Dad & Daughter's Fishing Date

Andrea has been showing an interest in fishing since the spring. Yesterday morning Phill took the morning off of work and he scheduled a "Fishing Date" with Andrea. It was so much fun. They got their poles ready Monday night and set off first thing Tuesday morning for Burke Lake. It was an amazing time for the both of them. He is such an amazing Daddy. He just continues to bring such amazement and joy to our family. What a blessing. Here are some pictures from that day.

What an amazing time of bonding and fun for Daddy & Daughter!!

Pictures

We have posted pictures to our pregnancy journal from a photo shoot Phill took me on this weekend. The link to our journal is above the baby ticker on the left side of this blog. Enjoy.

Our Beach Trip 2008

Here are some photo's from our beach trip to the outerbanks.

First stop is the farmers market.

Now we are off to the beach!

















Mandy & Jake at Dinner, then off to golf.












Toasting Marshmallow's.... What fun!!






A Night out to Tale of the Whale... Our favorite place to eat!















Final Stop....Go Carts!

Our Anniversary

Today we are celebrating our 3 year wedding anniversary. The time has passed by so quickly. It seems like only yesterday we were getting ready for the big day, all the excitement of planning and registering and celebrating. The wedding was such an amazing event itself with all of the people who we love so very much and the memories that we were blessed enough to make. Now sitting here thinking back to that day it is so exciting for us and to think that we are once again planning and registering and celebrating the next big event in our lives.... Our very first baby! We are so very blessed to have been given this gift. We will spend the day home from work, so exciting, just enjoying one another and remembering that incredible part of our life. We plan on going out to dinner tonight, just the two of us. (Thanks Mandy) We will remember each of you today and the part you played in the memories of June 25, 2005!

Ready for the weekend.

We are so happy that the weekend has arrived. The past few weeks have been wonderful. Andrea finished up soccer with a win of the championship, it was last weekend in the 100 degree weather which was a challange but with lots of tents, water, wet wash clothes and parents armed with spray bottles we managed through it. Two games, hot hot days and one amazing win. I am so proud and happy for her. The girls finished up school for the summer yesterday. So nice!! The girls have begun their daily ritual of hanging at the pool with their friends. They have grown up so fast it is hard to believe. Brittany had her first sleep over two weekends ago. That was so much fun. It was the sleep over for her birthday back in March since it was basketball and she was on all stars she was never able to have her big 13th sleepover so we waited until the pool opened to have it. It was amazing to be a part of and watch. She has made such wonderful friends. I am very proud of the young lady she has become. I continue to update the baby journal often. Things are going great. Please log onto our journal for updates. We have posted our new ultrasound picture from Monday. The baby now looks like a baby, amazing to see!! I also added a baby ticker to count down to the birth both here & on our journal. (Thanks Courtney)

Back to the swing of things

OK I know it has been forever since I posted on here. We have been going through somethings which have been filling our lives. We found out in April that we are expecting a baby. This news was so very exciting for us since we had been trying for 10 months. No sooner did we find out that we were expecting I started spotting which continued up until last Friday. It has been a roller coaster for us so we have just really been focusing on the baby and praying for things to go well. We did start an online pregnancy journal which we would like to share with all of you. The link and all the information for what has been going on is http://www.babycrowd.com/jr/online/ourbabyjourney/welcome.html

I hope each of you will continue to check back on how things are going through our pregnancy. We have our first ultrasound picture posted there as well.

Catch Up

Well it has been a while since I have been on the blog and I am sorry for those who have been waiting. It seems that like is just so busy and that when you work and have kids you have little time to blog. Since my last post we have enjoyed Brittany's turning 13, what a wonderful time this has been. She is just growing into the most amazing young lady. We enjoyed a George Mason Game, Brittany completed a regular season of Basketball and was picked for the All-Star team. Phill was the assistant coach, such a wonderful thing for the both of them. They both really love Basketball. We just ended the season in time for Andrea to start Soccer. She is playing with the same girls that she has played with for the past two years and she is very excited about that. As most of you are aware Phill and I have been trying to have a baby since July of last year. I recently completed all of my testing and I have been given a bill of great health for baby. It has been very hard and trying but our spirits are up. We continue to pray and seeks God's love and support in our journey. We currently have a few family and friends who have been blessed and are expecting. We are excited and happy for each of them, however it does become hard at times to be reminded of what we have yet to be blessed with. We have decided to take almost every one's advise and take a month or two off from ovulation test kits, calendars and temperatures and see if just relaxing will work better. In the mean time it is easier to stay clear of anything baby for a while. (We were so excited about the idea that we started looking at everything baby at stores and online, yes Phill too. He is amazed with all of the strollers out there. Guess that is kinda like being into cars in the baby world, smiles.) Please keep us in your prayers through this time of our life. We will continue to trust in His Will. With keeping in relaxing and taking our minds off of babies, we are looking forward to landscaping our front yard. We plan on taking out the small evergreen trees on either side of our front porch and putting in some flowers. This will be exciting and will keep our minds occupied.

My Birthday

Wow "32" today. It is amazing to me how quickly the year has gone by. I woke this morning to my wonderful husband wishing me a Happy Birthday. It was a much needed make me smile since I had to venture out into the icy world. Boy it was a challenge to get my car cleared off however once it was cleared no problems. I am going to celebrate today at work with my co-workers who all brought in dishes for a luncheon. I am so grateful for each one of them. Tonight I am actually doing what I LOVE to do cooking a big meal for my family. They are the best gift that God has ever given me and making them happy is really all that I need. Tonight should prove to be just a nice relaxing night at home. To each of you reading this You are my gift and I am thankful for you. I will leave each of you with my thought of the day while I am celebrating God's love: "You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe. Every day was recorded in your book!" (Psalm 139:16) God made me for a reason and planned the days of my life. Today I send praise to His plan for me and each of you who God placed into his plan for my life. I love you all, God Bless!

Too Busy

We enjoyed our weekend; although it was very busy it ended with us watching the Super Bowl, which was an amazing game. It was the first time we sat all weekend. It was much needed. I have two meetings at the girls’ schools this week, always busy times during the week. Phill continues to run every evening and watch his diet. I sure wish I had the drive that he does. By the time I have time to myself each day I am way too tired to run. However I am so proud of him. He really feels great and I love that!! It would be so much easier to have time if I was home more then I am away at work. Crazy how that works. Oh well, I will push through it as always. Maybe things will calm down for the coming weekend, we will see.

Reflection

Last evening we learned that a dear friend of Phill's family, Buddy, passed away from brain cancer. While this is a sad time for those who knew and loved him, it is a glorious day for Buddy who has gone on to spend eternity with the Lord. I have been reading his blog and have been inspired by their Faith which held their family together through this most difficult time in their lives. Even through the darkest of storms their Faith never wavered. It is amazing and inspirational to learn of the Power of The Lord in their family. They have become an inspiration to me. Seeing the strength the Lord has given their family will strengthen our Faith within our own family. Hearing Phill speak of Buddy and his family has warmed my heart. I know because Buddy and his family were a part of his life, they helped to form the wonderful Man, Husband & Father he has become. Today we pray for the Wood family and reflect and appreciate our own family. Everyone gets busy and caught up in life. We must take time to spend with those who mean the most to us and will be there until the end, Our Family. We are all here in His time and must cherish the prized moments which He allows each of us to have together. I am ever grateful that the Lord has given us a most precious and wonderful gift in each member of Our Family. We love each of you so very much.

Where did the year go?

So I know it has been a while for me to post a blog, sorry for that. We have been so busy and this year seems to have slipped away from us. Andrea finished up soccer just in time for Brittany to begin basketball. It was a great season for Andrea and her coach was wonderful. We are hoping that he is going to be coaching again next year since he did such a wonderful job. Brittany is on a team of all girls this year for the first time, no more co-ed and she is loving it. We are so excited for this phase of the girls' lives, it is so much fun!! We had a great Thanksgiving with Phill's family. It was such a blessing and wonderful to catch up with everyone. We missed all of you who were not able to attend. We are busy now getting ready for Christmas. This is such a wonderful time of the year. We are thinking of all of you during this time! I will post pictures soon:-)

Wisdom Teeth out and a bit wiser

So Friday I had the old wisdom tooth removal surgery. Going into this with much reassurance from all of my wonderful family and friends I thought it would be simple. No problems. Well let me say that it started out as expected, lots of rest Friday and Saturday and I expected to be turning the corner to the better side on Sunday. However this was not the case. It seemed that the pain was getting worse not better. Phill was wonderful and taking great care of me, the girls and the house so I knew it was not because I was pushing myself too fast or anything. I have a pretty high tolerance for pain as well so by Sunday night I just did not know how to get the pain to stop. Monday comes and there is no way I can make it to work. To top it off the Surgeon that I went to was very rude to Phill when he called and was the same with me a few hours later. He said there was no way that amount of pain was caused from the tooth, that he thought I was having a stroke and that Phill should take me to the ER. Can you believe this? I hang up in tears and end up talking with my regular dentist who wants to see me first thing in the morning. She tells me to double up my pain meds until then. I do and follow up this morning with her, she is amazing by the way. I go to a different oral surgeon to find out I have a dry socket, let me tell you all I am now the wiser to this condition, which is extremely painful. He fills in the socket with this medication and an hour later I feel so much better, exhausted from little sleep however the pain has now subsided!! Thank goodness for a caring dentist who actually listened and knew what was going on. So it looks like I am back to work tomorrow and I couldn't be any happier about that!!! I chalk this up as a lesson from which Phill and I are both a little bit wiser!!

To help a Friend

A coworker of mine, April Mckee, is walking for a cure for brain cancer in October. She is walking along with her daughter in memory of her husband, Mack, who she lost in 2006 at age 27. I wanted to help by posting up her link for donations toward her walk. If you would like to donate please go to the site below and click Sponsor Us Now.

http://www.firstgiving.com/4mackmckee

First Day of School

We are so excited to be starting our first day of school today!!

Brittany's first day of Middle School

Andrea's first day of Fourth Grade
They are growing up so fast. It is amazing and fun all at the same time!!

We love you both, have fun and be safe.

Love,

Dad (Phill) & Mom

Daytona Beach & Seaworld 2007

Our Trip in Pictures......
Daytona Beach, the view laying out...

The place we lay our heads at night, Oceanwalk Resort, Amazing!!Just wanting to get to the beach or the pool, we are ready!! Lazy river for Lazy days :-) Rock wall climbing across the street from our resort. Go Kart's anyone???

or how about some golf??

We had two mini golf courses right at our resort, what fun!!

I made that shot!!! Yay. I'm ready for the movie...Me too!! The "dive-In" movie, Grease. Loved it!!

The resort had two nights of this, great fun!!

Fireworks after the movie
To the beach the next afternoon. Lets hit some waves. Family Luau Night - Poolside Games, fun times!!While dining, we watched the shuttle launch.

….while dining at this restaurant, just the two of us.
The hotel had kid’s night for the parents to have a night out alone.
They watched the launch from the hotel penthouse roof deck!!

Another wonderful restaurant with a view of the water.
Our menus were custom made to say "Smith Family Vacation 2007".
A perk of our resort concierge service :-)

This was our view, what more could you ask for.....

Caviar for the lady, she loved it!!
It was on the salad bar, amazing.

We are at Seaworld now, boy is it hot!!!!

So we got much needed relief.
Shamu made a BIG splash, Look at these seats!

We were able to pet the dolphins. That was amazing!

And watch them perform. This was our favorite show of the day!!

Inside for the artic animals and some much needed cooling off.

It's time for dinner, we are going to see a show.

The Makahiki Luau Dinner show was so much fun and what beautiful outfits.

Awesome show and day at Seaworld!
"Thanks Mom & Dad" we heard over and over!!
It felt so good to spend this time together with our family!!

We are so very blessed to have had this opportunity to enjoy time together as a family, just the four of us. Those times are precious and we cherish them always!!
This was our first trip with just the four of us so it meant a great deal to us.
We are happy to be able to share this with all of you!!