All Y'all's, Fixinto's, & Yes Ma'am's

I feel my life over the past 4 is best summed up in a Instagram collage.

1. We took a HUGE leap of faith and decided to accept a new job opportunity for Nate in TEXAS!
2. We said goodbye to family...
3. And my heart still hurts a bit. Probably always will.
4. Nate loaded up the U-haul and towed the van, while I followed behind in a rental car... 'cause it was going to take a whole lot more than faith and gasoline for our 13 year old beater minivan to make the long drive... it would take a modern miracle.
5. We had a minor 4 hour set back thanks to the quality truck U-Haul provided us with.
6. 3 days and 23 hours on the road later, we are passin' through Dallas.
7. We FINALLY made it to our new home in Tyler, TX (In Texan pronounced, Tah-ler).
8. Unpacking & a slight finger casualty. Nothing a little makeshift bandaid consisting of paper towel and painters tape couldn't handle. I'm a regular MacGyver.
9. Nate's new job. They sure know how to make a person feel welcome.
10. Massive rainstorm = massive puddle jumping.
11. A BIG Texas Welcome BBQ with our new friends. Southern hospitality at its finest.
12. We might not have any milk, bread or eggs, but at least we've got the Dr. Pepper covered.
13. The fun and excitement is wearing down and the oh-no-what-have-we-done is setting in. At least I have this beautiful view of our backyard to keep me company. Starting to feel a wee bit sorry for myself.
14. But it's nothin' that a duck face selfie with Eden can't cure.
15. Front row seating to an afternoon thunderstorm.
16. The kids and I have spent so much time with each other since this move. I've become their best friend and they've become mine. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with myself as soon as school starts.

So there you have it. We are officially Texans.  And it pulls at my heart to know that Abrie, Kaleb, & Macie will have a few memories of "when we use to live in Utah". But baby Eden, on the other hand, will remember nothing. She will be Texas raised, where all y'all's, fixinto's, and yes ma'am's will just naturally spill out of her mouth.

But who am I kidding?! There's nothing cuter than a lil' southern drawl coming from the voice of a spunky little toe head. And that I'm definitely okay with.

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If you want to see more of our crazy happenings you can find me on the 

awesomeness that is called Instagram ginjohn81 

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Keep Yourself Pure & Clean :: Free Printable

This past Sunday I taught the Young Women in our church.

The Topic? Chastity

Yes, chastity my friends. 

Most shy away from the topic, but apparently I don't.

And during the course of this 35 minute lesson,

I may or may not have pretended to be a young naive teenager taking 

an Instagram cleavage selfie with a pouty duck face.

And that was when the bishop walked in and promptly removed me from the classroom.

Not really. But that would have been funny and something to tell the grandkids.

In all seriousness though, I continue to be amazed 

by how beautiful and strong these young women are. 

So much better than I ever was, that's for sure.

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To go along with the topic of chastity, I made these little printables tied to a bottle of 

Purell hand sanitizer as a reminder to 

keep themselves Pure & Clean.

And, if you're wanting to try a different approach and don't want to go with the hand sanitizer, 

I guess you could always go the Purex laundry detergent route.

Personally, I think it's a little it's a little overkill, but whatev.

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Keep Yourself Pure & Clean

8.5 x 11 printable

Dowload HERE

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Birthday in a Bag

Breakfast in bed is good... BUT a Birthday in a Bag in bed is even better.

What, pray tale, is a Birthday in a Bag you ask?

Well, it is the perfect combination of awesome mixed with 

heart-shaped paper packages, a little sewing know-how, 

a ridiculously cool vintage stamp set,  your favorite candy, 

small hand written notes, and one incredibly thoughtful friend named Angie.

I sat in bed opening each package carefully with candy spilling out 

kind of like my own personal little piñata... just minus baseball bat.

Each heart contained a note of things she loved about me accompanied by some chocolaty goodness.

I have to admit that I was a little bit surprised 

that my ability to go days without showering and 

the fact that I can whip out an inappropriate joke at completely the wrong time 

didn't make the list, but whatev.

Needless to say, I think everybody needs a little 

Top Ten Reason of why they are loved.

It was definitely good for the soul...

and the heart...

and the ego...

and the stomach. 

Only downfall is you eventually run out of gifts to open. And that makes me sad...

Very sad. Not to be confused with bloated 

(because I swear I've seen a face like this on a Pepto Bismol commercial)

 Just sad... really sad.  

The ideal Birthday in a Bag would have endless amounts of gifts and reasons why you are loved.  

Perhaps next year...  (take note Angie)

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In the words of Julie Andrews...

"Let's start at the very beginning. It's a very good place to start"

(You had no idea I was so cultured when it comes to movie references, did you.

Just wait when it comes to Finding Nemo. I can find an applicable Nemo quote for almost any life situation.)

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So, this happened...

We sold our home. Our very first home. Our very first favorite first home with lots of our favorite neighbors in our very favorite little city.  Lots of favorites here folks.

We put it up for sale in September, it was sold by November, and we were out by December.

Honestly, it still makes me sad to say that we sold our home. But I guess that's just how it goes whenever you part with something you love.  I still remember the time I sent my puke green Gerbeau jeans to the Salvation Army. It was hard on both me and my perfectly pegged Gerbeau's.

Saying good bye is never easy.

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So how about a home tour now that we are officially moved out?

• The HOME •

• The entryway •

• The family room, which I never got around to decorating. 

But let's be honest, if I never took the time to decorate it the the 3 & 1/2 years that we lived there, odds are it was never going to happen.

• Kaleb's room (which, actually, the baby took over) 

& bathroom (which is the only room that has pictures hung that I took)

• The girls room that was the only room that I took the time to decorate... 

and even then it's only about 70% done.

What can I say? I'm not much of an over achiever.

• The Master Bedroom •

• Part of the master bath •

• So I lied, this is the second room where I put up pictures that I have actually taken.

Those two canvas prints are probably two of my all time favorite pictures that I've taken.

They remind me of Philly... the non-ghetto part of Philly.

• The kitchen •

• The mudroom that I begged Nate to build •

So now the burning question,

"Ginnie, what are you guys going to do next?"

(sorry, I was a little vague on the details)

That is a great question. A question I don't know the answer to yet.

BUT, when I know, you'll know, ya know.

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A little bit of something is better than nothing

It's been a while. A looong while. So long that it's uncomfortable.

How do I say 'hello' again?
Hi?... Hello?... What's up?.. 'Sup?...  Word?... Howdy?... Yo?... Well, look who it is?
Do we shake hands? High Five? Knuckles? Chest bump?
Do we hug? How long do we hug? Will my arms go on top or on the bottom? Or do we mix it up with my right arm on top and the left on the bottom? What if we hug so long that it gets awkward... unless, you like awkward... then I can do awkward.

I'll tell you 'It looks like you've lost weight'. And you can tell me something like 'Wow, it looks like you managed to shower today'. And then we'll both do a quick courtesy laugh in effort to fill the awkward silence that will follow.

You'll sigh,  I'll sigh.... and then we can just pick up from where we left off.

...

I'm so glad we were able to get that out of the way.

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I'm here. Still alive. Still managing to keep 4 kids alive. Still maintaing my Diet Coke addiction.
We have had some really big changes in the past 4 months. None of which include adding a 5th child to our family.

I'll blog about that stuff later, but for now, I wanted to say a quick hello and post completely non-related pictures just for, you know, kicks and giggles.