Too funny!

So last Thursday I had surgery on my shoulder and it has been a pretty rough recovery so far. I do have shoulder pain, but I have been really sick from the medication and had a hard time keeping any food down. They switched my medications over so I'm hoping that it will help. Philip has been taking care of me (I don't know where I would be without him). Last night when he was making some soup for me he brought me out a bowl and it was real thick (looked almost like chili) it was supposed to be vegetable soup. So I just kind of stood there and looked at it and I realized that he made the soup without putting water in it. I started laughing so hard. It cracks me up that Philip doesn't know how to do such simple things (he asked his mom how to make a bowl of cereal once for her), but I'm glad he tries so hard for me. I hope we have many more years of these moments and finding out quirks about each other. I love being married and couldn't ask for a better person to help take care of me during recovery from my surgery.

A brand new birthday.

So this year was my 23rd birthday, but my first birthday as Mrs. Gray and can I tell you if this is what married birthdays are like I can't wait for all the rest. Philip truly made this the best birthday ever and I had so much fun hanging out with him and my family. Philip and I both took the day off from work (a rare occasion) and spent the day together. We woke up and went to Cracker Barrel (which Philip kept saying I have to call my mom and tell her that's where you wanted to go) and then went to a movie (completely free because my husband is an amazing salesperson). After that we went out for dinner with my mom and then headed back to bring 23 in with the rest of my family.




Every year my mom goes out of her way to get me and ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins. My absolute favorite and this year was much of the same. I love that I'm 23 years old and my mom still treats my birthday so importantly. I really do have the best mom ever!



Okay, how can you not love this picture? My nieces and nephew were all so excited to sing my happy birthday, especially Kenadee. Kenadee is my 4 year old fire cracker of a niece. Boy does this girl have a personality! She was so cute and sang louder than anyone else. My other nieces made my adorable handmade birthday cards filled with "you're the best aunt ever." I love all those lil munchkins so much. Thanks everyone for the great birthday party!

My favorite place...

A couple weekends ago, I called Philip up and said, "Let's go camping!" It was a complete last minute thing, but I couldn't have been more glad that we went. My family's property has so much meaning to me and really is my favorite place to go. I remember when my pop bought our property and all the times we would go up there to work on it and now everytime we go up there it reminds me of him so much. This is also the place the place that Philip proposed and that was one of the happiest days of my life, next to marrying him. The stars up there are so pretty, I tried taking a picture, but it didn't work. The best part of the trip is when we got up there and started the fire up to make our hobo dinners and guess what? I completely forgot aluminum foil. There's a cute little cafe about 20 minutes away that luckily made our dinner that night. We still laugh about it now. Here are some pics from the trip.

This is our cute pup Bentley, he loved it up there even though all him and Tootsie wanted to do at night was cuddle up in our hoodies.

My brother gave us a head flashlight to borrow and Philip was highly amused with himself as you can see in this picture. It had a red light feature, so Philip wanted to pose as a devil. What can I say? I truly married a nerd.

How can you not think this is so beautiful? Some of the best views ever!

I had the best time ever just going camping with my Philip. We are on a pretty strict budget with our house and our bills so one night away without having to spend money (sides me forgetting aluminum foil) was well worth it. Philip and I talked and I found out things about him that I didn't know after 5 1/2 years of being together. I can't wait for many more trips with him.

Loved this.

I may not be the most beautiful, or the sexiest, nor do I have the
perfect body. I might not be everyone's first choice, but I'm a great
choice. I don't pretend to be someone I'm not, because I'm good at being me. I might not be proud of some of the things I've done in the past, but I'm proud of who I am today. Take me... as I am or watch me as I walk away!

Happy, happy birthday!

This is the week of birthdays in my family. My mom's is Oct 3, mine is Oct 6, and my brother John's is Oct 7. So to say the least it's a super busy week, but I love it. Sunday we celebrated my cute mom's birthday. Let me tell you about my mom. When I was 4 years old my mom found out she had breast cancer. Instead of giving up, she fought and she fought hard. She wanted to make sure that she was always there for her family. I will never forget that time in my life, I look at my mom now and I am SO proud to call her my mom. She has been so amazing in so many ways. She helped me to go to school, she helped me to move out on to my own, she helped me plan the most important day of my life (so far) and she has helped me with so much more. My mom is always there to talk and to listen. She gives some of the best advice I've ever received and have I mentioned how amazing of a cook she is? She is the best cook ever. I love you mom! Thank you for everything you have and will do for me in the future. I am so glad to be able to call you my mom and more importantly to call you my best friend.

For my mom's birthday she wanted something more than money can buy. Awhile ago I started making a craft for her that I had yet to finish. I needed more than one person to accomplish it and never really found time, but my mom said that was the one thing she wanted done and finished for her birthday. So after church we went to her house and I began crafting and finishing up my project. After a few hours and a lot of stressing about getting things perfect we had an end project and I think it looks AMAZING!

The letters on the way just have ribbon behind them to look like they're hanging up. All the surrounding pictures are our family pictures we had done in January. Up to that day I had never been in a formal family picture (shows you how outdated our old ones were). I know this isn't the best picture, it was taken with my phone but I think it gives you a good idea. Thanks also to my hubby for helping to hang the pictures. He was such a champ and measured everything to make sure it was exact!

I am so lucky to have the family, friends, and husband in my life that I do. I love you all and couldn't ask for a better way to bring in turning 23!