Home sweet home

So I survived my first week out at camp- Camp Braveheart to be specific. Here is my week in numbers:

7: this is the number spiders I killed in my room upon arriving the first day.

3: the number of fierce thunderstorms with high winds and torrential downpours we had during the week.

5: the number of pounds I fear I've gained from eating camp food all week.

1: the number of excruciatingly painful blisters I got between my toes from wearing my Chaco's all week. PS. I got a number of compliments on them by people asking "I love that pattern- is it new?!" My response: "No they're actually 6 years old. They just look new, because I haven't worn them since the last time I was at camp... 5 years ago."

250: the number of congenital heart disease and heart transplant kiddos that enjoyed the best week of their lives.

2: the number of weeks I have before my next camp begins on July 28.

I got home on Friday, but husband didn't get home from his week in Christian Vegas Branson until Sunday. Why is it that when I'm home alone, my first thought when I wake up in the morning is "I made it through the night"? We have an alarm system and live in suburban-ish Atlanta... why do I still feel the need to lock my bedroom door and sleep with my keys next to my bed? I shared this with husband and he asked "why do you need your keys?" My answer: "In case I need to make a quick get away in the middle of the night of course". Needless to say, I am glad to have him home. Happy Monday, friends.

Happy Trails...

When I started this blog four years ago, I was typing from camp (or kamp) property in Branson, MO. I had just lived through my first (and what I imagined to be my only) summer living at camp. We slept in a cabin, ate in the dining hall and participated in all other aspects of "camp life" for a year (which at the time had felt like the longest year of my life). When we moved to Atlanta in April 2008, I thought I was packing away my Chaco's for good. Little did I know that four years later, I would be a camp director of my very own summer camp. I hate the heat, run from bugs and enjoy my technology (hello, blog?). The fact that my perfect job now involves sporting my pony tail and headband, Nike shorts and Chaco's while I walk around in a cloud of sunscreen and bug spray just screams irony don't you think? I could not be more thankful for this job and the schedule it allows me to have at Children's. As I head out to camp today, I will remind myself of that daily while braving the 100+ Georgia heat.

Happy trails ya'll...

Fourth Festivities

Yesterday, we spent the day at our friends' neighborhood pool all day. The husbands played everything from four square to water volleyball to the watermelon relay while we sat at the edge of the pool to cheer them on. After that, we headed back to their house for a cookout and some hang out time. Later, we were determined to find some fireworks so we ended up catching some a couple miles from their house in a beautiful park on a picnic blanket the gas station parking lot. It was such a fun day and we are so blessed to have such good friends live so close by (If only we could get Chris, Meagan and E to move here!)

 

My Pinterest-inspired flag cake (recipe below).

We are eagerly waiting on the arrival of baby Teagan any day now and baby girl Joiner in October!

I think the husbands enjoy our cameras almost as much as we do...

We missed you, Chris!

4th of July 2009...

 

...4th of July 2012

Festive Flag Cake

2 boxes of regular white cake mix

2 containers of white cake icing

Food coloring

*Eggs, water and oil as called for on the boxed mix you choose

Directions

1. Combine both cake mixes together as instructed on the box.

2. Divide the batter into three bowls evenly distributed. Color one red, one blue and leave the last one un-colored. Pour the batters into three 9" round cake pans (greased and floured). Bake according to directions.

3. I actually baked mine the night before, wrapped them in saran wrap and placed in the fridge over night so they would be easier to work with. 

4. Place each cake on a separate plate and slice the red and white cakes horizontally with a serrated knife to form two layers from each cake.

5. Remove the bottom two layers of the white and red cakes and stack on a separate plate with icing in the middle and on top.

6. Now you're left with the whole blue cake and the thin top layers of the red and white cakes. Stack the thin red layer on top of the thin white layer.  Using a bowl as your guide, cut a circle in the middle of both your blue and red/white cakes.

7. Remove your blue outer ring and place on top of your iced layers.

8. Ice the inside of the blue ring. Remove your inner ring of the red/white cake and place inside the blue ring.

9. Ice the cake like your normally would and voila! 

You will have the outer ring of the red/white cake and the inner circle of the blue cake left over. These would be great to save and make cake pops or slice and make a layered trefoil. I was short on time, so mine ended up getting thrown out. This recipe was originally from here.

i heart America

I would consider myself quite patriotic. Fireworks make me happy and videos of soldiers coming home will always make me cry. I will always stand for the National Anthem and love a good military fly over. I love America and all of the things we stand for. I know that there are many things about our country that are far from perfect, but if you spend any amount of time in another country- you will come to realize how good we really have it. This is why the fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays. I hope you have a great holiday and take time time to remember what this day is really all about. We are going to spend it at the pool, grilling out with friends and catching some fireworks later tonight. I will leave you with a video from our church that I posted a few years ago, but I think it deserves a re-post today. Happy Fourth...

If you can't take the heat

Move to Alaska... This past weekend was a record breaker for Atlanta and topped out at 105 on Saturday. Husband was at the beach with our church's high school retreat called The Walk. While he was gone, mom and dad came to keep me company for a few days. We ate, shopped, ate some more and sweated it out at the Braves game on Friday night. Here are a couple pics to prove we survived the heat wave.