twenty-eight.

[First of all, thank you so much for all of the sweet comments and emails about my post yesterday! I feel so encouraged, and I will try every one of your ideas until we find something that works, and I'll definitely keep you all posted on our progress.]

Yesterday was my 28th birthday. We began the celebration Friday evening with some friends at Loca Luna. Gary even brought my favorite cupcakes for everyone! Yesterday was a pretty ordinary day: doctor's appointment with E, workout with the trainer, grocery shopping, etc., but it was a good day. The best part was ending the day with a family birthday dinner cooked by my Momma. She cooked all of my favorites, and my brother, Liz, and their new puppy even came up from Arkadelphia to join us.

28 is not so bad... I'm just thankful for another year with my wonderful friends, family, husband, and of course, my sweet Elliott! So, I'm going to enjoy this age and relish in the last two years of my twenties.

Elliott's DINOmite first birthday party!

We celebrated Elliott's first birthday on Saturday (his actual birthday) with a houseful of our family and friends. It was so much fun! I loved planning and preparing for this day. I decided when E was born that I would always be sure to make a big deal out of his birthday since it is only 10 days after Christmas. I never want his special day to get lost or lumped in with Christmas, and I think I was successful. You could tell he knew this day was ALL about him! :)

Of course Pinterest helped a little with my party planning (can you tell?!). Most of the decor was handmade by yours truly, including the paper chains, treat jars, wreath, party hats, bunting, poufs, cupcake toppers and label cards. I felt like quite the little Martha Stewart.

The cookies and cupcakes were made by my friends Megan and Jonda and they were a HUGE hit! If you live in the central AR area, you should check them out. Our guests also enjoyed "dinosaur toenails" (Bugles) and "Elliott-o-sauras Mix" (Goldfish, Cheerios, and Cheetos Puffs). For the "sweetivores" we served M&Ms, rock candy, Twislers, and gummy bears.

Funny behind the scenes story.... all of those cute little jars with the paper straws were Starbucks frappuccions chugged mostly by Gary and myself in the days leading up to the party. I think I gained 5 pounds.

The birthday boy loved his Funfetti cupcake with chocolate icing. His Poppy even served him Hawaiian Punch to wash it down. He was in heaven.

After he finished his cake, we moved on to tackling the mound of gift he got. He got everything from books, clothes, puzzles and trucks to his own remote control and first tricycle! Our playroom is full now and Elliott has been enjoying playing with all of his new gifts over the past few days. You don't think we're spoiling him, do you?

A good time was had by all, especially our birthday boy. I've said it before, but his life has been such a blessing to us and I'm so thankful we got to celebrate the day that blessing started with the ones we love the most.

More from our time in Texas:

Just wanted to share a few more pictures from our time in Texas over Thanksgiving. After all of the holiday festivities were over, we got to spend some time visiting with our friends who live there. We met two of Gary's childhood friends and their wives at Torchy's Tacos for lunch one day.  The food was delicious, and it was so cute to see his two friends loving on Elliott. We also got to meet up with one of my college roomates, Tate, and her husband, Jesse along with Laura and Caleb who were on their way home from visiting his grandparents. We also continued to enjoy more time with family at my in-laws house, eating several yummy meals, playing with E, discussing politics, and watching the Hogs add one final L to their record. It was such a relaxing weekend.

fall retreat.

Last weekend we went with our church to Camp Paron for our annual fall retreat. It's crazy what a difference a year makes.  Last year Audrey was the only baby at the retreat, and she was just learning to roll over.  This year there were 3 babies on the retreat, and they were busy entertaining us all weekend. I loved seeing how much each person in our group loves our kids, taking turns passing them around, and helping give us parents a break to enjoy the retreat.

We talked all weekend about intentional community versus existing community, using the community of believers in the New Testament as our guide. I left feeling convicted that I've been merely an existing member of our community, seeking what our community can give me. I came home encouraged to be intentional with my relationships, both at church and in my every day life. To seek out ways I can give (time, resources, encouragement, etc.) to others, and not just live life going through the motions. The starting point has to be me being intentional with my relationship with the Lord, if that is right, then giving others 100% will come naturally. I've got several relationships that I'm working on being more intentional with, and I look forward to sharing the fruit with you in the future.

This Thanksgiving weekend, as I reflected on last weekend, I am so thankful for the community we are blessed to be a part of.  Thankful that they are here to live life with us, good and bad times. Thankful that they sharpen me and encourage me to reach my full potential as a follower of Christ. Sure, we have our flaws, but I think this is the closest I've come to being a part of a community like the one Paul talks about in the book of Acts.

Weekend Recap

This past weekend three of Gary's closest childhood friends [along with their better halves] came to visit, making the trip from Dallas and New York to meet us in Hot Springs for a couple of days at the lake.  Two of his friends briefly met Elliott when we were in Texas earlier this summer, but for one, this was the first time seeing our little man.

We enjoyed taking the boat out, cooling off in the lake, dinner on the water at Fisherman's Wharf, playing games, making smores, watching Elliott entertain us with his every move, and just catching up on each others lives.  Of course in packing all of E's stuff for the weekend, I ran off and left our camera at home, but I did get a few photos from our weekend on my iPhone.

This was our first time taking Elliott out on the boat, and I have to brag on how good he did hanging with us.  He never once fussed about having to wear a life jacket, stayed happy and content for several hours out on the water, and even let us put him in the water to cool off.  I think he's gonna be a little fish next summer.  I'm going to have to find some Mom and tot swim lessons for us.  We held him and put him in the lake in his life jacket for a few minutes, and he loved it!  He started kicking those little feet the moment they hit the water, and the boat, when moving lulled him instantly to sleep.

It was so nice of Reid, Stephen, and Stanton to plan a time to come visit Gary and make the drive/flight to Arkansas.  I know it meant a lot to him to have them here and get to see them interact with Elliott.  We loved hosting them at the lake house [thanks to my parents] and showing them a little of what "The Natural State" has to offer.