Family Retreat Weekend

Once again we were extremely blessed to spend a weekend of worship and fellowship with our church family this past weekend at our annual family retreat. It is my absolute favorite thing we do throughout the year! I think most people thought I was crazy for going, being nine months pregnant, but I wouldn't have missed it. I was also able to get my parents to go...after four years of asking...and they enjoyed it as well. I believe we had about 250 people that attended. I was sad that I couldn't shoot at the rifle range, but hopefully I can do it next year. I somehow completely missed the skeet shooting?! A lot of people were fishing, and playing games. Dad and I played dominoes while mom held Isaiah during his nap. Keith played softball and entered the three point throw contest, as well. I personally loved the smores at the bonfire the first night. Who doesn't love some yummy smores! I am constantly reminded of how blessed we are to be a part of such an amazing family! I can not imagine us being anywhere else. Isaiah had a blast being able to be outside so much. He ran himself into exhaustion, and he is still catching up on sleep. Every time I turned around there was someone taking him from me to play and love on him. The love that our church family has shown him, and us, is so overwhelming. God is amazing, and we continue to see His hand in every part of our lives. Leah should arrive in the next few days, so hopefully we will have pictures soon! I did a horrible job of taking pics, but here are a couple of Isaiah decorating his first pumpkin in the contest they had while we were there.

Pregnancy, accidents and getting ready for baby number two!

It wasn't too long ago I realized some of our followers may not have facebook accounts, so I thought I would update our pregnancy adventure on here as well. I am now 35 weeks and 4 days. We are quickly approaching Ms. Leah's due date, and to be honest we are way behind on her room. We don't feel the urgency to get her room completely done before she gets here, like we did with Isaiah's room, but we should be farther along than we are. Basically, we have painted her room....thats all....just paint. I should finish her drapes tomorrow, but until the paneling gets here for her walls we can't do much more. Every piece of furniture in Isaiah's room was given to us, so buying things for Leah's room is something we are having to do gradually. We will buy her chair in the next three weeks, and then her bed the next month. She will be in our room for the first six to eight weeks, so there is really no rush. We are recycling my childhood dresser and night stand for her room. I think they will look great, and it will help with expenses. I will post pictures once everything is in place.
Isaiah almost went to the ER last week. He was playing last Thursday night and somehow hit his mouth. He looked at me screaming, blood gushing and tears streaming. I stayed calm...I think....and found a huge hole in his upper lip/gum line. The attachment between his lip and gum somehow ripped away from the lip and caused a fairly large gash. With the help of several doctors at church we determined he would be ok if we just let it heal. Apparently, most doctors won't put stitches in the mouth due to infection. He got hit in the mouth the next night and it bleed again....not as bad....but it still made my stomach turn. He is doing well. I have wanted to look, but I have refrained. I'm trying to wait a full four days, so tomorrow  I will have a look see.
Enjoy our week 35 picture!

Summer Vacation

So, the one bad thing about being involved in youth ministry is that you have to wait until the end of the summer to take a family vacation. With that being said, we would never trade our lives in ministry, but it is sooo nice to get away by the time August rolls around.
We started our break by taking a day trip to Splash Country with my sister and dad......my mom had to work.....boo!!! Isaiah had a ball, and I really enjoyed watching him and Keith play together. Note: They do not let huge pregnant women go down those really fun slides.....Isaiah was way too brave for his pants, but I have to give him props..he went down a slide that some four and six year olds wouldn't even go down!
After a days rest, and recovery, we headed to St. Simons Ga. to spend time with our friends. It was our fifth/sixth year to take a trip with Doug and Jessica Smith.....Jessie, you'll have to let me know which year is correct. We don't get to see each other throughout the year, with both husbands being in ministry, so our vacation time is always nice. We split the trip by staying in Atlanta with Keith's brother and his wife, Bethany Bagwell......its weird.....we have the same last name???? That's for you Bethany! Our days were as follows:
-get up and eat breakfast
-sunscreen and gather toys
-go to the beach and pool until lunch
-lunch and nap
-eat dinner at our favorite spots....and tried some new ones
-put kids to bed
-play chicken foot/this is a dominoes game Jessie taught us
-do it all over again the next day

The hurricane did pass by, but the only effect we saw was an extreme surge in the water. We had beautiful sunny days, and a ton of memories to enjoy! We are glad to be back in Knoxville and look forward to all of our fall activities, and our soon arrival of Miss Leah.
Hope you enjoy our photo album!

This is the huge slide he went down by himself! The other half of the slide is in a picture below.

This was right after he came off. He had just stopped clapping when dad snapped this one.

                  Aunt Casie went down with him. The slide above them is the top of the big slide!

                                                                     The cousins.

                                                                 Playing with daddy!

Nap time.....loved that we rented the retreat!

                                                         Eating chips with Uncle Justin.

                                                      Absolutely no fear of the water!

Watching the waves with daddy.

                                                      Our favorite tree in St. Simons.

                                                                  First climbing wall.

                                      Playing at the lighthouse with Porter and Millie.

                                                                        Sweet Millie!

                                                             All he wanted to do.

Splash Pad and a picnic

So, I have to admit that before last month I had no idea what a "splashpad" was. I mean, I've seen kids play at Olympic park in Atlanta, and at Market Square here in Knoxville, but splashpads are totally different. With all that being said.....my sister introduced me to this public park adventure last month and I became instantly hooked! Isaiah loves it and it is much easier than taking him to a swimming pool.

Keith and I decided that we really needed to leave our couch potato days behind us, and get out more, so we planned a day at the park. We got up Saturday morning, ate breakfast, got ready and headed to the park...picnic and all. Isaiah had a blast....so did Keith....and I got to enjoy watching my boys play!

4th of July Fun!

We really enjoyed our 4th this year! We spent the morning trying to get things done around the house before heading to my parents. We had some thunderstorms that came through mid afternoon, so when we got there the power was out. We played our regular game of Farkle, and by the last few rolls of the dice the power came back on. We finished getting everything ready for the grill, and the cooking began. We feasted on hot dogs and hamburgers....and all the sides that come with a cookout....and when we were done we took Isaiah out to play in the yard. We packed up in my parents new minivan...yes, they bought a minivan just to carry the grand kids around...and off to the fireworks we went. Isaiah LOVED the fireworks! The show was just shy of thirty minutes, and he watched the whole time. We celebrated spending time with family, and of course our freedom!

     This was hilarious! We watched him for several minutes...he was looking through the balloon.

                                                Watching fireworks with Grammy!

                                              He thought he could touch the fireworks.