5 years ago..

today my beautiful red headed, blue eyed, freckle faced little Samantha Grace was born. She was born at 1:10 in the afternoon at Jacksonville Medical Center weighing in at 6lbs 9.5oz and 19 1/2 inches long.

I have so many thoughts going through my head about this precious little girl that I want to write here, but here lately, I'm really struggling with exhaustion and can't seem to focus the way I want to, so bare with me if these thoughts are scattered and quite possibly bulleted. :)

• I get so much joy from Sammie Grace.

• I love how she loves unconditionally.

• I love the silly ways she tells me how much she loves me. Here lately, it's been armpit licking..silly girl

• Even though I know it means she's growing up, I enjoy her independence.

• she's the best big sister in the world and she loves taking care of Mahlon.

• she's the best drama queen there ever was...i.e. her Christmas play last night...oh lawdy, that girl

• I love how when she gets shy, she throws up her binoculars (with her hands)

• I love how much she loves the Lord and wants to learn about Him.

• I love the fact that she told everybody at her birthday party yesterday about Jesus' blood and that He died on the cross for our sins. So proud of my baby girl!

• she's my "1st day of Christmas" present..no partridge in a pear tree for this momma!

• I love that she tells me every morning once I get dressed that she thinks I'm beautiful

• I love that she loves her mommy and daddy the way she does.

• I love that she has no idea that she's getting more presents when she gets home from school today!

Tonight, we will continue our family tradition that we started on her first birthday (even though then she was too young to care) and go through town and look at Christmas lights and go "out and eat" as she says. Her pick and we'll take as long as she wants..after all, it is HER day.

I love you, Samantha Grace Myers!

Once again, I apologize for the rather, unconventional post, but you get what you got. :)

Family

I love it when my family comes to visit! We're all so scattered now and with Josh's schedule the way it is, it's hard for us all to get together, but it sure is nice when we do!!

My brother, Josh, his wife, Stephanie, and my beautiful neice, Savannah (affectionally called SavyBaby by her aunt Sarah) got to come home for Thanksgiving this year and it was much needed. By both me and my mom!

As you can tell from a previous post, I wasn't counting down the hours until they got here :). Once they got to town I got them to come by and see me at work! I see SavyBaby maybe two to three times through the year and I'm always afraid she isn't going to remember me, but dangit she did!! I got her door open and she was jumping and trying to get unbuckled and screaming "Sarah Sarah I love you!" Made my day!

Over the next couple of days, my home was filled with people. Little running feet, screams, laughter, silence (very rarely), and snoring (mom!). I wouldn't have had it any other way! *Well, maybe with a cleaner home once everyone left, but hey..what a price to pay for what I got to enjoy!*

I love watching SavyBaby and Sammie play together

and it's really nice when they can include Mahlon without fights....

and sometimes, Mahlon and SavyBaby get to sneak away and enjoy Fruity Peebles off the floor! -haha- This was priceless! Mahlon was eating them from the bag, but once SavyBaby wanted some, he would grab a handful and drop them in the floor infront of her. I know that sounds (looks) gross, but my floors weren't THAT dirty. :)

We spent Thanksgiving Day with my mom's side of the family and that's always nice! They are such a silly bunch of people and I love being with them!

Once we got home Thursday night, Steph and I stayed up and went shopping for Black Friday! We got to WalMart around 11:20 p.m. and shopped until 5 a.m. We got what I was after and some extras (thank goodness!) and headed back to the house where Steph climbed into bed and slept the rest of the day while I got in the shower and headed to work for 8 hours. What a day!! Luckily it was a slow day and everyone in the state of Alabama was at home watching the Iron Bowl! 37 1/2 hours of no sleep is NOT fun, but the shopping sure was!

Saturday was spent with the Patton family at our annual Thanksgiving. It was nice to be around everyone, but it was strange being there without Granddaddy. We made it and we made it fun so we know he was there in spirit!

I am so thankful for my family (every one of you!) and I'm thankful that we do all get together throughout the year! I love you all and can't wait until Christmas!

.....

"I remember waitin’ by the curb with Mr. Murphy

When daddy picked me up from school his eyes were red

We drove to the hospital in a hurry

Where my family gathered round my Grandpa’s bed

He was my best friend

He taught me how to fish

And I cried listenin to my daddy pray

For one of those I’ve loved along the way"

-"Those I've loved along the way"- Eric Church

Have you ever had a date in time that you've tried to avoid? That you pretend like it won't come? Do you wish you could sleep through that day or do you wish, like me, that you could turn back the hands of time and never have to live that day?

I have many of those dates, but the worst one of all is fastly approaching and I'm having a harder time dealing with it than I thought I would.

November 28th is going to be a hard day for me and my family. Although I know how hard it is going to be, I am thankful that I will have my brother here with me. My brother and I spent a lot of time with our grandaddy and I will cherish those times for the rest of my life.

Everytime I think about close this day is, I quickly shove it out of my mind. Yesterday, Matt asked that I listen to this song on a CD that we bought. He said that it was one of his favorites and that he couldn't hardly listen to the first part of it without wanting to cry for me. I posted that lyric at the top of this entry. I am not able to read or listen to it without crying. When I heard those words, I could feel my heart sink and my stomach drop. I miss that man so much and even though there are days that go by when the pain doesn't cross my mind, there are more days when it does.

I know that he's in heaven and he's watching over me and I'll be able to see him again soon, but he was one of the greatest men I ever knew. He always took care of me and Josh and he saw to it that we had everything that we ever wanted or needed.

I remember him taking me home one night and I begged him for months to let me drive "Old Blue" (that was the name of his truck). He finally caved and let me drive...I was loving it! He, on the other hand, was terrified...after all, I was only 12 or so. ha!

I remember we all took a ride over Bull Gap Mountain one night. He made me believe that Old Blue was programmed for his voice and that everytime he said "bright" or "low" she would change her headlights accordingly. I thought that was the coolest thing I had ever seen! I remember trying to get her to change, but he told me that it was only programmed for his voice and the only way I might be able to get her to act right was to baby her. I rubbed that carpeted dashboard and spoke sweetly, but still nothing! It was only 10 years later that I finally got the truth about that truck! I'm still not sure if I believed him the whole 10 years or if I had just pushed it to the back of my mind. The switch for the dimmer was in the floor board so when he "spoke to Old Blue", he was pushing the button in the floor where I couldn't see him. I think that is probably my favorite memory of him. :)

So, please, during this holiday season say a special prayer for me and especially on November 28th.

Happy Thanksgiving!

FYI....

MY BROTHER'S COMING TO TOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and I'm just a tiny bit excited. Not over the top, smiling ear to ear, counting down the hours, waiting to hug him excited...no, not me...I don't get like that. :)

oh how I can't wait to see all 3 of these people!!!

I love y'all!!! Hope y'all have a safe trip!!

Baton Rouge!

Matt and I took our 4th annual road trip down to Baton Rouge, LA this past weekend.

We desperately needed this trip and this time alone. We really had a fantastic time being with each other!

We got to Baton Rouge around 12:30 Saturday and Matt's request for lunch was Hooters. It was packed and there was purple and gold every where you looked!!

After lunch, we did a little shopping for us and the kids and then we headed to the hotel room for some rest before heading to campus.

We took a different way in to the stadium this year and it was beautiful! We had to circle around a lake and through the most adorable neighborhood and then down sorority row. We ended up parking where we did the first year. We were a lot closer to the stadium than we have been the last 2 times! Thank goodness! :)

We walked through the frat houses and looked at all of their homecoming decorations...this being my favorite. hahaha!! It was a goat that they had hooked up a hose pipe to and made it pee. It was priceless!

*Blackberry/walking away picture..sorry for the quality!*

We got there in plenty of time so we got to walk and not run through the crowd and I (to Matt's surprise) did amazingly well with the crowds. :) go me! And we had time to sight see a little bit. Everything about this campus is absolutely beautiful!!

We missed the band parade and the team coming through campus, but we also missed out on the major crowds so I was ok with it.

We also sat on the opposite side of the stadium from our norm. Instead of looking out at the Mississippi River, we were facing back towards the campus. This side of the stadium was amazing! They had elevators (the other side has escalators), these glass lookout spots (which I was unable to get too close to!), and we got chairbacks this year! YaY!

Welcome to Death Valley!!

We found out on the way down that we had a 30% chance of rain and it was cloudy most of the day so we were nervous about getting rained on in the cold! But in Tiger Stadium..the chance of rain is...Never!! If you looked up towards the lights at just the right time, you could see some sprinkles, but they never landed!! woohoo!

This chick..oh this chick! I crack up just looking at this picture! I'm convinced that her boyfriend was trying to get her drunk for his own gain, but I think it backfired! This was around the middle of the 1st quarter and she was out! She did rise again, but it didn't last long. ha!

We had a blast cheering on our Tigers to a 51-0 victory over ULM!! Can't wait for next year!! We are hoping to go to 2 games. First game of the season is at Cowboy Stadium in TX against Oregon and Matt has requested to go! And we can't miss out on our annual Homecoming game (and we are hoping to be able to take the kids next year!)

I am so thankful for my husband and the time that we get away together. I'm glad that we both have these interests and we are able to go and have fun doing the simplest things. Our relationship has really blossomed these last couple of months and my love for him has been overwhelming! (in a good way!)

Reading..

No, neither of my kids are able to read yet (although Sammie knows certain words and can identify them!), but they do enjoy pretending and looking at the pictures.

This was our most recent trip to Granny Patt Patt's. While Granny and I were talking, the kids disappeared and got quiet. This is how we found them....

Sammie kept trying to lay her head on Mahlon's shoulder and he just wasn't having it!

I guess that's step one, right?

And they didn't fight!!!!

Disney on Ice

Sammie and I took our 2nd annual girls trip a couple of weeks ago. We went to see our very first (mine too!) Disney On Ice! It was the Princess Wishes show so we couldn't miss it!

Sammie just had to have one of those $15 cups with the snow cone inside and I just had to buy it for her:). Guess who ended up having to eat the snow cone.......yep, me. It wasn't that tasty, but it made my baby girl happy.

I desperately need a good camera, but I am willing to wait. So you'll have to be satisfied with the low quality of my blackberry indoor nighttime pictures. ha!

This was MY favorite part. They had a huge dragon chasing one of the characters and it set the ice on fire!

Sammie's favorite "princess"...Ariel (wonder why...)

This was the end when all of the prince and princesses came out together and lifted Tinkerbell up in the carriage. They shot fireworks out of the top of the carriage too!

I'm pretty sure that Sammie had a blast and I know that I loved it!

Here's to our 3rd annual trip!! I love you, Sammie Grace and I'm so glad we get these opportunites!

Halloween

I know that I am waaay behind on these, but at better late than never, right? :)

Mason was Mario, Sammie was BatGirl, and Mahlon was a dinosaur (not Barney..)

Our church had the Fall Festival that night so we spent a couple of hours there letting the kiddos run wild and free (with the exception of Mahlon..he's a little TOO wild and free). All 3 of the kids and myself enjoyed the big slide. Mahlon had me carry him up and slide down at least 4 times. He would squeal each time we slid down! I think we need to invest in one of our own. ;)

We let Mahlon play in the bounce house for a while and he was happy with it...until the big kids started coming in. Bless his heart, he couldn't stand back up. ha

Sammie got to play the game that Poppie and Mr. Scott were working. You shot the bow and arrow at balloons and whether you popped one of not, you got a prize. Sam was amazingly good at this!

After the festival, we took the kids to see Matt's Granny for a little while and then we ended up in Fairmont and "Uncle Corey's" house. We ate some supper there and trick or treated through the neighborhood for a while.

All in all it was a very fun Halloween and we are still recuperating from the mountains of candy we ate!

Happy Halloween from SouthFirst!

I think I am able to say that I have the best work family ever! Today was our halloween party and we only had 2 or 3 that didn't dress up! We all had a blast!!

We had special appearances by Betty Boop...

and The Village People

and what do you know... Flo stopped by!!

and that ole' Comer Tiger :)

Stay tuned for pictures of the kiddos and I this weekend!!

:)

I love this man.

I can't believe that I ever, for one second, doubted that I loved him. I can't believe that there was ever an ounce of my being that thought he wasn't the one that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.

I do want to spend the rest of my life with him.

I do want to raise our children together.

I do want to grow old with him.

I do love you David Matthew Myers!

My Bestfriend's Wedding...

Sunday, October 10, 2010 (yep, 10/10/10), my best friend got married. finally.

Me and Shea-baby relaxing pre-ceremony.

They've been together and in love for 8 years. Jake professed his love for her and gave her a promise ring several years ago. To outsiders, this ring looked exactly like a wedding set. A total of 3 karats!!

I remember being at work one day admiring it and then the next day it was gone. Shea said Jake had taken it to have something done and he would bring it back soon. A light went off in my head and I couldn't help but be overly excited for her! I knew what he was doing and she had a feeling he was, but she didn't want to get her hopes up. Two and a half weeks later, she showed up with an engagement ring that put those 3 karats to shame (and it was smaller). He had her promise ring taken apart and made into not only a necklace, but matching earrings.

About 8 months ago, they bought a house together and have started to really settle in and make it their own. Around knee surgery, moving, losing her grandmother, and adjusting from working fulltime to being a stay at home, she planned this wedding. And she did a FANTASTIC job!

From every little detail, she made sure it was personal and warm.

The wedding party enjoyed helping decorate before the wedding, relaxing and stressing (of course) while getting ready, and dancing the night away together! The date, the time, the venue, the dresses, the tuxes, the flowers....I could go on forever...was perfect!

I love these two people like they are part of my family and I have come to love each person in their family as well.

I can't imagine my life without Shea-baby and Jake and I'm so happy for them and so very proud of them! I love you two more than you know!!

finally fall

Here are the pictures from our day in the country on Sunday. Hope you enjoy!

Sammie took this picture

Anheiser had Mahlon distracted

I love this picture because it looks like something horrible happened, but they're just watching Matt make a sandwich!

Sammie was pouting (funny tidbit.. Mahlon likes to mimick Sammie when she gets to whining and he'll curl his nose and go "waaa waaa waaa"..it's too funny!)

"Trick or Treat..smell my feet"

I love this one, but it looks like the hay is going in his ear..ha

Isn't she beautiful!??!

She thought she was "hot stuff"

We hated that we didn't have Mason there to do this with, so we're going to plan on doing it again once we get him! It was a lot of fun and the perfect weather to go hang out and have a picnic in the back of the truck. I love Fall!