I Cross My Heart: Todd and Dana's Wedding

Saturday, October 18th was a very special day. Todd and Dana said, "I Do." Russell and Todd are best friends and have known each other for so long. He was so honored to be in Todd's wedding.

Jackson was so excited to attend his very 1st wedding! He was so happy during the ceremony that he was squealing! :)

The wedding party rode on a tractor and trailer.

Russell took this picture of Todd before the wedding. He was so excited!

This was such a neat idea. The rings were attached to this piece of wood. So cool.

Father of the Groom. We love Bo!

A rose in memory of Todd's mom, JoAnn. She was definitely looking down on him during this special day.

Dana right after the wedding! So pretty!

Love this picture of such a happy couple.

Beautiful rings on the bouquet.

Kylie is so sweet!

Family pic! It was such a perfect day for an outdoor wedding!

Wrangler shirt and of course the boutonniere. Yes, that's fresh flowers in a shotgun shell. :) That's so Todd! It was right up his alley.

It was SO great to see Tara and her sweet girl, Dixie!

Russell and Tara have known each other since grade school and we went to college together. Love this of us with our babies.

Sisters! Jackie, Phyllis, and Connie. Jackie was such a huge help for the bride and groom. She did a lot of behind the scenes things. :)

Mama helped so much with Jackson.

Jackson's serious face cracks me up. I think I have figured out that when he is around a lot of people, he just observes...a lot! :)

Just a random picture of the bouquet on a tractor.

Some of the wedding party.

Cake! I love the sign above the table. Dana did a great job!

So exciting!

Jackie and Ricky with sweet J.

Tara and Dixie. Little Dixie loved the votive candles!

Friends!

Love this picture!

I took Jackson home a little early, and Russell stayed a bit longer.

Look at that bonfire! We are so happy for Dana and Todd. I have known Todd for as long as I have known Russell-almost ten years! We are so glad Todd found Dana!

But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love, for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble. Psalm 59:16

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

Pumpkins, Pumpkins!

Fall, Fall, Fall! Let me say for the 5,000th time that I LOVE FALL!

This little baby boy loves Fall too. See his lil jack-o-lantern sleeper?

As y'all know, we adore the Arkansas Razorbacks. Even though we lost on Saturday, Jackson wanted to show love for the Hogs. Woo Pig Sooie!

We went to church this morning and went to our Sunday School class social this afternoon.

Kelli planned the fun event and it was so fun. Jake and Kelli are such sweet friends of ours.

The class met for a couples pumpkin carving contest and chili cook-off.

Carving pumpkins is hard work!

Emily and Cori are so fun!

Ashley and Lucas are so cute! They are expecting their 4th baby in April! We are so excited for them! Look! Another "photo bomber!" :)

Russell is such a great pumpkin carver. He chose a Razorback design. I would have loved to help him, but it was pretty intricate and looked hard. I stick with the simple designs. :)

Kimberly and James. James is an art teacher and he also carved a Razorback pumpkin.

These are awesome Hog pumpkins!

Russell tied for third place and James got 1st place!

Everyone did a great job!

So creative!

There was so much chili. Everyone tasted each pot of chili and voted on which one was the best. It was amazing how much each one tasted so different, but tasty! :) So glad I made the recipe my mom gave me from a family friend years ago. I make it every year. It's a great recipe because it got 2nd place! :)

Our Life Group (Sunday School) class!

I love him!

Ashley and me!

It got pretty chilly outside. Fall is definitely here, y'all!

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide in the shadow of the Almighty. Psalm 91:1

Lessons on Motherhood So Far

Motherhood has taught me so much in just five and a half months. I thought I would share what I have learned so far about being a mommy. So here are a few things in random order.

On delivering baby:

It's always good to be prepared, but if you have your hopes set high to deliver naturally and end up having a C-section, remember it's OKAY. I wish I had more knowledge about the C-section beforehand, but I didn't. Basically, my advice is, it may not be EXACTLY what you planned.

On feeding baby:

It's not the end of the world if you don't nurse or physically cannot nurse.

I tried to nurse Jackson for about a week before I finally decided to bottle feed. It was definitely a challenge and the most emotional thing. The more I thought about the pros and cons about it all, we resulted to the bottle. It's definitely personal preference. For us, it was so much easier to mix that Similac in bottles, warm it and that's it. :) Jackson is happy and we are happy. That's our goal.

On changing diapers:

Change the diaper QUICK, because the baby will definitely pee on you. Many times. HA! I've learned from experience. Secondly, it has to be said. Blowouts WILL happen! Just laugh it off after baby is changed. HA!

Also, changing Jackson's diaper is good bonding time for us because he looks up at me while I sing songs, recite "five little monkeys" or "five little pumpkins," and make him laugh.

On baby clothes:

Babies grow. Fast. Of course it's a necessity and need to have clothes for newborns, but once Jackson hit three months old, he has been growing like a weed.

All brands vary in sizes. Carter's brand fits different from Little Me, Gerber, etc.

On baby's schedule:

I totally recommend BABY WISE!!! I didn't follow BabyWise until Jackson was a little over two months. He slept in the Fisher-Price Rock 'n Play in our bedroom. He really loved it, but then he kept waking up several times a night, I realized he was eventually going to grow out of it, and we definitely wanted Jackson to get good use out of the crib. He sleeps through the night, which I think every parent rejoices when that happens for the first time. Can I get a "Hallelujah!"

On traveling with baby:

It's obvious that you need plenty of diapers, wipes, and formula for the road. I guess my main advice for traveling is to not rush getting to your destination. Jackson is a very good traveler as far as I know. We have taken him on a few road trips and he has been very happy and sleepy during the trip. I like to pack plastic sacks and plastic Ziploc bags in case we need them.

I will try to update this every few months on my own "lessons on motherhood," but I will say it has been the most joyous five and a half months of my life as a wife and mom. There have been crazy moments, and there have been hard moments, but most of all, it's all been wonderful, special, and so memorable. I never knew how much I would love Jackson until I met him and held him for the very first time. I try to make the most out of every day and that's a big key. Give everything to God and He will help you for sure! :) Happy days!
 

So...that's it for now, Mamas! :) Most of this info was a helpful reminder for myself, but I hope I helped a little bit. Sometimes it's easy to forget the "obvious" things about having a baby. It's good to be reminded about these things. :)

May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance. 2 Thessalonians 3:5