When will it end?

Rain rain go away.

Come again another day.

Kristi's family wants to play!

I am so done with dreary wet weather. One day of the week is fine - but several in a row are too much! I need sunshine!

New Project Idea

Birthday Countdown Calendar

I'm not a real crafty kind of person, but countdown calendars have caught my eye. After "Google"-ing them, I've found several really cool examples that people have made. The picture above is one of them. This blog, Decorate Your Soul, is where I found the directions on how to make one. I'm debating on making one for Gavin. I think that he'd enjoy moving the marker on the calendar each day. His birthday just passed, so surely I can get it done by next August!

Super Fun Weekend

Mom, Dad, Jacob, and I went to the Byrnes football game Friday night. I wanted to go mostly because they were playing Greer @ Greer, which is at Chandler Creek where I work. We watched Byrnes stomp those Yellow Jackets! We even celebrated after the game with ice cream from Sonic! I'm debating on whether or not I should take my Byrnes tshirt with me back to school and hang it somewhere in my room, just to see if I get any comments. It may be a little too brave.

Saturday night, Kelli and I gave my brother Ray and his fiancee Katie a shower with our family. We had hotdogs and all the fixins' and ice cream sundae's for dessert. They got lots of nice gifts.

Katie's Family

My baby brother is getting married...I'm getting old.

Every year in August we go to Pisgah Forest and spend a Sunday afternoon picnicking and playing in the river. August was too busy to go, so we went today. The water was SO COLD! But we all had such a good time. The weather was perfect.

Gavin helping Jason move a big rock

Pops and Gavin

Nana, Karis, and Gavin

Me and Jason

Gavin collecting rocks out of the river

Pops taking Gavin out into the water - so cold!

While we were there, a church group came in and the pastor baptized several people in the river. One of the church members said they go to the river to baptize people every year. It was really awesome to watch.

We had such a great weekend...a lot of family time and fun. Now the week begins...don't you wish weekends could last longer?

Greenville Zoo

So we tried again...Today we back to the Greenville Zoo, this time we had plenty of time to enjoy ourselves. I'm not crazy about this zoo - I've seen better, but it was good for Gavin. He enjoyed seeing all of the animals. Here are some pictures from our afternoon:

I love this boy.

A Fun Family Saturday

We had such a great time being together as a family today. Jason was actually off of work - even though he still spent some time on the phone with people from BMW. It was nice to be able to do things as a family. First, we ran to Target to get some stuff, and then had lunch at Fuddruckers. After lunch, we went to ToysRUs to pick out a Thomas engine for his train set (they sent us a certificate for a free one for Gavin's birthday). After lunch, and after stopping at Academy to get a gift certificate, we drove over to Greenville. Our plan was to go to the zoo, but by the time we got there we would have only had an hour before it closed. So instead, we decided to play on the playground right there at the zoo.

After we left the playground, we drove over to Build-A-Bear to use a gift card Gavin got for his birthday (what was great was that I also had a $5 off coupon too, so we had money left over).

Our newest addition to the family...Rocky Bear Varner. [I know you're thinking "what a dorky name". As you can see, Jason and I aren't very creative with names, plus Gavin couldn't exactly help us brainstorm names. Jason and I were actually getting frustrated with each other because neither of us could come up with and decide on a name. Can't you just imagine it...2 adults arguing over the name of a teddy bear?]

2 Years Ago Today...

Two years ago today, Gavin Ridge Varner was born, and my whole world changed in an instant. I love to replay everything in my head and remember those hours leading up to his birth. The day before Gavin was born, Jason and I spent the WHOLE day walking around Westgate Mall and checking out the new Costco - to try to get things moving along. I was already dilated to a "loose 3", so we were just waiting around. That night, Jason grilled me a steak for dinner and mom came over to eat with us. I remember my lower back starting to ache and cramp, and I knew that these were the signs of prelabor. This is a timeline of Gavin's birth. This is mostly for me because I've never really sat down and written everything out. Forgive me if you don't care for the details. 3:30 am - My first real contraction woke me up. I stayed awake waiting on the next one, but fell back to sleep. 4:00 am - Another contraction woke me up. Waited, but fell asleep again. 4:30 am - Another contraction, but this time I got up and went into the living room to sit to wait on the next one. 5:00ish am - Another contraction. I went ahead and took a shower and put my clothes on. 5:30 am - Ate a little bowl of cereal because I knew I'd be starving to death later if I didn't. More contractions. 6:00 am - After sitting in the recliner with a few more contractions, I finally woke Jason up and told him to be getting his shower and clothes on. From 7:00-9:00 am - Jason and I sat in the living room watching TV and timing contractions. Somewhere around 9:00-10:00 am Kelli called me to see what our plans were for the day. We were supposed to go shopping. I told her that I had been having contractions all morning and that I didn't think we'd be going shopping. She must have gotten off the phone and called Mama, because about 5 minutes later, Mama was calling. She was getting off work right then and coming over. (And she said she was upset because I didn't call her the minute I started having contractions. I knew if I had've called her sooner, she would have been in a bigger tizzy than she was right then.) 9:00-11:00 am - Jason and I watched Crocodile Dundee on TV while timing contractions, also while Mom was breathing down our necks to hurry up and go to the hospital. 11:00 am - Crocodile Dundee ends and my contractions were exactly 5 minutes apart. We left for the hospital. 11:15 am - At the hospital, got admitted, and put in a triage room. 11:15 - 12:00 noon - IV, baby monitor, threw up, wanted to kick the nurse in her head for butchering my hand with the IV needle and for not believing me when I told her I was going to throw up (thanks to Jason, he believed me) 12:00 noon - Dilated to a 6, moved to my delivery room, and the epidural man was already waiting on me 12:00 - 2:00ish - Waited, waited, and waited 2:15 pm - doctor checked me, fully dilated, tried to push but Gavin's heart rate kept dropping below 100, put fetal monitor inside me on Gavin's head; doctor went to deliver all other babies and said he'd be back around 5:15 to try again Until 5:15 pm - Waited, waited, and waited 5:15 pm - doctor came back, NICU team arrived to assist, I sat up and threw up again, pushed, Gavin's heart rate dropped again, Gavin's head got stuck, doctor had to use vacuum to hurry and get him out, kept pushing for about 10 minutes NONSTOP... 5:27 pm - I heard my healthy baby boy cry. Other than a cone head from the vacuum, Gavin was perfect. I don't ever remember being nervous about anything during labor. Even when the doctor felt uneasy about Gavin's heart rate, I felt at peace - I guess it's from where I did so much praying. I prayed the whole time (even during the epidural). This is the verse I recited the whole time - "For God did not give me a spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." 2 Timothy 1:7 This may sound cheesy, but having Gavin has made me look at childbirth in a whole new light. It blows me away to think about what an awesome miracle God performs everytime when a woman gives birth to a baby. How can anyone experience this and not believe there is a God? It just totally has me awe struck. Thank you, Lord, for giving me Gavin.

Gavin's Birthday Party

This little boy had his 2nd birthday party last night. We invited our families and a few close friends to join us. We had hot dogs, beans, and chips, and topped it off with a cookie cake for dessert. A few dark clouds passed overhead, but God was generous enough to hold off the rain. We had a good time chit chatting with each other while all the kids played in the backyard.

Birthday Boy

Digging in!

Nana

Do I smell cake?

Too many presents!

Puppets from the Abrams

Yo Gabba Gabba green monster dude

(I DESPISE Yo Gabba Gabba, but thanks anyway Mema.)

The Watson Family

The Hitch Family

Playing on the slip-n-slide Harrison playing in the sprinkler

To all our family and friends who could come: thanks for such a great time!