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