Sarah's Baby Shower for Wesley James

My sister, Sarah, is expecting her first child in October.  Shortly after the beginning of her second trimester she had a sonogram that revealed a little boy was growing in her womb.  Sarah and Josh have decided to name their first born son, Wesley James Wiggins.  When I found out Sarah was expecting I was super excited to know that I got to hold a shower to celebrate the arrival of her first baby!  My sister has been my biggest support system in raising my boys (aside from their father of course!).  She was Trever & Tyler's first baby sitter and has done a wonderful job of being my go to girl.  You know the kind of person you can call in the middle of the night and would drop everything she was doing to help you.  She nursed my children to health several times when I needed to work.  She was there for every tear and oh my gosh's.  All the look at what he's doing and can you believe he said that's.  She has been a wonderful sister and friend.  And in some ways I really wanted my shower to be my big Thank You to her for all she has done. 

Sarah's nursery colors are tan, chocolate brown and light blue. I decided I would continue the color scheme over to her shower. My Mother In Law Connie Williams volunteered to assemble and put up the clothes line for the shower.  It came out beautifully!!!  I love how it turned out!  It added so much to the decor of the shower.

A mutual friend of Sarah & myself, Sandra Felty helped me with all of the decorations.  This is one of the centerpieces we did.  Its a clear pail filled with rocks and the letter W.  I love how the balloons pulled this centerpiece together.

Our second centerpiece was the infamous diaper cake with our twist on it.  I had ordered extras of the placematts and cut out the corner pictures then added them to the ribbon on the cake.

Here are some shots of the food spread.  My Mom, Josh's Mom, Nicole, Nathalie, Kori, Brittany and so many more contributed so much to this shower.  I most certainly couldn't have done it with out each and everyone of them.  Thank you Ladies!!!!  I know Sarah appreciates your hard work as well.

Sarah Stevenson Wiggins- soon to be mama of Wesley James Wiggins

Congratulations Sarah & Josh!  We look forward to meeting Wesley and giving him the same love and attention that you have shown our children.  There is nothing in this world better than the love of family.

Vacation 2010

I took sometime off work for a mini-vacation this summer. We tried to get in as many activities as we could in the small amount of time that I had allotted for the mini-vaca.  We spent two day at the beach house that Troy's grandparents rented, south of Ponte Vedra Beach, FL. 

Trever fished in the Atlantic Ocean with his Uncle Steve and cousin Colson.  He isn't typically an angular but he was really interested in fishing with Colson this trip.

Here are the boys taking a break from crab hunting to make silly faces for the camera.

L to R Colson, Tyler, Madyson & Dayton

Madyson had the privilege of taking a picture of me and the boys.  I know I am not one to take pictures often, but as the kids get older I let them use the camera and I get a chance to jump in a shot or two.

We packed up our gear on Monday and headed home to get a good nights rest.  We then spent Tuesday at Wild Adventures.  We seem to get lucky in picking days when the theme park has low attendance.  This is great for us because it means no lines and no waiting.  The boys get to ride all the rides they want and enjoy the water park with very little interaction with others.  I didn't take pictures of our day at the park.  I figured I have taken enough pictures of our time there this year.  It is our 4th time since we got the year passes.  : D

And Wednesday, well lets let the pictures show ya what happened on Wednesday......

I got a new washer!  My washer we got 9 years ago for our wedding DIED.  It made lots of loud noises and then kerplunk like that it was done.  I wanted to be fiscally responsible in my purchase yet wanted to take advantage of the new energy efficient technology that has hit the market since our last purchase of a washer.  This is a top loader but has all the wonderful qualities of a front loader.  It has the dual drums, the senor waited loads, and so much more!  We were able to get at $25 credit on our electric bill for simply purchasing the machine.  Over all its a great deal and I have really been pleased with how well my clothes get clean, as well as the amount of clothes I can add per load.  I can for see the laundry task not being so daunting in the future! :)

Buttontree Lane - Half Way There!

We are half way to completion on Buttontree Lane.  I say "we" like I have done something over there.  And I can honestly say that I personally have not completed any work at this property.  Troy and his crew, subs, etc deserve all of the credit.  We did sub out a good portion of the work, i.e. the roof, the pool, A/C.  We leave the experts to their fields and Troy fills in the rest! 

Paint is on the house!  The roof is replaced!

You can actually get a good picture of the backyard now.  There was a lot of work put in here with removing all the overgrown shrubbery, replacing fence panels, tilling the ground, installing 7 pallets of sod.  The slide will be removed from the pool deck before listing the house.  They aren't insurable, so it must go.

This is the kitchen.  Hard to believe, considering its condition before. Now its totally gutted and ready for tile, cabinets, etc.

Remember the Florida room wall to wall with junk?  This is it all cleaned out.  The panel walls are skimmed and ready for a coat of paint.

Here is the hallway bathroom.  The vanities have been removed, as well as the toilet and the dashing pink tub.

They guys are working hard at finishing the project.  As the days go on the budget gets closer and the ideas of what to do to the property are a flowing.  We continue to have a daily delima of where is best to spend our money and get the most return.  But overall it has been an enjoyable process... SO FAR!  Remember its not done yet!

Fourth of July, 2010

We had an amazing 4th of July this year!  It was filled with lots of things to do, but yet felt like a refreshing and relaxing weekend as well.

Saturday morning the boys and I spent the day cleaning house, while Troy worked a half day at Buttontree.  We packed up the boys and took them to spend the night with their Meme & Papa, while Troy and I attended the Daytona Coke 400.

 I was really excited to attend this race because I haven't been to a night race before.  Actually, I hadn't been to any race except for the Daytona 500 this past February, and part of that race was in the evening because of the delays due to the hole in the asphalt.  Either way we were excited to go!

This was the view from our seats of pit road. The guy stood up as soon as I took the picture! But I think its a great representation of the gathering of people and excitement at the race.

Our favorite driver, Jimmy Johnson #48, wrecked out in the final laps. This was disappointing, however, two of his team mates, Jeff Gordon #24 & Dale Earnhardt Jr #88, finished in the top 4. So we'll take the wins for the team! I really enjoyed spending the day with Troy and learning more about his new found love for NASCAR.

On Sunday we slept in until well past 10:30. We were tired. We didn't make it back to the house until close to 3 am. And let me tell you that is not a time of day I see much anymore unless I am caring for a sick child! We met our Troy's family for their first of the month family gathering and had a good time eating and fellowshiping with the family. That evening we met up with some good friends for fireworks and fun! We spent the evening catching up on what has happened since we have seen each other last and doting over how big all of our boys had gotten. Tyler got to sit on this motorcylce and was over the moon about it!

Monday, after much decision making, we decided to head out to the beach. We spent 2 hours playing in the waves and sand at Hannah Park and then headed to Meme's to take a dip in her pool! We rounded off the evening with ribs, asparagus & home fries. YUMMY! It was a perfect weekend filled with fun, family and friends.

I am so thankful for the freedom that has been given to us by the United States military and pray that each one of them was able to reflect and take time to know we appreciate them for all of their sacrifices.

Made to Love _ Toby Mac

This weeks song is:

Lyrics | Tobymac lyrics - Made To Love lyrics

"What happened to the passion that made me feel more????" "You were here before me, You were wating on me, and you said you keep me never would you leave me" LOVE THIS SONG!! Plus its a good one to rock out to!!

What's giving me motivation this week?

If you have followed my blog long enough, you know that I enjoy listening to chrisitan music and that when the song moves me enough I enjoy sharing it here!

This week as all weeks seem to be, I can't wait for FRIDAY!  I can't wait to have 2 days to spend with my family and enjoy each others company on our time using our agenda.  There are days when I wrestle with my mind to get out of bed and get the boys of to school and myself off to work.  I would much rather stay in bed and cuddle with the kiddos, popping popcorn and playing all day.  But, alas reality kicks in and I get moving on our regularly scheduled programming.  I climb in the car, drop of the kids and find comfort in cranking up the radio, opening the sunroof and cruising to work.  Today this is the song that made me want to press "repeat" and listen to all day. Ok, so all day is a bit of an exaggeration, but it really motivated me this morning.

Lyrics | Aaron Shust lyrics - My Savior My God lyrics

By the way, I have found these new widgets to bring you the lyrics and the opportunity for you to listen to the song as well!