So Much Going On!

Hi!

Life around these parts has been crazy these days.

First: We went for an awesome family camping trip over the weekend!

It was SO much fun.

It was my Dad’s birthday and 4 out of 5 of us kids, my Mom and Dad and some of our friends went camping up at Teanaway; where we used to go camping every year for a few weeks when we were kids. My brother Jason couldn’t make it cause he lives in Missouri and well, that’s a long way to come. 🙂

Ethan watching my sis Emily, family friend Colton, my brother Scotty and his girlfriend Carly dance. 🙂

We took up three campsites and spread out and had a nice big space to chill and for the kids to run around in.

Me and my brother Brian deep in conversation.

We gathered firewood. We drank a lot of coffee. We ate bacon. Three essential camping activities. 🙂

 We went on a hike up the mountain to “the big rock”- which is really big. And the view is just breathtaking.

Just starting out- we hiked about 5 1/2 miles all together. We were all SO tired by the time we got back, especially the kids! They slept well that night.

Papa Don helping Ethan. They were so precious! I love my Daddy and my son.

My Brother Brian, his girlfriend Sarah, my hubby Tim and our kiddos, Ethan and Eliana

Cool rocks!

Gorgeous fragrant flowers.

These flowers were growing out of the big rock. They were so beautiful!

This is “The Big Rock”. It’s a sheer drop off from up where everyone is standing. I couldn’t even get close to it without starting to freak out, so I stayed back with the kids.

The view from the big rock- Mt. Stuart and some other gorgeous mountains. That road is the one you drive in on the way to the campground.

And under the big rock is  “The Coliseum”. It’s amazing how the rock has been worn away over the years to create this cool amphitheater space.

It’s just so majestic!

Emily and Sarah, being cute like they are. 🙂

Family picture! Kinda. We never can get both kids to look AND smile at the same time.

We went shooting, we enjoyed just being unplugged and relaxed and hanging out near the river.

My little sis Emily shooting the bb gun at a can across the river.

My turn! I actually hit the can too! Woo Hoo!

Mom and Dad enjoying the stories around the campfire.

It was a great camping trip, with lots of good memories made.

Then– the day after we got home we started cleaning the house we’re moving in to!!

As some of you may know, we lost our house last year and moved across the country and have been living with my parents until we were on our feet enough to be able to rent.

Well, God worked out an awesome situation where some people we know moved far away but have a house here still and didn’t want to rent to someone they didn’t know…so we’re renting their house!

We’ve been cleaning and packing up their stuff (since they live far away and still have a bunch of stuff in the house) and getting it ready to move into for the last 3 days.  I am so exhausted! Moving and cleaning are hard work!

We spent our first night at the new house last night and it was nice. We still have a lot to do to make it “ours” and some of our stuff to move. Thankfully there’s no hurry.

It’s bittersweet leaving my parent’s house. They are so gracious and sweet  and we have loved living with them for the past 9 months!  I’m glad they’ll only be about 20 minutes away so we can still come over a lot and my mom is watching the kids for me on the days I work for awhile, so we’ll see them often and let them get their grand kid time. 🙂  Plus, our chickens and our garden is at their house so we’ll be there regularly.

It IS nice having our own space though- our new house is 1900 square feet; which is twice the size plus more than our old house in Memphis. I keep getting lost in our house! It’s funny.

And the master bathroom- oh, my. I will be spoiled beyond all reason. There’s a big round soaking tub and a separate shower with double shower heads. AND the room is like as big or bigger than our dining room in Memphis. It’s so spacious!

And there is a double oven in the kitchen. And organic raised garden beds outside that deer will eat from if we don’t protect it from them. And a worm bin.

And the owners left a bunch of dishes and some furniture so we pretty much have everything we need. The only things we have to buy are dish towels and dishwasher soap and dog food. And I get to use their gorgeous Le Cruset cookware! Seriously, I can’t believe it! ( I’ll do a home tour post soon so you can see.)

God is so good, to orchestrate everything to work out perfectly and give us more than we ever dreamed we could have. He is amazing!

So that’s what’s been going on around here.
I apologize if posting has been a little sporadic. It probably will be for a few more weeks until we get settled in. But I’ll try to give you something once a week to read. 😉

I hope you all are enjoying the beginning of summer! It’s been beautiful and sunny and warm here- finally!!