all creatures, great and small...

It comes as no suprise to you, my friends, that we love animals. We have four pets: 2 cats, George and Hazel and 2 dogs, Conner and Scooter. We love them as if they were are own children...well, because they are our only children. We have talked about having human children one day and I hope when the time comes we will be ready for that...if that is God's plan. But until then, we will have furry children. We don't have any plans anytime soon to have more furry children but we dream of having more pets. If we lived in a house that was bigger or even had lots of land, I can't even imagine how many animals we might have. B and I talk of our dream house often... a house in the country with a wrap-around porch with lots of land.

Country Living

We will have a pond on this land because our dogs will LOVE to go for a swim in this pond. We will have a fourwheeler or two and the dogs will love to go for their morning drive around the property. There will be a front porch swing where B and I will drink sweet tea in the evenings and our dogs will curl up on the front porch... I know it's not the life everyone dreams of, but when I dream of the future, there are lots of dogs involved. A lap dog to curl up with in the winter by the fire. A few outdoor dogs, who, of course, come inside to sleep at night. What about other animals, you ask? Oh there will be plenty of cats, chickens for fresh eggs, of course, maybe even a cute little pop belly pig. If I were to stretch my imagination further I can see a cow or a horse. I have never been a country girl, meaning I have never lived in the country, per se, but have always dreamed of living in the country. And where there is country, there are animals, lots and lots of animals.

Country Living

Last night we went to PetCo to pick up dog food, cat litter and a new litter box because apparently George has decided the old litter box does not suit him anymore. We lingered in the store, looking at the ferrets, rats, mice, parrots, gerbals, etc. About the time I said I wouldn't mind owning a bird some day, he said in the most serious face ever, "I want a pet owl!" haha. Apparently we will stop at nothing. I said to him, "I'm pretty sure it's illegal to own a owl, baby." B quickly replied, "Well, it's legal if you catch it and no one knows about it!" Don't worry we aren't getting an owl anytime soon... maybe when we live out in the country we'll be lucky enough to have one come visit us from time to time...

One Big Present

Christmas is fast approaching and that means family, food and gifts! Our family (mainly my mother) has always been big on presents. She kinda goes nutts, to say the least. My theory is she doesn't realize how much she has bought until Christmas Eve when she finally finishes up her wrapping and puts everything under the tree. I'm certain she steps back and looks at the enormous display of gifts and Brittney Spears's "Oopps I did it again" song starts playing in her head. It's true. I get my love of gift giving honestly from my mother. I LOVE giving gifts, not only at Christmas, but year round. I guess you could say, it is my love language.

conner in front of the tree

This year our family has decided to do something a little different. We have decided to pull our resources (in this case, our FINANCIAL resources) and purchase one big gift from a family (ies) in need. I remember doing this exact same thing when I was little. My parents made sure to teach us the importance of giving by tithing year round but also by giving to those less fortunate. Each year we would buy Christmas presents for a family in town and wrapped them all up and brought them to their front door and left them annonymously (whoops I guess it's not annonymous if you blog about it years later... hmmm..) Anyway, my point is, my parents did well by teaching the importance of giving. I still enjoy picking a name or two off the angel tree and going to buy presents for a child who may not get anything otherwise.

So last year, we told mom she was out of control and the gift giving needed to stop. haha. Who would have ever thought children would tell their parents to stop giving them presents!? My brothers and I (along with our spouses) had discussed the fact that we are literally searching for things for our parents to buy for us just so they could wrap it up and put it under the tree. Ridiculous if you ask me when their are so many people who don't even have one single Christmas gift.

my brothers & my husband, overwhelmed with way too many presents!

My mom proposed the idea of giving to this organization in Nicaragua that my home church supports. My mom goes to Nicaragua every year, sometimes twice a year, to hand out gifts, food and other resources to the people in this village. It is incredible to hear the stories of these orphans who literally live in a dump and survive off other people's trash. Think about THAT next time you throw things away! In the past few years, I haven't been healthy enough to travel to Nicaragua with my mother but this coming year I hope to go with her to see first hand how these families and espcially how these children live.

these children actually live at this dump. here my mom is handing out toys, clothes, food, etc. They live off other people giving to them!

These children are in line to receive toys, clothes, etc. Notice the housing in the background. Just pitiful.

So what is our present this year? We are buying a house in Nicaragua. What? Yes. It may sound strange but for Christmas this year our family is pooling our money and are putting it toward the construction of a home for a family without a home in Nicaragua. For about $1800, the mission team from my home church can construct a basic one room house complete with a concrete slab and a metal roof. That might not sound like much of a house to you but that is more house than most of these people have ever seen before. It might just be the best $1800 that our family has ever spent.

this is what a typical home looks like in their villiage.

Here is a family standing in front of a newly constructed home that my home church built.

See how different the homes are. You can clearly see how the one on the right is more solid and sturdy. It actually is made out of concrete and is on a solid concrete foundation, unlike their homes constructed out of scraps of metal they find in the dump.

Why am I telling you this? Not to gain any sort of recognition or to sound super holy, but to challenge you to do the same. Do you find yourself thinking WAY to hard to come up with a decent Christmas list from your parents or in-laws? Or perhaps you LOVE making out your Christmas list - you may already have made one out but it is full of things you don't *really* NEED. Think twice about the money you spend this Christmas and spend it on someone in NEED. Just give up ONE Christmas gift on your list and ask for a donation instead to your favorite charity. There are countless way to give this Christmas, I challenge you to give from your heart.

I love this picture of my mother. She is happiest when she is giving to someone in need. Love you, mom! Can't wait to go to Nicaragua with you!

a skeleton & a devil

I can already tell you that this will be one of my favorite posts. Yes, I AM one of THOSE people that dress up their dogs for Halloween. Let me remind you that we don't have human children; therefore we do things like dress up our dogs. Although, I will probably still do things like this even after we have children. I won't even tell you how many pictures I took (97) and how many treats I gave them (29) to get these shots. ;) Anyway, here they are:: the skeleton and the devil. Enjoy! and Happy Halloween!!

Friday's thoughts...

I don't have any one thing to share today, but we do have LOTS going on at the Buie's household. There is always lots going on...if only laundry and house cleaning were one of them. Sigh... I keep convincing myself that there is always something more important to do than laundry but that doesn't help me have clean clothes to wear. How can TWO people go through so many clothes in one week???

Anyway....here are my random thoughts for today::

• This week I finally went to the new Anthropologie and it is everything I imagined it would be. Now I don't have to wait til I go to Dallas to get my Anthro fix! If you are wondering what to get me for Christmas (and I know you have been) then an Anthro gift card would be PERFECT! Thanks! ;)
  
• tonight we are going to dinner with my parents and B's parents which has only happened twice this whole year: Easter & 4th of July - so this is a special occasion. I'm not exactly sure WHAT the occasion is but family doesn't need a reason to get together to eat, do we? My precious nephew, Landon, is coming too... oh, and his parents. :)
  
• I have many many MANY photoshoots to edit! So many that I am overwhelmed! I guess that's good though. Business is picking up! :)

• this coming week we will be dog sitting for one of my favorite dogs, EVER! Meet DUKE! :) Expect a blog post about this little guy. He's so smart and knows so many tricks! Can't wait for him to meet our boys!

• hopefully we can work in some pumpkin carving this week, too. :)


• I'm nervous about Saturday's game with LSU playing Auburn. It's a big game! Can't wait to cheer on my Tigers. You better believe that me and Conner will have on our jerserys!
  

• tomorrow morning I am headed to the pumpkin patch with my nephew Landon. Hopefully we'll get some great Fall pics! Can't wait to share them with you!

Are you spending time with family this weekend? I sure hope so! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Weekend Review: Wedding Style!

Warning! Lots of pics. :) I didn't want to lug around my big camera so these are all from my trusty little point & shoot. Enjoy!

B & I were both in a wedding this weekend. This was actually the first time we have both been IN a wedding together, well, except for our own wedding, of course. ;) It was fun getting to experience this with him. The wedding was for some of our good friends, Whitney and Brad. I have known Whitney since 2005... Well, let me back up. I have KNOWN her since our Freshman year, 2001, but we didn't actually become good friends til Senior Year, 2005. We met Brad, obviously, through Whitney, and Buie & Brad instantly hit it off. We are so happy for the two of them and glad they could join us on the married side of things. ;)
This weekend was packed FULL of their wedding! You know how it goes: rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, pictures, wedding and then everyone's favorite- THE RECEPTION! By far, the highlight of my weekend was dancing with my girls to Pat Green, dancing with Wally Hall, seeing Ethan breakdance ALL NIGHT LONG on the dance floor and watching Whitney dance on Brad. Hilarious night! I forget how much I love to dance (even though I have absolutely no coordination).

Congratulations, Whitney & Brad! I hope you are enjoying your honeymoon!

Pumpykins!

No, I did not spell it wrong. In our household, "pumpkins" is pronounced "pump-y-kins." Don't ask me why or how it started. That's just the way it is. As soon as the calendar rolled over to October 1st, I practically BEGGED my husband to meet me at the pumpkin patch for PUMPYKINS! He wasn't as excited as I was but just seeing my excitement put a little smile on his face. I'm like a kid. Just imagine me literally frolicking like an idiot in between the rows of pumpkins all the while yelling, "it's pumpykin time!" I know that everyone there thought my husband had brough along his "special" little sister along with him or something. They were probably like awwe, that's so sweet, they let her out of the institution to go pick out pumpkins. lol. But I didn't care. It was time to get serious. We grabbed a cart and started picking out pumpykins- good carving pumpykins, cinderella pumpykins, and fairytale pumpkins (my favorite) and of course, WHITE pumpykins, my second favorite.

our porch last year

Last year we didn't go over board or anything, we had just the right amount of mums and pumpykins but this year I wanted haybales too! :) So, of course, my sweet husband loaded them up in his truck and then carried them to the front porch as I pointed where I wanted them.

Every year, B and I always carve us each a pumpkin. It's been a fun tradition that I hope to keep up in years to come. :) This year, we even bought a pumpykin carving kit from Williams Sonoma! These are our pumpkins from last year.

I hope y'all are having a great fall and a happy PUMPYKIN season! :)

Landon

By request by my wonderful mother-in-law, here are some more pictures of my precious Landon. He's growing so fast. Everyone that looks at his pictures tells me he looks so much older than he really is and I agree. He looks like a 8 or 9 month old little boy but he's 3 months old in these pictures that were taken just last week. Time goes by so fast! We're taking him to the pumpkin patch in a few weeks! I can't wait to see him in his Halloween costume. :)

So Long Starbucks: Day 21

That's right, people! I'm still on my plan and sticking with it (for the most part). This week I am drinking 1/2 caff in the morning and I am making it all day long! I am amazed! I am still having an extra cup or two on the weekends because this is when I do all of my photo shoots. Saturdays are busy days for me! This past Saturday, I had a great time taking pictures of my one and only little nephew, Landon. He is PRECIOUS! I seriously could eat him up! I can't wait to show y'all some of pictures I took. After his 3-month shoot, I headed on over to a wedding where I was second shooting with one of my dear friends, Christen Byrd. After the wedding I went home and started editing. I love this job but seriously, people, I have been keeping Starbucks in business. Have you checked out my photography blog? If not, head on over there and "follow" me! I heart followers!

Auntie C and Uncle B

I think we are getting the hang of this Aunt & Uncle thing. :) So much so that my family thought we could handle another one! That's right, my OTHER brother and sister-in-law are expecting! Just so we're clear, this is the same brother that moved to Mozamique just last month! They have so much going on in their lives. In the past year and a half Chris & Amanda met, started dating, got engaged, got married, bought a house, gone through seminary, moved to AFRICA and now are expecting their first baby. God has blessed them! I'm so happy for them- I just had to share the good news! Check out their blog here and keep up with their daily lives in Maputo, Mozambique.