Cousin Time!

Laney & Kip spent the night with us and the kids had a blast!

Sprinkler under the trampoline

Crafts

Coke floats before bed ;)

Comfy pallet on the floor!

We love spending time with Laneybug & Kip!

Home sweet Midland!!!

Hi. My name is Jodi. I have officially lost my mind.

After a crazy few days months, Tanner and I have decided to stay in Midland. Various reasons go into that decision. It was hard...a really hard 6 1/2 months but I finally have peace and that is with knowing we are staying in Midland. I don't know what our future holds but this reminds me it will be part of Gods perfect plan for me. Thank goodness He is in control and not me.


Keep walking with Me along the path I have chosen for you. Your desire to live close to Me is a delight to My heart. I could instantly grant you the spiritual riches you desire, but that is not My way for you. Together we will forge a pathway up the high mountain. The journey is arduous at times, and you are weak. Someday you will dance light-footed on the high peaks; but for now, your walk is often plodding and heavy. All I require of you is to take the next step, clinging to My hand for strength and direction. Though the path is difficult and the scenery dull at the moment, there are sparkling surprises just around the bend. Stay on the path I have selected for you. It is truly the path of Life.
If the Lord delights in a man’s way, he makes his steps firm; though he stumble, he will not fall, for the Lordupholds him with his hand.
—Psalm 37:23–24
though he stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.
—Psalm 37:23–24
You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
—Psalm 16:11 nkjv

My boss has been amazing and working hard on a job in midland for me. Hr called today with a position for me. Praise god!!! This couldn't have gone any better. So thankful!! Tanner starts his new job in a couple weeks :)

Sweet Sixteen!

We call my niece Lindsay, GiGi. Ever since Parker could call her something it came out sounding like GiGi so it stuck. 

GiGi turned SIXTEEN on July 5th. I can still remember the day she was born. I was in Junior High and it was unexpected. She is a miracle she is even alive. Her birth story is incredible. She is here for a purpose and I am so thankful we have her. Even when she is going through her hateful, teenage, hormonal attitudes we still love her.

We had a dinner with family and then cake & gifts at my house after. My dad, mom and I had been planning this for awhile. We wanted to surprise Lindsay with a car. She had no clue she was getting one so we were really able to surprise her!!! Her and my dad had went to test drive a car a few months back. It was a great car in wonderful condition that my dad and niece both loved. After test driving my dad handed his keys to Lindsay and told her to go and start the truck to get it cooled off while he took the car keys back to the owner. He was then able to tell the guy that he wanted it and would be right back to pay for it. After getting the car he left it at a friends house since we had a few months. We all, during that time, explained that she might not be getting a car or she needed to keep her grades up or some type of excuse. 

We decided to have her party on her actual birthday day so she could drive her car. That morning she went to the DMV to take her test...I was freaking out the whole time. I would hate for anyone to fail on their birthday (totally happened to me) and get surprised with a car later. She passed and we began the decorating and car set up. My dad drove it into town and left the keys with me along with the spare keys. I put her keys in a box and wrapped them up. We parked it in the back of our house. After dinner we came here to open gifts and eat cake. While she was distracted reading cards and opening gifts my dad went and pulled it around to the front and tied balloons to it. When she thought she was done with presents I said "oh, I think you missed one" and pulled it from behind a picture. She still had no clue.

Well the excitement on her face & her repetitive "No way PaPa" was priceless. 

Happy Birthday Gigi!! We love you so much!!

Fathers Day

The only thing I hate about having so many things to take pictures with is that I have pictures all over the place. So with that said, I only have one picture from Father's Day.

I have an amazing dad. He has been there from day one and I am very very grateful for him. He has a great relationship with my kids and has a heart of gold. I hope to celebrate many more Father's Day with him!

To Parker...I'm sorry I never brush your hair. It's just not worth it. You play like a wild animal so I gave up. One day you will tease me just like I tease Nana about mine :)

Liam turned ONE

My sweet baby boy's 1st birthday came and went so fast! I'm sad our lives have been so crazy lately that I feel I wasn't able to fully soak it in. I did to slow down and Liam needs to slow down too ;)

Oh my precious boy! Sometimes I can't even put into words how happy you make me. You are the perfect equalizer to my "tutu, dresses, bows, dolls, makeup" world with your "all boy, play in the dirt and mud, tennis shoes and T-shirt" easy self. You are a mommas boy at times but you like to favor your daddy at times too. You have big beautiful blue eyes like your sister and your hair is curly like hers too. Everyone says you look like your daddy and I just smile. I hope you grow up to be just like him too.

Thank you sweet boy for being the best baby this past year. You are so easy going until it's diaper change time...you act like we are holding you down to give you 10 shots! You LOVE to be outside and as soon as we barely open the back door to let the dogs out you high-tail it to get outside. You are walking all over the place and remind us of an old drunk man. We can't help but laugh. You love to eat and could devour an entire watermelon yourself if we let you. You still love to sleep and still take 2 naps in the day...please don't stop :) You also like to knock your wooden letters off the wall, where they break, every single morning. Mommy has glued them a million times...I want to give up so bad but they just look too cute and Im a little OCD ;) You love playing in Sisters room and you always go straight for the mosquito sting stuff (cant remember the name). I have no idea why you are so attracted to that bottle. You are wearing 2T clothes with some 3T shirts. You love to say "Dog", "Momma" and "Daddy" and you have the most precious gapped tooth grin ever!! Speaking of teeth...you have 2 top ones and 3 bottom ones. You aren't the best kid while teething. Actually, it's just pretty miserable...so I am not in a hurry for more to come in. I have no idea how much you weigh but I could compare it to a baby elephant. I am so thankful you are walking because you are one heavy boy! You have stayed a lot with your Nana lately while mommy and daddy tried to figure out where the heck we were going and I am so thankful for that time you spent with her. You love to point at every and say "youuuuuuuu" and you have a really high pitch scream that you will have to work on one day.

We love you so much and thank God everyday for you sweet boy. I pray we raise you to know and love the Lord and that you will learn wonderful things from your daddy. No words can ever describe the love between a mother and her son.

Happy 1st Birthday Brother!!

Hard times...

It's funny how God works. Just last December Tanner and I discussed how thankful and blessed we were to not be going through anything difficult. No deaths, no money problems, no kid problems, no marital or health problems. Nothing. We were content. And a lot of times with contentment comes straying from Jesus. Everyday we thanked him for our blessings but didn't feel that tug to dive in and hold on to his words. In January He showed up and yanked our contentment away. At the time I was mad and angry but I eventually realized He was blessing us and reminding us to walk with Him everyday and just not in the hard times. We are in Houston right now, working and house hunting. We have crazy decisions sitting on our shoulders and stressed beyond belief! I'm holding out that God has a wonderful future for us and that this is just a hurdle to get there.

11 Months!

Our baby boy turned 11 months on 6/3. The past 11 months have been a whirlwind and I'm sad they went by so fast. My little 8lb 10oz baby went to a 26 lb 11 month old in the blink of an eye. A year ago I couldn't imagine how it would be to love another little kid as much as I love Parker..now I can't imagine not having Liam here to love on.

Liam brings so much love & joy to our family and we are so thankful to God for answered & un-answered prayers.

At 11 months:

* Sleeping all night with 1 nap at daycare but 3 naps on the weekends

* You get cranky really fast when you are hungry or tired

* Over your bottles...you hardly finish them and chunk them across your room

* Love table food & juice/water...not a fan of real milk yet

* Love being outside & bath time...if you are cranky we know we can take you outside or give you a bath and you will perk right up.

* You crawl all over the place and stand up on your own

* You walk around furniture but mommy pushes you down because she doesn't want you to walk yet ;)

* Love to clap your hands & dance!

* Anytime you see someone you know or something you like you will point at it and make a big "O" face haha

* Your sister is the highlight of your day...she loves to wake you up in the mornings.

* Mommy & daddy are mean and make you wait for them to get up in the mornings. You entertain yourself quite well in your crib by dancing to your giraffes music and knocking your wood letters off the wall. We have had to fix them all a few times :)

* You wear 2T clothes and size 5 shoe.

* You can say mama, dada, ball & dog.

* Your hair is starting to curl like sisters :(
*You have 3 teeth on bottom and 2 teeth on top.
*You started walking with sister's stroller yesterday.

* Mommy's boy for sure!

You are the most perfect little boy & we love you so much!

 Those rolls kill me...I just want to squeeze your chunky self!

 I love that lower lip that looks just like Parker's!

We are planning a joint birthday party for Liam & Parker and having so much fun planning our

Pirate & Mermaid Party!

Growing up...

My sweet little boy is growing up so fast. I remember holding him when he was first born and telling myself to remember these certain moments. At the time I thought it would be easy but now that almost a whole year has gone by I can't remember :( Makes me so sad! I do love that his personality is shining through and he makes the funniest faces that keep us laughing!

Some daddy whisker tickling

Not a fan of being a cowboy :)

These next 2 pics crack me up. Liam never closes his mouth...and his tongue is always right there on the edge.

 Melt my heart

Bed head

Parker loves to help wake up brother and probably wakes the whole neighborhood while doing it...she pretty much SCREAMS good morning!

 Morning game of pick-a-boo

Little baby just woke up

 Parker wanted him to take a picture with her bear

This boy loves being in water...hot or cold!

Working on his tan..

Lazy mutt #1

Lazy mutt #2

Every morning when Abby realizes we are about to leave for work and we will be putting her and Cooper outside...she makes her way to Parker's bed and curls up in blankets. Pretty smart I would say...she looks pretty cute to move. Now it's just funny....every morning...same routine. Is she thinking we will just give in one day?? Love our little doggies..