Road Trip.

We are on the ol country road as I type this (technology still amazes me). Its been a memory filled 24 hours!

Spending the weekend with my in laws was wonderful. Leaving my in laws to move to Michigan, was not so wonderdul. I've said it before and I will probably say it 10 times again....I love my in laws. They are amazing people and I'm blessed to be a part of their family. Leaving them yesterday morning was one of the hardest goodbyes I've ever gone through. There were a lot of tears and hugs...but as Miss Pamela told me "Always follow your heart and where Jesus takes you. Even if its Alaska. I'm proud of you for doing that". And I can honestly say I am doing that. So needless to say, I’m glad the goodbye is over and am looking forward to next time we get to see them!

And the road trip began...Will, Maddux, myself, and a 6 x 12 ft Uhaul trailer. Snacks, good music, a very well behaved baby, and clear skies made for a great morning of driving...

First stop, Rock Hill, SC. My Uncle Chuck, Aunt Wendy, cousin Dani and her family live there. We got to stop for lunch with them. It was kind of them to let us relax for a while. Maddux got to play with his toys, we ate lunch, and talked. I love good family talk time. We love you guys!

Back on the road by 3:30 with 240 miles until our hotel...it was a long 240 miles. Charlotte traffic, a car accident causing a traffic jam, a hungry baby, dark mountain roads, a crying baby, crazy semi drivers, and a head ache....we were ready to call it a night. We FINALLY pulled in to the hotel at 9 pm - we all felt immediately better. We did some serious relaxing and sleeping. I even let  Maddux sleep next to me all night :-)

The weather today is iffy...we woke up at 5:30 to hit the road and get the heck out of the mountains! As I type this we are 30 miles south of Ohio. We will give it our best to make it in tonight...lets hope mother nature cooperates!!

We are coming Michigan!!!

Making a Memory

That's it! It hit me driving this morning and it just feels right. I think my emotions are finally catching up to me and Im reflecting on how awesome the last 3 1/2 years living in Florida have been. We have made memories.

My amazing mother-in-law always says "we're making a memory!" and she is right...life is about making memories and making the best of every situation, even if it isnt good, and making it a memory.

So there we have it....I like it. And Im confident memories will be made this next week as Will, Maddux, and I road trip 1000 miles North.

And like I would leave without a picture....

Michigan.

Here it is....the story of how our move back to Michigan came to be...

It was a Sunday in September, one that neither Will or I will ever forget. We were leaving church and started talking about what Vic preached that day, loving people and following your heart. It was that day when Will and I realized our hearts were telling us it was time to move home...which was crazy. We always knew deep down that we wanted to end up in Michigan but didn't think it would happen this soon. Obviously God had other plans for us. After praying, talking, thinking, and more praying, we decided that we'd start the job hunt and if come July 2012 we had nothing, we'd move anyway since our lease was up. That was our plan and we were sticking to it!

Have you ever heard the quote "Announcing your plans to God is a good way to make him laugh?". Yeah, well, we made him laugh alright. We had this grand ol' plan that this summer we'd move home....well, that was until my best friend Kate called me with a full time job opportunity. I won't go into all of the little details but God obviously had a plan because the timing was all to good and everything fell in to place like it was supposed to. While we were in Michigan for my sister's wedding I also had 3 interviews - talk about a busy weekend!!! Next thing we knew I was offered a job the week of Christmas and accepting a job on January 30. A perfect start to a new year! I accepted a position with the McCahill Group as a full-time, on-site, Health and Wellness Consultant for Lacks Enterprises. I will be helping Lacks develop and implement a wellness plan to assist in decreasing their health care costs in 2013. I'm FINALLY getting an opportunity to utilize my degree in Kinesiology, something I've been waiting 6 years to do.

Ok, on to the small details. Maddux and I are moving home next week! Crazy! Will, Maddux, and I are hitting the road Saturday morning and heading to Savannah where we plan to spend a couple days with family. Monday morning we will wake up bright and early with a goal of reaching Beckley, WV (sounds exciting!) to spend the night. Tuesday we hope to drive the second stretch of 500 miles and end up in GR Tuesday night. Will is going to spend the week in GR with Maddux and I to help us get settled, look at daycares, potential houses to rent; and then on Sunday, sadly, he will be leaving us and heading back to Jacksonville. With how fast everything has happened we decided it made the most sense for him to stay in Jacksonville for 6 weeks and join us the first of March. The plan is for him to visit for a week mid February and hopefully have a few job interviews lined up. And while I'm in Grand Rapids I'll be living with my momma (who is SO excited to be having her grandson live with her....obviously way more excited for him than me ;) ).

God's hand has been in all of this or it wouldn't have happened as easily as it has. Thus far I haven't been an emotional basket case...although, I haven't had to say goodbye to my inlaws - oooh boy, something I don't want to think about....moving on....

I plan to document our road trip as we go! Look for updates and mini blog posts next week, I've downloaded the blogger app to my phone!!

Lots of love to everyone, we can't wait to see you Michigan friends....

Traditions

You know what I loved so much about Maddux's first Christmas? New traditions. It gave us a chance to do things as a family that we will do for years to come.
Its always so interesting talking to Will about his Christmas traditions...and taking his memories, and mine, and together creating those memories for Maddux. Christmas' to come in the Gay household will be FUN if this year was any indication...
Our first Christmas tradition comes Thanksgiving weekend....going out and getting a tree! The last 3 years that has consisted of pulling in to the Lowes parking lot and finding the big circus tent, there you will find oodles of trees. And while it may not seem festive picking out a tree from under a tent at Lowes, they have got themselves some good smelling Christmas trees. We had fun picking out our tree with Maddux this year...

As mentioned in my previous post the month of December was quite a whirlwind of activities for us. However, when the week of Christmas arrived....we were ready to tackle it. The first fun thing we did together was make Christmas cookies for Santa...and not just any kind of cookie, mickey mouse cookies of course. Growing up Will and I both left cookies for Santa and his crew...we thought it would be fun to make cookies and decorate them with Maddux. We had fun :-) a tradition we will continue...

On the 23rd Will and I were both off work and took the opportunity to take Maddux to see Santa. We had blast. Little man did great....and couldn't stop staring at Santa.

The highlight of Christmas Eve? A 2 hour nap. Seriously. Maddux took a fabulous afternoon nap and Will and I joined right now. That nap was literally the best sleep I've had since Maddux was born.
Anyway, on to more important things. Christmas Eve went to church and come home to put Maddux to bed. We decided to start the tradition of reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas" on Christmas Eve...Maddux loved it! After we read the story we tucked Maddux in, and Will and I got to enjoy a nice dinner together including a honey baked ham, delicious.

Christmas morning, Santa!!! First things first, we had to move the mitten to December 25 on the Christmas countdown...

We had more darn fun showing Maddux what Santa left for him....I think Maddux literally chuckled when he saw Mickey Mouse...

It was fun opening gifts....Maddux loved tearing paper and putting everything in his mouth.

Following gifts we enjoyed fresh, hot, cinnamon rolls - a tradition Will and I have held true to since being married. Next year Maddux can have one too :) Christmas afternoon we headed to Savannah to spend the rest of the day with the Gay's. It was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon....

Christmas was wonderful. I can't wait for to carry on traditions in the coming years with my family...

Big Day.

Yeseterday was a big day. We could finally shout to the world (ok, post on facebook) that we're moving back to Michigan! We couldn't be more excited about this decision. It wasn't one that happened quickly, nor was it easy. However, we knew that it was what God wanted us to do, 100%. Everything is working just the way He wants it to...more to come on the Michigan move soon.

Confession....I truly am sorry about the lack of blog posts. Yikes. It has been crazy. Of course we had the usual holiday things...but add to that my beautiful sister's wedding plus all of the Michigan "stuff", I didn't make it to the blog. Which has got me to thinking about the ever so creative title of the blog that my dear husband came up with. It isn't working. I can't do it. I don't like the pressure of feeling like I need to blog the very next day when something happens. I can't keep up! So no more Living Today, Blogging Tomorrow. We're on to something new. Not sure what yet. Any suggestions? I do want to keep up with the blog so friends and family in the South can keep in touch as we start the next chapter of our lives in the great white North! I'm hoping to have a new title in the near future....perhaps I'll think of one on my 20 hour drive North I have to take in 10 days...

On to more recent (within the last month) things. My baby sister got married! It was such an amazing day. Our trip to Michigan was jam packed with so much to do between the wedding and interviews however, every second was totally worth it. Maddux was a trooper. He dealt with so many people wanting to hold him and play with him - I was proud. Here are a few pictures that we have from the wedding weekend (which isn't many, we enjoyed the company and let Jill take the pictures)...

To look at more pictures of Lis and Troy's awesome wedding day...check out Jill's blog. 

We got back from Michigan on a Monday and headed out to Savannah on Friday to celebrate my mother in laws birthday. We had a blast. It's always good to spend time with family, especially knowing we won't be seeing them as often. Of course we forgot the camera that weekend but here is a picture of my mother in law on Christmas - happy birthday Granny! We love you MILLIONS!!!

We got back from Savannah on Sunday night and the next thing we knew we were 1 week away until Christmas....I'll be back to blog about that tomorrow....there is only so much I can catch up on in one night. 
But I leave you with this little face....this is what we got to spend Christmas morning with :)