Mer's Like Totally Awesome 80's Surprise Birthday Party

So on August 30, I turned 30!!!

It has been a great few weeks in my thirties thus far and looking forward to more fun and adventures for sure! I was looking forward to by birthday weekend because anytime spent with Russell and Jackson is time well spent. Our plans were to maybe go eat somewhere, family time, and go to church. I was very surprised on August 29th, when Russell and friends helped throw an 80's surprise birthday party for me!

Here's how it went down:

Russell told me earlier that week that one of my best friends, Mandy, was coming to babysit Jackson so we could go on a date night. First I thought that was extremely sweet of her, and I just went along with Russell's plan. "I'm just here to babysit," Mandy said. :) We had a date with just the two of us at Abuelo's Mexican restaurant. It was SOO good!!



I walked in our front door, and I was so surprised to see balloons, 80's decorations, and Mandy's daughter, Eden right by the door. :) When I walked around the corner, there were my amazing friends! OH my word, it was so fun to see them and such a surprise!

I got such a huge kick out of the cake! It's a cassette tape with an 80's mix. 

I thought this was "totally cool!"

Then, minutes later, my sister, Kelly, and my nephew and niece walked in the door!! OH MY WORD!!!! I was brought to tears for sure. I cannot say enough how much I love them.

Oh, how I sometimes wish Logan and Lauren could be little again, like Jackson. ;) 

Me and my boys! Love love love.

My whole heart! 

Helping me blow out the candles. Precious moments.

Mandy actually decorated and everything while we were on the date. So sneaky and sweet. :)

A fun and totally 80's group pic!

Mandy, Kelly and me

Meredith, Kelsey, and Kari with her sweet girl, Rylie

Lauren even fixed her hair the 80's style. 

Chad and Logan chatting

*Disclaimer: The big white box is actually a cheap babyproof from the fireplace. EEK!

Carolyn, Etta and me! 

Russell and I are so beyond blessed by Mandy, Chad, and their kids. They mean the world to us!

More decorations

So funny! Mandy attached pictures to VHS tapes!

This pic makes me wanna sing, "I think we're alone now" by Tiffany! Too funny!

Family picture!

 

It truly was a wonderful night with family and friends. I love them so very much!

 

I will praise you forever, O God, for what you have done. I will trust in your good name in the presence of your faithful people Psalm 52:9

Date Night, Farmer's Market, the Duggar's, and a New Princess

Of course I am catching up on the blog, but better late than never, right? So here's an update from two weekends ago. It was pretty memorable, so I had to document it.

 Friday night was date night for us! We were so pumped for a date night. We try to make it a priority to have one date night a month. Russell took me to one of our favorites for dinner, Venesian Inn!

 We also went to Crystal Bridges and saw the Van Gogh to Rothko exhibit. What fun!

This was a cool extra at the exhibit.  

 The next thing we did was stop by the buckyball.

 It lights up at night in every color and it's almost therapeutic to watch. Pretty neat!

 Saturday morning, we woke up early and headed to our local farmer's market! Jackson looked very handsome and like a big boy in his hat!

 Me and my baby boy.

 Gorgeous snapdragons.

 Beep, beep! Jackson in Sam Walton's red truck. :)

 So fun.

 When we got home, I watched on CNN and livestream the royal baby footage! I was pretty giddy, to say the least!!! I am so excited about the new addition.

 To celebrate, we even got Jackson the movie, Paddington. :) It came with a plush teddy.

On Sunday night, our church had about 20 special guests come, The Duggars!

They had special music and shared their testimony. It was so good. 

We even got to meet Michelle, Jim Bob, and many others. They truly were so kind and happy to be at our church. 

Anna and Josh were so sweet, too.

Jana and Joy Anna were precious. 

We also met Jessa and Ben, who got married at our church. All of them were incredibly genuine, authentic, sweet people who live for Christ. So inspiring. It was wonderful!  

That Monday, I was thrilled to find out the royal baby's name! Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana of Cambridge. I may have teared up a little bit, to be honest. HA!

Needless to say, it was a wonderful few days!

 

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. and be thankful. Colossians 3:15



A Trip Down South

Last weekend we headed  to South Arkansas for a wedding and to see family. I took so many pictures that I decided to write two separate posts.

Friday, we hit the road early in the morning because we knew we would have to stop a few times for Jackson.

We stopped to feed Jackson at Two Rivers Bridge and it is beautiful there.

The bridge!

My little traveler. :) He did pretty good considering we were in the car for a while.

I was thrilled to see my wonderful sister, Kelly, in her classroom! It was Jackson's 1st time to visit "Aunt Kelly's" class. :)

She gave Jackson a fire fighter hat. I think he looks adorable! Thank you, Aunt Kelly!

Kelly is the best aunt to Jackson. Love seeing her play with him!

Kelly's class just loved playing with him. They were so sweet.

Russell and I were SO excited to be able to take Logan and Lauren to lunch. Their choice was PIZZA! What else? :) *Yes, I know the lighting in the pic is bad, but it was cute of the cousins!

We loved Kelly and Eric's fall decorations and mums!

Friday night, we went to Todd and Dana's wedding rehearsal and dinner. They served fried fish, fries, and hush puppies. Oh, and of course, it's not a Southern affair without sweet tea! I'll post about the wedding very soon! :)

Saturday morning, Mamaw and Papaw Price surprised us and stopped by to see Jackson. He has grown so much since they saw him back in June. We enjoyed visiting with them.

Mama and I got to visit my Mamaw (Daddy's mother) and she met Jackson for the first time. I told her, "This is your great grandson, Jackson." She was so tickled to meet him. I really thought about Daddy a lot when we were visiting Mamaw. Miss him so much. It was really good to see my grandmother, though!

Jackson and I gave Mama (KK) her late birthday present! Sweet of KK and her second grandson.

Post wedding:

Connie, George and Phyllis came to Jackie and Ricky's house to visit and they were tickled to see Jackson in his pumpkin sleeper. :)

Mamaw Lawson, Russell and Baby J.

It was great to see them!

*Disclaimer: I totally forgot my dress pants for church! Woops!

We went to church with Jackie and Ricky on Sunday morning and we got to see our best friends, Haley and Keith! We have been friends for years and they truly are special to us.

It took a long time for us to get home on Sunday but we were glad to be home. There's no place like home even after a special time with family and friends.

Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6