Happy 11th Anniversary to Us

Has it really been eleven years?  Wow...it seems like only yesterday we were frantically rushing to get married.  And I (Mary) really was frantically rushing to the church and stressing because the cake was in the back of the car.  It is really hard to rush while trying not to destroy the cake.  Oh, the stress!  I remember it like it was yesterday.  To this day I still blame Scott for me being late and not having everything in place for the cake, along with my dad having to finish his cake.  Ha!  Yes, I was insane and made all cakes for my wedding.

Anywho...I'm just glad our marriage hasn't been as hectic and stressful as that day.  All in all, it was worth every bit of the stress.  This anniversary is definitely the best yet.  What do we have planned?  Nothing of significance.  Then what makes it the best, you might ask.  It is the best because not only do I get to celebrate eleven wonderful years with the best husband in the world, I get to celebrate eleven wonderful years with the best husband AND sweetest little boy in the world!  Only in my wildest dreams did I ever think that would be a possibility.  I am blessed beyond measure.

Oh how our little family has changed!

September 23, 2000

July 31, 2011

Food for Local Communities

One of my friends from high school days has raised her daughter to have a love for others.  She has rooted a true love for others in her daughter's heart and her daughter is running wide open trying to help others.  As a fourth grader, Miss. Claudia Cade puts her energy into her "crusade against hunger", collecting food for local food ministries.  You can help Miss. Cade in her crusade.  Curious how?  Follow the link Claudia-Cade-Lee-County's-Miss-Heart-of-America-Queen-of-Hearts, like the page, and you can help Miss. Cade in her journey to end hunger.

News for Ms. Claudia Cade:

http://wcbi.com/article.php?subaction=showfull&id=1315854172&archive&start_from&ucat=2%2C41

and

11 Years Gone By

January 2000, at 20 years old, I met a crazy fella who made my world brighter.  He added laughter to every day and made me feel special.  I fell head-over-heels in love with this wonderful, crazy man.  To this day I can't really explain how he swept me off my feet so quickly.  All I know is that it was in God's plans for us to be together.  And how great those plans have turned out to be!

We've gone through a lot together.  Things haven't always be easy or gone our way, but I wouldn't change the life we have for anything.  As we struggled through things, specifically trying to extend our family, we often questioned why things didn't go our way.  One thing is for sure, our struggles have brought us closer together and made our marriage even stronger.  I love Scott more every day.

September 23, 2011, we will celebrate 11 wonderful years of marriage.  It makes it even sweeter that we will celebrate our 11 years of marriage as parents to a wonderful little blessing from God.  We are right where we want to be!

Money Matters

Money, money, money.  I've never been obsessed with money but since I have more responsibility than Scott and myself, I have been thinking of ways to do better with our money.  We waste so much on nothing.  I want to start a savings for Micah and for me and Scott.  I want to put money into each every month so I need to create a budget.  I think I will do that today.  Also, I am going to start couponing.  I tried to do my first coupon shopping trip this past weekend.  It wasn't very successful though.  I had Micah with me.  We had been shopping for a while once I finally made it to grocery shopping and he was getting very tired.  He fights his sleep during the day so I just bought what I had and left.  I had spent a good deal of time printing coupons, searching competitors' ads and creating a shopping list.  Guess I will have to get back to that today too.  I'm not going to go crazy or be too strict on my budget, but I do need to at least try.

On another note, a spending note, we are about to add on to the house.  I am so excited that we will have a little more room but I am even more excited that I will have a personal gym.  We are planning to enclose the carport.  The majority of it will be the living room, but a small portion will be a room for me.  Scott says anything I want it to be so it will be a home gym.  I already have several pieces of equipment that will do for now.  Since we have moved they have been sitting in pieces in our storage shed.  It will be great to get them back together.