Happy Birthday Momma!!!!//Nana!!!XOXOXOXOXOXO

Today is My Momma's Birthday and I wanted to take this time to honor her on my blog today~~ Wow! Where do I even begin!? There is a TON to say and I am not sure where to even start! But I will start by saying Happy Two Two Momma!! I hope that you have a amazing day and that it will be filled with lots of love and a ton of blessings because that is what you are to me and my family! My Mom is my Momma and she is also My Best Friend she is My Boys Nana and she is My Husbands Other Mother.. We are so blessed to have her in our lives! I Thank God every single day for this woman! I Thank HIM for hand picking her to be My Momma.. I can honestly remember when I was little how she would hug me and tell me that she loved me, I remember her telling me I could be anything I wanted to be, I just had to do to my best, I remember her laying with me when I was sick, I remember her sitting outside watching me ride my bike and roller skate..I remember when I was about 6 years old, I was so excited that it was her birthday and me and my friend snuck off, there was a field behind our house and then there was a IGA grocery store, we took 100 pennies and bought her a birthday cake and it had to have yellow roses on it because that is her favorite flower( or so I thought:)I just remember I wanted to have a party for her because she always made sure I had a pretty cake with flowers on it and always made sure I had a party!!We moved quite a bit while I was growing up and I will always remember my mom always made sure that we were happy and that we made friends.. After I became a teen, I was very rebellious and just loved to make her mad,, I guess it was being the age and thinking I was grown and I knew it all, I am really surprised that she did not kill me because I think back and think how blessed I am that she did not give up on me and that she continued to pray and pray for me and that she still loved me! Oh I can remember some times but I sure will not share those not so sweet moments that will be between me and her..haha:)After many prayers.. God really started working in my life and I realized that friends come and go and even boyfriends came and went but My MOMMA was there forever so I thought it would be best if I got all my priorities right.. Chuck and I started seriously dating right after our senior year and he just loved my mom, he saw pics of her when she was in high school and he would tell her he would have given my daddy a run for his money if he was back in their day:) My Momma was beautiful and she still is!! She always would quote to me "Beauty is as Beauty does" she always told me to be myself and never ever feel like I had to hold someones hand to make it... she told me the first quote for as long as I can remember she still does:) but the last one was when I was in high school, I remember her writing me a poem and a letter that I still have! Anyway Momma if you ever really wondered if I ever listened to you and really took what you were saying to heart YES I did and I still DO!! When Chuck and I got married my parents made sure that our wedding was beautiful and that everything I wanted they made sure I had it! My momma was at my side with all of the planning and all of the showers and just everything...My momma has always played a very important role in my life not just as a MOTHER and FRIEND but everything a Mother should be.. She has always always set a example of what a Mother should be, what a wife should be, what a friend should be!! She as set the example of what a southern lady should be and act like, she has set the example of what a daughter of Christ should be... After our boys were born, SHE was there and she was very excited, she was there when they both were born, she was there when they both came home from the hospital, she stayed with us and helped us adjust, she would cook and clean and take care of me and the baby, she even would spend the night with me and let me sleep after they were born and she would get up and take care of them the first week, I think that was when Phillip was born by the time Peyton was born I had it, I was a pro..hahaha!! She was always there and I appreciate that and will remember that forever!! When the boys were 2 and 4 we moved to St Louis, Mo and I can honestly say I was sick I missed my momma so much!!They have always helped us move into our new homes when we have moved and after they left to go home from St Louis, you seriously thought someone had died.. I missed her so much!! My Momma has always been there for me and my family and I seriously do not know what I would do without her.. Now please do not think we have this lovey dovey relationship all the time we have the Mother/ Daughter relationship just about everybody has, I am sure there are times when she wants to kill me but I know she would not trade me for the world and me either~~ Momma, Thank you for being who you are and being the best Momma and Nana that could ever be~ Thank you for always being there and loving me and doing all the things that you do.. Thank you for making sacrifices when I was little and even now! Thank you for being the christian woman that you are and Thank you for loving me like no one else in this world does! You are one in a million and we are so glad that you belong to US!! Happy Birthday Momma/Nana.. We love you more than we could ever tell you and we wish you nothing but many many blessings today and always!!

D-Now Weekend

Wow! What a amazing weekend! It was incredible and I can not say enough about it!! There are no photos with this post because of privacy reasons for other peoples children who attended this weekend retreat that I do not have the parents permission of putting their childrens photos on this internet blog.

Anyway the weekend was more than I could have ever imagined! Our church offered a retreat weekend and the title was "Pursuit to Purity" it was from ages 6th grade to College age and we had different christian speakers come in and talk about different topics for the girls it was on Godly Submission and Beauty with Modesty and then virginity and dating for the boys it was on Chivalry and Respect and Lust and Purity of the mind and also virginity and dating.. These leaders did a incredible job, they shared their personal stories and their struggles and their praises and how God was so incredible faithful to all of them. We had a pastor speak and teach the truth on how God feels when we sin in those areas and then they had incredible worship. It was so so so good..

We saw God move in this place and move in these kids hearts and we saw conviction and brokeness, we saw Him lift them up and give their hearts and souls to Him.It was so incredibly awesome!!We were asked to be a host home for 6,7,8th grade boys so we said yes we would love to and we are so glad we did. They were the best boys I have ever seen! They were all so polite and very very respectful to us and our home and very grateful for everything and made sure to let us know.. We will be praying for all of these boys and their Counselor who was Tony the Youth Pastor at First Baptist Kennard, what a guy! he was so good with these boys! One of the students from our youth group was saying that he was so impressed with the kids from Tony's church that they all knew their bible from front to back and knew where to find it in the bible if you even said a quote.This speaks volumes for Tony and his teaching, these kids are truly blessed to have him in their lives! We just want to say Thank You to all of the leaders, counselors and families who invested in our boys lives and all the other children who were there. Retreats like this set strong foundations in a teens life and we feel so blessed that our boys got to experience this! We pray that all the teachings that they received this past weekend and all of the feelings that they experienced good and bad that they will remember those for forever instead of days or months! We pray that the leaders and counselors will be blessed beyond measure!! Not only were our children moved and blessed this weekend, we were too!! I hope that if you have teens of your own that you will try to find something like this and let them experience a life changing event! Have a great day and Thanks for making us a part of your day!

The Lewis Family Comes to Texas

Our Sweet friends The Lewis family came to visit us.. We go wayyyyyyy back with them. Phillip and Joey met when they were in 1st grade and started playing baseball together when they were little bitty.. We automatically became friends with Troy and Sue!! They also have a daughter Courtney who is 20 and of course there were times when Phillip would wonder if she was coming to the game?lol:)She is a real cutie!!Anyway we have been bleacher buddies for years up until we moved.. We actually said Goodbye at the ballpark:) what a ending!!Anyway they came up on July 24th and they were here for the weekend and we had the best with them.. Of course we had to take them to our favorite mexican restaurant, when we lived in St Louis we would always go eat mexican together and drink margaritas:)so we had to introduce them to TEXAS mexican food:) and then on Saturday we just hung out here in the pool allllll day long which was nice and relaxing and then we went to Incredible Pizza so they kids could play and it ended up the hubbys had a good time too.. They have go karts and so they pretended to be Nascar drivers and Troy won he even got a First Place ribbon:)after our incredible time at Incredible Pizza we came home and played Rock Band, we had a blast the only one who did not serenade us was Miss Sue, I think if I would have put the microphone down long enough and filled her wine glass up she might have:) I just could not put the mic down, I was a ROCKSTAR and I was loving it!! Then on Sunday we all went to breakfast at Shipley Doughnut shop yummmmm:) I love doughnuts especially Shipleys and then off to Galveston we went. What a fun time that was we all rode the ferry across the bay and it was so neat, the pelicans and seagulls were everywhere and even the dolphins were swimming beside the ferry it was just so cool, it made me want to go on a cruise( which I am working on)so from the ferry we went over to Moody gardens and saw the turtle pond lol which turned out to be fountains not turtles.... and then we went to Kemah boardwalk where we had a blast, we had lunch at Joes Crabshack and then walked around and looked at everything, Kemah is a neat place it has shops and restaurants and is a amusement park.. I swore I would not ride the rides but Peyton wanted to so I did and it was fun!!It is definitely a place that we will go back to! We got home and the guys played basketball while Sue and I stood and laughed and took pics.. We had so much fun with them. They are such a precious family and we are so Thankful that God let our paths cross! We will be forever friends! I have to say after we said goodbye it took me a few days I was so sad and missed them a ton.. They are just fun fun people who we just love to be with. Our boys love hanging with Joey and now they are all at a age where they do their own thing and we can just sit and vist..ohhhh so nice.. Never thought we would get to this place in our lives.:) Troy and Sue remember me chasing a cotton top baby in diapers trying to get on a baseball field in the middle of the game:)lol and me running full speed trying to catch him and then the time where he was acting bad so I snatched him up and he hung on to the steel metal bleachers and almost drug the fans with us..lol Oh my goodness and they still love us!! what awesome friends they are! We love you Lewis Family and can't wait to see you all again soon! Lets plan out carribean getaway!! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Visit from The Bayers

Our sweet friends The Bayer's came to visit, they are our friends who lived in St Louis and our boys were best friends and then they moved to Austin a month after we moved to Houston.. God is so good! He knew I needed Pam close by:) We just have the best time with their family.. Jackson and Peyton became friends in 3rd grade, they actually had met before that but became close in 3rd grade so you now usually when the kids get close the Moms do too and that's what happened Pam and I became friends and then we introduced our hubby's and they decided to coach baseball together and became fast friend so needless to say we LOVE hanging with them, we have alot in common and love to laugh and share stories when we are together.. Pam and I are so funny because when it comes to parenting she will say something and I will be like that is how I am and I will say this may sound dumb but I ------- and she is like ME too:) it is just so cool to have friends whose families get along and love being together.. Mark and Pam have Jackson who is Peyton's age 12 and then 2 beautiful sweet girls Addie who is in 5th grade and Ashlyn who is in 4th and a beautiful girl who is in heaven, sweet sweet family and we feel so blessed to have them in our lives.. Peyt refers to Pam as his other momma xoxo.. Anyway they came up on Monday just for the night because Mark is in school and had to get back to classes on Tuesday but they came up that afternoon and the kids got to swim and hang out and play and then we all put our RED on and went to see The Cardinals play The Astros.. It was so much fun being with them and cheering for our cardinals unfortunately they lost 3-2 but it was still fun being there with them eating ballpark food and rooting for our team together.. We came home and sat up talking til after midnight.. The next morning we woke up to doughnuts and then had to say goodbye... Hopefully we will get to see them again before school starts but no matter when we see them next we all just pick up like it was yesterday that we saw each other... We Thank God so much for this family and we just pray that he will continue to bless them and we Thank him for making them neighboring Texans:) Love you Bayer's.. Hope to see you all again soon!! Well, we are wrapping up the month of July but still have lots to share.. Stay tuned for the next adventure with more sweet friends The Lewis Family from St Louis....