We can't wait until Easter! Not only is the Easter Bunny delivering candy and eggs, but a BABY brother or sister for Riley! That's right we will have a special delivery come April! We are SO EXCITED!  

JULY

July was a wonderful month! It started out with the 4th of July, which we spent with Joel's cousins Carrie, her family- Clay and Carley Clayton, Carrie's sister Lucy and her boyfriend Beau, Joel's Aunt Ruth, Lindsay and baby Maddox. (whew I don't think I left anyone out) well maybe except Riley- who was in Hattiesburg spending the week with Nonnnie and BeeBoo. We ate some yummy shrimp, hamburgers, hotdogs, and dessert. After we filled our tummy's we headed out to Freedom Ridge park for some fun fireworks! 

Joel and Carley Clayton

All the women- Lucy, Aunt Ruth, Carrie, Me, Lindsay, and C.C.

A monumental step was taken in July as well- Riley's First Haircut!

I know some of you are wondering why she needed her hair cut? Good question and one I answered A LOT! Although I love Riley's curls they can get VERY tangled when she sleeps at night, and that means a VERY grouchy girl when it comes time for mommy to brush it in the mornings. So my solution was to give it a short trim to even out the bottom and also give her some fine layers to give it some bounce. I had been talking to Riley the entire week about going to the hairdresser to get a "haircut" and even though I had my reservations about it, Riley had a BLAST!!! Kristen (my hairdresser) did a fabulous job, she did the magic trick- treat Riley like a princess!!! Riley sat right into the "princess chair" and had a great time! 

Barbie, Kristen and Riley! 

July also brought Birthday Party's -

Baby Mac's First Birthday!

Meagan's 3rd Birthday!

Caden's 3rd Birthday!

Riley had such a great time at all the Parties!!!

And finally in July the final beach vacation in Destin! Robert's Company-(the company Joel works for) has a family vacation for all it's upper management staff. Luckily Joel's father works for the company too, so it winds up being a great time by all.

Dancing the night away!!!

Dancing with BeeBo!

Joel and I having a good time!

Eating at our Favorite Restaurant in Destin- Gilligan's!

(one side of the table)

(the other side)!

It' looks like August is going to be a fun and exciting month as well, however we are staying home a lot more, so that mean's I will be able to keep up with my blog! Many more post's to come!

JUNE

Since I've been a bad blogger, again. I figured I'd post some pictures from the past 2 months and get everyone up to date! Here's the month of June- we went to Destin for a week with Joel's family and had a WONDERFUL time. It is by far one of my favorite trips, not only do we lay at the beach ALL day but we have great food and fun! 

Ft. Walton Gulfarium- Riley had a BLAST! She loved watching the Dolphin Swim!

The Crab Trap with the family..... Cameron, me, Carley

My not- so- little girl ! 

Having fun with daddy! 

Tanning! We love the SUN!

Hunting for sand-diggers!

Family photo!

Loving the carousel with mommy!

Cheese with daddy! 

Happy Father's Day Daddy!

I'll be back with more photo's from July! 

Tea Time...

Today we're spending the day at home (Thank goodness!) it seems as though we've been running around town going, going, going!! It's nice to enjoy the house on a Saturday morning.... water the flowers, take a walk through the neighborhood and watch my sweet little girl have a tea party with Elmo, Barbie, and "2" the Cabbage Patch doll.(not really sure why her name is 2 but every time I ask Riley what her doll's name is that is the answer I get.) The only plans we have are to cook some yummy Hamburgers on the grill and enjoy the weather. Joel came back from his 3 day fishing trip down in Cocodrie, Louisiana-Cajun Country- and brought Riley a "fishie" shirt for her to wear.... lets just say it is probably meant for little boys ( with the big shark and all) but our little Roo Roo LOVES it!!! Hope everyone enjoys this BEAUTIFUL weekend... I know we are!!!

It's SUMMER time!!!

So, last weekend Cameron graduated from High School, WOW !!!! I know I said it in the previous post, but it is really crazy to think that 10 years ago she was a little strawberry blonde, blue eyed girl that loved her Bubba (aka. Joel). I've watched her grow up.... and what's even scarier is 15 years from now Riley will be graduating!!! If the time flies as fast as it did with Cameron I'm not sure I'll EVER be ready!!!

Graduation weekend started when we traveled south on Friday, that's when the "BIG" surprise was reveled to Cameron!!!!


A 2007 fully-loaded Nissan Murono!!!!



She was Surprised!!!

It was the DREAM vehicle!!! We're so proud of her, she has accomplished so many things.... Straight A's for one-which if you look back to Joel's, Carley's and yours truly's report cards none of us can compete. Saturday morning (at 9AM) we loaded up and saw her walk across the stage to recieve her diploma. Took some family portraits and had a WONDERFUL lunch at the house with family and friends! It was a great weekend!!!









This week our pool opened up and I don't think there's anyone more excited than ME!!!! I am a sun goddess... I LOVE IT, and I am excited to say, so does Riley!!! I have been fearful that like last year Riley was going to despise the pool.... but with a huge grin on my face, She LOVES it!!! Yippie!!! So, with some 50 SPF sunblock we will be out basking in the sun 'till nap time EVERYDAY!!!!






See ya at the pool!!!!

Time fly's when your so busy!!!

I apologize for the long wait... It's been mad crazy around here. We have had so many things to do in the last two weeks I don't even know where to start.... let's see

1. Trip to Hattiesburg for Miss Ava's 1st Birthday

2. Attending Cameron's High School awards ceremony and Senior recognition at church.

3. Yard Projects (not completely done with those)

4. Mother's Day celebration here at our house....

1. Miss Ava turned 1 on May 2nd and we were fortunate to be invited to her Cupcake  Birthday Party!!! We had such a great time, Matt and Krystal have such a beautiful little girl on their hands. She was so well behaved and took to the cake like a pro! We enjoyed visiting with good friends and Riley played with Ava and Kayden. It was so nice to see the girls play so well together.  We have to get them together more often!!!  

Ava doing a great job eating her cake...


Kayden and Riley taking a break from the festivities.

2. Cameron is graduating from High School!!!! I can't believe this, I have seen this beautiful little girl grow up to be a beautiful young woman (Before my eyes)! Time has gone by way to fast!! When Joel and I first started dating I attended Cameron's 8th birthday party. Matter of fact that was the first time I met Cameron, talk about being nervous! Now she is about to embark on a new journey in her life and she is totally prepared! She is just as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside, she is a wonderful aunt to Riley and a great role model as well.... I can only wish that Riley turns out like her. I took some pictures from her awards ceremony, however they are on Carley's camera and I don't have copies to share... Cameron received quite a few awards and also a scholarship to PRCC, where she will be attending in the fall. Joel and I are having a hard time figuring out what we are going to give her as a Senior gift, so if any one has any ideas pleas help us out!


Carley, Cameron,and Joel



Cameron at 8 years old


Aunt Cameron when Riley was born



Senior Year photo


3. Our back yard has gone through some major transformations since we moved here 2 years ago.... I am soo proud of Joel's hard work and innovation. He has come up with some fantastic and budget friendly ways to have a place for Riley to play. I have only one sneak-peek for you.... we will hopefully be done by the end of next month. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!



4. Mother's Day was such a great day, not just because I am a mother, but because I had two very special women to celebrate it with. Joel's mom and mine both came up to spend the day with us. We enjoyed each others company... Joel and Big Joe fried us up some yummy fish, shrimp, oysters, hush puppies and fries. It was de-lish! We played outside with bubbles my mom brought for Riley and received some good kisses and lovin' from her as well.

Lovin' on Omie

Giving Nonnie and Big Joe some of that sweet lovin' too.

The yummy peti-fours I made with the first initials of the moms on them.... Cindy, Sybille and yours truly. 

Blowing bubbles with Aunt Car-Car

You might be asking why I am not featured in these photos.... well, my sweet daughter and thoughtful husband bought me a new camera!!! I was truly surprised ! I have been complaining about our old digital camera for some time now, it had a horrible shutter speed and I have ton's of pictures of Riley from the backside. Joel put a lot of time deciding on which camera to get, and with Carley's help he decided on the Nikon D40!  

It's WONDERFUL !!!!! I can't wait to take some photography classes to learn how to capture priceless memories on it. 

I can't say it enough... I am truly blessed! I thank the Lord each day for the special, loving, thoughtful and supportive family that I have. If it weren't for his grace none of this would be possible! 

Motivation!!!!

Ok, I really needed some motivation to stay on this "healthy" living kick that Joel and I started 2 weeks ago.... for Joel it has come sooo easily! However, I find the cravings for southern home cooked meals, anything sweet and pizza to be uncontrollable!! So, before I broke down and went straight to Cracker Barrel, I confided in Joel, told him he was about to be on his own and I would totally support him ( by eating my suppers earlier before he came home and ate my Ice Cream late at night after he went to bed) Ha! He got irritated with me and told me to get some motivation! I honestly had no idea what he 'ment by it,  but before I could ask he was off to the computer and pulling up old photos from our wedding and shortly there after. He was sooo sweet in saying " back then... you never complained of your arms being "fat", you loved wearing bikini's and you always had clothes to wear." Well, that was enough motivation for me.... I went through all my pictures of when I can honestly say I had no issues with the way I looked, I was happy with the way things fit on me and I really did always have something to wear! So, with out further a-du.... here is my motivation..... 

Seriously..... this is only 12 pounds away!!! I can totally do this!!!! (this is me motivating myself ;) ) I won't lie, it has been hard... but in the end or by June 15th I will look back and be happy that I sacraficed all the brownies and pizza to be on the beach not worrying if my jelly roll is hanging out!

On a side note.... the weekend was great! We had a great time with friends and family, we went to the family land and went fishing and picked dewberries. I would of took adorable pictures of Riley fishing and picking... but I left the camera and video camera at home. Next time I won't be so forgetful... we have a fun week ahead... Joel will be off from work wednesday and thursday, we rarely get daddy time two day's in a row, we plan on working in the yard for most of it, but as long as we're with him it doesn't matter what were doing.