Long Time, No Post

I have missed you blog. I took a self-imposed sabbatical from blogging. Not for any deep, spiritual reason. Just a bunch of reasons. And then the whole getting behind on blogging and I don't know how to catch up thing happened.

Honestly, the day after my last post we had some really sad news for our family. My sweet cousin Shannon passed away suddenly. It was such a shock--I still can hardly believe it. She was house-sitting (which she did often) and got sick and just died. I imagine it had something to do with her diabetes but we still don't know for sure.

I got to help clean out her apartment. It was a sweet way to learn a few things about her that I didn't know before. She was a list maker! She made budgets for everything--to make sure she could afford everything. She loved her preschoolers. She didn't like to clean her apartment. She loved the Lord with all of her heart.

She will be greatly missed by our whole family.

Shannon Crawford

I also had surgery the week after the funeral. You know, female stuff that included losing an ovary and whatnot. The recovery was not fun. July was not the month we had planned at all.

And do I even need to mention the heat? Dreadful. And that I gained about 15 pounds? Awful. But true. I guess that whole eat-what-you-want and don't-do-a-single-bit-of-exercise really can lead to weight gain. Who knew?

So I was a little down in the dumps some of the summer. I had fun with the kids for sure. We saw more movies than we planned. Watched more tv than I wanted. But we did almost everything we had on our big summer list! We went roller skating, to GattiTown, saw Cars 2, Winnie the Pooh, the Smurfs, went swimming at several pools, had sleepovers, etc. The two big ones we didn't get to are DisneyWorld and making a spy movie. Maybe someday!

I got to do something else really fun this summer. My best friend Jenny remodeled her home this summer. I got to help in almost every aspect of the remodel! So fun!!! I am actually hoping to do this "on the side" more and more. I will blog more about it soon. (I actually may start a new blog--if I can figure it out!) So here is a quick peek of the finished product. More to come! Thanks jenny for the opportunity to design and decorate your home. Loved it.


We took a mini family vacation to the Gaylord Texan late in the summer. The kids loved it! We met the Bindras for a day of fun at the water park at the Gaylord. Here are the kiddos! (Oh yeah, we left Hank with my folks. PTL)

These two are old pros at posing together. They are quick to hug and smile.

We have to keep telling these two to get closer and closer.

These two girls are really sweet friends. We are lucky to have all the Bindra girls.

And then the summer was over! It went by so fast. Except when it went so slow. :)

The kids were so excited to go back to school this year. We like our teachers and they each have friends in their class. What more can you ask for?

Lainey (3rd), Sam and Rhody (1st)

Next year boys!

After school. It was over 100 degrees.

I took a few pics of #2 and #4 this past weekend. They love each other!




The end. For now.