Happy Father's Day!

So I just have to take a second to write a few words about my dad. Today's the one day I can be super-cheesy and sentimental about my daddio. He's always been such a great supporter and encourager to me, and I am so blessed to have him. We can talk about anything, and do. I'm definitely a Daddy's Girl, but I really feel like he just makes me want to be the best version of myself because I've never ever wanted to disappoint him. I don't know how my parents did it, but they raised me in a way that made me really want to make responsible choices (even if I didn't always succeed at that). They gave us enough freedom, and me and my sisters have always respected their opinions on everything. I've always talked to my dad about everything. Everything. When I got married, Brandon became the guy who I tell everything to. But I still talk to my dad almost every day, and I know he'll always be there for me no matter what. He taught me what it meant to love the Lord in a way that made me curious and passionate about my faith. He taught me what it meant to do the very best you can do at everything you can by putting your whole heart into it. He taught me how to ride a bike, read the Bible, do algebra, and drive a car. And most of all, he taught me what to look for in a husband by being such a great Christian leader in our family. He always did his very best to be the closest thing he could be to an earthly example of our Heavenly Father. I feel so blessed. Happy Father's Day, Dad!

We're HOMEOWNERS!

After a CRAZY week, we are finally moving into our new home! We are loving every minute of it. We were so excited to sign all the papers and hand over that check after thinking we weren't going to get the house. We found this house a while ago, and closing was set for Thursday, June 11. Everything went perfect- inspection, survey, foundation assessment, even loan application stuff. We were so excited. But about 10 days before closing, we found out the seller had a lien on the house from the IRS. Ewwwww. So we were just sick, thinking there was probably no way we were going to close by June 11. And we would have been fine with waiting except that our low interest rate was locked, but only through the week. And since we locked in our rate, the interest rates have sky-rocketed (comparatively speaking). The difference in rates would be astonishing. So we just really prepared ourselves to lose it. We went to small group Wednesday night, and all our friends just loved on us and prayed that everything would work out. We were stressed. The seller kept convincing us (and our realtor) that he was somehow going to make it happen because he knew that we might walk away otherwise. Well, he pulled it off. He overnighted the funds, made the phone calls, and then literally took the paperwork all around the city to get the lien released. And all that happened late Thursday afternoon just before our rate expired. We closed first thing on Friday, and everyone was so excited. Our realtor and loan officer were just giddy, assuring us that we got the most amazing deal and that it was a miracle that everything came together at the end.

We closed on the house Friday morning, and spent the weekend moving in, with the help of some AMAZING friends. We had so many friends that came to help- moving boxes and furniture, cleaning out cabinets, lining drawers, you name it. Now comes the fun part when we start making it really feel like home. There's still lots of work to do, but we're so excited to get to work on it. We feel really blessed. AND we now have a guest bedroom so all you out-of-towners can finally come visit! And for all you Dallas friends, grab a paint brush and come over!!!


Living in boxes- it's a work in progress!


Bailey is loving her new house.

Just What We Needed

This past week was perfect. We had the best vacation full of sleep, sun, good food, movies, and wayyy too many laughs. We even did a little crime fighting, but I'll write more on that later. We had quite an adventure after my beach bag was stolen while we were swimming in the ocean. We had the most perfect weather- sunny with a light breeze until it rained a little on Friday when we went shopping. Brandon got to do some fishing which he thoroughly enjoyed. He caught several flounder, sea trout, a big mean crab, and some mackerel- he even took pictures which we no longer have due to the unfortunate events of the week. We took walks on the beach with my family every night, enjoyed just talking and catching up on everything. Of course, I got a little emotional when we had to say goodbye to my family. But I just feel so blessed to have them, even if it is several hours away. I'll post pictures and the full story of our crazy crime-fighting adventure soon.