Happy 31 baby!!

 Next week, Larry and I celebrate 31 years of marriage!! In this day and age, that's kind of a shocker.  

We had a whirlwind romance,  our first date was on my 18th birthday.  We went to Reunion Tower in Dallas and had a big fancy dinner and I was impressed!  We were engaged 3 months later and married 3 months after that.  Larry asked me to marry him on the top of a mountain in Colorado!!  

Larry took me to Lake Louise, Canada for our honeymoon!  Growing up in Dallas, I had never really seen snow before.  Well, in Canada in November, there is a LOT of snow!  We even went skiing!  We stayed at the fancy Chateau Lake Louise, right on the frozen lake.  It was an amazing adventure!  That started my love for travel!!  I was like, there is a giant world out there and I want to see it!

A lot has changed in the last 31 years!  3 grown kids, new son and daughter in law, 4 grandkids!  We moved maybe 14-15 times.  We've gotten to travel everywhere!  Come see our push pin map sometime!

But the thing that's changed the most is my love and devotion to Larry.  I had no idea what I was getting myself into (in general with marriage, but also being married to LARRY KILGORE!😜)

It's been a fun ride and I can't wait to see all the new adventures we take.  It's just the best with you, Larry!!

Happy 31 years!!!  💕🤟  Here's to many many more!

The Holidays are here!!!

The Holidays are upon us already!!!  I haven't even thought about what to get everyone for Christmas or what to fix for Thanksgiving.  

Some of my most favorite memories from childhood are of the holidays.  

Thanksgiving was always at my grandparents house.  She would go overboard cooking and baking for days.  We'd pick the remaining stuff from the garden, start mixing, stirring, cooking and in a few days there would be a FEAST!  My grandma had this giant bar in her kitchen and we'd get it all cleaned off and just start piling the food on! So many yummy memories of her homemade cornbread dressing, gravy, turkey, sweet potatoes, and mashed potatoes. And she'd make these tiny little individual pecan pies! My favorite!

If it was nice outside, we'd go eat out on the porch or if it was cold, we'd gather around the wood stove or fireplace.

Christmas was much the same.  Lots of family and food.  My mom was an only child and we were the only girls.  Seemed like we were the youngest in the crowd too.

Now, we are all grown up and everyone's gone pretty much.  It's sad, you don't really know how much time you have with someone.  

So many things I wish I would've learned from my grandma.  She was a quilter, gardner, painter, canner, beautician and so much more.  I was only 23 when I lost my grandparents.  They never got to know my kids.

Holidays are for family and friends and food. It's a time to put aside differences and enjoy each other's company.  Play games, take walks, sit by the fire.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Praying you all have a wonderful, thankful time and ENJOY!!

The number one rule of womanhood

 The number one rule of womanhood is you never ever ever ask a woman if she's pregnant.  NEVER.  I mean, even if the baby is coming out...don't even hint at it!

We were hiking yesterday and I let this lady ahead of me.  I said "Go ahead, I'm slower".  She said "You're pregnant right?"  

😕😟😠😭😡😢😱

Larry quickly said, no but we have 4 grandkids!  HA!

So the rest of the hike, that's all I could think about.   I eat really good, I exercise every stinking day.  I close all my rings on my apple watch so faithfully.  I guess I could use the excuse everyone else is using right now...pandemic??  I really don't know. I've gained a few pounds but geezzzzzz.

You see, I've birthed 3 kids (granted it was 24 years ago-but still).  That poochy belly is my badge of honor.  It reminds me of the amazing body that God has created.  My body stretched to an enormous size.  And out of that misshapen body, I now have my 3 beautiful grown adult kids now and now my grandkids!

That pooch shows me that I'm not perfect.  I still have work to do.

That pooch reminds me to watch what I eat and to keep on exercising.

But this is my body.  

Words hurt.  I've dealt with hurtful words my whole life.

Words can also change someone's life for the better.

So women,  if you feel the need to say something to another woman, please just say "YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL!"

Or "I Love your hair today!"

Or anything along those lines.   You have no idea where someone is in their journey.  Having babies makes crazy bodies.  But they are beautiful.

Let's be an encouragement to one another at all times.  But especially now.

Kitchen, Bath and floors!

 So I'm a little late posting this but all the condo is DONE!!  It took them about 3 weeks to do it all!  All new kitchen/bathroom cabinets, new backsplash, new quartz countertops, all new floors! The appliances we've replaced over the last few years, as well as all the fixtures.  Our closets were done the first year we moved in (California Closets!!  highly recommend!) 

So we basically have an ALL NEW CONDO!!!  

It's so exciting!  I love it so much and look forward to enjoying it in the coming years!!

If you are looking for a remodel job Home Front Renovations is the place!!  Super personal service, quality craftmanship, great pricing.  Really happy with how everything turned out!  

Something good outta 2020 after all! :)

Your Positive Vibes for the Day!

 The Sun is out!

I'm breathing fresh air.

My heart is beating.

The Lord above is near.

It's cooler outside.

I have life and love.

God's Word is available to me.

It's the weekend.

His mercies are new every morning.

Getting together with friends and family this weekend.

God is good all the time.

My kitchen and bath are all done and things are back in place.

What are you grateful for today?

Dance Dance Dance

Having fun in a marriage is KEY!  It's so easy to get wrapped up in the honey do's, the kid raising, the chores etc.  But how often do you and your honey just go have a fun time?   Just enjoying the moment and each other's company.

Something we do almost every weekend is go out and listen to live music.  Talk about FUN!!  We know a lot of local bands from going around the metroplex every weekend. Just getting out and hearing live music (finally it's back!!)  and then dancing is just so much fun!!!  

Last nite was just such a nite.  As we sat outside, the moon rising over the lake, the band began to play all our favorite Fleetwood Mac songs and we just boogied and grooved.  I hooped, Larry danced, I danced, we danced together. 

Everyone else just sat on the grass in their social distanced circles but here were Larry and I just hooping it up and having a blast!  

There's an old saying, dance like no one's watching--and that's what we did last nite.  The band was playing just for us.  The moon was rising over the lake just for us.  

Life's too short to wait for the next song.

Life's too short to care what other people are going to think about us.

Have a blast together.  

Enjoy each other's company.

Get into the groove.

It'll bring out the kid in ya.  It's good exercise.  It'll relax ya.  It'll bring you both closer together.

It may even bring a smile to someone else's face and inspire them to get up and dance too. 😉

Remodel in progress!

So we've never really lived through a remodel before.  We've remodeled houses before but we haven't lived there when it was being remodeled.

This time, we are actually living in the 800 square feet AS it is being remodeled.  Now that is crazy.

I like order, organization, everything in it's place.

And right now -- everything is NOT in it's place.  It's pretty much a big dusty mess. 

But that's ok, because I know when it's all done--it's gonna look amazing!!

It's kind of like life really.

Life isn't always neat and tidy.  There's problems, broken relationships, hard decisions, fights, arguments and sadness.  It's a big mess at times.  

But we don't just live in that mess.  

There is construction going on.  

There are things being torn down, and things being rebuilt.

New features being added!

And if we can just get through the process...it'll be a beautiful when it's done!  

We work on ourselves, we let God work in and through us.  It's not pretty, it's a little messy and kind of cramped.  But imagine the finished product!

Philippians 1:6 "being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;"

2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."

Yay!!!  I don't know about you but I need to be made new....

And I can't wait to see my new condo!!  (and put everything back in it's place! hahaha!)