We have been busy lately....seriously! I'm not a good blogger for 2 reasons. When I have time, I feel like there's nothing interesting enough to write about and when we do have exciting things happening, I can't find a second to write!

The semester is coming to an end here at Troy. Our lives now revolve around a college school schedule though none of us are in school...funny. Rick put a volleyball tournament together last week to benefit Stella's house. It's a home in Moldova that rescues young girls from the sex trafficking industry. It's an amazing work! We didn't end up raising a ton of money, but got the awareness we were going for. Two of the young ladies actually came and told their story. Check out their website.

I have started a new job. I'm filling in for the secretary at Collegedale while she is out on maternity leave. It's gone well so far. It's pretty laid back, which is good. Benjamin comes with me sometimes so it helps that I can have some time to devote to him. He wouldn't have it any other way.

Benjamin currently has a green nose. It's been a purple-ish, blue-ish, gray-ish, now green. He was jumping on the bed at a friend's house and it didn't end well. Where were his parents you might ask....in the other room watching some dumb alligator show with the college students...real responsible I know. I think it hurt me more than him.

Today we had lots of fun. It was Rick's off day, which I always look forward to. It's kind of our family day. We put in our mailbox post and played in the sprinklers. It was great. Benjamin, I think was supposed to be a fish. This kid LOVES water! He can't resist playing in it, the sink, the bathtub, rain, puddles, pools, doesn't matter, has to touch it.

Our new home is really cozy. It feels more like home than most of the places we've lived since we were married. I feel like it was built just for us. On that note, Rick and I were talking today about a privacy fence. Yeah, didn't know those things were quite so expensive, but apparently we need one. There are a lot of small streams behind our house in the woods. Rick was talking to the builder today and found out they killed 2 moccasins in our little culdesac. fabulous. We have been outside behind the house everyday to play, it's about 30 feet from the woods, but we've been in the woods on several occasions...."exploring." Yeah, it'll be a while before we do that again. I'm a little paranoid and not a big fan of snakes, so I guess we'll be going with option A, the fence.

Well, I guess that's all for now. Hope you're having a blessed week!

Love,

We are busy these days! Very busy! We moved into our new house a little over a week ago and everything's still chaotic. We had things going on every night last week and Thursday Benjamin and I took off to Mobile for a visit and a small photography job. We had an awesome weekend. We played barefoot in the country at grandma johnsons, in the water on the bay with aunt barbara and in the back yard with granna. Benjamin had a blast! We got back to Troy Sunday before worship then scrambled around to pull together a baby shower.

This week's packed too! I started a new job. It's kind of by default that I got it. Our church secretary had her baby today, so I'm filling in for her until she gets back. It won't be quite full time, but it will keep me busy. Rick's got a big volleyball tournament on Thursday and service day Saturday. I don't know if we'll ever get our house together or our mailbox up, but we're thrilled to be in the house regardless.

Enjoy this pic of Ben on the bay!



Have a great week!

Ok, it's been forever.

Check out these awesome pictures Lindsey took of us at the house! Thanks Lindsey! I will treasure them and can't wait to snap some shots of baby Bagwell when he/she gets here! More house info at the bottom.

We've been pretty busy lately. We've spent the last 3 out of 4 weekends out of town and the last two in the woods on camping retreats...woohoo! The retreat part was fun, but I'm not all that woodsy anymore. I remember going to camp when I was younger. It was the highlight of the whole summer, but I guess I've gotten all girly and high maintenance since having a baby. Who knows, I love the outdoors, just not living in it. The first weekend we went to Florida Bible Camp with the college students and Granna stayed with Benjamin. I kind of felt like I was in college again without the responsibility of the little one. It truly was a retreat. Last weekend we went to the beautiful Berry College Winshape Camp and that wasn't quite as enjoyable. Benjamin is very, well, determined. He gets his mind set on something and that's it. Everything is fine until he hears the word "no." He is almost 19 months so I'm afraid the terribles are within sight, or here already. Just a couple months ago I was saying that this was my FAVORITE age...it ended too quickly. We'll survive, I know, it's just hard. It would be easy to just give him what he wants to make him stop crying, but I always said I didn't want a brat. So if you out there notice any brat-ness, let me know, because it means I'm not doing my job. :)

On another note, but kind of similar, we ate lunch the other day at Red Lobster, a treat for the long car ride we were about to endure. I caught Rick staring out the window, then he said, "O my goodness." I couldn't imagine what was going on, then he said, "five kids and a pregnant!" Nothing else, not five kids and a pregnant WOMAN, or what a nice family....but this is when we were trying to clean mash potatoes off of everything at our table, so, I'm thinking we won't be having six kids, or any number close to six. :)

We closed on the house last Tuesday! We are trying to move in this week....gradually. We moved some of Benjamin's things today so we'll get there. It's so exciting! Can't wait to be totally in!

I'm going to boil some eggs to dye tomorrow! I just love spring and Easter. My mom always made a big deal of little holidays throughout the year. She loved doing special things for us, and I love doing things for Rick and Benjamin. I know the holiday has really become commercialized, but I love the memories of spending time with family and that Jesus is praised more than ever for the sacrifice He was for us.

Have a blessed week.

Going crazy with the coupons....

Ok, so maybe I'm a little obsessed, maybe crazy with the couponing and saving money! It is a little time consuming, but I feel that it's well worth it. I am saving us lots of money and having fun at the same time. So I wanted to share (maybe even brag a little) about my deals this week. I am shopping at drug stores, which I always thought were more expensive, but not if you just get what's on sale. I laugh because the guy at Walgreens always tries to sell me a $2 candy bar at the register. He obviously doesn't know who he's dealing with because I can stretch $2 a lot further than just one measly little candy bar!

Anyway, first Rite Aid, I have to enter my receipt online to get my $10 rebate, but after that here are my purchases and my total:

3 packages of Pampers diapers (31 count) - normally $9 each
1 Covergirl powder (yes, I wear cheap makeup)
1 Covergirl blush
1 Covergirl eyeshadow
1 Covergirl lip gloss
2 Oral B toothbrushes
total= $11.50

Now on to my bargains at CVS:

4 boxes of Kelloggs cereal
4 Pantene shampoos/conditioners
2 toothbrushes
1 bounce dryer bar
3 tide stain release packages
total= $9

Um, yeah, I was pretty pumped! With my conservative estimates, I saved about $75 this week. Woo hoo! It's a good thing, because we hit up the Sisters' Seafood Buffet tonight, and it was delish, but not cheap!

Hope you have a great weekend. I have a craft project, some cleaning, maybe a baseball game and enjoying the spring-like weather on my to-do list!

Good night.

New signature

So I'm just getting the hang of this whole blog thing and learning as I go, but I just wanted to try out my new signature. Here it is!

Just a "normal" week

Not much going on this week. Just doing our thing. That's why I haven't posted anything. I feel like there's nothing going on to write about. We are over the stomach bug....hopefully, but it didn't go out without a fight, that's for sure!

Our house is sitting there empty, waiting on us....our loan is being processed, not exactly as I type, because it's 10pm, but hopefully someone's working on it during normal hours. We are READY that's for sure.

We had a great weekend in Americus, GA, with Rick's parents. We celebrated his dad's retirement and went to their farewell party. They're moving to Tennessee. They were in Am. 30 years and really made a great impact there. I gained more appreciation and respect for them just by seeing the lives they had touched.

Tuesday my friend Shaunna invited me and Benjamin to come along with her to pick up some furniture in Birmingham. We had the best time hitting up all the antique and furniture consignment shops. She is into bringing a new life to old furniture. Jump over to her blog and check it out. She's super talented!

This week is spring break for the college students so we are taking a break and resting up for a busy March. 2 retreats coming up!

Have a great day!

Lauren

Stomach bug, house & photography

Yes, you read correctly....stomach bug. It has wiped me out. I think Rick's had a mild version (to me it seems mild.) I've been doubling his trips to the potty and his lasted a couple days while I'm definitely on day 5. I'm not going to complain for the whole post though, everything else is going pretty good for us.

The house is 99% finished and our loan is being processed. Closing date is set for March 17, if everything goes according to plan. Here are some of the latest pics.




I'm gonna be cooking lots of yummy stuff in here!

I love the trim and the doors!

My photography has really seemed to pick up lately. I really feel like that is what God wants me to be doing. He's made it quite obvious recently. I've had lots of interest from the bridal show (Feb. 21) and from weddings I did last year. It's really exciting. It's my dream and...the more photography I can do, the longer I can stay home with my boy.

Speaking of the boy, I guess I couldn't write without mentioning him. He's been an angel lately. I mean we still have non-stop craziness at our house and toys, blankies, etc. strung out all over the house, but that's normal I guess. I found a toothbrush in my drawer the other day when I was looking for my shorts. :) He has been the sweetest thing lately. He's in a very attached phase right now. With both me and Rick. He kind of has a melt down when either of us leave (not easy- Rick leaves every morning.) He's also addicted to his blankies! Every time we go to bed/nap, he gets to pick out a blankie from his massive collection. He usually picks 3. He will lay his head down on my shoulder, but only after I drape his blankies on me. He will then pat my arm if I haven't started patting him yet. When he wakes up, he cannot wait to get OUT, but not until he hands me all 3 blankies. We walk around with them for a little, then find toys to play with instead.

Our New House

2 posts in one day!

So we went by the house today, O my goodness! We go almost daily now because we love to see how it's coming along. The builder is incredible. He's got it together. The house is always bustling with contractors. It is almost finished. Yesterday the driveway and sidewalks were completed, today they were laying sod, and clearing out the surrounding lots (he's building other houses on the culdesac). I almost cried walking up to the house. I'm so happy I can hardly stand it. I may be crazy, but this is the most calm I've ever felt about anything in my life and it's one of the biggest purchases we'll ever make. I just feel like God has lead us here. There have been so many things that have just seemed to "fall into place." It's really a blessing and we pray with this house as we always do that it will be a place where God is praised and glorified by all who enter.

Coupon Mama

So I kind of have fetish or an obsession with saving money! I love to get our everyday items and groceries cheaper than the retail value... a lot cheaper! I did some coupon-ing in Marietta because it was easy. My favorite stores, Kroger & Publix were less than a mile from our house and we had the awesome coupon-packed ajc available every Sunday, as well as 2 separate newspapers thrown in our yard each week.

I thought those days were over when I moved to Troy. Not many good coupons and not as easy to get them, but I wasn't looking in the right places. Thanks to some coupon-fanatics online, I have found lots of good deals lately.

Yesterday, I went to CVS, coupons and their weekly ad in hand. I signed up for a CVS card and took it to their little coupon center in the store to scan it and out pops a $5 off $15 purchase. That sure came in handy. The trick is to buy ONLY the things on sale and ONLY when you have a coupon and STOCK UP! You won't be able to do this all the time, but most of the time you can. I have decided to set a budget for each week and hit the stores for the deals. Back to CVS, I ended up with:

4 boxes of cereal (2 lg. cherrios & 2 cinnamon toast crunch)
2 boxes of puffs tissues
1 tube of colgate toothpaste
1 olay body wash
2 olay facial cleansers

for free, yes FREE!
My total was $17 (I have a $15 rebate for the olay & $2 ECbucks to use at CVS next time)
I had a coupon on every item, the $15 rebate from olay, my coupon from CVS and the ECbucks.

This was my best trip yet. I've had some good days at the grocery store, but none like this. I think my total should have been somewhere around $40.

This does take a lot of time, but there are blogs out there that can save a lot of that for you. They do all the work. Here are some of my favorites:

http://www.southernsavers.com/
http://thekrazycouponlady.com/
http://www.coupontom.com/
http://www.afullcup.com/

Happy coupon-ing!

Lauren

Wow! What a weekend!

This past weekend was really awesome, but crazy at the same time. Friday am we left for Marietta to deliver some supplies for a container East Cobb is shipping to Haiti. We had a car FULL of stuff Collegedale had collected (and all we took was a duffle bag.) We got to see the youth from EC as they were pulling out for winterfest. It seems like it's been forever since we've seen them. It was bitter sweet once again. We then went to unload. EC was using an apartment to house this incredible operation. They had a place for everything...and it was overflowing. They were on the second container and looking for a third. I think God surprised us all with the response.

Friday night we went to eat with friends at one of our favorite restaurants and had a great time catching up. We had to hustle back Saturday to set up for my bridal show the next day. I went all out on the show. We built a fence for my backdrop because I wanted it to have a rustic feel. It turned out just like I had hoped thanks to my handy husband, Anna Lauson (one of our students and my savior over the past week), and my mom who always bails me out. I hope it was successful. The show didn't generate quite the crowd I thought it would, but I still got some great photography contacts and talked with a lot of brides.

Rick had Benjamin duty all day Sunday (which is the most difficult day). He has class, leads worship and just lots to do anyway, so he was quite the super daddy.

Today has been my day to recoup. I have rested, sat on the couch and painted with Benjamin. I bought some paint and canvases because it was on sale at Michael's last week and I thought it would be a fun project for us. I hadn't planned on doing that today, but he found it in the bag, so we did. He had so much fun. He would get so excited every time we opened up a new color of paint. I'm thinking that it's a good way to teach him colors too, later on. He was trying to say the names of them. Doubt he's getting the entire concept, but he was enjoying it.




I'm LOVING the weather today! It's gorgeous and feels great outside. I'm hoping to get all my laundry done today, b/c the machines are in the carport. Not a big fan of freezing every time we do a load, but I hate to complain. People in some parts of the world have neither washing machines or clothes, so we're quite blessed.

Our house! For those who don't know....We are buying a house. It's totally been a God thing! We found a great one being built. We got to pick out much of the colors, etc. We go almost everyday to check on the progress. I'll post some pics. It's really coming together quickly so hopefully we'll be in soon.



We're counting our blessings!
Love to all,
Lauren