4th of July at the Folks

Keeping this blog is sometimes a chore. Most times, it's an overflowing blessing. Like today. I am able to re-live another amazing weekend in Columbus. Live it once in person. Live it again in print. A beautiful life lived twice. This blog blesses me. 

God is funny about my trips to Columbus. I think it's just such a familiar place for me so I don't get the pre-trip 'high' like I do when we're headed to the beach or away on an adventure. I'm always happy to go, but just expect to sink into the comfortable place that built me... I'm not anticipating more than that. God decides to change my perspective about coming home every. single. time. 

I'm not sure how to explain it. I think I rationally think, "I'll go home and get to nap while I'm there', but it's like God always reminds me, 'No, child. Go home and REST.'

He has left me slack-jawed with his painted skies the last umpteen times we've made this trip. We head out of town, and are busy with getting the DVD player on, and I grab the quiet minutes to catch up on girlfriend phone calls, and then we hit Tuscaloosa and the whole world goes bizarrly quiet. He's always there waiting for me to drop my jaw, and remember, this trip is a blessed REST, and He's leading the way home. 

Luckily- I also have this little tiger who reminds to live being AWESOME all the time! 

Then there's all the head shaking over the deer that roam like dogs in mom and dad's yard. No big deal, we wave hello and all continue to co-exist in this crazy utopia! Mom texted this week that one of the momma deer just had a tiny little fawn so there's this itsy bitsy little dude hanging with the herd these days! I can't wait to see it!

No zoom. He's just this close to us. 

This one...

Fun glasses- that were no good for actually SEEING through! :) 

Umm. Happy heart!

Before you say 'enough with the teeth whitener already!!!' This was a trial run on a new editing app where you can whiten peoples teeth! Then I couldn't figure out how to un-do the radiant white, so we're sticking with a totally edited and fake version of me in this picture. Cheapest whitening treatment I've ever tried! :)

We were the third and forth wheel to a dinner party that Mom and Dad were invited to waaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy out in the country on the 4th. If this place wasn't 45 minutes from civilization, I would deem it paradise. You'll see the sunset in a minute, but the house was built with a great front porch.... for the sunrise... and an awesome back patio.... for the sunset... and it was GLORIOUS. London loved swinging on the tire swing! This place was outdoorsy, and country, and private, and perfect. We had a grand time wandering around while mom and dad caught up with friends!

Seriously. Can you see tiny Lu by the lake? Unreal. 

What if you got to watch this sunset everyday?

Being very motherly and checking on her cow friend (that you'll meet in a minute).

This is Mr. Clark. I've always been enamored with him because he calls me good looking. My entire life, when I've seen him at church, he's given me big engulfing hugs and said 'Hey Good Looking, how are you doing, baby?' and I love it. He is the most gentle, southern gentleman and London fell in love with him immediately! He let her prop up on his donkey and feed a sick calf her dinner. London had the greatest time out on the farm and Mr. Clark was so kind to let her be so hands on! 

London learned the song "You're a Grand Old Flag".... :) {video} 

By the time of the party she had the whole song memorized. Later that evening, Mr. Clark's son and family came and shot fireworks for us. London broke out into 'Your a Grand Old Flag' and the whole dinner party followed suit, fireworks exploding above us! It was a silly moment, but the beauty of it settled on my heart. We were enjoying a truly lovely night, with people we love dearly, and we were free to do so without a second thought. I bowed my head for a second, thankful for the wisdom to live fully in this moment. 

There's a quote from Anne Lamott: 

"Heaven is just a new pair of glasses."

I'm grateful God met me on this trip and gave me a new pair of glasses. He gave me the chance to live heaven. Glory.

Summer Picture Dump

I'm not sure why I'm feeling the need to post the whole summer here... I've skipped blogging plenty of activities over the course of this year! I've started eliminating all excess at the house in hopes that it will sell at some point and it's made me want to clean out EVERYTHING... phone included. (Also- the space at the top of these posts is because I load pictures from the app. They've told me how to fix this but I am not ready to tackle coding changes just yet!)

Miscellaneous Happy Stuff:

For Mother's Day, Elizabeth's class wrote letters about their favorite thing that their momma cooks then described how it's made. Charley Rhea and I had belly aches from laughing over how adorable this is! My favorite: "Nex, she pouts them in the oven to gite chronchy..." GAH LEE kids are the BEST!

(insert 1 million heart symbols here)

Dad hit his SECOND hole in one.. on the same hole... all in two months time! DANG DAD!!

Dr. Rhea is on FIYA!!! He's burning up the pages of the Old Waverly newsletter! :)

Afternoon at the Aldridge Botanical Gardens

Goose with a lot of attitude meets Girl with a lot of attitude. 

London drew this picture. You would love it if you knew the characters involved but one of London's best friends at school is a bit.... bossy. This is a picture of Ella (left) "rudely inturrupting me and Lizzy as we talk on the playground." :)

 It's difficult to make married date night a regular occurance. I love my sister in law TO DEATH, therefore I have a standing spend the night party with the niece and nephew every other month so Mom and Dad can have some legit QT. Their date night is on my top 5 favorite things ever. I LOVE having these dudes come sleep over all the time! We have so much fun!!! (except they always wake up at some UNGODLY time on Saturdays and I turn into a great, grumpy beast until I have time to regain normal brain functionality!) But, prior to Saturday am, it's PARTY ALL THE TIME!

The lightening bugs are out of control at our house! It's so fun to catch them! 

'Clean out the freezer' lunch that turned into one of my favorite days of all time. This is just before we had a full family dance party. I've etched this into the long term memory of 'days full of happy'. 

Mr. Kurt laughs at London's free spirit. He and Jill found this dress on a work trip and bought it for Lu. I adore it! My instagram comment:

"Dressed herself. I feel like she was channeling an outward representation of the way I feel about her in my heart. All the happy feelings!"

London had swimmers ear last week and was in a lot of pain. We cancelled all weekend plans and I only had one objective: make my baby smile. Mission accomplished! It was a great, sweet, happy weekend with this darling child!

Yesterday's trip to the car wash! SO EXCITING! 

Enthusiastic Shopping

We recently went to a baby shower for Hannah Bananas that was near the Summit shopping center. We decided to stop by Urban Outfitters to look through their records and West Elm because it's so beautiful!

Let's just say London embraced her space.

Dance Party at Urban Outfitters: 

{video}

The tiger claws move absolutely owns me.

Making herself right at home at West Elm: 

She keeps me filled with fun and wonder. I love her to the extreme. To the maximum amount of love-ability.

Light rails

This summer has been full of lots of unexpected pop up fun! I love blogging but much like my real life, I write (talk) way more than necessary! :) Hoping to shoot these series of pictures on here with quick recaps so that you can do a drive by and not have to invest TIME into reading ye ole family blog! 

I've written about Light Rails before so the 2 second summary is that our Downtown invested in a series of artsy light installments under the railways that run through the city. You can drive and walk under the tracks and enjoy this psychedelic light show that is TOTALLY AWESOME. 

Hannah, Jill, and I took the kids for some post dinner fun and all of us had an absolute blast! My dad gets angry if I tell him I've been downtown after dark, but all of the work being poured into our downtown has made it a much safer, and great, fun place to be! I love downtown and am thankful for this huge group of supporters that have spearheaded it's revitalization! LOVE WHERE YOU LIVE, right?!?! (This is a bit of sarcasm. I realize that's ridiculously gooby, but I DO love my place!!)

Knox Thomas 

Lucas Thomas jumping and loving it!

So, so great, right?!

{imagine all the screams!}

ROAAAAAAARRRRR!!!

I love London spinning in this one! :)

Love Birds!

Dancing with Mrs. Bananas!

Baby Bananas had a blast too! :) Goodness. The cute level is off the charts. 

My most fabulous best friend forever!

Such copious amounts of happiness!