60th Wedding Anniversary

On August 13th, my grandparents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. Their friends from Arkansas were sweet enough to make the trip as well to help celebrate.

At the party, Uncle Mike and Aunt Toni got to meet Grayson for the first time!

The honored couple! Happy 60th anniversary!

My grandparents have amazing love for each other. It is obvious that they not only still love each other after 60 years, but care about each other. They keep each other laughing, support and pray for each other. We strive to have that kind of marriage.

My Grandpa gave a "speech" about their history together. It didn't include all the details, but gave everyone an idea of the path their life has taken together. My grandparents concluded the speech with a song that they sing to each other that makes them laugh.

The decorations turned out very well!

The food was very good! My Aunt Toni and my mom put together a great party!

My grandma had made a special request for a chocolate cake with coffee icing! (The little one to the right) She split it into slivers later after the party and was nice enough to share! It was wonderful!

One Girl Retreat

I had the opportunity to help with the second annual One Girl Retreat this past Friday and Saturday at my church. Two amazing ladies in the church co-wrote a book and put together this retreat that encourages girls to find the direction that God has for their lives and realize they can change the world. This year's theme was "Think. Be. Do." This YouTube video gives insight into the idea behind the book.

My friend Mandy was on the hospitality team and asked me to help her out with food and decorations!

Of course, no event is complete without food! We had bagels donated from our favorite place, Bloomington Bagel Co. They gave us everything they didn't sell Friday and we had MORE than enough for the 200+ girls and all the volunteers and leaders for breakfast on Saturday. We also served fruit, yogurt, and fruit juices.

My friend Mandy is actually up on stage talking to the girls. She also made an awesome video talking about the brain for Claudia's segment on "Think."

They had a lot of great worship time!

Chic-fil-a was kind enough to bring lunch! All the girls loved the chicken sandwhich, chips, and brownie.

The decorations went really well. This is Mandy and her cousin, Kayla who was also recruited to the hospitality team. Kayla put together the amazing balloon arch. It turned out to be a great event!

We had another great visit from Grayson! I even got to hold him while he fought sleep and then finally gave in! What a precious face!

Grayson is so much fun! He really loves interacting with his mommy!

He gives very quick, sweet smiles!

House Update: The floor is finished in the laundry room, thanks to Craig and Uncle Bill!!! The washer and dryer are installed and working great! They are so efficient! Since purchasing the front loaders I have heard all kinds of mixed reviews. So far though, I really like using them. (As much as you can like doing laundry!)

Great visit with Grayson!

More Grayson!

I realized that I couldn't just post one picture of Grayson...so here are a few more pictures! Grayson got to meet his Great Grandma Dodie and Great Grandpa John a couple weekends ago. He definitely got a lot of love!

Uncle Craig playing with my ear!

Taking the world in a super cute farm boy outfit!

Admiring Grayson's smartness!

Great Grandparents having a chat after a diaper change!

Precious snuggle time with Grandma after supper! So sweet!

Slow progress!

Mr. almost Smiley Grayson! I get to see him this weekend!

The floors are installed! They are beautiful!


Craig has one more step before the washer and dryer can be installed in the laundry room on top of the beautiful slate floor! I made my second trip to the laundromat yesterday. There is something quite humbling about folding your underwear in public.

The quartz counters were installed on Monday. Craig is working on installing the faucet!

We picked a stainless steel under-mount sink. I think we will like it! There is still so much to do, but we are slowly making progress!

Connected!

I would just like to post tonight...just because I can! We are officially connected to the world again through internet, phone, and tv! I have more than enough bad things to say about Comcast, and you really don't want me to get started, but they finally got our services transferred to the new house!
We were also connected to the world through a brand new Bloomington Herald Times newspaper subscription for a few days. But...the paper boy has skipped our house this week, so hopefully a phone call gets that corrected soon!
I hope to be posting soon about the progress in our house. The floors are done being installed as of Tuesday at 4:00 pm! Monday the counters should arrive and we will have a kitchen! Craig is working hard on the tile in the laundry room. I have only had to make one trip to the laundromat and hope to never go back!