Welcome to Our Summer....

Well, since the last time I blogged was approximately 1993, hopefully some of y'all are still around to read this.  Summer has been crazy, crazy....full of work, keeping up with the Bachelorette, and being the last person on earth to discover Pinterest.

(Seriously, how did I not know about this for so long?  Tragic.)

I really can't remember what we've been doing.  Which is just sad.  And probably says something about my memory skills.  So I'm just going to try and cover the last month or so...picture-blog style. 

Get excited, y'all.

We've been going on dates....



Interesting story about this restaurant.  And yes, you may notice that we are sitting on the floor.  Not because we were raised in a barn or anything; they actually TELL you to sit on the floor.  While bellydancers awkwardly dance around your table.  And everyone else is whipping out dollar bills to put in the dancers' waistbands.  Which I couldn't bring myself to do, because I just knew I'd end up accidentally pulling her skirt down or something.  And sweet John wasn't about to risk the wrath of Sherri do that in front of me.

Aw. He's a good one, ladies.





It seems that I enjoy showing my tongue in pictures.  I'm not sure why.
I'm sure there's a name for this condition. 

I'm sure I also deserved John's weirded out look.

Thanks for that, honey.



We've been playing with friends......



AG is nothing if not ladylike and reserved.

We've been trying to get a decent shot of our family without AG making faces taking family pictures.....


It's a shame she's not more expressive.....

Why, I do believe that was an actual eye roll. 
She's not even two yet. 

#teenageyearsshouldbefun

(sorry, just couldn't help myself.  You twitter junkies know what I'm talking about.)

We've been celebrating daddies......

....And going to the aquarium....

Now, I'm not gonna lie.  I would've freaked OUT if some man in a weird mask just floated up to me and started gesturing through the window. 

If I was two, I mean. 

Or maybe now.

We've been going the lake with friends....





Couch pictures are always a good time. 
Love how AG's all "Baby Rhodes, you'd better get up off me. For realz."

(Because that's obviously exactly how she normally talks.)




Our annual 4th of July trip looked just a little different this year......

....but taking this little presh to the lake was well worth it, even if I didn't get to sleep in, or drink my coffee and read magazines, or even get a tan.

Well, mostly anyway.





Book Recommendation

I just found out that one of my very favorite college friends, Russ Masterson, recently published his first book!  It was released from Tyndale House Publishers as an e-book on July 1st.

All I have to say is this......Fists in the air, Bruce!

(Inside joke, sorry to all of you who now think I'm a huge dork.)

(But, if you've been reading this blog, then you should probably already know that.)

(Also, we called Russ "Bruce" in college, which was hysterically funny at the time, for reasons I don't remember anymore.)

Anyway, I'm super excited to read his book, and not just because having a friend who's a published author makes me feel famous.  (Although it does.)  Mostly, I'm excited because I know Russ to be an awesome man of God, and I can't wait to see how God speaks to me through his book.

SO....if you have an e-reader (check), have already finished the Hunger Games trilogy (check-and just kidding, you should totally read this before you read the Hunger Games), and want a really great book to get into next, take a look at the summary below, and GO BUY THIS BOOK!

40 Days without Food: Divine Goodness to a Starving Soul
By Russ Masterson

“I had a college degree, and soon a seminary degree to accompany it, yet I didn’t know where to go or what to do.” Russ Masterson had read and heard about purpose, but didn’t have a clue what his own purpose was. And there was emptiness where there should have been value. As he puts it, “I kept hoping a step would arrive when it was time to lift my foot.”


Disillusioned with his life, as well as with God, he heard this advice: fast from food for 40 days. Faithless and frazzled, Russ accepted the challenge, hoping for direction, reflecting on the past, and wrestling with issues like purpose, faith, and love.


In this book, readers will find a fresh literary voice — an insightful thinker who meets people in their humanity while helping them to see they can be rescued from it. The journey of these forty days without food will help you explore what really matters in life
 
Available on the Kindle, Nook, and iPad (via the free Kindle app for iPad). 
http://www.russmasterson.com/