listen.

This sermon called "The Gospel Demands Radical Sacrifice" by David Platt has wrecked Ben and I...in the best way. I don't want to add a single thing to it - so listen!!

Radical Sacrifice

::shower time::

One of the best parts about being pregnant has been being able to share this time of life with 2 of my closest friends! With all of the crazy change physically and emotionally, I have been so thankful to have family and friends to talk to about it with who have been through it or are going through it and can reassure me that I'm not losing my mind!

Matt and Lindsay found out they were pregnant about a month before Ben and I, which was crazy enough and then a few months later, Julianne and Smith found out they are expecting! Julianne started planning a joint shower for Lindsay and I after we found out the gender of our little ones. Her sweet mom and mother in law also helped host a beautiful shower for us a few weekends ago. It was so fun to officially celebrate the Winter's baby girl and the Wright's baby boy!

Thank you to Julianne, Gretchen, and Creecy for planning such a beautiful shower, our babies are spoiled already!! Also, thank you to each of the friends and family members who were a part of celebrating with us, we are so thankful for you!! 

::nesting::

A few weekends ago I lost my mind. 

I think months of pregnancy emotion came spilling out at once and the only solution was talking about making some progress in the nursery. Don't ask me what happened...I'm just going to blame it on what they call "nesting". 

Well, thankfully, Ben knows how to love me through those moments and started dialing. Within minutes, we had bought a crib! I don't know why but making that decision and being done with the first big purchase for little boy's room felt like a weight had been lifted and we were actually about to start working on a nursery! It made it feel a little more real. 

So a few days later, Pottery Barn called and said the crib had arrived in the store and was ready to be picked up. I drove there in my little Jetta thinking it would be fine, but I severely underestimated the size of a crib. While a teenage boy with noodle arms loaded the crib for an hour, I channeled my inner MacGyver and strapped it down with a bungee cord I found in my trunk...thank you, Ben. 

But I made it home from Durham, crib still in tow. 

Joe came over for some extra muscle

That same weekend, we also chose a paint color. In our defense, these samples all looked gray/blue online...not purple or pink. 

We ended up going with Valspar Sea Salt Blue and we love it! 

Pictures of our progress coming soon! 

lately::through pictures

nan and eli

amos found out he LIVES for paddle boarding

sweet eli loves everyone

lovebirds

growing up and getting loud! 

naturals 

NCSU beat FSU!! 

memory lane with tyler at NCSU

ramblings.

my. mind. won't. stop. tonight.

train of thought...go: 

1. Some of our dearest friends just had their first baby girl!! I cannot WAIT to meet her and to talk to Christina about how everything was and how she's doing as a first time Mama. Ryan and Christina, we are so excited for you two and can't wait to share this next phase of life together, we love Carson already! Check out these 2 babes on their wedding day...those are some good genes right there. 

2. Ben's two best friends - Tyler and Stewart - really more like our best friends. Tyler lives in Raleigh and is going to grad school at NC State, but we rarely get to see him since our lives are so busy and on different schedules. SO our solution is what is keeping me up all night. We are starting a new tradition - 

Monday night Dinner and Downton. Tyler, our little Brit at heart, knows me too well and introduced me to this show last year and my life stopped for a good few weeks while I became obsessed. Can't wait until January and Maggie Smith, my girl! Until then, we'll just have to rewatch every episode :) 

Favorite pic of us 3 - engaged to the wrong man ;) 

Stewart, Stewpac, Stewbic...we're just missing you. Living in D.C. is not as cool as living in the same town as your best friends, ok? Stewart has an ok job in an ok city following his ok dreams....National Geographic and Washington D.C. or Raleigh?? Just kidding we're just sad, this past weekend was a tease because Stew was supposed to come visit but ended up not being able to so this is a shout out to you Pac! We love you! 

3. We got to spend the whole weekend with these two: 

Graham helped a pregnant sister and tired brother out by painting the nursery with Ben while Laney and I got to spend some good BFF quality time together which included pedicures, latte's, and catching up on our favorite TV shows. We also went on a double date to the early premiere of: 

Do yourself a favor and go. LOL's from all 4 of us...and that's not common for Ben at a movie at 10:30pm. 

4. I am 26 weeks pregnant. Everything is going great right now and I am so thankful for second trimester. Baby boy is extremely active...kicking, dancing, flipping, punching etc. all the time. I have my glucose test at the doctor tomorrow so we're praying for a healthy report! 

5. I finished this book about a month ago and I still can't stop thinking about it: 

Thank you Kate and Sally for knowing me and loving me so well and encouraging me to read this. I am still challenged by Jen's words and her heart every day (also still laughing at her sarcasm and feeling like we should be best friends with her). Not sure what it's all leading to, but I'm praying that the Lord would use the desires of my heart and the stirrings in my spirit for his glory. We shall see! 

Well, as I was sitting here finishing my thoughts, a cockroach just crawled literally up my entire body all the way to my face. I screamed bloody murder, jumped out of bed and threw the computer on the floor. It's still working, Ben is still sleeping, and the cockroach lives. I, however, will now be up all night...great. 

DIY:: Daybed

I have been meaning to post about/brag about how handy and crafty my husband is for a while now, so here we go! When we moved into our house last year, we had so many ideas about how to make it our own without breaking the bank...and guess what?? We've actually started making some progress, yes its a year and a half later, but we're taking it project by project :) I hope I can get Ben to sit down with me long enough to explain how we (ok, he) made some of our favorites. I'll start with a project I actually have pictures of...the daybed!

We have a really awkward room off the side of our kitchen that could be a really cool nook or it could be a junk collecting room for our drying laundry. Thankfully, I found some inspiration for a room just like this:

The Lettered Cottage has some awesome design tips and DIY ideas and this was so cool to me that I showed Ben and began begging.

Ben, being the sweet husband that he is, looked up a few tutorials for a day bed design and while I was in the process of writing down every detail and every step, Ben was done reading and knew how to do it after skimming the directions for literally 5 minutes. Thank the Lord for the way Ben's brain works because it would have taken me a full week to even go to the store with a list a mile long to start this thing. So, after a quick trip to Lowe's, Ben started cutting away until he had built what would be the base:

P.S. - please excuse my iphone pics and their blurriness

We decided to paint it white...duh. 

Being pregnant and all...this was all I could help with, and even that was a struggle because I'm pretty sure that's not allowed either. At least I tried...

After letting the 2 coats of paint dry, we pushed the three parts of the base together, added our extra twin mattress and it's bedding, and there she was! 

Since this picture was taken, we have added baskets that my Mom found for us that fit perfectly and really make it look complete. Unfortunately, around the same time that this was built, we adopted this terror: 

She has managed to chew all of the pillows to shreds and even started on the wood of the daybed AND the mattress. It's a good thing she's cute and Ben is more patient than me. We'll probably have to start over on all bedding, but until then...we have a daybed! More to come on this awkward little room and how we decide to decorate! 

August?

Could someone please tell me where the month of August went? I have started this post 27 different times and I always give up because I feel like I've missed too much to catch up on. But here we go, a quick recap of our lives for the past month!

1. Lake with the Wrights

Almost the whole Wright fam (we missed you Austin and Macky) was able to get together for a weekend at Lake Norman. I have to make it clear that I grew up in a beach family and Ben grew up in a lake family- so I was a little skeptical at first as my in laws noticed...mainly Pops. I've been to the lake multiple times before, but Robert is determined to convert me. I have to say, he put up a good fight :) We had perfect weather, kayaks, a boat, a jet ski, wake boarding, Ann's cooking, and family...needless to say, it was a great weekend! Below are my only pictures, I really need to get a new battery for my camera...

2. Lake Lure

For a beach girl, I'm getting pretty exposed to the lake vacation this summer. So, nothing against Lake Norman, but Lake Lure might be one of the most beautiful places I've ever been...

I am so in love with this place after spending one long weekend there. Julia and Braxton invited us on the couples weekend of my dreams. Julia's family owns the house we stayed in and were the most gracious hosts ever - and they weren't even there. They sent us with enough food to feed us the entire weekend and when I say food, I'm talking Tenderloin and her uncle's famous Ribs. One of the best parts about the food, for me at least, was picking it up. On the way, Julia and I rode together and stopped in Shelby, NC. to pick up the food and visit with her Grandma. I don't even know what to say about it, I was fascinated the whole time. She was so sweet, had the best southern accent, and carried on the most hilarious conversation. It was all too much for me when Julia told me one of her favorite TV shows is Desperate Housewives...killed me. I love her. 

Anyway, Lake Lure provided the perfect setting for a lot of relaxing, reading, eating, and laughing. 

3. Atlanta 

We had been talking about making this trip happen ever since we found out NC State was going to play Tennessee at the Georgia Dome. The Wright's are split down the middle with State and Tennessee fans, so obviously this trip was a must. We all met in Atlanta on Friday afternoon, checked into our hotel and followed our leader, "Bulls Eye" (Ben's dad), into the madness. 

The plan was to take the Marta one stop past the Georgia Dome, walk to a well reviewed Mexican restaurant for dinner, then walk a few blocks to the game. Well, the Marta was a nightmare for some claustrophobic members of the family...

But at the stop for the Georgia Dome, everyone, I mean everyone got off. We thought we were being really smart by waiting for the next stop, until we got off and there was literally no one in sight except a man who pulled Robert aside and asked, "Sir, do you know where you are? No, do you really know where you are?" The look on this man's face and the warning in his voice was enough to send Bulls Eye into full on safety/papa bear mode like I've never seen before. It didn't help matters that the next human being we saw said the exact same thing and added a "Y'all need to be careful." Dressed in our tourist, game day clothes, we did stick out pretty bad but we made it to dinner. The game was really exciting and fun for maybe the first quarter. Things started going downhill fast when NC State started playing like wimps and the Stifler's Mom situation with the group behind us took a turn from funny to gross. 

NC State lost, but we still had a full weekend in Atlanta ahead of us. Well, not much was planned besides the game, so where did we end up? Target! Megan gets the best sister in law ever award for helping me register for the baby. She is the best person for the job too because she will tell you exactly what you do and don't need, her straight up honest opinion, and doesn't get her feelings hurt when I say I'm ready to be done :). I'm still working on my shopping stamina, but between Megan and Ann, I think I'll get plenty of practice! After lunch, frozen yogurt, and a short visit with Ben's aunt and uncle, everyone went their separate ways. 

I think if we ever doubted it before, this trip solidified the fact that Ben and I are NOT city people. We went to the best place you could imagine after a stressful, busy, fast paced few days in a big city - Eagle Ranch to visit my friend Sally. When we pulled up to the ranch, it was like my body and my spirit could breathe again. The ranch is such a beautiful place. I don't know that I could do it justice, so if you haven't heard of it, you should read about what an awesome difference it is making in the lives of broken kids and families (http://www.eagleranch.org/). 

Hearing Sally talk about her experience as a counselor, walking the grounds, and meeting some of the staff was so refreshing and encouraging. Later that afternoon we got to take Sally on a little dinner date to keep catching up. Sally is one of the friends in my life that no matter how far away we are from each other, or how different our daily lives look, we will always know each other to the core. I think I forget sometimes how thankful I am for her and how well she knows me. We have truly grown up together. We have witnessed each other's most embarrassing phases, we have fought with each other and for each other, we have eaten raw cookie dough by the gallon, and she is one of the few people in my life that I allow to snuggle with me :). I was reminded of all of this during dinner and both Ben and I were truly thankful for the blessing of her friendship, the encouragement we found in the way she is living her life, and the way she challenges us to live. We love you, Sags!! 

I'm going to have to finish this post later because my eyes are closing and my pregnancy brain is taking over, there is no telling how many typo's and run on sentences are in this post...sorry! Week 25 of pregnancy here we come! More on our weekend travels and maybe some details about the baby/pregnancy...kind of an important detail about our lives right now...will be coming soon!