A Farewell for Now

This is my last pre-baby post. Today marks 39 weeks. If she doesn't come on her own this weekend, my doctor will induce me on Monday! It's so hard to believe it's already time... this feels like the shortest pregnancy ever (which i'm very grateful for)! However, these last few weeks feel like they taken forrrrrever and I'm so ready for her to get here!! Naturally, I have become more and more uncomfortable. I've been having contractions just about every day. None that have been too consistent but still some contractions are better than none. I'm hoping maybe she'll come on her own in the next few days but if not then she will for sure be here Monday. At this point, I'm just praying she gets here safely, is healthy and that the Lord's will be done. So ADIOS blogging world! I'm sure my Sister will post pictures of her before I do, so watch for her blog update! I'll be back eventually, but I make no promises as to when.

Thanksgiving

Oh how I love Thanksgiving!! Delicious food, family and lots of thankful hearts. Normally we are either at Jeremy's parents' house or with my dad's family in Springfield, MO. This year since I would have been miserable riding in a car for 6 hours, we opted to stay here and spend it with my mom's family. It was a sweet time with family and too much good food. God has blessed me with so many things...first and foremost, Jesus. What a gift He has given in His Son. I'm so gratfeul for an intimate realationship with the Savior of the world. His grace alone is more than enough to be thankful for. Secondly, my incredible families; near and far, the one I was born into and the one I married into. Some people complain about having to spend holidays with families but it's something I so look forward to. I'll make this a short list.. so lastly, Riley, our sweet baby girl, whom I've yet to meet. Jeremy and I are so incredibly thankful God has chosen us to be her parents.

Speaking of...37 weeks and very uncomfortable. I can no longer wear my wedding rings. Sleep is a thing of the past. Comfortable pants are basically the only thing in which I find comfort. Lots of braxton hicks contractions and only one real cantraction thus far. Dr's appointment every week. The longer she waits to join us, the more unpleasant I become.. so for those of you that have to deal with me... Sorry. 19 days til her due date!!

36

     Today, I hit the 36 week mark! She will most likely be here in a month or less. We go on Tuesday for our 36 week check up. The dr will check to see if I have progressed any, as well as do an ultrasound. We're hoping to get an idea of how big she is...though we know it can be off quite a bit.. and hopefully some news on when our dr thinks she will arrive. Everyone seems to think she will come early. We shall see. We are in the middle of buying a house and closing (so exciting!!!!) and it looks as if closing will be the 30th of November or December 3rd. Plus, Jeremy's parents don't get in town til the 7th or 8th so for all of those reasons I'd would prefer her to atleast wait until then. My overall prayer is that she comes when she is supposed to..whether thats tomorrow or a week past her due date.
     To sum up 36 weeks... exhausting and chubby.

More Showers and Less Sleep

Holy Cow!!! I'm going to have a baby in less than 6 weeks!!!!!! It's so crazy and so exciting!!! Aside from my freaking out on how close its getting, a lot has been happening....

This past Saturday was a full day of showering Riley. That morning some sweet friends of mine threw me a breakfast shower and oh my was the food so delicious!! We had a great time talking, eating and opening presents! My sister and I then went back to my house to unload and take a quick nap. Then it was on to shower #2 for the day. We grew up at a small church in the area and there are several ladies from that church that are all really close to my mom. They were all there when each other had kids and now they all throw wedding/baby showers for all their kids. Its a precious group of ladies that have been such a blessing and incredible Godly influence in my life and I am so grateful for each of them. It was also the shower that all of mine and Jeremy's family were invited to. It was a sweet time with friends and family celebrating the soon coming little Riles.... and we got tons of good stuff for her! It was such a fun filled day and I am so very blessed to have so many people show such love for Jeremy and I and our soon to be here little girl! I also realized I didn't take any pictures from the morning shower but here are some from the afternoon shower.

From left to right: Mom, Aunt Lou-Lou(mom's sister n law), Amy (mom's sister), Chubs in the middle (me), Granny (mom's mom) and my favorite sister!

 

Today I am 34 weeks/3 days and only getting larger. For the first time in this whole pregnancy I am beginning to get uncomfortable. Sleeping is becoming very difficult, going to the bathroom is more frequent and you can forget about bending over. Never will I take for granted the ability to bend over and put socks on because these days it is quite humorous to watch and very exhausting to accomplish. Heartburn is becoming my greatest enemy.. oh how I loathe you heartburn. I am very grateful for my new friend Zantac who conquors the heartburn. My belly button has made itself very known and almost impossible to hide. A definite bonus in getting bigger is I know Riley is getting bigger. She is also very active. There are very few times when I'm sitting down that she doesn't move. 34 down and 6 more to go!!



Shower!!

Last weekend was my first baby shower and it was so wonderful!!! Several ladies at Bellevue Arlington threw it for me and with the exception of my sister everyone that was there goes to Bellevue Arlington. It was a sweet time of fellowship and presents :) I couldn't believe all the great stuff we got, I guess technically its all Riley's gifts, but I definitely had fun opening them! We got some great necessities as well as some cute stuff too. It was a good combination! One of the hostess' daughter took some great pictures for us... here are a few.

This was my favorite part about the shower. each lady took a piece of red or ivory cloth and wrote a blessing or verse on it and my wonderful friend Melissa is making a quilt out of it! Here is a picture of what the quilt is starting to look like..

Sweet hostesses!

And of course mom and sister! I am so blessed to have so many ladies come and celebrate the soon coming of my our sweet baby girl! In a couple of weeks I have 2 more showers!! This kid is not going to be lacking anything! If you know me at all, you know how much I loooove getting/opening presents... I once told my mom that my spiritual gift was receiving gifts... I was a little mixed up with spiritual gifts and love language. Either way I just love presents, the thought behind the gift and the pure excitement! I know very soon presents for me will become few and far between and Riley's gifts will stack up but until she is able to open them herself, you better believe I'm going to enjoy opening them for her!

New Post

        I'm not in a very creative mood..hence the exciting title of this post. But I figured I would write an update on how things are moving along for us and baby. I'm 30 1/2 weeks along and generally, feeling pretty good. My greatest complaint as of now would be the constant feeling of having to go to the bathroom. Which normally wouldn't be a problem.. however, my office is on the second floor at work and the bathroom is on the first floor. I can put off going to the bathroom for a while but only while I'm sitting down. As soon as I stand up- YIKES! I have almost wet myself more times than I would like to admit, but don't worry I have successfully made it to the bathroom every time! Heartburn.. man I despise heartburn. It also confuses me sometimes and I think I'm hungry. Trying to convince myself that the evil heartburn is telling me lies and I'm not actually hungry is very hard.. because at 10pm a bowl of honey bunches of oats sounds like it would soothe my heartburn away. Lies... its all lies.
          I am definitely getting larger as December is quickly approaching... I'm noticing more and more that I am not very aware of how far my belly sticks out because I keep running into things with it. I went to a craft show type thing this weekend and it was very crowded. I found myself trying to suck in as I walked in tight spaces... let me assure you, it did not work. I think I spent the majority of my time apologizing to people as I rammed them with the growing bulge on my stomach.
       Speaking of, my sweet girl is moving around a ton. She likes to turn and flip. Thankfully, there isn't a whole lot of kicking going on. However, if you poke at her enough, she will kick you. I will say that feeling her move is one of my absolute favorite things about this whole process! I also, ordered her custom bedding that should be here around the end of the month... I will definitely post pictures once it arrives! My first of 3 showers is this coming weekend and it feels like Christmas morning!! I am so excited to get things for her! It will definitely make all of this so much more real.

Well here's to more heartburn and hopeful bladder control!

Chubby

If you know me at all you know that I love a good chubby baby to squeeze and cuddle...but then again, who doesn't?! I love the sweet chubby cheeks and have always wanted my own baby to have those sweet kissable cheeks. Yesterday, we went for our 4D ultra-sound and I am happy to say, it looks as if my dream will come true...

The ultrasound lady took it upon herself to type out those cute words. Now, it's very hard to notice the chubby cheeks when there is a huge honker staring at you. The lady assured me multiple times that her nose is not in fact that large... we'll see. If nothing else she still has close to 12 weeks left to grow into it. Also, my grandmother thought that large swoosh of dark stuff on her head was hair... I can assure you, it is not. She does not have bama bangs at 28 weeks inside the womb. The ultrasound lady did show us that she has some peach fuzz on top but not a ton. She kept her hand up by her face most of the time and was very stubborn. She also did not appreciate the lady trying to move her around.. she kicked back. She must get that from her daddy ;) But mmm... those cheeks. I'm smitten already.

Quick Trip

This weekend we made a quick trip to Springfield, MO for my cousin's wedding. We left Friday about lunch time and got there just in time for the rehearsal dinner. Spending time with our Missouri family( my dad's parents, younger brother, older brother and their families all live in Missouri) is rare because we only see them once a year, if that. We knew this would be the last time we were there before we have a baby in tow. It was good to see them all and catch up. One of my favorite parts of the weekend was my dad's older brother telling him that he was jealous and he didn't think it was fair that my dad gets to be a grandpa before him. My dad's response was "Haha I win, I win!" And all this time I thought my competitive nature came from my mother.

Saturday, my dad and I cooked breakfast (I cooked the bacon... the grease kept popping up on me and I might have been a big baby about it), then the boys sat and watched football as my mom and sister basically dragged me to go shopping with them. I hate shopping. But I didn't want to be a party pooper, so I went. Warning them I would not last very long. At this stage in my pregnancy, any standing or walking for more than 5 minutes makes me have to go to the bathroom real bad. So we headed to the mall. After about 45 minutes in JCPenny I was done. Unfortunately, for me, they were not even close. I did find this beautiful watch whilst stalling (I found a TAG that I've wanted for about a year now.. but its $2300..yikes.. this was a Citizen and ONLY $560, ha only!)...

So when it was time to move to the next store... in the midst of my eye rolling, my sister joked about getting me a wheelchair. I said that was a ridiculous idea. The more they thought about it the more they liked that idea. Before I knew it, my mom was pushing me around the mall in a wheelchair. It was absurd but I didn't complain because, hey, I was sitting in a comfortable chair and did not have to go to the bathroom.

Once they finished shopping we headed back to my grandparents house to get ready for the outdoor wedding.. in the rain. It was definitely an experience but a sweet and beautiful wedding non the less. Here are a few pictures...

Us with the beautiful bride! Love her so much! So happy for her and Ty and super jealous that they're enjoying the warm sunshine on the beaches of the Dominican Republic right now.

Ps- horizontal stripes, pregnant and standing next to these two rails is not flattering. Oh well, less than 3 months to go!!!

Labor Day

We decided early this summer that we would take a couple of extra days around Labor Day weekend to go spend some time with his family. We left last Thursday and got back yesterday around lunch time. Jeremy's dad recently accepted a Director of Missions position in Brunswick, GA. Brunswick is only about 45 minutes from where his older brother, wife and kids live. His younger brother and his wife met us there as well. It was so good to spend with his family, who we only see once, maybe twice a year. One of my favorite things to do when we are with his family is to play cards. Always so much fun! Lots of competitive people trying to get the W. Also, while we were there we got to go to a place called St. Simone's island and walk around the cute touristy island. It doesn't compare to the jewel of the gulf coast but it is still extremely beautiful. We were also able to spend some time with Jeremy's BFF and his family. These two are absolutely the perfect pair and some what obsessed with each other. Its a shame they live over 600 miles apart. We spend the night laughing and letting the two of them tell stories and make fun of each other. We left their house wishing we got to see them more often. Here are a few pictures of our weekend!

This was dinner for me the first night we were there! Old Country Boil... crab, crawfish, shrimp, sausage, corn and potatoes...it did not disappoint!

Us at St. Simone's.

We went shopping one day and I found this sweet outfit for the little Riles. His mom and my sister-n-law also bought her some adorable things!

Another day at St. Simone's.

On one of our last days there I found this gem in a store... let me remind you, we were in south Georgia, very close to the Florida border.. definitely in Bulldog and Gator country. The Tennessee girl in me wanted to start singing rocky top soon as I saw this but I refrained. Yes, I bleed Tiger Blue and when I married Jeremy, I took on the joy of becoming a Seminoles fan as well..but... I still love the boys in orange and white and it warmed my heart to see this!

Oh, this guy. Jeremy and Ryan have been best friends since the beginning of highschool. They lived less than a mile a part and were pretty much inseparable. Then Jeremy broke his heart and moved to Memphis. He came to here for Jeremy's seminary graduation and then left his very pregnant wife to come again to be in our wedding. I am so grateful for the sweet friendship they share...as well as the fact that Ryan approved of me enough for Jeremy to marry me :) We love him, his sweet wife, and adorable kids and wished very much that we weren't 11 hours away.

We had a wonderful time but as a wise girl from Kansas once said.."There's no place like home!"

Saying Goodbye

Our neighbors are foster parents and back in February they approached us about being relief parents for them. They had two foster girls and were expecting their first child in May. We would help them as often as they needed us to. These girls totally stole our hearts and we definitely formed a sweet bond with them. It definitely got us thinking about the possibility of adopting locally. In all of the time I've known Jeremy he always said he would never change a diaper unless it was his own child, well one time I walked into the living room and saw this...

Precious. Little did we know when we started watching the girls that they would be preparing us for our very own girl coming this year. All of this to say the girls were placed with a family today. Our neighbors had hopes of getting to adopt them but the Lord had other plans. We hugged and kissed them one last time today and it was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. These sweet girls didn't even live with me and I cried like a baby. I can't imagine what our sweet neighbors are experiencing. It's hard not to worry or be concerned about their new living  situation bu all we can do now is pray that they would be loved and taken care of. These sweet faces will stay with us for a lifetime...

Learning to Trust

Let me give you a brief background on Jeremy and I and our current situation. He is working two part time jobs- Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Bellevue Arlington Student Pastor. He had been with FCA for about 4 years and felt God calling him back into church ministry. He was very involved with the students at Bellevue Arlington and the position of part time student pastor was offered to him. He loves what he is doing but it is beginning to take a toll. I am currently working full-time in Bellevue's Recreation ministry and love it! Normally, our situation would not be a big deal.. but with the surprise God gave us in April that we were having a baby it is beginning to get interesting. I've always wanted to be a stay at home mom but at this point we are not sure that can happen at first. With all of these different scenarios running through my mind of what we are going to do come December (or whenever she decides to come) not to mention our apartment lease is up in November, I really have been worrying about what we were going to do. Jeremy just doesn't worry and has faith far greater than mine. He has been through some trying times in his life and knows that the Lord is going to take care of us. Being married to him has been so encouraging and seeing the faith he has, has only made mine stronger. With everything that has been going on, God has been teaching me to just let it go and trust Him. This past Sunday was no exception. 

Jeremy was sharing with the students about Moses and the Israelites crossing the Red Sea.  He talked about being in different stages in your walk with Christ. The first being the point in your life when you're up against a huge sea with your enemy on your tail... if you'll put all your faith and trust in Christ, He'll take care of you just like He did Moses and the Israelites. The next stage being when we get so bogged down in life and feeling like we're about to drown, we have to look at where we are, in the middle of the sea, on dry land, and He hasn't let the water cave in yet. We must surrender all that we have/are to Christ and trust that He's going to keep the water up until we've walked through. The last stage is being able to look back at where God has brought us from and what he brought us through and remember He took care of us...all we had to do was trust him.

Ouch. It was just the word I needed to hear. How many times in my life have I doubted that God is going to take care of me? Too many to count. And how many times has continuously taken care of me if I will simply trust Him? Again, too many to count. Our God is good and He will always do what He says He's going to do, all it takes is a little trust.

Summer

Dear Summer,

Please go away! I have enjoyed all of the fun you brought... trips, late nights, swimming, volleyball and of course the olympics. But I'm tired of sweating. At a little over 5 months pregnant, i'm not getting any smaller and the days keep getting hotter. Please go away soon and very very soon. If not then please bring some rain for me to enjoy from my window. I'm ready for cool breezes, football and leaves falling. I'm ready to experience the joy I get when I know I can walk outside to cool off. I'm ready for sweatshirts and toms..both of which I probably won't be able to fit in... guess that means I need to invest in some preggo fall clothing :) Summer, it's been fun but you are not welcome anymore. Time for you to go away and come back next year with much cooler temperatures.

Sincerely,
Sweaty Chubby Pregnant Girl

Baby Girl!!

Bring on the pink!!! We found out yesterday we are having a sweet and apparently very active baby girl!! Jeremy and I could not be more excited to meet our sweet, little Riley!!! Yes, she has a name! Riley...middle name to be decided...Wilbur! Jeremy has already claimed that he will be the favorite parent because she will be daddy's little girl. Which I am totally ok with because I was daddy's little girl and loved every minute of it! Plus, I had my daddy wrapped around my finger...its probably more accurate to say that I HAVE him wrapped around my finger. :) And I'm sure the same will be true of Jeremy from the first minute he lays eyes on her.  Here is a profile shot from the ultra sound...I think she may have Jeremy's nose. Her lips look a bit like a gorilla to me...so i'm not sure what to think about that...but the nose is definitely sweet!

We are so grateful and blessed that God has chosen to give us the sweet gift of a little girl!

Goodness

Time and time again I am amazed at the goodness of God. The times I don't deserve it, He shows me mercy that is unfathomable. His mercy and faithfulness have always been some of my favorite characteristics and yet every time I am reminded of these things I stand in awe, like I've never experienced it before. I don't even want to imagine where I would be without the goodness of God and without a relationship with Christ. When people in this world fail me, He is there to welcome me with open arms. When I've failed Him for the millionth time, He is there to forgive and show me how to make things right. What goodness God has shown us in the gift of His son Jesus!

Busy

What a whirl wind these last couple of weeks have been. I had honestly been dreading them because I knew how many events were going to be crammed into such a short amount of time. It all started on Wednesday the 27. We flew to South Carolina for Jeremy's little brother's wedding. It was a weekend filled with excitement and fun times with the family. Thursday we had the bridal luncheon followed by a nap and then getting our nails done. Thursday night was the bachelor party. The groom and groomsmen headed off to Buffalo Wild Wings and Dave and Buster's. I was left with the rest family. When it came time for dinner, my father in law was deciding where to eat and without hesitation he picked my absolute favoritest place to eat, knowing that it would make my day... which it totally did!! Its this small little Italian place but they also serve greek food....my mouth is watering just thinking about it! so delish! Then it was friday and time for the rehearsal  and rehearsal dinner. My husband was of course the entertainment at the rehearsal. Then it was dinner time. Another delicious restaurant in small town south Carolina. It was a very sweet night! Wedding day arrived and with it was the hottest day ever. But we all survived and got ready for Jordan and Bre's big day. Here is a shot from my front row seat at the wedding.

It was very a sweet wedding and the boys decorated his car  and Jordan ended up covered in baby powder. Good times! Then it was Sunday and we were supposed to be on a plane back to Memphis at about 5pm but with our luck we got delayed and didn't end up in Memphis until about 10:30 that night. Monday morning we had to be at the airport at 5:15 to lead the student ministry trip to Student Leadership University 101 in Orlando. We managed to get to the airport Monday morning a little bit early and with energy, surprisingly. I cannot even explain to you how much fun we had while traveling and while being at SLU. It was great time of learning how to be Godly,effective leaders but with some fun thrown in as well. We got to go to Sea World on Tuesday. Of, course the only think I could think about while watching Shamu was free willy and how he busted out of his tank.

Thankfully he did not and the show was awesome! The next day we got to go to Universal and spent the afternoon there. Being preggo, I wasn't able to ride anything which was ok because it was cloudy and felt nice outside. And my selfless husband only rode two rides because he didn't want me to have to stand around all day. We walked around ate some ice cream and took pictures of the students riding rides. It was an exhausting but very fun filled trip!

So thankful for this guy's leadership and influence to so many students. Plus he's really cute! So glad I get to have his baby! Which we find out its a boy or girl in less than two weeks!! Predictions?

Food

I love food...with a passion. I always have. And that is why I never have been or never could be  a size zero. I love all kinds of food. Anywhere, anyplace, anytime...there's a great chance I will eat it. This baby is not helping. Lately my favorites have been sandwiches...Lenny's (chicken philly or mile high turkey), Jimmy Johns (the italian nightclub or roast beef), Newks (newks q or chicken salad)... to name a few :) As well as pizza. Oh sweet delicious pizza! The other day I was waiting on my pizza to cook.... no, it was not a creative homemade pizza or a fancy gourmet pizza just a small frozen Tony's from the grocery store.

I kid you not, I literally had a smile on my face while waiting for it to cook. I was so excited about it! It was a supreme...so it had all the goods. And it did not disappoint this chubs! Now as it is lunch and mouth is filled with saliva from writing about all this food... I have to go find something to stop the rumbling in my stomach!

Lately

Life as of lately has been extremely busy. Jeremy is currently at Middle School camp with Bellevue. Two weeks ago he was at a leadership camp for FCA. Last week we were both wrapped up in Camp Outrageous(Bellevue's VBS, which is seriously amazing!)

We also just finished playing basketball... despite my mother's wishes, I chose to finish out the season, even though there is person growing inside of me. I found out I was pregnant at about 5 weeks and have continued playing ever since. My doctor told me I was good to go until 12 weeks. Welllll.. I hit the 12 week mark a couple of weeks ago but kept playing. The last few weeks I have definitely tried to be more cautious while playing. If you know me at all, you know that I am competitive to the bone. I like to win. Last night was no exception. It was the Championship game and I battled back and forth on whether or not to play. Since Jeremy was out of town, I asked his opinion and he gave me a few rules. Only play if needed or if I chose to play to not play down low and to not battle for rebounds. Well my competitive nature won over and I decided to play. It was the championship..I couldn't just watch from the bench. I didn't play  near as much as normal and I obeyed the rules my loving husband gave. Most importantly we won!

We also celebrated our two year anniversary at the end of May!

I can't believe it's been two years since we said I do. Boy, do I love that guy! He's basically the perfect man and I'm not sure why he decided to put up with me the rest of his life but I'm certainly not going to complain. God has truly blessed me with a man that makes me want to be more like Christ everyday. So thankful for him and the two amazing years we've had. Looking forward to many many more! It's going to be so incredible to see him as a Daddy.

Speaking of baby.... it hates all food that is good for me. Let me preface by saying Jeremy hates all food that is good for him so apparently it has its father's appetite. Thanks dear. I usually get sick after eating a salad or vegetables... but eating pizza, hamburgers, french fries and i'm just fine. I will say in the last week the sickness seems to be trailing off. So hopefully that will be completely over soon. One can only hope! Ok, that's enough for today. All this typing is making me hungry.

BABY!!

Ok, first of all.. I'm pleased to announce that we will be welcoming a little Baby Wilbur in December!! Secondly, my plan in starting this blog was to be able to remember all of the ups and downs that come with being pregnant and I can assure you I will be very honest... but I promise I won't be graphic. Well I decided to start blogging before I told the world we were having a baby. So I'm sorry for the random and sparse posts before now. As of yesterday our big news went public.. aka- I put it on facebook.

We are very blessed that the Lord is allowing us the amazing privilege of being parents. Wow. Parents. That is a weird pill to swallow. I'm very excited but also a little weirded out that I'm going to be a mom. Don't get me wrong, I know i'll be the world's greatest ;) it's just so surreal that in the near future someone will call me mommy. It is a very sweet thought to imagine hearing that. But I still picture myself as a 16 year old so its hard to imagine I'm old enough/mature enough to be a mother.

Ultimately, it comes down to faith. God is entrusting Jeremy and I with the responsibility of raising this sweet baby. I know far too well that God isn't going to give us something that with His help we can't handle. God is so good and always always faithful. So even in the midst of my exhaustion and puking, what a sweet blessing it is that God is allowing us to be parents.

Arlington

As, I mentioned in my previous post, my husband Jeremy is the student pastor at Bellevue Arlington. Isn't he Cute?!

 Bellevue Arlington is a satellite campus from what we refer to as Big Bellevue. We meet Sunday mornings at Arlington high school. Jeremy and I both attended Big Bellevue before coming out to Arlington. We actually were with the first group of members who came out to start this campus. We felt God leading us out to serve, so we were obedient and left everything we knew at Big Bellevue for a new adventure. The first Sunday was in September of 2009. It has been an amazing almost 3 years. God has done a great work in our lives and in the lives of the people of Arlington. He turned a group of about 90 people into now we average anywhere between 300-400 every Sunday. It wasn't until this past January they brought Jeremy on staff. We are so blessed that God is allowing us to be a part of what He is doing in Arlington. Not only do we love our church and the people of Arlington but we love the town. We are hoping the Lord opens a door for us to buy a house in the area so we can actually be a part of the community.

A Full Weekend

Boy, did we have a busy weekend! It all started Friday night as we drove to Collierville to hang out with our favorite Griffins (Scott, Brittany and Sawyer) Brittany picked up a meat stuffed pizza from Papa Murphy's. I had heard people rave about this place and let me just say it did not disappoint!! It was ginormous and delicious. Then as always we played a game. Us Wilburs love to play games. Normally while at the Griffns' we stick to the normal... cards, mario party or monopoly (we have had some intense late night battles of monopoly at the Griffins'...in fact, one such night in 2010 we put Brittany into labor :) However, Friday night was so nice that we played outside. We created a game called WilFin ball. I wont go into details but it was hilarious and a lot of fun. Scott won and of course he gloated the whole night about it. Jeremy came in a close second and Brittany and I battled for last. After our intense game we went inside and ate some of Brittany's delicious cookies, played catch phrase(which the girls totally dominated) and then watch Tower Heist...

which was pretty good. Scott and I were really the only ones that watched it. Jeremy fell asleep and Brittany was playing on her Ipad most of the movie. It was a classic late night at the Griffins' as we drove home....and by we, I mean Jeremy because I always get a nap as we drive back from Collierville.

Then, bright and early on Saturday I had to coach my T-Ball team. After t-ball I ran home to change clothes and drove out to Arlington where they were having their annual Arlington in April Festival.

Jeremy, as Bellevue Arlington Student Pastor, had to be there at like 6:30 to help set up our inflatable that the church rented for kids to play on. When I got there at about 11 we were able to walk around the square where all the vendors were set up. But more importantly where all the food was. If you know me at all you know that I love food. All of it. Put it in front of me and I will eat it. There are a few foods that I love because of the obvious reason....it's delicious flavor, but for another reason in that it brings back memories from certain places.... this guy is no exception.

The Pronto Pup.Who doesn't love a Pronto Pup?! I need mine to be covered in mustard. Eating one of these takes me back to going to the Mid-South Fair down at the fairground every September. Riding rides all day, making my mom carry my jacket, following my sister and her cool friends and loving every minute! Also, while at Arlington in April I made the mistake of sitting in the sun all day with no sunscreen. I have a very fair complexion..really I'm almost clear I'm so white.. so I knew this was going to be trouble and was it ever. I was out there from 11-4 and got the worst sunburn of my life. Here's a brief look at it...this was taken about 3:30...

After we left Arlington we went home cleaned up and met my family for dinner at China Royal... I looooove chinese food. Its always fun being around my family even when they do make jokes about my sunburn.

Then on Sunday we had church and afterwards we had a sweet potluck lunch. Jeremy had planned a fun afternoon with our students which consisted of fishing and corn hole on one of our members pieces of land about 20 minutes outside of Arlington.

 To our surprise the girls had more fun fishing than the boys. Of course I was still in so much pain from my ridiculous sunburn that I sat in the shade and then the car and offered drinks and sandwiches to everyone. Sunday night we had a sweet time of bible study and fellowship with our life group.

I just realized how long this post was. I'll eventually figure out a way to condense all of my ramblings...just go with it for now.

TaDa!!!

The time has come. Blogging world, I have arrived. let me just brief you that I may not be super interesting or funny...actually, I'm pretty hilarious most of the time....or very intellectual but I will always be honest. Maybe even a little too honest, so deal with it. My lovely sister finally coerced me into starting a blog. Reading her blog is usually the highlight of my day, so maybe in time my blogging skills will be as awesome as hers. Get ready, there's no getting rid of me now!