B*L*U*E

Ella was so proud of her blue tongue.
Getting to eat candy with this kind of result makes life truly great.

Spring Chicks

It is officially spring, and what better way to celebrate than with new pictures in our Easter dresses. Last week I passed by this beautiful weeping cherry, and I had to take the girls photos with it. I am constantly on the look out for new places to photograph and my poor girls are the ones dragged to each new find. This one was totally worth braving the cold for, because they turned out so beautiful. I love being able to capture sweet sisterly love.

Play Time with Friends

Any Afternoon worth spending outside is always good for me. Over this past raining season, I am about sick of sitting inside all day. I know the girls get restless as well. So this day, we decided to head to the park with our good friends the Gwinns. Our girls play so well together, and I know they are best friends in the making.

Here are a few pictures to help us remember this fun day.

Bye Bye Passy

About seven months ago, Ella officially gave up her passy. It was without a fight, cry, or relapse of any kind. When she was a baby she could not sleep without it. If she lost it in the middle of the night, everyone knew about. In fact, we spent most nights searching for it behind or under the bed. So when she volunteered to give it up I was quite sceptical. However, she proved me wrong and seemed to become a big girl overnight. It happen so fast, and right before my eyes. Although I think my eyes were closed, because I didn't realize it happened until it was too late.

The reason I am writing this story down months after it happened, is because I held on to her passy for sentimental reasons. Just the other day, Wren found it and pulled it out of the cabinet it was in. Matt picked it up and said, "oh this is Ella's old passy, we need to throw it away."

Now I am not usually sentimental with physical items. I think a picture will suffice when it comes to remembering memories. But for a second I thought. NO!! That is my baby's.

So, I thought I would write about the life of this purple and pink piece of plastic and give it a place in Duvall history.

Farewell passy, and farewell to my baby Ella.

Winter Wonderland Vacation

This weekend we went down to my grandparents house on Lake Martin. We were able to get down there before the snow bagan to fall. It ended up being a beautiful white weekend.

My grandma, aunt, and mom watching the snow fall.

The snow fell all day and completely covered the ground. We didn't take the girls out in the snow, but I did sneak out for a bit to take a few pictures. The three of us piled onto this cart and went riding up the road. The seats were wet, so I sat in my mom's lap while my aunt drove. You should have seen us, we looked like 'Dumb & Dumber'. I then jumped off and took a photo while my aunt took a photo.

What a view

Finally I was able to come inside to capture my girls playing.

The rest of the weekend was spent playing games, watching the olympics, and visting with family. It is always fun here at the lake and I love spending time with my grandparents.

A Blogger Award?

Okay, so I guess I have been honored with a blogger award by my good friend Meredith from ourprettypinkworld.blogspot.com The honor was recently passed to her, and she in turn passed it along to me. I remember before I started blogging, I thought this would be a great way to keep up with memories I would have other wise forgotten. But did I have the time? Meredith convinced me I did, so I did. Anyways, the extent of this award is to share seven random things about myself that I know my devoted followers would love to know about me.


1. I am a very scheduled, by the rules kind of person in my day to day life. But, there is a side of me where I love being out of my element. Although the unknown scares me, it also excites me. In saying this, I would love to travel all over the world. Not as a tourist in a resort, but actually being in countries and seeing how other cultures live. I hope to one day have the money to travel the world with my husband.

2. I am SUPER super competitive. I don't know how I picked up this trait, but I can't remember ever not being this way. I love playing any game or sport, and with only one thing in mind. To win. I really think what I like is the skill, thought, and challenge it takes in order to pursue the win.

3. I am so afraid of two things; public speaking and heights. Seriously, when I know I have to say something in front of large crowd I instantly get butterflies in my stomach, blood rushes to my face (causing redness), and I break out into a cold sweat. Also, I am so afraid of heights I can barely climb a ladder. I get a few pegs up, and I freeze.

4. From 1st grade until 3rd grade my family lived in Nebraska. When I think about my favorite memories from childhood, I think about living there. Still today, I think it is why I love snow so much.

5. If I had a dollar for every time someone commented on how blond my hair is or how non-tan my skin is, I would be a stinking millionaire. There is something about the obvious that people can't help but comment on or feel the need to point out. I get that natural blonds are rare, but seriously.




6. I could live on chocolate. Chocolate ice cream, cake, milk, or just straight up. I will not pass on it. I should buy stock in Hershey.

7. I have known Matt for more than half of my life. When I think of how God had planned our life long togetherness before we even understood its out come is amazing. You just never know what kind of impact another person may have in your life when you first meet them. When I met Matt we were friends who's families attended the same church. Than husband and wife seven years later.


So, now you know a little more about me. Scary, I know.

A Weekend Getaway

Over MLK weekend, Matt and I were able to get away with our class to Ellijay for a marriage retreat. The whole class was going to meet up late Friday night, but Matt took off work Friday and we headed up early. First we headed over to Amicalola Falls to enjoy a nice steep hike.


On the way up, Matt decided to run up and sit in a shallow cave with a frozen entrance.


What a view


We would stop for breaks and get a drink of water...

After spending time over at the falls, we went over to check out our AMAZING cabin, "A River Runs Through it". It was so awesome. Inside, the cabin was lodge style with hardwoods and rustic decor. And the best part was the small creek that ran under our cabin. You could see both sides from the front and back porches in the living room.

http://www.vrbo.com/91193

About 100 yards behind the cabin was a small waterfall.

A few hours later the rest of the group joined us for dinner. Then we all headed back to the cabin where we enjoyed a weekend of studying God's word, and listening to sermons focused on strengthening our marriages. We also played games, ate great food, relaxed, and got to know each other better.

The whole group...

Needs some help!

This group was so much fun to be around. I really enjoyed getting to know each couple and person a little better than before. I think we are all in agreement that this needs to be a yearly event.

Now, Sunday afternoon was the end of the group retreat, but on the way home, Matt told me we were headed to one more place. I was totally caught off guard when he pulled up to the Aska Bed and Breakfast. There we spent one more night together relaxing with no children. My husband gets bonus points for being so romantic.

http://www.askalodge.net/