Surprise Visit to Brooke and the Twins!!

On our way to Louisiana James and I were talking about what we should do Sunday before we left. We were talking about going to the beach but than James said hey why don't we go and see Brooke, Tony and the little ones?? I said That is a great idea! They live right outside Jackson, Mississippi so we did have to detour a little more and added 3 hours to our trip but it was so worth it! Lily and Jake are 2 weeks younger than Shaley. I was so happy to see my biggie sissy and her babies as much as I was excited for her to see us and Shaley! We planned on leaving Sunday night and driving half way till we got tired and got a hotel room so the drive wasn't going to be that bad on Monday but we ended up just staying the night there and leaving early Monday morning. It was a very long day! We drove 8 hours and than I had to get to work to close. It was a long long day but so worth seeing them. I think with all that was going on though and being around our nephews Shaley and I are both now sick. So what we ended up doing is surprising them, they had no idea we were coming to see them. That is the best way to do things! We had a hard time finding their place due to their house not being on google maps or the gps so we had to stop at a gas station asking where their road was, no one knew what we were talking about so we found a cop there and asked him, he brought up their names and told us where to go. We finally made it and parked a little ways from their house so they couldn't look out the windows to see who was there. Tony answered the door completely surprised and don't really think he knew who we were at first haha. I asked him where Brooke was and he said in the kitchen, I went around the corner and the look on her face was priceless! She jumped and screamed and gave us a big hug. She kept telling us how shocked she was to have surprise her and actually pull it off. It was so nice seeing them all! They made us an amazing dinner. It was stuffed chicken, salad, chips, dip and broccoli. They were very hospitable. We had a great time though so I am going to share some pictures from our time with them...

Jake being so goofy, he cracked me up

Jake trying to love on Shaley

Playing... they are such good babies!

Lily got up in her inflatable pool they have blown up in the house

Lily and I

Brooke on the floor playing with the babies, so cute

And than of course Shaley had to have her play time too haha

Being cute on the fire place

We took the kids for a walk down to the lake

The daddies pushing the strollers


We put the kids in the baby pool they have in their neighborhood while the daddies fly fished

Look at that smile from Lily

Splashing, Brooke and I were soaked!

Jake trying to get away, he thought he was so big

Playing so good together

A Couple Days With The Barnhill's

So we went to Louisiana to go to Brandon and Drake's Birthday Party. We had a great time! Janell did this party at a Rock Wall place. Watching all the kids was a lot of fun. It was a short trip but still made a fun trip out of it. Thanks to Janell we had a great place to stay and got to hang out with the nephews for a little bit. Here are some pictures from our weekend with them...


Drake at the Rock Climbing Wall

Shaley Climbing on the Wall

Shaley and I at the party

Caden climbing the wall

They had so much fun

The cake Janell made, it was really good!

Blowing out the candles

This was from the morning we were leaving-
Caden, Shaley and I

Brandon, Caden and I

Me with the best nephews in the world! Brandon, Caden and Drake! I love this picture!!

Very Long Road Trip to Louisiana

Wow! So this road trip was a long one. James didnt think it was that bad but oh my goodness Shaley was so uncomfortable and not wanting to sit in her seat. The drive to Slidell is around 8 hours. I hate driving anyway so I was not comfortable either. We headed down there for our nephews Brandon and Drake's birthday party. I will have a new post about the party after this one.. I am posting a couple pictures of the road trip of Shaley, She was making me laugh for awhile and for a certain amount of time she was doing ok...

Eating an Oreo

Taking a pic with momma

Had to get a picture of James Driving

Laughing and being silly

Clapping and Dancing

Diaper Head

One of my new favorite pictures

Looking at me all weird haha

Had to get a picture with my hubby, go figure it is a goofy one :)

The Reasons I Love Being A Mommy

Shaley is such a sweet little girl and has the best personality. She lights my day up everyday whether I feel up to it or not. She knows exactly what to do if someone is down. She will come up and give lots of loves and just smiles. She melts my heart everyday. I am so blessed to have her in my life... Here are some pictures from the last week...


I walked into the kitchen to see this little monster of mine on the stool... Goofy butt!

Put your dukes up, she cracks us up because when she puts her dukes up she has to do this straining face as well

Eating a Slushi drink from Sonic

Shaley and I like to go to the Mexican food restaurant and on this day she was feeding her little doggie a chip

She now likes to eat chips and salsa-She is definitely my daughter

Already loves her chapstick like her mommy

She is all girl, loves her purse and cell phone


We got her a new Elmo, She loves Elmo and says it all the time..so in this picture she wanted to show how much she loved him by hugging him tight

Blowing me kisses

Silly Days

Some new pictures of the little princess...

Posing for Mommy


She was being so silly at dinner

She just amazes me, I mean I know every kid does this but she is so big and she makes me so proud. Eating Dinner

Her new thing is to jump out of her closet into her stuffed animals

Mommy and Daughter Day at Dollywood

What a great day this was!!

On Saturday morning I woke up and Casey was here I said "Let's go to Dollywood!" She told me mom won't let me. It ended up being that Mom would not let her go so I said I am going anyway! James had to work the whole day so I did not want to stay in all day when we could get out and do something. So we loaded up and went just Shaley and I. It is nice to get a Mommy and Daughter day! I know I stay home with her all day everyday until work at night but it is very different when you actually get out of the house and do something fun. We got there around 1 and stayed until around 5. We had a blast just the 2 of us! We rode on the ducks, Carousel, and a big train... It doesn't seem like we did much but we definitely stayed busy with the park. I can't wait to go back with James next time as a family. Here are some pictures of our day...

This is right when we got there, Shaley was so amazed as to how much was going on

She got to rid a Duck Ride, I rode in the back seat with her

What a face

Waiting to get on the carousel

I took her on a Carousel and she got to ride one of the horses like a big girl

I love this picture even though she is not smiling

I told her to hold on

This cracks me up!

We went on the big train ride they have around the Smokey Mountains but had to wait before getting on so Shaley took a break to eat a banana

I had to take this picture because she stuffed a big bite of banana in her mouth and her cheek puffed out

Us on the train

I asked her something about what she was looking at and she said I dunno

The train put her to sleep

We went to a show and she sat there and looked at the map letting me know where she wanted to go next

Eating Lunch and being a goof ball


At the end of the day she had to show off what mommy let her get, it was a monkey with a sucker



Being with my baby girl all day was a great way to spend my day! I love being a mommy and every new thing I do with her is so worth making my life so much better!