Saturday Well Spent

Saturday was a Day Well Spent - it was split

between Tennis and Soccer mixed in a little Volleyball, mowing the yard

and then a birthday party!

Sam had a tennis invitational at Jasper,

the entire team did very well.

He played doubles with Reis and Luke - he won 1 and lost 2.

Again a HOT day.  I even got my umbrella out for shade...unusual for this sun loving mama!

Joe had a soccer game at noon - we made sure he stayed well hydrated!

And he scored a goal! 

Way to go, bud!

They tied 1-1 with the other team.

We headed into the gym where it was COOL and watched

Jaelyn's JV Volleyball team take home with tournament with a win!

We finished mowing the yard, Sam and I tagged teamed it!

Bits of September

Here's a few bits of September...

it has been full and fun.

Harvest came early and has been furious (from my perspective,ha). 

I have not even made it out for a ride and that is rare!  I hope to go soon!

Our deer have been back this summer and they are coming closer and closer.

A mama and two babies again this year.

I was trying to lure the farmer home by sending him a picture of the 

chicken I had made, the preteen son's face did not help my cause!

The boys have helped at the farm when they have been free from school

and activities.  He worked hard cleaning out the grain bin.

Fun memories from church.

Joe's first stomp band practice.

 We've caught a lot of Jaelyn's volleyball games.

Love watching volleyball

Caught this from Drew's snapchat, ha!

We sometimes get fun stuff at work, a nice gift from our bankers...

And sometimes we get not so nice presents...poo from our customer's horses.

Sam and I made an apple crisp.  It was delicious

even though the weather has not turned fall at all.

It is 90 again today - so hot!

Love that our aunts come to support all the Great Grands at their activities.

Watching Jaelyn and Abby play volleyball and loving on Graham.

A birthday party for Uncle Scott!  The big 50!

The start of our next Sunday School year- I am teaching 4th graders again.

This is my first time not teaching one of my kiddos!

Athletes are made in the off season!  Sam has been enjoying a couple rounds 

of golf in a fall league at Country Oaks.  He played last night, said it went ok but his drives could use some work. 

And Sam shared a song he created with us for his music class 

(the class that I ...in all of my wisdom...was certain that he would not like).

It was really good.  We lowered the last note together to bring the song to a close

and he loved the suggestion. The song had 3 parts and he said, listen mom the tenor sax is the dominate part...yep, sounds right!  I'm glad he is enjoying the class!

And on days like this I am so VERY glad we live near family we love.

Aunt Polly is helping us out tonight moving Joe around for us!  

So thankful for Grandma who took her shifts this week too,

it takes a village!

18 years strong

 18 years married.

25 years years together.

Oh, what I wouldn't tell these two.

These 18 year olds have somehow turned into 42 year olds...

it leaves me with an overall grateful feeling.

It makes a great big smile spread across my face.

It makes me so thankful for our amazing God who 

brought us together...knit us together... keeps us together.

I found a budget we created when we were seniors and partners on 

an Econ project.  We reminisced and we laughed, 

and I thought how not all days make me laugh...

but, I once had a dream of playing house with this guy in the future...

and we "play house" everyday.

  I'm grateful for that.

I'm thankful to play house with this guy

 who keeps me on a budget, 

I'm not sure how that would all look without him.

I am thankful that the memories from this day 18 years ago

are still memories that we celebrate.

And I'm thankful for a rainy day in September to celebrate with dinner at Snaps

with my guy.  No one told me when I married an accountant

that a rain in September would be essential to getting a date with my farmer

for our anniversary. 

FaceTime Across Town

These type of night made me smile.

My nieces called me from across town

and I was able to face time and see this sweet boy.

A night made.

Morgy put him in the pumpkin decoration

Graham was eating it up, but look at my ridiculous

expressions trying to get him to smile. Ha

My people, man I love them.

The GOAT Trip || Day 3

Day 3 was our final day on our GOAT trip.

It was a GOAT kind of day.

DH and I spent a long morning reading and soaking up the ocean breeze.

There was time for kite flying and kite chasing

And there was "down" time to just relax,

no electronics - boredom? GASP

No boredom here, but time for waves.

They played in the ocean for a very long time

and I joined them for a long while, the waves were strong.

We went up and enjoyed the pools - lazy river and cargo net!

The boys went up and I spent a couple more hours reading by the beach.

An afternoon well spent!

And we wrapped up our GOAT trip at Floyd's 

for some fresh seafood!

Tee Hee, my pirate!

This is after his 2nd round of all you can eat shrimp.

And we were up early on Labor Day to make the drive back home

so around 3pm this was a welcome sight!  We had a very safe drive home,

we are thankful for that.

Joe's collection of shells, love him.

And his present for his teacher, he was very careful about

which shells were included in this bottle.

And it was a short a sweet trip, and we are left with this memory.

So very worth it. I'd like to bottle them up at every.single.stage.

And for us, taking a few days away from the daily grind allows us

to connect and capture a little piece of these guys and strengthen our family!