwin leon and his family leading us. the first time for me to experience honduras through the eyes of a mother. but i can assure you, although the trip was full of firsts, it will not be my last trip! :-)

and just like i knew HE would, god took care of us... he took care of us in honduras, as well as our families back home. each.and.every.step.of.the.way. he provided for us in more ways than i can describe. his timing was perfect. each day we experienced countless blessings and many miracles.

i've been home a week and half... and tried to write this blog post several times. words just don't seem adequate. but i will try to share some of my pics and memories from honduras, 2011.

the beginning of our journey... going through immigration at the airport... interesting! 4 women + 8 HUGE checked bags + 4 carry-ons + 1 little honduran man with a cart = $5 well spent! :-) the other pictures are us, going through the toll checkpoint, and other sights among the city. young children are very common at intersections, trying to sell things. and houses like the last one are sadly, everywhere you look.

crazy hyper me :-) upon arriving in honduras!

{ i should apologize here for any words/names/villages i misspell. }

i am just a gringa, who is not very fluent in spanish. although my southern accent makes my spanglish funny, it is very limited, at best! ;o)

sunday we arrived in san pedro sula. a 15 passenger van and 4 trucks met us at the airport. we had 3 amazing honduran doctors who went with us- dr rockae, dr emmanuel, and dr carlos. we took 3 awesome dentists with us- abdi, carlos, and santos! :))) we had 4 incredible translators- german, rocio, karla, and my maria jose! :-) sweet norma led the trip, with her cute sons fares and estras. (that was totally a blessing from god... even though i left my 2 little boys at home, there were always 2 crazy sweet precious boys with us in honduras!) i can not begin to describe the close friendships i made on this trip. oh, and as always, sister ortilia and her daughter carla went with us to cook. *sidenote. oh my word... they are the best cooks EVER!! we even had HOMEMADE chocolate covered donuts one nite for dessert. true story! :) and along with all these amazing new honduran friends, we had 13 people from argo christian fellowship (k- you are included!) on our trip... 9 women and only 4 men! but no worries, the men pulled their weight no doubt!*another sidenote... if i forget to mention someone, i am SO SO sorry... i have no brain. and i still have not caught up on my sleep! :)

we drove about 2.5 hours into el parisio, where we always stay at the same place... it's called the compound. there's a bunkhouse for the guys, and a separate house for the women. then the newest addition is a kitchen. also the clinic that we started building in 2001 is located there. it's in use daily, and that is an amazing thing to see. sometimes we go to honduras thinking "i am only there a week, what good can i do?" but god is good and has allowed us to see so many projects completed and lives being changed.

~not to us, lord, but to your name be the glory!!~

as i said before, it was my first trip in 5 years. i forgot how bumpy the dirt roads were.. how HOT it gets in that tiny bedroom with no air, 3 sets of bunkbeds, and 6 crazy women... how hard it is to function with out a cell phone or internet (just being honest friends!) how stinky the bathroom is with no fans or circulation when you can't flush the tp (sorry for the details, just sayin..) how COLD the cold showers really are! ;-) but, for the few "negative" aspects of the trip, there are a million more awesome ones!! and really, it's not that i'm being negative. it's just a different world over there. culture shock, if you will. but, it's all part of the experience... and i wouldn't change a thing. ok, maybe i'd prefer hot showers... ;o)

anyways, sunday nite we got settled in, and tried to prepare for the first clinic we would hold on monday. that meant sorting, counting, labeling, and packing LOTS of medicines for the pharmacy. also filling backpacks with water bottles, bug spray, and go-girls (if ya dont know, it's probably best! haha) and "fixing" (a good ol southern word for ya!) sack lunches and snacks! we also had nightly devos, led by ken and john. great job guys... it's still a good thing to think about the question "how did you see jesus today?"

the road less traveled... seriously. lots of rain meant muddy roads. including a van that got stuck. and let me remind ya'll... before we left the compound early monday morning i said "i hope you guys are strong... and can push the van when it gets stuck!" jajaja. and get stuck it did!! it's ok, we parked it on the side of the mountain and hiked up the hill, then hopped in the back of the pick up trucks! def some scary rides on the way to the villages... but always good times in the "AWESOME" truck! ;o)

indescribable.

grandaddy and nick... riding in the back of the truck.. in the rain. what troopers!

monday, july 4.
our first clinic.
the village of santa cruz.

our lovely doctors, getting ready to see the patients.
i can not imagine how hard it was to see patients in the crowded little church. we had 3 doctors on one side, evangalism going on across from them, and the makeshift pharmacy set up on the stage. and more hondurans than you could count weaving in and out, being herded like cows! but the doctors were great. despite a few language barriers and messy handwriting (DR EMMANUEL) things went pretty smooth! :-)
as i said in the earlier post, we saw close to 1200 patients at 4 clinics. AMAZING!!

some of the precious people would walk for miles, then stand in line for hours at our clinic. first they would get worm medicine and a paper bag with their name and age. then they would sit and hear the gospel being shared. german and john did an incredible job... god used them each and every day... and we saw several accept christ as their savior, and some rededicate their lives to christ as well. i know the medicines that we give the people are important, but even more important is sharing the word of god. i feel like if we did not share god's word and love with the people, we would not be fulfilling our purpose of the trip. so after the patients hear the gospel, they see the doctor by family. the dr writes their prescriptions on their bag, then they give it to the pharmacy. we, the pharmacy techs, (me, janet, holli, kristy) would fill the prescriptions. then the REAL pharmacist, kristy, would check each and every bag to make sure everything was correct. ya'll... that is a HARD job. let me tell you!!! i don't think kristy ever took a break until the last patient had his/her medicine. that girl is a SAINT! after each bag was filled and checked, the translators would explain to each patient how to take their meds. above, rocio is explaining the meds to the people. that is also not a very easy job! but again, everyone did their job, with smiling faces! we had an amazing team, and def could not have done it without our translators!

fat babies are better! :-) *pic courtesy of kristen bruce willis*

the kids are beautiful. their eyes, their smiles, their hearts. i love everything about them.

and the scenery is unbelievable as well.

i love to sit back and think about how AWESOME my god is... he spoke the world into existence in just 6 days. look at his beauty.

it is amazing. matchless. glorious.

simply.gorgeous.

the dentists hard at work!! these guys were awesome. they were totally out of their element, as far as not being in a dentist office... but they made do with what they had. abdi (in green scrubs) and carlos (in blue) were extracting teeth in the top pic. and santos (in maroon) was giving a shot to numb this lady before he extracted her tooth. nick watwood was their assistant... and i have to say, he did a great job. :) they all did... honestly, i could barely stand to take pics of the dentists while they were pulling teeth. that is just so not my calling! ;o) OBVIOUSLY. actually, i'm pretty sure they would say i eat too much candy to be a dentist. jajajaja! again, these guys were amazing. their working conditions were crazy. as you can see, they are OUTSIDE pulling teeth. i mean... seriously! bending over, standing up all day, each day, to help these people in need. but i never heard them complain... and they were always happy. :))

clinic one = success.

crazy.

busy.

hot.

chaotic.
amazing.

exhausting.

but.so.rewarding.

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.' " matthew 25:40

honduras... 2011

2011-07-16T16:47:00.000-05:00

honduras 2011.

amazing.

incredible.

huge success.

good times.

4 medical clinics.

3 doctors.

saw close to 1200 patients.

3 dentists.

saw close to 200 patients.

extracted 300ish teeth.

god is good.

more to come...

OBVIOUSLY! ;-)

4 more sleeps...

2011-06-29T08:06:00.001-05:00

and i will be on a plane...

headed here.

to minister to these adorable, precious, beautiful,

appreciative, sweet,

(did i say beautiful?)

hondurans.

i.can.not.wait.
(i will be gone july 3-10. prayers are appreicated! thanks friends!)

save the dentist drama...

2011-06-24T16:17:00.000-05:00

for someone other than yo mama! :)

nate and i took the boys to the dentist to have their teeth cleaned yesterday. if you remember, trace had a tooth pulled when he was barely 2, and he loves the dentist now. really, he always has! most every visit has gone pretty smooth. however, i knew this wouldn't be the case with lucas and his first visit. trace did soooo good. he laid on the chair by himself, watched tv on the ceiling, just chilled. he even went with the hygienist to get xrays, and was such a big boy! actually, nate and i were so busy with lucas, i didn't even realize trace had left until he came back in!!

the big boy!!

so proud of him!!

anywho.. yeah. luc screamed the whole.entire.time, and ~~clung to me like a spider monkey~~ held tightly to mama. poor thing. i wish so bad i could have convinced him it wouldn't hurt, i would never let anyone hurt him. i wanted to take away his fear, but i couldn't. so instead, i took a pic. and nate videoed the dentist drama! ;o)

the not so big boy!

we use dr massey at trussville pediatric denistry and we love him. he really is awesome, and so is the whole staff there. it's so kid friendly. the parents can go back with the kids, and some place don't allow that. so hopefully we can convince lucas of how nice they are when we go back again in 6 months! btw, both boys teeth looked great. no cavities or problems. hooray!! and of course they didn't leave empty handed... luc had a new tshirt, and both boys got cool new toothbrushes, floss picks, and of course, a toy! they picked these tiny little ninjas that i pulled out of luc's mouth no less than 87 times last nite. i think we ~~conveniently~~ lost it at bedtime. ~~yay!~~ darn.

warning: i did not know nate was filming. i was trying to calm lucas, and at the very end i looked at nate, and said- oh my gosh, please tell me you are not vidoeing this! so the answer was yes. and now i'm sharing it with the world wide web. are we the worst parents ever? :) please don't call DHR on us friends. i promise, we were JUST getting his teeth cleaned!

contrary to popular belief... ~~lucas grew up and became a dentist.~~ they all lived happily ever after. ;)

c.o.u.s.i.n.s.

2011-06-22T13:55:00.000-05:00

first of all, credit goes to shannon for taking this first pic. look at Sweet T.... ohmygoodnessgracious!! i could just EAT this boy up. i will take credit for the cute outfit tho... jj loves to buy that boy clothes! :)) timothy is 8 months old now, can you believe it? soon i will do a whole post on this little cutie! seriously... he is so sweet. he brightens my day!!! can't get enough of him. and he seems to have that effect of everyone!

and thanks to meme for taking the rest of these adorable pics! i don't know how she does it... but i totally love all of them and had to share!!

2 1/2 years old...

and although they look like angels here...

they are in the terrible twos no doubt. at least lucas is... i'll let rach speak for mason. ha!

and the two big boys... caden is 5 now and trace is 4. they are the best of friends!!

and don't forget the ~~drama queens~~ sweet girls! they are great helpers and little mamas... always taking care of sweet t, serving lunch, cleaning, etc! love my beautiful nieces, kenley who is 4 and lala who is 3 1/2!!

and the grand finale...

all seven blessings! can you believe how big they are??

i try not to take for granted the fact that our kids are all so close. they really are more like brothers and sisters than cousins, and i LOVE that!!

god is so good to us! <3

saturday fun

2011-06-16T09:12:00.001-05:00

we finally got the kids new pool set up last weekend... and of course, they loved it!! seriously, best $25 ever spent! i can't wait to spend the next several saturdays soaking up the sun and swimming!

i mean, could they be ANY cuter? i just want to eat them up with a spoon!!

hats: check. boats: check. water guns: check. goggles: check. diving toys: check.

cute boys: CHECK CHECK!

an extra special part of the day... fun with my long lost bff!! most of you probably know that loni moved to hawaii last summer. it was soooo good to finally see her again! she came home for a visit and we got to hang out two saturdays in a row. i'm not gonna know what to do this saturday though when she's back in hawaii :( we went shopping last weekend, and had a blast at the outlets. this past saturday, she came over to enjoy our new kiddie pool. ;o)

when they kids took their nap, we took over their pool. and water guns :) i love that no matter what's going on, or how long it's been since we've seen each other, we pick right back up and have such a good time.

haha. notice our pop-ices that match our bathing suits! yes, we know. we are dorks. but supa cool dorks in tha baby pool. :)) love this girl!!

we managed to get one decent pic when the boys woke up from their naps! they had fun with aunt nini, and loved their treats she brought back from the island! (however, the toys they are holding are their goodies from disney from their cousins, not hawaii!)

wow... check out this post from last summer, right before loni moved. loni looked great then, like she always does! but i def am loving the new and improved, skinnier, longer haired me, this year vs. last year!! ha. it really was great seeing loni and hanging out with her. she was a busy little lady while in the states, acting like a politician... visiting tons of friends and kissing babies left and right!

btw... nate and i are planning a trip to visit loni and jake next may, and we are SOOO excited.

hawaii 2012, here we come!!

2 words: FIRST ROW!!!

2011-06-08T09:38:00.000-05:00

true story.

yep.

libby and i were hooked up.

with first row tix to see this guy.

zac brown?!?

ohhhh yeah. that's right!

up close.

and personal.

besties having a blast!

they.were.awesome.

yes. that is me. about 10 feet away from zac! no, i'm not naked. it just appears that way.

zbb is so talented, down to earth, amazing, and puts on an incredible show!!!

me, rockin' my new dress i bought for the concert, and of course i had to wear my boots. :))

seriously. i can not even tell you how much fun we had. or how awesome the concert was, esp from the first row! i can't wait to go back next time they are in town, or maybe close to town. road trip anyone?? :) thanks to my uncle for the hook-up, and to josh and shannon too, for swapping seats with us! my first zbb experience could not have been better!!

life lately...

2011-05-27T14:55:00.000-05:00

Life lately… has been crazy. There’s so much I want to say, but I don’t even know where to start. I will just say it’s been a super long week. Very tough at times. I’m so glad it’s Friday and a long weekend, so I don’t have to use my brain too much the next 3 days! But through the ups and downs, I have felt God’s presence and his peace. I know in the last post I shared a few songs with you, but one more that has really really really spoken to me and rang true is Strong Enough, by Matthew West.

Here are the lyrics.

You must
You must think I'm strong
To give me what I'm going through

Well, forgive me
Forgive me if I'm wrong
But this looks like more than I can do
On my own

I know I'm not strong enough to be
everything that I'm supposed to be
I give up
I'm not strong enough

Hands of mercy won't you cover me
Lord right now I'm asking you to be
Strong enough
Strong enough
For the both of us

Well, maybe
Maybe that's the point
To reach the point of giving up

Cause when I'm finally
Finally at rock bottom
Well, that's when I start looking up
And reaching out

I know I'm not strong enough to be
Everything that I'm supposed to be
I give up
I'm not stong enough
Hands of mercy won't you cover me
Lord right now I'm asking you to be
Strong enough
Strong enough

Cause I'm broken
Down to nothing
But I'm still holding on to the one thing
You are God
and you are strong
When I am weak

I can do all things
Through Christ who gives me strength
And I don't have to be
Strong enough
Strong enough

Maybe someone else needed to be reminded of these words. The awesome thing, is it’s more than lyrics to a catchy song. It’s the truth. God promises to be strong when we are weak. And for that, I am so very thankful!

and because I HATE a post with no pics, here’s a few pics from my cell phone from this past week…

eating at coldstone... my fav place for a yummy icecream treat!

the boys went fishing with poppi and they have talked about it all week. today lucas asked me- next time, you want to go fishing with us mom? :) so sweet!

trace was catching them faster than poppi could reel them in!

mama and silly lucas!

daddy and one of his mini-me's!

we went to the outlets in leeds, and forgot the stroller. quickly realized it was well worth the $4 to rent one! for the most part lucas rode in it, but of course trace wanted a turn! so watch out, wreckless driver!

dirty dirty boy! right before bathtime!

awwww. me and my tracecar! love it!!

i am soo excited for this weekend. tonite, it's date nite with the hubs. tomorrow- it's chillin, then zbb concert with lib! sunday- church at big springs park then a picnic. sunday nite- swapping baby sitting favors and letting caden lala and sweet t stay the nite. and monday- cookout at meme's then hanging with rob amy and jack! busy but fun! hope ya'll have a happy and safe memorial day!

tornado benefit relief concert

2011-05-25T15:01:00.000-05:00

again, i'm over a week late on a blog post. oops. here. look at these pics from the concert at the BJCC. it was awesome.

love love love rush of fools. hate they didn't do more songs. but they were awesome!

self photo :) love it!!

laura story... one of my most fav songs right now is by her. here's the video... watch it. seriously. it gives you something to think about.

tenth avenue north... they have some incredible songs as well. love "you are more." the lyrics are just amazing. also another video for you to watch. i really just love them!

david nasser BROUGHT THE WORD! he spoke on isaiah 41:10. it says "DO NOT FEAR" (comma). not a period. that is god's command for us. nasser said when everything else is coming at you, god still says DO NOT FEAR. even in the "you have got to be kidding me" moments, remember the COMMA. god still says do not fear. but ya know what comes after the comma... "BECAUSE I AM WITH YOU!" don't know about you, but i need that DAILY reminder. what an awesome verse.

10 So do not fear, BECAUSE I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." AMEN!

love some third day!!

i love him. with all my heart.

waiting for our fav band to come out!!! we love some third day. in case somehow you missed this post, check it out. it's kinda long, but you will def see why we love third day so much! :)

they.were.rockin.

their line up was awesome! it had some old school stuff, like i've always loved you (the song nate and i got engaged too) call my name, god of wonders, as well as some newer stuff- lift up your face, make your move, etc.

all in all, it was an awesome concert! the whole thing was just so good. i love when you go to a good concert, and there's thousands of people there, passionate about jesus! each band was rockin it out. yet there was still many times of intimate praise and worship. something about seeing that many arms raised is just incredible! the bands, speakers, artists... i give it all an A+. especially for a $10 donation for an amazing cause at the door! :) oh yeah, i think they said we raised over $104 THOUSAND dollars. in one nite. all for the tornado victims in alabama. gotta love a band who is willing to do a benefit concert on their off nite from their tour!

mother's day...

2011-05-16T17:30:00.001-05:00

nate and the boys made mother's day so special for me.

i got the sweetest cards.

the cutest pic of the boys.

a pedicure.

and tickets to see zac brown band on may 28! *so excited*

then nate made me breakfast in bed!

*guess i was too busy eating to take a pic of the food first! :)

homemade apple cinnamon pancakes, scrambled eggs, and biscuits. yummy!

i am so blessed to be the mother of trace and lucas, and the wife to nate.

also, i'm supa blessed to have the best mother and mother-in-law i could ever ask for.

sweet, giving, thoughtful, sacrificing, loving, godly women.

me, mom, and shannon at the mother's day banquet at church!

love them!

i love the pic above... and also the one below!

trying to get the boys to pose with me is about as easy as...

trying to get a pic with 2 monkeys at the zoo!

but i love them anyways!

and this pic really is comical!

love their sweet silly faces!

and trace playing with my hair ;o)

apparently my sister has what it takes to get a good pic of the boys.

here's proof!

thanks nae nae for the awesome pics...

you know i love some matchy matchy!

the one below is def gonna be made into a huge canvas soon! :)

we had a great service at church.

then... we got to go home.

and do NOTHING.

glorious mother's day if you ask me! :)

thanks for all that made it so wonderful!

SuRpRiSe!

2011-05-16T10:21:00.000-05:00

happy birthday to my sis... she's now the big THREE OH! we had a surprise party for her last weekend. i know, i'm so behind in blogging. but better late than never! i can't say that she was super surprised, but she was very appreciative! and we had a great time. so i'd say all in all, success!

here's the spread... i love parties. and party food! :)

the decorations

the cake.

we let caden, lala, and sweet t stay at the party until josh and shannon got there. the kids were so sweet and so excited to help throw the surprise party!

lotsa fun!

me and lib

me shannon and lib. love it!

lighting the cake was a huge ordeal... but most things are when i'm involved ;o)

awww me and nate

me and the bday girl :)

hope you had a great birthday shannon... and that this is the beginning of a wonderful year! :)

these should be...

2011-05-09T15:06:00.000-05:00

on awkwardfamilyphotos.com

enough.said.

easter 2011

easter 2011 recap

2011-05-03T16:28:00.000-05:00

although it was barely a week ago, it seems like easter was months ago!

saturday nite we dyed eggs with the boys... they LOVED it! both boys kept tasting the water... oops. hope it was non-toxic!

they were both so particular when decorating the eggs. lucas was hilarious and kept banging the egg on the table and cracking it! i have a video i will try and add later!

their finished dozen. they were so proud!

easter morning... looking thru their baskets. all they got was about $5 of candy. but they were happy with that! :) and we know the real reason of easter is jesus' death and ressurection... so the EB doesn't do too much at this whitt house!

a mini photo shoot before church. silly boys!! but oh so cute! *please note their NON-MATCHING outfits. :( sniff sniff. but i made up for it this past sunday and they matched :)

after a great service at church, we all went to meme's! we took a few family pics. and by few i mean like 2! :) love this one of nate and his mini-me's! i'm so blessed by my 3 boys!

i can hardly believe it, but my oldest nephew caden turned 5 on good friday! what?!? it seems like just yesterday he was staying the nite with his aunt jj and uncle dogg at 6 weeks old! those were the good ol days, when we spoiled him rotten. then, trace and lucas came along. ha! now, he's the leader of the pack, with 6 little partners in crime! ;o) happy happy birthday big boy! we love you bunches!

bucket heads, easter bunny's (omg, trace actually loved the easter bunny this year! lucas, not so much. i will have to find the pic of all 4 of us with the EB, luc was screaming bloody murder and i'm sure i was laughing hysterically) and billions of eggs. yes, billions. oh my word there were so many!!

awww. i love this pic that page took of us with silena! best cousins ever!

hunting eggs!

lucas was adorable... he kept looking in his basket. he loves some eggs in an easter basket. even this morning, he wanted to take his basket and eggs with candy in the car to meme's house. so i let him :)

we had lots of sweet family and this year, friends, join us at meme's! we loved having the oneal's and hohler's, and libby, you are now libby whitt.

jus sayin' :))

more easter fun at meme's! thanks so much for hosting easter this year... the food was amazing, the fellowship was sweet, the friends and family were awesome, the weather was beautiful, the yard looked perfect, and the eggs, well, there were a billion of them! thanks for all the sweet memories meme and grandaddy! :)

so i love this pic of me and luc! he is such a nut!! :) his smile makes me laugh everytime i see it!!

and my trace carter, he is just a heartbreaker! look at that big boy! ahhh, i love them!

i hope you and your family had a wonderful easter... i know we sure did! we are so blessed. so glad we serve a risen savior!!

taken from luke 24 "... why do you look for the living among the dead? he is not here, he has risen!!"

AMEN!!

words are inadequate...

2011-05-01T22:05:00.000-05:00

... to describe the emotions and feelings from seeing the devastation of the storms that struck alabama on april 27. seriously, i've tried to write this blog a hundred times since then. it's just so unbelievable. there's no way to make sense of it... why cities all around us were demolished, but the tornadoes passed right over us. i mean there we were, all hiding out in josh and shannon's basement, bracing for the storm. nate and i were there with the boys since we don't have a basement, along with mom, dad, nana, meme, gdaddy, and of course josh and shannon and their kids. we were as ready as we could be. we had everyone in the safest corner, 9 adults and 5 kids 5 and under, with mattresses surrounding us. and then, we prayed. for god to spare us. protect us. change the path of the storm. and as i sit here and type this, i am overwhelmed to say HE did all that we asked. as we watched james spann telling argo to take cover, the tornado suddenly broke up. it literally skipped right over us. not a bit of damage.

yep. that's how big my god is. there is no reason why this same huge tornado, that was seen 10 miles down the road in trussville, did not hit us. i mean, you just can't make sense of it. but we are so blessed. i stand amazed at god's goodness.

b/c that's just like god. he is so much bigger than this tornado. and his ways are not our ways. though we don't know why he allowed it to happen, we have to trust him. as we see the devastation all over alabama, it's hard not to wonder why? why were some places absolutely destroyed? and some spared? we don't know. but i do know we are incredibly blessed. so now is the time to step up. to be the hands and feet of christ. whether you buy water, snacks, and sunscreen for the volunteers, or give money or giftcards to victims, help with storm clean up efforts, clean out your closets and donate some of your own items, or just pray, do SOMETHING! don't sit back and wait on someone else to do it.

i am reminded of two scriptures...

the first is matthew 25:35-40...

35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ "

the other one is luke 12:48. it says "from everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded. and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked."

so in this time of heartbreak, confusion, questions and sadness, i hope you are comforted that god is still in control. and the arms that hold the universe are holing you tonite... i love this song and it is perfect for what our state is going through right now!

easter preview...

2011-04-25T14:28:00.005-05:00

girls beach trip...

2011-04-14T16:27:00.000-05:00

although the weather looked like THIS the entire trip... we still had a wonderful time at the beach! seriously, i have NEVER seen fog 24/7 at the beach. until this trip. it was the wierdest thing. no sun, no blue skies. just a gray foggy overcastness all day long. but it's true that you still get sun when it's overcast, b/c i'm looking all nice and tan... if i do say so myself! ;o)

6 girls... no kids, no husbands, no work, no house to clean, no laundry to fold... enough said!

yep. we had it made! stayed in a condo that was ridiculously awesome. went out to eat each nite. below we were at lulu's... my first time to eat there. loved it! fun environment, good band, tasty food, great friends!

then we went to flora-bama... another first for me. can't say the band was that great (if you'd even call them that...) but they were funny. in a "you can't help but laugh and wonder did they really just say what i thought they said" kind of way. :) all of us, esp libby and i, had way too much fun... taking pics of our stamped hands, fb statuses that read "get.off.the.table.jamie." and trying to pee in the pitch black porta-potties. seriously... wish i would have know they didn't have real bathrooms there. wow. this one lady was in this white frilly sundress and she musta had a little too much to drink. (shocker.) she went in and came out of every porta potty saying there was too much pee (that's the rated g version) on the seats. so a nearby ~~gentleman~~ drunk kindly offered to hold her skirt for her while she squatted. REALLY?!? yes, true story. again. wow. :) that's a whole new world to me.

so if you are new here, libby and i kinda like ourselves :o) and we like to take pics of ourselves... i mean, you can never have enough. and you know that out of all the millions of pics, you will like at least one of them :) i love this girl, and i'm so thankful we got to celebrate her birthday at the beach! you are beautiful, sweet, funny, an awesome friend, crazy, and ~~semi corruptive~~ a great influence on me. and i love you for it! :o) i will always shine the light for you, even in the ... (you know the rest. ha!)

ahhhhh. the.best.thing.ever.

saturday nite we went to eat at sea-n-suds... my all time fav! a trip to the beach is not complete until you've had fried crab claws from there! (btw, i hate seafood. with the exception of fried crab claws and fried popcorn shrimp. and i mean itty bitty popcorn shrimp, where basically you can only taste the batter and the ketchup.) i know, i'm wierd. anywho... sea-n-suds for dinner, and dippin dots for dessert! yummy!

wendi, tina, shannon, bethany, and libby... i had SUCH a great time with you awesome girls. i will never forget hello monkey lover, miss pt, what had happened was, squirrly and some change, get back in my pocket little girl, kountry with a k, and many other memories that might be better left unsaid. haha!

getting souveniers for the kiddos... and of course lib and i stopped to model some rockin kj-52 shades! ;o)

more foggy weather... i'm telling you, it was crazy! but pretty in a cloudy kinda way! :) our condo was right on the intercoastal waterway... the back patio opened up to the boat dock. so pretty, foggy or not!!

ok i have to share this pic with you... and the story that goes with it. the fat dude beside us caught a baby shark. ummm can i just say those things don't stay babies for long! anywho. he threw the shark back in the water... and then his girl friend straddles him and he starts yelling "who's your daddy? who's your daddy?" true story folks, as libby said, we couldn't make this up. guess he'd had a few too many drinks as well.

and one more of me and libby for the road... this is our sorority pose! gotta love it! :)

seriously... we had a wonderful time! i'm so thankful for the chance we had to get away from it all. i'd be lying if i said there was a big part of me that didn't wanna come home for another week or so. :) but speaking of home and things i'm thankful for, i'm also SO.VERY.THANKFUL. for my sweet husband... he kept the boys all weekend and allowed me to go on this trip with the girls. of course by sunday the boys (namely lucas) were really missing mama and a little grumpier than normal, but he said they were good for the most part! he took them shopping, to play at the park, out to eat... i mean, what an awesome daddy!! :) can't wait til our next girls trip, b/c oh yes, there will be another one. i'm thinkin' a spring and fall trip is a must! :)