What I read this week:

Change of Heart - By Jodi Picoult - This was shared by Kristen O and Alyssa O. It is SO good. I really love her books. They are all mysteries in a way with a twist. This is the story of a guy who is on death row for allegedly murdering a cop and his daughter. He sees on the news that the other daughter of this family needs a heart transplant and he wants to donate his heart too her, but obviously the court and the mom of the family have lots of emotions about this. There is also an interesting twist on religion in this book as well. I give it 5 stars. It is a real page turner and thinker. :)

The Shack - By William Young. This was loaned to me by Allyson W and recommended by several of you bloggers. The subtitle of this book is "Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity". This is a short book (only 250 small pages) and it truly is a must read. Without giving too much away, it is basically about a man who God invites to spend a weekend with him at a shack where a great tragedy happened to the man's family. This book really blessed me. Even though it was fiction, I felt like it showed a lot of insight into God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Please take the time to read this book. It is outstanding and I know it will bless you like it blessed me.


On a COMPLETELY different page, Breaking Dawn, the 4th book in the Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer is coming out in one week! I am so excited to find out how this story ends. I know so many of you out there are fans of this series like I am and although I should be embarrassed about my obsession to this love triangle (those of you who have read it know why it is embarrassing to talk about), but truthfully this series is SO captivating, innovative, and compelling, I am not ashamed to admit that this series is one of the best fiction series I have read.


So here are my questions blogger:

1. Do you think I am crazy for reading two books in a week?
2. Have you read any of these books?
3. Have you prereserved a copy of Breaking Dawn?
4. Did The Shack change the way you look at things?
5. What are you reading?

Here are some of my favorite quotes about reading:

“The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read.” ^{- Mark Twain}
“Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.” ^{- Mason Cooley}
“Of all the diversions of life, there is none so proper to fill up its empty spaces as the reading of useful and entertaining authors.” ^{- Joseph Addison}
“A capacity and taste for reading gives access to whatever has already been discovered by others.” ^{- Abraham Lincoln}
“It is not true we have only one life to love, if we can read, we can live as many lives and as many kinds of lives as we wish.” ^{- S.I. Hayakawa}
“Reading a book is like re-writing it for yourself. You bring to a novel, anything you read, all your experience of the world. You bring your history and you read it in your own terms.” ^{- Angela Carter}

Carley's Big Girl Room

Carley has been in a big girl bed for a few weeks now and so we have been working on the room. Cody did it all. I simply griped, criticized, and gave unwanted advice! :)

Here's how it all went down. When we spent the week at Alyssa's, Carley slept on Lauren's trundle matress and I slept on Lauren's bed. Carley spent the week adjusting and doing so well. On the way back to Lubbock Cody mentioned that we were going to put Carley in a big bed in a couple of weeks, since she had already done it for a week, why not go ahead and do it, so we came back and bought the matresses. Here was the killer for me, I have always heard not to focus on your child's firsts, but their lasts as well. I didn't know the night before we went to Alyssa's was her last night in a crib. I didn't treasure the rocking or the little face with wild hair waiting for me in her crib the next morning. Her first night in her big bed, Carley just laid down and went to sleep, no tears at all. I, on the other hand, cried like a baby.

I am so thankful that it has been such an easy transition for her and us. We have had a few nights of crying when she was trying to fall asleep, two missed naps, but overall, I am SO thankful that we did the transition at Alyssa's. It was perfect.

Anyway, her room went from a light green nursery to a bright big girl room with stripes and a chair rail. I think Cody did a great job on it. Here are some pictures of the process.

green to yellow

Can you believe that he just free handed the stripes? No tape or anything. My husband is seriously too talented.

There are about 100 stripes in the room in 4 different Disney Colors: Pretty as Princess Pink, Cinderella Ball Gown Blue, Tinkerbell Green, and Rumbly Tumbly Orange. The yellow is Tiger's Tummy.

So meticulous

We are going to get white furniture, but I think we will wait until she is closer to not using diapers. Maybe she will get furniture for her 3rd bday in December.

I just love these three hangings.

Happy Birthday, Cody

Today my husband is the big 29! Happy Birthday, Buddy. The picture above may seem so random, but in so many ways, this incorporates Cody's personality so much.

He is truly a helper. It is what his name means and what I would use to describe his passion in life. He LOVES to help others and does it joyfully.

He is patient. He is the kind of patient that puts others at ease around him.

He is gentle. When Carley is throwing a crazy two year old fit, just feeling her Daddy's hand on her back makes me calm down.

He is a team player. The crazy 4th of July parade...not his idea. Giving fireworks to a two year old....not his idea. Most of the things he does....not his idea. But Cody works joyfully and is great at compromising.

Happy Birthday, Cody!

My Blog List

I am trying something new with my blog list and I thought I would blog about it because several of you out there use my list on the right to navigate back and forth between blogs. I didn't want to throw you for a loop.

The way my list works now is it is in order of who last posted. Since there are 76 blogs attached at the right it is too long to click through to see who updated. This way I can see at a glance. The only downfall is those of you who are private will always be at the bottom because it can't determine when you last updated.

There is a way to do it alphabetical by blog name but I am going to try it by order of update for a little while to see what we think.

I welcome feedback.

That darn empty seat

Today Cody made an appointment for Carley and I to head to the tire store to get the valve stem (or something like that) checked on our car. As many of you know, a tire store is not the easiest place to entertain a two year old for an hour........no toys, no tv. Plus it was pouring rain this morning so my original plan to walk to McDonalds or a donut shop wasn't going to work in that eather. So Carley and I walk in (dripping wet because I can never find my umbrella when it rains) and go to the counter. When I walk in I see that the room is full of men. Literally, all men. They are ALL sitting with an empty seat between them. So Carley and I head to the counter to check in and all of that and I start thinking, "One of these nice guys will move next to eachother so I can sit with my daughter and our large diaper bag of toys". After about 3 minutes at the counter I turn around to find a seat and no one had moved. Some of these guys were in their 40s and 50s so I know that at least a couple of them must be fathers and feel my pain. No one gets up. I just stand there looking for a place, when my vocal little girl in pigtails and a princess shirt says, "Mommy, where are we going to sit? I do not see a chair for me and a chair for you." Carley is not a whisperer by any stretch and I know they all heard her. I said I didn't know and did the look around the room again. All the guys were looking every direction but at us so they could avoid my eye contact. Finally she stood in front of me while I sat in a chair. After 30 minutes one of the guys got finished and left and we finally could sit together.

Why can't men sit next to eachother? I get the comfort factor, but when two that are clearly together need to sit together, then they should be man enough to move over. Do they really think that they are going to come across as a homosexual for sitting next to another man in the tire store? Ugh.

Carley at 2 1/2 and Cousin Pictures

4th of July week and the most hilarious parade ever

I have so much to blog about over the past two weeks, but I thought I would do the 4th first because 'tis the season afterall. Cody, Carley, my parents, and I headed up to Keller to spend the week with Alyssa's family. The boys went to NYC for three days and us girls stayed in Keller and swam, played, shopped, ate, and laughed. It was such a fun and crazy week for all of us.

We got to see my friend Shanta and baby Campbell over dinner one night. These are two of my favorite girls and I just loved being with them. It was so great. I nearly tucked Campbell away in my purse and kept her.

I also got to see my dear friends Mark and Clay Rich and their wives Tara and Jessica. They both have bought homes recently and I got to see all the work they had done. I am very thankful for all 4 of these special people in my life and the sweetness of our friendship. It was great.

The funniest part of the week to me was my niece Lauren who organized a "parade" for Carley and Cam to be in. A parade done my a 4 year old and two 2 year olds was precious chaos. My mom helped organize and got the parade going. It was so sweet. I can not tell you in blog world how hilarious it was, but let me just go over the parade order. (It really was a program, but you can't convince a 4 year old of that)

1. Singing of "We Love Our Flag" by all three.
2. Invocation by Carley (The Lord's Prayer)3. Carley rocking the crowd with a performance of "Bingo"

4. Camryn singing the patriotic favorite "Twinkle, Twinkle"
5. Lauren reading a bible story to the crowd

6. Lauren doing a song from VBS
7. All 3 doing "My God is So Big".
8. Throwing candy to the crowd (once again, ALL Lauren's idea and hilarious)
9. "We love Our Flag"

They were so cute.

My mom and dad were great and had sparklers for the girls and mom helped them make a cake. The girls had so much fun decorating it with sprinkles and they were so proud of their work.

Alyssa was such a great hostess. She and Clint couldn't have been more wonderful. My nieces are too precious and so funny. I just loved it.

New Must Reads

Friends, If you get time over the break, try to read the Mark of the Lion trilogy by Francine Rivers. These books are unlike any I have read. I tried two different times to start these and both times I didn't get past the first chapter. This time is was different. I guess my frame of mind was a little calmer and I started reading and I was literally engrossed in these books for three day. I am on the third one now and they are truly incredible, inspirational, powerful, and thought provoking. They are a story of a young Christian girl about 30 years after Christ died and rose again. They are worth your time and your read. Have any of you read them? Did you agree?

Ahhh Summer

I can't believe that June is almost over. Man, time is flying by. We said good bye to our sweet Bowmans and was glad to know they survived the 24 hour drive successfully. :) Here is a picture of Carley and Charlie at church.






It has rained a lot for Lubbock in the past couple of weeks. Everything is actually pretty green which is a rarity here. When we moved into this house last summer I was thankful that we bought a house from people who are good at gardening. Cody and I are horrible at this. They had planted some beautiful flowering bushes that I love to watch open. I noticed a few days ago that the plant had really grown and the buds were starting to form and then this morning, they had opened. It amazes me how flowers are closed one night and open big and beautiful the next day. Something about that just gives me peace and hope in the tomorrows ahead.

So, along with my sappy post, here are some pictures of the flowers that opened overnight and I am hoping that your tomorrow is filled with a beautiful surprise as well.

Good Bye Bowmans

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Both pregnant at our 5 year college reunion
Bumping Baby Bellies on our class retreatMeeting Carley on her first hours of life and anxiously awaiting Charlie a month later

Forcing frienship in the early days
Documenting that Carley has always been taller

Baby Blessing at Church

Matching Outfits

Introduction to Mixed Bathing


First kiss and proof that dressing your kids up is always funny

Dr. B and the Duck hard at work


There is a sad weekend coming for the Nelsons. Our very dear and special friends, the Bowmans are moving to Virginia. I have been blessed to know Andy and Amy since we were 18. Now we are 30! I hate to put such sappy stuff on my blog, but it is a tool to document the big moments in our lives and this is one for us. Luckily we have gotten to see them a whole bunch and soak up as much Bowman time as we can in the past few weeks. It is just hard to say good bye to people you have seen on almost a weekly basis, if not more, for 12 years.

They are friends, they are family, they are nuts, they are great listeners, they are unique, they are hilarious, and they are the best! We will miss them terribly and hope the next three years go by in a flash so we can be together again soon.