a little date with a little girl

This past weekend Evie got to go on a special date with her Pawpaw to the Georgia Bulldogs football game.  She was so excited and wouldn't stop talking about it all week! We pumped her up by watching a couple of YouTube videos of GA football.  Pawpaw showed up with a little tattoo for her to wear and one for Avett too. She left out of here in Pawpaws bright red convertible with the biggest grin on her face, I know she felt special. 

They went to the Varsity before the game and by 9:45 she had already eaten French fries! They went to the dog walk and Evie got a pompom that she wore on her wrist all day.  My dad said she was pretty much perfect, with the exception of one little meltdown the first time GA made a great play and my dad cheered (yelled) it scared her.  After an explaination that it was because he was happy and excited she calmed right back down.

I'm so glad that she is getting to build memories like this with her grandparents. She is already taking about wanting to go again.  Thanks Pawpaw!

(Also I came across these pictures of Evie in a UGA cheer outfit from when she was probably 8 months or so. My how our sweet girl has grown!)

anniversary shoot

I would literally go anywhere John Murphy led.  I trust him with my whole heart and my whole life and everything that we have ahead of us.  I am so proud of him and all that he is doing.  

Tonight he has a meet and greet with a top 10 in the nation accounting firm.  He got his suit dry cleaned yesterday just for tonight. They reached out to him a couple of weeks ago wanting to meet him after seeing his resumè.  We are hopeful for the prospects of upcoming internships next year.  I am so excited for what the future holds.  Most days I just sit back in awe of the man I married.  I am proud to be doing life with him by my side.  

I was so excited to get the rest of our anniversary photos back and I couldn't be happier with how they turned out.  Get ready for a lot of pictures of us.  Oh and we kiss and canoodle...a lot. 

im a wedding girl too

Yesterday Evaleigh was so excited to see me in my wedding dress. I hope she always remembers the excitement of our anniversary every year.  I could see her little wheels turning in her mind with wide eyes of adoration and awe as I glided around the house in my wedding dress.  She asked me over and over to spin in the living room and each time she would squeal with delight.  It's the kind of moment where you can feel, almost tangibly, that a memory is being made.

She asked right away to put on her wedding dress after I tried my dress on early that morning to see how I would get in it, if at all! Last year it zipped up no problem, this year I had a few more Ben&Jerry pounds to answer for. So a cardigan thrown over the back would just have to do.

We spent the morning making flower crowns and she slipped in to her white dress, Cinderella plastic slippers from her Grammy, her blonde hair weave of course, and her flower crown.

She looked in the mirror and exclaimed, "I'm beautiful!" And she was. And is.

The whole day she paraded around saying that she was going to get married.  She went inside her teepee and said it was the temple. That warmed my heart. 

I hope she remembers how special yesterday was for all of us.  How glad I am to have such a full and lovely life with these people. 

I love John Murphy, Evaleigh Joy, & Avett Mills.

f i v e

To five years with my squints.

Life with you is simply more than I ever imagined marriage could be.  You came in to my life as such a surprise a little more than five years ago.  I had plans to leave for a mission and you had plans to go off to Utah for school.  Our paths collided in Georgia and within a matter of weeks we changed everything to be together.  Dating you was electrifying and comfortable all at the same time.  I'll never forget the moment I was riding in Laura Bain's car and you were in Colorado for Christmas and I finally said it out loud, "I think I'm going to marry John Murphy."  

On January 3rd you put a guitar string ring on my finger and asked me to be your wife.  I remember hopping back in the car after you asked my fathers permission and both of us squealing at the tops of our lungs saying how exciting and fun life ahead of us was going to be.  

 I was never more certain of anything and choosing to put my life with yours has been the easiest and best decision I ever made and we've both never looked back.

Thank you for being an excellent communicator, an easy going man, a wonderful listener, an enthusiast for learning, a committed student, an intriguing conversationalist, an everyday comedian, the ultimate tickler wrestler and massager, a spiritual leader, an eclectic and classic music maker, a tender hearted observer, an engaging friend, an exceptional father, a determined provider, and an incredibly sexy husband. And oh so much more...

5 years, 4 moves, 2 babies. Let's just keep on going ok? I love you endlessly.

Love, wife of your life aka freckles

(thank you for keeping our annual wedding clothes anniversary tradition alive)

And a BIG thank you to Whitney Gossling Photography for these shots.

the greatest joy

It is our family tradition to take our children to the temple as their very first outing. We took Evaleigh when she was 4 days old and on Sunday we took Avett when he was just over 48 hours old on the way home from the hospital.  We tell them how grateful we are that they came to our family and bare our testimonies to them that our family can be together forever.   

When we got to the temple Evaleigh took off running in the grass and giggling for her daddy to chase her.  I stood there with Avett in my arms and watched them go all over the temple grounds.  She would stop and point at the temple and smile.  When she came back she brought me a purple flower that she picked.  I couldn't imagine my life getting any better than that moment and my heart was exploding with grattitude for the life my Heavenly Father has blessed me with.  

 

When I originally thought about taking Avett for his first trip to the temple I didn't think about having Evaleigh there.  But as we were preparing to be discharged from the hospital my heart ached at the thought of her not being with us.  So my mom packed her up and brought her to the temple so we could all be together.  That is just how I feel about the eternities.  It simply wouldn't be heaven if my husband and my children weren't all there.  I've always loved this quote by Elder Holland, 

“I don’t know how to speak of heaven in the traditional, lovely, paradisiacal beauty that we speak of heaven…I wouldn’t know how to speak of heaven without my wife, or my children.  It would not be heaven for me.  Now, you can say that’s wishful thinking, you can say, ‘ Well that’s just because you love each other and you’ve gotten cozy here on earth and you like each other’s company.’ It’s a lot more than that.  It's eternal."

 

As I sit here with my 5 day old baby in my arms I feel a warm spirit around us.  The past few days I have felt so close to Heaven with this special little spirit who has joined our family for forever.  I am so grateful for the gift my Heavenly Father gave to me as a woman to be able to bare and bring forth children with my husband in to this world. It is my greatest joy.