“Life gives us brief moments with another…but sometimes in those brief moments we get memories that last a lifetime.”

2010 was chock full of those type of moments.

Brief  little pockets of time that swept down, wrapped us all in their warm grasp, and then left us changed for a lifetime.

We celebrated with MJ’s mom as she turned 90 years old. 

We hosted a Mystery Dinner Party and laughed until the tears rolled.

We spent lots of time doing fun things with the little people that make our life so GRAND!

We celebrated the major milestones…

and the tiny sliver of moments that took our breath away.

We welcomed new family members with joy, and we said good-bye to others who left  footprints on the pathways of our hearts.

We enjoyed time with friends, drinking in all the joys that come with these type of friendships.

We cruised the deep, blue sea…

and enjoyed road trips with our nearest and dearest.

We had epic sleep-overs, complete with McDonalds, popcorn, and movies, with all the littles in our life.

We took in Game 5 of the World Series…and had so much fun that we didn’t even mourn when the Rangers lost that night.

Most of all, we lived a year full of loving this family. The family that God has so mightily blessed us with.

2010 was an amazing year, filled to the brim with amazing people, amazing events, and amazing moments.

Moments that have left us forever changed. And forever grateful that lived them.

Independence Day may very well be one of my favorite holidays, second only to Thanksgiving.

There is just something about our country’s colors – red, white, & blue – flying with pride and joy everywhere you look that fills me with excitement.

Our church hosts an annual Celebrate Freedom day that is always a great time for families.

Mike and I spent a good part of the afternoon in lawn chairs next to one another, watching a half-dozen teams battle it out for first place on the sand volleyball courts.

Poor Mike.

I think it may have been the heat that somehow tricked his tongue into saying the. most. WRONG. thing. EVER!

MIKE: “Hey, you want to trade chairs?”

ME: “That’s okay. I’m good.”

MIKE: “Really? ‘Cause this one’s bigger. And sturdier.”

I pushed my sunglasses to the top of my head and turned to him, slowly and deliberately. I promise, folks, you could literally see the inner conversation going on inside of him. I watched it play out in his brown eyes, doing my best to keep my smile hidden, and to put on the most hurt face I could muster up.

I’m pretty sure he was doing some fast praying and I think it may have gone something like this:

Dear GOD! What have I done? Rescue me now from the wrath that is my wife who is sitting a mere six inches from me and from the look on her face she could very well inflict considerable damage to this shell of a man. (Me. I’m talking about me, God.) If you see fit, Lord, please just open up this here ground beneath me and swallow me up, offensive bigger, sturdier lawn chair and all.

And then I had to spoil this reverent moment between him and God by busting out in laughter. Ladies, we know that no husband in their right mind would dare to even think these words, let alone voice them out loud!

Plus, it helped a lot knowing that I’m a tiny woman up next to my husband and – at twelve inches shorter and a good 130 pounds lighter – I’m fairly confident his mouth somehow mixed up what his brain meant to say.

At least that’s his story and he’s sticking to it.

These are our wonderful friends with whom we share Rough Rider half-season tickets. On this night, we had traded in our normal seats for the chance to have four tickets together. It was a great game (I’m pretty sure) but the best part was having Mandy to chat with for two whole hours!