outdoors...and a winner!

I've been a little quiet around here because the weather has been

GORGEOUS here in Oklahoma!

We've been embracing the outdoors as much as possible the last few days...

Is it nice weather where you are??

oh, aaaaaaand...

SO excited to share that the winner of THIS beautiful Giveaway is.....

ALY from The Mommie Diaries!!!

yippee friend! :)

Thanks Stephanie for offering this giveaway!

{and don't forget yall can use discount code: RACINGTOWARDSJOY10 when ordering from her precious shop, The Honey Pot!}

YALL HAVE A BEAUTIFUL WEEKEND!!

a beautiful giveaway...

I am SO excited to show you this amazing GIVEAWAY today,

from one of my favorite sweet little shops, The Honey Pot!!!

The winner gets to choose one of these beautiful necklaces...

beautiful, right?

Stephanie is one of the sweetest ladies I have met in blogging and I am so excited to share her and her talents with you..

Hi y'all. I'm Stephanie. I'm a southern girl whose joy in life is being a momma

to three gorgeous girls,

a "Honey" to three amazing grand-kids, bride to my high school sweetheart

and lover of Jesus who is changing me daily.

He has blessed me with the ability to stretch a dollar, make something from nothing,

and see the beauty in junk.

I love creating pretty things.

I share about all of the above on my blog.

And I have a little shop too if you'd like to check it out!

I have so enjoyed getting to know Sarah and watching her beautiful family grow and I'm just tickled to be here today and meet some of y'all!

{this necklace is from The Hunger Games books!}

Stephanie also makes GORGEOUS headbands, for little girls AND big girls...

my all time favorite headbands (for me and for my girls) are made by her!

She's also offering a discount to my followers of 10% off anything with discount code: RACINGTOWARDSJOY10

you should take advantage of that!!

Abigail and I share this precious headband...though it def looks cuter on her. :)

to enter you MUST:

follow my blog

follow Stephanie's blog

ADDITIONAL ENTRIES:

follow Stephanie on Twitter

follow me on Twitter

Blog, tweet, or FB about this giveaway (= 1 entry)

{so you can have up to 5 entries}

Winner gets to pick one of her beautiful necklaces...

THANKS STEPHANIE!!

I am so blessed by you!!

'The Girl Behind The Blog" Vlog!

YAY!

Today is the second "Girl Behind the Blog" link up, and I'm so excited to be a part...

It was SO fun last time to put a voice with a face, and a face with a blog! :)

I clearly forgot about this because I have been in Texas while my Dad has been sick...

so forgive the bad (nighttime) lighting and ready-for-bed face.

Can't wait to watch other vlogs!!

ok So HELP! I cant ever get my voice to match my mouth when I upload my videos, no matter how I do it!! Suggestions???

so it's like that in this video but Im posting it anyways because I did it. sorry yall...

go watch some others, and make one yourself..its fun i promise!!

Check out THIS GREAT GIVEAWAY I am a part of today, hosted by the amazing

Elizabeth Ann's Recipe Box,

and COME BACK later today for a GORGEOUS GIVEAWAY here too!!!

Texas...and an update on my Dad

THANK YOU for all the prayers the last several days for my sweet Dad.

He is home from the hospital now and has regained strength faster than anyone thought.

GOD HAS ANSWERED PRAYERS.

We are still not completely sure what caused all this scary stuff, but we are thankful it is over.

His Parkinson's Disease is unfortunately just something that will continue to progress,

but we hope and pray that episodes like this will not occur much.

So again, thanks so much...your prayers were not in vain.

God heard, and we felt, every single one.

Though a half-day road trip seemed like a million miles away when this all happened,

I am so thankful I was able to just drive across the border a few hours to come home.

And on our way, I stopped to let Abigail run around, and decided why not stop at the Texas Tourist Center?

And so I just had to get this fun picture...something I never cared about doing until we moved out of state!

My Texan toddler by my side, and my Oklahoman baby in my arms. :)

and guess what?

I have an AMAZING giveaway for you tomorrow, that you seriously wont want to miss....

so come on back y'all.

(I AM still from Texas, you know.)

a few things...

first of all...I am OVERWHELMED at the prayer and support for my Dad as we go through this difficult time with his health.

It means the world to me, it really does.

Update on my Dad: he is doing much better, his mental state is better, still struggling with some confusion and memory loss, but is no longer extremely agitated and the hallucinations have slowed down.

They are still unsure as to the exact cause, but we are thinking now that it is just unfortunately part of the progression of his Parkinson's Disease.

(insert mad face here..i freaking hate this disease)

Please pray if you think about it, for healing, peace, and rest.

I'll update you throughout this week.

secondly...

Winner of the custom carseat canopy/arm cushion Giveaway is........

"Isaac and Sarah"!!

YAY friend!! I know you'll love this for your new little peanut!

{email me girl!}

and last but DEF not least...

didya notice how pretty my blog looks?? didya? :)

a BIG thanks to my precious friend, Danielle at Take Heart

for giving my blog a little love!

If you need some designing, she's amazing AND she's a great friend too...

one of my new-mommy-bloggy-besties. :)

{love ya friend}

OK well, I'll be in and out this week as I am home with my dad and family helping out,

but hopefully I can stay connected a little bit at least!!

love yall...

i am TRULY thankful for each of you.