Back to Real Life

What an amazing week we had!  The weather was great, our kids were in heaven {Gavin with his aunts and uncles, Riley with the beach...}, my entire family was together, Jarrod and I got to escape for some quality time, I rarely picked up my phone, and my sister had the most incredibly beautiful wedding day.  We got back in town later yesterday afternoon, and boy was it rough coming back.  We spent Saturday playing in the ocean and walking on the beautiful sandy beach, and were welcomed back to Arkansas with cold weather and the need for our heat last night!  Blah.  I also had a wonderful week of hardly any allergy symptoms, and I've been sneezing like crazy for the past 24 hours.  Can we go back to the beach now?  

I have photos to share {of course!} but not nearly as many wedding ones as I'd like.  To say that the actual wedding day was chaotic would probably be an understatement. Trying to get wedding stuff ready + getting myself ready + being a bridesmaid + trying to be there for Megan + taking care of the kids + sand = me not getting many photos with my camera.  But, I do have lots to still share.  And I will.  But first, I have to get them off the camera and on to the computer.  But first, I have to do laundry, finish putting all the stuff away, catch up on TS orders and party details, do the grocery shopping, and so on and so on.  You know the deal.

Before I get off and actually work on my to-do list, I have to blog about my heavy heart.  Yesterday, while waiting for the second leg of our flight, I read online about the passing of a former news anchor, Matt Turner.  I know some people aren't the news type, but I feel like I don't know what's going on in the world if I don't watch the news.  And you know how you get so used to one channel that if you catch a different channel it just feels wrong?  I can still remember watching Carol Williams and Clyde Gray back home growing up.  That's how it was here.  I watched Matt Turner on the evening news since we moved here up until he left a few months back when he moved.  I made sure to turn the news on while we were unpacking, and I happened to be in the closet when it started.  Jarrod called for me to come in, and he immediately said, 'He was only a year older than me.'  It was quickly obvious that though we'd never met him, his death impacted the both of us.  Jarrod put his hand on my leg and tears streamed down my face as we watched the story about his life and death.  The anchor reporting the story couldn't even get through it without crying, which of course just made me cry harder.  Matt was born the year before Jarrod, and he had a beautiful wife and a 10 month old daughter.  It was devastating to watch the slideshow of photos they played last night of him with his daughter.  He was in a car accident Saturday night; it was yet another reminder of how quickly your life can change.  Jarrod and I hugged after watching the story, and definitely squeezed the kids a little tighter last night.  Such a sad story.

Ok, now that I'm crying again, I really need to get some things done.  I'll be posting photos tomorrow for sure.  Sit tight.