for dog lovers only

one of bella's fave places now that she is walking is max's bed in our great room. she loves to get in it with or without him and thankfully he doesn't mind a bit~ as you can see! : ) they are great friends!

photo shoot

on saturday bella & i went to meet her cousins for a photo shoot in roswell... afterwards we had donuts and then bella & i headed back to our neck of the woods... bella fell asleep in the car so i thought i would lay her right down, since daddy was at home in the middle of a work meeting... well, no such luck! bella wanted nothing to do with going back down for a nap... so, we went out on the front porch and played and i was able to get some great pictures! for once~ i am actually pretty glad she didn't go to sleep : )

so here are the pics of our little love~

vacation pics

disclaimer~ jason & i invested in a new camera prior to this trip... we'd talked about it for a little while and then realized that it would be really beneficial for our business as well... so thanks to chris at the little green family blog, we have a nikon that we are thoroughly enjoying~ as you can see by the number of pictures we took!

fun with teenie!
sisters! (in-law)
our family on the balcony of the house
teenie & poppa
dancing with my girl

elizabeth & ella
christian & staci


the furry cousins enjoying time on the beach

bella practicing her walking with emerson at the beach

vacation

we had a wonderful time away. on july 2nd, bella & i flew to boston with marni, pepere & uncle david. the five of us drove up to waterville valley, new hampshire, where we met up with marni's extended family. it was a wonderful family reunion filled with amazing food, hiking, canoeing, biking, sleeping and a wonderful celebration of marni & pepere's 30th wedding anniversary. we celebrated with a surprise family dinner at diamond's edge north restaurant. david & i picked up a wonderful chocolate & mocha cake that we all enjoyed!

then, on july 11th, bella & i flew from boston to wilmington where jason picked us up for a week at topsail island with his family~ teenie & poppa, staci, christian, noah & emerson, jonathan & elizabeth, and our good friends, shaune & ella. the beach was beautiful~ we had great times in the waves, playing in the sand, taking walks, going for ice cream, jet skiing, of course eating and more!

and, because, of course i am biased, i have to brag on bella for a minute... she was GREAT. she slept so well while we were gone... she was so quick to adapt to her surroundings, she loved canoeing~ and even fell asleep while we were on the river, she practiced her walking, enjoyed going for a bike ride, and was awesome in the waves... jason would throw her up in the air when the waves would start to crash and she'd just laugh... she also enjoyed the fish float we bought for her... and playing in the sand was lots of fun too! sweet bella, we love you so much!! thank you for being our baby girl and blessing our life so much!!

our family

emerson, elizabeth & jonathan
teenie & bella
just precious
yet again... : )

**more pics to come**

decatur beach party

last friday night was lots of fun! the city of decatur~ where we live~ has a beach party each summer... they pour tons of sand in one of the main streets so that the kids can play, have tons of games, music and food~ including corn dogs and funnel cakes~ yum!! we walked down in the 95 + degree heat, with some of our neighbors and sweated out all the calories we ate! we all had a great time!

our sweet girl playing in the sand
mother & daughter
ilana & michele
our family

elizabeth & abby

surprise!!

so my husband rocks... yes, he does!!

i am still so amazed~ he pulled off a surprise birthday party for me!! ~with the help of a few special ladies~

let me start at the beginning... my birthday was this past monday, june 8th... i turned the big age of 27... obviously not a year ending in a zero~ so a surprise party was the last thing i expected... the night of my birthday was lots of fun~ we went out to one of my all time favorite restaurants~ wahoo... it was extra special because my parents were in town house-hunting so they joined us, as well as jane & jim~ my aunt & uncle~ who are responsible for introducing jason & me... needless to say, it was a great celebration, especially because it included my all time favorite~ bread pudding!! yum!!

so i thought that was that... thursday i received an email from shannon inviting us over for a "low-key, last minute" dinner w/ our mutual friends oliver & ashley... we emailed back and forth about time and what to bring and the plans were set. we saw them friday night too and talked about being together the next evening, etc... so saturday was a nice family day~ we spent time at the pool, took naps, did a little work and then jason insisted that we get ready... well anyone who knows us well, knows that jason is about as laid back as they get, and i am the one who says "we've got to hurry... we're going to be late"... so it was a bit strange for jason to be so concerned about us being at shannon's right on time... anyways, without thinking about it anymore, i quickly got ready, thankfully put on a cute dress : ) and we got ready to head out the door... while doing so, we got a "worried call" from becky- one of our favorite neighbors- saying that she had a leak... jason told me that we'll just stop by on our way to the scheafbauers... well, again, i didn't think anything of it... when we got to becky's i saw the biggest leak, i ever had... i started to get a bit panicked, considering our company had done a lot of remodeling at becky's home, including plumbing work... i couldn't believe there was such a huge "leak"... as i got to the end of becky's driveway, i see a group of people to my right yelling "surprise!!" and a hose to my left spraying a ton of water- i realized why i had never seen a leak that big in my life. ha!

so then the party began and i was so thrilled and so surprised by everyone's effort and involvement!! we had a great time!! we had barbeque, sangria, shrimp boil and best of all~ more bread pudding~ paula deen style~ chocolate!! yum!! thank y'all for everything!!

staying in love...

for 30 years!! yesterday, june 9, 2009, was my mom & dad's 30th wedding anniversary!! happy anniversary mom & dad!! we love you!! thank you for the amazing example you have shown us of a godly marriage!! to help them celebrate we arranged for them to vacation here.

on a similar love note, andy stanley wrapped up an AWESOME sermon series a few weeks ago. it was entitled "staying in love" (opposed to falling in love)... visit here to listen!