Blog Swap and a giveaway announcement...

Do you have a blog? 

Do you want to hang out on my sidebar for a bit? Go to my Sponsor code and insert the code LOVE to get any spot for free. 

Here are the only stipulations:

1. We have to swap the same size - meaning if you want to swap a large ad, then I get large ad space on your lovely blog.

2. I have to approve your blog. If you write about things that aren't family friendly or something I don't want my readers thinking I recommend or promote then I will reject you. Sorry. 

That's it! There are only a limited number of spots, so go quickly, before they all vamoose!

Oh and the really exciting news? I am doing a giveaway on Monday, come back and enter. It's going to be AMAZING!

Vacation Food

One thing that is very important on vacation...food. 

Since it is my birthday month, I have oodles of coupons for my birthday. We lived it up on day one of our vacation

 with free food from all over. See the places we went? YUM!

We also brought our own basil for the calzones and the caprese.

Even Gracie got a little calzone!

We also had fajitas and fresh guacamole! 

(Unfortunately, we didn't eat it all, and the guacamole wasn't so fresh when we got home two days later...)

What are some staple meals you make for vacation?

Vacation to Hot Springs, Arkansas

We just got back from a quick vacation to Arkansas. 

 We stayed at a quaint little cabin in Hot Springs. 

I can't believe I didn't get a picture of the cabin! It really only would have been one picture, that cabin was VERY small. It reminded me of a hunting cabin in East Texas.

We took walks. 

 

We played games (anyone know what game this is?)

 

We looked at flowers.

 

We played in the water (we being Greg). 

I have noticed a pattern here:

At our vacay in Branson last fall...

In Seattle during our Honeymoon #3...

 

Happy Ten Month Birthday!

My Little Love,

This month, you are celebrating ten months of life. I know that in the blink of an eye, you will be celebrating ten years of life. I am flabbergasted at how time flies. 

You delight my heart, and bring so much joy to your daddy. I am amazed at how you can make even the most cranky looking people smile like the Cheshire Cat. 

You are crawling like crazy, and you got some speed on you, too! When you are on ground you don't enjoy (grass, pavement, etc), you morph into a bear crawl. You stick your little cloth diapered booty way up in the air and crawl. It makes me laugh. 

You are a smart little thing. Yesterday, you were in your walker and you tried to climb out to get into the dishwasher. I fixed it so you couldn't, then you backed up into the dishwasher so you could reach the forbidden objects. 

You are a little toot. When you are finished eating, you show me by throwing your food on the floor. It would be funny, if I wasn't the one cleaning it up! I look forward to the day you are able to help me, then you can drop food as much as you want! 

You are my sunshine. I love waking you up in the morning and rocking you to sleep each night. Life has become so much richer with you a part of it. 

We love you, little one! 

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Our growing garden

As you know, if you follow along, I started a garden a few months ago. 

Here are all our growing things: 

 Cilantro forest, it's kinda ridiculous.

 Mint in abundance

 Spinach (Popeye would be proud)

 Kale, what do I do with this??

 Corn - hey, it's a Texas thing!

 Basil, oh I can taste the pesto, now!

 Marigolds, tomatoes, squash variety, Sasquatch

Onions, I have no idea when they are ready to pick.

 Baby. My favorite! 

Marriage Myths #1

Happy Monday!

I would like to celebrate this beautiful Monday, as well as my third year anniversary, with a new series.

Welcome to MARRIAGE MYTHS!

We have all heard of those lovely and wonderful marital dreams. I bet you can think of some right now, but today, I want to talk about one particular myth in marriage.

Myth #1: Marriage will be easy.

 

This is NOT true. I think we see other couples and read stories of sweet romances and think that relationships and marriage will be simple. 

I have heard tons of girl friends enter into relationships and say, "It's just so easy."

Sister, just wait until you start showing each other who you really are. Then it ain't so easy!  

When you put two very different, very sinful people together and tell them to become best friends, lovers, soul mates, etc; there are likely to be hard times. It is inevitable. 

The great part is that marriage might be hard, but it is so worth it. Keep trudging through the hard stuff. Keep reminding yourself that it is worth it. Remind yourself of the reasons you fell in love in the first place.

 

What are your thoughts about marriage? Do you think it will be, or do you think it is easy? If not, what advice do you have to share?

My daughter's favorite things

 We are so blessed. 

We have oodles of toys for Gracie to play with. 

Mostly hand me downs, but all still good.

I wanted to do a post dedicated to Gracie's favorite things to play with, here they are in no particular order:

 Mommy's dirty slipper (I'm kinda embarrassed showing this to you)

 This random card that she found.

 Our endlessly dirty floor mat. No matter how many times I vacuum that sucker, it always seems to have treats for Gracie to munch on.

 The dog. The dog's hair. The dog's water bowl...

And her most favorite thing to play with...dirt. She plays with it, eats it and overall just thinks it is the greatest thing ever.

Here's to my little gardener. She takes after her Mimi.

What were your favorite toys as a kid?