Luke & April Graham

Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T08:27:00.003-05:00

"Enter his gates with Thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations." Psalm 100: 4 & 5

I woke up this morning singing the old song "I will enter his gates with Thanksgiving in my heart..." Today, on this day where we all stop to reflect on the things we are thankful for, I am more aware of coming to God with a Thankful heart. I am so thankful for his goodness, love, and faithfulness. Here are just a few things I am Thankful for today...

Jesus Christ, coming to earth to pay my debt, and for the relationship that allowed me to now have with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All of my life, thru every season, He has been a faithful God.
Luke. He is my soul mate. My best friend. My home. What did I do to deserve this amazing man? He is my picture of Grace.
My parents. My first support system. The people who believed in my from the day I was born.
My sisters, Elizabeth, Ashleigh, and Emily. My first and best friends. The girls who made me "Aunt April" and gave me the greatest nieces and nephews ever!
My Gran and Pop. They are another set of parents to me. They have helped ground me in my faith and make me who I am today.
For my Graham Family. Being born into 1 great family is amazing enough, but being able to marry into another incredible family with an awesome mom, dad, sisters, brothers, nieces, and nephews, is a double blessing.
Our friends. God has placed us in relationships with some of the greatest people on the planet.
My ACME staff and coaches. These guys have supported me and believed in me, even when I didn't believe in myself.
Kristin and Krystle. The 2 best friends a girl could ask for. I can't believe I get to do life, and raise babies, with these incredible girls.
Bayside. Every day I am amazed and humbled that God has placed me in this church with such amazing people. The fact that I have the opportunity to serve God in full time ministry here is more than I could have ever asked or imagined.

God help me to enter your gates, not just today, but everyday with a heart of Thanksgiving. For "you are good, your love endures forever, and your faithfulness through all generations."

The view from here...

2011-08-17T09:47:00.003-04:00

I am going to forewarn you, this post is very sappy. I have no idea why... Maybe it's because my sister is in labor as I type, about to deliver her second little girl. But at any rate I am sappy today. Really sappy!

The pic above is the view from here. It's my view every morning as I walk in my house after my walk. I can't explain why this view means so much to me, but each and every morning the feeling that comes over me when open the front door and step into my house is overwhelming.

I love my house. It is a reflection of me, it is comforting, it is organized, but it is so much more than that.

Proverbs 24:3 says "By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established."

This home is something that Luke and I have built together (and are still building). As I walk thru that red front door I know that some of the most important people in my life are sleeping inside. I know that this house will soon be filled with the smell of coffee brewing and the sound of music playing. I know that a breakfast of eggs and grits and uninterrupted time with my Savior is about to happen. It's a haven. It's a place of safety and love and lots of fun!

This house has made a decision to serve the Lord. To run after Him and to walk in the calling that He has placed on all of our lives. My house is not the structure, it is not the stuff inside of the structure, it is the people within the structure and the filling of the Holy Spirit within. That is what's behind the overwhelming feeling when I walk thru the door. Not the stuff, not the decor, but the love and purpose within the structure.

I am so happy to live in this house, so blessed by what God has given us and done in our lives. So overwhelmed to be a part of what He is doing.

"But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

(Sappy... i told you... don't say you weren't warned!)

"God Gave Me You"

2010-11-21T10:08:00.003-05:00

When looking thru these new pics yesterday the song "God Gave Me You" kept ringing in my head. "God gave me you for the ups and downs, God gave me you for the days of doubt..." I am so grateful for Luke and for the relationship that we have. In the past 7 years of marriage, and 11 years of being together we have had A LOT of ups and downs. Life has happened and things have not always turned out how we thought they would. But I can say with 100% certainty that there is no one I would rather go thru life with. Luke is my best friend and the other half of me.

I LOVE YOU Luke!!

I’ve been a walking heartache

I’ve made a mess of me
The person that I’ve been lately
Ain’t who I wanna be

But you stay here right beside me
Watch as the storm goes through
And I need you

God gave me you for the ups and downs
God gave me you for the days of doubt
For when I think I’ve lost my way
*If* There are no words here left to say, it’s true
God gave me you

There’s more here than what were seeing
A divine conspiracy
That you, an angel lovely
Could somehow fall for me
You’ll always be love’s great martyr
Ill be the flattered fool
and I need you

God gave me you for the ups and downs
God gave me you for the days of doubt
For when I think I’ve lost my way
*If* There are no words here left to say, it’s true
God gave me you

On my own I’m only
Half of what I could be
I can’t do without you
We are stitched together
And what love has tethered
I pray we never undo

God gave me you for the ups and downs
God gave me you for the days of doubt
God gave me you for the ups and downs
God gave me you for the days of doubt
For when I think I’ve lost my way
*If* There are no words here left to say, it’s true
God gave me you, gave me you.
Gave me you.

Images by Krystle K Photography - www.krystlekphotography.blogspot.com

No Matter What

2010-10-26T23:55:00.002-04:00

So much has been going on in the Graham household lately that it is really hard to know where to start. Pain, Sickness, Death, Sadness, Heartache have all been a very tangible part of our lives for the past 2 weeks. It has been a difficult season to say the least, and as we continue to walk thru this time our lives the faithfulness of God continues to be just as real and tangible as the pain and heartache.

During this season my anthem has become Kerrie Robert's song No Matter What. The words have been healing to my soul as it she has expressed in this song the very feelings I have inside.

"No matter what, I’m gonna love You. No matter what I’m gonna need You. I know You can find a way to keep me from the pain, But if not, if not, I’ll trust You no matter what."

You see no matter what happens in life, no matter what comes my way, no matter what God gives me, or no matter what God might choose to never give me, i'm going to love Him, and i'm going to need Him, and i'm going to trust Him.

I am going to ask why? I am going to be sad. That is natural, I am human, but I am also His daughter. He loves me. He knows what is best for me, and He has whispered to me during this storm... "I've got this." The love and faithfulness of God is indescribable! The legacy of faith, passed down to me by my family, has given me the foundation to stand firm on and say "no matter what."

"NO MATTER WHAT" - Kerrie Roberts

I’m running back to Your promises one more time
Lord that’s all I can hold on to
I gotta say this has taken me by surprise, but nothing surprises You
Before a heartache can ever touch my life
It has to go through Your hands
And even though I keep asking why, I keep asking why

No matter what, I’m gonna love You
No matter what I’m gonna need You
I know You can find a way to keep me from the pain
But if not, if not, I’ll trust You no matter what, no matter what

When I’m stuck in this nothingness by myself
I’m just sitting in silence
There’s no way I can make it without Your help, I won’t even try it
I know You have Your reasons for everything so I will keep believing
Whatever I might be feeling, God You are my hope
And You will be my strength

Anything I don’t have You can give it to me, but it’s OK if You don’t
I’m not here for those things
The touch of Your love is enough on its own
No matter what I still love You and I’m gonna need You

No matter what I’m gonna love You, no matter what I’m gonna need You
I know You can find a way to keep me from the pain
But if not, if not, I’ll trust You
I know You can find a way to keep me from the pain
But if not, but if not, I’ll trust You

No matter what
No matter no matter what
No matter no matter what
No matter no matter what

CHARTING!!!

2010-09-15T21:02:00.003-04:00

So Since October's new single "The Way You Move" is doing really well on the charts right now! We found out today that it is #19 on the Active Rock Charts and steadily climbing... that's HUGE!! They are surrounded on the charts by all the "super bands" of our time. Not a bad place to be! Luke is super pleased with the progress of this song, and it comes at a really great time, as they are heading out on 2 huge tours soon, Saving Abel in September and Sevendust/Ten Years in October.

Grocery Shopping Trip #2

2010-09-06T16:21:00.003-04:00

Ok, so today I went to Publix again to buy groceries. I went armed with an envelope full of coupons and a list that was way to detailed and organized. But all the hours spent organizing my list, cutting coupons, and planning meals paid off... I spent $51.08 and I saved $51.93!!!!!! I saved more than a spent (barely... I recognize that :) But I still saved more than I spent!!!!)

Here is what I got for $51.08....

6 boxes of pasta

2 boxes of velvetta cheese

2 boxes of texas toast

2 cans of pasta sauce

flour

eggs

1 box of beef patties

1 (2lb) bag of chicken breast

1lb of ground beef

2 bags of frozen vegetables

1 bag of egg noodles

2 bags of shredded cheese

2 packs of Kraft singles

2 gallons of water

2 bottles of mustard

2 Old Spice Deodorants

2 Old Spice Body Wash

2 bottles of BBQ sauce

2 boxes of cake mix

1 sour cream

1 bottle of laundry detergent

1 package of hotdog buns

1 package of hamburger buns

1 package of carrots

Because of all the food I have gotten in the past 2 weeks I don't plan on grocery shopping for a couple of weeks. Here are the meals that I have planned...

Spaghetti & Meatballs w/ garlic bread

Chicken Alfredo w/ garlic bread

Chicken Tostados w/ salad

BBQ chicken sandwiches w/ veggies

Hotdogs w/ mac & cheese

Hamburgers w/ veggies

Chicken and noodles

We are not "cook every night" people, simply because LG and J are gone so much, and because my work schedule is so crazy. So these meals will last us several weeks!! I am also good on toiletries, laundry detergent, toilet paper, paper towels, etc. So if I do have to run to the store it will only be for milk and possibly bread!!

It's your life...

2010-08-29T07:10:00.001-04:00

It's your life
What you gonna do?
The world is watching you
Every day the choices you make
Say what you are and who
Your heart beats for
It's an open door
It's your life

Sent from my iPhone

What can you buy for $53.63??

2010-08-27T23:54:00.003-04:00

All of this!!!!

The day has finally come, I have given in to the couponing craze!! Today I went to Publix with my first batch of coupons and got the following items...

4 Totinos Pizzas

5 boxes of Cereal

2 bags of Salad

2 packages of hotdogs

2 packages of bratwurst

1 package of breakfast sausage

1 whole chicken

2 boxes of aluminum foil

2 packages of break and bake cookies

2 boxes of potatoes

paper plates

coffee filters

1 can of black beans

1 can of spaghetti o's

2 boxes of mac & cheese

Butter

Don't judge my food choices... Luke is home most of this month, and Jessica moves in on Friday, so a lot of the "unhealthy" choices were for them.

I'm just stoked that I was able to buy $97 worth of groceries for $53!!!

The newest member of our family...

2010-08-27T23:48:00.002-04:00

A child?? You seriously thought I might mean a child?? No sillies... it's a GUITAR! Yep, another guitar has entered the Graham Household. Luke recently sold the blue PRS, and replaced it with a black PRS.

Not exciting for most people, but this is the world we live in :)

And just for fun... here is one of the newest, and my new favorite, picture of Luke at work...

Yep! That's my husband!

Baby Shower... Numero Dos

2010-08-27T23:38:00.003-04:00

Last weekend I had the privilege of helping with the baby shower for our 24/7 Pastor and his wife, Justin and Stefanie. They will be welcoming baby Bentley into their family in October.

Stef has an ultra cool, ultra modern nursery with a gray/black/white theme, so we played off her nursery theme for the shower decor.

Because Stef is a HUGE pasta lover we did an Italian menu complete with 3 types of pasta dishes, bread sticks, salad, and bruschetta!! So Yum!

The "take home" for Stefanie's shower were these precious custom candy bars made by one of the girls in our church! They were super precious!

Another AMAZING cake by Becky Strite!! Seriously, this girl is ridiculously good!

The frames on the mantle are actually pieces that Stefanie will be using in Bentley's room. There are framed pieces of his bedding fabric.

Babies, Babies, Everywhere...

2010-08-27T23:16:00.004-04:00

So most of you know that within our church... within our circle of friends... within our staff :) there are a plethora of pregnant mommies!!! New mommies who are all carrying precious little BOYS!!! There are seriously 5 little staff baby boys who will be born in the next 4 months, and I have had the privilege of helping out with several of the baby showers.

The first shower that occurred was for our good friends, and neighbors, Jordan and Kristin. Jordan is the Worship Pastor at Bayside and Kristin is the Creative Coordinator. They will be welcoming baby Cohen into the world next Tuesday, and you had better believe that Luke and I will be there to welcome him too!

The shower was amazing!! Amazing food, Amazing friends, and a pretty Amazing Mommy to Be!

A smash cake for Daddy... he's a big time hunter :)

AMAZING cake, made by Becky Strite (she taught our cake decorating small group).

Dessert table! The onesie cookies where individually wrapped and given as the "take home".

Candy Bar!!

I LOVE to plan a good party!! Especially when I get to plan one for such amazing friends!

Cookies!!

2010-05-18T22:45:00.001-04:00

Tonight was the final night of my cake decorating class and we
decorated sugar cookies!! They are definitely a lot of work :) But
they turned out pretty cute.

I have loved this class! So much fun! Such great girls! It was awesome!

Uhhhh.... Look what I made :)

2010-04-06T22:27:00.001-04:00

Entrusted... that's a big job.

2010-03-17T13:13:00.003-04:00

"When you marry someone, you are entrusted with the heart of another human being. Whatever else your life's great mission will entail, loving and defending this heart next to you is part of your great quest." - John Eldridge

Cake Decorating: Part 2

2010-03-16T21:43:00.000-04:00

So we had our second cake decorating small group tonight and we made
cupcakes! Here is a pic of the cupcakes I made...

Introducing...

2010-03-11T19:18:00.001-05:00

The ribbon flower bow! The newest addition to the Jax & Jill product
line!

Where am I??

2010-03-11T14:29:00.001-05:00

Loving God, and Loving Others...

2010-03-09T22:08:00.002-05:00

Oh how I get this WRONG so much of the time.

Father forgive me.

Help me to never excuse my evil actions, no matter how tired, or busy, or stressed I might be. Help me to never think that the work I am doing for you is more important than loving your people.

Father forgive me.

Make this true in my life Father... "April is patient and kind; April does not envy or boast; April is not arrogant or rude. April does not insist on her own way; April is not irritable or resentful; April does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with truth. April bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

Father forgive me.

THE SHOW!!!

2010-03-03T18:36:00.004-05:00

Today we received some VERY exciting news! One of Since October's new songs titled "The Show" is going to be used as the Theme Song for Wrestlemania XXVI!!! This is HUGE!!!

Wrestlemania is like the Superbowl of wrestling entertainment! It is the WWE's biggest payperview event! It will be watched live by millions of people all around the world on March 28th!

The WWE will be using the song to promote wrestlemania, so "The Show" will be featured on all of the WWE programs leading up to the event (RAW, SMACKDOWN, NXT, ect.) WWE programming reaches nearly 16 million people per week in the U.S., and is available to nearly 500 million homes worldwide. This will be incredible exposure for Since October and a milestone in Luke's career. What a great way to start off the sophomore record!

I am so proud of Luke and how hard he has worked to get to this point, but the thought that has been going through my head all day is: God is faithful. If we are diligent to the call He has put on our lives, he is faithful. I am so honored and grateful that God has called us to do ministry in the way that we are doing it. It has been a very trying ride, but God is Faithful! He is able to do immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine!

What do you think this could be???

2010-03-03T12:33:00.001-05:00

Look what I made!!

2010-03-02T23:37:00.001-05:00

So tonight was the first night of the cake decorating small group that
I am attending, and this is what I made. Not a bad start, if I do say
so myself :)

I am so stoked about this small group. Because of Mom and Janet I have
such fond childhood memories of late nights with them being in the
dining room decorating a birthday cake or a wedding cake. Tonight I
was surrounded by cake and the smell of buttercream icing and it
totally took me back to those days.

I'm excited to learn more! I can't wait for our next class in 2 weeks!

This Guy...

2010-03-01T12:40:00.003-05:00

Oh how I LOVE this guy!!

It's not our anniversary, it's not Valentine's day, it's not his birthday... it's just Monday, March 1st, and I just want to say how much I LOVE this guy.

God has blessed me immeasurably more than I could ask or imagine in so many areas of my life. But in regards to my husband, He hit this one out of the park!

Sneak Peek... The GREEN Room!

2010-02-28T14:44:00.001-05:00

JUMBOTRON

2010-02-23T13:10:00.000-05:00

The jumbotron went up in the 1st Place room yesterday! This room has a
basketball theme. We are getting so close!! 5 more weeks!

The building is coming together!!!

2010-02-01T14:11:00.001-05:00

Here is a picture of the 4 yr old room (Bayside 400) thus far. Only 8
more weeks until this room is packed with 4 yr olds!!!

My Hubby Hard At Work!!!

2010-02-01T13:54:00.001-05:00

Christmas 2009

2009-12-29T17:46:00.008-05:00

Christmas 2009 was a super busy, week long, fun filled time at the Graham household!! We had "Four Christmases" this year and we had a great time at all four of them!

Our First Christmas of 2009 was with Luke's dad and his wife and all of the Graham siblings (and spouses).

We all met at Downtown Disney for the day and went to the movies, had dinner at Planet Hollywood, and saw La Nouba. It was so great to get to spend time with all of Luke's siblings!

Our Second Christmas was the annual Murdock Family get together at Gran and Pop's on Christmas Eve. Our family is growing every year!! Here are few small additions to the family this year...

Baby Jane

Baby Adaline

Baby Shaun

We were so happy to have Liz and Shan home from Prague this year for Christmas! We miss them so much and it was great to have them home.

Gran and Pop's house is the source of many of my Christmas memories and traditions... including these stockings. Granny Turner (my great grandmother) made my stocking 27 yrs ago, when I was born, and Gran (my grandmother) made Luke's stocking 6 yrs ago, when we got married. Notice the color difference... 21 years can do a little fading to felt :) I LOVE these stockings and the women who made them for us!!

Baby Jane with Uncle Luke and Aunt April

My Pop is so great!! Gotta love his hat :)

Mom reading the Christmas story, while the babies act it out with the Little People Nativity set. Emmanuel God with Us!

My Love and I :)

My sister Emily and I

The Third Christmas was at Mom and Dad's on Christmas morning. All 4 of my sisters, and our spouses, and the 3 babies all had a slumber party at mom and dad's on Christmas Eve!! On Christmas morning this is what mom's tree looked like.

Unfortunately, that is the one and only picture I have from Christmas morning... in fact that is the only picture I have from Christmas day. So there are no pictures of our Fourth Christmas at Luke's mom's house :(

Here is a picture of our Christmas Tree before we loaded all the gifts in the car to head out on on our Four Christmases adventure.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Love the Grahams!!

HP Touchsmart Computer

2009-12-10T00:11:00.002-05:00

So MckMama is giving away an HP Touchsmart 600 Computer on her blog, and one of the ways to be entered to win is by blogging about it. So here is one of my attempts to win this super cool computer :)

If you would like to try and win too, go to www.mycharmingkids.net and enter by commenting on her post!

Christmas Time is Here

2009-12-05T12:08:00.007-05:00

It truly is the most wonderful time of the year! Celebrating the birth of our Savior, anticipating family coming in town, cooler weather, the smell of Frasier Fir filling my house, and every food item imaginable coming in Peppermint Flavor! There is nothing better than Christmas time!

Luke and I spent last weekend decorating for Christmas, and in keeping with our mind set of simplifying and focusing on the true meaning of holidays our decorations are much simplier this year and not as extensive as years past. However, my wonderful sisters have requested pictures and because I aim to please here they are! I can't wait for ALL my sisters to see them in person in a few weeks!

For Today....

2009-11-30T09:51:00.003-05:00

I am...

thinking... that I should get some work done this morning so that Luke and I can go get our Christmas tree this afternoon.

reading... "Sacred Marriage" and learning that marriage is not about making me happy, but about making me holy.

going... to Starbucks for a peppermint mocha, then Lowes to buy our Christmas tree. We've bought our tree from Lowes for the past 3 years and they definitely have the biggest trees for the best prices.

making... chili for dinner.

hoping... that I survive Luke's trip to Germany this week. I HATE when he travels out of the country and I am stuck here. It makes me nauseous thinking about not being able to get in touch with him if I need to.

talking... to Rage :) He is the only one up right now.

remembering... what Christmas is really all about. We are trying to be more purposeful this year on focusing on the true meaning of Christmas.

texting... The world! texting has definitely become one of my main forms of communication.

thankful... for my wonderful husband who spent 6 hours last night putting Christmas lights on our house, even though we don't have kids and he says that no one will ever see the lights.

looking forward to... Christmas with my family. I miss my sisters.

listening to... A Baby Story on TLC. We got Verizon Fios last Tuesday and thus far we are loving it.

Outside my window... The sun is shining! Oh how I LOVE Florida!!

Pictures to prove it... Here is my view from the couch that I am currently perched on :) Christmas decor is beginning to go up, and TLC is on the TV.

Bringing Back Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T00:21:00.002-05:00

This year, more than any other year, I have felt like we as a society, as a nation, as a group of believers have decided to skip over THANKSgiving in an attempt to head straight into the Christmas season. Now, most everyone knows that we at the Graham house LOVE Christmas!! It is our favorite holiday and we go all out!!

But I can't help but feel like we let THANKSgiving pass by with far to little notice. We are being pushed into the Christmas season earlier and earlier each year by the retail world, who make very little money off of a holiday based on being THANKful.

So in an attempt to be more purposeful about all holidays (and the meaning they hold) I have decided to Bring Back THANKSgiving!

It has not been easy... I have been accused of "forcing Fall" onto this otherwise hot and humid state. I proudly wear my brown/orange/fall clothes, I have eaten more than my fair share of candy corns, I have left my Fall decorations of pumpkins and fall leaves up, and I have participated in WAY too many craft shows.

And today, on the eve of this holiday we have spent time as a family making pumpkin cookies and doing THANKSgiving crafts. We are making time... holding off on the Christmas season... and putting some purposeful time and effort into being THANKful.

Luke and I are at his Mom's for THANKSgiving this year. Here are some pics of our holiday thus far...

Candy Cornucopias
Half eaten pumpkin crunch (who needs to wait until THANKSgiving day to dig into one of our desserts :)

Graham decorating Pumpkin cookies.

Our plate of pumpkin cookies

So we look forward to tomorrow with great anticipation. I am so excited about waking up in the morning, watching the Macy's THANKSgiving Day parade, spending time with my Graham family, eating TONS of good food, and reflecting on just how THANKFUL I am for all that God has done for me.

I have made a sign that is currently sitting on the island at my mother-in-laws. It reads "Today I am THANKFUL for..." By end of day tomorrow I hope the entire sheet of paper is filled with things that we are all THANKFUL for.

I hope tomorrow brings tons of fun, food, and family for everyone, but most of all I hope it helps us all remember to be THANKFUL for all of the good and perfect gifts that we have been given to us from God.

Jax and Jill Design

2009-11-02T11:39:00.006-05:00

I know it has been a while since my last update, and part of the reason is that I have been super busy building up the Jax and Jill Design business! Emily and I did the Hunsader Farms craft show a few weeks ago and it was not only a blast, but a HUGE success!

We have spent a lot of time getting our Etsy store up and running, our logo nailed down, our business cards created, and exploring the possibility of having some small boutiques carry our products. We are also preparing for at least two (maybe three) more craft shows this Fall. Business is booming!!

Here are so of the most recent Jax and Jill bow creations, being modeled by some of our cutest customers!

For more information contact us at:

jaxandjilldesign@gmail.com

www.etsy.com/shop/jaxandjill

Wedding

2009-07-18T22:50:00.007-04:00

Luke and I spent last weekend in Greeneville, TN. Luke's cousin Jonathon (who was in our wedding) was getting married and Luke was a Groomsmen. Luke and I had not seen each other for several weeks, as he is on week 9 of a 15 week tour... YIKES... so it was a great time for he and I to meet up and spend some time together.

Of course, being in TN also meant that we got to spend time with our precious niece and nephew, Savannah and Shepard. Savi is so stinkin smart and Shep is such a precious little mellow boy, who LOVES to be warm. When he is cold he is fussy and not happy, but wrap him in wool blanket and take him outside and that child is super content!!

Luke and I stayed a few extra days in Greeneville after the wedding, where we got to spend some quality time together exploring this historic city. We visited Davy Crockett State Park, Andrew Johnson's home, and several historic Civil War sites.

It was so nice to get to spend some time together in this beautiful town!

Baby Jane

2009-06-11T11:45:00.002-04:00

She has finally arrived!! Baby Jane Alexa Lourcey was born this morning at 9:33am (6/11/09) and was 8lbs and 20 inches long. From what I can see thus far she looks A LOT like Emily did as a baby! I can not wait to meet her in person!! More pics will follow soon.

SUMMER!!!

2009-06-01T14:07:00.002-04:00

Summer is officially here!! Blazing hot days, breakfast at the beach, trips to the pool, VBS, sundresses, flip flops, and watermelon are the norm for the next 3 months! This summer also brings some awesome changes in our lives...

1) Luke is on a 12 week tour!! 12 weeks is A LONG time to be apart but thankfully, because my work schedule is lighter during the summer, I am going to be able to fly out and spend some time with him on the road. I am leaving on Thursday night to meet up with Luke for a few days and I could not be more excited! I miss him terribly, but we are so excited about what God is doing for Since October right now (that info in a very lengthy blog to follow shortly.)

2) I am not keeping any kids for the summer. Tyson's mom is home on maternity leave, so I am spending my summer focusing soley on church work. We are doing a MAJOR restructuring of our Children's Department right now, so this is allowing me to focus all of my time and energy on building leadership and relationships with my Team Members.

3) I am getting to do a little design work this summer, as I am designing the new office building (space planning and furniture wise) for our church. We are in the process of building a new building on 40 acres on SR 64, and we are putting a 6000 sq ft office building on the property as well. Our move in date for the office building is August 1st, so I have already begun working on this project. I am really excited to get to do a little design work this summer!!

4) Beach vacation with my fam is coming up in July and I am looking forward to spending a week on the beach, relaxing, reading, and working on my tan!!

5) Luke's cousin Jonathon is getting married on July 11th in Tennessee, and Luke is in the wedding. I will be flying up to Tennessee to spend a few days with Luke's sister Heidi before I meet up with Luke for the wedding. I am super excited about getting to meet baby Shepard for the first time!

I think that about wraps up what is going on with us right now. I apologize for not being a better blogger, but I can't seem to find time to sit down and blog these days!

I leave you with another super cute picture of Tyson with sweet watermelon juice dripping off of his chin!! I love this little boy!!

Babies, Babies, Everywhere!!!

2009-05-19T17:26:00.004-04:00

We have had A LOT of new babies enter our family and our lives over the past few weeks and I wanted to share them with all of you!!

Our nephew Shepard Graham Cooley was born on May 2nd. Shepard is Luke's sister Heidi's 2nd baby and he is such a cutie!! Luke has seen Shepard twice since he was born and I am SUPER jealous!! Though I will get my Shepard fix in July when I fly up to Nashville to spend a week with him and his big sister Savannah!

On Friday May 8th my friend Stephanie, whom I worked with at Chancey Design, welcomed her twin girls into the world! Peyton Emma and Hannah Debra are super cute and super tiny! I spent this past Sunday afternoon with Stephanie, Drew, and the girls and I got to hold these precious babies for hours! It is so amazing to me how Stephanie already has them on such a great schedule and is taking care of the two of them by herself while her husband is at work. She is Amazing!!!

And Last Wednesday, my little Tyson became a big brother when his mom had our precious baby Chloe Sky Tullio! She is so amazing and looks SOOOO much like Tyson!! However, she surprised us all when she came out with a head full of black hair, just like her daddy!!! (T's hair is definitely a lighter blondish/brown like Meadows). Everyone a the Tullio house is adjusting well and I am loving getting to spend time with both Tyson and Chloe. I love helping Mike and Meadow take care of there precious babies!!!

And Baby Jane... she is coming soon!! Although she is not due until June I am confident that she is going to join this group of May babies!! We will have to wait and see :)

Rage and Brady

2009-04-16T14:05:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago I kept Brady for Ashley one day. He and Rage have not really cared much for each other up until this point. Rage barely recognized that Brady was around, and Brady cried when Rage would bark. After spending a day together they became pretty good friends. Brady would watch Rage walk around the house and would laugh and smile at him. Rage, of course, loved to lick Brady!! Here are a few pics from our day.

Children's Parade

2009-04-14T22:42:00.004-04:00

Last week Ashley and I took Tyson and Brady to the Children's Parade in Palmetto. My boy was so precious in his sunglasses and black hi-top Converse!!

Brady enjoyed his time at the Parade, and did surprisingly well when the loud firetrucks came by.

Tyson's favorite part of the parade were the firetrucks, fireman dog, and the drum brigade!

He even scored some beads!! Tyson LOVES bead necklaces!! He has an entire tupperware filled with them at home :)

We had a great day hanging with Ashley and Brady!

Easter Egg Hunt

2009-04-14T22:27:00.003-04:00

On Friday Tyson and I went to an Egg Hunt with the Jerome girls. He had a great time playing at the park and searching for eggs. He had a practice run on the egg hunting thing at the Bayside Eggstravaganza, but was a little overwhelmed there by the 1000s of people and 46,000 eggs!!! This smaller Egg Hunt seemed to suit him better.

Darcy and Tyson driving!

Looking at the fish in the creek.

Signing "More"... he wanted more eggs... I know... Isn't he SOOO Precious!!

Tyson sat down in Amelia and Kelsey's stroller to keep Kelsey company.
Unfortunately, Kelsey was not thrilled to have Tyson in her stroller!!

(Meadow this is the Maclaren Twin Techno... just to give you an idea of what it looks like, and how "T" fits in it :)

Catch Up...

2009-03-12T23:15:00.009-04:00

So much has happened since my last post. Life has been crazy (as always) and so this post is going to be a brief catch up of all the major things going on in our lives right now.

1) Since October recently signed an upstreaming deal with Capitol Records. Capitol has been working S.O.'s music in the mainstream market. In light of all of this, S.O. debuted this week on the Active Rock charts at #36!!! That's right, S.O. officially has a top forty rock song!! It is really cool to see Since October right next to bands like U2 and ACDC! More updates to come! I have included a link to the active rock charts below.

http://www.radioandrecords.com/RRWebSite20/Members/Charts.aspx?ChartId=2

2) Luke was offered a sponsorship with Dean Guitars. This means that if he decides to sign with them, Dean will be giving him 3 complementary guitars and incredible discounts on any guitars after that. In exchange, Luke will play Dean guitars at his shows, and will also do some promotional events for Dean. On 3/28 Dean will be coming out to Luke's show in Tampa with Flyleaf to record interviews and the live performance for a promotional piece that will be put on Dean's website.

On Tuesday, Luke and I were invited up to the Dean Guitar headquarters in Tampa to tour their factory. It was one of the coolest days of our lives!! While we were touring the factory we were able to see these extremely large machines making guitars! They would take a piece of wood, and within a few minutes the machine would cut out this perfectly precise guitar shape. The warehouse portion of Dean is incredible impressive as well. The warehouse was about the size of a Sam's club and it was packed full of guitars... floor to ceiling!!

I wish we had been able to take pictures to show everyone just how cool this place was, but Dean has patented machinery and methods that can't be exposed!!

Luke picked up his first Dean guitar on Wednesday, and it is "Stunning" to say the least. When the Dean employee opened the box to show us the guitar for the first time, I literally gasped!!

3) I (April) have been EXTREMELY busy writing the curriculum for Kindergarten and 1st Grade for the "Warrior"Series. This is a series that we are doing at Bayside right now in Main Service, as well as in the Children's Ministry. It is a 6 weeks series on the Armor of God and it is going wonderfully!! Even though it takes a lot of time and planning I really enjoy writing curriculum. The most rewarding part, by far, is that the kids are really getting it!! I see them wearing their Belts of Truth proudly around church and it just makes my heart soar!! I am loving the kids and my Team Members so much! I am so blessed to get to work with these people!

4) Pioneer Park Days has come and gone and I must say that is a HUGE relief for both Luke and I! Luke was such a fabulous husband during that crazy time!! He was so patient with me as I made hairbows for the past 2 months and he was a HUGE help last week in setting up our booth and making my Bow display.

Although Pioneer Park was not exactly what we expected it to be, we still had a great time hanging out with Mom, Ash, Em, and Cadence and we made a lot of wonderful memories.

For example, I don't think any of us will quickly forget this guy...

His booth was behind ours and he had a HUGE "Crack" problem :)

Or Em's "cankles"!! Poor Meme... Florida heat, pregnancy, and 5 days outside and on her feet did not agree with her.

Here are some shots of our booth and displays.

Rage also enjoyed his time at PPD... although he only got to come one day for a few hours, because we were afraid he would "scream" and scare away costumers.

5) One of the best things about Pioneer Park was a visit from Ashleigh and Cadence. Cadence is getting so big and she is such a fun little girl to have around. Not to mention, she is a perfect model for my hairbows!!

Friday night, after Em's shower, Kagan and Cadence decided to dress up!! Cadence makes a PERFECT Jasmine...

And Kagan was a pretty stinkin cute Barbie :)

6) And to finish it up... We also had Emily's Baby Shower last weekend.

Although Liz lives sooooo far away, she was still able to attend the shower via Skype. I love technology!!

So that is what we, The Grahams, have been up to lately. I hope that life will calm down a little and that I will be able to blog more frequently in the near future... but I am not counting on it :)

Valentines with Tyson

2009-02-17T19:47:00.005-05:00

On Friday, Tyson and I had an busy and fun filled day!
We made a Valentine for his Mom and Dad...

We had a special lunch, complete with a heart shaped PBJ and Cheese...

We made Strawberry Cupcakes...

We ate Strawberry Cupcake batter :) ...

And we ate Strawberry Cupcakes for snack, with our friend Jonathon...

We also went to Little Bookworms for story hour with Mother Goose, but there are no pictures of that. An outing with 2 little boys does not equal photos :)

Little Dog, Big Food

2009-02-17T19:30:00.005-05:00

October 2008

February 2009

If you will remember, back in October I posted about how we had purchased Rage a 20lb bag of food... slight overkill for a 7lb dog!! But this month we topped ourselves. While I was at PetSmart last week I noticed that a 40lb bag of food was $34.99 and a 20lb bag of the same food was $29.99. I pointed this out to the Science Diet rep and informed him that I thought this was RIDICULOUS!! I told him I was all about saving money, but that 40lbs of food would go bad before my dog could eat it all. He told me that the food would keep for up to a year, as along as I kept it in my house (not in the garage). He then handed me a $4.00 off coupon for any bag of food and told me to get the 40lb bag. So, I puchased 40lbs of food for a 7lb dog, for $30.99!!!!

It will take Rage at least 10 months to eat the food, but it is well worth the savings :)

Bows, Bows, and More Bows!!!

2009-02-12T16:06:00.003-05:00

Over the past 2-1/2 weeks I have made a RIDICULOUS amount of hairbows!! Emily and I are going to have a booth of baby items at Pioneer Park, so I am in the process of making some 500 hairbows, 50 (or more) headbands, and hairbows holders. Thus far I have made 154 of the medium to large bows shown above, and 165 of the small bows show in the collage below.

I have started attaching bows to some of the outfits that I have purchsed for my own future daughter :) Just so I am fully prepared with complete outfits when she arrives!

How precious is this candy corn outfit, complete with a candy corn bow!!

Tell me this bow is not ADORABLE!?!?!?

These Boots Were Made For ROCKIN'

2009-02-05T22:45:00.005-05:00

I (April) have been a fan of pointy toe boots for many years now, and this past week I brought Luke over to the dark side. We purchased these super cool boots for Luke and got an Awesome deal on them!! Last Friday night Luke got to try them out at a show in Wauchula. This was Since October's "hometown" show before they started their tour with Saliva.

I am definitely digging Luke's new look... boots, skinny jeans, and a fedora :)

Baby Brady made a brief appearance at his first SO show. Look how BIG he is getting!!! It is hard to believe that he will be 4 months old next week!

5 years later...

2009-01-29T21:41:00.002-05:00

And it still FITS!!!! It actually fits a little better than it did on January 17, 2004!!

*Please, please, please don't take this as a prideful post. I know the only 4 people who read my blog are my mom and sisters and I knew they would appreciate this picture :)

**Also, 3 posts in 1 day!! What's up with that?!?! Don't expect this to EVER happen again :)

Summer of 2009!!

2009-01-29T19:44:00.002-05:00

That's right friends... on a trip to Tampa today we checked on the progress of the new IKEA and we found out that it will be completed early Summer of 2009!! Luke and I are stoked!! We are going to have to put a new line item into our monthly budget called "IKEA purchases"!!

Guess who's Birthday it is??

2009-01-29T19:31:00.002-05:00

Well it was actually 2 days ago, but our little Rage is now 4 years old!!! It's hard to believe it has been 4 years since we picked that time 1lb puppy out of the kiddie pool at our breeders in Mulberry! Time flies when you are having Fun, and man have we had Fun with Rage over the past 4 years!! Rage has truly been a Godsend, as he has been my little companion while Luke has been on the road. We love our precious puppy (or Momma's Dog Dog, or Rae Rae, or Rage E Roo, or Grandmama's Puppy as he is often called!!)

Happy 4th Birthday RAGE!!!

Hunsader Farms

2009-01-28T13:15:00.006-05:00

This morning Tyson and I met Lizzy and Finley at Hunsader Farms. We had a blast petting the animals, playing on the playround, and exploring the Vegetable/Fruit Market.

Tyson loved all of the animals. He would walk up to each one of them, wave, and say "Hi". It was precious!

A Big Pig

Finley looking at the Bunnies.

Llama :)

The Devil Bird Returns!!! Lizzy informed me that these are Emus.

Tyson petting the donkey.

Although Tyson liked everything at Hunsaders, he had a certain fascination with the Hand Sanitizer dispenser that was at his level. I must say I was very grateful for the fact that he wanted to clean his hands after touching these animals :)

Playing in the sand box. Tyson and Finley made two new friends at Hunsaders. These two boys were twins and they were the exact same age as Finley (Tyson is 2 months older than all of them).

Tyson enjoyed sitting in this big truck :) He has one almost exactly like it at home.

Look what a Big Boy he is!! He is becoming super good at navigating playground equipment.

1-2-3- WEEEE!!!

Tyson ended up with a squeeky swing, and he kept looking up to see what the noise was :)

Finley found the tire swing!
But quickly decided this wasn't the ride for her :)

A wagon ride with "the twins" suited her better!

While browsing through the fruit stand we met this little black kitty! He was super cute!!

What a great morning we had with friends, enjoying this BEAUTIFUL Florida weather!!

Poppa's 75th Birthday

2009-01-28T12:53:00.004-05:00

Last Saturday was Poppa's 75th Birthday!! All of the Family (that lives in Florida) went to the Colombia in St. Pete to celebrate. My poppa is one of the people who has had the greatest impact on my life. As a little girl (and still as an adult :) I spent a lot of time staying with my Gran and Pop. Poppa has imparted a ton of wisdom to me over the past 25 years of my life, and I am always hungry for more. He has shown me through example what it means to follow Christ on a daily basis. He has given our family a legacy of faith, and for that I will be forever grateful!!

Opening Gifts.

I love the looks on both Gran and Pop's faces :) So happy!

Gran and Pop.

I love these guys SOOO much!!

Rylee helping Gran with her Girl Scout cookie order :)

Kagan.
He was such a good boy.
Blowing out the candle on his Birthday Flan!!

Happy Birthday Pop!! I Love You!!

You know you are an adult when...

2009-01-23T14:29:00.002-05:00

You have 4 chairs at your dining table!!!

As many of you know Luke and I have been living with 2 dining chairs for about 2 years. We have put off buying 2 more chairs due to the cost, and the fact that we really didn't need 2 more right now, since their are only 2 people in our family.

Last week I was flipping through the latest West Elm catalog and I realized that my dining chairs were not in there. I quickly got on the phone with West Elm and they informed me that they had been discontinued... WHAT!! I was panicked! What was I going to do with just 2 dining chairs? We could not even have one other couple over for dinner without having to pull out the piano bench.

I asked the WE girl if any of the stores had any. We were going to Orlando, so I thought I might be able to pick up 2 chairs there. Unfortunately the Orlando store only had 1 :( But a store in NJ had 2!! So I quickly got on the phone to see if they were still available if they could ship them to me.

The NJ store still had 2 and I was stoked!! To make things even better the chairs were on sale... 50% off!!! I was scared that shipping was going to be outrageous, but when she rang them up she informed me that we got another $20 because we bought 2!! That basically off set the cost of the shipping! Needless to say I was stoked when they arrived on our doorstep yesterday!

Now we are ready for a dinner party!! After 1/31 of course :)

5th Anniversary

2009-01-23T14:10:00.003-05:00

Saturday Luke and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary! Sunday after church we headed to Orlando (were we honeymooned) to spend a few days together. It was a WONDERFULLY relaxing time!!! It was nice to get away for a few days and spend some time focusing on each other.

On Monday (1/19/09) we went to Epcot. Soon after we got there we realized that exactly 5 years ago on 1/19/04 we had gone to Epcot and purchased our seasons passes!!

It was a great day to be at Disney! Unlike our visit back in December it was not crowded, and we literally walked onto every ride.

Waiting for the fireworks to start.

Luke took this awesome picture of the fireworks.

The pictures below are from the inside of the building that "The Land" and "Soarin" are in at Epcot. They have fabric and hot air balloons hanging from the ceiling. Luke and I both loved it and thought it would be great idea for a nursery! We spent a good amount of time figuring out how we could recreate this in a babies room. Who knows? Maybe some day soon you will be seeing this in a Graham nursery near you :)

Magic Kingdom

2009-01-04T15:15:00.003-05:00

Last Sunday we headed to Disney with Luke's family for 15 hours of Disney Fun. Although it was super crowded and difficult to navigate 9 adults, and 3 babies (all in strollers) around Magic Kingdom we had a blast! It was Savannah, Alyson, and Graham's first trip to Disney, and we all enjoyed their reactions to the rides and characters. I must admit that Aly's reaction to seeing the castle and Mickey for the first time brought May-May and Aunt April to tears :)

(You can click on the collage to enlarge it.)

Jeff made a video of our day. You can view it here...
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/profile.php?id=597805823&ref=profile

Disney Vacation 2008

2008-12-29T22:55:00.006-05:00

This year in the "Graham" family we decided to forgo exchanging gifts among the adults (of course the babies got gifts) and instead do a Disney vacation together. So Friday we checked in to our timeshare in Orlando for a weekend of Disney fun.

When we got to Orlando the babies opened their gifts from Luke and I. We got Aly and Savy beach towels with their monogram on them and I made them Minnie Mouse hair bows!!

Savannah modeling her towel and bows.

Graham... poor guy! His mommy made him wear the bow that was on his gift :)

Rub-a-dub-dub sweet babies in the BIG tub!!

Alyson and Savannah... so Sweet!!

We all took a trip to Downtown Disney on Saturday night.
Aly!!

While we were at Downtown Disney we stopped in at the Virgin Records store, and guess what we found??

Since October CD, front and center in the Rock section. This has definitely been the most exciting place to find the SO CD!!

On the way back to the car Uncle Luke took over pushing Graham's stroller. Look how sweet those little faces are!!

Graham loves his Uncle Luke!! And his Jaw breaker sucker :)

After our trip to Downtown Disney we took the babies and May-May back to the hotel and the Big Kids headed out for a Graham Couple date night!! The first one... EVER!! We had a blast spending time together. We are so lucky to have such wonderful siblings on both sides of our family!

Christmas Day 2008

2008-12-29T22:13:00.003-05:00

Christmas Day was super low key this year. Luke and I were able to sleep in and enjoy some time at home together that morning, instead of having to wake up at the crack of dawn to be somewhere by 8:00am!!

Rage on Christmas morning... He's so CUTE!!
Shae Shae got a Snow White dress, Snow White doll, Snow White shoes, Snow White crown, and Snow White wand... the darket Snow White in the world :)

Making Rage sit for his Christmas Treat bag.

Hugging Rage!

This is mom's gift from Liz and Shan. Before Liz left she wrapped all of our Christmas gifts and included a little personalized note!! She is the BEST!!

Em and Rob got a Vera baby bag filled with items for Baby Lourcey.

I got a Skype camera so I can see Liz & Shan when we talk with them :)

Luke and I also got tons of new white towels from Mom and Dad and some of them were monogrammed. I was so happy and surprised when I opened the box that Luke actually said "Are you going to cry?!?!" I could have!! I was so grateful and happy.

I think Dad was pretty excited about his gift from Mom. It was a new flat panel TV!!

If you look closely in the back of this picture you can see the little gift that Dad bought for himself a week before Christmas. Look at that enormous TV... 47". Although the TV that Dad bought himself was huge and nice, it was WAY to big to fit in Mom and Dad's entertainment center. So their measurement issue has worked to mine and Luke's advantage. That monster TV is coming to live at our house!! Dad is dropping it off tomorrow :)

Christmas Day was AWESOME!! Low key, hanging out with family, Skyping with Liz and Shan, and sleeping in!! We could not have asked for a better day!

Christmas Eve 2008

2008-12-24T23:27:00.004-05:00

Christmas Eve at Gran & Pop's is seriously one of my favorite days of the year! It brings back memories of childhood and for a few hours the world seems simple again.

I LOVE my stocking so much!! My Great Granny Turner made it for me a very long time ago and I must say it is one of my most treasured earthly possesions.

Now that Liz and Shan live overseas this is a pretty common scene of all of our family gatherings. We love and miss Liz and Shan so much!!

Even though the following pictures seem very random, I love them because they included 25 of the people whom I love the most in this world. (Liz I knew you would appreciate these pics :)

Pop sporting his new Christmas hat and Apron!! Pop is one of the best "meat" chefs I know!!

Little Sister Em & I
Cousin Amber and I
Hub and I
The Great Grans... Aren't they Cute!!

Every year Kagan and Cadence make a gift for everyone. Here is the magnet for 2008!

The boys got lighters in their stockings. Here are our boys playing with their fire... and serenading us with a Christmas Carol. It is so nice that our boys are all so similiar and get along so well!

Luke and I are off to Mom & Dad's tomorrow to celebrate again, and we will be heading to Disney on Friday to spend the weekend with Luke's family.

From our family to yours... MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Cadence's Day with Gigi

2008-12-18T22:33:00.004-05:00

Today Cadence spent the day in Wauchula with Gigi. I (April) had meetings this morning, and lot of errands to run for work, so it was just easier to have Mom keep Cadence so that I did not have to take her in and out of the car 500 times. I don't really know what they did today, but from what I have gathered they had breakfast with Mrs. Priscilla, visited Aunt Connie, took a 2 hour nap, and somewhere in there a spanking occured.. Uhoh.

Anyways, Mom had a hair appt tonight so they came over to Bradenton late in the afternoon.

Here is Cadence enjoying her candy from the girls at Infinity.

During Mom's haircut she talked to Cadence about how Mrs. Carrie was going to wash and cut Cadence's hair when she was finished with Gigi's. I had run to Tampa, so I picked up some new hair products for Cadence from Sephora. When it was Cadence's turn to have her hair washed she was less than thrilled.

The bawling continued into the chair (thankfully we were the only people left in the shop, or this could have been REALLY embarassing :)

That is until Shautzie entered the picture. Mom went out to the car to get Shautzie and as soon as she brought her in all crying ceased.

Look how big and cute she is!!!

The finished product! Look at those CURLS!!! They are gorgeous! It was amazing how her curls would spring up as soon as Carrie cut all the dead ends off.

Carrie saved some of Cadence's curls and gave her a little "First Haircut" certificate!! So cute!
Cadence was very proud of her new haircut!! Her quote for the day comes from dinner when she randomly looked over at Mom and said "Gigi... I so cute!!" And humble Abbalou added :)

Our Week With Cadence - Day 4

2008-12-17T19:53:00.005-05:00

Today we had another fun filled day with Tyson. This morning on our way to the library we stopped at Publix to pick up food coloring for our afternoon craft. Cadence and Tyson enjoyed riding in the "car" cart. I don't know who invented these things, but they are a GENIUS!! How do people shop with multiple children without this thing?? It is pretty heavy and cumbersome, but totally worth the peace and quiet that you are allowed to have when shopping. Who knew a steering wheel could be so interesting to babies?!?!

This afternoon I allowed Cadence to stay up and watch a movie for an hour after Tyson went to bed. Tyson is a great sleeper and generally sleeps 3 hours!! Cadence's naps are about half that, so I kept her up to even out the naptimes. This however did not work, and she still woke up about an hour before he did. Well, at least I tried.

After Tyson and Cadence woke up from their naps we had a quick snack and then started on our afternoon Christmas activity.

I read on someone's blog (can't remember who's blog, as I was blog surfing) about this fun Christmas activity to paint upside down ice cream cones with Green icing and they decorate them with candy and sprinkles. The babies LOVED this activity!! However, they soon figured out that the icing was edible and they spent a good majority of the time shoveling icing in by the plastic knife fulls :)

All is quiet here at the Graham house as Cadence has gone to Gigi's for the night. I sure love that little girl, but I understand now what Ashleigh means when she says she can't get anything done. My work was piling up on me, so I had to take a day to get caught up.

More of "Our week with Cadence" to come on Friday. Please be in prayer for us now in regards to Friday, as I have an event at church that I have to work and Mom nor Luke will be here to help me with Cadence... YIKES!!

Our Week With Cadence - Day 3

2008-12-16T20:37:00.004-05:00

Day 3 with Cadence started off AWESOME!! That is due to the fact that the day did not start until 8:20! Cadence slept 12 solid hours last night, from 8pm - 8am!! And as an added bonus when she woke up she was completely dry! She had not pottied in her night time diaper all night!

Cadence helped me make breakfast this morning. We made pancakes, scrambled eggs, and bacon.

Cadence went a little overboard with stirring the dry ingredients :)
We headed out this morning to run errands and stopped by the hospital to visit my friend Christina. She and I work together and she had a precious little girl, London, last night.
Cadence enjoyed seeing the baby, but she would not say a word to Christina and her husband Jonathon. We were shocked at her silence, since she talks non stop :)

After our visit at the hospital we headed to the mall to have lunch and do some Christmas shopping. Cadence wanted to ride this mini carousel in the food court, so Uncle Luke headed to the car to get some quarters. Cadence was so excited about riding this carousel, but was not so happy once it started. As she was going around I asked her if she was having fun and she shook her head "No"!!

When we were in JCPenney Cadence decided to hide from Uncle Luke in the middle of these tables. When Luke tried to pull her out she started screaming so Abbalou intervened. It was then that she informed me that she had poopooed and peepeed in her panties.

So off we went to find a restroom.

Besides the pottying incident I would say today has been a complete success.

Cadence Quote of the Day: "Awww... Poor Rage."

This is what Cadence has said every night at dinner when Rage gets in trouble for begging.

Our Week With Cadence - Day 2

2008-12-15T21:01:00.004-05:00

Today Cadence and I spent the day with Tyson, playing at his house. This morning it was pretty rainy so Cadence, Tyson, and I did a holiday craft to kill some indoor time.

After craft time the kids sat down to watch Baby Einstein's "Santa Baby". Can you tell that I am really trying to push the Christmas theme this week :)

Tyson and Cadence enjoyed playing together today, and they spent a good portion of the day riding scooters around the house.

Cadence enjoyed meeting Tyson's two labs, Bella and Gabby.

Check out the height difference in these two babies.
After nap time we headed out to the neighborhood park to play.

SWINGING!!!

This is the point where the Cadence quote of the day came in. I was taking pictures of the kids swinging and Cadence said...

"Abbalou you put that camera down."

Cadence enjoyed looking at the "wager" at the park.

Check back tomorrow night to see how mine, Luke, and Cadence's day together goes!

Our Week With Cadence - Day 1

2008-12-14T22:23:00.005-05:00

Day 1 of our week with Cadence has come to a close and man has it been a Fun day!!! I met Mom after church to pick up Cadence, and we headed home to see Uncle Luke and Rage. After a 3 hour nap (woohoo) Luke, Cadence, and I headed to Walmart to buy some food to for this little girl!!!

After dinner I put Cadence into the tub and came back into the Great Room to find this...

Rage was on top of our dining table!! He has never in his entire 4 years of life gotten on top of our dining table. He was getting up there to lick up Cadence's crumbs from dinner.

As Luke and I were laughing over the fact that Rage was on top of the table Luke commented that "this is the kind of chaos that happens when you have a child." Well the chaos did not stop there. As we were laughing Cadence called from the tub... "Abbalou".

And this is what I went into the bathroom to find....

(I can not belive that I am about to post a picture of poo on my blog, but it was way to funny to not post.)

That's right friend... poo... in my tub!! Once again we were rolling!!

While I cleaned up the poo I asked Luke to watch a movie with Cadence before bed.

In keeping with our Christmas Theme for the week they chose...

Rudolph the Rednosed Reinder!

I have been wanting to get Cadence the "little people" nativity for a year now, but since it was $40 we opted for the $10 Walmart version instead.

Our Emmanuel... God With Us... all over the living room floor :)

We have had a blast today with Cadence (in spite of the poo incident). She is a super funny kid who kept us in stitches over all the silly things she said...

Cadence quote of the day:

"I like my Gigi's hair... that yellow hair."

I must say I agree. Gigi does have very pretty "yellow" hair.

Saying "See you Later"...

2008-12-07T23:00:00.003-05:00

I HATE saying good bye... so two weeks ago today, we did not say "Goodbye" to Liz and Shan, but "See you Later". My sister Elizabeth and her husband Shannon moved to Prague, Czech Republic to do short cycle church planting. We miss them terribly, but we know that God has called them to do this work and they are so excited to share the love of Christ with the people of Prague.

Although Liz and Shan will not be back in the states for 12 months they don't feel so far away when we can Skype and see each other whenever we want :)

I am so grateful for my sister and I Love and Miss her very Much!!

You can keep up with Liz and Shan and their adventures in Prague at http://elizbradley.blogspot.com/

TYSON

2008-12-04T13:34:00.004-05:00

Life has been so busy and crazy lately and I have totally slacked on blogging about all the fun things Tyson and I have been doing. Tyson is the super cute boy that I get to spend a couple of days each week with.

In November Tyson and I gutted a little pumpkin. Tyson was not so sure about this when we started, but he quickly warmed up. He is a texture boy and did not like the texture of the pumpkin guts!! However, he did like the seeds and he enjoyed pulling them out of the pumpkin and putting them into a bowl.

He also enjoyed dumping them out of the bowl :)

Tyson has a bean bag that he sits in while he watches his Baby Einstein movies. I think the bean bag is a super good idea and I am going to have to remember that when I have my own babies. Yesterday I gave Tyson his first taste of a Candy Cane and we colored a picture of a Candy Cane. He LOVED the Candy Cane and kept saying "Yumm"

Tyson and I spend A LOT of time at the park. We play and walk the lake with other Bayside mom's every week.

My day with Brady

2008-12-02T12:56:00.003-05:00

Look who I am spending the day with today... Baby Brady!! He is such a sweet boy, and I think he really likes Aunt April and Uncle Luke's house.

Here he is staring at the Red painting behind our sofa.

Rage is being super sweet to Brady as well. I think he is ready to be a big brother :)

Thanksgiving 2008

2008-11-30T22:46:00.004-05:00

For Thanksgiving Luke and I made a quick (and I mean 48 hours quick!!) trip to North Carolina to Ashleigh & Chris' house. We rode up with Mom and Dad Wednesday night, got to NC around 8:00am Thursday morning, and flew home on Friday afternoon. Our holiday was VERY layed back with everyone hanging out in their PJ's all day. Here are some photos from our day...

The boys played 18 holes of WII golf.

And Rock Band... we like to call this group "The Ninja's" :)

Em blogging... we girls do this A LOT!!

Cadence Playing.

I know I am a little biased, but isn't this child precious!?!?!?

On our way to the airport on Friday we had to stop for an impomptu photo shoot in a field down the street from Ash & Chris' house. We were attempting to get a Christmas picture. Who knows... you might see one of these photos on a Christmas card in your mailbox soon :)

Luke and I have A LOT to be Thankful for!! God has blessed us with Incredible Friends and Families!! He has given us both Wonderful jobs that allow us to share the Love of Christ with others, and he has given us each other! I am Thankful, not only today but everyday, for my wonderful husband who loves me and loves Christ with all of his heart!!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like CHRISTMAS!!

2008-11-30T14:27:00.004-05:00

Luke and I have finished our Christmas decorating for 2008. We had to do it sporadically over the past week (due to how busy our week was), but we finally completed it all yesterday.

Last Sunday night when we got home from Liz and Shan's "Goodbye Lunch" we put the lights up on the house. Yes I know... we are "those" people who put lights up before Thanksgiving! Under normal circumstances we would NEVER have done this, but Luke is leaving for a few weeks so it was now or never.

Look how efficient my husband is... even our attic is organized!!

The work begins...

It's coming together!

Every light must be perfectly straight and pointing down.

It's finished!!

Luke and I flew home from NC on Friday night, so Saturday morning we went to buy our tree. We spent the entire day (until I went to work) decorating our tree and our house.

Our yearly dough ornament from Mom.

The Tree!!

Busted Face!!

2008-11-20T22:53:00.003-05:00

This is definitely not the type of phone call that you want to recieve at 10:30pm...

Luke: April, I busted my face open.

April: What??

Luke: I busted my face open during the show.

April: On what?

Luke: My guitar.

As the picture shows it is technically his eyebrow that he busted open, not his face, but either way that is going to be a nasty black eye!! So much for my grand idea to try and take our Christmas picture while we are in North Carolina for Thanksgiving.

Busted eye or not he is one Super Cute Guy!!

*Please pray that this does not scar!! Luke definitely does not need another scare on this face.

Miracles Among Us

2008-11-20T22:46:00.002-05:00

I must say I have been humbled over the past few days as we have experienced a miracle in our lives. Tuesday I went with Ashley to All Children's to have a CT scan done on Brady's little head. We recieved some wonderful news on Wednesday, and the email below from Ashley on Wednesday night! Once again, I will let Ashley explain it to you in her own words...

A heartfelt thank you to all of you praying for us! Our prayers were answered! Brady's CT scan showed that all of the bones of his skull are normal, and his brain is also normal. There are NO signs that he has any premature fusion of the skull bones! I looked at the first xrays myself today and you truly cannot see the lines that you are supposed to see... but on the 3D CT scan they are all visible. The CT gives a much clearer picture... my boss and the radiologist thought the xray films were poor quality. Whatever the case, it's a miracle to us! God's plan for this was not as complicated as we were preparing ourselves for, but it truly made us see how powerful He is, and how He can give us absolute peace when we are facing something that seems so awful. The bump on the back left side of Brady's skull is caused by some flattening of the skull that they saw on the back right side.. but that is just a cosmetic concern, and generally "shapes up" as he grows and spends less time laying down.
We give thanks to God for taking care of our precious baby, and ask that you send up one more prayer of thanks as well! Thanks again for the love, encouragement and prayers!

Praise Jesus!!! "Poor Quality" Xrays or not... we all know that this was a Miracle!!

Please pray...

2008-11-17T19:11:00.003-05:00

Many of you know our wonderful friends Josh and Ashley. Josh is the bass player in Since October and he and Ashley are literally some of our best friends. They had a precious baby boy, Brady James, 5 weeks ago and he is Incredible!!!

They are dealing with a health scare right now with Brady and I am asking everyone to pray for them during this time. Our God is WAY bigger than any medical issues and this definitely did not catch Him by surprise. I have attached an email that Ashley sent out this afternoon... I figured she could explain it better than me.

I found a bony lump on the back of Brady's head a few weeks ago and since I work in pediatric neurology, I had my boss take a look at it. He wasn't too concerned at first, but said "let's watch it." On a social visit back to my office last week, he felt Brady's head again and noted that it was still there... He asked me to have it xrayed to rule out a condition called craniosynostosis, which is a premature fusion of the bones of an infant's skull. A baby's skull bones shouldn't fuse until he is 1-2 years old. The skull bones are not fully fused to allow the brain room to grow and therefore the skull to expand to hold the larger brain. Premature fusion of the bones can restrict the brain's growth and development, or cause an increase in the fluid pressure around the brain. Anyway, they could not visualize the suture lines (like how you are able to see the lines in a put-together puzzle) on his xray, so my doctor recommended a 3-dimensional CT scan of the skull to further assess it. This will show a much better view of the suture lines and if they are fused or not. We are having the CT scan done at All Children's Hospital in the next day or two. If the scan confirms that the skull bones are starting to (or have) fused... Brady will need surgery on his skull to separate the bones again. My doctor assures me that this is a "bone" problem and not a "brain" problem because Brady has no other signs of any genetic problems or deformities. Josh and I are terrified that our tiny baby may need surgery and ask that you all please pray for him. On a side note... I have been at this job for 9 months now, and it is much harder and more complex than working in general pediatrics.. there are days when I am completely stressed out and wonder why I changed jobs... I now see that God put me in this place so that I would have the knowledge to recognize that there was a problem. We are doing our best to remember that God is in control of the situation, no matter what it is... He made this child and He has a plan for him and for us. Please keep us and Brady in your prayers and we will keep you updated as we find out more information. Right now, Brady is doing just fine... He is growing and eating and starting to smile at me!-- The Johnson Family,Josh, Ashley, and Brady

I will keep everyone posted as we learn more. Please for now just pray, pray, pray for this family. Pray that God heals him and that surgery is not necessary and Pray for peace for Josh and Ashley (SO is still out on the road until Saturday, so they are seperated right now).

Bayside Family Picnic

2008-11-11T20:30:00.002-05:00

I must start this post off by saying that the pictures below were stolen from Sandy's Facebook and Charles' Twitter because I have totally slacked in the Picture Taking Department lately.

This Sunday Bayside celebrated our 6th Anniversary with a Family Picnic at our Property on SR 64. I went to the picnic with the only family member I had in town... Amanda, were we had a blast hanging out with our "Bayside Family".

Alyssa (small group friend), Toni (bosses wife), & I

There were tons of inflatables... for children and adults to enjoy!!

My boss, Jason, enjoying the inflatables!! This picture is a pretty accurate picture of typical Jason behavior... imagine a day at our office!!

One Word

2008-11-10T18:21:00.002-05:00

TYPE ONLY 1 WORD. IT’S HARDER THEN YOU THINK!!!

1. Where is your cell phone? TABLE
2. Your significant other? MICHIGAN
3. Your hair? PONYTAIL
4. Your mother? AWESOME
5. Your father? GOLFER
6. Your favorite thing? FAMILY
7. Your dream last night? N/A
8. Your favorite drink? FANTA
9. Your dream/goal? STORE
10. You’re in? HOUSE
11. Your fear? STOLEN
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? KIDS
13. Where were you last night? GUERIN'S
14. What you’re not? MESSY
15. Muffins? BANANA
16. One of your wish list items? RUGS
17. Where you grew up ? WAUCHULA
18. The last thing you did? EAT
19. What are you wearing ? SHORTS
20. Your TV? ON
21. Your pet? PRECIOUS
22. Your computer? LAPTOP
23. Your life? GREAT
24. Missing someone? LUKE
25. Your car? DIRTY
26. Something you’re not wearing? SUNGLASSES
27. Favorite Store? TARGET
28. Your summer? HOT
29. Your favorite color? ORANGE
30. When is the last time you laughed? TODAY
31. Last time you cried? YESTERDAY

Now it’s 4 answers
32. FOUR PEOPLE WHO E-MAIL ME? mom, ashleigh, elizabeth, emily
33. FOUR OF MY FAVORITE FOODS: ice cream, pizza, hummus, cake
34. FOUR PLACES I WOULD RATHER BE RIGHT NOW? nyc, michigan, bed, beach
35. FOUR PEOPLE I THINK WILL RESPOND: anna, liz, ashleigh, ?

Guess who is FREEZING?????

2008-11-10T14:31:00.002-05:00

Luke is!!!

Since October is in Michigan for the next 3 days and the temperature is in the 20's!!!! It is times like these that Luke remembers so clearly why we live in Sunny Florida :)

I Voted!

2008-11-04T20:31:00.004-05:00

Luke and I voted absentee for this election, so we did not get the Stylish "I VOTED" sticker that apparently was the ticket to A LOT of free stuff today (Starbucks, Chick-fil-A, Ben & Jerry's, & Krispy Kreme)!!

But Baby Brady did make his first trip to the Precinct today with his Mommy where he received an "I VOTED" sticker.

Ashley & I visited our friends Charles & Kristen tonight who welcomed Baby Charley into the world very early Monday morning. Baby Charley is a styling little guy in his black baby gown and "Rock Star" blanket!! He is such a cutie!! Here are the two newest Bayside Moms with their babies!!

Little Dog... Big Food

2008-10-18T21:35:00.005-04:00

Rage is a pretty small dog!! At a whopping 7lbs he is a lean mean fighting machine (or should I say "screaming" machine). But don't be fooled this dog LOVES his food! We recently started buying large bags of food for him to save ourselves many many trips to Petsmart. We buy a 20lb bag of food for a 7lb dog, and the best part about it is that we only have to buy dog food every 5 months. No Joke!! Rage eats 3x his body weight every 5 months. I wonder how many pounds of food we humans consume every month?? That might be an experiment I might have to do for at least a month... see how many pounds of food I consume in 1 month in relation to my body weight. Maybe i'll start in November :)

1st Since October Baby

2008-10-11T21:26:00.006-04:00

Here he is...

Brady James Johnson!!!

He was born at 5:49pm on Saturday 10/11/2008. He weighed 8lbs 13 oz, and we have not yet gotten his final length. The entire Since October family was there to welcome little Brady into the world. He is super cute, with the most precious little round face, beautiful olive color, and a delayed cry (the kind were is mouth is wide open for about 5 seconds before any sound comes out :)

I definitely think he looks like Ashley in this picture.

He is crying here but he still looks SOOO PRECIOUS!!

Baby Brady is on his way!!!

2008-10-11T13:30:00.002-04:00

We got a text from Josh & Ashley around noon today saying that they are at the hospital. Her labor is well under way!! Luke and I are super excited about Brady's arrival and we are planning on going to the hospital tonight after I get off from work. We will post pictures and an update of Baby Brady later tonight, but until then here are a few pictures of his Super Cute nursery!!

TURTLES!!

2008-10-06T17:21:00.004-04:00

I have been researching Tortoise Shells for a client this afternoon and I had to post some of my findings. I have been in tears, laughing so hard at these photos and articles. ENJOY!!

First of all, let me introduce you to the world's BIGGEST Turtle!!

I could not verbalize the title of this article I was laughing so hard... this is quality journalism.

"Elderly turtle pair fails to produce offspring"

Seriously!! This is not a joke... here is the link to the article!

http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008Oct04/0,4670,ASEndangeredTurtlesMate,00.html

Lastly, and one of my own personal favorites

"Virgin Mary on Turtle"

Don't belive me, here is the link and a picture to prove it!

http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/weblog/permalink/virgin_mary_on_turtle/

It has definitely been an enjoyable afternoon :)

Coming to a Neighborhood near YOU!!

2008-10-06T10:30:00.002-04:00

Look what is being built just a few blocks from my "old" office in Tampa... IKEA!!! We are so stoked! I have been passing this construction site for about a year now and I get excited every time I pass it. Even though I will not be working in Tampa any more, 45 minutes is not far to drive to get Awesome Items, SUPER CHEAP!! I will keep you all posted as the construction progresses. For now it looks like the estimated completion date is 2010!

Change... Is DEFINITELY a Good Thing!!

2008-10-04T22:46:00.003-04:00

Most of you already know this, but God has brought about some MAJOR change in the Graham household over the past few weeks.

God brought about a wonderful opportunity for me to work for our church, Bayside Community Church, as a Team Leader for the Children's Department. It was definitely one of those "God brought this about, it is too good to be of my own doing, I can not turn this down or I am running from Ninevah" kind of situations.

So after much pray and discussion Luke and I stepped out on faith and I resigned from my position at Chancey Interior Design. While I am finishing up my last few weeks at CID I am also beginning my work at Bayside. I covet your prayers during this time, as balancing the two jobs for the next few weeks is definitely going to be a challenge!

I started full force tonight with my new position at the church and I am LOVING it already!! I love that I get to work with such amazing people... people who were already our friends and such a big part of our lives!

It is truly amazing how "A man's heart plans his ways, but the Lord directs his steps." Luke and I had a pretty good plan layed out for the next few years, but God has provided a MAGNIFICENT plan!! A plan that is way better than anything Luke or I could have ever dreamed up.

I STAND AMAZED!!

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

2008-09-27T22:49:00.002-04:00

Tonight I had a HUGE craving for bread pudding (don't ask me why)! While I was researching online I came across a recipe for Pumpkin Bread Pudding. It is no big secret that I LOVE all things Pumpkin, so I decided to give it a try. The recipe turned out to be Super Simple and the bread pudding was Delicious!!

Here is the recipe if you would like to give it a try.

Pumpkin Bread Pudding
I made a few of my own adaptations to this, using only milk and no cream (to me, it makes no difference in dishes like this, so I figure I'll save the calories), and doubling almost all of the spices.
1 1/2 cups whole milk (Or 1 cup heavy cream plus 1/2 cup whole milk)
3/4 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs plus 1 yolk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
Pinch of ground
5 cups cubed (1-inch) day-old baguette or crusty bread
3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted* (can skip this step if using the second set of instructions)

Preheat oven to 350Â°F with rack in middle.

Gourmet's Instructions: Whisk together pumpkin, cream, milk, sugar, eggs, yolk, salt, spices and bourbon, if using, in a bowl.
Toss bread cubes with butter in another bowl, then add pumpkin mixture and toss to coat. Transfer to an ungreased 8-inch square baking dish and bake until custard is set, 25 to 30 minutes.

Alternate, Come On, Be Lazy With Me, instructions: While preheating oven to 350Â°F with rack in middle, melt butter in bottom of a 8-inch square baking dish. Once it is melted, take it out of the oven and toss bread cubes with butter, coating thoroughly. In a separate bowl, whisk together all the remaining ingredients. Pour them over buttered bread cubes in baking dish, stirring to make sure all pieces are evenly coated. Bake until custard is set, 25 to 30 minutes.

(I used the Lazy Instructions and 1% milk and it came out great!!)

My New Hobby

2008-09-27T22:38:00.002-04:00

Last weekend while we were in Vero, my Mother-in-Law and I did A LOT of sewing. She altered my clothes that no longer fit me, and I learned how to make a baby bath towel!! The number 1 complaint of all my pregnant friends is that baby bath towels are not cute, and if they are they are Expensive!! So I decided to make my own cute, modern, baby bath towels.

I also learned how to make a headband that you can change the hairbows out on.
Towel #1. I actually gave this one to Ashley because it matches Brady's nursery perfectly!
Towel #2
So if you are expecting a baby in the near future rest assured you will probably be getting a bath towel or a heaband from me!

Happy 1st Birthday Graham!

2008-09-22T11:05:00.005-04:00

This past weekend we celebrated our nephew Graham's 1st birthday with our family in Vero Beach. Graham is all boy and LOVES to wrestle!! He also has the best little smile!

Big Sister Aly helped him blow out the candle.

Look at those Big, Precious Blue Eyes!! Everyone in Luke's family says Graham looks like Luke did at that age. Luke's Grandparents (Poppa and Gramma Great) even accidently call Graham "Luke" a lot of the time. Hopefully my little boy will be this cute!

Big Sister Aly! She wore this outfit in honor of Aunt April (her mommy doesn't really like it :)

Graham was totally not interested in opening presents. He just wanted to roll around on the ground and play with the paper. Good thing he has an older sister who was more than happy to open all of his gifts for him!

Playing with his new toy from May-May.

Baby Shower #3

2008-09-19T09:15:00.002-04:00

On Saturday we celebrated the upcoming arrival of our friends Charles & Kristen's baby boy!! Baby Charley is due to make his debut around November 3rd.

(For those of you who don't know Charles is the High School Youth Pastor at Bayside, and Kristen is the Fabulous hairstylist responsible for both mine and Luke's hairstyles :)

Take a look at this super cute and craft baby shower idea. Someone made a baby out of rolled up onesies, receiving blankets, etc and put Jeans and a Hoodie and a printed baby face on to complete the ensemble!

Here are the next three upcoming Bayside arrivals.

Christina (due 12/25), Kristen (due 11/9), Ashley (due 10/12)

Oops I Did It Again...

2008-09-18T22:32:00.002-04:00

After 4 years and 9 months of a clean driving record I ruined it all today. While backing out of the drive way of a client's house this morning I backed into a parked car! Needless to say a very valuable and expensive lesson hit home today. Luke has been trying to teach me this lesson for several YEARS, but today I got it.

Lesson learned... Do NOT text, make a phone call, etc while driving!!

(Disclaimer: I am allowed to make a phone call in the car, but only once I am driving straight down the road. Texting and checking emails is absolutely NOT allowed!)

Where were you Tuesday morning??

2008-09-17T11:43:00.003-04:00

I was here... at the beach! Nothing starts a Tuesday morning off better than a client meeting at the beach! I have some wonderful clients who have a condo directly on St. Pete beach and I love my visits to their home because this is the view I get to enjoy.

While I was visiting their home on Tuesday morning I also had to take some photos of the exterior of the building for Marketing purposes. This meant I had to go down to the beach and shoot some photos looking back towards the building.

What a way to start a Tuesday morning... with Sandy Toes!!

Honesty

2008-09-14T17:05:00.003-04:00

I am going to get really really honest here for a second. God taught me a major lesson today. One that I feel I have to share with you guys.

First the story that set the stage for this lesson...

After church I set off to the grocery store to buy a few things before Luke comes home. On my way home I decided to stop for Chinese take out ($4.95 lunch special and it includes a drink... you can't beat that.) Anyways, when I pulled up at the Chinese place I was, of course, on the phone so I did not really pay much attention to the yucky blue pick up truck parked across from me. I walked inside, purchased my food, and headed back out to the car. I was still on the phone (of course!!) but I noticed a dog crying in the back of the pick up truck. I went a little closer and discovered that someone had left this dog (either it was a puppy, or a small dog... about Rage's size) in a crate in the back of this pick-up truck. It was 2:30 in the afternoon and it was BLAZING HOT outside.

I quickly got off the phone and called the Sheriff's department. With each cry of this little dog I got madder and madder to the point that I was almost in tears when the operator answered. She quickly took all my information and sent an officer my way. I asked her if I could get the dog out of the crate and she said unfortunately I could not. Being a dog owner whose dog sleeps in my bed, this kind of cruelty was heartbreaking to me.

About that time the owners (mom, dad, and about 9 yr old daughter) waltzed out of a store nearby and I was livid!! As they walked towards the car I told them I was on the phone with the Sheriff's department and that what they were doing to that dog was illegal, and that they could be ticketed for it. I must admit they were not the most well educated or financially well off people (I am gathering all of this from the state of their car, clothing, hair, and teeth... or should I say "lack of teeth"), but Animal Cruelty is Animal Cruelty. It does not take a Master's Degree to recognize that!! The owner of this dog was very angry with me. Her come back to my "What your doing is illegal" was "He's in a crate"!!! I said "I see that, but it is BLAZING HOT out here!!" They got in their car and left, and unfortunatetly the Police Office Operator (who was on the other end of the line during this entire conversation) said there was nothing they could do since the owners had left the parking lot with the dog.

I got into my car, called my mom and vented in the worst kind of way. This kind of behavior INFURIATES ME!! In my venting about how these are the kinds of people that I have to work so hard so that I can feed THEIR children, I asked Mom the question "Why does God let people like that have Children and Animals?? Why does he give people who obviously make AWFUL decisions power over a helpless being??"

It is no hidden fact that I want a child so bad I ACHE, but the fact of the matter is that Luke and I have been married for 5 years and we have purposely prevented having children because we did not feel that we could properly provide for them. We want to be good stewards of the time, talents, and resources that God has given us.

Well, to finish my story and get on to the point of this rambling blog... I went home and later sat down to do today's chapter in the new study that I am doing. It is a topical study on The Sermon On The Mount. As I was reading Matthew 5:44-45 God revealed something to me that hit me like a ton of bricks.

"But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous."

I realized that God loves that "not so lovely" looking couple as much as he loves me, and Luke, and Sarah Palin :) He causes his sun to rise on them, as well as us. And he causes his rain to fall on them, as well as us.

Yes, they made a bad choice by leaving their dog out in the blazing noon day sun, but I have made bad and stupid choices as well.

I am a very conservative Republican who cares deeply about the political issues in our country. Sometimes though I allow my religious and political views to cloud the fact that life is about loving people... God's people!! He created us ALL in his image.

My prayer today and always is that I will be able to see people as God sees them. With love and compassion. Not the outward apperance, or education level, or job status, but the Real Person.

Storm Chasers

2008-09-12T09:49:00.003-04:00

Who heads into the path of a hurricane when everyone else is evacuating??

That would be Since October!!

Yesterday SO pulled into Dallas, TX for a show tonight. They are doing the morning show on Power FM (http://www.897powerfm.com/) as I type, and they have a show in Dallas tonight. They are leaving as soon as they finish the show to head to Arkansas for shows on Saturday and Sunday night. Please pray that they don't get stuck in the storm, and that they have safe travels. These guys are definitely committed to doing whatever it takes to reach the lost :)

Little Pig, Little Pig let me in!!

2008-09-08T15:53:00.003-04:00

This morning I opened the blinds and who did I find... the slimy monster. I guess he has experienced the outside world and he has decided that he would rather reside in The Graham House. It totally looks like he is hanging onto the screen saying "Let me in!!!" I still despise him and there is no way I will reside in the same house with this guy. I think I need to take Ashleigh's advice and give up the house to snakes and frogs and move on to higher ground :)

"There's a FROG in my throat... I mean house"

2008-09-05T00:03:00.009-04:00

Did you know I am terrified of frogs?? No, I didn't either. That is until I came face to face with one last Thursday morning. I woke up last Thursday morning at 5:56am and headed into the bathroom (without glasses on or contacts in). As I opened the sliding door to the water closet I heard a "splat" and saw something dark fall from above the sliding door onto the tile. I went back into my room to grab my glasses and came back to find that the dark blob was a FROG!!

I was terrified!! Somehow I managed to live 25 years on this planet without ever having a stand off with a frog! I had to think logically in this situation... it was 6:00am, my husband was gone, and I had to get this frog out of my house.

My first move was to get Rage out of the room. Thankfully my little guy was still in the bed asleep, so I picked him up, took him to the laundry room and locked him in the laundry room while I headed back to the bedroom to capture the frog. On my way back to the bedroom I grabbed some tupperware with a lid (thinking that I could get the frog into the tupperware and then take him outside). I also grabbed the "outside broom". For those of you who don't have a seperate outside and inside broom I will clarify that there is a difference, and getting frogs out of your house is NOT something you do with an "inside broom."

When I returned to my room I found the frog in the doorway from my bathroom to my bedroom. Then it hit me, this frog probably wanted to get back outside as bad as I wanted him to get back outside. So in all my wisdom I pushed all the draperies back and opened up both sets of triple sliding glass doors to give the frog wide open space to hop outside.

Unfortunately the frog did not get the memo. He hopped all around my bedroom, and with every 24" hop (no exaggeration) I would scream and bawl. Every time he hopped it would send me into hysterics. It was in that moment that I discovered that I HATE frogs!!!

During this ordeal a lot of thoughts went through my head one of which was "I am probably going to be somones mom within the next few years, and I have got to learn to deal with things like this... I have got to be able to get a frog out of my house."

Well 15 minutes later the frog was still in my house, I was hysterical, and so I did what any person would do... I called my 8 month pregnant best friend at 6:12 in the morning :)

Our conversation went something like this:

Ashley: Hello (very groggy)

April: Ashley, there's a frog in my house (bawling)

Ashley: Do you want me to come get him out?

April: YESSS (still bawling)

I'm telling you, I have the best Best Friend in the world!!! She came right over and caught that little slimy monster. And being the wonderful animal lover that she is, she was able to catch him (not kill him) and release him back into the wild.

I took the pictures below while I was waiting for Ashley to arrive. I had to take pictures to verify that this whole terrifying ordeal really happened.

Do you see that frog on my wall??

This picture shows my actaul proximity to the frog, as I was really on the porch when I took these pictures.

The Invasion Continues

2008-09-04T23:53:00.003-04:00

The snake invasion of 2008 continues.

On Monday I was cleaning my house. I went outside to beat the rugs (how Southern does that sound?) and look what was sunning in the tall grass/bush in the flower beds right outside my front door. Another Snake!! A Baby Snake!!

Have I mentioned that I HATE SNAKES!! What is going on here??

New Kid On The Block...

2008-09-04T23:44:00.002-04:00

On Wednesday my friend Jennifer had her 3rd little girl!!! Kelsey Lynn Jerome is super sweet and I got to spend the evening with her and her mom, enjoying some Breuster's Ice Cream.. Yumm!! The Jerome's might only make girls, but they make really super precious GIRLS!

Miller's Peanut Butter Pie!!!

2008-08-31T19:11:00.003-04:00

Today after church Ashley and I had to run to Sarasota, and we decided that we wanted to eat at one of the Amazing Amish restaurants in our area. We were both in the mood for some "home cooking" but the main reason we wanted to go was for the Peanut Butter Pie!! I don't know how they do it, but the Amish make the most Amazing Peanut Butter Pies! Every Christmas Eve we have Miller's Peanut Butter Pie at Gran and Pop's. It is definitely one of my favorite desserts.

Unfortuntaley after driving to 3 different Amish restaurants and finding them all closed we figured out that the Amish do not work on Sundays.

We were both Super disappointed and both whined about how much we wanted Peanut Butter Pie the entire way home :(

When we got home we looked on the internet for a recipe and found one that sounded really close to Miller's recipe. So with Mom's help we set forth on the task of making a homemade Peanut Butter Pie.

And here is our finished product!! After 2 attempts at the Meringue we finally got it right. (In our defense the recipe called for cornstarch in the meringue. The Cornstarch totally made the meringue taste pasty so we threw it out and started again.)

The pie was SOOO GOOD!! Almost as good as Miller's just a little soupier. We were to impatient to wait for it to cool completely, so the custard was a little soupy.

All in all I think our first attempt at at PB Pie was successful. This is definitely a dessert that I will make again.

Meet Marty!!

2008-08-31T18:50:00.004-04:00

Two weeks ago my company (Chancey Interior Design) moved into our brand new "Leed Certified" building!! It is a gorgeous, white (of course), 4 story building in historic Ybor City. We are all getting used to our new spaces, and I am getting used to my new roommate...

Blog Friends meet Marty!!

In the entry of mine and the principals area sits this Zebra hide... did I mention he is 100% real!!

Remember this guy from the Lazy 5? Guess where these guys end up??

You guessed it... in high end design firms!!

I usually do not have issues with animal hides. We put cow hides into a lot of our projects, but cowhides don't have heads and tails still attached!!

If you are at all squeamish I apologize for the above two photos, but I had to show you how they stitch the ears down and the eyes shut... GROSS!!

This shows the proximity of Marty to my desk. For those of you who are wondering I named him Marty after the zebra in the movie Madagascar.

Unfortunately, not all of the other principals loved Marty as much as my boss did. They did not feel that an animal hide fit with the Leed/Green theme that we have going in our building. So needless to say, Marty is going back to the rug store next week.

I hope you have enjoyed this glimpse into the fabulous and crazy company I work for :)

"Spoirts"

2008-08-21T10:10:00.005-04:00

I can not believe I am about to type this...

Luke and I have joined a Fantasy Football League!!

Shocking, I know. The most anti-spoirt family on the planet has joined one of the most ridiculous spoirt games every created.

I must admit we did it because of Peer Pressure. The Since October boys decided it would be fun to have a Fantasy Football League of all the SO boys and SO wives. So, to not be left out, LG and I joined "Rocktober Sports". LG was more into it than I (obviously!!) and has made the best out of this experience by creating our two teams, complete with Custom Logos. We Graham's can't do anything half way :)

Luke's Team is "The Parrish Face Kickers"

April's Team is "The Celebrity Baby Stalkers"

Our automatic draft is tomorrow morning and for the first games Luke is playing Jeff's team (our Brother-in-Law... he joined the league because we had to have 8 people). And I am playing Ashley's team. We promise to keep you all up to date on our exciting new "Spoirt" adventure!!

Disclaimer: We, the Grahams, still hate "Spoirts"... except for swimming, diving, and gymnastics... we have been watching A LOT of Olympics :)

Baby Shower #2

2008-08-16T19:11:00.005-04:00

Today we celebrated the upcoming arrival of Josh and Ashley's little boy at her baby shower! She looks really good to be 32 weeks!

Table Centerpieces
Gift and Cake Table
Baby Cupcakes :)Drink Area... yes that is a rubber ducky floating in the punch bowl!!

Opening Gifts

"SNAKES ON A PLANE!!!"

2008-08-16T18:56:00.003-04:00

Ok, maybe there aren't really any snakes on a plane, but I feel like they are taking over our neighborhood. A few weeks ago mom and I were taking the dogs for a walk at dusk (we had wanted to walk as late as possible because it is so blasted hot around here.) Well as we were walking we say a black snake slither across our path (we were on the shell walking path). We decided to stick to the sidewalk and not 2 minutes later we came up on a very dark snake with a patterned print on this body. We were convinced that he was a rattlesnake so we turned around and headed the other direction.

Ever since that incident I have been terrified that I would run into another snake on my daily walks with Rage. I have kept my eyes on the ground as we walked watching for snakes.

A few nights ago Luke and I had run to Publix and were coming home at about dusk. As we were about to turn into our driveway we say a SNAKE in the middle of road, right in front of our house. Luke jumped out to investigate while I stayed in the car with the headlights shining on the snake. That little snake (he was only about 24" long) was a feisty guy and he struck a Luke!! He started to slither away into the grass when I remembered my camera and handed it to Luke. The pictures aren't very good, but at least you can see him.

Now I am definitely terrified of our snake infested neighborhood... yuck!! I HATE SNAKES!!!!

Baby Shower #1

2008-08-11T09:38:00.003-04:00

Last Sunday afternoon my friend Marcie and I hosted a surprise baby shower for our good friend Jenn. Jenn is due with her 3rd girl in about 3 weeks. Since she had almost everything she needs for baby Kelsey we decided to do a "Pamper the Mom" shower. We asked everyone to bring diapers and wipes for baby Kelsey or a little papering item for Jenn (lotion, new pajamas, etc). And to top it all off a bunch of people went together and got her a gift certificate to the Spa at the Ritz Carlton in Sarasota. Jenn was really surprised and we all had a great time celebrating this wonderful mommy and this new little girl together!!

(Baby shower #2 coming up this weekend... For those of you who don't know I am hosting a shower for my friend Ashley on Saturday. We have 12 girls in our circle of friends at church who are pregnant and due between Sept & March. I'm convinced there is something in the water at church, so that's why I bring bottled water to church :)

THE LAZY 5

2008-08-07T22:44:00.001-04:00

I know this post is almost a month late, but I have a good exscuse for not being able to post until now. While at the Lazy 5 we took 258 pictures!! 258 pictures of 1 hour, at 1 place!! So the reason this post has taken so long to put together is because I had to weed through 258 pictures and find a few that accurately captured our time at The Lazy 5. The Lazy 5 is seriously one of the coolest places I have EVER been in my entire life!! (check it out at http://www.lazy5ranch.com/) It is a 3.5 mile safari that you can drive through in your car or on a horse drawn wagon. There are approximately 750 animals and they all come up to your car window were you feed them buckets of animal feed. It is AWESOME!! You can touch them, you can see them up close, it is seriously one of the coolest things I have ever done!
Our Super Cute Girl (yes mom, she is tasting the animal feed)
The Bourdies are Coming!!

I'm sorry but this has got to be some form of a DEMON... look at those eyes!

Look at him!! He is in our car!! Look at that beak!! He could peck your eye out!
How cool is this?!?!? He is eating out of my hand!

Did I mention that they sometimes jump up on your car??? Yeah, they do that... good thing Ash & Chris have since sold this car... i'm sure the new owners don't mind the scratches on the door :)
Look at those eyes! They are little slits! Why?
Can you see that they are literally in our car!?!? How cool is that?!?!
Oh No... look at this beast!
A Big Tongue, for an equally Big Animal.

What is this guy??? Does anyone know?? Is he a horse? Is he a cow? Or a mixture there of??
Look at this cow... he has not teeth!! Just gums... like an old man :)

A white demon!! Why did God create these things?!?

Ashleigh closed the window on this guy... HAHAHA Look at this character... Luke said he looked like a creature from Tatooine!!

Look at those EARS!!!
We all really liked the zebra's, but they told us not to feed them out of our hands. They said to only let them eat out of the bucket... I guess they are prone to biting...

Right after I took this picture this guy tried to take Luke's arm off!! I fully believe he could have... look at those horns!

The main reason I wanted to go The Lazy 5 was so I could touch a giraffe. When we got up to the giraffe area they had them in an enclosed area with a really tall fence. I was dying to touch one so I climbed out of the sunroof of Ashleigh's Mountaineer, onto the roof of the SUV so I could reach this super tall guy!!
I succeeded!! My trip was complete!! I touched a giraffe!!

Here is a collage of some of my other favorite pictures!!

All the laughing and screaming wore her out!!

Check out Chris & Ashleigh's blog for a ridiculously cute video of Cadence retelling the story of our trip!! (www.lifewithshae.blogspot.com)

"The Bourdies are COMING!!!"

2008-08-07T09:30:00.003-04:00

That's right... I PROMISE that tonight I will post our pictures from our visit to the Lazy 5!! So Ashleigh, get the video of Shae Shae telling the story edited and ready to post!!

Birthday at the Beach

2008-08-05T11:59:00.003-04:00

While we were at the beach last week we celebrated Cadence's 2nd birthday a few days early. We had an Elmo Beach Party (two of her favorite things!!)
The Paparazzi singing Happy Birthday (with camera's poised and ready of course :)

Look at that Super Cute Elmo Cake... and it was an Ice Cream Cake!!

Some of the party guests.The Callaway's (this picture of Kagan cracks me up!)
Tearing into gifts!!
Happy Birthday to our Super Cute Niece!!

Selfish, Selfish...

2008-08-04T13:01:00.002-04:00

Rage and Shautzie (my mom's dog) are both very territorial over their bags (yes our dogs have overnight bags) and of mine and mom's bags. Last night I was working in the spare room and I heard Shautzie growling. I turned around to find Rage sniffing Mom's overnight bag. Shautzie kept growling as Rage slowly sniffed Mom's bag and eventually climbed up into it and layed down :) As you can see Shautzie was busy protecting her own bag, and was not very happy about Rage being in her Mom's bag!!

Rae Rae just wanted to sleep in Grandmama's bag :)
Selfish Shautzie protecting her bag :)
Rage says "I don't know what the big deal is?"
He's LOVES his Grandmama... and her bag!

* Side Note: Shautzie often hides Rage's toys in her or mom's bags so that she can take them to her house!! What kind of dog does that?!?!