a few things

1. have i mentioned that my mom and dad are gone for 2 weeks

 

this is right before they flew out....TO ALASKA

forgetting all about us little, southern-stated folk

jk. they're up there for business and celebrating 38 years of marriage....something to be celebrated!

2. i'll remind you again, but GT will be making his television debut (a speaking part...ha!) next week. more info to come. but, it's probably with these guys and i'm probably pumped

3. we've spent a few evenings out at Camp this week and it has been so good for my soul.

4. Judson is pretty fascinated with our canines these days

he also crawls really really fast

these things, along with his unrelenting pulling on anything and everything leaves our dogs prey to this crazy predator of a baby 

they are super tolerant and so sweet and basically let him do whatever he wants until i intercede

which is right before they loose an eye or lip or hand-full of hair

5. the parentals house is coming right along

i am due for a house progression post and will jump on that as soon as i quit being lazy

anywhooo....the beams are up in the great room and man, oh man they are divine! even unstained, they are beautiful

6. ok, so about this Google Reader shutting down on Monday....
i'm not entirely sure what that means to me or how it will affect this here bloggity blog.
perhaps it will do nothing
i'm pretty sure all 4 of you can still find ole GoodTimesTaylor
if you can't...here is how you can follow and receive updates if you have any interest at all.
if you care none, then carry on.

here they are:
BlogLovin
Twitter (i'll tweet when i post)
Facebook (i post links on my page)
RSS feed
email updates (you can enter your email address over to the right -------------->)

happy Saturday people!

may the rest of your weekend be filled with air conditioning, a fan, Sonic drinks and more air conditioning

and maybe some ice

celebrating mothers and fathers

May and June came in like a huge wave and i'm starting to come out from the pulling tide.

We celebrated mothers day, fathers day and some fun birthdays along with some travel and i will get around to documenting at some point.

let's start with moms and pops!

 

this being our first mothers and fathers day as parentals...we were pretty giddy.

being a mom and dad is something we do not take for granted and are honored to hold the title.

my heart aches for those who yearn to be a mom and a dad.

may God grant you the desires of your heart in His own timing and for His purpose.

His good and perfect will is beyond our own.

 

i always wanted to be a mom.

i loved kids and thought i'd be pretty good at it.

good grief, it is challenging (and my kid is still counting his age by the months...yikes!).

but, man oh man, it is so rewarding!

praise God for this blessing that we call little Judson Ray

he made me a mama and for that...i will forever be grateful

 his wiggly little body is hard to wrangle for a photo

 

these are two of my very favorite mamas

one is a mama to my favorite nephews and one has raised some of the best kids i know

they are also my best friends/sister/cousin and the most beautiful women around

(also, hooray for coral!)

my fur babies and gift from GT

love all of  'em

 

Fathers day was spent in Georgetown with the Taylor crew

we were able to hang out with the fam and honor 3 of my favorite dads 

grandad with all of his grandkids

Judson Ray and his Grammy

4 generations of Taylor men

 



our small contribution



 

never ever ever could there be a better man to raise my kids

they will be loved so well

watching him become a dad fills my heart with an overwhelming amount of joy and pride (the good kind) and an incredible amount of gratitude

while i am so thankful for a day that honors moms and dads, i also recognize the daily effort that should be honored as well.

it took becoming a mom to understand the hard work, tears and love my mom and dad put into each of their kids.

i never knew a heart could stretch so much.

a big cousin: {not so} free entertainment

i constantly joke that we need to adopt an older brother for Judson

he (along with other babies) is so entertained by big kids and can be mesmerized for hours minutes!

his favorite "big boy" is, undoubtedly, Beau

Beau is casually singing him his "ABC's"



this one. kills me.

 

it's nice to have a big cousin around that can double as some entertainment.

although he is readily available and most often willing, we are all aware of how not cheap kids really are.
he's free in the available since of the word, but far from it monetarily.
wouldn't trade 'em for nothin'.
i'd probably even pay a million bucks for him.


(these were taken about a month ago....what was that you were saying....something about time flying?)

my thorn and marriage

{editors note: this has been in "draft" mode for about 6 months.

it's not so easy to share some personal stuff and think people care...ya know? oh well....here goes}

 

 

  the other night at house church, we shared our thorns-metaphorically speaking- that got in the way of truly falling in love with Jesus.

we all chose one, wrote it down on a piece of paper then proceeded to share it with our group in a few sentences. then we wadded them up, threw them in a pile and tossed 'em in the trash.

cheesy as the analogy is...we all know it's what needs to happen to have an unhindered relationship with our Savior.

I wrote down the word PRIDE.

i am not very good at taking criticism or advice for that matter. It takes a lot for me to admit my errors (mostly to my husband) and it takes a good bit to change my mind.

i'm stubborn and stick to my guns when they shouldn't be stuck to.

that's the gist of what i said.

one of my cousins is in our group and when we all went into the kitchen to eat he said, "sweet katey's not proud or stubborn". ha!

i said, well "GT can attest to it. i never knew how proud i was until i got married".

he then stated how sad it was that it took marriage to find those things out about ourselves.

true statement.

why is it that we show our worst side to the person that we CHOSE to be with forever?

before i got married, i remember saying that i could be a good wife to anyone. ha!

i honestly thought i was easy going and could figure out how to get along with anyone and make them happy.

jokes on me...again.

turns out i'm not always easy to get a long with and my goal is not always to make my spouse happy. what?!?!

i am undeniably human- and a woman, at that.

i read this article the other day and it really hit home for me: 3 things i wish i knew when we got married

I share this sentiment of Ward's

"Marriage is great—but it rocked everything I knew. I quickly realized my basic goal in life, prior to getting married, was to simply remain undisturbed."

I  truly had no idea how selfish, independent, introverted (surprise to me) and proud i was until we got married.

 

 

in a few short sentences, here is what i belive: 

it takes giving yourself completely to someone to realize who you really are and then you have someone to help you become who you need to be.

it is not the time to give in to our (newly realized) fleshly nature, but to embrace the sanctity of marriage and allow it mold you into woman or man of God you were called to be

this makes marriage hard. not only because you are learning to live with someone else, but because you are changing who you are to bring holiness to the marriage.

marriage makes you realize you have certain characteristics that you did not realize you had as a single person. this does not give you the excuse to entertain these and act upon them.

 

we are not called to live by our flesh.

it is tempting.....oooooh so tempting to give in. it feels good to be right. but not for long.

 

 

praise God that HE knew what I needed in a mate

GT is so forgiving and humbles himself often

he is the only man for me (probably because he is the ONLY man that would tolerate-and love- my ridiculousness)

 

so, yeah...marriage is great!...but it is also hard work.

constant work

constant awareness of your actions and how they benefit or hurt your partner

if you ignore it...it will slap you in the face

if you nurture it...it will bless you and your spouse

we are still relatively new to this whole marriage gig and are sure to learn a whole heaping lot more.

but, we are so thankful for the grace of God

so so thankful

and i am forever grateful for a patient and forgiving husband

i never knew i would need so much grace and forgiveness

PRIDE, it is ever looming to drag me into darkness

GRACE, is ever present to keep us in the light


Nashvegas

it's always good to be in Nashville

it's even better to be with good people in Nashville

it's even way better to listen to some tunes in Nashville

and eat good grub

 

a few weekends ago we headed north for the CMA fest/fanfare

it was my maiden voyage sans baby

and i was a bit anxious (or a lot), but excited (still anxious)

 

all it took was some time on the plane and i was ready to go

 

GT went up a day early and I flew up with the rest of the crew to meet up with my my dude

it was like a weekend long date/work for him/chillax for me/hang out with friends and family...win win for all!

and Judson Ray was perfectly taken care of back home, all tucked in with his Honey

 

a  photo river of the goings-ons courtesy of the awesomenss of a camera phone

  

a good time was had by all

leaving the kiddo behind wasn't so bad after all.

actually, i think we're highly likely to make it happen again.

i love dating my man

i love hanging out with my family

we enjoy listening to live music

and i highly recomend eating a good steak - uninterrupted

 

thanks for hosting, Nash.

see ya next year

Bloglovin

So.... I'm following the crowd, jumping off the cliff, sitting on the bandwagon- and joining Bloglovin.

Not sure if I'm doing this right, but who really cares?

Here is the goodtimes...if you're interested

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Word(full) Wednesday: summer is here

Scooping him up from his crib-he is happy to be awake-Judson and I make our way outside to soak up the evening air. I ask him, "where is Trigger?". With great intensity, he twists his wiry little body around as I open the door. His bare feet squeeze around my waist as he spots the dogs. His arms wave up and down and his mouth makes a tight little "O" as he voices his excitement. We make our way to my Mothers Day gift, a swing, and sit down. I feel the grass underneath my feet and his soft skin next to mine. I sit him in my lap and the dogs greet him with a lick of his toes. He lets out a genuine laugh...the sweetest sound. This sound is accompanied by the crickets and frogs down in the pond, letting me know it is almost dusk.

Summer is here.

a sign of the times

1. you type "up" instead of "of" and have no idea why your mind would interchange those tiny words

2. you get super stoked about running your first load in the new dishwasher

3. you are more excited when your husband comes home with new appliances instead of flowers or jewelry

4. you come home from a weekend of mega over-eating and the numbers on the scale haven't budged (high-five, score one for the home team!)

5. you are happy that you washed your sheets before you left for the weekend, so you can climb in to fresh linens upon returning home

6. you sleep in until 8 when away from le bebe

and the times are good.

amen

7 months

Judson Ray, little buddy, you are so much fun!

every single cliche about time flying, babies changing and growing in the blink of an eye...is dead on.

one thing that i really love about your ever changing self is your personality peeking through more and more each day.

you have such a fun and sweet spirit

you are a true delight

you bring a smile to everyone around you with your quirky noises, faces and grins

 

you are so incredibly busy and NEVER stop moving when you're awake

you say "oooohh" with your mouth in a perfect little "O" and kick your legs when you see anything that you find interesting

you want get down and be held all at the same time

you are so so so very aware of your mama

you are pulling up to your knees and sometimes to your feet

 

you are crawling everywhere and got that way purty fast

a few weeks ago i said, "he can get around, but stays by the toys"

the next week i said, "he is crawling, but only wants to be where i am"

this week "he's in to everyhing!"

 

you are pretty fond of being held though

 

you get bored relatively quickly, so we are constantly going from one thing to another

you still absoluely love to be outside

you are still smitten with Trigger and get so excited every time you see him

you aren't scared of anything (yet) and seem to be quite the adventurer

the view most of the time

taking pictures provides a new challenge

 i sincerely enjoy being with you every second

 

you are starting to figure this world out and learn what you can and can not do 

watching you learn and grow delights us and makes us eager for the future, but yearning for this time not to pass too quickly.

we simply adore you sweet boy

you are one funny, sweet, curious, busy and happy little guy