Eight Years Ago Today- Something Amazing Started

Eight hearts ago tonight I had my first date with this hot guy! 

I had gone on some dates in college, but hadn't had a "boyfriend" since once in middle school. He picked me up, took me to a nice dinner, then went and played games at Incredible Pizza, ate ice cream, and then since it wasn't quite curfew yet… we went to Wal-Mart (the only place left open). The date latest 5 hours! So I guess we were off to a good start. 

Three dates and one week later, I left to go home to Louisiana for Christmas break. Neither of us wanted to be apart for a month, so he drove down to see me. And on December 21st at the Louisiana Boardwalk (in the COLD weather!), he asked me to be his girlfriend.

One thing I won't ever forget was when he leaned in and started to say, "I love you." 

I stopped him. 

I could tell he was taken aback, but this was something very important to me. I knew too many people that threw those words around too flippantly and I wanted them to be real. So I said, "Don't say it unless you mean it."

A few weeks (or months) later, it all runs together these days, he said it again. But after he said it this time, he smiled and remarked, "I meant it the first time." : )

We were just babies!

Two years later, to the day, he got down on one knee in the exact same spot where he asked me to be his girlfriend, and asked me to be his wife.

Oddly enough neither of us realized it was the same day. I called a friend of mine to tell her the good news and somehow SHE remembered! Thanks Tasha : )

Eight months after I said, "Yes." We said, "I do."

Since then we've gone through our share of changes, but it's only getting better.

Three years after we got married, we had our first baby girl.

Almost exactly one year later, we adopted our second baby girl.

We've already had so many amazing adventures and we're just getting started. 

I couldn't ask for a better friend, husband or daddy to our little girls. I am constantly in awe of your patience, wisdom, work ethic and godliness. You are an amazing man and all of your girls are incredibly blessed.

I love that I get to do life with you, Baby. 

Eight years and counting.

T'was the Week Before Christmas

Oh what a week.

It is weeks like these that make me thankful for my more normal chaos.

A week ago tonight R woke up crying around midnight. I hadn't gone to sleep yet, and as I as opened the door to her room to check on her I was hit by a brick wall. That smell. It was terrible. You knew, before you turned on a light or walked to the crib, you knew exactly what had happened. She had thrown up EVERYWHERE. It was so bad. I woke Jeff up because I knew I couldn't take care of her and the room by myself.

After a long, soaking bath, a sheet change and some disinfecting, we got her back in bed and prayed it was a one time event. I woke up the next day…gave her another bath and prayed no one else caught it. Yea, we still caught it.

At almost the exact same time (approx. 3:30 Sunday night), Jeff and I both got sick- like dog sick. I'm not sure how single parents or military spouses do what they do because when one of us gets sick the other one picks up the slack. But what do you do when BOTH adults can't stand upright without throwing up? Honestly, I don't know the answer to that question because I wasn't the one to get up with them. Thanks, Babe. I really don't remember much of anything about that 24-hour period. I vaguely remember a phone call or two and I know at some point my mother-in-law watched the girls for a couple of hours, but that's it. I don't know how anyone got fed or changed or bathed. It was a blur.

Since then I have voluntarily quarantined us for the the most part, rescheduling holiday outings with family and friends. I love you all, but consider that my Christmas gift to you! We have slowly but surely been on the mend and regaining our strength.

It's pretty amazing to see the differences in how the same bug effected R as it did Jeff and I. She got sick once and had a few other symptoms for a day or so, but always acted like her happy, normal self. We got sick and then we got more sick and then a few days later we crawled out from our hole. Oh to have their youth and exuberance :)

Thankfully, Baby Girl only have some much lessened effects of this nasty bug.

But now we are looking forward to Christmas. We are happy to have our health issues behind us and cannot wait to celebrate the holidays with our families. My parents will be coming in town on Tuesday and my best friend, Roxie, will be here shortly after Christmas. I can't wait to just be able to sit back and enjoy our time all together.

I have a tendency to overdo Christmas. I am a gift giver by nature, but these days my creativity is in short supply.

But I already know that best gifts I'm getting this year. I'm getting to spend the holidays with the people I love. It will be special. I know two little girls who keep crawling into their wagon in the garage and calling out for their D.C. to take them on a walk to the park. R even knocks on the front door trying to convince me that her D.C. and Dovie are here. I have a feeling they might not understand our countdown to Santa and Christmas yet, but they do understand our countdown until D.C. and Dovie get here. Less than 5 days!

Merry Christmas and God Bless your holiday season! Enjoy this very special time of year. I hope you get to spend it with those you love.

A Cajun Thanksgiving

Yes, I am weeks behind in posting once again. But for those of you who might not know, I have a photography business that I do on the side and this is a busy time of year for photographers! So I have been spending every free moment editing pictures for the past month or so. If you haven't checked out my Facebook page, please do- www.facebook.com/bethanypepinphotography, and I would love for you to "like" the page if you would like to keep up with my latest work.

Shameless plug, I know. Now on to what you are really here for…..the girls :)

My parents came in town for Thanksgiving which wasn't the original plan. For the first time probably since the girls were born, we were heading down to Louisiana for a holiday. But mom and dad have been doing some home renovations and the house was no where near ready. Honestly I didn't mind too much. Even the shortest of trips require packing up practically our entire house and then traveling in the car at least six hours each way with two little girls who aren't even that keen on driving across town. I was a little bummed not to get to see the rest of our family and friends, but thankfully it had only been a few weeks prior that the girls and I had made the trip down.

A number of different trips were taken to the park while DC and Dovie were here. It might have been cold, but these girls didn't care one bit.

I know two little girls who miss their DC and Dovie A LOT! 

What a good daddy!

I can't tell you how much I loved having our kitchen table full of family. We broke out the extra table leaf for the first time and honestly I hated putting it back up once everyone was gone. I knew there would be a lot of extra expenses when we bought a house, but the one thing I HAD to have as soon as we moved in was a kitchen table. The one in our apartment really couldn't fit more than two people comfortably, although we occasionally squeezed four. If we were buying a house, the point was to have people in it and this holiday we did just that. I was a happy girl.  

Ours was a Cajun Thanksgiving. There were only a few days in between Thanksgiving and when my parents decided to join us in Oklahoma, so we got most of our meal from Herbert's and it was AMAZING. By far the favorite dish was the crawfish, jalapeño dressing, even the girls loved it! Of course my parents brought a Strawn's pie and I even ventured out and tried making my grandmother's spicy, baked pecans. This meal was a winner all around! But of course the best part was just being all together. 

We had some sweet visitors over the holiday as well!

 

Just a little light reading before bedtime. 

Our second trip to the park was a bit more adventurous than the last. We we hoping to take some family pictures, something we haven't done since R was only a few months old. I was so excited. I picked out matching outfits and was feeling pretty good about our chances. 

But I should know better. It was pretty much a disaster. 

The unposed photos are always the best anyway, but still….I just wanted one. 

Jeff and I did manage to sneak away and have dad snap a few shots. Thanks Dad!

So I thought if I couldn't get a family photo at least I could get one of the two girls together… This is how it turned out. That's one VERY happy girl. Haha.

Yep, really happy. 

Dovie, make her stop taking pictures!

Yea, she plays with spoons AND eats rocks. 

D.C. and his Baby Girl. 

Sorry, I couldn't help myself. What a stud!

Love this photo! Daddy and his little girl. 

We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with family time and plenty to be thankful. I am having a hard time believing that Christmas is now less than two weeks away. But I know three girls who can't wait to have their D.C. and Dovie back here again soon.