Last Weekend in April

   Last weekend Phillip made a trip to Roland, Oklahoma to help his family clean out his Mimie's house. Mimie is his grandma who has Alzheimer's, and lives with his parents now in Searcy, Arkansas. He left Friday after work and came back on Sunday.
   Since I was going to be by myself all weekend I decided to make plans! All day on Friday I worked on our flower beds. Brody and I went to Lowe's and bought ferns, mulch, hanging potted flowers, and a new umbrella for our patio table. I also decided that the yard needed to be mowed. This wasn't that big of a deal because I have been mowing since I was in high school. That was one of the chores that my parents made us do. Actually I was the one that did it more than Jamie because she had allergies ( I thought it was a great excuse that she used to get out of mowing the yard.. haha). The main reason I enjoy mowing is that I can take advantage of being outside and try to get a tan. I also decided that  today was the day that I needed to learn how to use the weed eater. So naturally when you want to learn how to do anything new, I went on "you tube" and looked up how to use a weed eater. After watching this video and getting some helpful tips from Phillip, I attempted to do it. I was very proud of myself that I started it ( the hardest part) and actually did a good job for my first time!
    Every year I always look forward to the weekend in the spring that we plant flowers, put new mulch down etc. It is just almost like a sign that Summer ( my favorite time of year) is officially starting.

                    Here is a product of my hard work!

Saturday morning Brody and I drove to Florence, Alabama to visit my family that lives there. We hung out with them Saturday afternoon, went to church with them on Sunday and left that afternoon. 

My cousin John feeding Brody lunch.

He had just turned 8 months old on April 26th!

Brody and John watching the draft together.

Opal ( Uncle Keith's mom) with Brody, he fell asleep in her lap! After having 6 children, she has the magic touch!

Saturday afternoon we went to watch John play baseball!

John did great playing first base!

Sunday morning before church we spent some time hanging out with Mimi before church. I took a lot of pictures of her and Brody that I know he will always cherish!

We had a great weekend in Florence, it is always so nice getting to spend the weekend with family. I feel so blessed that they live so close. We headed back home Sunday after church to greet Phillip when he got home. Overall the weekend was a great way to end the month of April!

            

Easter

   This Easter was special because it was our first Easter as a family of three.  On Saturday we hung out as a family all day which was fun. We had beautiful, warm weather, so we took advantage of it and were outside most of the day. In the afternoon we went to an Easter festival in downtown Murfreesboro. They had a petting zoo and Brody was very interested in the ponies, horses, goats, and chickens.

         That evening Phillip and I went out on a date and had our first paid babysitter over!  We have been out of many dates since Brody was born but usually a friend from church offers to keep him for us. We decided that it was time to get a babysitter that could be regular for us and could keep Brody at the house. This makes things so much easier when he is kept at our house. Our sweet friend from church, Becca kept him. She has offered to before and did a great job! She is a single girl from Texas ( so I knew she would be great) haha that we have gotten to know at church. We also used to be in lifegroup with her brother and sister in law.  She is such a special person and is the type of person that lights up a room when she enters! She just radiates love, goodness and joy that only comes from the Lord.  We are excited for her to be a regular babysitter. She did such a great job that she is coming back this Friday to keep him again!

        On Sunday morning we woke up, put Brody in bed with us and gave him his Easter basket.  I put together a little Easter basket for him with toy trucks, bubbles, and a book. 

Our good friend, Cole Griffith ( Audra's husband) took these family pictures in the parking lot before church. 

 Our good friends from Harding, Emily and Ryan Johnson go to church at Fourth Avenue and were there Easter Sunday with their families who came in for the weekend. They were kind enough to invite us to their house for Sunday lunch. Emily fixed ham, and all kinds of delicious casserole's, and we contributed KFC! ( grilled) Of course, is any holiday meal complete without KFC?! Their family was so welcoming and kind to us. We had a great time! They absolutely loved holding Brody! It makes me feel so good to see people loving on your child.

Ryan and Phillip at Easter lunch.

Emily and I have been friends since Harding. We were roommates there our sophomore year and in Kojies ( social club) together. I'm so glad that her and Ryan live in Nashville and go to church with us! It is such a blessing having had her in my life for so long!

Emily is so good with Brody! She works at Baptist Hospital ( where Brody was born) on the postpartum  floor. She told several of her nurse friends to check on us while we were there. It was such a blessing having people she was friend's with come in and give us extra special treatment. Emily is a great friend and I can't wait for her and Ryan to become parents one day!

Brody's beautiful Easter outfit ( if you look closely you can see the bunnies) was given to him by our dear friend's, Michael and Wendy Humphries. They gave that to me at my baby shower at Fourth Avenue. 

    
               Most of all Easter was special for us to remember that we serve a risen Savior! It was so uplifting celebrating at church the fact that Jesus not only died for our sins, but that he rose from the grave! It was good to remember this on Easter but to also remember that this should be celebrated every day in the way that we live out our lives. We were a lost people but were found! I pray that we strive to live out our lives in response to God coming down and saving us!