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Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Baby Brooke is on the Way!

Tonight the girls from my life group got together for a girls night!  We had pizza, cheesy bread, carrots/celery/Ranch, and brownies.  Thank goodness for the redeeming qualities of the veggies :-)  After dinner Megan, Melissa, and I had planned some fun crafts for Kim and Brooke.  We had a great time just the 4 of us!

All Setup and Ready to Go!!
Ribbon for bows


B, Scrapbook paper, and Modge Podge (We didn't get to this project.  We may or may not have been a little over ambitious!)


Onesies and fabric


Coming Up with Our Plan of Attack:




Project Bow---
The first 2

And a few more

Melissa trying them out!
Flower Bow modeled by Melissa
 Project Onesie---
Ruffle Butt

Flower

Bird Applique
And this is what happens when you begin hearing noises and get scared...

Fortunately, it was just Halle thumping around in our bedroom like the 20 pound cat that she is.

The Two Mama-to-Be's:
Megan and Kim


Kim and Brooke
Megan, Gabe & Asa
 The Two Non-Preggos:
Oh wait-- there's nothing there-haha!



We had so much fun tonight chatting, laughing, and crafting!  I love our life group ladies :-)



We can't wait to meet baby Brooke!!!  Next craft party: onesies for Gabe and Asa!  So excited :-)

Happy Crafting!


Monday, July 23, 2012

So Good

In church the other morning, we sang an incredible song that I have had stuck in my head ever since.  As I look back on my life I realize just how good God has been to me.

I live a wonderful life.  I have....An amazing, godly husband. Two loving parents. Lots of fun animals. A beautiful house. A job that I enjoy. Great friends.  A heavenly Father that loves me unconditionally.  And, the list goes on.  Has my life always been easy?  Oh, far from it.  But, like the lyrics say, "He gave me beauty for ashes, joy for my mourning, and praise for heaviness."



Sometimes it is overwhelming to think of just how blessed I am, and how I do not deserve any of this. God has been so good, so, SO good to me.



Friday, July 20, 2012

A New Cleaning Schedule

Today, I was supposed to clean the house.  I had the best intentions.  I didn't clean the house...at all.  :)

During the school year, it is so hard for me to get everything done.  Especially those chores that you love to hate- like cleaning.  So, I am going to try something new.  Today, instead of cleaning, I made a Cleaning Schedule.

We're going to try out the new schedule for the remainder of the summer to see how it works.  Our typical Saturday consists of cleaning, cleaning, and more cleaning-- and very little relaxing.  Hopefully this will help that situation.




Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Fun in the Sun

Who says that neighbors can't be friends??  Well on "our half" of the street we live on-- neighbors are INCREDIBLE friends!  We have been so blessed to have great next door neighbors.  You know, the kind that you want to spend time with... the kind that you watch The Bachelorette with every Monday night... the kind that you have regular dinners with... the kind that help you in the yard... the kind that you borrow a cup of milk from (or cream cheese!)... the kind that you go shopping with... the kind that you can truly call friends... the kind of neighbors that every person hopes for and prays for, but only few are lucky enough to really get.  We are blessed.


And of course, they are also the kind of neighbors that you go to the beach with!!  So yesterday, Jess and I set out for a day at Atlantic Beach.  Our day is pretty much summed up in these words:


Here are some of the highlights of our day.


Do you see my pink hat and both of our pairs of sunglasses?  At one point all 3 of these items were LOST in the ocean.  Somehow we managed to find the hat-- Jess scoping it out from in the water & me on the shore.  And again, don't ask me how, but Jess also managed to find my sunglasses even though they were short 1 lens- haha!  Her sunglasses on the other hand are still in the ocean graveyard.

Our pedicures that we got from Dun'Artie a few weeks ago!

By the time we left the waves were at least 7 times this size-- no exaggeration.
We had such a great time that we have already planned our next beach trip.





Monday, July 16, 2012

Summer Reads



I LOVE BOOKS!  This hasn't always been the case.  But now, there is hardly a time when I'm not working my way through a book.  Typically, during the summer I usually have more time to read.  So far, this summer has not followed that trend.  So, starting today, I'm vowing to change that!  I don't really have a "favorite" genre anymore.  It used to be romance-- but books like The Hunger Games, Twilight, and others have broadened my horizons.

Today (after reading on it for at least a month and a half) I finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Steig Larsson.  I must say, if you're going to read this book...do yourself a favor and skip the first 40% of the book.  For all you people who still read paper copies- I'm not really sure how that equates to pages, haha!  But, the last 60% of the book was totally worth the slow beginning.


Here is my reading list for the remaining month of my summer vacation!

      
  

So there you have it.  I'm an overachiever.  The last book, Bloom, actually wasn't even on my radar screen until a friend posted it on her Facebook wall today.  I went to Kelle Hampton's blog and found this trailer:


If you know me, you know that this totally pulls at my heartstrings!  Not even 30 seconds in I was crying and knew that this was on the top of my "to read" list.  Well, we'll see if all of those books get read before August 20th.  

Are there any must-reads that you have come across lately?



Monday, July 9, 2012

A New Endeavor

As you know, we have had pigs in our backyard for exactly a year now!  Jacob loves "messing" with them: feeding, water, petting, watching.  He is very dedicated-- I mean, at least twice a day he is out there with the pigs.

Not too long ago, Jacob dediced that he wanted to try and start his own pig business!  So, we both applied for and got our meat handlers license just in case we ever wanted to sell meat.  Well, here we are-- tons of pork in the freezer, 3 new hogs in the back yard, and certified meat handlers. 

So, I now introduce to your our latest endeavor- Morgan Meats!  We have created a logo and blog and are open for business!  Well, actually-- Jacob has already been selling meat for about a month or so.  And his sells are booming :-)  He has almost sold $1,000 worth of pork.  Unfortunately, that's not all profit! 


Go check out our blog (www.morganmeats.blogspot.com), grab our button and put it on your blog, and buy some pork.  You won't regret it!  We have also created a Facebook page- Like Us!  Also, make sure you check back to the blog and Facebook because we will be doing FREE giveaways :-) 




Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Happy Birthday, Little One!

Tonight we gained a new member of the Morgan family and we caught "its" birth on camera!!!



Here are a few fun facts about chicks/chickens:
1. The incubation period of a chick is 21 days.
2. A mother hen will turn her eggs about 50 times a day so that the yoke does not stick to the shell.
3. Chicks can eat, breathe, and chirp while still inside their shell.
4. A mother hen looses the feathers on her belly while sitting on eggs so that they get direct body heat.
5. Chicken eggs incubate at 99.5 degrees.



Pressure Washing in 100 degree weather!

What is the only thing that you should be doing in 100+ degree weather?!  You got it--- water sports.  So I decided to haul out the pressure washer and get going.  From 9am-6pm, with the exception of a 1 hour lunch break, I worked....and worked.....and worked.  Even though I pressure washed the house last summer, it was still nasty.  Here are some before and after pictures:

The sidewalk is wet on both sides...just one is dirty wet cement and the other is clean wet cement!



I also pressure washed our front porch, back porch, 2 lawnmowers, various pig accessories, patio furniture, and outdoor patio carpet.


Then, I reassembled our back porch and put my brand new cushions (thanks Mom and Dad) on the chairs!! I can't wait to sit out there when it gets a little cooler!!

So, after 8 hours of manual labor the house was sparking clean..... and I was FILTHY!




Sunday, July 1, 2012

That's the Night when the Lights Went Out in Walmart...

...sung to the tune of Reba's song "That's the Night when the Lights Went Out in Georgia".

But instead the lyrics should go:
That's the night when the lights went out in Walmart
That's the night when the door flew off the hinge
Go to the center of the store and you're not allowed to depart
Until the winds die down and the storm comes to an end.

Tonight Jacob and I ran out to Walmart to pick up a few things before Bible Study.  On our way, it started pouring rain....and then hailing.  But, we continued on our way because the storm was behind us and we were headed away from it.  Upon getting to Walmart the winds were picking up, trees were bent over-- you get the picture.  So we ran in trying to avoid getting soaked.  Instead, we got in Walmart and no more than 2 minutes later, the power went out.

Have you ever been in a store as big as Walmart with no electricity?  Each time the lights flickered, the generators took about 5-10 seconds to kick in the emergency lights.  It was literally pitch black.  Kids screaming, people yelling, sheer chaos.  So after the lights went out and came back on twice, the electricity finally gave out for good.  Here is what Walmart looks like without power:

So, we continued to shop until hearing the workers say, "Get to the center of the store."  So, we started walking to the center of the store.  Apparently, there was a miscommunication between the workers because then we got in trouble for going back through the store...haha!!  What they really meant was, go to the center of the front of the store (near the cash registers).  On our way back up to the front center, we heard a HUGE crash and looked just in time to see one of the automatic sliding doors fly off of its hinges and crash into another one of the doors.  Soon after that a light flew out of the ceiling in the corridor area.  Needless to say, I was FREAKING out.

Well, Walmart wasn't letting people leave until the storm passed so we ended up sitting in the dark in Walmart for a solid hour. It was pure chaos....babies screaming, people spreading rumors about tornadoes, employees running around.  Once they started allowing people to leave, we made a run for it....literally.  But, we did take time to take a few pictures of the craziness.

The door off of its hinges...

I tried to get a picture of the light hanging out of the ceiling but they wouldn't let you get anywhere near it.  Here is what was in the middle of the aisle we parked on:

As you can see, the shopping cart return station blew into the middle of the parking lot aisle.  In the middle of the parking lot, there was easily a foot of water.  There was a KIA that had water sitting up to the top of its tires.  Unbelievable.

In the back of the Walmart parking lot was (the key word here being was) a fireworks tent.  When we came out, the tent had blown over and been torn and bent to shreds.  The fireworks were strewn across the parking lot and soaked. Ruined.

We ended up not getting anything from Walmart because the electricity was still out when we left.  So, we left empty handed with only a good story to take away.  We were a little late for Bible Study (at our own house), but had a great time once everyone arrived.

Next time you go to Walmart, just imagine, "What would it be like with no lights?"