Our Week at Smith Lake

The things we'll remember from our Smith Lake vacation...

 Yes that's me busting it hard on the water, good times.

Getting equal time is my sister, followed by some of the boy cousins.

My sister and my niece

We all got thrown off the tubes courtesy of my dad and my husband.  They considered it a job well done if we climbed up the ladder back into the boat with another layer of skin removed.  Tubing is painful and fun all at the same time on a 40 year old body, I guess the fun outweighed the pain just enough for me to keep doing it, ha ha.

Here we are before the fall...

Grey's face is priceless, he would go from having the time of his life to having the worst time of his life in a split second.

 Some of my favorite shots from the week...

Grey being thrown into the lake

 SK with her glow wand and bracelets

 Sophie Kate and Olivia

 My nieces

I love to see what happens when you get them away from electronics...

 Same could be said of the grown ups, the best of times.

Smith Lake

Just a few pictures from our vacation at Smith Lake...

and one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen...

It was a wonderful trip with family, tubing, boat riding and lots of good food.  There is so much to share from our trip, but my heart remains heavy for one of our special needs families who lost their daughter almost two weeks ago.  I cannot imagine their pain.  My heart is broken for them, they are on my mind constantly.  Sweet Giuliana is healed and in heaven, praying for comfort and peace for her family left to carry on without her...come quickly Lord Jesus. 

11

Happiest of birthdays to this guy...

Vacationing at Smith Lake isn't a bad way to spend your birthday! Even though he's his dad's "mini me," he's one of a kind to us.  Happy 11th birthday, Jacob!

Our 4th

I love a small town 4th of July.  I don't know if I should say just a smaller town or if we really qualify as a small town...in my mind we do so I"ll just go with it.  We have had a cloudy/rainy past few days and the 4th of July festivities were questionable all throughout the day Thursday.  No worries though, the rain stopped, the town turned out, the kids rode rides and we all watched the fireworks together once the sun went down.  

It's neat to see our town come together for something like this.  You get to chat with lots of different people and just about everywhere you look you see a familiar face.  The kids get to meet up with their friends and we get to meet up with our friends, it was win win all the way around.  

SK was so happy to be out and about, dressed for the occasion of course.  She really loved the fireworks this year, watching and smiling the entire time.  

The boys at Turkey Creek earlier in the week.  They floated down this little river to the swimming area.  They were all smiles here, this was just before Grey started screaming that he was "too young to die."  If the child would have just stood up he would have realized that he was only in ankle deep water...dramatic much?!?

Finally, this weekend we came to the realization that it is now cheaper for us to buy a small chicken nugget party tray to feed our crew at Chick-fil-a than it is to buy combo meals or 12 pack nuggets for everyone...that made me laugh.  After I ordered, the guy told me it would be cheaper for me if I just ordered a small nugget tray.  I was secretly wondering this already after I had ordered pack after pack of the 12-count nuggets, but I thought those nugget tray orders had to be ordered in advance and I had to have some nuggets for some hungry boys right then.  Well, it turns out, at least for the small tray, that you don't have to order in advance...just one more reason (added to the many others) that I love The Chick.

So sad our long weekend is over, but so much summer to still enjoy! 

Telling her story

I had a conversation with someone this week about pretty much everything that has happened in our lives over the past 5+ years...starting with the day Sophie Kate was born up until now.  It took almost 2 hours.  There is so much content, so much ground to cover, so many stories and so many emotions contained in the past five years.  I don't feel like I did it justice, I don't feel like I did her justice.  I have become so used to speaking for her, but what I say is usually medically related or maybe a fun comment here and there about her outfits, ha.  I also know that I have to speak up for her so that she isn't overlooked in this world, but I don't feel qualified to speak for her. 

Sophie Kate has a presence about her that needs no words. Her smile alone says more than anything I could say to describe it.  To describe her would be to take away from her.  I find that she teaches me far more things than I could ever teach her...things like contentment and finding joy in your circumstances.  I have never seen someone so content and happy in their surroundings than my girl. She's a quiet presence in a noisy world, a sweet soul that gives so much more than she takes.  I am humbled to be a part of her story and privileged to share it with others.

Check out the whole story here...http://laureljoycegriffith.com/blog/.  My friend Laurel did do her justice, she has a gift with the written word.