Amy & Ashlynn's Luau

My best friend Amy is having her first baby next month...due August 15th. Today I had a Luau themed shower for her at my house. We had a great turnout and Amy & Ashlynn got LOTS of fun stuff! She is due in less than a month and we are ALL counting down the days!

FINALLY...a place to call home!

The Dodge's
On December 31st, 2008, Ben and I signed our lives away and bought our first house!!! It was certainly a roller-coaster ride...but it was WELL worth it. Our house is in a great area...one of THE BEST school district in Ocala. It's also right around the corner from my grandparent's house...so that's really cool. I wish that Mamaw was still here...there probably wouldn't be much separation between the two of us though! She'd be here...I'd be there...we'd both be out shopping, TOGETHER! I really miss her. I've gone by the house a few times now and walked around in the backyard and just sat in her old swing. It's really comforting. I know that she would be SO PROUD of me for who I've become and what I've accomplished. I know, I've gotten a litte side tracked. Yesterday was her birthday and she's just in my thoughts right now.

So MY HOUSE! One word...AMAZING! (Yes it totally deserves the CAPS! and the exclamation mark!) It was built in the late 60's and has a lot of character. We FINALLY managed to close on it during my Christmas Break but since it was almost OVER we worked our hiney's off over the course of about 4 days! And when I say we, I mean my ENTIRE FAMILY! We are so BLESSED to have such an amazing bunch of people in our lives. My daddy is TOTALLY my hero! :) All of the work really paid off and the house looks awesome.


The before pictures....

The after pictures...

It's SUMMERTIME!

So...it's been AGES since I've posted anything and I'm kinda bummed because I really like this whole blogging thing. :) HOWEVER, I have 3 HALF-DAYS left of school next week and I'm ready to get my blog on. For now I just want to throw out all of the things that have happened lately and then next week I can start posting pics and catching myself up on all of this stuff! Since October, Ben and I bought our first house. We've turned the thing COMPLETELY around and the house really looks GREAT now! We "adopted" a new kitten and there is a really cute story behind this one. :) School has been LONG but awesome...and we've had TONS of fun things going on. Our school curriculum fair, field trips to The Appleton Museum and Silver Springs, a Luau party, and of course this week...GRADUATION! Not to mention the GROWTH that my children have made recently!!!! Seriously, it makes me want to cry. I can't wait to get started on all of this!