Easter 2019 Festivities

Easter weekend has come and gone and just like Christmas, I'm sad it's over. Easter is my second favorite holiday (apart from Christmas, of course). I've mentioned in before, but back in 2006, Jason and I were engaged over Easter, married the following Easter, had Brayden around Easter time in 2016, and I just love the overall special time this year brings, not to mention the significance of our risen Savior. The promise of spring, the colors and blooms, new life, new possibilities...it's all just so exciting!

We had so much fun during this Easter holiday and I hope you did as well!

It all began with our church's annual Easter Egg hunt last weekend. We had a "practice" run of hiding eggs in our living room the night before and lemme just say, it was a disaster. Brayden was throwing his basket, throwing the eggs...he just didn't want to "hunt eggs" the way we wanted him to hunt eggs and it was quite comical. I decided that I was just going to let him go to the egg hunt, have fun, and see what happened because...toddlers!

So, imagine my surprise when they called "GO" at the Easter egg hunt and he began running to the eggs and putting them in his basket!

 He racked up with quite a few....then he wanted to eat all of the candy inside, of course!

They also had horses and a train at the egg hunt and Brayden loved them both!

He had a chance to ride the horses twice and the train three times! So much fun!

Over Good Friday and this weekend, we spent a little time dyeing eggs. We had fun choosing colors and placing stickers all over the eggs!

After a birthday party for a nephew on Saturday, we decided to try the Easter bunny at the mall one more time. Remember the Santa incident from Christmas where it took three tries and we finally got a picture? Well, the bunny took two. I didn't warm him up enough on Thursday after picking him up from school and needless to say, he wanted nothing to do with the Easter bunny!

On Saturday though, it all came together and he was totally ok with seeing the Easter Bunny! Toddlers are funny creatures.

We also spent time at my parent's house on Saturday afternoon for a crawfish boil! My dad also set up Brayden's new swing set in the back yard and he had a blast playing on it!

On Easter Sunday, the Easter Bunny visited us and left a fun Easter basket as well as a few "hidden" eggs. Brayden also enjoyed a leftover breakfast of bunny cinnamon rolls!

So yummy!

We attended church on Easter Sunday morning followed by dinner at Jason's Aunt & Uncle's house.

The kids loved having an Easter egg hunt and checking out all of their goodies!

Brayden also had fun playing with his BFF, Brody. He LOVES this dog!

I hope you all had a blessed Easter and enjoyed your weekend! He is risen, risen indeed!

4th of July Weekend 2016

Happy 4th of July! I just love this holiday...it makes my patriotic heart happy! Thank you to the men and women who have put their lives on hold and given their lives for our freedom. I can't say it enough...your sacrifice is appreciated and doesn't go unnoticed!

Source

My little family really enjoyed spending our 4th of July weekend together! It began on Friday with a visit to the home of one of my longest and best friends, Jane!

If you remember, we were pregnant together and our babies are only six weeks apart. It's fun getting them together and watching them grow!

I think they are going to be great friends! Well, they kinda don't have a choice! Hah!

This was one of three 4th of July outfits Brayden owned...and he had to wear them all throughout the weekend, of course!

Even the rice crispy treats were patriotic!

On Saturday morning, I went for a run (more on that in my Fitness Friday post) and Jason made breakfast for us after I returned home!

We had delicious Mickey waffles with Joffrey's coffee...in a Disney mug, of course!

Do you know you can purchase coffee like they sell in the Disney parks online? Well, you can! Head over to Joffrey's website to check it all out!

Saturday afternoon brought about a long awaited treat - a crab and crawfish boil! My dad always does an excellent job with these and they didn't disappoint!
 

This was my first time to have crawfish this season and probably last. Unfortunately, we are on the very tail end (no pun intended) of crawfish season here.

After crawfish, we stopped by TCBY for dessert! Yum!

On Sunday morning, Brayden got all spiffed up for our church's Patriotic Service.

I just love his outfit! (This is outfit number 2! Number 3 will be worn today.)

My two favorite guys!

The road in front of our church was lined with flags and it was a beautiful sight as always!

I also helped out in the coffee shop and we had shirts made for the holiday! I just love it!

This year's patriotic service was hands down one of our best yet. Although we are still in our kids building due to a recent flood, they still managed to make this service a memorable one.

At the end, they played the Armed Forces Medley and members of each branch walked up to the front with their respective flags as their song was being played. Afterward, they lined the back driveway and we had the chance to shake their hands and thank them for their service to our country. I LOVED IT!

My red, white, and blue fam!

 After lunch on Sunday, Jason and I made last minute plans to catch an afternoon showing of Finding Dory! We hadn't been on a "date" in...gosh...at least two months so this was a nice little getaway!

Our town recently opened a Movie Bistro and it has been all the rage! We LOVED it and I'm pretty spoiled to the super nice comfortable and reclining seats!

Now THIS is how you watch a movie!

I hope you all had a great weekend, too! There's not much going on here today, I'm just going to enjoy my day at home with my baby! 

Have a wonderful and safe 4th! 

Any special plans today?

Family Weekend

Is it Monday again already? I think I ask this question every Monday morning but I definitely mean it! The weekends are never long enough!

This past weekend was very special to me for two reasons – #1, Sunday was our 6th Wedding Anniversary and #2, my brother and sister in law came to spend the weekend with us! Yay!
Last year, our 5th Wedding Anniversary fell on Easter weekend (just as it did the year we were married) and because of that, I did a complete recap of all of our wedding events. Here’s the links incase you want to check them out:

• Engagement
• Wedding Setup
• Wedding Day

Our weekend began on Friday night with a Mandisa/Brandon Heath/Warren Barfield concert and I was SO excited! Maybe you remember Mandisa from American Idol several years ago? Or maybe you saw her recently on the Today Show?



Let me just say, this girl knows how to put on a concert!



Both Mandisa and Brandon Heath were great live! If you ever have a chance to see either, I recommend it.



They ended the concert with worship. Awesome awesome ending to an amazing show!! Loved every minute of it!

Saturday morning, I enjoyed a run down by the lake with my friend Heather!









I LOVE this route – especially early in the morning! The sunrise is always an extra bonus!



After the run, I treated myself to a whole wheat English muffin with an egg, 2 slices of turkey bacon, and a little cheese. Delicious!

I ate breakfast, then hung out with my family to watch old home videos. I laughed so much I cried! My brother and I were such goobers! :0)

Mid-afternoon, Kayla and I attended a softball game hosted by our local college. It was their first annual “Strikeout Cancer” softball game and the proceeds benefitted local cancer patients. Softball + Cancer Benefit? I’m so there! 




Survivor Ceremony. LOVE how the girls uniforms jerseys were pink (instead of the usual royal blue)!



Funny story about this game – I graduated from McNeese and Kayla (my sister in law) graduated from SFA (the opposing team)!



After the softball game (which McNeese won, thank you!), we drove over to my grandfather’s house for a crawfish boil!



Yes sir!



I enjoyed this…

While Kayla enjoyed…



…a hamburger? :0)



This is how it’s done!



We also celebrated Kayla’s birthday after dinner! Happy early birthday, Kayla!

As if the day didn’t hold enough excitement, we enjoyed a little game of Wits & Wagers back at my parent’s house! Fun times!



How was our Anniversary on Sunday?



It was lovely! We spent the morning at church, the afternoon with family, and the evening together!



We ate dinner at Coyote Blues followed by Frozen Yogurt and I was stuffed!

Jason has something up his sleeve for this upcoming Friday night - and I think I know what he’s planning but I don’t like to ruin surprises so I’ll have to wait and see! :0)

That was my weekend in a nutshell! Last week, someone asked me if I ever sleep. Apparently not! Hah!

How was your weekend? Did anything exciting happen?

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Also, don’t miss out on my current giveaway, Race-Kred. Go check it out! :0)