8 Years | personal

This year marked 8 years that we have been married.  In some ways, it's been a loooong 8 years.  But most ways, it's gone by way too fast.  There have been quite a few speed bumps we've had to travel over, but we've managed to do it together.  And, last year we got to celebrate our victory over those bumps (completely unplanned, and a surprise to us both, I must say) by renewing our wedding vows at church the night of our 7th anniversary.  It was so powerful for the two of us, and so appropriate.

I can truly say that we are better than we ever were before.  After 8 married years, we've still got the goosebumps -  holding hands - sitting close - silly giggles and laughter that new couples have,  but we've also got the best friends - stand by each other no matter what - respect - and love that only a couple who has been married for so many years can ever have.  I feel truly blessed to have found such a relationship.


Truly blessed.

There was so much going on the weekend before and the weekend after our anniversary that we decided to put off our little celebration until the last weekend of April.  I'm so glad we did, because it turned out to be a beautiful and perfect weekend out on the water.

Usually, when we go camping, we try to book a camp site ahead of time, or at least know where we are going before we get there.  This time, since our little trip was somewhat last minute, we decided to just wing it and find a spot that you are allowed to camp but isn't part of the State campgrounds.  We ended up driving about 30 minutes from where we loaded the boat and finding this peak of an island where nobody else was staying.  And it was perfect!  We had our own little space and the sunset and sunrise in plain view with water surrounding us on three sides.  So beautiful!


As we were unloading our stuff from the boat and setting up camp, I was snapping a few pictures of our little island scene.  I walked back over to where Brian was unloading the firewood from the boat and snapped a photo of it.  When I looked back at my camera screen I laughed so hard!  It looks like he was about to get clobbered with his own wood!  Who threw that at him???  It wasn't me!  I swear!

Isn't it so pretty?  The weather was just perfect too.  Just enough sun to keep us warm, and just enough breeze to keep the bugs away.

As night was falling, Brian cooked us dinner on his portable grill that Stephanie got him for Christmas.  That thing can really cook too!

We decided to go to bed early and wake up around 1am to go shrimping.  When the time came, I really did not want to wake back up and get on the boat for another 30 minute ride away from camp, but I'm so glad that I did!  I had never been shrimping before and it's quite neat to be out on the water that time of night.  Plus, it made Brian so happy that I went without complaining.  He just loves doing these kinds of things and it makes him feel good when he gets to share it with me.

When we got back to camp and ready to head back to sleep, we kept hearing this noise and realized the raccoons were getting into our cooler!  So, Brian got back up, shoed them away and set his boat battery on top of the cooler so they couldn't get into it.  Unfortunately, they had already gotten to our brand new loaf of bread that was meant for our lunches the next day.  As he was getting that straightened out, one of those raccoons was rather aggressive and TRIED TO GET IN THE TENT WITH ME!  I yelled at him and he ran away, but my goodness, what would I have done if he got in there?  Yuck!

After all that excitement, back to bed it was.  And man, did we sleep good!  It was so nice.  Quiet, other than the sounds of the wind blowing the trees and an occasional boat on the water.  When we woke up the next morning, it was so beautiful.  I actually should have taken video, because my photo of what I saw when I woke up just does not do it justice.

After getting up and dressed into our bathing suits, it was back on the water for some fishing.  Brian put a nice Trout in the cooler!

We decided since I wasn't about to eat the rest of the bread that the raccoons left for us that we would drive over to Ponce Inlet and have some lunch at one of the restaurants on the water.

There were dolphin everywhere.  Most of the time they were pretty close to our boat and Brian would slow down so I could take a picture, but the little buggers just didn't want a close up.

Brian being silly.

Our only disagreement for the weekend was weather or not we should leave the rest of the bread for the raccoons when we were leaving.  My thought was that they didn't deserve it because they didn't ask in the first place, why give in to them?  But Brian loves animals much more than I do, I guess.  So here's the bread, all spread out for them to eat.  I do love him for his kind heart. 

Guess I was taking too long getting that photo of the bread.  Brian started to leave me! =)

Brian, thank you so much for this little trip.  I had such a good time and have missed doing this kind of stuff with you. 

Funny, that I was pregnant with Gracey the first time we ever camped together and pregnant again this time when we haven't been camping together in a few years. 

Perfect, our little weekend together.

Wonderful, that we are still loving each other like we did in the beginning.

Marvelous, that we are loving each other even better than we did in the beginning. 

Thank you for all the little things that you do.  Thank you for always holding my hand.  Thank you for all the kisses goodbye in the morning, and kisses hello in the afternoon.  Thank you for all the support when I start getting crazy pregnancy brain.  Thank you for always thinking that I am beautiful.

Thank you for being such a wonderful husband to me.  

I love you so very much.  

Every.  

Single.  

Day.

Love,

Jess

Trimming The Tree | personal

We finally went out and bought our tree.  Although I love the price and convenience of buying a real tree from Home Depot, it took us all of five minutes.  Five.  To walk in. Pick out a tree. Pay for it. And leave.  It was actually kind of sad that it went so fast.  I mean, isn't going to pick out a tree supposed to be one of those treasured christmas moments that you do as a family?  Isn't it supposed to be some kind of fun event that creates a few hours of holiday family time?  Every year I envision us walking up and down isles of trees, taking in the wonderful scent of them, finding that perfect one that says to us, "I belong to the Swatts Family".  But somehow it doesn't happen that way anymore.  There is something to be said for the good old days when life was slower and the things you wanted were not ready in just five minutes ...

Brian must have felt it too because he suggested that next year we find a nice tree farm where we can cut our tree down ourselves.  Now that will be a wonderful holiday adventure to look forward to!

After getting our tree and bringing it back home, Gracey and I spent the rest of the night decorating it, and I must say, I am very pleased with how it turned out.  Her and I make a great tree-decorating team.

All the details:

And a few more decorations in the entryway:

Ok.  So the bible isn't a decoration ...

Our tree topper (as shown above) was made for us last year by Sarah.  I love it!  It's perfect for our snowflake and star covered tree, plus, added bonus, it's super lightweight so it won't be bending the top and falling over.  I just don't get the way they make the tree toppers these days anyway.  What is with that spiral cone?  It doesn't keep the darn thing put!

The tree skirt I purchased a very long time ago before I ever had my own house, before I ever met Brian, before I ever even had my own tree.  It says around the bottom, "No Peeking, No Poking", and although its spot clean only, and getting rather dirty, I can't part with it.  - The first year Brian and I had our own tree, I opened it up out of the package and laughed. out. loud. at those little phrases written on it.  Because, you see, Brian, my wonderful darling husband, is a sneak.  He doesn't like to be surprised, not because he doesn't like gifts or surprises, but because he can't stand the wait!  So it's a very fitting tree skirt for our little family.


Anybody else wait until just a week and a half before Christmas to get their tree like we did?

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Love,
Jess

Christmas Cards | personal

I'm so proud of myself!  I've finished all of this year's Christmas cards.  They are ready to be mailed and it's only the second week of December!!!  - Usually I don't get them all out until close to Christmas. - Why is that, you may ask? ... well, because we mail out sooooooo many it takes forever to prepare them!  And every single year the list grows.

This year there are 100.

Yes, 100.  And I hand wrote every single address!

Now.  I know that there are many of you who will be passing on sending out Christmas cards this year.  Because it does cost money ... and time.  Believe me, there have been years when I have just wanted to skip it too.  ...  But, when I see Great Uncle Frank, and he walks me into his office to show me where he hangs our photo christmas cards every year, and tells me how much he loves getting them ... and Dad hears from his old friends, Ron and Dana and they tell him that it is so nice to get a card from us every year ... that makes it all ... well. worth. the effort.

Because, after all, family is so very important to me and I want them to know that even if we live on opposite sides of the country, or life gets in the way and we haven't had time to go see them, I still think about them all the time and love them dearly.

Love,
Jess

Horses | family

My sweet girl loves horses ... Loves them!

Here are a couple from our trip.  More to come soon!

I ordered this one larger to hang in her room.  So sweet. =)

Halloween | personal

So, I'm only blogging about Halloween over a week later.  My excuse?  I didn't want to compete with every other Halloween blogger who blogged the day of, or the day after.

Ok, ok ... that's not the real reason why.  But it sounded good, right?  I'm late.  Its a common thing that happens on this blog.

We actually had a pretty quiet Halloween this year.  It was somewhat sad for us because our neighborhood is usually buzzing with tons of costume-clad candy lovers.  We didn't get too many Trick-Or-Treaters to our house although there were quite a few out and about.  I guess, bad housing market = half the neighbors there once were participating in the festivities.

Gracey had the idea that the three of us should be police officers this year.  But ... I procrastinated on making any firm decisions.  Then it got to be too close to Halloween and piecing together two adult police costumes and one child police costume was just going to be too much work.  So, Brian and I settled for being Gracey's prisoners.

And she was all for it!  What kid wouldn't want the chance to lock up her parents?

As we walked around the neighborhood letting Gracey gather her candy we got lots of compliments on our costumes.  I guess we did kind of make a funny sight to those people who answered their doors to find that the cops were the ones banging ... and an even funnier sight when they looked out and down their driveways to see two prisoners handcuffed and waiting on their captor to get candy.  So, needless to say, even though it was a lot quieter around here on the 31st, it was still fun.

And we have waaaayyy too much candy left over.

Hope you all had lots of fun at Halloween too!

Love,

Jess

Mike, Beth and Dee

Beth and I have been friends for a long time now.  15 years.  Almost sixteen.  I always know how long because her and I became pretty close when her daughter, Deanna, was only a couple months old (and she's going to be sixteen in February).  It's kind of funny that Beth and I have remained such close friends for so many years.  On the outside, we really are nothing alike.

She is loud. And funny. And short.  The baby of her family.
I am quiet.  And shy.  And tall.  The oldest of my siblings.

But we get along well because on the inside we are the same.  We both have huge hearts.  We both care about people deeply and we both love our big families like crazy!

I feel like a pretty lucky girl to have had Beth as my friend this long.  I also feel pretty lucky to have the opportunity to watch her little baby girl turn into an amazing and wonderful teenager.  I'm so proud to say that I have been through so much with Beth, and her with me.  Standing by each other's sides for so many years through so many different stages of life.  We were just young teenagers trying to figure out who we were and where we were going in life when we met.  And now we are both married moms trying to figure out who are kids are and where they are going in life.

I love this little family so much!  And now they are expecting a boy!  I'm so excited for them!

 Beth has raised such an amazing girl.  And they have a really great mother daughter relationship.  It reminds me of how close me and my mom were.

Did I mention that Mike is perfect for Beth?  Ya, he is.  Upon first meeting him you would think that he is a quiet and laid back guy who just lets Beth be Beth, but no, he's not like that at all.  He matches Beth toe-to-toe in her humor and sarcasm.  It is so funny to watch them together.   And he loves her.  A lot.  That makes him doubly perfect for her in my eyes.

Mike is such a great dad to Deanna.  A perfect balance of spoil, love, protection and discipline.

Beth, you are super gorgeous!  I love your beautiful smile, but I also love this look that you get when you are watching people and thinking.

Just look at those blue eyes!  Wow!

You two are so stinking cute!  I love this one!

Mom and her baby girl.  Love.

Between you and Mike, baby Ryan doesn't stand a chance of having any other eye color than some gorgeous blues!

You two are so funny!  I love the looks you give each other.

Handsome Mike.

Gorgeous Dee.  Your eyes are pretty darn beautiful too!

Deanna has been cheering for quite a few years now.  She's a sophomore cheering varsity this year!

Mike, Beth and Dee,  I love you guys bunches!  Thanks for such a fun time taking your photos and thank you again for lunch!  It was a great time.

Beth, I am so glad we have been friends for so long.  We've been through so much together and this year marks moving on to yet another chapter in both of our lives.  Thanks for always being such a great friend.  I can't wait to meet Ryan in February!

Love,
Jess