Hola Amigos!

Ryan and I just got back from Mexico. Could you tell by the title of this post?! About a year ago, unbeknownst to Ryan, I started secretly saving for his upcoming 30th b'day. He had surprised me last year on my 30th with a trip to Boston, so I wanted to do something special for his decade-turning year as well. Well.. he "found" the secret, birthday stash and had the grand idea to use that money (and add a little extra to the pot) to make it a 30th b'day/5 year anniversary trip to Mexico. So, with little lady in tow, we traveled to the ATL, dropped Campbell with my family for a week we like to refer to "Camp Atlanta", and we flew out for a 5 day hiatus! It was wonderful to say the least...

We stayed here--




And, to sum up our week... 1. We ate ALOT! Seven amazing restaurants, any genre you can imagine, ALL-INCLUSIVE. 2. We snorkled 3. We sun-bathed 4. We SLEPT for LOOONNNNGGG, uninterrupted hours 5. We drank fruity drinks 6. We ziplined through the jungle (and I consequently pinned a small, Mexican instructor into a large tree b/c I couldn't stop properly or safely for that matter) but that is neither here nor there, and is for another post. What would one of my vacations be without BRUISING, right? 7. And most importantly, I got to spend unbelievable quality time with my very best friend.


And, Campbell, you ask? Do NOT feel sorry for this little sweetpea whom we orphaned to skip town.


She was showered with love, gifts, kisses, treats, you name it. My wonderful family all "shared" her for the week, and needless to say, she came home much loved and much spoiled. This picture says it all after a week with all her cousins who adore her. ( I think she is still trying to catch up on her sleep).

Surprise!

Pardon this belated post, but this was too fun not to share...

Two weekends ago, Ryan and I had the pleasure of hosting a SURPRISE, 40th Anniversary party at our house for my sweet in-laws. To their complete surprise, myself (and Ryan, who was a big help) and my 2 sisters-in-law planned a dinner for immediate family to celebrate 40 years of wedded bliss. Nicole (my wonderful friend and sis-in-law), who truly spear-headed the whole shin-dig, was amazing with the details, down to the centerpieces in the colors that my MIL had at her wedding 40 years ago-- peach and cream! The children each gave toasts, which were all very touching and special, and to round off the evening, Nicole had even put together a video slide-show.

It was a wonderful picture to view as an "outlaw"... to see how much their children value and strive to have a marriage like their parents. To see how a Christ-centered marriage has a strong foundation like no other. To see the legacy my sweet in-laws have left to their children and GRAND-children. I felt very honored to be part of such a special family and celebration. I wish my in-laws so very many more years of happiness and love! Congrats, Mimi and Poppa!! We love you SO much...




Here are some pictures of the beautiful set-up, generations of wonderful women, the Green kiddos, Campbell with her Mimi and Poppa, and me with Mindee (my sister-in-law) and Campbell's youngest cousin, Cate.

Labor Day Weekend...

I love a good Labor Day. Fall is somewhat in the air (if you delete the 100% humidity down here in LA), college football is gearing up (and is the only thing on my screen, sorry Elmo), and I start to break out the sweats/sweatshirts (with definite shout-outs to Alpha Gam and the glory days in AU)!

To sum up our weekend, we did a little of this....


ALOT of this...





And, introduced the Little Lady to this...



Now, I have to be transparent and say that being from Atlanta, and growing up going to the ATLANTA ZOO, I was slightly snobby when I heard that our closest zoo was literally named, "The Little Zoo That Could". Sad, huh?! But, did my ego ever have a bruisin' when we saw approximately 10ish TIGERS!?! BEARS!!!!? LIONS?!?!! What?! I was very impressed at what Gulf Shores puts out in the area of exotic animals. And, to say that Campbell was enthralled is the understatement of the YEAR! She LOVED it. She kept saying, "Hi" to all the animals. Her favs were the goats, deer, donkey and sheep. Bless her, she even kept humming the beginning stanzas to "Bah Bah Black Sheep".





The end result... a sweaty, exhausted, red-cheeked, curly haired toddler who can't keep her hands out of the dog bowl to "feed" the "petting zoo-like LAB" whom we adoringly call our dog, O'Malley. That will be an interesting lesson to attempt to teach after our zoo activity...




I hope that everyone's Labor Day was wonderful and that you were able to enjoy a "day off" with your loved ones.

Chores with Dada...

I love that Campbell LOVES to hang out with Ryan. I mean, I know that he's the most fun guy to hang out with, but I love that she knows this fact too. Here are some pictures of my two sweet peas doing "chores" around the house. This is a little taste of what I dreamed motherhood to be.. me making dinner while my child mows grass, pulls weeds, washes the dog or organizes the garage with "Dada". Life is sweet...

Happy 5th Anniversary!

As I've thought about what to write for this post, I've started it a million different ways. But, to put it so simply... I'm still so in love with Ryan after five years of good times and bad. In five years, I've come to really SEE what our vows meant when we said them so naively. Ryan has taught me so much about myself, about what love means, what forgiveness looks like, and what servanthood is. I'm so blessed to have married a man who truly makes me a better person, and I cannot wait to grow old with him.

I love you, Ryan! Thank you loving me so unconditionally these past 5 years.

Where are they coming from?!

Let me start off by saying, I love this sweet, little girl SOOOO much! She is now 16 months old, and we daily say that we cannot imagine our lives without her. She makes us laugh so hard with her ear-to-ear smiles and funny dances that look like the "sprinkler" on steroids. She is fun-loving, loves to belly laugh, loves to give us big, sloppy kisses, loves to point at things and learn new words (making this Speech Therapist SUPER excited). She's just a sponge, and I love that she desires to really know the world around her and is already SO smart. Ok, I have gotten off on a tangent, bragging about my little sweet pea. Baaack to the fun-loving part... I had to share this, because it literally CRACKED. ME.UP.

Today, I get home from work, change my clothes, get Campbell a snack and her milk, and begin the mundane chore of folding laundry. Not long into my chores, Campbell walks into the laundry room with a tortilla chip. Knowing that Ryan and I had Moe's for lunch yesterday, I immediately think, "Sick. She has gotten into the trashcan and is eating yesterday's tortilla chips." I walk to the trashcan, but find that the trashbag hasn't been disturbed and everything inside is as I left it earlier. While I watch her carefully consume (and share half of the chip with our dog) it, I'm really very disgusted. But after a long day at work, I really don't feel like fighting with and consequently hearing the screaching hollers from my little lady. So, I put it out of my mind and I go start cleaning up the kitchen. Soon after, Campbell walks into the kitchen, smiling ear-to-ear, with ANOTHER tortilla chip! WHAT!? At this point, I am beyond puzzled, as I am staring at the trashcan and have been beside it the whole time in the kitchen. Once she finishes that one (so gnarly, I know), I steathly follow her and find.... that she has very covertly and carefully taken out the tortilla bag from the trashcan, CLOSED THE TRASHBAG BACK UP, and is eating the chips on the FLOOR OF OUR BATHROOM!!!!!!! Praise the Lord that our house got cleaned today! I mean, maybe this is where I should've reprimanded her, but honestly, is my child a GENIUS?! Secretly, I was a little proud.





So, like any good Mom, I quickly distracted her, got our dog to eat the remaining tortilla chip in her little palm, grabbed the bag 'o chips, and discarded them in the outside trashcan ASAP.

Just had to share this story about my future MD/LAWYER/ROCKET SCIENTIST extraordinaire.

We're baaaaccckkkk...

Well, the beach trip was a success. It started out a little rough (I even packed up to head home at one point), due to a baby who was teething, had a head cold, couldn't get comfortable in a Pack and Play, took 45+ mins to calm down for naps/bedtime, and liked to wake this Mama up at 4:30AM three mornings in a row. So, after some good naps, some much needed alone time to run to the store or wherever, and some GREAT help from my Mom and sisters (and nieces), we enjoyed the rest of the week.

As I anxiously await my sisters' pics, I will provide a "list" of the more memorable events of the week.

1.) Dinner at Stinky's: DISCLAIMER-- this could be a post in itself.

After a less-than-relaxing dinner at yummy Stinky's Fish Camp, I got up to walk my restless toddler around outside and on the way out, FELL DOWN A FLIGHT OF STAIRS! **If any of you remember Britney Murphy's character from the movie Clueless fly down the stairs, please envision now** Yes, Campbell was ok (thank the Lord, as she was on my hip) but only because I had the sense to guard her sweet little body with mine (while flying through mid-air) as evidence by my bruised and battered elbow, fanny and knee. When I tell you that if could take a picture and not have Blogspot ban me from their website, I would. I have the WORST shiner you have ever seen on my right booty cheek. It definitely has taken FIRST place as my "Most Embarrassing Moment", as I was escorted down the 2nd flight of stairs by TWO managers and heard a literal shriek of terror from a patron who witnessed the blunder. Bad thing was, only strangers saw the horrific sight, my family was still settling the bill. Nice. If any of you were vacationing down in the Seaside/Seagrove/Grayton Beach area and heard about the Mom who fell down the stairs with her child in tow, well, that was yours truly...

2.) Early wake up calls by my sweetie pie, Campbell. As the week progressed, she let me sleep in until 6AM! Whoo hoo. We would typically either sneak out quietly and go for a run, or hop on the bike and go grab a Mother-Daughter donut while my other family members slept in peace.

3.) Enjoying yummy dinners as we each took turns cooking. Fish Tacos, Fresh Salads, Homeade Guacamole, Pasta with pancetta/asparagus/pine nuts, and Alfredo Bake. Now I know where my new 2 (or 3 or 4)lbs. has come from....

4.) Bike rides after dinner following multiple glasses of wine... this too could be a post in itself. We'll just leave it at, Campbell has some new words in her vocabulary, including "weeeee" and "whoa"...

5.) A free concert on the lawn at Seaside with hundreds of children (including mine) dancing, twirling, squealing in delight and enjoying ice cream dripping down their chins. Such a wonderful sight to see Campbell enjoying "big girl" time with my sweet nieces!

6.) Getting to enjoy a little time under the beach umbrella with my sisters while my sweet Mom watched Campbell for a bit. What wonderful time of conversation and just "being" together. I miss these times so much now that I live out of state. My sisters are amazing, wise, insightful and all around awesome "Moms" to look up to and emulate. If you don't know them, you are missing out.

Ok... that is enough for now. I could go on and on, but this post is getting WAY long! More to follow with pics...