A Visit from our Favorite Canucks!

Last weekend we hosted our friends from Victoria, British Columbia, John and Courtney. John and James both went to Pepperdine Law School together where they became good friends. We went to visit them in BC three years ago and it was one of our favorite vacations. You can re-live it here. We had such a great time there, so the pressure was on to show them a good time in Memphis! James and I have lived here for over eight years and have never done any of the great touristy things that this city has to offer and it was their first time in M-town so it was a weekend full of firsts for us all! 

We started things off at the National Civil Rights Museum. This place was much larger than what I thought and was so well done. If you haven't ever been, go. It's worth it. 

We wanted to do the STAX Museum too but flat ran out of time. We did the Trolley Tour, dinner and Beale Street on Friday night downtown. The weather was even quite bearable for the end of July!

A little Maggie Moo's to finish off the evening!

On Saturday, we headed to Graceland. And it's cool and all, but the price tag is a bit high in my opinion. Probably because I'm really not much of an Elvis fan. Don't get me wrong. I like Elvis and am glad he put Memphis on the map, but I think I'm just too young to really be crazy about him. And I'm glad we went. I think every Memphian should go once to say they've been there and done it. But for $40 I wish we could have seen the upstairs. That's all.

In addition to seeing some of the Memphis sights and sounds, we ate a lot of great food and of course, watched the Olympics! It was such a fun weekend and we are thrilled that it's now our turn to head back to BC to visit them (maybe for a wedding)!

Impossible

It's impossible to get a decent family photo of all four of us...

15 Months

Emery, you are 15 months old, girly! How can my baby be that old? Time is flying by.

We went to the doc this week for shots and a check-up. Your stats are as follows:

Weight: 20 lbs. (10%)
Height: 30.25" (50%)
Head: Down a bit to 65%

You're still a light-weight, but perfectly healthy! And while your weight hasn't changed much in the past three months, a lot of other things have changed since your first birthday. First of all, you are running. I think in an attempt to keep up with your big bro, you've picked up the pace at an alarming rate! You have the absolute cutest walk/run ever. You're always swinging one arm out to the side and just look so prissy walking around like you own the place! Ha!

Our communication with you is really starting to become fun. I'm certain you understand nearly everything we say. When we read one of your favorite books, Mirror Me, you can do everything the book says to do...stick out your tongue, puff up your checks and blow air, play peek-a-boo, etc. It's really stinkin' cute. You're starting to figure out some of your body parts too. I can ask you where your hands are and you hold them up and I'll ask where your feet are and you stick them out and grab them. We're working on some more difficult parts like, tummy, mouth, nose, etc. I'm sure you'll pick it up quickly! And you are learning new syllables all the time. You can now say daddy (progress from just dada), mama, bubba, baby, and mil (for milk).

You're still a champ when it comes to eating and sleeping. You have just transitioned from two naps to one these past few weeks, which has been an adjustment for mommy, but I can't complain. It's usually at least a two hour nap during the day and then you sleep 12 hours at night. Bless you!

This summer you have really turned the corner at Parent's Day Out. There are never any tears when I drop you off and most afternoons when I pick you up, you don't even act interested in leaving. I have to force you. Every Thursday is water day at school and that is your favorite! You are going to be a little water baby! When we go to the big pool you will just dunk your head under, come up for air and choke on a little water, laugh and then want to do it all again and again!

Your big brother is still the coolest kid around. You always want to be where he is and doing what he's doing. The entire day is just an extended game of chase, it seems. One of your new favorite games is turning off the TV or changing the channel when he is watching cartoons. He screams and whines and you just laugh so hard. You love to torment him! We may be in for a long 15 years until he (hopefully) goes off to college!

If you are awake, you are busy. You NEVER stop going and refuse to be held most of the time. You just want to go and go and go! Always into the cabinets and drawers, standing up in your high-chair, standing up on the little table we have in the kitchen, playing in the dog water, pulling the entire roll of toilet paper into the floor, pulling all of the dental floss out of the container, etc, etc, etc. The list could go on and on. You are a MESS but we love you more than anything! You are such a happy girl, you love to laugh and you bring so much joy to our lives! 

We love you, Emmy!!

10,000 Reasons

So, the kids from Highland refer to camp week as "the best week of the year." Now, I know why. I spent a week as a counselor last week and it was incredible. The theme of this year's camp was "10,000 Reasons" which is a new song by Matt Redman. If you haven't heard it before, you can listen to it here. It is worth your time.

Now, I wouldn't say I was roughing it or anything. James likes to remind me that the church camp he went to as a youngster was un-airconditioned, and I must admit that I'm not sure if I would have signed up if those were the conditions. I was in a large air-conditioned cabin with 35 10th, 11th and 12th grade girls. We didn't get a whole lot of sleep, but that's what camp is all about. We were all sharing three showers and two toilets, so that was a bit challenging, but we made it work. The days were filled with lots of activities...early breakfast, team sports, bible class, lunch, SHAFT (Super Happy Afternoon Fun Time), joint guy/girl bible class, free time (slide, pool, lake, etc), lip sync practice, dinner, worship, special activities (usually lots of "dancing"), snacks, devo after the devo and then eventually sleep. Eventually.  I got to know a lot of the teens and a lot of other adults that were there too. Such a great experience. I'll definitely be back next year and hope that James will take a week off from work to join me!

My bed was comfy with a 2.5" memory foam on top!

All four of our MAM boys were there, but I only got a pic of three of them.

Yes, I did go down the slide. Several times, in fact. It was awesome.

I taught 10th grade girls bible class. Such great girls!!

Have I mentioned yet how much "dancing" there was at camp? Well, there was a lot and it was fun! I couldn't get the video camera ready in time to catch any of "The Wobble" but it was a popular choice throughout the week and I now know how to do it, but probably won't get to show it off much in the future. My dance club days are long gone...as they should be!

In addition to dancing, there was also a lot of rapping. I hate that I missed the beginning of CJ's solo because it was really good. Darn iPhone was just too slow!! 

The highlight of the week was on Thursday night, when two of our boys were baptized. An amazing week topped off with an amazing night. James came out and we were able to experience God moving in Mickey and CJ's lives in a powerful way first-hand. All week those two were such great team leaders and I enjoyed watching them have a good time and mature in their faith. God is good! You can see it yourself on the Camp Video!

The verse CJ asked me to read at his baptism.