Seriously?!

Sometimes I feel like singing that song from "Hee Haw" that goes like this:

If it weren't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all!
Gloom! Despair! And agony on me!

For the last few years it seems that there is always something breaking around here. In fact, we have made a game out of trying to guess what may break next. Well this week it was two things. A huge limb from one of our trees, that is apparently dying, fell onto our fence and broke a few panels. Now the fence won't be that big of a deal to repair, but the dying tree has to be removed, which will be a big deal. It's so expensive to have a tree removed. This will be the fourth tree we have had to remove. They have all been damaged during past hurricanes, which eventually caused them to die. So after we have this one removed, we will only have one tree left on our little lot. Kinda sad, especially considering that there were seven trees on our lot when we bought this house almost eight years ago.



Aaron's temporary repair. Nice, right? He doesn't want to fix it completely until the tree is gone....just in case more limbs fall and cause more damage. And here is the limb that did the damage.



However....there is good news. It could have been much worse. If the limb had fallen in a different direction, it could have been our house. Or it could have even fallen on the road, or even worse...it could have fallen and hurt one of the kids. So...there's always something to be grateful for....if you look hard enough. I am so grateful for my trials and my blessings!

Friday Night at Holly Beach

We rode down to Holly Beach tonight with the Gibsons. The weather was perfect--it wasn't even hot down there. Just breezy and beautiful!



The kids played on the beach while the hamburgers were grilling.



After dinner (thank goodness), a plane flew by spraying for mosquitoes. At least we think that's what he was doing.









Then it circled back around and sprayed again.



The kids thought it was pretty cool. Especially John David.



Before it got dark we made some smores. (BTW, I bought the new flat marshmallows that are supposed to be made for smores because it seemed like a good idea in the store. But as soon as we put them on our roasting sticks we quickly found out that they aren't very easy to roast. I think I'll just stick with the regular marshmallows next time.)



He was so excited to be holding the big fork.





Summer isn't summer without smores, right?





And you gotta have some root beer to wash it down with.



It was a beautiful sight watching the sun go down. I've always loved all the different colors of the sky as the sun goes down.

What a beautiful way to end the night!

Too Busy to Blog & Other Randomness

1. Where has the summer gone? Seriously?! Only three weeks before my babies have to go back to school, yet it seems like they just got out. Why does it seem like summer goes by faster the older that they get? Sad face. :(

2. Our air conditioner finally died last week. We have known it was coming for a while. For the last few years we have had to add Freon to it each summer and do a few minor things to it as well. The last few weeks it's been squealing at times and I've been praying that it would just hang on for the rest of this summer. But....it just didn't happen. The good news is that Aaron has a friend who works on air conditioners and he had it replaced in less than three hours. We can already tell a huge difference. The new unit doesn't run constantly like our old one did and our house is staying cool during the hottest part of the day. So hooray for a new A/C unit and for my husband's "creative" way of coming up with the money to pay for it when we really didn't know where the money was going to come from. He's pretty much a genius!

3. I made my first wedding cake this past weekend, and it may have also been my last. It was a very labor intensive project, and way too stressful. And I had to deliver it too. There were several things I was worried about, but I think it actually turned out okay. (Check out the cake blog for pictures.)

4. Our sweet little Sarah is sick again, and has an appointment with an ENT this week. I hate the thought of her having to get her tonsils out, but when I think about how little Katie has been sick since she had her tonsils out, it makes me wonder if Sarah wouldn't be better off without hers too. We'll see what the doctor says.

5. The kids and I were at Target the other day when there was a shooting at Ross, which is just a few stores down from where we were. It was the craziest thing ever, and I was just had such a weird feeling hearing all of the sirens and watching the cops scrambling. So I scooped my babies up and drove home. It was just too close for comfort and I needed to be in a safe place. I will now be finishing up my school shopping online.

6. I have been feeling just incredibly blessed lately. I am so grateful for my husband, my children, my country, my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ. So many blessings! Life is good!

LSU Cake

This is the cake I was asked to make at the birthday party we went to a few weeks ago.



She didn't ask for anything specific, she just said the theme for the birthday party was LSU.



Sometimes it's nice when they are more specific because I had a hard time trying to figure out what to do for this cake.



The front of the jersey.



My favorite thing about this cake is the baseball inside the glove.



But this turned out pretty good too. I think it would have looked way cooler in fondant, but she didn't want fondant. Oh well....still looks cool.

Kinda makes me want to make a Tarheel cake, but I'm sure I won't be getting any orders for a Tarheel cake in these parts. :)

Celebrating the 4th of July

Happy Independence Day! I am so grateful for this great country that we live in. I am grateful for the many freedoms that we enjoy as Americans. I am especially grateful for the men and women who have fought, and continue to fight for this great country. And I am also grateful for the freedom I have to worship how I please....for by choosing to pattern my life after my Savior, Jesus Christ, and his teachings, I enjoy many other freedoms and liberties that would otherwise not be possible.



Have I mentioned how grateful I am for these little cuties?







We started out our day by going to the ward breakfast.





Then we came home and I made a patriotic fruit pizza, and we went to hang out with the Zacharys at their camp by the river.



It was nice afternoon.





The kids had a blast on the rope swing.





And on the paddle boat.



And then Mrs. Zack took the kids out for a ride.









John David was sad that he didn't get to go ride on the boat. Every time he saw a boat pass by, he would say, "Boat! On it!"



So when they came back, Aaron took John David on a boat ride. He was happy as he could be.



Especially when he got to help move one of Mr. Zack's boats. He loves to help. Such a sweet boy.



By the time we got home from the river, we were all so wiped out that we ordered pizza, and opted to hang out here at home and skip the fireworks. What a great day! So grateful to be American!

Red, White, and Blue Crafts

We've been busy this week getting ready for the 4th of July. First we made some cute red, white, and blue bows using this tutorial. They were super easy to make and turned out super cute!



Then we did patriotic pedicures again. Yes, those are John David's little toes in that picture. He wanted his toes painted when he saw everyone else getting theirs painted, and I just couldn't tell him no.



Then we made some fireworks out of packages of Rolos. Pretty cute....and delicious!



It's been a fun week. Can't wait for the 4th!