Oak Island, NC - Generation LINK week

We headed to Oak Island, NC after church on Mother's Day for a 4 night retreat with Generation Link interns, Summer Link directors, and area directors (and some of their families). It's always a joy for our family to participate!

My family and I on Mother's Day morning at church. What a blessing it is to be their mom!

We enjoyed seeing these huge barges go by on the water.

We enjoyed gathering together and hearing from various leaders. 

We, of course, enjoyed the beach!

It was good to see Jon and Emet at the retreat too! 

Always a joy to hang with this friend!

There were 2 downers to our time…..kids got terribly sunburned (not sure if it was just the failure to reapply sunscreen well or using old sunscreen….mom fail!) AND Jeremy lost his wedding ring! I'd like to say this is the first time….but it's not! He needs a smaller size ring! He even rented a metal detector to try and find it…to no avail!

  

I'm clearly distraught over this! I should be more compassionate.

Aside from that it was a great time and I'm so thankful for the conversations and fellowship! Such a great group of people!

Virginia Visit

Because Jeremy had to be in the Raleigh area for a conference last week we all decided to head north to see family and do some educational touring. While he was at the conference the kids and I went to see my parents in Virginia and spent a day visiting Jamestown and Yorktown because we are studying early American history right now. We had a great time and I'm so glad my mom was able to join us! 

We also got to see my sister and her family a couple of the days. One afternoon Mom, Dad, and I took all 9 kids to the botanical gardens in their area. 

Can you find all 9 monkeys in the tree?

Here are some pictures from our time in Jamestown.

And here are some pictures from our time in Yorktown. We also enjoyed meeting up with my brother for dinner after touring Yorktown. I graduated high school in Yorktown so it was fun being back in that area and bringing the kids there! 

We also enjoyed some slow days at the lake before and after our time in Virginia.

Thank you Mom & Dad for having us! We loved every minute! 

Flagstaff & The Grand Canyon

On Thursday Mom, Dad, Jeremy and I headed north for Flagstaff and then on to the Grand Canyon! 

We stopped in Flagstaff for lunch at a neat authentic Mexican/Southwestern restaurant. 

Wow! All I could keep saying was, "WOW!" 

I apologize for picture overload! It's just so amazing!

See the people on that rock ledge? That really shows the size, it's SO vast!

I was so thankful to share this experience with 3 of my favorite people!

I kept thinking about Psalm 8:4 "What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?" 

It's so good to feel so small and be reminded of God's power and majesty! And yet, He cares for us!!!

Here you can see the Colorado River pretty good.

 It was such icing on the cake to see about 8 elk crossing the road right in front of us! So beautiful!!!!

It was pretty cold! Lord willing, I'd love to go back one day when it's not so cold and do some hiking. It's a lot to take in!

"For His invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse." - Romans 1:20

Sedona & Jerome

It was so fun to explore Sedona and Jerome with my parents and aunt & uncle! We first stopped at Cathedral Rock and went for a short walk to take some pictures. So beautiful! 

We also stopped at Bell Rock and the Chapel of the Holy Cross. It's such a different kind of beauty then I've seen before but I enjoyed it! Truly amazing!

We then when to the center of town in Sedona for lunch at 89Agave.

We left Sedona and headed to the little mountain town of Jerome and explored a few shops before driving back to Phoenix. 

It was a great day of exploring!

College National Championship in Phoenix

It was a whirlwind how we ended up in Arizona for the National Championship game but I'm so grateful we were able to go! Perks of being married to a visionary! Thanks to having family in Phoenix during this time (who graciously allowed us to crash at their place) and flyer miles with our credit card (which covered our flights) we took the plunge and headed to Phoenix to cheer on our Tigers! 

We flew out of Atlanta on Monday morning and arrived in Phoenix at 1:30. The game started at 6:30 and we needed to buy tickets before the game (long story….we had bought tickets, sold them, and bought tickets again at the game for much less & great seats….impressed by my hubs!). So we grabbed a bite to eat and drove to the stadium and Jeremy worked it and we ended up with great seats! It was so much fun! 

 Even though Clemson lost, we were so proud of them and the season they had! So glad we got to be there!

Chasteen/Elliott Maryland Vacation

June 27-July 4 we were on vacation with the Chasteens and Elliotts in the St. Michaels Maryland area (across the Chesapeake Bay from Annapolis). We went there to find a halfway point for family that lives in South Carolina and Massachusetts. It's was beautiful and was fun to explore a new area! So thankful that we could all gather for this week together! 

We rented a house that actually had 2 houses on the same property right on the water (a creek connected to the Bay) and it had a pool. The kids LOVED the swimming pool and the kayaks and canoe. The kids provide great entertainment for the rest of us!

The town of St. Michaels is really quant and cute! 

We drove to Annapolis one day and toured the Naval Academy which was fun. Then we had lunch and walked around. We stocked up on our Navy paraphernalia (Go Navy!). 

Thanks to Kaleb, we celebrated the Fourth a day early together.