Obi-Wan Kenobi and a pretty ginger...in my backyard

Always, always thankful for visitors at our new home.

Bonus when they show up at 6am ready for a Lowe's trip and a full day of burly man productivity. 
Yep - ultra blessed with such wonderful friends!

New fence posts are all set.

Redneck limb trimming ensued.
More sun for our garden.
Sweet visit from our Merv!

Us girls squeezed in a quick trip to the mall because Mike is apparently all too rugged and has holes in all of his jeans.

Our back .4 is coming along so nicely.
I admit, I'm kinda obsessed with our Poplar tree.

We've been collecting plants all week and can't wait to put our Ag degrees to some more good use (:

Sweet Sully

Love my sweet boy.

Loyal to a fault and chill as a cucumber.

Love your pink nose, football head, instant enthusiasm, crazy swimming and willingness to fetch 1000 times in a row.

Always at the top of my happy list, bud.

Our yard, the back .4

Not quite the pastures we're used to, but quite the upgrade...our own little back .4!

Mike's ripped up the existing fence. 

Two pines down.

New resting spot for the shed.

Putting green has got to go.

Some tiny details to stay.

Bobcat always, always well-represented.

Spring can stay, too, minus my out.of.control allergies.

Weekend plans are to finish our new fence and raised garden bed.

And chicken coop is to come. 

Gotta go - I hear a banjo (:

First little taste of home sweet home

Renters no more.

Kitchen always comes first.

Sully's lovin' his breezy, kitchen-door-wide-open Spring mornings.

Sweet handmade curtains from a dear friend make this view my current happy place.

Can't wait to get down to the tiny details of making our first house our home. 

I'll post pictures of the house soon...after a nap or two.

Unless you are really fond of cardboard boxes.

PTL for blessing us far beyond what we deserve.

Use us and our little home sweet. 

Mushy gushy

Totally snatched this idea from a dear friend, but wanted to follow suit since I sure love a bazillion things about my Michael, too!

On our 7th Valentine's Day, just 14 things I love about you, my Bink...

1. You have developed for us a family wide nickname...I'm Bink, you're Bink and Sully Bink is our original Bink.

2. You love to tell the story of the very first time you saw me and it makes me feel super special that you remember so vividly.

3. You have such a servant's heart, and although it keeps me pretty spoiled, I swell with joy when I see you pour it out over others.

4. You're my hardworking, good old country boy that knows how to do a lot a bit of nearly everything (even though you tell me in confidence that I overestimate your abilities and knowledge about things).

5. You trust me to keep the calendar for our little family and always thank me for keeping us so invested into all of "our people."

6. You're always so genuinely up for my perfect day, whatever it may be at the time - a long hike with my boys, Tobacco Barn + Tupelo Honey, Sleepy Poet + Bad Daddy's, visiting family in Walhalla, sitting in the sun by some water, some fun/lazy/humdrum plans with friends, some Pinterest DIY. 

7. You don't mind that I hardly ever get ready if I can help it. How sweet you are to love me in my sweats quite literally 75% of the time. But, come to think of it, let me buy nice clothes every now and then for the other 25%.

8. You are always down for a simple Barnes and Noble(s) date because you love to read as much as me. And you can always weasel a coffee out of it.

9. You will snuggle up on a pallet on the floor with me sometimes. 

10. You take at least 10 minutes to brush your teeth. Every.single.time. 

11. You would rather be with me than anyone else doing anything at all. How blessed I am that it's mutual.

12. You cheer me on at the gym and push me to push myself. 

13. You are such a good, animated story teller and I.cannot.wait to listen outside the door as you tell your stories to our kiddos one day.

14. Your love for snow turns you into a much earlier, childlike version of yourself. And it's kinda cute. 

Yeah, I'm gonna need you to be my Valentine forever. 

Now is right on time.

In line with this new year we now have on our hands why not share some resolutions? I'll share, you can hold me accountable how 'bout it? I'm a year round goal setter myself, but while reflecting back on 2012 over the holidays I could feel my anticipation building for all that 2013 could potentially hold. So many blessings to count from this past year...

During 2012

We got more involved at our church, Grace, and now enjoy keeping our sweet, little 2 year olds every Sunday morning and being part of a wonderful community group. 

I have gotten all settled into my job at GHS and absolutely love being an outpatient RD and working at a gym just as much as I knew that I would. 

Mike also rounded off the year with great news on the job front - he was officially promoted to the Bobcat of Spartanburg branch manager after much hard work and patience and I'm just so proud and excited for him! 

One of my most favorite things from 2012 was watching my sister get married and absolutely beam with true happiness while starting a life with someone who loves her like she's always deserved. 2012 will always be special for this - the year Tyson got stuck with us forever :)

Although we haven't purchased our first home yet, we've learned so much through the experiences we've had so far in our search and are looking forward to finding the home for us! Hopefully sometime soon.

And the end of 2012 brought much excitement all at once...the arrival of our best friend's first baby - Amos Michael Martin! We adore him already and cannot wait to spend much more time with him and watch him grow throughout 2013. 

And as the perfect topical transition between 2012 and 2013...we have a brand new favorite thing and growing obsession - Crossfit! We joined a local box at the end of November, Upstate Crossfit, which we were drawn to by a LivingSocial deal and our community group leader, JB, who trains and competes there. Both Mike and I have thoroughly enjoyed absolutely everything about it and would highly recommend coming with us for a visit and a good killer WOD!  

For 2013

To spin off of our recent Crossfitting, our plan is to keep it up! We've managed to stay active in the past, but haven't consistently pushed ourselves hard like we should. It's easy to stick to the things you're good at when you're going at it alone, but at Crossfit I'm always trying new things - some I'm good at and some I suck at right now, but am pumped to get better and better at! Since I work at a gym it's a little tough to shell out the extra funds for another gym, but nothing more priceless than our health, am I right?! And we're truly feeling good. Really, really good. And energized, challenged and so motivated to put in the work towards our fitness goals in an environment we look forward to every day.

Thank the good Lord, our finances have been a sweet spot for us here lately. We've been pleased with how things shaped up for 2012 with us keeping each other accountable and sticking to a set budget and we mainly just want to continue to save in 2013. Certainly towards buying our first home, but also to enjoy some more traveling and to continue to be obediently generous when we pause long enough to recognize needs. We know we're blessed, especially fresh and evident right now with Mike's raise with his promotion, and we want to be intentional givers vs. needlessly overspending on ourselves. We're kicking off this goal with no eating out in January, both to make up for overspending during all of our running around in December and certainly on the healthier side of things, too. And I love to cook and have fun new kitchen gadgets to try out from Christmas.

Some other miscellaneous resolutions include more reading, getting cable turned back off after football ends next week, waking up earlier to enjoy breakfast with Mike, cleaning up our vocab when when we're mad ifyaknowwhatImean, me stepping up my game as Sully's running buddy to keep him happy and healthy and most importantly - pray more, especially during any decision making and spending more time reading our Bibles.  

We're looking forward to 2013 for oh, a million or so reasons and we hope you are, too! Here's to the end of one helluva year and the beginning of another :)

Simmer

Simmer, if you will, on the idea of contentment. Being good even in a moment that isn't all that good. I've been doing some self-eximination since this message from our Pastor, Matt Williams, this past Sunday. I wanted to share.

I appreciate a good spiritual challenge and truly, the things of this world hog my focus all too often. I find it refreshing to be reminded that money can't buy everything. Certainly not the things in which my heart should be forever geared. My 20 something self messes that up over and over again, particularly out here near the start of this rat race. And my heart knows better, I know that it does. I'm constantly inspired by a healthy dose of minimalism, by generosity in any form, by those that put into practice the laying down of life for things off the map and out of the box, by a truly purposeful life. And ultimately I'm responsible for what I know, right?! So I ponder what my life should look like because of it. Just like any good 20 something should do. 

1 Timothy - The Treasure Diagnostic