Razzles

Mr. Patridge turned 30 on July 27th.  He celebrated with friends in Biloxi, so we had a family celebration a couple of days before.

Breakfast was the traditional: orange rolls and orange juice.  I am pretty sure Hudson thought it was his birthday.

Afterwards, we gave Will some garage time, and then headed to Green Valley Drugs for lunch.  This has been on our bucket list for some time!

Then, we dropped of the Huds and headed to The Dark Knight Rises and dinner at Petrucelli's.  

We had brownies when Will got back from his trip.

We love you, Daddy! 

Date Night

A couple of weeks ago, the Hubs and I took a kayak down the Cahaba River.  One of our best date nights ever.

I love adventures with this guy. 

Hudson's first boat ride

On  Saturday, our small group at church had a lake day.  We spent the first half of the day without Hudson.  I love the Huds, but it is always nice to have adult time.

My mom met us after his nap at a marina.  It was the little guy's first boat experience.  He loved saying, "boat" and "water."  He very much wanted to get in the water the entire time.  We had to keep a tight grip on him the entire time.

After our very long boating adventure, we went back to grill out some burgers.  Hudson went swimming for the first time this year.  I didn't get any pictures, but he LOVED the water.  He was a natural.  Glad we won't have any fears of swimming this year!

Our lake day made me excited about the summer ahead!  It will be our last couple of months as family of 3!

looking back at our vows

I can't believe it has been 4 years since we stood before those we love most in this world and said our vows! 4 years later, and we are truly beginning to learn the depth of these words.  

We wanted our vows to be personal, so we spent some time compiling these through a combination of traditional vows, vows from friends, and scripture.  It is good to look back and be reminded of he commitment we made to one another.

I Will, take you Heather, to be my wedded wife. I promise in the presence of God my Savior and Lord and these witnesses to love you as Christ loves the Church. I promise to cherish, protect, honor, defend, and support you in sickness and in health, in prosperity and in adversity and through every change of condition.
I am accepting the command given to me by our Lord to be the spiritual leader of our household, and I will constantly strive to seek first His kingdom. I promise that I will lead our lives in faith and hope in Christ Jesus - ever honoring God's guidance by His spirit through His word. Heather, I am from this day forward choosing to love you as an act of my will, with or without the presence of romantic feelings. I promise to forsake all others and commit myself fully to you, to be faithful to you and no other, cleaving only to you as long as we both shall live. 

I Heather, take you Will, to be my wedded husband. I promise in the presence of God my Savior and Lord and these witnesses to love, cherish, respect and obey you in sickness and in health, in prosperity and in adversity, and through every change of condition.
I am accepting the command given to me by our Lord to trust your leadership in our household, and I will constantly strive to seek first His kingdom. I pledge to strengthen, help, comfort, and encourage you. Will, I am from this day forward choosing to love you as an act of my will, with or without the presence of romantic feelings. I promise to forsake all others and commit myself to you, to be faithful to you and no other, cleaving only to you as long as we both shall live

Happy Anniversary!  I love you!

Looking Forward to Christmas

I have been reading Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening Devotional on and off for the past few months. I didn't start the devotional on the day I was supposed to start it, so I am off by X amount of days. It currently has me reading through the days leading up to Easter. It has been a real blessing to read about the last days of Jesus life here on earth while at the same time reading the Advent devotional with my family.

It has quite a different pull on my heart and it has further helped me to understand that Jesus, my sweet Jesus, was born, as John the Baptist says, "to take away the sins of the world. Our "Agnus Dei," our spotless lamb who now intercedes for me.

In the Advent Season we are looking forward to Christmas and the celebration of the birth of our Savior. Moreover, we are further looking towards to the City of the Most High, "for soon, when thy time has come, thou shalt rise up where thy Jesus sits, and reign at his right hand; and all this because the divine Lord 'was made to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him'" (Spurgeon).

I am thankful for this. I am thankful for my family; my sweet wife who fights so hard to be holy. You cannot put a wage or salary for what she does day-in and day-out. I am thankful for her commitment to the Lord, myself, and Hudson. She is of great value to me and she is far more precious than jewels.

Love You H,

Hubs

Debbie Downer Meets Phil Positive

Ok, I (Heather) tend to have a pessimistic outlook. I am not happy about it. I think most people would rather assume they are the glass half full type, but I know enough about myself to know that I would probably claim it was half empty.

For example, I have been known to discuss the starving children of Africa during the occasional expensive meal with my husband. You can almost here the wah, wah, wah can't you? So, needless to say, I tend to dampen the mood with my outlook at times. Just call me Debbie Downer.



Who did I marry? None other than Phil Positive. In his eyes, the situation always looks better than it should. Everything is A-Ok! You know that kind of guy..... We may have a flat tire in the middle of the desert, and he figures there is a gas station right around the corner. Just last night, I was convinced after watching the news that a fire might kill Hudson before we could get to him. Will, without pause, knew exactly how he would save him and extinguish the fire. Of course, he also knew there would be no fire to speak of.



Who knows? Maybe Hudson will be more of a Steady Steve-not afraid to admit when things look grim, but doesn't depress everyone during everyday conversation.

Happy Father's Day!

Hudson and I woke Will up this morning with bacon, scrambled eggs, and honey toast. Hudson, with lots of Mommy help, gave his Dad three gifts with a card to explain them. The gifts were army men, play money, and a #1 Dad koozie. The card said thanks for protecting me, providing for me, and showing me how to have fun. The card also said thanks for telling me about Jesus, but we couldn't find a tiny Bible to go along with it! We then went to church, ate lunch, and napped. Will is working on his motorcycle, and later, we are meeting our family at Dreamland. We may even make a visit to TCBY for some free Father's Day ice cream. It is a good Father's Day!

I am grateful that Hudson has Will as a father. Here are just a few of the many, many reasons:

Hudson is blessed to have a father that puts Jesus first and leads his family to know, love, and serve him. While Hudson will never have a perfect earthly father, we pray he will find true satisfaction from our perfect Heavenly Father.

He has a dad that loves his wife and puts her second. Just seeing his dad show his affection for me through touch, words, time, and gifts is doing so much for his emotional security! His heart's desire is to have parents that put their marriage as their highest earthly priority! This makes him feel the most loved and also is a testimony to the love of God! Do we do this perfectly? By no means! We could write volumes of books on how we have messed up over and over!

He is blessed to have a dad that loves him! Though he won't remember these times, he will look back on his childhood and remember the countless hours his dad spent with him.

He also has a dad that works so hard to provide for us. He gladly sacrifices many of his "wants" for us.

As a bonus, He has a dad that is just plain fun! Hudson is in for some fun times in the future. I foresee lots of dirt bike riding, fishing, camping, grilling, working on cars, refinishing furniture, building things, etc... Not to mention zombie movie marathons!

This being said, My sweet husband and I are prayerfully building a Godly heritage. Although we won't live forever, our prayer is that generations after us will love and serve the Lord through the time we are investing in our children. I say this often because it truly is our heartbeat! Reflecting on our vision gets us through many of those "hard" days!

I am so thankful that Will is my partner on this journey. Happy Father's Day to my best friend and the absolute love of my life!

I'm on a boat!

The Hubs and I just got back from a 3 night cruise to the Bahamas. It was a great way to celebrate our anniversary, the end of the school year, and surviving our first year of parenthood. This was Will's 4th trip to the Caribbean and my first! We honeymooned in Cabo, so I'd never seen the beautiful water of the Caribbean until this trip!

We boarded in Port Canaveral, Florida on Friday afternoon. We spent the remainder of that day pigging out, hitting the casinos, and having the best conversations over cold drinks on the top deck. We also went to some of the shows on board and got to know our sweet waiter, Domingo. Domingo has a 7 month old baby who he hasn't seen since he was 2 months old. His family lives in India while he lives on a cruise ship supporting them. In 3 months, he will go home for 10 weeks. After that, he repeats the process. It broke my heart! It was crazy to see how many nationalities work on cruise ships. Will and I talked about how it would be a great way to help reach the nations if we were single.

Pictures of our first day:

Leaving Port Canaveral:



Watching our ship leave a tiny footprint in the big ocean:



The sunset:




After a yummy breakfast on our second day, We read on deck while waiting for our ship to port in Nassau.



Around 10, we were able to see the island. My camera does not do justice to how beautiful Nassau looked from our ship.



Once we docked, Will and I ate more yummy food before we made our way to the famous straw market. I was tricked into buying necklaces for starving children THREE times. These people came out of nowhere putting necklaces on me. First they said they were free, but after the necklace was on they said to give a donation to the starving children. Then, they proceeded to tell me how much to give. I may not be a great judge of character, but after the 4th person tried to put a necklace on me, I began to doubt that this money was actually going to any starving children!


We sampled some of the local brew at a little place called Casablanca. We talked with another couple while people watching and looking at our ship from port.







Afterwards, we explored the town. Will gave in and bought a pricey Cuban cigar from a very questionable man.





We headed back to the boat for an afternoon nap before our ship's formal dinner. Our waiter brought us two appetizers and four main courses. We were stuffed and that was before he brought us three desserts! The waiters sang "Happy Anniversary" to us and made us a flower out of a napkin.







We decided to walk back into Nassau later that night. I accidentally bought a $13.00 pina colada. If you know me, you know I'm cheap! This nearly put an end to my night, but I tried to forget it! We spent the remainder of the night on the boat participating in the entertainment. Will even had a part in the Battle of the Sexes game show.

Day 3 was by far our favorite! We went to Royal Caribbeans private island-Coco Cay. We started off by snorkeling. It was so much fun! I felt like I was in Finding Nemo. Sadly, Will lost his wedding ring. Don't worry, we replaced it back home with a Walmart special.





We spent the next three hours talking, eating barbeque, and reading in a hammock under the palm trees. My kind of paradise.




We spent the rest of the afternoon taking in the scenery.










We finally had to say goodbye to Coco Cay. We boarded the boat for our final night of food, shows, and casino fun. We ended our wonderful trip watching the sunset once again.






As much fun as we had, we missed our little guy so much! I cried real tears twice. It is good to be home.































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3 Years

Three years ago, Mr. Patridge and I said our vows in front of our friends and family, and then, we danced under the stars and lighted trees. It was a fairytale. In our time together, we have had our share of other fairytale moments…surprise dates, candlelight dinners, vacations, etc. Although those are great and make up a tiny percentage of our day to day life, I also love when the movie moment stops. The rest of life is filled with those not so picture perfect movie moments. You see each other in comfy clothes. You know what each other is like on a bad day. You fight. You may even witness something gross….like the other person attempting to shave their back or pick their nose. In these moments, I think marriage is the most beautiful. I love that in marriage we uncover our masks and get to know another person in a real way. It isn’t always easy. Sometimes, it is downright hard, but it is always worth all the work.

Happy Anniversary to my number one in this life! Thanks for loving me and committing your life to me! I love you.


Funny story….the Hubs and I exchanged gifts this morning, and we gave each other the exact same thing! We both made photo books of our history together. We even used some of the same pictures. I guess you really do grow alike over time!

To My Wonderful Wife

Heather, You are an amazing wife and mom. Thank you for everything that you do for this family. I am truly blessed to have your company for the rest of my life... Hudson agrees. Happy Mother's Day, bubs.

Love,
Hubs

p.s., I hope I didn't mess anything up by making a post...

house rules

After nearly three years of marriage, we have unknowingly developed a few unspoken "house rules." You know, those types of rules that are created without discussion- simply due to spending so much time together. Below are a few of ours. This may give you a little insight into our marriage.

In no particular order:

No serious talk after 9 pm.

Dinner cannot include any type of nut in the main dish or sides. This also applies to the ingredient cumin.

The wifey gets the remote in bed.

Any alarm clock that goes off more than twice may or may not be thrown down
the stairs.

Chipotle is never a lunch or dinner option.

Mr. Pibb is not the same as Dr. Pepper and should not be found in the fridge. Dr Thunder is acceptable.

Whoever smells the poop must change the diaper.

A certain person should always have at least a sip of coffee before directly spoken to in the morning.

It isn't necessary to play the same You Tube video over and over. After three times, please wear headphones.

All Scrabble matches must be played with the Official Scrabble Dictionary. No guessing words are real!

It makes me smile to think about how much you learn about someone through sharing life with them. It is funny how you know other's quirks and silly likes and dislikes. We are really learning that considering the other person better than yourself (Phil 2:3) really does wonders for our marriage! Love you Hubs!

Mr. Hudson is quickly approaching his 1st birthday. He is still crawling everywhere, and he has finally figured out how to cruise all over the furniture. Instead of playing with his toys, he would rather try to push the buttons on all electronics as well as repeatedly swinging the flat screen up against the wall.--It's on a swivel. He likes to jump in his bed. He loves pasta, but dislikes any type of breakfast food. He has 7 teeth. He waves, motorboats, shakes his head no, locates eyes and noses, and claps. He zones out to Praise Baby once a day. He loves outside. He makes me laugh out loud.

Here's looking at you, kid.

Isn't it weird how you can run into Walmart and get an assortment of things that don't quite go together? Last night, our quick run got us baby q-tips, a bottle of wine, spray paint, and Subway.



We used the Subway and wine for a romantic Saturday night picnic outside. We watched Casablanca on the side of our house.



Thanks husband for that sweet suprise!

Hudson is still very much into everything:



I love how he shows us things now.

amor

It is so easy for me to fill our blog with posts about Hudson. I mean we are together 24/7, and he is the cutest thing. So, this post is dedicated to my number one on this earth....Mr. Will P! Hopefully, the Lord will bless us with more kids, but one day those kiddos are going to leave for bigger and better things. I hope and pray Huds finds a wifey that he loves more than me. God has designed it so that our children will feel most loved when we put our marriage first.

I spent Monday and Tuesday at my parent's house. When I arrived Tuesday evening, I found a scavenger hunt around the house. Will had written out clues that lead me up the stairs and back down the stairs several times. The clues led me to an invitation for lunch, a little shopping, and a movie on Sunday.




I am so grateful that the love of my life is the best friend I've ever had. I am blessed to have a man that loves Jesus more than me. I am so happy he is the daddy of our children. I know I am being sappy, but I love him!!!

I also thought I would share the fun little items my mom got us for Vday:









I think I am going to put a candle in the birdhouse and use it as a centerpiece for the table.

In news related to that, we got our two chairs from Walmart in last week:



I think I will distress them a little.

Have a great day! I love this weather! We are about to take a walk and enjoy it.

Happy February 11th!

We think having a holiday dedicated to expressing love is a great idea. Of course, we don't need a reason to do things out of the ordinary, but it is a good time to be extra sweet, cheesy, and a little corny.

Since V-day is on a Monday, we decided to celebrate Friday. We kept it low key. Mr. Patridge woke up to a trail of post-it love notes down the stairs and to his car.

Huds and I brought Daddy and Coach Gilchrist Milos during their 10 minute lunch break. I got a sweet card and two gift cards...Starbucks and Yogurt Mountain here I come!








After work, Will met me at his parent's house where we kissed Huds goodnight and went to dinner at Bellini's. Our reservations were for 7:45. We usually dine early with the seniors, so it was nice to be out with the "trendy" late diners. I had the eggplant parmesan, and it was a....mazing! Of course, Mr. Patridge had his usual-chicken fettuccine. We are convinced he could be a critic for this dish. He rates them on a scale of 1 to 10 -often commenting on texture and flavors. So far, Macaroni Grill out ways the rest.

We let Huds sleep over at Ge and Pops, and we headed home to sleep because we worked the ACT early the next morning. We are putting the money away for our cruise fund. We are headed to the Bahamas in June for our 3 year anniversary trip. Can't wait.

As for the Hudsinator, he is into everything! Who knew a crawling baby was this much work?