The Bright Eyed Brunette

 Pride is a sneaky thing. Unlike other sins that show up boldly and publicly--pride often creeps in quietly. It hides behind compliments, achievements, and even behind good intentions. It whispers, " You deserve the credit", or "You're better than that person".  Sometimes it even disguises itself as humility, when in reality, we're still just thinking about ourselves. In the Bible, pride is not just considered a sin-it's described as one of the deadliest. Proverbs 16:18 says, "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall."  That verse isn't just poetic. It's a serious warning. Pride separates us from others, but more dangerously, it separates us from God. Pride isn't just arrogance. It can show up in everyday ways like refusing to ask for help, needing to always be right, holding grudges because we are above forgiveness, comparing ourselves to others (feeling inferior OR superior), and taking credit for things that ...

  Happy Birthday to my beautiful Makena!  Makena's birthday fell on a Sunday this year. Those are always hard birthdays for us. We have church on Sunday morning and early Sunday evening, so we had her party later in the evening. She wanted pizza and swimming, so that is exactly what we did. Everyone deserves to wake up feeling special on their birthday! Her daddy made her number pancakes. He has done this for the kids almost every year since they were little. Makena and Wrenley Wrenley had to help Aunt Kena blow out her candles. She is practicing for her birthday next month! Wrenley is her sidekick :) We are so proud of you Makena Faith! I'm excited to see what the next year holds for you! Much Love,  Beth

The sand in your toes, the salt in the air; nothing beats a trip to the beach! We had the most wonderful time last week in Gulf Shores, Alabama, or as we like to call it, "our beach". We could venture out, but we know where we are going, we know the good places to eat, we know the good places to stay and shop, and for this type A mom, that is a little slice of heaven! Note to self: check Trey's bag and make sure there is no harmonica next year! PERFECTION! We ate at the Pink Pony Pub as soon as we got settled in our condo. Love these two! He was the most excited to be out of the car! He's the best :) This was his idea 💕 Seeing your name on the back of 4 chairs and 2 umbrellas means it's gonna be a good week :) The best view with my little fine-feathered friends One day Trey talked us into going out on the banana ride. I thought, "oh yeah, that looks pretty tame". That was not the case. The four of us along with two older ladies (probably in their 60...

 We had the most laid-back 4th of July celebration in the history of our family! We were leaving to go on vacation on the 7th, so we were more ready to leave than to have a celebration. We bought very few fireworks. For once we didn't have to worry about some people wanting to go to the river and others wanting to go to the pool because the river was too high and there were no sandbars available...so the pool it was!  We celebrated at lunch with a fish fry (duh). If there is a family function in the summer, you can bet your bottom dollar that fried fish will be involved! My dad, Trey, and Carl were the main cooks Tim and Toby (the dog) supervised :) Wrenley showed us her scooter-ing skills My big girls Makena and Miss Wrenley Aunt Jamie sitting at Wrenley's little table Elijah and Ellie Kate Noah was with his girlfriend. Me and my girls with my mom. I have no clue where Wrenley was :) Mi familia :) All the girls The boys (minus Noah) After our yummy lunch, we went out to the p...