Life Lessons From Mary Poppins Returns

On New Year's Day, I had the opportunity to see Mary Poppins Returns with a few of my friends and absolutely, positively loved it! Seriously, when can I see it again?

This movie is whimsical, heartwarming, magical, and everything I ever dreamed it would be. I might have cried once or twice throughout the movie. Ok who am I kidding, I cried a lot (happy tears)!

 Source

The inclusion of Dick Van Dyke and Angela Lansbury in this movie was absolutely perfect. I'd tried to keep my eyes and ears out of everything regarding this movie because I wanted to be surprised. Although I did hear about Dick Van Dyke's return, I had no clue about Angela Lansbury being in the film! When she appeared on screen, my friend and I literally looked at each other with our mouth's gaping open in surprise! Disney definitely did right by the original on this one!

Something I also loved about this movie were the "life lessons" taught throughout. Included in the script and soundtrack were little nuggets of advice that I found fascinating for both children and adults alike.

Here's a few of my favorites:

"Perhaps we've learned when day is done, some stuff and nonsense can be fun!" -Mary

I mean, why not? Life isn't meant to be taken so seriously all the time - have a little fun every once in a while!

"Nothing is gone forever, only out of place." -Mary

 Of course, this was relating to the Banks children and the loss of their mother-but I feel like this can relate to all of us in one way or another!

"You've forgotten what it's like to be a child." -Balloon Lady

"Of course the grownups will all forget tomorrow." -Balloon Lady
"They always do." -Mary

 Sadly, it is SO easy to forget! Having a child like heart and spirit can completely change our outlook on life. No, I'm not saying to ignore the important stuff, but we sometimes need to find the magic in things - it can completely turn a situation around!


"Everything is possible, even the impossible!" -Mary

 How true is this?! We've seen impossible things happen around us all the time!

"Some people think too much, of that I am certain!" -Mary

 Serious over-thinker here. I seriously need to work on that this year.

"There's a different point of view awaiting you if you just look up." -Jack

"You see, when the world turns upside down, the best thing is to turn right along with it." -Mary

"When you change the view from where you stood, the things you view will change for good." -Mary

Sometimes we just need a new perspective on situations or life in general. Looking "up" or changing our view can make all the difference in the world!

"There's nowhere to go but up!" -Ending Cast 

When you're finally at the end of a very long journey and things start looking right again...when your heart feels as light as a balloon...there's nowhere to go but up!

The bottom line? You've gotta see this movie! Your childhood heart will thank you, for that I am certain!  If you have seen Mary Poppins Returns already, what are your thoughts? 

Top 5 Favorite Christmas Moments of 2018

Happy Friday and happy New Year's Eve weekend! This will be my last post about Christmas of 2018 (I promise), but this was seriously our best Christmas with Brayden to date and so many fun memories were made! This was the first year that he understood about the true reason we celebrate Christmas. This was also the fist year he really got into ripping the paper off of his presents!

It was hard, but I managed to narrow everything down to a "top 5" favorite moments of the weekend and although I already blogged about our Christmas twice already, I just had to do so one last time!

#1 Spending Time With Family

This is almost always a given, but I really truly enjoyed spending time with all of our family over the holiday weekend! We were able to visit with my brother and his wife in Texas as well as Jason's family and extended family here back at home. It truly was a great time! 

#2 Christmas Eve Orangetheory

This might sound kind of silly, but I had the opportunity to work out at Orangetheory on Christmas Eve with my sister-in-law and although the workout was TOUGH, I enjoyed the challenge and working up a sweat on Christmas Eve! This workout was different in a way that made it challenging but fun. Everyone pulled cards from a tin throughout the class and the card told you what workout to complete. Some cards were harder than others (coal) and some were a little less challenging (present).  I pulled so many coal cards it wasn't funny. Mine even included the treadmill with a run at a pretty decent pace with a 12% incline. (I might have been holding on for dear life!) My sister-in-law ended up pulling a 2,000 m row card and she completed 55 burpees by the time it was all said and done. Needless to say, it was a great workout and I enjoyed the change!

#3 Brayden's First Gingerbread House 

Although this was Brayden's third Christmas, we still had a few "firsts" for him, including his first gingerbread house! This gingerbread house was themed towards The Grinch (of course) which made it even more fun! He mostly helped his Aunt put the decorations on the house and I was amazed at how long this task captivated his attention. In all, I'd say this was a successful first for him! 

#4 Cookie Contest

Speaking of gingerbread, our family did a really fun Gingerbread decorating contest where we asked our Facebook friends to help us vote! In the end, Kayla's "Mrs. Santa Claus" (top right) ended up with the most likes for the win! This was a really fun activity to do with all of our family together!

#5 "Grinch Cakes"

On Saturday, we took Brayden to Ihop for breakfast and the look on his face when this plate of "Grinch cakes" was set in front of him was hilarious! They were a HUGE hit and he loved them! This was such a fun morning for all of us! 

Memories like these are what make the Christmas season so much fun! As the years continue on, I can't wait to see what they have to bring! 

If you'd like to see more from our Christmas weekend, check out the video below!

I hope this Christmas season brought lots of fun memories for you, too! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Birthday Celebration Number One

If you've been around the blog a while, you know that we like to celebrate birthdays big over here. I feel as if a birthday is a special day and should be celebrated big...sometimes if not the whole month. Whoops. :)

Even though my official birthday isn't until next week, we spent this past weekend celebrating with my friends!

They took me out to Walk Ons for dinner. It seems as if Walk Ons has become a birthday tradition over here lately, because we've eaten there for the past few special occasions!

Prior to leaving for dinner, I took a picture of Brayden in his outfit and he was telling me he was "all done", even though he hadn't yet smiled for a picture. Silly kid!

I decided to stray from my usual and order the ahi tuna salad. It was just ok, but I don't think I'll order it again. Next time, I'll stick with my usual favorite.

Dessert did not disappoint, however! My friends knew my favorite - chocolate cake with peanut butter icing! This. Was. Delicious!

After dinner came gifts!

How adorable is this shirt for my upcoming cruise?! I can't wait to wear it!

Jason and Brayden gifted me with a pair of Fitbit bluetooth headphones and sadly, they didn't work for me. I was debating between the Aftershokz Trekz and the Fitbit ones and I definitely made the wrong decision with the Fitbit Flyers. I think I just have weird shaped ears because they do not stay in place. Thankfully Best Buy allowed Jason to return them and I'll order the other pair soon.

What's a birthday dinner out if the wait staff doesn't sing to you?!

My friends really are the best! We had a blast at dinner as usual!

Along with the shirt, they also gifted me with a certificate to have my nails done before our trip as well as a couple of face masks!

 For my actual birthday, we will celebrate with brunch at Palo on the Disney Fantasy and I cannot wait!!

Do you like to make a big deal about birthdays or is it just another day?

4th of July Weekend

Hello there and happy Monday! We had such a great and relaxing weekend and I loved every minute of it! I made it my goal to seriously stay home, chill, and relax this weekend and we did just that (well, mostly).

My "weekend" began at work with a luncheon on Friday. It was a luncheon to end the 3 week summer student program and those sweet students voted for me as their favorite hospital associate and the physician I work with as favorite doctor! My take on students is this - they don't have to be there but they want to be because they want to learn. Everyone was also a student at some point in time, so we should be nice to them and encourage them. Anyway, I was honored to say the least!

After the luncheon, we were closed for the remainder of the afternoon and got to go home! Score!

On Friday evening, I browsed through my Orangetheory days and realized that I had an extra one because I miscounted. I knew I couldn't let it go to waste, so I headed off to Orangetheory instead of running outside in the sweltering heat. More about my Saturday OT experience on Friday! :)

Jason had rehearsal for our Sunday church production and while he was gone, Brayden and I ate a few grapes and watched Meet the Robinson's. Brayden actually watched something other than Mickey Mouse or Puppy Dog Pals which blew my mind! It was truly a monumental occasion!

After enjoying a nap on Saturday afternoon (all of us), we spent the rest of the evening outside enjoying the water! My parent's bought this water pad for Brayden for his birthday and we just got around to filling it up with water!

For dinner on Saturday evening, we had our first Hello Fresh meal! More about this coming up in a future blog post (my thoughts on it all, etc).

On Saturday night, I also realized that I hadn't yet registered for the 4 mile race on the 4th of July and online registration closed that night. DONE!

Sunday morning was our patriotic service at church! I left with a full heart as we ended it with celebrating our veterans. A sweet and precious WWII veteran absolutely brought me to tears as he (along with all of our other veterans) reminded me of all they sacrificed so we can enjoy the freedoms we know today.

Afterwards, we had dinner on the grounds which was so much fun! We haven't had an after Sunday dinner at church in a LONG time!

This kid loves chips, y'all. Chips chips all day long.

After returning home, we watched the Astros game, hoping to catch a glimpse of our Florida friends who were there. (We didn't end up seeing them.) We also spent more time outside and enjoyed leftovers for dinner.

Mission accomplished - it was a truly enjoyable and relaxing weekend! I'm excited for a day off of work this week and am looking forward to spending more time with my sweet little guy! I hope you all had a great weekend, too!

20 Years

I'm a firm believer that honor should be given when honor is due. So, when our children's pastor's daughter (also one of my good friends) approached me about helping her plan a celebration for her parents 20th year of ministry, I knew we HAD to do it!

This weekend was busy, it was full of activity, it was fun, it was exhausting, and it was 100% completely worth it all. I seriously had one of the best weekends of my life!

So, our church has a thing. It's called the "DREAM Team" and it's a junior high and high school ministries team, that help lead children's church, perform at various services and community events, compete in festivals, attend and host summer camps, and the list goes on and on. Our children's pastor's have been with us and have overseen the team for the past 20 years - so, we made our event a "reunion" of sorts - to honor our children's pastors as well as bring back old team members to celebrate with them! 

We were blown away by the response! Over 20 years, we've had over 100 DREAM Team members and about 90ish former team members and spouses registered for our reunion dinner! 

The room was decorated with the intention of stirring up old stories and memories over the past 20 years. Each table was full of pictures, "candy grams", and the entry table had a tshirt from every single genre of team members.

At each function we attended, our children's pastor's wife would give us candy grams each day, so we incorporated those into the decor!

My "baby" was the video that was played during the reunion. I worked weeks on that thing - going through old VHS footage from the early 2000's as well as DVD performances that were more recent. It was so much fun to reminisce and put the video together. I'm not a master at it, so I was incredibly nervous, but I LOVED how it came together!

Our gift to them was a tshirt quilt, made out of all of the team tshirts and polos over the past 20 years!

Seeing everyone from past and present so warmed my heart. The entire evening was perfect and everything flowed so smooth! I love these people dearly and can't wait for the next one!

 

On Sunday morning, we also had the entire church service to honor our children's pastors!

I also mentioned on Friday that I was asked to help host our "announcements" segment that plays during the Sunday services. Well, I was super nervous as to how it would turn out but it wasn't bad at all! (I was mostly worried about my super "magic" hair that grows with the humidity!) Thankfully, it wasn't as bad as my mind made it out to be, but isn't that how it always goes?

We also performed a song that was a complete surprise to our children's pastors. We picked a song that almost every single team from the beginning of time knew (Testify by Avalon). The current team started out on stage to perform and as a surprise, the old team joined them midway through the song. I LOVE the visual it made, showing how far and wide of a reach our children's pastors have made over 20 years! It turned out so well!

This weekend made me cry, it made me laugh, and it definitely warmed my heart. Sometimes we need weekends like these to remind us of where we've come from and just who helped us get there.

Happy 20 years, Pastor Darrell and Mrs. Gwen! I hope the weekend was all you dreamed it would be and more! We love you!

Relay for Life 2018

Relay for Life "season" is always one of my favorite times of the year! Being together with thousands of others who are just as passionate about fighting cancer as I am is such an amazing feeling!

Our event was held a couple of Friday nights ago and I can't believe I'm just getting around to sharing about it! We had a ton of fun, an awesome band, and lots of great food!

Our committee is so much fun!

A lot of local businesses take part in our relay. Even Chick Fil A came out to provide tea, lemonade, and chicken sandwiches to our caregivers! So awesome!

Our band for the evening was The Flamethrowers. They are a very popular local band and did an AMAZING job! One of their band members even joined me on the local morning show to discuss our event!

Along with being on the event committee, I am also a member of our local hospital team. The theme this year was "Wild About A Cure", and teams went all different ways with the idea - some chose a safari theme and some went with a wild west theme while others went with a hunting/outdoor theme.

I was also luckily chosen to participate in the dessert contest! Oh my gosh I know you can't see it, but there was a brownie in the mix and holy cow that thing was amazing! I'm a sucker for brownies with icing! YUM!

As the sun began to set, our festivities were just beginning!

We changed our survivor lap just a bit this year. We started with the less than one year survivors at the beginning and lined them up in groups according to how long ago they were diagnosed. It was a really awesome visual, especially to see those in the very back with greater than 15 years! (A person is defined as a cancer survivor from the moment of diagnosis, regardless of their type of cancer or stage.) We all have our own reasons for being out there and doing what we do for Relay, but this survivor lap defines it for me. To see the "sea of purple" walking the track is so amazing!

My parents even stopped by to say hello for a few minutes!

Funny story - three of my seven bridesmaids were in the same place at the same time and it wasn't because I orchestrated it! We HAD to have a picture, obviously.

After "perusing" the food options, I decided to go with a cheeseburger and a lemonade. Both were AMAZING! Oh yes, and a local spin business was out there with their cold pressed juice, so I bought a couple to save for later.

Around 9 p.m., the luminaria ceremony began. These bags completely lined the track and were created in honor and memory of cancer patients.

We also had a slideshow but we had a few hiccups this year. We left the slideshow with a definite  plan for next year, so hopefully all will work out ok.

Another favorite part for me is the "HOPE" luminarias! So cool how it looks all spelled out on the steps!

And that was a wrap! We ended kind of early for us this year which means I was home and in bed by 12:30! My goal was to be asleep before 1 a.m. because I had a 5 miler to run the following morning. If you read my 5 miler recap, now you know why my legs felt like lead blocks for the race!

I had so much fun with relay this year and can't wait for another exciting year next year! I always love Relay season and seeing all of the fun each event brings!