Yes, that’s crazy cliché. But for a geeky guy like me – who doesn’t have friends in spades – friends are rare gems. And Jessica is the rarest and most beautiful. From convincing me to ask her out even though she is way out of my league, to giving her best mind to a grumpy and exhausted man after putting up with a one- and three-year old all day, she’s a great friend. She was the first friend who I didn’t think would leave if I screwed up. She was the first friend who thought I was plenty cool and interesting, and wasn’t just on their way to something better.

I don’t have the best memory, I can’t remember much from elementary, middle or high school – only an occasional high or low. Most of my college memories are drowned in laziness and sadness. But then there’s this mark in my mind. That mark is where things changed, and I started remembering vividly. That mark is Jessica. I can remember the sweaty palms when I asked her if it was ok to ask her out. I can remember the first kiss, telling her goodbye on the steps to her parent’s house. I can remember kneeling in the red clay and asking her to marry me. I can remember Rabun and Elle being born. From the moment she stepped into my life things changed. All my most vivid memories are with her, and I wouldn’t trade those memories for all the others.

Without her, I’d be just a geek. With her, I’m the geek with a hot wife who has somehow managed to figure out talking to people. Without her, I’d be hesitant and doubtful. With her I’m confident and resolute. Without her, I’d still be a lazy and depressed slacker. With her, I’m driven, determined, and I smile. She makes me better, makes me what I am.

I love that she gets mad that we won’t share a mansion in Heaven and promises to take that one up with Jesus. I love that I can read her like a book, but it’s a book I don’t know all the details of. I love that she cares with me, even about things that don’t matter. I love that she works hard alongside me and is not afraid of dirty hands. I love that she describes her old job as “flirting with old men” even though most of the farmers thought of her like a granddaughter. I love the way she loves and cares for our girls – stern, passionate, forgiving, embracing love. I love that she is the wife of my youth, and she keeps me young. I love that she’s opinionated, and yet never wants to embarrass me. I love her so completely, that I couldn’t imagine it before I met her.

She knew it long before I did, but she is definitely the one. She is the one I will grow old with. The one that brings out the best in me. The one that makes me want to be better than I am. The one who I want my girls to be like. The one I hate disappointing. The one I love to cheer. She is the one friend for me.

We’re lucky enough to live very close to the Georgia National Fair, so we can go a lot. The fair was in town for 11 days; Jessica was there for 10 of them and I was present for for 9 of them.

Luckily our kids love the fair, too. And we get to spend a lot of time with family and friends. Here are some highlights from this year’s fair.

Rabun got to hold an alligator.

Elle enjoyed all the sights sounds and people watching.

We met Rosie the dairy cow, who Rabun insists that we’ll see next year at the fair.

I got to meet both the Obamas.

Jake and Judd got to ride the sheep and did excellent.

Rabun got to spend a fun night with friends.

And we all had a blast as a family.

We can’t wait until next year’s fair, it will be October 4–14.

Elle loved her cupcake and everyone singing to her.

And after a little encouragement from her big sister, she got the hang of digging into the cake.

We were happy to host friends and family for the celebration and hope that everyone had a good time. Rabun certainly enjoyed the opportunity to play with friends.

Happy Birthday Elle!

This year, Rabun and Elle both enjoyed playing in the lake. Rabun was very brave and jumped into the lake repeatedly from the dock and even let people throw her into the air and then splash down. She loves the water and wonders why she can’t take off her swimmies.

Not only was she a big fan of swimming, but she also wanted to ride the tube every chance she got. The faster and bumpier it was, the more she liked the ride.

Elle also enjoyed playing in the water, but of course isn’t as ambitious as Rabun. We’ve got plenty of time to get her used to it.

Elle also enjoyed playing outside with Jessica on a picnic blanket. Jessica and I are thrilled that both our girls love to play outside.

Of course, there’s more to family vacation than just the water and the outdoors. There’s cousins! And boy do we have cousins. But we love playing with them. It’s great to have a big family; Jessica and I hope our girls appreciate having plenty of friends on family vacation.

We had a great family vacation. It was refreshing to get away for a little while and spend some quality time with my brother, sisters, mom and dad, the in-laws, all the kids, Rabun, Elle, and Jessica.

For more pictures of the vacation, check out my flickr photoset for tons of pictures.

While we roasted hot dogs over a fire, the kids played in a sprinkler and fed the cows day-old bread. Rabun enjoyed playing with her cousins, especially Luke.

After dinner, we made ‘smores. While yummy, I didn’t remember them being this difficult to make. Must have been something about an impatient audience.

When it got good and dark, we were ready for the fireworks. The kids waited patiently and Jessica’s brothers and myself put on a good show.

Finally, Rabun enjoyed playing with the sparklers. She believed they were her magic wands.

We enjoyed celebrating our freedom on the Fourth, and remain thankful for those who have sacrificed themselves in many ways for the numerous privileges we have today. Thank you to those who have served to protect our freedom.

On her actual birthday, she got to where her “wedding dress” (a dress she wore as a flower girl in a recent wedding). But perhaps what she enjoyed most on her birthday was a chance encounter with a famous restaurant mascot.

She also got to open a gift from us: a frilly apron so that she can help me cook.

We visited my parents the next day and she opened their gift, a few dresses she has been wearing out since.

And from Jessica’s folks a couple days later she received an assortment of wonderfully girly things that included a new Tinkerbell nightgown.

For her actual party, we had a full house of family and friends over for some outdoor water play. We borrowed a large blow up water slide from my parents that was a huge hit among the kids.

Rabun managed to blow out all the candles on her Rapunzel cake.

Elle had a blast and participated in the party, too.

And despite the fact that it wasn’t quite dark enough, we lit a couple of floating lanterns to celebrate.

Then she opened some more presents, including a new Spiderman bike helmet from me and Jess. (Rabun loves Spiderman, which makes the geek and the dad in me happy.)

Her birthday was amazing. A great celebration for a girl turning three and we enjoyed sharing it with all the family and friends that participated. Thanks everyone!

Rabun finally got the point of an Easter Egg Hunt; good thing too, cause we had many to attend.

Elle hasn’t quite caught on to the whole idea yet, but she enjoyed hanging out with my parents while Rabun hunted.

It’s always great celebrating Easter with family.

Rabun has enjoyed playing at my parents house a lot since they moved back from Atlanta, they have some special toys she enjoys.

Elle’s personality has really started to blossom. She’s our smiley girl. We can’t wait to celebrate her First Birthday later in July.

During the spring and summer months, Rabun and Elle both have enjoyed playing outside.

Hope you enjoyed these many words on what’s been up in our life recently.

Dan had the pleasure of playing in shaving cream. He didn’t get quite as covered as some.

Though we had a blast with games, the praise and worship were phenomenal. God moved in a mighty way while we were at camp. My heart is completely overwhelmed by the whole experience, it was amazing. Several made some life altering decisions ranging from salvation to working with missions. God is so good!

As a mom it is great to see your child learning great biblical truths such as:

• Snakes are really bad. Worms are good though.
• That snake in the tree was not nice to Adam and Eve. He was not telling the truth. They ate some stuff off a tree.
• Jesus had to move a rock.
• The bad guy took baby Moses from Jesus.

As you can tell we have a few kinks to iron out about the Bible and all it has to teach us, but she really did learn a lot. I am so grateful to all the many volunteers. It is such a blessing to be part of an incredible church family.

Rabun was so happy to have one of her sweet cousins in her group. She and Luke are tight.

Not to be forgotten was sweet baby Elle. She had her own personal assistant all week in the form of one of our sweet youth workers, Miss Tiffany. She loved it, at one point I was concerned that she might not want to come home.

Starting at about 9:30 this morning we got to see all fish, alligators, and cool exhibits at the Go Fish Center.

There were also some fishing simulators that Rabun and I had fun on.

Elle enjoyed watching everyone have a good time.

The Go Fish Center is a neat place and a great bargain to take a family in Perry, Ga.

And I’m not just saying that cause my cousin works there.

After that we headed to Lane’s to have lunch and then we got down to business picking strawberries. Rabun wasn’t much help actually picking the berries, but she had a good time.

Elle enjoyed hanging out with Jess while I tried to find the reddest berries we could.

Lane’s has a realy nice playground so after we were done picking berries Rabun got to play a little bit.

Jess and Elle rested their collective feet and had a good time watching Rabun playing.

All of this activity resulted in two exhausted girls.