Vacation

My family and I spent the last week in Florida and had an amazing time!  The first half of the week we spent at Disney and the second half was the beach, shopping and time with my grandparents.  We went with my parents, my brother and his wife.  We've never as a group taken a big vacation like that so it was really nice.  The best part about all of it was getting to make my daughter happy!  Getting to take your child to Disney World is like getting to go as a kid for the first time yourself.  You see everything through their eyes and it's so fun.
Here are a few pics...

 

 And since my last post was about my new Emerson fan I had to share the following...

As I mentioned before my sister in law designs fans for Emerson.  She designed the one that's in Raeleigh's room and in our office...

So it was an awesome surprise for all of us, especially Bethany, when my brother spotted this...

You've got to feel pretty good about your design abilities if Disney chooses it!

Coming up soon, a new addition to my living room.

On to year 4!

I hate to go this long without blogging, but we have so much going on in our lives right now that I haven't felt like it.   Just being honest.

Yesterday was mine and Jake's 3 year anniversary.  So we've now been together over 6 years and married for 3 of them.  Crazy.  Let me tell you though, I hit the jackpot when I met him.  I just love him so much!

Here is a picture from the first night we hung out.

 

Here is from our wedding day, taken in the very spot we met each other.

This is pretty much how it went down.  I was working at a salon.  He walked in and wouldn't stop talking.  I stood there wondering if he'd ever stop.  6 years later I've learned... he never does. =)

And here is a recent picture of us.  Of course now with our little girl.

Here's to a million more anniversaries!

As far as house stuff goes, I've gotten a few things for my living room, including a big purchase!  I will post pictures next week (still waiting for a delivery).

Happy Birthday Raeleigh!

Okay, okay, so her birthday is still over a month away.  But she got her present early for a couple reasons.  1. It looked like prices were starting to increase.  2.  It was actually on sale and had free shipping.  3. The earlier she gets it, the more she gets to enjoy it this summer.

I took pictures of the assembly process which I will post later.  It's almost done but you will notice it's still missing the rock climbing wall.  Raeleigh stayed with my parents this weekend.  When she came back she really needed a nap.  So we laid her down, but then it was time to get her up for dinner and for the big reveal.  Here is the video we took of the occasion.  

 

Since she was so sleepy when she first saw it.  I decided to video tape her again a little later so you could see how super stoked she really is.  Yes we changed into swimsuits because it was hot out there and we were playing in the water.

And now enjoy some pics! 

Helping Daddy with the rockwall

 

Oh ya know, just bein' cute.

LOL, she did that all on her own.

We were blowing raspberries at eachother.

She thought it was funny.

[Shout outs to Granny(she went in on it with us), Greg and Bobby(for helping build).  Also to Korey and Myra (for lending their husbands for a day).]

The Weekend

This past weekend was just wonderful!  Yes I realize it's Tuesday but my weekends last from Saturday to Tuesday (which I am quite thankful for).  My mom was in town, aka Mema, and we did so much!  A lot of times she'll come to town and we have ideas of things we'd like to do but they never get done.  This time they did!  It started out Friday night, we all went out for ice cream at Cherry Berry.  It was a cold night for ice cream but it's something I wanted to make sure we did, so we did it first thing.

Saturday we went shopping for some fabric for some DIY projects (more on that later!!) and  did some other various shopping.  (and worked on the projects!)

Sunday we went to church then came home and Jake worked out in the garden. (pics to come)  And Raeleigh got to play in the backyard with her best friend Addi.

 

 

Monday I had a doctor's appt and then we did a lot more shopping!  I got some party favors for Raeleigh's birthday party (yes still 4 months away but I couldnt pass em up!)  I also found Raeleigh's Easter outfit at Target, love Target clothes! Then Monday night was Raeleigh's dance class.  Her first official one, last week was a trial.  So we got her a real outfit, tights and ballet slippers.  Prettiest ballerina ever!

 

And she did a lot better this week, following directions.  I'm anxious to see her just get better and better!

 

 

LOVE HER!!!!!

Tuesday we took it pretty easy hanging at the house waiting for the weather to warm up and then we headed to the park.  We had SO much fun!  And Raeleigh had an absolute blast!!

 

Now it's Wednesday and my Mom is heading back home, but fortunately I get to see her and the rest of my fam again very soon!

So what about these DIY projects?  Well, I plan to post about them, hopefully along with a tutorial, this week.  Stay tuned!!

Merry Christmas!

And what a perfect Christmas it was!  We went to my parents house on Saturday.  And Jake was the one lucky guy that went in to work at FedEx on Saturday and they said, "You know we're not near as busy as we thought we'd be, so why don't you go home."!!!  I was SO excited!  So we left town at a decent time (although we got about 15 minutes away from our house before I realized I forgot my purse and we had to go back). So we had a great trip overall.  Some highlights were:

1. Christmas morning her tricycle was under the tree with a big red ribbon on it and she saw it first thing, ran straight to it and got on.  It was so cute!  And we got it on video. =)
2. Of course we got lots of great gifts from everyone.
3. Watched good movies: Rise of the Planet of the Apes(my Dad gave me) and 127 Hours(I gave my Dad).  I had seen them both before but love em both so had fun watching them.
4. Went shopping with my Mom and Bethany the day after Christmas and found some really great deals.  I got a lot of Christmas decorations.  But the most exciting find was a Payless that was going out of business and I got 6 new pairs of shoes for Raeleigh at 90% off!!!  I would have gotten more but there wasn't much left in there.  Bethany found 10 pairs for her nephew!
5. Got to eat at Jack in the Box. Springfield doesn't have them here. Someday... someday...

I've always loved Christmas, but having a kid makes Christmas so much more fun.  I LOVE my sweet baby girl!

 

Running to her tricycle!

 

Getting right on!

 

Help from Daddy.

 

Aunt Bethany reading her a book.

 

Being silly Christmas evening.

 

Posing in some of her new clothes.

Turner Family Update

I thought I'd go ahead and post an all around Turner family update.

Jake- He's doing great.  Man do I ever love that man!  He's amazing in every possible way.  They've been cutting his hours at work.  Fortunately we budget for his minimum pay, so we are doing just fine.  But when you're getting a lot less than you're used to it is difficult because you question every purchase, even if it's just a $1 drink at McDonalds.  As much of a negative as that might be, it's also something I love about us.  We are very responsible with our money, a trait I chalk up to my parents.  And a trait that I would guess Jake would chalk up to me.  Not that his parents aren't great with their money, it just took Jake until he was a little older to even begin to want to be responsible with his money.  LOL. Just a funny side note: when Jake got a very large settlement from the bad accident he was in in High School, a majority of it went to always taking his friends to Nakatos and buying for everyone... not the smartest financial move, though I'm sure it was probably fun.  There was about one fourth of the money remaining when I came into the picture so it was put to good use (money towards a down payment on our first house and my rings).

What a tangent I went off on.  Back to what I was saying, he is amazing!  And he has such a desire to be a provider for our family that even though they are cutting his hours he is finding odd jobs to do to come up with the extra money we need for Christmas presents this year.  Also he is spending time cowriting, as he has been doing for the last few months but now the artist he's been working with is in the studio so Jake's been going in to be a part of that.  But again, a testament to his amazingness... although he goes straight from FedEx to the studio, he still tries to leave the studio early enough to get home and see his daughter before she goes to sleep.  He is such an incredible Dad.  He'll be in the studio next week too to be with another artist that has hired him to cowrite.  Jake is so extremely musically gifted that it's nice to see people taking notice.  And it's also nice for him to have that musical outlet since his band ended like 3 years ago.

Stevie- What's going on with me?  Just the usual really.  Being a Mama and best friend to little Raeleigh and working around the house.  I've FINALLY started painting my desk.  It will be finished being painted by tomorrow night, I'm making that promise to myself.  And I got some bookshelves to put up in the office too.  They're just cheapy shelves from WalMart.  I may eventually get nicer ones but in the meantime I'm desperate for the storage!  My job is going good.  I'm still just working 3 days a week at the Law Office.  Boy was I ever fortunate to find this job, I really enjoy it.  Can you believe I've been here for 3 1/2 years now?

Raeleigh- My amazing Rae Rae!  She's hit the point now where she will say almost anything I ask her to.  Or at least attempt to.  She is learning SO much!  Our favorite thing to do is animal noises.  We do them every time we're in the car.  I'll ask her what the animal says and she'll answer me.  She knows duck, cow, doggy, sheep and owl.  I love when she does the cow noise she says BOOOO.  She replaces the M with a B and says it with such force. So stinkin' cute.  My Mom was in town last weekend and she taught her how to praise Jesus.  When you say "Praise Jesus" she'll get a big smile on her face and lift her hands up high.  Love it.

Well there's your Turner update, hope you enjoyed. =)

Our Little Getaway

Well Jake and I just had a nice long vacation.  We spent over a week in St. Louis.  We relaxed which was nice but we also got out and enjoyed some fun activities.  We went to the Zoo. Where we determined Giraffes were Raeleigh's favorite.

And we went to the Science Center. Which wasn't as cool as it used to be but was still really fun.

We also visited my Grandma over in Illinois.

And then Jake stayed with Raeleigh while my Mom and I went to the StL Joyce Meyer Conference.  It was great!  Though I knew it would be.  I can really feel God working in my life.  I'm pretty sure He's even put a calling on my life.  So now I will be in process of making that a reality.  And as it comes to fruition I will share what it is.
God's just been doing so many wonderful things in my life.  He's helping me to be a better wife, a better mother, better at caring for our home and managing my time wisely, just all in all a better version of me.

As far as home projects go... not too much has been done since we've been out of town, but over the last couple days I've FINALLY sanded my craigslist desk.  My plan now is to prime it this weekend then paint as soon after that as I can.  Pictures to come.

The Pay Off

After 2 months straight of nonstop working on the house and getting ready for Raeleigh's birthday. We finally had the big pay off. A very fun and successful birthday party at the new house. Not everything was done. There are still 2 bedrooms that need painted and lots of decor that needs to go up. But everything that mattered was done and looked pretty good I think.

Raeleigh's party was SO fun! We had at least 50 people there. Actually if I counted right we had exactly 50. It was really neat to see all the baby girls there. It's crazy how so many of our friends have baby girls that are all within a year of Raeleigh.

Here is a video of the party. http://vimeo.com/26276211 Enjoy.

You know what's so great now?... Now I can just relax and enjoy my house. It seemed like we were doing project after project with no down time. So these last couple nights we've just sat on our couch eating all the party leftovers and watched TV. And Raeleigh got so many great gifts she's just been playing so much going from one toy to the next.

Next I will be focusing on getting up some decor in the house and I will post more before and after pics. Stay tuned!

Independence Day!

Always my favorite day of the year! I love it. I love the feeling of family and togetherness. I love the patriotism and I love all the fun that comes along with the 4th. Jake, Raeleigh and I spent it in St. Louis this year with my family. We went shopping at the mall where Raeleigh rode on her first carousel.


We went swimming at my brothers subdivision pool.


And we had a delicious cookout dinner at my parents house where we shot off a few fireworks. Its funny how nothing phases my kid. Seriously nothing scares her. Shes awesome. So tough. Absolutely ADORE her!

Speaking of kids, I heard an amazing thought from Pastor Brad Riley at Faith Chapel this past weekend. He was telling us a story about how he would always reference his daughter is service and talk about how rambunctious she is. And how she's crazy and so on.... until one day a member of the church went to him and said he wanted him to be aware of how much he said that stuff. And with as much as Pastor Brad preaches on speaking positive things over our lives he may want to know he wasn't doing that in her case. He said it was a wake up call to him and he instead spoke over her how sweet she was, etc... And trust me if you knew her you would know she is absolutely sweet! Actually after service she came up to me while I was holding Raeleigh and she hugged her and gave her kisses and played peek-a-boo with her.
To put it in an example you may be able to relate to.... if you have a kid you've probably heard "Oh wait until they're this age, they'll drive you crazy." or "wait until they're a teenager, they'll be out of control." Why would you speak that over a child's life? I personally have always been annoyed by those comments for that very reason... why would you even say that? But God did put one thought in my head... Jake wasn't always the best kid, he got in trouble a lot. And we always say how we are going to reap what he sowed. But you know what? That is so untrue. Raeleigh is her own person. She is the girl God created her to be so why would we pigeonholed her to that? I will from now on be sure to only say what an amazing, wonderful girl she is and will grow up to be.
You know people always said "You wont want her crawling for along time, it'll change your world." They said it in a negative way. How it will be hard because she'll get into everything, etc.... Well she's been crawling for months now and I love it. Yeah she opens cabinets and pulls things out. Yeah she can race to the other side of the room while my back is turned for a second. But I love it! I'm so proud of her. I know she's learning and exploring. Yes it's a whole new world, but that's what parenting is. I hear it now with walking, but I say bring it on. It's going to be great!
Very long story short... your words carry authority.
I challenge you to go listen to/watch the sermon, it was PHENOMENAL!
Go HERE to watch it.

And again speaking of Miss Raeleigh Elizabeth. Her birthday is this weekend! My family is coming to town (minus my brother who will be out of the country for work) and staying with us. And the party is on Sunday. We are having it at the new house, it should be a blast! But of course this means I have only a couple days to get everything ready for the party, for guests and I even have 2 bathrooms left to paint. But I'm up for the challenge! So excited!