Summer Firsts

It has sure been a special summer so far. I hope y'all have had a great one as well. Having Jackson is only making it more fun!

Guess who is 2 months old? This little bear! He had to show off his summer hat for y'all! He is my favorite, I cannot say it enough. :)

We got a snow cone the other day and I was only wishing Jackson could taste it. :) It was really good!

Also, we went to Cracker Barrel on Saturday and I had to have this yummy raspberry lemonade.

We love Cracker Barrel so much, I had to document Jackson's first time there. He slept through it all!

Sunday was special because it was Jackson's first time at church! He wore his adorable Noah's Ark bubble. What a sweetie.

Monday afternoon, Cindy and Avery came by to see us! We really are so thankful for our friends coming by to visit! It means so much!

By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honour and life. Proverbs 22:4

Special Dinner Guests

This summer has been great so far. My cousin, Parke got married on May 25th in Georgia. We did not get to go to the wedding and we really wanted to see them soon after. We are so glad they live in NWA, so we had them for dinner on Thursday night.

Parke and Anna are the cutest and sweetest couple. They were happy to meet our sweet Jackson.

Aww!

Anna, Parke, and my aunt Molly. So sweet!

My mom, sister and lots of family members did attend the wedding, so Kelly sent me a few pictures from the wedding. I love this one for sure!

Russell and I are so happy for them and wish them the very best. It was great to catch up!

Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:7-8

Russell's 1st Father's Day

I am finally getting caught up with the blog updates! Russell had a great 1st Father's Day with us. Jackson was so sweet as always on Sunday. Russell picked out Jackson's outfit for the day, his cute airplane onesie and matching socks, of course!

Russell and Jackson, father and son. Oh I love these guys!

We gave him a grill pan from Cracker Barrel and buckeye candy. Russell is such a great cook and awesome at the grill for sure.

Our family!

Russell wanted to cook for the special day, so of course I let him. We had the best dinner: rib-eye steak with blue cheese sauce, sweet potato fries, and delicious banana nut cake with caramel icing! Everything was wonderful. Next year, I will definitely be happy to cook for him. :)

Here is a picture I posted on Instagram on Father's Day. I cannot wait to tell Jackson all about his WONDERFUL JJ!

I will leave y'all with these adorable pictures. Jackson loves to smile!

My heart melts! We love our sweet baby boy!

Russell is such a wonderful father to our son. Just watching them together brings me much JOY!

The man of integrity walks securely, but he who takes crooked paths will be found out. Proverbs 10:9

KK, Kelly, and the Cousins

Last week, family came to NWA! We could not wait for them to get here.

Lauren, Kelly and Jackson. Kelly got to meet Jackson after he was born, but did not get to spend as much time with him as she wanted to because of  work. She's a great teacher, and her kiddos needed her back. :) She was so glad to spend time with her nephew!

Lauren and I made chess cake together. It was really easy and yummy too. We are sporting those aprons. :)

Laurie and her sweet girls got to meet Jackson too! Emily and Sarah Kate also held him and they were awesome!

Tuesday night, my aunt Molly and cousin, Emily came! Emily was so glad to meet her new cousin. :) It was great to catch up with them. 

Lauren made a "tent" for Jackson and put the blanket over his swing. So fun!

We gave Jackson a bath on Wednesday night and Aunt Kelly loved putting lotion on him. Kelly is so good with babies!

We also had Pioneer Woman's "flower pot desserts" after dinner, too. They were too fun to make!

KK was so happy to see her grandson again. I love seeing her hold him and play with him.

I can't wait to see what shenanigans these two will be up to in a couple of years! :) So sweet!

How awesome is this?!?

Three generations

We love Aunt Kelly!

Beautiful Boy

Jackson loves when Russell comes home to see him!

We had a very laid back, relaxing time together. So thankful for our family and love them lots!

You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word. Psalm 119:114

Sweet Summertime

Sweet summertime is now here, y'all!

My cute little baby boy is lovin' the sun!

Jackson also loves his "lovie bear" and it's too cute for words.  

We recently had a few friends come to see Jackson and visit.

Laynette loved holding Jackson and meeting him for the first time. We love her lots!

This lil sweetie came with her sweet Mama, Kelsey the other day. Abbey Claire is so fun and sweet at 4 months old!

Abbey and Jackson already "holding hands." This was Jackson's first official play date. HA!

Amy, Tony and Leighann came over for lunch last weekend and spent time playing with Jackson. Leighann helped me with the baby swing and turned the music on and mobile too! :)

We love having friends over to visit.

Hopefully, I will get in the groove of blogging more frequently. :) More updates soon!

A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24

Two Little Duckies

Last week, Russell's work honored two sweet babies, Ava Claire and Jackson. I was so excited to take Jackson to Daddy's work for the first time.

A sweet co-worker made this cake. I loved the ducks on the cake! How adorable!

The table was too cute!

Boy, oh Boy! We also enjoyed lunch there. It was great to see many of Russell's friends and co-workers.

My two favorites!

Bo, Jennifer, Ava Claire, Russell, me, Jackson.

So special.

What sweethearts!

Jackson at Russell's desk. He helped Daddy at work. HA! Not really. Daddy had a meeting and we had to get home for Jackson's nap. ;)

We are so very grateful for Russell's boss and co-workers. They are so awesome! It was so sweet of them to have Jackson and I at the office. We had a good time.

Jackson is growing up. He is eight weeks old. I take a big gulp every time I say that. He is the sweetest baby and being a mom just gets better every day! I cannot be more happy!

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14

Extra Special Visitors

We had extra special visitors come a couple of weeks ago. I was so glad when Emily and Kim came to meet Jackson and visit with Russell and I.

We were so ecstatic to see each other!

Emily and Kim are two of my very favorites in the world! They held Jackson and kissed him lots. :) I told Emily that I wish she lived here so she could babysit Jackson. :)

Russell, Jackson and I went to dinner with Kim and Emily at Table Mesa. It was Jackson's first time "out to eat" with us. He was asleep most of the time and hardly made a peep.

Kim and Emily on the square after dinner. We enjoyed walking around together.

Emily is studying Elementary Education at OBU. She loved this wall art that children in the area drew and colored. It was made into tiles and is displayed downtown.

We also went to the buckyball in front of Crystal Bridges.

Jackson making faces.

The next day, Kim, Emily, and I went to lunch at Crumpet Tea Room. They loved it just as much as I do.

Too fun!

They loved meeting Jackson. He was so good with them, too and hardly cried any.

Thank you, Kim and Emily, for coming all the way from South AR to visit us! We love you!

That Friday, Russell's parents, Ricky and Jackie came for the weekend. They babysat Jackson for us so Russell and I could go on a date night. We went to see this movie:

It was SO SO good!!! If you haven't seen it, go see it soon. :) We also had yummy pizza for dinner. Always good. :)

We enjoyed spending time with Ricky and Jackie and of course, they loved holding Jackson and playing with him. He's pretty cute, I have to say. :)

Jackson loves them lots.

Too sweet.

We went to Babies 'R Us in Joplin on Saturday. It was a fun little road trip. And the first time I changed Jackson's diaper in the car-dirty diaper of course. HAHA! We laughed the whole time.

Soon, my family will come see Jackson and I can hardly wait! Hope y'all are having a great Summer so far!

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. Romans 12:3