Opinions... Everybody's got one

I need your help....

Over the past 2 years have been through about 3 pairs of cheap rain boots. They only last me about a season before they crack. And I have been wanting a pair of Hunter Rain boots for a very long time. Matthew is a "buy once, cry once" type guy. So he sees the value in buying a good brand from the beginning, and Hunters are suppose to be one of the best. Although... he does think it is a bit silly to spend that much money on a pair of rain boots that I am not going to wear that often. Then I just have remind him about all that hiking gear that is in the closet that hasn't been used in months....

When we moved to Chattanooga at the beginning of 2012, I had to chance to buy a pair. My birthday was coming up and Matthew gave me a budget to go shopping. I love shopping... I mean what girl doesn't? am I right...

I came really close to getting a pair then, but had decided against it. I wasn't sure it was the best way to spend money.We had been in a drought for the past few years and figured I wouldn't be able to wear them as much as I would like. And spending that much money on a pair of rain boots kind of makes me sick to my stomach.

Then we ended up having one of the wettest, coldest, and snowiest years we have had in a long long time. And I couldn't help but think I should have bought the boots....

So my birthday came around again this past Spring. I mentioned to Matthew how I still wanted a pair, he said if that was what I  really wanted then I could order them. Then my logical side kicked in... Will I really wear them? Is this a good way to spend our money? Or do I want them because Pinterest is telling me I want them?
I decided to again wait, but I keep thinking about them.

Now that our vacation has passed and our budget has loosened up, Matthew and I sat down and began to discuss the things we needed/wanted to buy. Our list consisted of logical things, like new tires and fall/winter clothes for Finley, all the way to a crazy expensive rain jacket for Matthew. So of course the important things were done first, because you know we are responsible adults like that...

Then Matthew told me we have been doing really well with our budget and have been able to save some extras and I should be able to get the boots soon. This was a surprise since I figured it wouldn't be until spring at the earliest.

So I have been spending the last few days looking at colors and styles and have narrowed it down to a few. I know I want the tall boot and I am leaning towards the glossy finish.

The ones I really want are the Fuchsia or the Tiffany Blue. But I can't find them anywhere. It seems these may have been for Spring/Summer and now that it is almost Fall they are no longer available. I love the idea of bright rain boots. They are so much fun! Although I would feel like I can't just wear them with anything.

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They currently have the Bright Coral and Peacock Blue available. Which are similar to the fuchsia and Tiffany blue.

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My only real concern with these options are if I will really like the color in person. They look nice on the internet, but sometimes it is hard to get a good feel for a color when you don't actually see it.

So then my logical side goes towards the Black or Grey. These are classic and will never go out of trend. They go with everything and I can make them fun with different socks (but not the Hunter socks because those are expensive..). But they are so logical and safe. 

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I asked a girlfriend which one she would get, she said one of the bright ones. I asked Matthew his opinion and he said the black or grey.

Which ones would you pick?


** all pictures were found on Pinterest and linked back to the original source. Expect the picture of the peacock blue, her site no longer existed.**

Hilton Head, SC

It is crazy to think that we have been home from vacation for 2 weeks now! Wow.. how does time get away from me!

We had a great time. Our condo was small put recently re-done, so it was really nice to just sit and hang out in it. It wasn't the typical "old beach" theme that most places are. It got the job done as far as condos go. I would be thrilled to go back and stay in the same one again.

We arrived late Saturday night. Once we got the car unpacked we kicked off our shoes and ran down to the ocean. Wedding clothes and everything! It was after 11 and the moon was full, so it was beautiful!

We spent most of our time in the pool. I love the idea of the beach, but hate the sand. And we all were pretty content with the pool after we got stung by jellies within 15 minutes of being in the water on our first day.

We hit all the local hot spots for ice cream, lunch, dinner and daiquiris :) Our condo was right across the street from the major shops and restaurant pavilion. So it was easy to get ready and walk over. We barely drove anywhere the whole week because everything we needed was across the street.

One day we rented bikes and rode around the island. That was fun, but hot. We got to see an alligator while we were out. A guy passing by mentioned that they liked to eat little girls... so of course Finley spent the rest of the week worrying about being eaten by an alligator. So thank you random guy for that.

I got to have an afternoon to myself while Matthew took Finley to the pool. I packed up my computer and went to the coffee shop near our condo and sat there by myself with the quiet for a while. It was heaven!

We made the trip down to Savannah to see family one day. We spent the evening walking around River Street. We took Finley into one of the iconic candy shops and let her pick out a treat. It was hot and muggy, so we didn't hang out too long. Which made me sad a little bit. Matthew and I spent our 1 year anniversary in Savannah and I was hoping to get a family picture in front of the Forsyth Park fountain. Matthew and I took a picture there with just the 2 of us. So I would have like to have an updated picture, but we never made our way over there :(

Almost every night after dinner we would go walk the beach. Finley's favorite thing to do was look for the muscles that dig into the sand. I think that was the highlight of the trip for her. She is still talking about them, and says that they are in her food. Silly girl...

We took it easy for the most part. We really didn't have any specific plans we wanted to do, expect for visiting family the one day. It was nice to be able to take our time getting ready and going anywhere.

Now for some pictures from our trip!

Now we start the count down until we leave for Nepal!

6 weeks!!

Setting the bar for vacations

We have been home from vacation for about a week now. This year we had a great time! There was some hesitation and doubt when we planned this trip that it would be like the last one we went on.

So let me tell you about the family trip that set the bar for all family trips after that. Let's just say the bar wasn't set very high....

Let me set the stage for you....
We were headed to St. Simons Island, GA.
It was July 4th weekend (July 4th fell on a Monday that year).
Finley had just turned 14 months old.
The day before we left she decided to walk for the first time.
At the last minute we decided to add an extra day, so we left a day earlier then planned and had to priceline a hotel room last minute.
At some point the week before we left I had a migraine. You may ask what this has to do with the trip... Well one of my meds (unbeknownst to me) made me hypersensitive to the sun (i.e. it made me allergic to the sun) and we were headed to the beach. Fun times.

It was Wednesday night and Matthew suggested we leave Friday afternoon instead of super early Saturday morning. This way we do the 6 hour drive Friday night and are ready for a day at the beach the next day. I was all like "uhh... yeah! Let's do this!" So we priclined a hotel about 30 minutes outside of St. Simons. The plan was that Matthew would work until lunch, he would come home and we would pack the car and be on the road by 3.

That Friday morning I had a play date at the pool planned, so I still meet up with the other mom. I figured this would be good for Finley to tire her out. She wouldn't be going down for her nap because I thought she would sleep in the car. Around lunch time we packed up and headed home to meet Matthew. We quickly packed up the car and were on the road by 2! I remember this because Matthew was surprised I was so prepared and we were ahead of schedule. Like planned, Finley fell asleep and slept most of the drive. So far so good... the trip was starting off without a hitch. About halfway through the drive my scalp started to itch, then itch some more. I could feel a rash in my hair and it was starting to itch like something serious. I mentioned this to Matthew, but figured it was because I hadn't showered after leaving the pool. We made great time and arrived at our pricelined hotel on the later side of dinner time. We checked in, dropped our stuff off and went to get something to eat. By this time I am starting to itch all over my body. Finley also decided to eat about 3 bites of her crazy vacation expensive kids meal.

That night we went back to the hotel and got ready for bed. We put Finley down in her pack-n-play. She fell asleep pretty quickly and we watched TV for a bit. Some time around the middle of the night Finley woke up and would not go back to sleep. So we brought her in the bed with us. This seemed to help her sleep, but didn't do much for helping us sleep. Around 5 am the cleaning people started to get their stuff together to clean the room. I know this because we could hear them on the other side of the wall of our room. I itched all night and woke up the next morning with a full blown rash all over my body!

We stopped at a pharmacy for some oral and topical benadryl as I tried to figure out what I had a reaction to. We knew we couldn't check into our other hotel until after 3, so we headed to the beach. I lathered myself up in sunscreen, wore a massive hat, and an under armour shirt most of the day on the beach. We had to lug all of our stuff out, which included a tent. So basically we made about 8 trips to and from the car. The plan was to stay out until check-in time (3 or 4 pm), but by noon I was feeling awful. The sun made my skin hurt, the sand made it itch, the ocean made it burn. I couldn't leave the pop-up tent. Finley wouldn't stay in one spot and kept trying to eat the sand. The beach was PACKED. By lunch time I was done with the beach. So we packed up (8 more trips to and from the car), went to get lunch and then check into the hotel. Again, Finley didn't eat anything except her french fries. We finally got checked into the hotel and got cleaned up. We tried to put Finley down for a nap, which didn't work. That night we spent our time down by the lighthouse. There are tons of shops and places to eat so we enjoyed our time walking around. That night back at the hotel went pretty much the same as the last. We got Finley to sleep pretty quickly, but she didn't stay asleep for very long. It didn't help that there was a room full of drunk 20-somethings across the hall from us that was up partying until well after 3 am. The only reason they stopped was because Matthew called the front desk. I was ready to go out and start a fight... but he thought it best not to. Don't mess with a tired mama that has a baby awake because you are scream foul words at 2 o'clock in the morning. I was ready to throw down.

Our days and night continued this way. Drag our stuff out to the beach, be miserable by lunch, drag it all back to the car. Go back to the hotel, shower, eat lunch (which Finley wouldn't do), go find something fun, but not sun related to do, then eat dinner (again, no eating for Finley) and finally end our night struggling to get some sleep. One night at 3 am, Matthew had to take Finley on a car ride until she fell asleep. Then had to bring her back in the room in her (front facing) car seat an hour later.

So needless to say... it was the worst family vacation. On that trip I told Matthew if we can't stay in a condo on the beach, then we can't go. Also, Finley must be potty trained and no longer needing a nap. This was the first year that all 3 of those requirements were met. When we decided to take a trip this year we figured it couldn't be any worse then the last, am I right? This year was great! We had a wonderful time and now cannot wait to plan another trip for next year!

Finley also had a blast. She keeps saying "are we going to the beach tomorrow?" and I have to tell her every day that we wont be going back until next year *sad face*.

Now for some pictures that make it look like we had way more fun then we actually did.

Her first time touching sand and ocean. She was not amused.

That shovel was not putting as much sand as you would think in her bucket. Most of it went in her mouth.

If she wasn't eating the sand, she was flinging it everywhere.

She was so proud of herself! Walking was so new and awesome, you couldn't keep her from taking off.

Half empty?

This is how things have been going for us right now. I just haven't been able to catch a break.

If I am being honest with you... I am a glass half empty kind of girl. I find the negatives and I dwell on them. When bad things happen, I stew and stew and stew until I boil over.

The last few weeks there has been a lot of bad. More bad then I want to deal with.

We have had bad news.
Things haven't gone as planed.
Money that we don't have has need to be spent on multiple car issues.
I have been running at 100 mph for the last month. Every day is something else. Some where else to be. Another doctors appointment. Something else that needs to be done. I feel like I am spiraling out of control.

And so today I sat in a parking lot for the 2nd time in 5 days with a broken car. My first instinct was to cry and be mad. At first I was, but then I just had to laugh. As I could feel my eyes begin to burn with angry tears at yet another frustrating situation, I stopped and prayed and then began to laugh.

I mean really? Who has this kind of luck? It must be laughed at.

As I sat there waiting for Matthew to come to my rescue, I began to list out the good things that have happened over the last few weeks.

So instead of being angry and listing out all the things that have gone wrong... I will choose to list out all the good things.

1.) We have seen a community of people come together to support a family that we love.
2.) I won my 2nd blog giveaway last week!
3.) Finley got to spend some quality time with her Grump while I was at the hospital with her Gigi.
4.) I got to see and joke around with my sister.
5.) My mom has a new knee which will help her be more mobile.
6.) Finley has had a friend come hang out with us for the last few days. He has helped to keep her busy and entertained so I don't have to.
7.) Finley went to the dentist, and her teeth look great!
8.) I have diet cokes in my fridge.
9.) And coffee in my cup.
10.) We had a wonderful baby shower for a friend and her sweet little girl that they adopted.
11.) Cupcakes.
12.) DVD players in the car.
13.) Our garden is busting at the seems. I can't pick the veggies fast enough.
14.) I have made and canned spaghetti sauce, pickles, diced tomatoes, and crushed tomatoes.
15.) I have been canning! (Which is way easier then I thought it would be!)
16.) We are healthy.
17.) Kylie got to go home late last week.
18.) Finley got to go over and play with her for a little bit this past weekend.
19.) We spent Saturday on the lake with Matthew's family.
20.) I didn't get sunburned.
21.) I went to the gym today.
22.) I have been able to increase my running from a run 3/ walk 1 to a run 5/ walk 1.
23.) I am down to a little over a 11 minute mile. For some this might be slow, but I was almost a 13 minute mile just a few months ago.
24.) We are going to a wedding this Saturday.
25.) After the wedding we are headed to the beach for a week! This cannot come soon enough!

So among all the bad that has been going on, there has been an abundance of good too.
I need to focus on those good things. They will be what helps me get through the next few days until we leave for our vacation!

A Heavy Heart

Today I hurt.
Both physically and emotionally.
Sunday I hurt by back somehow. I have spent the last 2 days trying to take it easy.

Then this morning I received a text from a dear friend. They are on vacation, and their youngest daughter hasn't been feeling well. They thought it wasn't anything serious, but she continued to get worse. So this morning they took her to the ER.
The text that followed were the kind that you never want to get.
Doesn't look good the Doctor is worried.
Doctors are doing blood work.
Testing for leukemia.
It may be something else. Not sure what it is though.
"I'm trying not to freak out."
"Don't worry girl, I will freak out enough for both of us. You stay strong."
Good news. Initial blood work looks good for it not being leukemia.
But it can't be ruled out.
They are moving her to a children's hospital for more testing.

And so throughout the morning I paced my house. It hurts to walk, but it hurts to sit too. Sitting is not keeping busy, and my mind would wander and worry. So I paced and cleaned waiting for the next text to come in. Constantly praying that the doctors were able to rule the worst case scenarios out.

A tearful phone call from my friends Mother. The hope that it is something not as serious as originally thought, but will still need lots of treatment.

Moments of falling to my knees and praying for this family and their little girl.

Prayer is not my spiritual gift. It took Matthew months, maybe even years, to get me to even say a blessing at dinner. I don't feel like it do it well or the right way, as if you can pray the wrong way.

Finley is slightly unaware of what it going on. She keeps asking why I am sad. I try telling her. She says OK and moves on. I guess that is the beauty of childhood, they don't dwell or worry like we do as adults. They are unaware of the pains of this world. As I tell her, her friend is sick she tells me she will be OK.

Then as I pace the hallway looking for something else to do to keep myself busy, Finley fell and hurt herself. I sat down on the floor and pulled her into my lap and held her. She started to cry for her friend, as she does when she is hurt or in trouble. Because friends are able to make things better in a way that even Mommy can't. Hearing her tiny voice cry out for her friend made my cry. Heavy and hard, ugly tears. I ugly cried, because in those moments I don't think you can cry any other way. I sat there and thanked God for my daughter and her health. I thanked him for this family, what a blessing and encouragement they have been for us. I prayed that we could be those things for them now. I prayed the way only a mother can pray for a child. I let out a cry from my heart. The kind that has no words, but you know God hears it and understands it.

I am praying for our friends as they are out of town on vacation, not near their family or support system. Trusting doctors they don't know, but also trusting a God they do know.

4th of July

We had a great 4th of July. We stayed in town this year and had a BBQ with some friends.
There was a lot of yummy food and fun games.
There was also a lot of baby holding :)
The kids, and a few adults (I may have been one of them...) jumped on the trampoline.
We were able to see fireworks from a few different places around the city in our friends backyard. Which was the best. No crowds and no freak outs from Finley. She is not a fan of loud noises, so I have always been a bit hesitant on taking her to see fireworks. She loves watching them, just not hearing them. So this was a awesome option for her.
We played with sparklers. Finley wasn't too sure about them at first. Then she really started to enjoy playing with them. That was until she dropped hers and then tried to pick it up before I could stop her. Bad idea little one. She wasn't hurt bad, I think it just scared her that it was hot. But after that she was over the sparklers. She wanted to glow sticks and flashlights.
We were up late, obviously... who isn't up late on the 4th of July!?
I was hoping for a morning of sleeping in on Saturday. Matthew got up early the next morning to go boating, and Finley woke up promptly at 6:15 am. So much for my morning of sleeping in!

All in all it was a great weekend with friends!
I hope everyone had a great 4th of July and was safe!

If every day could be like this past weekend

If you know me, you know I do not like summer. I hate being hot and sweaty. I can only handle summer if I am near water. Preferably a pool. Or a pool next to a beach. I love the beach, but not the sand. Strange I know. I want to be in a pool looking at the ocean from May through September.

But if every day could be like this past weekend, I might be able to make it until August when we head to Hilton Head.

It started on Friday. We spent the early part of the afternoon at the public pool. As I was putting our stuff down and talking to a friend, Finley B-lined it for the pool. Clothes and shoes on, no adult with her. I dropped everything, and chased her down. Told her she needed to wait and take off her shoes and dress before she could get in. So in the middle of the walk way, she stripped down and headed back to the pool. She is one determined little thing. It started to rain, so it cut our time a little short. But it was good while it lasted.

Friday night we went out to Nightfall. It is a local festival they do on Friday nights (duh). They have food trucks, live music, and all the motorcycles come out. It was a nice night to be outside, the rain cooled everything down.

 We had Italian ice's. I went looking for the frozen lemonade guy, but he wasn't there.

 Selfies

Finley loves to ride around on Daddy's bike.

Finley is currently obsessed with rocks and stones. She picks rocks up every where we go and says "I need this one for my collection!" While we were in Texas, my mom spent $6 on one of those little bags of rocks. She loves them, she has them lined up on her windowsill in her room.

Matthew has wanted to take Finley gem panning since we moved to Chattanooga. When he realized she had a interest in rocks, he started to plan on taking her panning.

So Saturday morning we got up and ate breakfast and headed to Racoon Mountain, which is litterally right around the corner from us. We did it as a surprise, and she LOVED it!

Look at the face. She was thrilled.

After the gem panning, we went home and had lunch. We grabbed our swimming stuff and headed out to a swimming hole Matthew has been wanting to visit.

Finley wasn't so sure about the river at first, but by the end of the day she didn't want to leave.

We found tadpoles, and I think Finley could have chased them all afternoon.

Sunday after church we all went to Coolidge Park for a picnic and fun.

The kids played in the fountain and rode the carousel.

This is most of our ladies, but not all. We took this picture towards the end of the day, so some people had already headed home.

We finished our day with a shaved ice. 

 It was the perfect ending to a wonderful day.

If every day could be like those 3, I think I could handle summer a bit better.

We were suppose to head out to Riverbend tonight to see Toby Mac, but we currently have a bad storm rolling through. So I am not sure if we are going to make it. Sad. Tomorrow Boston is playing and if the weather stays nice, we will definitely be at that one!

Here is a great start to summer!