I really have nothing to say....

But I need to do a new post...so here goes a bunch of nothing!

We are finally less than a month away from Donnie coming home :) We are all super excited. We've been in this house for a year now, and Donnie's only lived in it for 4 months! I guess that's why it almost seems normal for him to not be here. It will sure be nice to have him back where he belongs though!

School starts the 25th and we are ready! Mar has a bunch of cute new school clothes and hair accessories just waiting to make their debut. She's a teenager when it comes to fashion!Ry has been stuck on the same strawberry shortcake song for about 3 weeks. She sings it constantly, and if you call our house, I'm sure she'll sing it to you, too. She sings it to everyone, even the Schwans man got a dose of it.We got new carpet in the bedrooms! I guess that's big news. All the bedroom carpet was the original carpet that came with the house....14 years ago! That's so gross and if you haven't come to visit, I understand why now....but it's been updated so pack your bags.
Lola went to the vet Wednesday and she weighs a whopping 28 pounds. Only 2 more pounds and she'll be as big as Ry....but Lola's only 5 months old! She's gonna be a big girl.

Happy Birthday Rylee Marietta!

July 25th is Rylee's 3rd birthday! My baby isn't a baby anymore. She's a big girl...and we love her :)

Lucky 7

Yesterday was me and Guy's 7th wedding anniversary :) It was a great day...but it was a lonely day. He wrote me a really long love letter and emailed it to me...you just don't get more romantic than that! Really though...I'll take a love letter over an actual gift ANY DAY. He did send me a package last week...so even though it was for my birthday and just really late, it can count for anniversary as well.

I added it up, and out of the 7 years we have been married, we have only lived together 4.25 of them. It's been really super hard...but it has made us a lot closer. We've had to work a lot harder and compromise a lot more...I think we're the equivelent of a couple that's been married 50 years in terms of trials :)

When we got married, Bishop (president) (Joe) Cottle gave us the best advice. He said "Make your home a place where the influences of the outside world are not invited". The Army is a rough lifestyle, but we've done our best to make our house a home for not only us, but Donnie's soldiers...and it's been a home where the influences of the outside world are not invited. I guess that's why so many single soldiers and missionary's flock to our doorstep. Our house feels like home.

So anyway...here's some pictures of the happy day 7 years ago....I love you Donnie Hurd!

My girls

Lake Rim Park

Me and the girls went to the park today for a picnic. I snapped a few pics while we were there. We stopped at Subway and got us a sandwich to eat. All the tables were full, so we cranked up the AC and dined in style!

Our Donnie

I am so lucky to have such a great man as the father of my children. Here's a walk down memory lane with Donnie...from baby to daddy.
This is Donnie when he was 2 years old...isn't he cute????

And this is him when he was a Senior in high school....those sideburns are hot!

This is the day Rylee was born...I don't have any digital ones of the day Mar was born...but he was just as proud!

This is what Donnie and Ry do. They sleep. A lot.
This is the day before Donnie left on this last deployment. We were in downtown Fayetteville running some errands and took a break for lunch. Ry loves her daddy.
This was right before Donnie left on his first deployment to Iraq in 2004. Mar was 3 months old. I've never seen Donnie so upset as he was telling her goodbye.

Donnie and Mar in Rogersville, Tn in 2005.

Him and Mar sleep a lot too :)

Mar and Donnie at the Easter Egg Hunt at Fort Hood

Mar and Donnie dancing. He's such a cute dad :)

Did I mention they sleep a lot???

This was taken a few weeks before this last deployment.

They love their daddy

This was when we first moved to NC.

Rylee loving her dad after we picked him up at the airport

I didn't tell them why we were at the airport...just that we were looking at planes. They saw him and it was a mad dash to get to him.

We love going to the beach!

Donnie is quite the chef. Here he is teaching the girls how to roll the cookie dough into a perfect ball.

Donnie took Ry fishing while Mar was in school

Teaching the girls how to swim...'cause we all know their mom wont.

At the aquarium in Gatlinburg

The Halloween Trunk or Treat at the church in Killeen, TX. Mar was obviously excited to be there

Zzzzzzzz..............

Donnie and Ry when she was 3 days old

My 2 weeks

My mom, sister, and 2 nieces came to North Carolina for 2 weeks. It was SO much fun! We went to the beach, played in downtown Fayetteville, went to Tennessee, ate tons of delicious food...and chilled out. I can't believe it went by so fast. I can't wait till they come back! And next time....everybody needs to come (I'm talking to you Tracy and Ashlee!)

This is us at the beach. We are allowed to look like total flea bags because it was early, and heck, we were at the beach!

Mom and the girls eating ice cream at a cute shop in Jonesboro, TN. It's the oldest city in Tennessee....the houses there are older than the state of Utah for crying out loud!

Kassie being a babe in downtown Fayetteville

This was at the Childrens Museum in Fayetteville. Mar was sentencing Kassie for pulling her pig tail. The Jury was obviously a deciding factor in the sentence.

Here we are posing with a beautiful vine of Kudzo. It's common here in the south...but pretty crazy to you western people.
My mom facing off with a crab at the Aquarium of the Smokies. I think she won.

The girls at the aquarium

In the shark tunnel

Mom, Lynnzie, and Kellie at the aquarium

For the WHOLE story, by a MUCH better story teller...go here: http://lynnzieandroscoe.blogspot.com/