| Fat Tuesday |

Grateful for a handy husband who rigs the toilet handle when it breaks before he lives for the day and night. Floral wire for the win! Love you, my ingenious, inventive Mister. 

I'll leave you with this for Fat Tuesday. And I'm going to get caught up on the blog today! 

 

I love these not so little thighs. #everydayestes

| Monday 2•27•17 |

Today was a good day. Trey has had "death virus" for the past solid week. He was sick sick sick, and I hated seeing him feel so badly. He woke up today feeling much better! Which of course called for celebration that included ice cream. Fat Monday is a thing, right? 

 

| Until Aubrey accepts Jesus for himself |

Sunday, February 26th, 2017

On Sunday morning, the pastor who confirmed Trey in the 6th grade; who married us; and who has been a Biblical spiritual leader and friend prayed for and led us in vows to dedicate Aubrey to the Lord. I love life connections like that. I also love our faith family who took vows to come alongside us as Godly examples and pray for A. 

It was a sweet, sweet day- one I will never forget. 

 

We were on stage for a good 5 minutes and Aubrey didn't make a peep! Whew. 

And we LOVED having our fam jams here!! 

 

    

Yes, Aubrey, I will pray each day you recognize God seeking you and you accept Him as your Savior. 

| Saturday night with my friend, Ann |

Saturday, February 25th, 2017

I was just excited to be in the same room with her. Then I got the gift of sitting on the second row to hear her voice. Her voice was like honey but crisp at the same time with a hint of a farmer's daughter/wife accent and surprisingly familiar. She held her Bible the whole time she spoke like it was an extension of her hand lifting and lowering it as she animated her story. The words she writes are nothing short of holy, and hearing her speak them was A Holy Experience. We ended the night praising Jesus for His breath in our lungs with hands raised. I "met" my friend, Ann Voskamp, Saturday night. As cliche as it sounds, it felt like I'd known her my whole life as well as Christy Nickels and Rebecca Lyons whom I'm equally obsessed with now. 

If you need me, I'll have a baby on my hip and The Broken Way or You Are Free in my hand. 

And if my husband reads this, I imagine the biggest eye-roll. #fangirl 

 

| it's Friday and I'm in love |

Cheers to Friday, sweet talks in the car with the hubs, and dessert before dinner! 

 

Our families are headed into town this weekend for A's baby dedication. Should be a fun one! 

| dear warm February |

I'm on the fence about this sweltering February we've had. Part of me loves it, but part of me wishes this month would be really cold then warm up in March. I like colder weather- weird, I know. It's like our winter was cut short, and, Lord knows, the summer (basically Feb-Oct now) will be hot enough. Two things are for sure: 1. I've got the itch to spring clean like crazy and 2. This kid loves being outside  

 

 

#everydayestes

| grateful Wednesday |

Discontent tends to creep in when I'm not practicing gratitude. On this balmy Wednesday, I am thankful for drool on my gray shirt because of a healthy, teething baby. Missed the don't wear gray with a baby memo.

 

Sunshine on these sweet toes

 

A whole week at my mom's while T was away for work. #extrahands 

 

 

AC was grateful for all the help with her project for A&P.  

 

 Gus is grateful for snugs with AC. 

 

Country roads that take me home. 

 

A husband who blesses me daily. 
 
 

| still here |

We're still here! Lately, I've been feeling like brushing off the blog and posting more. A lot has happened in the 2 1/2 years since I've posted. Maybe, eventually, I'll recap the last two years on here, but for now I'm going to challenge myself to post once a day until Easter. So here goes! #everydayestes 

My breakfast date preferred to wear his bananas. 

 

 

His and hers breakfast. 

 

Catch Up Compilation

These are little snippets of what we've been up to. Just ordinary stuff, but I wouldn't trade it for anything! 

Found one! Minus the "e" on the end.

Our sweet friends, Jay and Kelsey, moved to Tuscaloosa at the end of summer. Miss them lots, but being able to see some of Kelsey's handiwork every day makes it not so bad! She painted this landscape, and I adore it! Best of luck to her in her Masters program in art at UA! Roll tide! (couldn't resist) 

Gus every night: "Can I get up there, please?" It's hard to say no to this face.

Gus's got some mad jumps.

We're all ready for football season around here. Daddy-d won his first game!!! Go Yellow Jackets! 

And then he pulled over on the side of the road and open my diet mt dew. My hero. One of the travesties of traveling in separate cars. 

I've wanted a swing all summer and this was hanging on the back porch the day before my birthday. He is the best! 

Birthday packages from the best friend via snail mail. Does it get any better? Nope, it doesn't. 

My birthday was lovely- the best one yet. School is in full swing; routines are back in place; I almost know all my kids names, so I feel like I can breathe again. 

Sorry for the hiatus! "Back-to-school time" got me, but I promise more timely posts. 

I'll leave you with the funniest thing I've heard so far this school year. It was during Open House night at school last week, and a parent emphatically asked, "Whose crazy idea was it to make these kids read books?!?"

Wish me luck! ; )  

Until Next Time, Montana

Summer is officially over. I have been at work since Monday. Found my Montana fishing license in a pocket of my pants today while at work- talk about missing Montana and vacation.

We had an incredible time in Big Sky Country! The people, the views, the food, the fresh air were all wonderful.

I'd move there in a heartbeat if I had a reason, and I don't think I'd have to beg T. to go with me.

View from our cabin

The Madison Half Marathon

Clover Meadows, the staging area for the finish line

Those school buses took runners from Clover Meadows thirteen miles down a narrow, winding and steep mountain road to the starting line. 

Sweet peas on the mountain top

Also cows on the mountain top

Race route view from the finish line

I finished! 2:27 wasn't too bad for a course that was supposed to take 30 minutes off your PR

Race support who woke up at 4:00AM, drove me an hour up a mountain before daylight, waited on me, and was there to see me finish with a smile on his face! Love him. 

Barn on the road where we stayed

Barley drying and waiting to be baled. I love the way it looks, and it had the sweetest smell. 

Mule deer in the distance on the way to fishing

Fishing in an antecedent canyon. Antecedent means the creek was there first then the canyon rose up around it.  Our fishing guide was also very knowledgeable about geography. 

Metamorphic rock. See the swirls? It means they're really old. I paid attention to my geography lesson and caught some fish!

Biggest catch of the trip! Beautiful brown trout. 

I feel refreshed after this trip. Everywhere I turned in Montana, I saw mountain ranges. The sky REALLY does seem bigger there. The weather was perfect! We wore jackets at night and slept with the windows open. The people were very friendly and health conscious. God's mighty works and glorious grace were so present to me while there. I'm not so sad to be back and starting work because I feel so grateful for last week. 

While I was taking in the views last week, I thought to myself, "How can someone not believe God exists when they look at this?". He made all the beauty there and here. So thankful for the vacation and time to reset (and play). 

"You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host,the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you." Nehemiah 9:6

Until next time, Montana.