Jody's favorite things...

So, I have been tagged by my sweet friend Magen, so here is a list of things that probably no one else cares about but me, but here I go anyway...

Here is some things my husband loves, but in no particular order (only the order that comes to my mind.)

1.) Playing sports of all kinds with his friends (baseball, currently playing flag football, loves basketball, and desperately wishes he could have played soccer in Childress, but they didn't offer it.)












2.) His ministry, Lionsong Ministries












3.) Leading worship (and simply just growing closer to the Lord!) (and music in general)












4.) Coffee, oh boy, does he. I think its an addiction that began when he was in 3rd grade drinking it BLACK!












5.) His bff, Brad. Really, sometimes Ashley and I wonder if they like each other more than their spouses. (that sounds a little more homosexual than I intended.)
I don't have a picture of them, so follow this link to an AWESOME picture of the guys. (Just think, they did this for HOURS!)



6.) His beautiful daughters

















7.) His IPHONE. (its new, and already starting to annoy me a little, but I know its because its new.) I took this picture of Jody, on the day he got his iphone...seemed to be an appropriate picture.

















8.) Scooters, oh wait, I think the manly term is Vespas (he desperately wants one, DESPERATELY!)











9.) Converse shoes
















10.) The Boston Red Sox














11.) Watching Texas Tech and the Broncos





























12.) ME!!!!












I tag...Jill, Amy, and Marla

Happy Birthday to my dearest friend...

My friend Ashley and I have been close now for about 10 years now! (Wow, can that even be possible???) She is the best friend anyone can ask for. She is the kind of person that is so easy to talk to, which is why everyone in her life thinks the most wonderful things of her, in fact, everyone thinks they are Ashley's best friend. She is the first one to offer help whenever you need it. I treasure the long, long talks we've shared, and even the short, pointless ones. Whether we were in high school going through boy drama, (shout out to the "ad-aphobias" well, at least it worked itself out for you, ash. Luckily for me, it didn't) or having such fun on our sonic coke dates. I was so blessed to get to join her at Tech and for her to invite me into her circle of friends, which are the same people that I still adore! (Shout out to Mandy, Megan, and Magen) Ashley is such a woman of the Word of God, and I totally admire her in that. I love that she is the first person, after my husband, that I can go to for any kind of decision, concern, or for a good laugh. (Really, no one makes me laugh harder than her!) I love that we have children around the same age, and that we can go through this journey of parenthood together. (Also, thanks for returning the support of a suprise pregnancy when I found out I was pregnant with Eisley a month after your suprise pregnancy with Kayt.) She is a wonderful mom to sweet Noah and Kayt, and an awesome wife to Brad. Its even more of a bonus that both of our husbands are not only best friends, but both in the ministry, and oh how we need each other's support for life in the ministry. I really could go on and on about my dear friend, but there are not enough words to describe how highly I esteem this friend! So, I will just simply wish her a very happy birthday today, and I know that you have been showered with love and sweet wishes today! Love you Ash!

(Oh, I tried to find the oldest picture I had of Ashley and I, but when I found one, my scanner wasn't working. So, lucky for you Ash! Oh, and we really need to stop taking so many pictures of our kids together and start taking more of us. :) ) So, heres the only one I had on my computer. Sorry if you hate it Ash. It was either this one, or you in labor with Kayt, your choice!) Everyone can see even more beautiful pictures on her blog!

The home stretch...

It is almost Sunday, and I'll be honest, I'm ready to go home. We should be able to go home tomorrow, even if its in the evening, we're good with that. We'll just have to see how the day goes, and how getting the coffee stuff packed goes as well. Thats the plan though, and I am so excited. Today was kind of a bummer because the weather was not ideal for balloons. It was very windy and stormy. They had to shut down the festival and send everyone home, even the shops because the weather was not good. This was a bummer, but it was fun to spend the afternoon and evening all together, chaos, but still fun. We even went to PF Changs for dinner, (thanks Justin!) and it was so good! Tomorrow will be filled with packing, cleaning, and hopefully one more time at the park, and then some driving. We have had SUCH a good time here, and I can't wait to come back again next year!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this picture! (great job dad!)

Check out my hot chocolate mustache

Ballooning is hard work!

Too cute!

I'm in LOVE with this man!


Amazing Latte Art, huh?

The man responsible for the latte art, Skylar (and mia's best friend!)

We did it! (And Happy Birthday to my sister!)

This morning was "the morning!" And, we did it! We woke up at 5:15am, got the kids together, bundled up in many layers, and in the car by 6:15am with cheerios in hand. It was work, and a few tired tears were shed by my Mia, but we survived. This morning was the Special Shapes Balloon Rodeo, so we knew the kids would love seeing all the character balloons, and we were right. We were able to stay at the park until around 10am, which was much longer than I thought we'd survive. We had yummy breakfast burritos, the kids had oh so unhealthy minuture donuts, and then had yummy chai for the moms and hot chocolates for the kids, made by their daddys. It was a great morning. The tiredness is starting to hit, and Marla and I will probably be joining the kids for naptime after lunch, but it was worth it! So, enough talking, I will post pictures now, even though they don't really do the balloon festival justice. It was quite a sight!

As the sun was rising...

The boys working hard

Mia and Jonah loved this "coffee cup!" We didn't want to correct them.

Me and the girls (remember, super early equals no makeup!)

Marla and her boys

I took this one for my sister in law, Amy, who LOVES clowns! Wink, Wink! Love ya Amy!

Twin bumblebees before parting ways, it looked like they were kissing. So cute!


The look of AWE!

Eisley's look of awe

They are EVERYWHERE! Its a lot better in person.

Me and the girls


Jody hard at work giving out Chai samples. (Who wouldn't want to take a sample from this guy, I said FROM him, not OF him, he's all mine, people!)



Oh, and I have to make a shout out to my sister, Jill! I hope you have an amazing Birthday today, Jill! Love you!

My sister when Eisley's born (Jill, we have GOT to start taking pictures together, this is ridiculous, I have NONE of us together!)

Oh what a great day...

We are over half way through our adventure here in Albuquerque. Let me tell you though, it has gotten SOOO much better than the last time I wrote. We have all gotten more sleep so that helps with emotions for sure!

Yesterday we all loaded up and spent the afternoon and evening in Santa Fe. We had a great time. It was only about a 45 minute drive, so not too far. We ate an amazing raspberry crepe, and then had a wonderful dinner. The only bummer of the evening was the $53 we had to spend on a locksmith to unlock our car at 9pm. Not fun, huh? At least it worked though!

Eisley and me in Santa Fe (and the great baby wrap Sunny gave me. Thanks Sunny!)

Really???


Today was definitely the ultimate payoff! Our husbands came home from the coffee stand early (around 11:30am) and handed Marla and I each an envelope. In the envelope was a gift certificate for a Spa down the street. They bought us an hour massage, pedicure, and a manicure. Isn't that amazing! I was so overwhelmed! (where was this when I was having my breakdown over the weekend? kidding!) Needless to say, we had a wonderful afternoon!
Me and Marla at the spa (if we look a little zoned out, we had both just had massages)

Tomorrow Marla and I are going to strive to load up the kids around 4am to head to the Balloon Festival for the amazing early fun shapes balloons. We'll see if we regret that later tomorrow. :) It'll be quite the memories though!

Here from the Big Balloon Festival...

So, here we are on day 4 of 10 at the Albuquerque Balloon Festival. I'll be honest, its been kinda a rough start...Just imagine, 4 kids (2 3 year olds, and 2 11(ish) month old babies), 2 full time moms (shout out to Marla), 2 dads who leave the house for the coffee stand at 3:45am (yes, I said AM) and who return at who knows when later in the day, lots of "that's mine, no THATs mine", tears from early waking children who are still trying to adjust to the new surroundings, really, need I say more. Don't get me wrong. We really are having such a wonderful time, its just been a pretty tiring start to the long 10 days. Today has been a ton better. I got more rest myself, so I have definitely been a more emotionally fit mom. But, Marla and I have noticed one thing...polygamists have one thing right...having multiple moms sure is amazing. You always seem to know what the other one's about to do, extra hands to clean and cook, really, it just makes things easier. But that does mean double the kids and double the chaos. Anyways, we are all having fun and even got to finally see the fun balloons last night at the park. Its was so breathtaking!!! I was overwhelmed at the beauty. So, now I will post some pictures for fun. Happy Monday!

The Barnards and The Wilsons (minus the dads) We even had people ask us if we had two sets of twins, yes, thats what it feels like actually

Doesn't she look like a tourist? (thanks Ash for letting us borrow the monkey backpack...it was a lifesaver!)

Eisley and I behind the coffee stand

So many balloons

Jonah and Mia

Eisley and River

The Sugar Browns coffee stand at the festival

Jody (in his barista apron) and Darth

Peer Pressure...

*I want to make a shout-out to my awesome friend Mandy for the awesome Fall Blog Tag! Thanks Mandy for taking the time to do that for me! You're the greatest!*

Jody's first pictures from his new IPhone, he's so high-tech now



I really thought that once I was grown up, married, with kids, (you know, far away from middle school and high school) that I would never feel "peer pressure" again...Guess what, I was WRONG.

I have been meaning to make this post for awhile now, but today really made me activate those thoughts. So, let me play this out for you a little...

On the way to Mother's Day Out this morning, this was my conversation with Mia...
Mia: "Mommy, can I play volleyball today at school?"
Me: "Well, Mia, you need to ask your teachers." (Then I thought about it, and realized she meant basketball because they have a program called KinderTots for those who pay a good amount of money for the semester, and they are taught how to play basketball. Well, lets use the word "taught" loosely since we are talking about 3 year olds. Now, mind you, we did not sign Mia up for this because its really pretty expensive and we didn't think she'd really care.)
Mia: "My teachers told me that I had to ask my mommy."

So, I was like, "Ah, man, how do I explain to Mia why she isn't doing this program." Oh, it gets worse...SO then, I am dropping off Mia in her class (yes, 15 minutes late, as usual.) and I am flooded with a sea of blue. (The KinderTots kids all wear matching blue shirts.) Really, they are going to rub this in my face..you know, that my child is like one of 4 or 5 kids NOT participating in this. My heart really sank. Like I was doing an injustice to Mia, or that she was to feeling left out. I left her school, feeling HORRIBLE.

This leads me to my issue...Peer Pressure amongst parents. I have been noticing lately that the pressure on me as a parent is starting to rise. I am starting to see myself being influenced by what other parents are putting their children in. Or, I have been noticing me, along with other parents, comparing our children. Maybe I'm alone in this, but I sometimes find myself looking at other kids Mia's age (and even Eisley at times) and comparing her to them. You know, Mia is doing this and they aren't or just the opposite, they are doing THAT??? Oh no, Mia doesn't do that yet! Is something wrong with her??? Well, let me tell you, I get so sick of doing it. I quickly find myself doing this, at least most of the time. And I try to take those thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ, but its really a struggle at times. She is only three, and I am NOT ready to have to fight this battle for the rest of her life! Yuk! Please, let me know if anyone else has a tendency to do this too.

Oh, one last thing, lets not forget that on Tuesday, when Mia was getting ready for gymnastics, she tell me she wants to wear her ballerina outfit (just a cute little leotard, but definately more for ballet.) to gymnastics. I told her no, and she proceeds to tell me, and I quote..."But mommy, all the other kids get to wear them." Really???? She is three!!! Is it too early to ask her "If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you???"

Mia's gymnastics outfit (nope, not like ALL the other kids...or so she says)