Skipping Summer

So I am very aware that the last blog was this spring but this has honestly been a crazy summer. It was filled with beach trips, lake trips and birthdays. I feel as though we might have had 2 completely free weekends all summer. Therefore I am just going to skim through the highlights. Sarah Beth learned to swim!! (With swimmies of course). For those of yall that know her well, you know what a huge accomplishment this was for her. My daughter is not a fan of water. It took her until recently to get comfortable taking baths at other peoples houses so you can imagine what a pool was like for her. We bought her some "Puddlejumpers" this summer and once she realized she could do it all on her own, there was no stopping her. Of course watching daddy swim helped a lot as well. She has become quite the copycat!

Along that same line, we also got Sarah Beth to enjoy the sand/beach. Not only is she particular about water, she is also a girly girl which means she is not a fan of getting "gross" as she calls it. So ALL that sand was an obstacle! This feat actually took most of the summer. She NEVER got use to the water hose going down her bathingsuit to clean her off. Oh the places sand can get! The ocean scared her as well and it took her until our August family trip to convince her to put her feet in the water.

Sarah Beth turned 2 this summer!! I cannot believe how much she has grown! Honestly I can't even believe how much more talkative she has gotten in the past month but that is for later. Sarah Beth was OBSESSED with Barney this summer so a Barney party was had! We invited family and a couple of Sarah Beth's friends and grilled out at the house. Sarah Beth could care less about opening gifts (even though now she LOVES it) but as always loved all the attention. She got tons of gifts including her own Barney and she loved her Barney cake!

We were able to turn Sarah Beth into a river rat. She now loves the boat. She has finally gotten use to the life vest and even stops before she gets near the water to let me put it on. Her favorite "job" at the lake is being her daddy's first mate! She will sit in his lap pushing the horn the whole trip. So for those of you at the lake when we are there, you will hear us coming!

Last, Dutch and I were able to have our own adult time as well with several date nights, my favorite being our annual date to Capt. Anderson's in Panama City. My favorite restaurant by far!!

That is the summer update! Hopefully I will be updating on this fall this weekend! Hope you enjoyed the pictures! Much Love, MB PS. My favorite picture for the road...

How old am I?

I know it is June and I have not posted since April but for those of y'all who know us, we are always swamped in the spring and summer. Therefore, this post is dedicated to the month of May. May actually started off with the last weekend in April... Aunt Teensy's graduation. Aunt Teensy graduated with her masters from Florida State. For many of you I know you might not get why my sister would end up in Florida for grad school, but as she puts it "I get to cheer against Florida twice in one season!" We stayed with my grandmother, Joycie in Bainbridge and commuted to Tallahassee from there. Joycie LOVED it! She has not been able to spend that much time with Sarah Beth or Dutch. Sarah Beth and her bonded and Dutch discovered her cooking... let me tell you my grandmother can COOK! Dutch thought I was a good cook until he stayed with her. Now I am just ok. That is an absolute true story and I cannot get her recipes because she does not use them. Dutch has now informed me he wants me to go stay with her for a while and have her teach all of her meals with me so I can bring it home! Despite the good food, the best part was watching my little sister graduate and celebrate with her as best we could! I could not be more proud of her!!! Unfortunately I have no pics of the graduation. My father took all the pictures! Sarah Beth hurrying Joycie for our family celebration dinner. She loved running down the hall to Joycie's room and surprising Joycie! Next weekend was a trip to Brasstown Valley. We go every fall to the Poultry Federation's weekend retreat. This year, it was very relaxing for us. Dutch did his meetings and horse shoes (yes..he plays every year!) and Sarah Beth and I relaxed around the resort for the weekend. This was Sarah Beth's first trip to actually see and be impressed with the mountains so she loved walking around. We also ran into an old Phi Mu sister. Jana Williams Yandle. Jana was a little older than me but from a small town in South East Georgia so we had lots in common. I always looked up to her and it was great to see her doing so well with her family! THe three of us walking around the resort and checking out the mountains. We then celebrated Mother's Day. Dutch gave me a shopping trip for a new pair of shoes (and for those of you who know me well you know what a great gift that was)! and Sarah Beth gave me gorgeous flowers! We decided to celebrate this holiday with Grandy. We met her at the GA Aquarium. Wow did Sarah Beth enjoy this trip! She liked sea animals before, but now she LOVES them. Especially dolphins. She screams now when the Aquarium commercial comes of tv because she saw the dolphin show live. Grandy gave her a dolphin (which she has named Eee - which she screams because that is what they say) and she carries this dolphin with her everywhere! We usually go to church for Mother's Day but this was a wonderful change of pace and we all got lots of family time which made Mother's Day perfect. Sarah Beth and I at the Aquarium. After Mother's day came Aunt Amanda's high school graduation. Amanda graduated from Oconee County High School. They graduate at the Colliseum so we got to celebrate on campus. Dutch left 2 hours early to save seats for the entire Guest family. Sarah Beth and I showed up later with Aunt Lala. The graduation itself was very nice! Afterwards was dinner at the Georgia Center. This was absolutely yummy and ended with cupcakes from Gigi's! Sarah Beth was such a trooper and stayed up fairly late and in a good mood. The best part is Amanda is going to UGA this fall so there will be yet another dog in the family!! All of us after graduation. Last we ended the month with a trip to Lake Blackshear to celebrate my birthday! We had Dutch's friend from college, Joseph and his wife Scarlett over for the day Saturday. My best friend from high school Abbey and her boyfriend also stopped by for supper so it was a wonderful birthday celebrated with family and friends. Turning 29 made me reflect alot on the past decade and turning 30 next year. I cannot believe how far things have come. I could not be more blessed. The main picture for this blog was taken at a restaurant at the lake after a morning boat ride. Sarah Beth got in a rare mood to give kisses! On the flip side, I literally found eye wrinkles the night of my birthday and bought eye cream for the first time. So my birthday ended with a bang!:) Capt and skipper. We are now half way through June and getting ready for our first beach trip of 2012! We cannot wait and will share pictures and stories when we return. Have a great summer! Much Love, MB

Spring is here!

So after a fairly mild and confusing winter, spring is finally here, which means we have been busy!! We spent 2 weekends in March at Lake Blackshear. The first was a quick trip for a wedding shower for our friends Joseph and Scarlett in Leesburg. It is funny how I am the one from South GA, but Dutch's friends seem to be the ones getting married down there. We both enjoyed our night out!

Us with Joseph and Scarlett

The next weekend we went back down to visit. We spent most of Saturday on the lake. Sarah Beth has learned the word "Boat" and is obsessed with them. A month later, she is still asking to go out to the boat and we are back home. I keep telling her there are no boats at home. Dutch got to drive the boat this trip and once he got it to a good cruising speed, Sarah Beth LOVED it! Her favorite spot is being skipper with her daddy (this means she gets to honk the horn)!

The Capt and his skipper

We also went to a Strawberry patch on the way home Sunday. Sarah Beth took a while to figure out what to do, but boy did she love the fresh strawberries! We took lots home and she ate all of them within a week!


We stopped to visit the Fresh's on our way home. Lauren is my childhood friend turned college roomate. Her husband Eddie and her just had their 2 boy so we HAD to stop to see the baby. The oldest James is 9 mo older than SB and looks just like his dad. But no worries, Lauren put her mark on Will. He looks just like his mom! Sarah Beth was fascinated with the baby but James would not let her take his baby brother home. James and SB finally started playing when it was time to go, but it was certainly nice to visit!! SB tried to take Will's bumpo with her because it was identical to hers but unfortunately for her, we left it! Hopefully we will see them more this summer!

After the lake, we got going on Easter. I love holiday as you know, so Easter bunnies and decorations went up Ash Wednesday. We had an Easter Egg Hunt with a couple of Sarah Beth's friends Zoe Campbell and Harrison Gaydica. I think they had more fun playing and really didn't care much for hunting eggs until they discovered stickers and goldfish inside the eggs. Dutch hid the "golden egg" on a tree for them to find. Trying to shepard toddlers to one place is like herding cats. Zoe finally found it! Sorry no pics with this one, I plum forgot. Dutch has it on video. I need to figure out how to post it!

This past weekend was Easter. The Easter bunny had come when we woke up. Sarah Beth LOVED her ball and puzzles. Sarah Beth plays with her Daddy's football alot and it is getting dangerous around the house. I am worried she will hit herself with it. So I wrote a letter to the Easter bunny and he brought a softer one for her. It did not replace the football. Now she just loves to play with 2 balls. She also got another bunny figurine. This is a tradition that the Easter bunny did in my family and now SB has gotten one each Easter as well!

Easter bunny gifts!

We went to church and lunch afterwards with the Guest family. She got to eat with the cousins by herself and did so well!!! When I was done eating, she was outside with her aunts and cousins running in circles in the lawn at the Country Club. After a long nap, Grandy came with a basket of goodies, one of which was bubbles. I think we have almost finished one container of bubble mix already she love them so much.

Obligatory Family Pic

Running from the Aunts because she doesn't want to stop for pics!


Back to running circles!

We started gymnastics for Sarah Beth this month. She is pretty shy, but getting better everyday. She has decided the loves the trampoline and balance beam. We are working on getting her to jump into the foam pit. That might take a while! She runs to it and stops dead in her tracks!

This weekend we are heading to Brasstown for a conference. They have an indoor pool so I am hoping to introduce SB to the pool a little early because I have a feeling it will be a battle again this summer. I wanted to fill up her pool this week for her spring break, but the cold snap crushed that plan! Oh Well!

Hope yall have enjoyed the spring as much as we have!

Much Love, MB

Beds and Basketball

So what all have we been up to at our house since Valentine's day? Well as you noticed, Sarah Beth got a basket of flowers from Grandaddy, Nana, Lala and Manda. She received dvds and a coloring book from us, Lady and the Tramp from Grandy and her Vday outfit with a lady bug purse from Papa George, Mimi and Teensy. She is obviously loved. For the most part, we have been trying to stay well. As Grandaddy says... "This is a doctor's favorite weather." With the temps going from 70s to the 40s within a day, it seems like we have a cold every other week in this house. I cannot wait for steady spring temperatures. I am hoping does not mean that summer will be unbearable.

I started missing all the flowers at my parent's house in Tifton and asked dad to bring up a couple of camellias from home. He brought 8 plus an assortment of flowering plants. We spent ALL Thursday afternoon planting! Thank the lord, Sarah Beth was worn out from MMO. I will post pictures once they start to bloom. Now the only thing we have left to put in my south georgia garden is my tomatoes. Last time we planted tomatoes we bought 4 plants and had tomatoes coming out of our ears, no lie. So we might re-evaluate how we plant them this year. Now we just have to hope I inherited my dad's green thumb.

So, what else has the Guest family been up to? Dutch and I picked out a new bedroom suit and mattress. This is really the first nice furniture we have picked out together. It was alot of fun! We currently have all hand-me-downs, the bed is older than we are. We CANNOT wait for the furniture and mattress to come in and talk about it almost as if we are waiting on a new puppy. I have always wanted a sleigh bed. The bed Melissa and I have always slept in at Joycie's house in Bainbridge is a sleigh bed and I have been infatuated with them since I was a girl. So Dutch, being the great husband that he is, humored me and let me have my sleigh bed. In return, I let him pick out the mattress. Luckily we both agree on soft mattresses. So I have now been cleaning out our closet and all of our clothes to get ready to move into the new furniture.

The pile of empty hangers from me cleaning out my side of the closet. I still had some clothes from highschool....

Sarah Beth also went to her first UGA basketball game. She had alot of fun. We stayed until half time. She loved watching the dancers and clapped everytime anyone scored regardless of the team. The warm weather we have had has also led to many fights between us regarding her wanting to be outside all the time. We also fight over her jacket. She wants to wear her warm winter jacket outside ALL the time regardless of if she needs it. She also thinks this jacket means we are going outside so when we are in the house she is constantly giving it to me, leaving it at doors and trying to put it on herself. Terrible twos are not far behind!

Daddy and Sarah Beth at the basket ball game.

I would also be remissed if I did not at least mention the loss of Nick Whitlock. Nick was a freshman with me at Mercer, a Phi Mu sweetheart and married a sorority sister of mine, Ashley Oddi. I have many memories of parties, formals, classes and lunches with Nick. He was a "true gentleman" and served our country as a pilot for the Air Force. His plane went down in North Africa 2 weeks ago and we were lucky to have such an outstanding guy serving this great nation. Him and Ashley were made for each other and I have been praying for her and their families during their time of loss.

Hope you enjoy the pics! A recipe is coming next post. I am thinking maybe Italian Sausage Bake, Dutch loves it and it has veggies and meat in one dish and is cheap...my favorite type of meal!

Much Love,
MB


Sarah Beth with her ladybug purse and phone in the car. She insisted on bringing it and started saying "hello" as soon as we pulled out of the drive. Don't worry I pulled over in the driveway for this picture.

The Month of Dutch

So I am aware it has been quite a while since my last post, but this is because things have finally slowed down and we have just been enjoying weekends at home with a couple of gymnastics meets here and there. We have also been battling sick season with a toddler. However, we have celebrated Dutch's birthday and will be celebrating Vday tomorrow!

Since my last post, Sarah Beth has really started expanding her vocabulary. It is really impressive. She really is a copy cat. I think the funniest word she has recently added is her word for a telephone. It is a "hello." No matter how many times I call it a phone, she calls it a hello. Sarah Beth is also really getting active, particularly from supper to bed time. She destroys the house in those 2 hours. It is really impressive.

We have also battled numerous colds and the stomach flu. As Dutch told a friend the other day, "You have not lived until you have a toddler with the stomach flu!" Naturally, Sarah Beth passed it on to me so that really knocked this family out. Dutch was great though, we took care of both of us and ate chicken noodle soup for a week!

Dutch's birthday was celebrated for almost a week! His birthday is the 7 so we spent Super Bowl Sunday celebrating with Grandy, the 7 celebrating with Grandaddy and Nana and the 8 was our family celebration with his favorite meal: Pot roast, mac and cheese, and okra and tomatoes. I also surprised him with a homemade red velvet cake. He has been doing the biggest loser and work, but it was his birthday!

We decided to do a family outing tomorrow for Valentine's Day, since as Dutch says, he "has 2 valentines" and so do I! Pictures will obviously be taken for this and shared!

As far as my life has been, Dutch and I have started a Sunday School class. They decide their lessons based on books the group wants to read as a whole. So we have started "Why Jesus" by Will Wilmon, a Methodist bishop from Birmingham. I will certainly let you know. I have also started "Sheparding a Child's Heart" to help continue my education for my new career. So far, this has been great. On top of which I am working on finishing the Harry Potter series which so far I have LOVED! I also joined Pinterest finally this weekend and WOW! I feel like I have so much to try and do now between Dutch and Sarah Beth. I don't know if it is worse than facebook as found as time sucking or not. So, this has summed up the past month. I have included a picture of Dutch's cake and Sarah Beth. The picture of her is during her "crazy time" after supper and before bedtime. She played so hard she pulled her arm out of her shirt and just kept going. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Much Love, MB

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

This picture, in my mind, sums up our Christmas. Do not get me wrong, Sarah Beth LOVED it, but with Christmas being on the weekend we decided to cover all 3 families in 1 weekend... So this picture even though it was taken at the first Christmas in Tifton probably more accurately describes our household after it was all over.

We have never been to Tifton for Christmas and I grew up with certain traditions, church on Christmas Eve, dinner at the Bowen's house, the Christmas story being read at home and advent, opening the sibling gifts before we went to bed and Santa in the morning, followed by the advent wreath again. Manheim Steamroller being the everpresent soundtrack. We did some of that this year with Sarah Beth. We went to church which was great and had dinner with the Bowens. Dutch, Sarah Beth and I left early to go to bed because well, we had already opened gifts and spent time with Joycie and we were just plum tired. Also, Sarah Beth had an upset stomach which we later discovered was a stomach virus. Sarah Beth I must say got more gifts than I EVER remember getting from my grandparents. The shopping cart I believe was her favorite! I got Mercer memorabilia and Dutch got among other things another heat lamp for our porch. We woke up Christmas morning, had breakfast and headed back to Athens for Christmas lunch with the Guest family.

Sarah Beth's big gift from Nana and Grandaddy was a table and chairs set and a radio flyer wagon (this one was a surprise for mommy and daddy too!) Dutch and I got an assortment of gifts. We tried to get her interested in playing in the boxes but that was a bust. Amanda was showing her how to get in, almost fell and terrified Sarah Beth. Sarah Beth is very protective and cannot stand people getting hurt... especially loved ones! So Sarah Beth screamed, we laughed and the box was over and done with. We had a WONDERFUL lunch and headed back home to nap, unload and do dinner with Dutch's mom.

Grandy came over on Christmas night. We had a new creation I found in a Paula Deen Cookbook which was basically Christmas meal in a casserole and fresh bread Grandy made. Needless to say we had LOTS of great food. Monday we woke up to discover that Santa did make it to our house, just a day late and he brought a kitchen set and elephant ball popper. Sarah Beth could not stand it and could hardly get breakfast down because she was more interested in her new toys. Grandy brought her weebles, an interactivebook and one of Dutch's old nice wooden toys which she also LOVES! Grandy gave Dutch and I among other things a DVD of our beach trip this summer, which was an awesome gift!!! I gave Dutch a TV (it was an early gift so he could get what he wanted) and Dutch gave me a new set of pots and pans. I know it sounds terrible... kitchenware, but for those of you who know me I LOVE cooking so this was actually a perfect gift... the earrings didn't hurt either!! We spent the rest of Monday recovering from the weekend and are now back in the swing of things. We spent New Years at home while the rest of our family went to Tampa. We enjoyed spending a quiet New Years but did not enjoy watching the dogs get beat. Now Dutch and I are working on our New Year's resolution to get back in shape (I know...typical) but thanks to P90 bootcamp I do think we might complete this resolution even though we can hardly move. Other resolutions for me this year:

1. Become more involved in the church
We have started visiting Sunday Schools.

2. Plan more family activities
Last Friday we took Sarah Beth to her first Gym Dog meet, which has led to me researching mommy and me gym classes.

3. Pray for my marriage daily.
So far so good.
I think 4 resolutions are good!
So far 2012 is shaping up to be a good year!

Hope your Christmas was festive and 2012 is a blast!

Much Love, MB


Sarah Beth in Tifton next to her least favorite person... Santa


Sarah Beth and Daddy checking out the loot from Santa


Feeding Baby the goldfish Santa left in her stocking in Baby's new high chair.


Finally getting in a box after Day 3 of gifts.


Sarah Beth refusing to look at the camera at her first gym dogs meet.


Sarah Beth mad because I made her sit in her chair for a picture at the meet.

Santa Claus is Watching You! (He's everywhere, he's everywhere)!

Don't you just love this picture!! I will let you insert your caption here... She is mid-tantrum in this picture, but more on that later. So Christmas in the Guest house is full swing and I have brought my "A Game" this year. Christmas cards were mailed the first week in December, and all the gifts have been bought and wrapped as of last week. I also co-chaired the Holiday committee for Athens Area Cancer Auxiliary. We as an organization donated money to provide a Thanksgiving meal for 2 families in need with cancer patients currently in treatment as well as donated gifts for 2 families for Christmas. This has always been one of my favorite things the Auxiliary does and last year I had the bright idea to co-chair the committee in charge of gathering donations and distributing them to the families. I absolutely enjoyed it and would not trade the experience for the world, but that on top of our Christmas and families has made for a hectic December.

So aside from running around what have we been up to? Well first is the Watkinsville Christmas parade. Dutch was in charge of the float for LAD this year and he also brought his "A Game." Their first meeting was in July! Dutch does not do anything unless he is in 110% and this was no exception. The float was massive, but looked like a Winter Wonderland. LAD received the prize for Adult Float, Best Use of Theme. We could not have been happier! Sarah Beth of course decided to party hard the night before and wake up early the day of the parade so she was in a "wonderful mood" but once we got going, she had a great time. She even got into reaching in the bucket and dropping candy out for the kids on the street. Sarah Beth and I then hiked 10 miles (not really but it felt like it - it was probaby 2 or 3 miles) back to LAD to wait on Dutch to come back from looping the float around town. She has gotten so big!!


Sarah Beth and I with Cayden and Ashley Gunter throwing out candy on the float.

Last weekend Aunt Teensy came to visit! She finshed the semester at FSU last week and decided to show up and visit for the weekend. I do not know who was more excited, Sarah Beth or me! Melissa and I had a girls night Friday night with dinner at Casa Mia and cheesecake at the Last Resort. This was absolutely amazing! Meanwhile Dutch and Sarah Beth had daddy / daughter time at the Varsity which I am sure they enjoyed. Saturday Melissa babysat so Dutch and I could go to the LAD Christmas party, which was fun as always and Sunday we all went to church and saw Santa at the Country Club. The above picture sums up Sarah Beth's opinion. She screamed the minute we put her on his lap. Santa suggested I sit on his lap with her so she wouldn't notice, but it was too late, the tantrum had already started. We did get a decent picture eventually. She lips make you think she is smiling, but her eyes tell you she definately is not!! Sarah Beth did watch the puppets with Daddy after Santa and that she LOVED!!


Best picture we got...

So here we are, the week of Christmas and everything is ready!! Hope you have a very blessed Christmas and I hope you enjoyed the pictures!!


Random picture of Sarah Beth after supper. Saying she loves rice is putting it mildly!

Much Love,
MB