Busy Weekend (and a few other things!)

I give Evan a hard time about his gift-giving skills and I must say that for our anniversary and Valentine's day this year, he's beginning to redeem himself!!! For our anniversary, he cooked dinner--made homemade spaghetti sauce (that was SO yummy and made enough for leftovers, freezing AND to give away to a neighbor) and I got a homemade card. I don't want to embarrass him, but the card was really sweet AND somewhat out of character for him. He printed it on the computer and even colored the picture on the front with colored pencils! He wrote a poem on the inside that began with "Arkansas is red, Kentucky is blue; I don't care where we end up, as long as I'm with you." I laughed until I had tears running down my face!


Then, on Valentine's Day, Evan treated me to a piece of cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory. We were going to eat it at the restaurant, but the wait was anywhere from 25-45 minutes. We said, "no thank-you" and got our cheesecake to go. If you've never had a slice of Cheesecake Factory cheesecake, you are missing out AND must treat yourself! It's to die for! Our slice was white chocolate macadamia nut and was heavenly!


On to the weekend...


On Saturday morning, we attended the new members breakfast for our church. We actually joined the church way back in the fall, but this was the first opportunity we've had to attend the breakfast. A family in the church hosts a new member breakfast usually every other month in their home. Let me just say, this family is GIFTED when it comes to hospitality! I think they said they've hosted the breakfast for about 7 years and it's definitely a well-oiled machine. A lot of help is enlisted to pull off the breakfast and everything about the breakfast is wonderful. ALL of the food is homemade, even down to the syrups for the pancakes!!! One of the guys that helps even cooks omelets to order. We enjoyed the food AND the fellowship with other new members of the church we might not otherwise come in contact.


Saturday evening we enjoyed Gumbo Fest with our SS class. Again, wonderful food and the fellowship wasn't too bad either! :) We are so thankful for this group of people; if it weren't for the friendships we've formed in this class, Evan and I wouldn't know anyone in this area. (Sidenote-if you are living somewhere and you are lonely, FIND A CHURCH!!! It's the best place to meet people and make friends!) We had fun taking some pictures that evening, and I've posted a few to follow!

Kendall being loved on by Miss Kristina. Kristina's husband, Ben, works at night, so she will come over sometimes in the evening just to hang out with us. She's so sweet and I love that she loves Kendall! Miss Kristina is VERY good with babies!!
This is Kristina from the front, instead of just the top of her head!

(And yes, I am VERY aware of how horrible my hair looks in this picture!!! I'm in DESPERATE need of a GOOD haircut. It's just terrible. I wish Joanne could fly to Louisville to cut and color my hair!!!! I haven't had good hair since we've lived here. Why is a good hairdresser so difficult to find??? UGGHHH!!!)
(Yes, Adam, your picture made the blog!!!) The other kids there were having a ball wrestling and playing with all the big boys! This is our good friend, Adam, that all the kids are hanging on. We met Adam and his wife, Holly during orientation. They've become such sweet friends to us. Adam and Holly are having their first baby girl in April. We are excited for them. (Adam is actually over here right now. He and Evan are meeting as accountability partners. They have me shut in the bedroom!!!)
Kendall and daddy playing together!!!

(Oh, cute outfit courtesy of Kendall's Nana!)

Some of the girls!

Remember me saying in an older post that one of the couples from Seniors' Game Night took our phone number because they wanted to invite us over? Well, we had lunch with this sweet couple on Sunday. Another couple whom Evan and I were acquainted with came over for lunch as well. We had a nice time and once again, wonderful food, but Kendall was NOT on her best behavior! Kendall is one of those babies that really just doesn't nap well unless she's in her bed. I think it's because she still likes to be swaddled to sleep. (We are working on this by trying to put her down for naps during the day without swaddling.) I think Kendall had a short nap in the nursery at church, but was due for another nap by the time we were ready to eat. We also lost her pacifier at church that morning, and while she doesn't need it all the time, she certainly needed it Sunday afternoon. Evan ended up making a run to Walgreens right before we ate to get a pacifier. She stayed pretty cranky even after that, but we finally got her to nap for a little while. We did have a great time getting to know these two families, AND Kendall got some "grandma-type" loving that afternoon!!!

I guess that's about it. I'm getting excited about our upcoming Arkansas trip. Kendall and I will be flying to Fayetteville on March 8 and will be in Arkansas for a week. I'm a little nervous about flying with her alone, but I'm sure with prayer we will be just fine!

I guess I should also update you guys on my "priorities" post. Things are getting better in this area for me, although we've been a little "off" the last couple of weeks because of sickness and traveling. For the most part, I've been having my quiet time in the morning after Kendall's first feeding. I LOVE starting my day that way and feel like I get so much more accomplished during the day! I am LOVING the Beth Moore bible study I'm participating in and am really learning a lot. I'll have to post about that some other time! Evan is also going to help me work out a system with cleaning our apartment so I can do a little bit every day and not let it pile up and overwhelm me. Anyone have good advice or help in this area????

That's all for now. Hope you guys have a great week!!!