Playing catch up..

Has it really been over a year since I have been on here?! Wow. What a slacker! 2013 really was a great year. Very busy, but still full of blessings. So much happened so I am going to try my best to fill you in on everything. Let's start from the beginning :) 

Josh got hired at Hendersonville Fire Department in October 2012! He had to go through their fire academy in Bell Buckle and was gone Feb-April. He did get to come home one day on the weekends but it was pretty lonely around here during the week. I tried to keep myself busy by working a lot and started exercising with my mom a lot. I lost a few pounds (that I gained after we got married!!) while he was gone. He lost like 20 lbs while he was gone! It was a great learning experience for him also. He graduated from the academy in April. Oh happy day :) 

Summer was very, very busy. Josh's schedule is 24 hours on, 48 hours off. So he is able to do his grass and landscaping job on the side. It it is great for extra money but did become stressful at times. Our schedules were totally different. If he ever had an evening off, I would be working late in the salon that night & visa versa. We are going to try and coordinate our schedules a little better this summer for sure. We did get to take a little time off to go on vacation with our families! We had such a great time with everyone. That will be for a separate post with tons of pictures :) 

Towards the end of the summer, Josh got a very exciting email. It was from Nashville Fire Department offering him a job!!! This was such wonderful news! Josh has always wanted to work at NFD and his name has been on their list for years. It is his dream job! I am so so proud of him. He had to go through another round of fire academy though! Luckily, this time his school was in Nashville and he was able to come home every night. It was nice having him home every evening :) His schooling started in October and he just finished the beginning of January. So 2 fire academies in one year! Whew! He is loving his new job so far. He is back on 24 hours on, 48 hours off. It is MUCH busier in Nashville, which is what he wanted- more experience. He has already seen so much. He loves it but it makes me worry about him. So I have been praying like crazy for him- for protection ... for his mind and what he will be seeing ... for him to stay strong in his faith and be a good example for others. I know God has big plans for him and I am so thankful for him! 

Another exciting thing that happened in 2013 was that my parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary! We threw them a big party and it was SUCH a great day! That is for a separate post also.

It is crazy how times flies by. It is already another year just like that. This year I want to focus on my relationships. First of all, with the Lord. I want to have a closer relationship with Him. I want to study the bible, instead of just skimming through it. I want to pray more and just walk daily with Him. Next, I want to focus on my relationships with my family and friends. Life is SO busy. We are too busy for each other. I have cut back my hours in the salon for a few reasons. One of them is to be able to spend more time with ones I love. I do not want to be so busy that I do not have time to invest in someones life. I am doing OK so far this year with my goals! I could always improve but it is better than where I was. I love this quote by Max Lucado-

"Our prayers may be awkward. Our attempts may be feeble. But since the power of prayer is in the One who hears it and not the one who says it, our prayers make a difference."

I hope you have a blessed day and take some time to spend with the Lord and to invest in someones life. You never know what a difference it could make :)

Jake!

The first week we had Jake, I wondered what in the world we had done. But we are both adjusting now, thank goodness :) I love this little thing so much!

 How do you resist this sweet face? And those eyes?!!!

 After his 1st bath :)

 Kobe is starting to get used to him. He hated him at first and was so sad and jealous! It made me so sad :( But he is getting much better now. He still is not crazy about it but thankfully it is getting better.

 Sleeping with his tongue stuck out! He is a very loud sleeper & snores a lot!

 I love my babies SO much!!! :)

Big News!

Ever since Josh was in high school, he has wanted to be a firefighter. He went to college on a baseball scholarship and got his bachelors in criminal justice. Since he graduated from college 3 years ago, he has been trying to get on the fire department. He has been volunteering and earlier this year he went to EMT school. He has tested & applied for different fire departments for the past 3 years but it is just so hard to get on. WELL, guess who just hired as a firefighter for Hendersonville Fire Department?!!!! This is definitely an answer to prayer for sure!! He starts Friday! I am SO proud of him and so excited about his new career! Thank you to everyone who has been praying these last few years :)

Something else very exciting! We have a new family member! Meet Jake :)

He is a boxer puppy and is so sweet!! He was 6 weeks old in the picture but he is now 8 weeks old and already getting bigger. He is a handful but we love him so much!



This & That

Things sure have been busy around here!!! I will try to pick up where I left off..

~We went to Florida in July.....it was a very different trip. We went to PCB with Josh's family for about 4 days. Then, we stayed with my parents and brother for a few days in Destin. We were supposed to stay for a whole week but my poor dad hurt his back and we ended up flying home early. We found out after we got back that he has severe arthritis in his back and spinal stenosis :( Thankfully he is feeling much better now though! Here are a few cell phone pics. (I am sad I didn't get any good pics with my good camera)

~Addy celebrated her 2nd birthday on August 15th!!! We got her some pink Toms :)

~We got a new car!! I loooove it!

~My good friend, Trish, is having a baby girl & is due the end of October! We threw her a baby shower and it was so much fun & turned out so cute! I will post more pics in a separate post :)

~On September 6th, we celebrated our 4 YEAR anniversary!! Wow! I fall more in love with him every day :) I am so blessed. And to top it off, he completely surprised me with diamond earrings! They are so beautiful.

~Soooo my 10 YEAR high school reunion was a couple of weekends ago. I wasn't going to go at first, but I am so glad that I did. I saw so many people I have not seen in so long. We had a good time! Josh & I stayed at The Maxwell House that night to celebrate our anniversary and had a great relaxing weekend!

~We have been working on our backyard for the past 2 years and I can officially say it is pretty much done! We absolutely love it. That is for a different post also.

~There are several exciting things happening in the next few weeks so I am going to try and keep things updated on here. Here are a few more pics that I love :)

4th of July

We had a really fun 4th of July this year! We went to the Pegram parade that morning. It was a lot of fun. I loved sitting there (even though I was about to have a heat stroke!) watching everyone go by. There is something about a small town I just love. Carrie Underwood has a song on her new CD that I just loved called hometown. Here is the chorus:

Thank God for hometowns,

first kisses and touchdowns.

Thank God for the county lines that welcome you back in

when you were dying to get out.

Thank God for church pews

and all the faces that won't forget you.

And when you're lost in this crazy world,

you've got somewhere to go and get found.

Thank God for hometowns.

That afternoon we went to my parents to grill out! We had fun and a TON of good food, as usual :) My mom always has the prettiest flowers!

That night we went to Nashville to watch the fireworks with Sarah & Blake. I had never been all the way downtown Nashville on the 4th before but we decided to go all the way down to Riverfront Park. It was SO hot and SOOO packed but it was so worth it. The fireworks were absolutely amazing!!!!!

I thought the fireworks at Disney were the best..but I am pretty sure Nashville beat them this year! Happy late 4th of July! :)