We had another great Independence Day! We started off with a cook out, followed by a few games of sand volleyball, then capped off with fireworks. From our driveway, we have a 360 view of the best fireworks around, from dusk until past my bedtime. We were blessed to have family and neighbors to celebrate with, but hope to see more of you next year! In this video, you can get a small taste of the festivities by watching Maxine dance with the sparklers. Maxine is a wonderful woman who watched the boys when they were growing up. She is 88 years young and can still keep those boys in line!

Did we mention we went through Financial Peace at church last fall? You may have heard us talk about Dave Ramsey several times in the past several months, but I don't think we've written a blog about it yet. We started the class with car debt and studnet loan debt. Here are some things we've learned/decided through taking this class.

1. We will never take out a loan again for anything other than a mortgage.

2. We learned to put our money together and tackle the smallest debt first.

3. We paid off both vehicles in 8 months. Boy, it feels awesome to own our cars!

4. We learned how to live on a monthly budget. Every month we make a written plan and we do pretty good at sticking to it. Any leftover goes to our debt snowball.

5. Student loans suck and we can't wait to get these out of our life! If we stick to our plan, we should be debt free in 29 months!

We could be even more "gazelle" intense, but...well, we're just not there yet. For instance, we went on vacation. We don't eat "beans and rice", instead choosing organic whenever possible. Also, Dave recommends using cash for many purchases because you tend to spend less. I am sure he is right, but I am often to lazy to go to the bank to get money for groceries. Hmmm...maybe I should really stick to the plan and we could get out of debt faster?! My advice to anyone out there who is in debt (and if you aren't, I'd like to hear how you did it) would be to go to the library and check out Dave Ramsey's "Total Money Makeover" book. Read it and let me know when you are on board!

We had the pleasure of spending time with the Smith family yesterday evening (sans Isaiah, who was working). I have to pass along two things Cedric said:

1. Cedric: "I think I know what the tooth fairy does with teeth".

Me: "What?"

Cedric: "She puts them in babies' mouths".

Ya know, I never thought about it...maybe he is right!

2. Cedric asked how old I was when I moved out of my parents' house. We started talking about the house I grew up in and I asked him if he remembered that he lived there too when he was younger. I said "You lived in the same room your Daddy lived in when he was a little boy". "Wow, how old is that house?" "It is over one hundred years old". "So, that house was built before my daddy was a little boy?" he asked. I replied, "That house was built before Grandpa Perry was a little boy". "WOW! That house is over a thousand years old?!!" Cedric exclaimed!

So, we haven't been so good at blogging lately. Sorry for anyone out there that actually reads out blog (mom, a cousin here or there). It's just been that life has kept us busy and away from the computer. That is a good thing, right? That reminds me, we saw the movie The Surrogate a few weeks ago. It is about people that never leave their homes. They each control a robot with their mind and live their lives through these robots. It actually turned out to be a decent movie and it got me to thinking...don't we all have somewhat of a "surrogate life" on the internet? We say things online we wouldn't say in real life, even though we are thinking them. Some of us post on facebook, some write blogs, others indulge in chat rooms, others instant message. Whether we are interacting with people we know or don't know, I'm sure we all type things we wouldn't say face to face. Things that are easy to type, difficult to speak. Some comments are probably more daring, more crude, more loving perhaps. But the point is we all do it to some degree. For instance, I am writing these thoughts to share with you on my blog, but I probably wouldn't say any of this to your face unless the time and place presented itself. Anyways, I recommend you watch the movie.

Now, back to life keeping us busy. Summer is upon us. It is already hot and toasty in Oklahoma. Nearly too hot and toasty to enjoy the outside. When did I become such a sissy? We are enjoying our flower garden in the backyard, but only in the early morning or late evenings. My hydrangeas are starting to bloom and my lilies are already in full bloom. The tiger lilies are blooming with new buds forming as we speak. The veggie garden is starting to take shape: green beans are climbing, squash, cucumber, and zucchini plants are all growing big leaves. The tomatoes are struggling, but I'm not giving up hope. The weeds are slowly trying to take over each and every day. If it wasn't so hot I'd do a better job of keeping those under control!

Elsie amazes us almost daily with a new sound or skill. This evening as she was fighting sleep she looked up at me and discovered she could make a new noise by blowing her tongue against her lip. It was so funny we were all laughing and then I almost started crying because she is so precious. God's work is amazing. How he created her...it really is incredible. I can't wait for the days when she and I can make projects together, go on nature walks, and bake. But then I remember how amazing these days are! I don't want to miss them because I am too busy looking forward. These moments, right here and now, are incredible blessings I want to remember forever.

I'll try to better at keeping the blog up to date. But know this...if it's been awhile, it's because we're out there...living life! The real one, not the fake one we create/indulge on the internet. A few months ago we did a media fast, which meant no TV, internet, computer, Xbox, movies, etc for one week. It was life changing for us. Since then our time spent "online" has drastically diminished and usually doesn't occur until after Elsie goes to bed. There is too much great stuff going on in the real world we don't wanna miss. I can only encourage you to do the same. Just try it and see what happens. I know you'll be happy you did.

We took our first vacation with Elsie! We went to Cozumel, Mexico this past week. We had originally planned to go to Mexico last year, but had a change in plans after we found out Elsie was on the way and then the government issued a travel advisory due to H1N1. Ironically, after canceling our trip I ended up with swine flu without going to Mexico!

Several people are curious what it is like to travel with an infant. Well, most of the time she was a rockstar. Three out of the four flights she traveled like a pro, napping or quietly playing. No one wants to hear about the pleasant details, so I'll skip to the terrible. You do not want to be the parent of the crying baby on the plane. Trust me. People already started glaring before we even got on the plane (when the child was as charming as could be). After about 30 minutes of passing our fussy darling among us, Shane was shuffling drinks around when he accidentally spilled Mom's diet pop down my legs, into my socks and shoes. I was halfway between laughter, anger, and tears as I held my crying baby and felt the sticky pop creep further into my shoes. As Shane apologetically tried to use the tiny, thin napkin to clean up the mess, he accidently lifted up the nursing cover nearly exposing my boob for all glaring passengers to see. Needless to say, the rest of the flight was not pleasant. I guess I should be thankful 3 of the 4 flights went off without a hitch because we didn't handle the stress of the bad flight so well.

The reason we wanted to go to Cozumel was to scuba dive. Shane did 6 boat dives, Mom did 2, and I got to do 4. I was especially excited to see sea turtles and my wish came true; I saw several and got close enough to touch two of them! I also saw my first shark! It was a lonely nurse shark hanging out at the bottom of the ocean, under a corral ledge. It took my breathe away as we glided about 5-8 feet above the guy. During the trip, we saw several types of fish, crab, lobster, eels, lionfish, etc.

Shane and I went on one night dive. We got in the water about 10 minutes before dark along with Michelle (a dive buddy from our local dive group) and our divemaster David. We saw octopus, crabs, lobster, eels, and several fish. Before we knew it, it was pitch dark. We were about 40 feet deep, each holding a flashlight searching for ocean life. With the light we could see about 20 feet. If someone found something they'd shake their light around or make a noise for the others to see. All of a sudden I heard a "thud" and then all our lights were shining on a monstrous fish, with something hanging out of his mouth. He opened his large mouth and a stingray came out. I jokingly say this fish was the size of a volkswagen, but I am only half joking! It was a goliath grouper, which easily weighed between 200-300 pounds. We were able to see him for about ten seconds, until he hid under a coral ledge. It was then I realized "What the heck am I doing?" "What if there is another one out there?" "What was that thing?" "Would it eat a human?" "What else is out there lurking and how close have I come to whatever it is?" CREEEEEEEPY. Turns out, our divemaster has only seen seven of these goliath groupers in the past 11 years! Should we count ourselves lucky?!

Elsie got to experience both the ocean and the swimming pool for the first time. She loved them both! How amazing to see her so happy. If only there was a swimming pool on the airplane. Mom and Elsie had a little bonding time, most of which was good. I think Elsie somehow knew Mommy and Daddy saw a big, scary fish so she cried for us the entire time we were gone for the night dive. Sorry, Grandmama! All in all it was a nice vacation that allowed us to spend some quality time together and I'm looking forward to our next vacation to go visit Todd and Paige later this summer. Then, we'll have to plan another dive trip...where to next?

Some of us are made to run. Not me. Earlier this week Shane had a strange notion to go for a run. After three days of trying to get up early enough to exercise, he finally made it out of bed and across the street to the park to run one mile. He came back glowing with pride and sweat. "9 minutes, 31 seconds". That is when I began to wonder how fast I could run one mile. Back in the day, I remember an eight minute mile. Back in college, I trained for a 5K. It took me four months to prepare. I finished in about 34 minutes if I remember correctly. The goal was just to finish, so I was pretty proud of myself. The more I thought about it, the more I felt the need to run a mile. After all, I've seen morbidly obese people run a marathon on Biggest Loser. Surely I can run a mile! The evening after Shane ran, I laced up my shoes and headed across the street. He and Elsie came to watch for moral support.

My motivation? Obese people running on TV, Third Day on my mp3, not wanting to collapse in a public area, showing my husband I could run a mile, knowing running burns calories.

I started off on the gravel path. Here are the obstacles I came across:

1. My Third Day selection was not fast enough.

2. When I tried to mess with my mp3 player to find better running music, I accidently turned it off. This left me with several seconds of silence as I desperately tried to turn it back on while continuing to gasp for air at the same time.

3. The pollen count is "off the charts", which really doesn't make breathing while running any easier.

4. I hate running.

5. Part of the path is up hill. In fact, there are three hills. Yes, they are slight by sight. Tell that to my legs.

I'm proud to say I ran the entire mile in 12:16! Yes, I was gasping for air and thinking "I must have asthma!". Yes, my legs immediately spasmed up despite desperate stretching afterward (guess I shoulda warmed up and stretched first). Yes, my face was red for about 20 minutes. Yes, my legs were very sore the next day. But I did it and it was worth it. Two days later, I ran it again! This time I pushed Elsie in the jogging stroller. I'm not promising more running in the future, but I'll say it was a nice change from my usual exercise program.