Thanksgiving.

1. Jesus

2. Family

3. Friends

4. Two Church Families

5. New Friends in Starkville

6. My Best Friend Accepting Jesus As Savior

7. Heartbreak. it taught me a lot.

8. Safety Over My Filipino Family

9. Freedom

10. Love

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!!

I didn't want to write a super lengthy post because truthfully, I'm spending every second possible with my family & friends this week. I'm loving every bit of it. I did however want to stop by and note ten things I'm thankful for this past year. They are in no particular order, and I could've added tons & tons & tons more, but that generalized the majority of it. Let's just say....God is so good. SO good.

We spent last night making a small huge mess in the kitchen! Let's just say...there was flour everywhere. EVERYWHERE.
good times were had.
Always a joy spending time with Gracie & these two Hall kids! Love 'em!
ps...totally stole this picture from instagram. sorry, not sorry.

Hope you all have a blessed day. Make sure you laugh with your family until your face hurts & eat until your tummy aches! Gobble up!

happy birthday, gracie!

fourteen years ago today, the world became a more beautiful place. at 1:30 in the evening our little family of three become four when into our lives came a beautiful blond baby girl. nicknamed snow baby in the hospital because of her cotton top hair, she was the most amazing thing my little six year old self had ever seen.

my parents waited until my mom was five months into her pregnancy before telling me i had a little sister on the way. even then, i wasn't good at waiting on things. although i only had to wait four months, it seemed like an eternity, and i couldn't believe the day was finally there. i remember sitting in the waiting area in amory, mississippi with my family. i can still see myself sitting there with mopsey (grandmother...everyone needs a mopsey), holding my box of little pink cigars, repeatedly asking how much longer. finally, my dad took me on a walk around the hospital hoping to occupy me for a little while longer, which resulted in him almost missing the delivery. oops.

when i was finally allowed back, all i wanted to do was hold her. i remember planning all of the little adventures i would soon get to have with that little blond haired angel. and no doubt have we had more than i can even recount.

to gracie:

grace, when i say you are my best friend, i truly mean it. only you know me better than anyone else. i remember holding you for the first time. mom kept telling me to be careful with you because you were so fragile. and today, here you are..a beautiful, strong young woman. although i know you can hold your own ground (you can bruise me without effort for crying out loud), i still see you as a fragile, little girl in need of the most careful protection. i cringe at the thought of your heart being hurt. and while i remember how big i felt at the age of fourteen, i now realize now how crucial this season of your life is for you. don't get in a hurry to pass through into the next phase of life. enjoy the right now. laugh until your little rosy cheeks hurt, and tears stream down your face. play outside. dance around in your room. sing even when no one is listening. believe it or not, there will be a day when those things won't happen near as often, and you'll long to have those moments back. november 13, 1998, you were the most beautiful girl i had ever seen, and today, you still are. you are a beautiful child of HIS. He has such beautiful plans for you. never, ever settle for less than His very best.

fourteen years ago, my six year old plans for our future adventures mostly was limited to camping in the living room, climbing trees, and playing with dolls. i'm so thankful for those young years of our lives, but i think i would have to say my favorite adventures are the ones we are in now. the talks about life. the loud taylor swift jam sessions. the roller coasters. the laughs.



gracie showing her msu support for the state vs. bama game
although we were killed..we still believe ;)



george straight concern
always been such a little cowgirl



with bff, katie, at bubba gumps



looking gorgeous @ the glee program



EPR
grace loves the erwin family...& hannah :)



beautiful, beautiful



i think the older we get, the more we look alike.



soph adores you, gracie



7th grade dance



dollywood
what do you say we break our record next week?



7th grade dance



@ church. clearly not matching.



brady is a definitely a huge fan



daddy's country girl

when i hear this song...you are who i think of.



recent happenings.

Hi friends! I wish I could report to you that my lack of blogging is due to my fall being filled with lots of bonfires, cozy foods, good reads, and chick flicks, but sadly that isn't the case. Gosh, I wish it were...that would be the life, huh?  Instead, I've been drowning in papers, tests, fundraisers, work, etc. Sometimes I wish life would just slow down a bit, and give me time to actually do those things which I love. My to-do lists get so overwhelming at times I don't even know where to begin, and unfortunately I never make it past the yucky tasks to make it to the fun things like Christmas decorating. Don't tell me you haven't already considered dragging out the red and green.

Thankfully, my family and I will be taking a break in 12 days (yes, I am counting) to venture off to the Great Smokies. I think the four of us are in much needed of a getaway. I'll give more details on the upcoming trip soon :)

Here's a few pictures of recent days just in case you don't follow me on Instagram (which you definitely should!)

We had a 5K run this past Saturday to raise money for our orphanage, Rosemary's Home of Hope. The first five of the pictures are of the event. I will hopefully be sharing more about that and my upcoming trip to the Philippines in a few days. If you would like more information about supporting me (which I would be so extremely grateful for), please just email me!




dad and sis. they did awesome!




one of my best friends came out to help me for the day.
such a blessing!



sister love. grace came in fourth overall. awesome!



dad won his division. we were all pretty impressed!



the winners of the more mature division



i got this in a text over the weekend. soph told her mom she was going to meme's house.
kinda made my day.



little brady boy. he's presh.

that time i didn't need an ambulance.

happy tuesday..





this used to be my life's motto. i would literally run 2 or 3 times a day at least. no wonder i was so skinny. have to get back to that.



this past friday night i ran my first 5k since high school. back in the "good ole days," i could have been mistaken for forrest gump. ok, not really. i was nowhere near in shape to take off on a trek across country, but you get the point. i could run. however, after graduation life sort of got in the way of my daily runs. recently i decided these past few years of laziness being too busy need to come to a halt. i've been running/jogging some trying to get back in shape, and decided what better way to kick my butt in gear than to hop right into a 5k. 

my only goal for this first race was to not walk. i slowed down to a very slow paced jog, but i am happy to say not once did i let myself walk. (hand clap)

this race definitely rekindled my love for running and competing in races. i am already looking forward to running in another soon, meanwhile i have some training to do!





loved getting to run this with my sis.
i'll get ya next time, grace :)



i am incredibly thankful to God for this past weekend. i so enjoyed spending time with my family and friends. sometimes life gets so crazy, and all i want to do is just to be still. this weekend, the Lord gave me just that. so thankful.

gracie in her true character. she's definitely a little more country than me :)

Weekend review: Part 1

This past weekend was a pretty awesome weekend!

I had planned on being lazy the entire weekend, and I am pleased to announce...I succeeded! Isn't it sad I have to plan for that?!

Friday evening I came in from work, threw my hair in a bun, and put on some comfy clothes.

I then decided I was in the mood to take some pics. I at first was just going to take some of Grace, but then decided I might as well throw on a dress and take a couple of myself.

I usually get so caught up in snapping pics of everyone else, and end up with no recent ones of myself.

I am by no means a photographer, but we did have lots of fun!

One of my many cheap expensive headbands from the Filipino market

 Beautiful

I hate that my dress was fluffed up :/

My favorite of her!

She's a doll :)

I think they are both models

Super long dresses are my fav :) I need more!

I'll try to post about the rest of my weekend tomorrow. I don't want a picture overload today! On Saturday, Tab and I went to a burger and soda shop :)