Way overdue...

Well.... back on May 19th, Josh and I had a momentous occasion to celebrate: OUR 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY! Yes, I realize it is now July 1st (tomorrow)...but better late than never! We celebrated with a lovely dinner at The Melting Pot and then we went to my parents garden to the very spot where we exchanged our vows, where we ate some of our wedding cake top and drank some champagne. Then, we did a devotional and prayed together, thanking God for the past year and asking for Him to bless us with many more in the future. It was a great night with my best friend and love of my life. While I know we'll definitely have some bumps our road together, I can honestly say that if the first year is supposed to be the hardest year... we sure are in for something amazing! God blessed us with a great relationship and good communication, making our first year together wonderful.

Thank you, Lord, for the beautiful blessing that you have given me in my sweet husband, Josh. You designed him specially for me, and I am so grateful to You, Lord. Thank you for the blessing that has been the past year. Please bless us with many more to come filled with joy, love, and laughter. In the hard times, help us to grow closer to one another, knowing that You will pull us through. Thank you for your constant blessings.

Here are some pics from our evening :) Might I add....
we had a little bit of a wait...and got a bit bored.... and silly. haha.

New beginnings...

Most of you probably don't know, but back in the middle of May, Josh got let go from his job because they got rid of his position. We haven't talked about it a lot, just because it was a painful thing to happen for us and we're trying to move on...but the good news is.... Josh got a new job a few weeks ago!!! He opened the Birmingham market for for Horizon Foods, an all-natural, organic food company that delivers to your home. He is doing it referral-based, and it's going really well so far. We're so blessed he got something else so quickly. The food is flash frozen and lasts up about a year in your freezer. The seafood is so fresh that that they catch it, clean it, de-bone it, and flash freeze it on the boat! It has been a big hit in Birmingham! Apparently the Mountain Brook mamas are buying him out of baked chicken fingers and seafood. Here is their website http://www.horizonfoods.com/ Check them out. I've had the shrimp, filet, and crab cakes so far and they were all wonderful! My fave was the crab cakes. He has heard nothing but positive reviews so far about all of the food. They have tons of options from which to choose.

Another new beginning is my return to the world of higher education. Excited and nervous, I'm leaving my job at Northwestern Mutual on August 1st and going back to school full-time to pursue a degree in education. My Child Development degree is great, but it has been hard to find good jobs using my degree. I decided a teaching degree would be very conducive to the family life we plan to have and is something I can always fall back on if I end up staying home with the kids for a little while. I looked at the 5th year programs, but since I didn't have to do many core classes for my Child Development degree at Vanderbilt, the amount of core classes I'd have to complete to even apply wasn't worth it, and I decided that if I have to do that much, I might as well just get another bachelor degree. I'm excited about it and the new change of pace!

On the side... A few weeks ago, I signed on to be an independent consultant for Arbonne International, a fantastic health and wellness company. Their company slogan is "Pure. Safe. Beneficial." Arbonne offers skin care, nutrition, weight management, aromatherapy, and color/cosmetic products delivered to your home. They are botanically based products formulated by a group of bio-chemists, biologists, and herbalists in Switzerland and made in the U.S. The products are hypoallergenic, not tested on animals, pH-correct, dermatologist tested, and contain no animal by-products, mineral oil, dyes, or chemical fragrances (there are a few specialty bath and body skin care products that will contain fragrances, but they are clearly marked as an ingredient and must pass inspections). I'd love to drop some off for you to try, because I'd really like to hear what you think! www.arbonne.com

THE headache of my life....

So, yesterday I had the headache of my life... I've been doing a bit of online research about my symptoms, and I've decided it had to be a migraine. It started with "visual disturbances," seeing flashes like someone had taken my picture with a flash.... According to the National Headache Foundation, "Approximately one-fifth of migraine sufferers experience aura, the warning associated with migraine, prior to the headache pain. Visual disturbances such as wavy lines, dots or flashing lights and blind spots begin from twenty minutes to one hour before the actual onset of migraine." Next, the intense one-sided pain came...I tried Aleve and Tylenol Allergy (thought it might be a sinus headache) but those didn't help. I also had the extreme sensitivity to light (my cell phone screen was too bright for me) and sensitivity to sound...and eventually nausea from the pain. I ended up leaving early from work in tears due to the pain. I tried to go to class, because I didn't want to miss anything, but I couldn't even see the board clearly and ended up leaving there in tears from the pain, as well. I got in the bed in silence and darkness at 1:30pm and finally decided I could get up around 5pm to try to start cleaning for our weekend houseguests. It was then that I also experienced the "increased pain due to exertion." I'm still having some dull pain, but nothing compared to yesterday. Whew... It was rough.

And to add insult to injury... Josh and I met my family and some family friends visiting from out-of-town for dinner at Sol Azteca last night. Afterward, Josh went home and I went to look at some cute houses in Edgewood with the ladies. It turned out that I'd left my house key inside the house, and Josh had put our hidden spare key on his key chain, which he'd also left inside. So, we were officially locked out! Thank goodness that after a while, he was able to get into the house. Needless to say, we'll be carrying our keys with us from now on, always locking our deadbolts, and Joshy G will be getting copies of our house key made today!

How to make a baby....

Well, most of you know about the old traditional, God-given method. These days, knowing me is almost a guarantee. Or, it seems that way at least. I've lost official count, but at one point earlier this year, I knew 21 pregnant women. "Know" is a flexible term, since one of them was my co-worker's wife and another is my bff Eden. While I don't seriously think so highly of myself to think that really has anything to do with it, all I know is that there is something in the water....and I'm ordering wine! Haha.

Speaking of babies, yesterday and today were big days for a few of the preggos in my life. My bff Eden is 37 weeks today, which is considered full term! Bless her heart, she went in this AM for what is called an External Version because baby Wyatt (Due 7/15) is breech. In an External Version, they give the woman a spinal, put her in an OR (it can accidentally send you into labor), and push around on her belly to try to manually turn the baby. Unfortunately, the External Version didn't work and Eden is scheduled for a c-section on 7/10. She was hoping to avoid the dreaded "section," but she ultimately wants baby Wyatt to arrive safely and healthy, so she's taking one for the Keever team.
Another preggo in my life had a big yesterday--my cousin Christopher's new wife, Brandy (Due in Nov). They found out they are going to have a baby boy! As a former highschool, collegiate, and pro baseball player, I'm sure that Christopher is thrilled for the opportunity to teach his son the love of sports.

So many baby blessings!




Beautiful pictures of Eden taken by Norfolk, Va photographer at Willette Designs. Doesn't she look fantastic!

Giving it a shot....

Well, at the request of a few friends, I have officially started a blog! I will say one thing... "Be careful what you ask for, because you just might get it!" Ha ha. One thing most people know about me is that I have grown into one open lady. This means that with the fun, entertaining blog posts, you will also encounter those that might be TMI, such as my painful mole removal from yesterday! I'm actually really excited about the blog and getting to share our beautiful life with our friends and family. Stay tuned!