Hello hello hello

I have been a bit slack on this little space of mine recently... We have had a lot going on. Spring is always a busy time of year for us with birthdays and Easter events. And this year we have add some wedding events into the mix as well. 

Matthew kicked off this busy month with going out of town for 5 days for a paddling festival. It happens every year in the first part of March. It is a 10 day festival where open boaters from pretty much all over the world congregate in one spot. They spend those 10 days camping and boating. Matthew goes every year, he has gone for as few as 3 day and as many as the full 10 days. This year he decided to do just 5 and he ended up cutting his trip short by a day and instead of coming home on Tuesday night, he came home Monday. Since he already had the day off of work, we decided to use Tuesday as a family day. We went out for lunch at the best BBQ place by his work, and then continued out to Cloudland Canyon. We played disc golf and found a playground for Finley to climb on. On a whim we decided to drive out to the Unclaimed baggage store in Alabama. We had heard good things about it and wanted to check it out. I ended up finding a felt wide brim hat originally marked at $10 and was on sale for 50% off, so I got it for almost $6 after tax. I looked up the brand and found out a brand new hat in a similar style is $175!! I think I might have gotten the deal of the year with that one!

The few days following our family day was spent cleaning, cooking, baking, and packing. I was head down to Atlanta for my bestie's bridal shower and bachelorette party. I left Friday morning, dropped Finley off with my parents and then headed to Erica's house to switch cars and go to the home where the shower was being held the next day to prep. 

After weeks of planning and hours of phone calls back and forth between me and the bride and the other MOH; it was time to put everything together. Oh and did a mention there was a last minute location and time change due to a family emergency just days before the shower? Yeah... I was a little stressed out. Trying to plan a party from out of town is hard. But in the end everything went off without a hitch. The bride-to-be had a great time being showered with gifts. I think the groom-to-be actually got more gifts then she did. She would open up a gift and say "Oh Matt will be so excited he got this!" or "This is a Matt gift too..." (and yes she is also marrying a Matt). Those gift included but are not limited to an iron and ironing board, a cherry pitter, rolling pin, and stand mixer (so HE can make pies). 

Here are just a few pictures from her Tea Party themed shower.

The bridal party... such pretty and wonderful ladies!

That night we spent watching wedding themed movies, eating more yummy food and drinking wine. We didn't go to bed until some time after 2 am. We were up by 10 and at brunch by 11. After brunch I picked up Finley and spent some time with my mom and then started the drive home.

I spent most of the next week checked out. If I didn't have anything to do, I did nothing. After all the planning and coordinating for Erica's shower I needed a break. And I knew I was going to have to start the process over in just a few days for shower #2 for Kelsey, a wonderful girl that has been coming to our church.

Our dear friends Heidi and Daniel left that week for Uganda. They are currently there adopting their 4th child. Heidi's mom has been keeping their 3 other kids and Finley had been asking for Kylie to spend the night. So I offered to keep her for a slumber party that Thursday night. The girls were put to bed at 8, but didn't actually go to sleep until almost 10:30. The next morning they were wide awake at 7:15. It was going to make for a long day, so we went to a friends house for a play date. That Friday night we had Matt's dad coming in town for the weekend and we had some friends coming into Chattanooga for a family weekend that wanted to get together. So we all went for Mexican. Saturday was spent at a bike meet. Matthew was showing off his newly restored 1976 Swing Bike and Mark was looking for a bike for his wife. Finley and I tagged along to get out of the house.

Finley had a great time and for the first time really showed some interest in ridding her bike. She also really enjoyed the jump house. Her laughter was quickly turned to screams of terror when the jump house started to come down around her though. I pulled her out and we waited for the house to go back up and she was right back in there. 

Sunday was spent at church and then a last minute date night for Indian food. Matthew and I had been watching Everest: Beyond the Limits. Which made us crave a little bit of Nepal. Since there are no Nepali restaurants in the area, we figured Indian food was the next best thing. It was good to sit there and have a little bit of our second home. We talked about the future and what we wanted for our family. A move to Nepal is not out of the realm of possibility. It would be several years down the road, but we are both very open to idea if and when it is time. We talked about the things we want to instill in Finley and how we want her to understand what life is like for most of the other world.We want to teach her compassion and to have a giving heart. We want to her understand we live a blessed life here in the United States and that we should use our resources to help others. It was a good night of good food and amazing conversation.

This past week has been jam packed as well. Tonight has been the first time in over a week that Finley was put to bed before 9 PM. We have had a lot of birthday get togethers this past week. We also had some missionary friends come through town on their way to a wedding. We met them downtown for dinner and they spent the night. Friday was another birthday dinner. 

Saturday was Kelsey's bridal shower. We fit about 24 women in our house. I wouldn't call our house small, but it sure felt small with that many women here! Shower #2 went great as well. If you follow me on instagram you probably saw the mason jars I made as drink cups and favors. They were a big hit and kind of fun to make (burnt fingers and all)!

Saturday night we went to the UTC campus for a birthday party. Our friends rented the aquatic center for their son's birthday, complete with a lazy river and water slide. It didn't take Finley long to get use to being back in the water and at the end of the night I was starting to get worried about trying to get her out. I figured she was going to start melting and not want to leave. She was the last kid out of the pool, so maybe it helped seeing everyone else out and getting changed. Yesterday was church, followed by a nap while Matthew hung out with some guys from church. Finley and I met them for dinner and then we headed downtown to ride bikes around until the sun set. 

The last few weeks have been packed full of fun for our family. We have been trying to spend as much time as possible outside when it is nice. Spring is in full swing, even with the random snow day we had last week! There have been lots of sandals, coloring outside and blowing bubbles on our easy nights. This week things are slowing down a bit. Thank goodness!

Tomorrow starts the count down until I turn 30! 18 days!

Saturday is Erica's wedding!! So very excited for that to be happening!

Once we get back for that I will start planning Finley's 4th birthday and Easter. There is no rest for the weary... at least not until May. 

I am working on another installment of our Nepal trip, so be on the lookout for that later this week hopefully!

Have a happy Tuesday!