Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

The afternoon we arrived at Myrtle Beach it was pouring down rain with more storms in the forecast.
You would think this was a rather unfortunate thing....but as it turns out the sporadic showers were a lovely reprieve from the heat and didn't diminish our experience one bit. We still had plenty of lovely weather while we were there. And the first night relaxing on our balcony overlooking the ocean from our hotel suite and watching the rain pour down on the beach as the waves came in was unforgettable.

We went out early the next morning to explore the beach and then we played in the Pirate Cove at our hotel. For a while we had the place mostly to ourselves and we played pirates with the girls. That was so much fun and we couldn't stop laughing as we snuck around the ship and tried to splash or capture one another. Then, in the deeper pool Jeremy would get the girls to stand on his hands and he would raise them up out of the water with their arms stretched out like the girl on Titanic before they would lose balance and splash in the water or he would throw them up into a flip. They couldn't get enough of that and I had to get in on it too......although I would NOT let Jeremy lift me in the air like that, no way, no matter how much he tried. The lazy river and hot tubs were great too. They were indoors and we tried them out the night we arrived.

No sand castles this time, but I did make a mermaid for the girls.  I love these candid pics of my mom. She was so adorable the way her anticipation grew and excitement lit up her eyes the first time we took off our shoes and our feet dug into the soft sand. My favorite was when she walked out into the surf and a wave came in a little higher than she expected and she couldn't jump or run quick enough before getting splashed pretty good.

We had planned to take family photos on the beach, even packed outfits, but this is as close as we came to an actual family photo. Never even wore the outfits. Oh well, we were having too much fun. Candid shots are some of my favorites anyway. Love how they capture the moments we don't pose for.

One morning when it was raining we took a little trip to the local Krispy Kreme and totally knocked of a whole dozen assorted doughnuts together, and took some goofy pictures.

Harbour Lights Resort Villas was the second place we stayed while in Myrtle Beach. It was like having our own apartment in a gated community and our balcony overlooked the Intracoastal Waterway.

From the balcony and the windows in the master suite we could watch the boats pass by.

And we couldn't stay at Myrtle Beach without spending some time on the famous Boardwalk. I remember mom taking me and my sister to all of these wonderful places including the Fun Plaza game arcade and the Gay Dolphin Gift Cove (one of the biggest and oldest gift shops in the area) and the Ripley's Believe it or Not when we were kids.
Now they have the new gigantic Sky Wheel so we had to try it out. You could see forever down the beach from the top. It was beautiful.

Another "must do" was the all you can eat seafood meal at the original Benjamin's Calabash restaurant. The food in this place is outta this world! Wow! We practically rolled out of there. No better seafood than what you get right on the coast. And the place itself is incredible with all of the decor and interactive games and play stuff to do with the kids while you wait for your table, what a treat!

The kids loved all the mega beach gift shops with the entrances like this one.

We spent some time out on one of the fishing piers and I got this lovely shot of my mom.

Carley found the perfect souvenir for herself. It was a silver mermaid necklace that came with a clam shell that you would open yourself to find a pearl that would fit inside the necklace (like the mermaid was holding it up in a metal cage). Each one guaranteed a special colored pearl. It was fun for her to get to open it and have the surprise. Carley's pearl was pink. 

We had so much fun at the beach it was hard to leave.
We gathered shells, walked in the surf, jumped in the waves, played in the sand and enjoyed the ocean breeze on our faces.
We went back one last time to breathe it all in, to revel in the feel of it and commit one final glimpse to memory before we drove out of town to make our journey down the coast.

Road Trip part one. Making it to the Mountains

We hit the road the first day of our trip at 5am all loaded up with mugs of coffee, sausage balls, a huge bag of snacks and lunch for later and tons of stuff to keep the kids entertained.

They had trip journals, activity books & colored pencils, DVD player with movies (even some surprise movies to open on the way) and my Kindle loaded with fun stuff in Kindle Free Time Accounts for each of the girls. 

We made good time, saw a lot of boring traffic for the first half of the day and then the scenery started getting pretty good.

We even managed to enjoy one another's company along the way, no really, honestly!

Why don't you people believe me.

See that last picture there in the bottom right corner. Yep. That was awesome.

We stopped and had a picnic for lunch at a park in one of the towns we passed through and decided to stop and stay in Dolly Parton's hometown in Tennessee so we could get up the next morning and check out all the fun local attractions before our scenic drive through the Great Smoky Mountains.

Gotta love those kids, especially the faces they make. Always entertaining.

Next. The Beach. 

Try to contain the excitement. 

Nope can't contain it.

Home Sweet Home

We made it back home the evening of the 4th of July safe and sound and exhausted!

The first thing we did was stop and eat some Mexican food for dinner at the Blue Goose in McKinney on our way in and it was delicious.

The next couple of days involved a lot of resting, laundry and unpacking.

And mom is a wild adventurous traveling woman this summer because she did laundry and repacked and hit the road the very next morning after we got back. She is traveling with my oldest brother and his son and daughter to drive to Seattle to visit my nephew Jack and his wife and daughter. It will be another great adventure for them as well and we are excited to hear all about it. I think we calculated that mom will have traveled over 7,500 miles this summer when she gets back and she will have gone from the bottom east to the top west of the United States and zig zagged through the middle traveling through at least 17 states depending on which route they drive on the way back home. Wow!

Well, as for the pictures I know you are all itching to see...

I promise I will go through the 900+ photos from our trip and get some posts put online ASAP. There is so much to share and our adventure was so unforgettable it still feels rather surreal.

Be back with another post soon! xoxo

Away We Go!

Surprise! Surprise!

We're hitting the road for a Family Summer Beach Trip!

......AND we're going to Disney World!!!!


After much secret planning, saving and preparing we revealed our BIG SECRET SUMMER PLANS to Carley, Zoe and Grandma and their jaws dropped and they were momentarily speechless before the squeals began to ring out.

Now, after weeks of getting ready we are loading up to finally be on our way (despite all the crazy hurdles that have been flung our way....we are thankful and praising God that we get to actually have this special vacation opportunity! Yay!)

Making our way back home July 3rd & 4th.

We're more than ready to write some of our own this summer!

A very huge and heartfelt thank you to Brenda and Monte! You guys have done so much to help make this trip a reality for us and we cannot express enough how grateful we are! We're super excited about the time share resorts we get to stay at, wahoo!!! Wish you could be with us. Love you to pieces! We will take lots of pictures to share. xo  

P.S.

Can't wait to see the girls faces at Disney World....especially since none of us have ever been and when we told them, Zoe asked if it was going to be like a park that had a "princess puppet show". 

Oh sweet darlin' it's gonna be so much more than a puppet show!

She has arrived!

.......and now they are a family of five! Yay! 

Don't know what we're going to do with all these precious little girls. 

Praise the Lord for His Miraculous Works and Abundant Blessings!

Let's Go Camping!

I love seeing Jeremy get so excited about writing out and checking off lists, organizing supplies, shopping for new "essentials", and making plans.

When does he do such things, you ask?

When he gets to plan a camping trip for us, that's when. And it's so fun to watch. I just step out of the way and let him do his thing. All I have to do is pack for me and the girls and go along for the adventure.

Thanks babe. We wouldn't love camping trips near so much without you and all you do.

We set off on our Summer Camping Weekend a week or so before school was actually out because we had a long weekend and because we wanted to go before it got too stinkin' hot.

So of course, it rained.

Ah well, we went anyway.

All the campsites at Beavers Bend in Broken Bow, Oklahoma were taken but that was ok with us because they were all muddy. So we drove an hour further up the road to another lake where there were still campsites available and it was completely dry. yipee!

We still went to Beavers Bend to do all of our hiking and exploring along the river and it was gorgeous!

Here are the pics:

Summing up the end of our Spring Semester

Guess I've got some catching up to do.

Time has been flying by and we have certainly been busy this spring and start of summer.
A good deal of trials and strenuous times but also a great number of blessings.
We have been reminded over and over how good and constant God is through the ebb and flow of life's unpredictable days.
If there is one word I could use to describe how we've felt through these recent months it would be: thankful.


Let me attempt to give a "photo re-cap" of some of our more enjoyable moments...

I sure do wish flowers could last longer, don't you. They are just so enchanting. I suppose there is probably a lesson there from our Creator about appreciating the beauty of what we have in life while we have it because life passes by so quickly. What a joy to know Heaven is waiting for us! And the beauty we know in our hearts and lives now is nothing in comparison to being in His presence.



Highlights from the end of the Spring Semester of school.....

Carley finished 2nd Grade. It was a bittersweet day of celebrating and saying goodbye to some of her classmates who are moving away. Can't believe she will be in 3rd grade next year. 

Words to describe Carley at Age 8: 

smart, loving, adventurous, creative, energetic, detective, explorer, athletic, swimmer, happy, curious, fun, loves Jesus, great big sister, awesome helper, reader, inventor, leader, big hearted, joyful

Zoe turned 4 this Spring. Next year will be her last year at home with me which is also a bittersweet thought. I am looking forward to using the amazing Sonlight curriculum I got from Jodi to home school her for preschool next year and I will be sad when my baby goes off to Kindergarten. She is so ready though....she loves school just like her big sister and I know she will do great. 

Words to describe Zoe at Age 4:

talkative, silly, entertaining, great big personality, fun, loving, cuddly, precious, curious, smart, picky eater....but trying, observant, determined, playful, homebody, honest, hilarious, happy, great at making up words, songs and pretty much her own little language, lol

And to share with you a few things that don't have "photo re-caps"

• Our church family has been through a difficult season of change. As we begin anew we are trusting and following the Lord and praying that in all things we stay true to His word and give Him the glory and praise. 
• We are thankful that in all circumstances we have seen the Lord working around us in in us. He is our steady rock. We cannot rely on our own thoughts, emotions, experiences, or feelings to lead us faithfully....but we can rely on God an His Word to do so without fail.
• Our finances have taken a few beatings with unexpected home and auto emergency repairs and extra bills but somehow, thank the Lord, it has all worked out and we feel so very grateful. 
• A dear and very close friend experienced a traumatic and extremely dangerous illness which almost took her life but she is home from the hospital and slowly recovering now and we continue to thank God and pray for her and her family through it all. 
• Nana and Papa sold their home in Tulia. It was a mix of emotions for us all since that was Jeremy's childhood home and the place we went for family gatherings, holidays and vacations throughout our marriage, but we are also very happy for the new beginnings this brings for Brenda and Monte. We are excited for them and for all that the future holds wherever they may settle next.