reality check

Oh my goodness, today was a hard day. Very very bittersweet. It felt like the day lasted about 50 hours. I'm exhausted and stinky. My mom came and spent the day helping me pack and saving me from the brink of insanity.

I'll sum up the whirlwind day with the good news- we found a home for our kitty, yay!! (though he is going to a lady who already had 8 cats, so we're pretty sure we are going to see our cat on an episode of Hoarders someday with this lady...!), Jamie sold his Tahoe (and for our asking price!!), and our realtor showed our house to a lovely family who decided almost for certain they want to rent our house.

Whew that is a lot of answered prayers in one day. The only sad part about it all is that it happened so fast that we didn't get much closure with the cat or the car. They were just suddenly gone! I mean, it's what we wanted, but we had to have a little sad moment of reflection and focusing on the big picture.

And we are dealing with some tough goodbyes in the midst of the packing frenzy. Seeing some of our friends and family for the last time in who knows how long...? We REALLY hope people will come visit us, but the reality is that we may not see some of these dear people for a long time. Thank goodness for Facebook. :)

Anyways, it's all part of the roller coaster adventure and we are trying to enjoy the journey, but today was a tough one. But that's life, right?

said bye to my baby

Sad day...



But Jamie promises to buy me another baby grand someday, so I'll start looking now for a turquoise one..! ;)

beach pics- part one

 I have the first part of our beach photos ready so I thought I'd post them now.

We spent 7 days on Navarre Beach (about 30 minutes from Destin). It was SO wonderful.

We wasted no time getting our toes in the sand once we arrived. We were ready to hit the beach! (Especially after Annie screamed almost the entire flight down there... whoo hoo!).

Check out this hot beach dad...!

And these beach babes...

Annie wasn't too sure about the beach, but she actually did really good with it all.

Audrie and Grandma Cornett watching the waves...

Audrie loved playing in the sand!

We went with Jamie's family on this trip and it was so nice to spend time with them!

Annie did eat quite a bit of sand, but so far no side effects... she hasn't pooped a sand castle or anything.

It was nice having so many people to help watch the girls! I got to actually relax and soak up the sun.

Jamie's cousin, Ryan. (I told him to strike a 'beach pose' and this is what he did).

Jamie and I striking our beach look, too...

The water felt amazing, but the waves were pretty strong- would knock you down if you weren't careful.

Our condo was really nice!

At least, little Miss Annie thought it was a great place to chill....

The view from our balcony...

Our master bedroom.

The view from our bed. So amazing! I got to wake up to this every morning (and the girls SLEPT til 8:30 every day we were there, so I got some serious sleep. So nice!).

This vacation was so relaxing. We got to spend some good family bonding time just hanging out.

In the past couple of weeks Annie has decided she wants to wrestle all the time with Audrie. It's super cute to see her try to take her down. David and Goliath! :)

And of course Audrie loves it!

Love them!

two cute

How am I supposed to get any work done with these two distracting me with all their cuteness?!



-Rachel

a day to recoup

We are home from vacation and tried to use the day to recover and get focused again on packing.

Annie woke up from a long nap today with some awesome sleep hair...!






But soon she was off and running again. She was so glad to be home with her toys again (and since our house is getting packed up she has room to run).





Audrie played nonstop today too. It was so sad/cute on the long trip home yesterday she kept saying "my bottom can't be still anymore". I totally knew how she felt! I was so ready to get home, too.





We are going to squeeze in as much playtime as we can this week, but the To Do list is getting hairy!

Getting so close...!

back to life back to reality

Today was our last full day on the beach. Packing up and flying home tomorrow. Wonder how long it will take me to get all the sand out of our luggage?!



This week has been one of the best vacations we have been on in a long time!


Jamie and I snuck away for a date night this evening and it was soooo nice (thank you to Jamie's family for keeping the girls while we went out)!


Audrie and I took a walk on the beach at sunset (and said bye bye to the ocean).


I can't wait to sort through all the photos I took! And I really hope I have time to share them here... but once we get back home- it's GO TIME on finalizing everything for moving in... 9 days! Oh my goodness.

a great book

Still having a blast on the beach and have a ton of pics to post but I'll save those for one big post later.

I don't really have anything exciting to share today, but i did finish an awesome book yesterday that you should read, too. (I think I'm a little behind and you've probably already read this along time ago!)



It's an awesome book and quick read. It did make me cry a lot though (just a heads up if you've ever had a miscarriage then parts of this book are tough... but very healing!).

But anyone and everyone would be touched by this story- so read it!

-Rachel

much needed vacation

Oh my goodness we are having the best time on the beach! Laying around, soaking up the sun, ocean breeze smells so happy, our toes in the sand, playing with Audrie and Annie in the water...! I feel like a new person already. Last night as I was putting Audrie to bed, she asked "is this our new home?". Ha! I really wanted to tell her yes!

father's day on the beach

Happy Father's Day to the most amazing daddy in the world, the love of my life, a truly wonderful man. Audrie, Annie, and I are so blessed! We love you, Jamie.



-Rachel

happy bday to me

So it's my birthday today. I won't tell you how OLD I am, but in two more years I can finally run for President.

For my birthday gift Jamie got me a sewing machine (thanks, babe!). I can't wait to start a bunch of projects and never finish them! Whoo hoo. :)

We are leaving for the beach today, so I got a pedicure and tried to pick a color that would match the ocean...

Another year older and wiser.