Over a Year Later...

Wow.

Over a year later and I find myself sitting here looking at my sweet little blog and can't help but feel like I failed.

I never set out to make this blog into a big spectacle. Far from it in fact. For me, this blog was a sweet way to capture our family as a digital journal that family and friends could see as well. However, along the way it became something more combative than my original purpose. Suddenly, it lost it's focus and I would spend more time figuring out if my thoughts even mattered in print or not. Were my pictures good enough? Was the post worth reading?

It stopped being fun.

Then life got busy with two kiddos and other adventures and it got easier to just skip a post.

Then tonight I randomly remembered my login and started looking over the YEARS of memories and suddenly.....I felt sadness. I felt like I've let go of so many sweet memories, trips, photos, etc. that I could have written out and captured for the girls to forever see someday.

So here I am again, trying to come up with a clever post title, of the most recent events to share and for now.....this is it.

I've missed this sweet blog. I've missed reading some amazing friends posts. I've missed my small space on the world wide web where for the briefest of clicks and scrolls, my words mean something. Even if they are just to have safely tucked away for my girls to read as teenagers.

Hello sweet blog, I'm back.

-Brittnye

Labor Day Tradition

Growing up was different for me than most. I was raised by my grandparents who later adopted myself and my brother Jonathon. Our youngest brother, Josh, was adopted by our aunt. Our other sister, Desi was adopted to distant family and the youngest of the 5 of us was raised by our birth parents. Holidays were always full of family but mainly spent in the car going to and from a few relatives. We never saw Desi, Jackye entered our lives when she was 5 and that was randomly until she was 9.

My brothers and I saw each other on the weekends and holidays and other than living 30min apart it didn't seem so odd or different until we were older and understood more of why we were where we were and why our last names were different after the adoptions went through. You dig?

All that to say that once I married Evan, my life was changed beyond measure. Evan has a HUGE family. Even better? They embraced me and loved me from the get go! Their traditions are now our traditions and I've been so happy to share with the girls a few special traditions that my grandfather instilled in me every year. My upbringing was hard and sad but that man did everything in his power to bring some normalcy to it and joy in times of the year that I resented most.

Now that I'm a mommy and have my own family, traditions are MAJORLY important to both Evan and I. Little things to big things, we are all about making memories and keeping family traditions going.

Labor Day is a tradition.

What do we do? We go on a minor road trip. The past 4yrs now, we have picked a direction, picked a time limit (or mile limit) and then planned a random trip over the weekend for wherever we ended up. It's been fun! One year we went to Austin, another it was Wichita Falls and this year we landed in Abilene. It's just a way we celebrate the end of summer and now with Avery officially in School it was also a way to celebrate her starting school and surviving the first week. Evans parents come with us too I must add. It's the best.

So much fun and yet we didn't do much. Lounged at the hotel pool, watched movies and played Wii. Went to some local places recommended and visited a church. Overall, just being together as a family and enjoying being out of our bubble.

My cuties and the Giant Armadillo in Buffalo Gap, TX



Do you have any traditions you look forward to every year?

Thankful: Days 19-30

Thanksgiving is done and December is upon us. I know I'm behind but I really want to finish my "Thankful" list. December will be busy enough.

Day 19: I'm Thankful for volunteering. I find it to be uplifting knowing that the time I donate at the shelter is benefiting the animals. Whether it's helping get them new forever homes or just loving on them to ease the stress of a scary environment. It calms me as well. Love my days at the shelter.

Day 20: I'm Thankful for Evans Job. I won't go into details but starting in January, Evan will be on day shift. Something we've patiently waited and prayed about for a year! We love his job and the company so having him go to days is going to be a added bonus on a number of levels.

Day 21: I'm Thankful for young cousins coming in and visiting from Georgia. The girls loved it too.

Day 22: I'm Thankful for Alyssa's naps. Those two precious quiet times during the day allow me to get stuff done and spend one on one time with Avery. My girls are growing up too fast and I'm finding my sweet moments with them are getting shorter. Replaced by new ones of course but the days of snuggles and cuddles and rocking little bodies to sleep is slowly fading. :(

Day 23: I'm Thankful for books. I know in this day and age people rely on nooks, kindles, iPhones and tablets. For me though,Going to a book store and buying an actual book with pages to flip through in a quiet place is bliss. There's that book smell too that goes along with the escape of a story. I just love it, call me old school.

Day 24: I'm Thankful for our home. I love this place and even though it's no longer fitting our needs and we won't be here but for another year or two, it's my favorite home so far. All the memories here and blessings we've been given since I took that wrong turn and found the dinky "for rent" sign  are priceless. I hope we can just find a bigger house still in this neighborhood.

Day 25: I'm Thankful for comfy pajamas and a cup of hot tea on a cold day.

Day 26: I'm Thankful for the last 13 years with this man. 

Yep, 13. Years. From friends in high school to soul mates. 3 years as friends, 2 as a couple and 8 in marriage. Plenty of Good times and bad. Good health, bad health, the births of our two girls and the sad loss of a baby now in heaven. 2 tiny apartments, a house in a ghetto and now back where it all began for us. Road trips and family vacations, a million inside jokes, countless movie marathons and a few jobs in between. I am beyond Thankful for all of it.

Day 27: After that last topic, I'm Thankful for all the memories.

Day 28: Happy Thanksgiving! I'm Thankful for this holiday; to cook great food and spend a day eating it with family and friends and unwinding from the busy-ness of day to day life.

Day 29: I'm Thankful that my family agrees with me that "Black Friday" is the stupidest thing America has invented.

Day 30: I'm Thankful for Christmas music and sharing the true reason of the season with Avery and Alyssa. Putting up decorations and spending more quality time with them as we make new memories to remember for the next years to come.