Tick Tock

I cannot count the number of times that I heard my mom say "take time, have time". If we didn't clean, read a book, have quiet time, exercise, or anything else we wanted to do, Mom's response was always "take time, have time". When I was young this statement drove me crazy, but as I am getting older it is becoming my response as well. There is so much truth in this one statement. Whatever you take the time to do is what you are prioritizing. Sometimes it's intentional and sometimes it is just poor planning, and sometimes it is the choice to place the wrong thing in priority. Prioritizing is tough. The days it seems like prioritizing (or 'taking time') is really difficult, are those days that I am NOT super busy. On those days I usually end up laying around for way too long. I realize I have waisted my day when its almost time to leave and I haven't done anything around the house and I am still in my pajamas. 

Today is not going to be one of those days, today is going to be one of the days where I take the time do what needs to be done. 

A little bit more than amity

Amity is defined as a peaceful relationship, and Justin and I have been blessed with a peaceful relationship. But a successful marriage is about more than a peaceful one. Sometimes you have to call one another out on things, sometimes you have to do things you don't want to do. But if you make sure that you place your relationship above any other earthly relationship there are a lot of things that you never have to deal with.
This week was our anniversary... 4 years! I can honestly say that I am happier now than I was when we first got married (not that I wasn't happy then). Don't get me wrong, marriage is hard and is something that you really must commit to inorder to be happy/successful. But it is also one of the best things you will ever do and can be wonderful. Thankfully I have a wonderful husband who has completely committed to the marriage and prioritizes it over lots of things. 
For our anniversary we had a schnazzy dinner at the Tavern followed by a nights stay at the Alpine Motel, for any of you that are familiar with Abingdon you know that the Alpine Motel is nothing special, but for some reason I have always wanted to stay there, So thankfully, the Hus came through. We slept in til 10!!!  And then spent the day roaming through Bristol and Johnson City. It was nothing special but it felt like a vacation. It was so great to be together, just us (except for a lunch date with TR).   

On our way home we had to stop to get a pic of the an awesome rainbow.

Joy

My middle name is Joy so I have become some sort of a stickler for using the word joy when you should and not just using it interchangeably with happiness or cheerfulness or some other similar word. I say that happiness is a momentary thing that changes according to the mood but joy is something that sticks with you regardless of your emotional state. When someone has joy it is clear because even when they are in 'the pit of dispair' (insert voice from Princess Bride), they are able to appreciate life. People say that love is not a feeling but a choice, well I think that joy is also a choice. It's the choice to be content no matter what you are dealing with, the choice to recognize that there is more to the world than your little circle, and the choice to be thankful for what you have even if it is not enough.
I pray that I have joy and that I am able to show my joy to others by the way I live.

Independence Day!

July 4th is one of my favorite holidays. It is such a care free day centered around simply celebration. It's like a vacation from summer vacation. There are so many things about the holiday that bring out the kid in me. The sparklers still make me feel giddy with excitement and even flipping down the road in the heat for a parade with my little gymnasts is refreshing.
As new parents we got to experience a whole new side of "America's Birthday" (as we referred to it all day). The Lebanon festivities seemed like they had so much more to offer when you are experiencing them with 2 kids who see it as a huge new adventure, and the $20 spent on fireworks was one of the best investments I have ever made because it allowed me to capture these great moments...

The Composer 

"Mo" (due to the new haircut)

Dancing

So serious

Not so serious

Horses/photos

So I married into a crazy horse family. And lets just say the fire has not gotten ahold of me. It's not that I don't like horses, it is just that there are a whole lot of things that excite me more. Right now one of those things is taking pictures, so consequently there are a lot of photos on or around horses. Last week we went down to the horse ring and I discovered some great photo opportunities!!

Nathan's facial expression cracks me up!

Relaxin' all cool

 Thunder (The kids pony)

He even gets bored every once and a while 

Caught this one of her spinning while half way in a backbend

I can't take the giggles

So even though horses are not my thing, it's totally worth it to see them develop confidence in something. I love that they get to spend valuable time with grandparents doing something other than just watching tv.

Fusy (what you get when you cross Fun and Busy)

So after a week of being without my man, the weekend began with a bang. We had such a crazy fun-FILLED time.

• #1 leave the house at 6am for Winchester. We started our day off bright and early on friday morning with a trip to see Winchester to see some great friends. Meredith was the second person I fell head over heels for. Our friendship became close fast and she continues to impress me. One thing I love so much about her is how she treats her husband Ben. We got to her house a few minutes before she got home from her internship and the first thing she did after greeting us is tell us that she needed to go hug Ben. They have the kind of marriage that people should copy. 
• #2 pile into the car to head to D.C. It started with a trip to a guitar store to buy Justin a new electric. Meredith and I picked out the one before we got through the door. Its great when the prettiest guitar (obviously the reason we picked it out) can be the exact type Justin was looking for. So even though we had picked out the guitar upon walking in, and told the salesmen thats the one we wanted within 5 minutes of walking into the store we were still in their for an hour. This was irritating at the time because I have the attention span of a gnat with ADD, but looking back I realize how great it is to see multiple people so passionate about what they did they couldn't even let some stranger leave without picking their brain.
• #3 dinner with Eric and Bethany (Justin's college friends). It's so much fun to eat great food with great friends. As we leave the restaurant it starts raining, and gets progressively harder til all 3 of us are huddled underneath an awning waiting for the rain to ease up only to realize that we don't have a choice in the matter of getting soaking wet.
• #4 Dawes concert! They are so great in concert. The last time we saw them they were playing for a crowd that did not really know who they were. This time they were the headliners and the show was sold out. My favorite part of the concert was the look on his face when the crowd would sing their songs. It was pure joy, you could just feel his heart leap as he watched the crowd.
• #5 make the 4.5 hour drive from D.C. to Newport (not Newport News), and when I say drive this was justin's contribution, mine consisted of sleeping. We walk in the door at Meredith's parents house at 5 am and set the alarm for 7 am. 2 hours is like a sleep appetizer, just enough to make you want more.
• #6 Head to a gymnastics meet. This was Natalie's first meet and even though it was super laid back, my nerves were going crazy. But she did great, finishing first on 3 out of 4 events! All my 12 first time competitors and 3 veterans did. I love it when I get to see girls do my sport and it makes me so happy to see my little one do things that I couldn't do at 7! 
• #7 and by far the most exciting event of the weekend... My sister has her baby!! He was 7.2 lbs and born at 5:15 in the afternoon. Wesley Samuel is perfect, with one exception, he was born in New Mexico.

All in all it was a perfect weekend!

Pharmacy school is for the birds

Most days I am able to tolerate the terrible schedule of the pharmacy, the lack of a summer, the fact that Grundy is no where near where I want to go, and even the fact that Justin is in possession of approximately 10 trees in the form of notes. But the worst thing of all is that they have sent Justin 2 hours away to do a 3-week rotation when there are plenty of options within normal commute times from our house. I say the "worst thing of all" simple because it is issue at hand, a month ago the worst thing of all was 4 finals in one week.

I don't like putting the kids to bed by myself. I don't like them asking me if their dad is going to be back in the morning, I don't like sleeping in an empty bed. I don't like the lack of bass solos playing in the house. And believe it or not I don't like pity parties, but sometimes they can't be avoided (in case you were wondering, this is one of those times).

I don't notice how lonely I am for him until the kids are in the bed and I realize just how quiet it is in the house. The only advantage is that I can let Nathan or Natalie sleep in the bed with me, I loved it when one of my parents were out of town so that I could sleep in the bed with the other. I know its odd but somehow sleeping in the bed with one of my parents made me feel strangely independent. As much fun as it is to cuddle with a 7 year old, it’s not the same as laying my head on my hub's shoulder.

I keep forgetting to drink coffee. I love coffee but it never seems to enter my mind until I am about to lose my temper because my head is splitting from the lack of caffeine.  I am enough of a caffeine addict to need it, but just barely so that I don't think about it until its 4 o'clock in the afternoon and I am super cranky.

I don't really feel like I am one of those people whose world revolves around their spouse, but since he is gone I have had absolutely no motivation to do anything. I have an enormous pile of clean clothes that need to be folded and an equally large pile of dirty ones and the couch is covered with slightly smaller versions of normal instruments. I have emails that need to be sent and phone calls that need to be made but I don't want to do anything. You don't think about how influential you spouse is until they aren't around. All I can think of is that song by Colbie Caillet, "I miss everything about you".

So to sum everything up, pharmacy school ruins EVERYTHING!!