Oasis

Dictionary.com defines Oasis as: something serving as a refuge, relief, or pleasant change from what is usual, annoying, difficult, etc.

This weekend I went on the Iriving Bible Church Woman's retreat, "Oasis." I think the retreat fit the definition perfectly. Not that day to day life is annoying at all but a weekend away with girlfriends was definitely a pleasant change from normal life. Besides enjoying the awesome speaker, we honestly did a whole lot of nothing and a whole lot of talking. I gained deeper friendships this weekend and enjoyed a little break from mommyhood (Although I loved the pics of Jax that Scott texted me every few hours). So now, I'm refreshed and excited to be back with my boys once again!

Here we are retreating it!

Scott's parents were here when I got back and went to his hockey game with us. I guesss I won't be putting away the winter gear so I can drag it out all summer long for hockey games...freezing!

If Jax could talk here I think he would say: "Daddy Stinks! Go Shower!"

On another note, does anyone have any car seat opinions they are willing to share? We're getting closer to buying a convertable one and the more I research I do, the more confused I get.

Have a great day!

Booked!

Scott and I have just booked a vacation to the Cayman Islands! Yay! We are so excited! He was going to surprise me with a trip a day or two before we would leave to celebrate a little birthday I have coming up. However, he knows that I absolutely love researching and planning trips. In fact, I love them so much that our last trip to Italy I read travel books cover to cover before we left. Let's face it, I'm kind of bossy when it comes to what we do on vacation. So he told me about the vacation and we chose the place together.

We initally wanted to go to Mexico because of the great deals available and the location. However, we didn't feel that with the saftey warnings given that we wanted to go there. So, we began researching other places and finally landed on the Cayman Islands. Niether of us have been to the Carribean before (besides cruises) so we are so excited! I'm praying for good weather because the weather this week has rain in the forecast all week long. We'd love any recommendations of things to do while we are there.

I love this picture of the Caymans. I only wish I knew how to make it bigger!

In case you are wondering, we aren't bringing the little man with us. He'll be in great hands at home.

Let the planning begin...

home again

We spent our Easter weekend in Austin with Scott's family. The weather was perfect and so was the company. We celebrated Christ's resurrection with family and friends. I'm so glad we can celebrate Christ freely.

Unfortunately this site will only let me upload 5 pictures. If you know how to do more, please teach me. Here are just a few of the highlights of our weekend.

This picture sums Jax up...silly.

Playing with Uncle Hunter.

Relaxing with Mimi. His Great Grandmother. Isn't she beautiful!

Our family on Easter morning.

Of course the Easter bunny visited Emmie and Big Daddy's house.

Hope you had a wonderful Easter too!

before and after

Our landscape project is finally complete! We still need to add some annual color but we'll do that in a few weeks. Besides that, we're done!

This is something that we have planned to do since we bought the house 5 years ago. Our grass was never green and had some kind of disease that we could never fix. So we replaced the Bermuda with St. Augustine. Our front bed was overgrown and tired looking so we tore it all out and started over. The right side of the house never had anything and I was tired of looking at the a/c unit and meters everytime we drove down the street so we made a bed there. We had a landscape architect from Land Pro Creations draw up plans for us. We tore out the beds, they tore up the grass, laid the sod, and prepped the beds for us to purchase the plants and put in ourselves. It was a lot of work but definitely worth it.

Here are a few of the shots. The pictures don't quite do it justice...

Before...

(We put the brick border on craigslist listed as "free" and had 8 emails in 2 minutes of people who wanted it and would pull it out themselves. Ingenius if you ask me!)

Our little helper. Yes, his collar is "popped!"

after.

We will be adding annual color in three different spots in a few weeks.

The front bed. You can't see how pretty it is in the picture. We have some azalias, dwarf gardenias, hostas, daylillys, salvia, ferns, camellias, double knockout roses, crape myrtle, hollys, abelias, and some fountain grass.

Here's the side of the house. I can't wait for it to grow in and hid the metal.

All done in time for Easter. Have a Happy One!