Amen for alarms!!

Two weeks ago...I got a phone call from my alarm company...nothing unusual because my roomie and I find plenty of ways to cause false alarms!! Considering no one had been home for almost an hour, I agreed to send the police to check it out!! I got another call from the alarm company, telling me that the police would like for me to meet them at my house because they found the door open! Awesome...im an idiot--i left the door open! The alarm company also noted that the motion detector was what was triggered...weird...oh my gosh...is their some gross animal running around rampant in my house?!?!? With much hesitation, I finally agree to meet the police at my house...even if that means I have to take 40 minutes out of my day just to shut my door or help trap some gross animal!


As I pulled into my street...Im overwhelmed with the amount of police cars, police officers, detectives, and neighbors that are around! I also laughed while thinking, "I sure do blend in with all these cars" with my grandpa car and all!! Poor me!! Ha! The feeling was quite weird though...and my newest thought was that...oh my gosh! maybe there was some electrical thing and all my neighbors alarms went off!?!? (obviously the obvious is never entering my thoughts!)


I pull in my driveway just halfway...no one is in my yard! I quickly just look at my house from the driveway and find nothing out of the ordinary with the exception that my shed doors are open! I walk towards the street to the crazy amounts of people to find out some info! It was quite clear all the neighbors and police were waiting for ME...um...that cant be good!


The first question asked of me was if I owned an orange husqvarna lawn mower...um..yeah? than I was told my house had been broken into and I need to go check it out! In disbelief, I somewhat argue that everything appears normal and than was told to take a closer look! Walking around the back and up the deck...I realize my beautiful french doors...um...are destroyed!!! Walking in through torn up flooring, broken glass, and ripped up door paneling...I take a quick look around and see nothing out of sort! I look down the hallway and am taken aback by the swarms of police men with flashlights walking all around! haha!! so crazy!! My first thoughts...praise Jesus I cleaned my house just last night...how embarrassing to have had them walking around my crazy dirty mess!! (My priorities might be a little off...haha)


Amazingly enough, it was obvious that the 'punks' never walked in my house...as soon as they had gotten the doors open, the ALARM went off and they jetted down my driveway in their truck with my lawnmower in the back (taken from my shed)...as they speedily were making their get-away, some neighbors were driving home and to avoid a head-on collision, the 'punks' swerved and out jumps my lawnmower from the back of their truck!!!! So I got it back!! haha!! Yes, it needs some repairs..but all in all...i think its awesome and hilarious how I got it back!!


Thanks to my neighbors, the men were caught within five minutes and were brought back to the scene! It broke my heart to see that 'men' and not children had done this! I was told to not expect that I would ever get my money back for my doors or lawnmower...and so maybe not through the court system, but I pray and hope and trust in the Lord who saw fit to have me purchase new french doors! I have a long list of other things that need to be replaced, but the Lord picked french doors...well alright then! haha!! And not only that, but maybe my electric bill will go down now because these new doors (that were put in the very next day-amazing!) are so awesomely more insulated than my others-haha!!


Overall, Im still kinda in disbelief that all that had happened! And for five years (well almost), I have written that $35 check to my alarm company out of obligation and just self-security...NOW I will write that $35 check with much thankfulness and gratitude!! Thank you Lord! Below are some pictures of the fun-ness I got to deal with!

Boo!


Sad day!
 

Tear!

March Madness! So far...

Only two weeks in and its been a crazy insane month!! A few events...

Hit and Run!! While waiting at a red light, I got SLAMMED into by the car behind me!! Pulling over to the left side, the woman behind me also pulls to the left side and falls in line behind me. I put my car in park and open my door...and in a flash...she jets back into traffic and presses the pedal to the metal to run away from me!! Oh no you didnt!! I quickly get back in my car (with seatbelt i promise) and chase after her...haha!! Cross three lanes of traffic, grab a pen, and jot her license plate number and car info on my hand! I pull into a parking lot and call 911 to report it! The cop arrived...she was super nice...and together we discovered that amazingly there was ZERO damage! And I just thought it was crazy because i was hit so hard!! Only the Lord!! (((Dont forget that within the last month...the car has had major cash hits to be fixed because of my accident and than my brother backing into the next day after it was fixed!!---so the thought of another fixing was just sickening!!))) I do know that it has been investigated and she has been found and blah blah!! But my job is done!! Im just sad she never gave me the opportunity to tell her it was ok and to have a great day!!

180!! Week later, on a saturday rainy morning...i was driving to Pensacola on my way to get my sweet sister for a lunch date! It was done raining, but the roads were quite wet of course. I was less than a mile away from their house...driving straight (not on a curve i swear) about 30mph, if that, and all of a sudden the car major fish tails LEFT...than RIGHT...(lifting off the ground...im trying to hold the steering wheel steady since correcting the direction myself could cause worse problems...ugh)...than i ONE-EIGHTY all the way around and am flying speedily backwards...HOW DOES A VEHICLE DRIVE BACKWARDS WHEN YOU ARE NOT IN REVERSE?!?!?!?  I am flying backwards and can see on my left side that im headed into a persons yard super close to their brick house! I scream "LORD" and slam the brake!! The car immediately stops and completely shuts down!! I am completely facing the opposite direction i was driving!! After my heart settles, I look around and realize i cannot even open my door because i am two inches from their fence and my back bumper is two inches from a huge tree and right beside it is their car!! I turn the car back on...and slowly TURN AROUND... and continue on...truly one of the most frightening things that has ever happened to me! Im so thankful to the Lord for my safety and even more thankful that the car came out of this crazy event without a scratch! wow.

On a more happy non-car note, the Lord has provided another pitching lesson for me and two more contacts that should start within the next few weeks!! Unbelievable!! Im so pumped that we are back at the fields for lessons in the hot sun and orange clay-dirt...i love outside!! And even more excited, that the man who is allowing me to use the facility has offered me to use it whenever the weather is not cooperating...the Lord is truly good!! as always!!

And crazy! I turned 28 today! So thankful for my life and the family and friends that I get to love and be loved by!! Im beyond spoiled by Jesus!!

Colorado Adventures!

So...is it too late to talk about Christmas?? Does the fact that I came home from the holidays to a tv AND a computer that no longer decide to turn on work as a good excuse?? I think so!! And no, as most ask, they were both unplugged...so no lightning struck them..just a tag-team plan by both of them to challenge my trust in the Lord all the more! But within days, a tv was given to me for FREE as i await the time to get a new one! Of course it is much smaller than mine...so i had two options...shrink my living room and put my couches two feet from the tv or squint my eyes...I chose to squint...hopefully this will not cause me to get glasses in my future! haha! And even a little while later, my sweet uncle Dan gave me his old computer! Im so thankful...now I can blog and facebook and catch back up with the world again!

So on that note...spending Christmas in Colorado was great, cold, adventurous, and tiring! Our not so small family of 6 piled into a not so big suv and drove all the way there and back!! We had the great privilege to make a couple stops on the way...St. Louis to visit my Uncle Glenn & fam AND also our long-time family friend, Shaun and his sweet family! These stops served as great time-outs from the car travel...6 tall Floyd's in a suv just dont stay sweet, patient, and calm voices for too long! haha

So why Colorado?? Well besides me, none of the Floyd kid's have seen real deal snow! Breckenridge was the home of  my precious great grandparents and so it was great to remind ourselves of many long-ago life memories (well at least introduce the other kid's to those memories)! And of course...SKI!! And whats a blog post without a funny story!!

So we all set out..for the FIRST time...we are all going to be brave and try! Matthew and Kobi decide to snowboard while the rest of us decide to ski! We hit the slopes..or rather they hit us...we are on the green (the beginner short slope)...I neither know how to turn OR stop...both necessities, but you could live with just knowledge on just one, but without either...it creates such a terrible and miserable time! Being the athlete that I am, I was not laughing, but getting angry that I could not at least get it enough to get down the hill!! All the while, Matthew and Kobi have taken quite well to snowboarding (thanks to my friend Victoria who joined us for the day and taught the boys) and went down the hill 4 or 5 times in my lacking of getting down once!! I ended up taking the ski's off, sit on them, and slide my unhappy butt down the hill--with mom and Jayci riding as well, beside me! Jayci and I decide to trade our ski's for snowboards...and so then Victoria, the boys, and us girls head to a different resort that lets you ride the slopes in the dark because they have lights!

We ride the gondola up the mountain...our first stop is actually the last stop..the very top peak of the hill (obvious sign #1 something is not right, but missed it)...absolutely beautiful--even though it is pitch dark!! Matthew and Kobi take off and Victoria stays behind to give Jay and I a few lessons!! Finally, gosh darnt, I figure it out!! I wave Victoria off to go ahead and go and Ill teach Jay and go down the slope with her! So we set off together...this slope is full of many hills and than bowls (flat surfaces between hills to slow skiers down)...but the bowls created such torture for Jay and I...because we would get stuck on them and you cannot snowboard without a hill...so the first bowl (obvious sign #2-missed again) we spend over an hour on!!! misery!! Finally the second one, i figured out how to take my foot out and treat it like a skateboard and slide my way to the next hill! I noticed that every couple hills there was a phone on the side of the slope to call in emergencies (obvious sign #3--missed yet again)! After about 3 hours on the same slope (i know i know and we are getting better, but it just takes time)...but this man in a yellow jacket comes racing down in his skis and stops to talk with us...he asks, "are you Ashley and Jayci??" WHAT?!?! He then says that my family has sent him to find us because they are worried about us and do not think we will make it down the mountain! (obvious sign #4-missed again) Thanks for the concern but PUH-LEASE!! I assured him that we are fine and to mention to the family that when he found us, we were both STANDING!! haha

Not ten minutes later a skier dragging a toboggan (he is a rescuer--obvious sign #5-starting to think now...) stops and asks us if we are ok...do we have a target on our backs or something?!?!? I told him we were fine and Jayci asks him how often he comes down the hilll..haha...we joked we might catch that ride later! And then...I ask him where we are in reference to the bottom of the slope...his answer..."almost half-way"...ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!so then I ask..how long is this thing? he answers...3 miles...after almost falling over, i laugh hysterically that my first attempt at snowboarding is down a 3mile insane slope in the dark!!! This cannot be happening!

So after another hour...Jayci is just getting so tired..and she finally calls it the quits! I flag down a rescuer (who later mentions that it only takes him 6 minutes to get down the 3mile slope-JERK) and we hop on that toboggan AND Jay and I have the highlight experience of our trip...he pulled us so fast down that hill...it was AMAZING!! I dont know why we took so long to get that FREE ride...whats wrong with us!! We enjoyed waving to all the skiers as we flew past them...haha...you dummies are still on the hill!!

The best snowboarding partner ever!

Yay for rescue-taxi's!!

The beginning of the longest day ever!!

Our view everyday! Absolutely beautiful!

Our St. Louis cousins!! Love them!

more than i asked...more than i could imagine!

So, since my last post, the Lord has increased my lessons from SEVEN girls (thats a lot!) to TWELVE!!! UH-maz-ing! Im so busy teaching these sweet little girls, that I have been able to let go some of my other random jobs! God is so good...who knew that this was the plan?!?! love it! And just when I thought it could not get any better....

For those of you who do not know, Im allergic to the cold weather. yep...its a fact! cold weather sends massive awful pain in and throughout my body...you think layers is the key? no...because after you layer up, you eventually get hot inside...leading to sweat...leading to wet-cold once you peel off some layers! also...its cold in your car...seat, steering wheel, seatbelt....cant see out the window...everything! once it finally gets warm...then its, what...oh, stuffy!!!! ugh! misery. ok, enough about my hatred for cold weather!

Anyways, I daily give my lessons at a softball park here in mobile! well, a few weeks ago, the fall season was about to end and so I was about to lose my "lights" (considering sun goes down at 5pm...really?) and tempatures were about to drop (remember, im allergic)! So...I have twelve girls, no lights, chilly weather....what do i do? I started searching my options when I had about 3 weeks left to use the fields! I called everyone and every place i could think of...all "no's".
I decided to call out the big guns...(2 weeks count down)...I told all 12 families, in faith, that I do not believe the Lord would give me 12 girls without providing a facility for the winter to teach them in. I told them that I didnt know how or what...but it was going to happen! ahhh....ok Lord, your turn!!

a week of no's...again. one day, I decided to walk into this random BIG church....I do not know a soul. walking into the church,  the Lord tells me, that they are going to tell me no, but i need to walk in anyways. so i did. i talked to several people until i finally was talking to the one i knew i was supposed to talk to. Steve was the head over their huge activity center...he told that they cannot have business being conducted on church grounds, but was very willing to help me and asked for my info. i walked out...with my expected "no" and again...Lord, please provide!!

Four days later i get an email from Steve, which was a forward of an email he had sent a member in his church, telling him about me and asking if he knew of any place or options for me. this mans response..."yes, steve...have her call me. i have a hitting facility she might be able to use." WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!!? two days later I called...anytime, however long...FULL access for FREE!!!! for FREE!!! its a huge place full of nets, mounds, softballs...everything and more than everything i would ever need!! He just gave me a key and said to use it whenever i need!! oh my gosh!!

the joy in my heart...i could not explain! it was so much fun telling all my girls and their families! and then that week later when they actually walked in for the first time, they would say, "dang, this place is SO NICE..."...and i would respond..."yes, the Lord is too sweet." because HE IS!!! He truly gave me more than i asked...and surely beyond more than i ever imagined!!

A look back...

So i have pretty much been MIA for about a year and so i thought a speedy update of what i have been up to was in order...

NOV 2009  ---  QUIT substitute teaching...decided that if I didnt, I was surely going to strangle a child...and then overall decided TEACHING was not in my future as I had originally predicted...so...on the job hunt again!!

DEC 2009  ---  Family went on a christmas cruise to Cozumel and Progresso!! We had an absolute blast dressing up for fun dinners, eating anything and everything, being HOT in the cold winter december, sleeping as we swayed side to side, taking tons of pictures, and getting excited to return to the room to see what towel-animal-creation our steward had left for us on our beds!!

Jayci and I even got a chance to parasail together for the first time!! One of my top favorite things ever--so glad i got to share that moment with her!!

JAN 2010  ---  my favorite little man turns ONE!!! Ignore the red eye, but enjoy the sweetness of how absolutely precious he is!!  Took him awhile to dive in, but he finally got the hang of it!!

FEB 2010   ---   um...not much excitement except that the SAINTS win the superbowl...who dat!!

MAR 2010  ---  Birthday month!! Kobi turned 12, Matthew turned 17, and I turned the big 27!! 

APR 2010  ---  My best friend Stephanie opens a new store here in Mobile called Polka Dot Letters!! Its a super cute store that custom designs invitations, stationary, and gifts such as cups, plates, frames, clothes, and way more!! Take a look at polkadotlettersmobile.blogspot.com...remember the store, especially for your upcoming christmas cards!!!

Also...if Stephanie has a store to run...that means I get to spend all my days with Banks aka Buster!!  We love to cuddle, watch Nemo, have picnics in the front yard, sing and scream in the car, read books, play at the park, go on dates to chick fil a, give each other kisses, eat yummy food, play hide-and-go-seek, and much more!!! Here is just a "couple" of my favorite pictures!!

Banks loves the water...even if its while washing a car with a toothbrush....put that boy to work!!

Unbelievable picture!! This is my view in my rear-view mirror as we sing  and laugh in the car!

Hot summer sun calls for popsicles!! Love them lips!!

MAY 2010  ---  The Lord continued to increase my financial need with more sweet young girls to give lessons to!! I (currently as of TODAY) have seven girls...ages 8 to 11!! The Lord has given me much favor among the west mobile and satsuma communities...im so thankful for the relationships I get to build with each of them and their parents!!

He also increased my financial need with giving me another sweet baby to watch for ten weeks named Violet!! Buster and Violet were the sweetest of friends--I was thankful to get to spend time with them both each day!! How neat is that I get to get paid to do things I LOVE...giving lessons and watching babies!!

Sweet boy...always kept "V" entertained!!

JUN 2010  ---  Matthews football camps and college visits summer traveling begins!!! We drove all over Alabama, Missisippi, and Florida!! He recieved 15 offers throughout the summer...that makes for much prayer...big decision to make by August!!

Taken during one of Matthew's breaks...
Kobi--what are you looking at?!?!?

JUL 2010  ---  So Katie (roomie and sweet friend) set out on a Saturday to a wedding of one of the epsilon girls from years ago!  We laughed hysterically all during the drive because I did some major out-of-character things...like thinking the wedding was in Pensacola for months than discovering that day it was in Fort Walton and then also thinking it was at 3pm and then being five minutes away and finding out its actually at 5!! Did I just make up the time and place?!?! Did I ever actually read the invitation?!?!?

On a sadder note...the wedding was literally on the beach shore right by a pier...MIDWAY thru the ceremony...a guy washes up to shore...half of the wedding party (must all be nurses and doctors) runs to pull him out of the water and begins cpr and yelling at him to wake up!  It was such a sureal experience...at first thinking this is insane...then the next moment trying to fight back tears...katie and I just prayed for him and his family who were nowhere near around.  He died right there in the sand surrounded by people who fought for his life but it seems he had been dead long before he drifted to shore. We found out later that he was only 18 years old and suffered from a major heart condition and was awaiting a new heart...his family and he were at the beach that day and he must have passed out or something while swimming...so sad. This is the first time I have ever experienced watching someone die in unnatural circumstances...I would be thankful if I never witness it again. But the wedding did reconviene after much mixed emotions and it was able to be a sweet and fun wedding despite!

And July marks my best friend Beckys sweet little baby girl Lily's FIRST birthday!!

AUG 2010  ---  Matthew commits to USF-University of South Florida!!! After a long and prayerful journey, the Lord led us all to a unanimous decision that Matthew was to be a BULL and nothing else!! The entire family has since filled our closets with green and gold, drove the fourteen hour there-and-back road trip many times, watch games in the Tampy Bay buccaneer stadium, learned the hand-motions and fight songs, meet many many many people, continuing building relationships with the coaches and more!! We love Skip Holtz and are so thankful and excited Matthew will be playing for him the next four years!! Matthew will graduate early from high school in december and move to Tampa this January!! Holy CRap!!!

 haha...the very cute and studly future of South Florida football!!

 

the sisters love having on-the-field access and free tickets!!

All decked out with the apparel!!  Go Bulls!!

And August begins...football season!!!! yay!! Good luck Matthew with your senior season!!! Go ones!! And War Eagle! 

 Sweet brothers talking and walking off the field together!

Number eleven baby!!!

SEPT 2010 ---  To keep me on my toes and laughing and trusting in Him...the following all happened...

     1. broken car - wrecked the back-end of my car!

     2. broken tv #1- my big screen living room tv went out!

     3. broken tv #2 - in my bedroom, my 150 pound tv fell off my desk and in my attempt to catch it (i am an idiot!), it smashed me in the face!  Result: Blood, cuts, swollen lip, and a golf-ball-sized knot covers my face!! Oh and another broken tv!

     4. broken air conditioning -  in my house!! after four days of intense hotness...the Lord gave me THREE problems with it, but financially provided for me and the entire ordeal did not even cost me a penny!!

the victims of the fallen tv = my smashed face and a busted new frame of Banks! And yes, that is frozen edamame...i held that to my swollen face for that next hour!! haha

Well there is the past year in a somewhat quickly updated way!! Hope you feel caught up!! Look forward to many more posts!!!

Ashley