Raylee laughing at Aunt Rachel

I will post more about my 4th of July trip later, but here is a funny video clip of Raylee laughing at her Aunt Rachel's "ahhh booo." Very Funny!

Father's Day

Michael, Raylee, and I had a fabulous first Father's Day on Sunday. We went to church, where we saw an amazing video of little kid's describing why they needed good daddies...number one reason was to show them Christ...it was a pretty powerful message and made me very thankful for Michael! Then we headed out to Kaufman, where we spent the day with family and close friends. We had burgers and went swimming...ok Raylee didn't actually swim, but it was fun anyways. It was great to spend time with Michael's parents, Stephen, Ashley, and the twins. I didn't take very many good pictures, but here are a few. We were exhausted after a long day in the hot Texas sun, so our evening plans included a nice relaxing dinner with some friends.



In light of Father's Day, I started to think of all the reasons why Michael is such a good daddy!

• He is a great husband, and one day Raylee will know exactly what type of man to look for.
  
• He is willing to get right in and change poopy diapers!
  
• He wants to pursue Christ in order to raise his kids to love Jesus.
  
• He is a great provider, who balances his work with his family (not to be taken for granted!)
  
• He dreams of what her future will be like.
  
• He asks about her when he calls everyday from work.
  
• He gets worried and checks on her while she is sleeping.
  
• He goes to doctor appointments with me.
  
• He loves to make her laugh...super baby anyone?
  

Thanks, Michael for being such a great husband and daddy! Raylee and I love you!

Jewelry Design!

So, I recently offered to help a friend find jewelry for her bridesmaids gift (and yes, I am a bridesmaid). My friend is in Med School and super busy...and I am not. Therefore, I thought it would be a great project. Well, the dress is beautiful! It is a Bari Jay dress that is a chocolate brown halter. Usually, brown is accessorized with gold, but the dress has a small silver and rhinestone brooch (doesn't sound great, but I love it). Finding jewelry that is silver and brown is tough. I spent a lot of time looking on the internet and at several stores. I had almost given up, when I discovered this wholesale bead and gemstone store at the Sam Moon Shopping Center. I found these beautiful stoney quartz gemstones, and decided to have the necklace and earring sets made. I think they turned out great! Here is a picture of my latest adventure (ok, not such a huge adventure, but when you have a three month old, everything new is an adventure).

The Shack

I finally got around to finishing The Shack, and if you haven't read it, you should. I am still not exactly sure if I love it, or I think it is a little over the top. Nevertheless, there are some really deep philosophical/theological points that I think depict my exact sentiments on things like evil, forgiveness, and the trinity.

On the question of evil "God" (in this book at least) states that, "Nobody knows what horrors I have saved the world from 'cuz people can't see what never happened. All evil flows from independence, and independence is your choice. If I were to simply revoke all the choices of independence, the world as you know it would cease to exist and love would have no meaning. This world is not a playground where I keep all my children free from evil. Evil is the chaos of this age that you brought to me, but it will not have the final say. Now it touches everyone that I love, those who follow me and those who don't. If I take away the consequences of people's choices, I destroy the possibility of love. Love that is forced is no love at all."

The book definitely gave me a lot to think about...check it out!

Preview of Raylee's 3 Month Pictures!

Here are a couple of pictures from Raylee's latest photoshoot! More to follow soon...

http://amycolumbusphotography.com/blog/dallas-baby-photography-miss-r-returns-for-her-3-month-photos/

http://amycolumbusphotography.com/blog/ (you can't see all of her pics on the other link, so click this one and scroll down)

Summer fun!

Last weekend we took Raylee to her first pool party at my friend Brittany's house. We had a great time, and I was thrilled to get to put Raylee in her adorable swimsuit. Here are some pics! Raylee is growing up so fast and she can really control her head now, and is starting to sit up with support. I can't believe how fast she is growing up.

I am just loving all the time we get to spend together, and I am so thankful for the opportunity to stay home with her. I have been cooking a lot lately (seeing that I have a lot more time on my hands). I have made some great dinners that have all been low-calorie (still trying to loose the baby weight)! I get a lot of my healthy recipes from kraft.com. Here are a couple of my favorites!

Parmesan Crusted Chicken

Salmon Dinner w/ Carrots

Cheesy Bean Burritos (I used turkey meat instead of ground beef)

These are the next two on my list to try...

Spinach, Chicken, and Cheese Manicotti

Italian Spinach Pie

Way behind...short post and pics!

Thanks Aunt Ashley for the new outfit!

The Toney Family is growing!

Grandpa and Raylee at the Arboretum!




So, I haven't blogged in a while, but there are some great pics of Raylee that I wanted to share. My dad was in town last weekend, and we also had some Toney family time this week. Enjoy!