Date Day

This past Saturday, July 14th, Matt and I had a day date. It was so nice because we have been SO busy lately and Matt has been working many evening shifts. We decided to document the whole day via pictures, just for fun. Here you go!

First we stopped at the Farmer's Market to get veggies for the week. It was Tractor week so of course we took pictures! 

 We were headed to breakfast and Matt grabbed this picture of one of the walls of a downtown building

 Our favorite breakfast spot, Papa's Breakfast Nook. It is so yummy!

 Patiently waiting for breakfast.

Yummy SWEET tea and coffee. 

 

The "decor" is special. :)

Matt was trying hard to decide what to get for breakfast.

Our decision? The Trashcan Omelet with Homefries. It is incredible. Mix of cheese, veggies and breakfast meats. YUM.

They are known for the "Spartanburger" which neither of us have had.

Next stop...the library. We had to return some items and "read".

Silly guy...

Then it was time for Lunar Golf. Our mall recently opened a Lunar/Black light putt-putt place. Living social had a

Last but not least, the newest Tyler Perry movie. It was funny but not as funny as his previous movies. The popcorn and Sprite were good too!

The Love Birds!

We love dates together. I'll keep him forever!

Til then-

Did YOU Hear about the Morgans? 

Grandmom's Garden

A couple of weeks ago we were at Grandmom and Granddad's for the evening.  Matt got some pictures of their garden as well as some fun pictures of us. 

 Zinnias 

 Grapes on the vine

 Grandmom's growing watermelon

 Grapes again

 Peppers (from the neighbors garden)

Apples on the neighbor's tree 

 Pretty purple flowers

 Ripening tomatoes (we have eaten A LOT of these this summer...YUM)

 Blueberries

 A neglected birdhouse that was STUFFED full of feathers, plastic, weeds etc. It was so crazy. 

 Marigolds/Tomatoes

 I begged them to clean it out. Can you see how full it is? 

 Pretty feather

 The result

 I told Matt this tomato looked like a butt and he said "Yeah, I already took a picture of it because I thought that too" HAHA

Zinnias

 Zinnias

Silly girl I am. Grandmom made this wreath

 My "greek god". All he is missing is a toga ;-)

 Pretty butterfly

 A bee doing what he does best

And the finale of the night...their neighbor who is Cambodian, brought over homemade spring rolls. LEGIT! 

We love our time with Grandmom and Granddad!

Til then-

Did YOU Hear about the Morgans? 

Low Country Boil

In June, Matt and I made Low Country Boil. It was one of my goals to find a yummy recipe and cook it  and it was AWESOME! Here are our pictures. And the link to the recipe

YUM-O!!!

Til then-
Did YOU Hear about the Morgans?

Random Happenings

Matt and I had a date day today and we took TONS of pictures so those will be coming soon along with fun details about the day. We had a blast and really just love spending time together.

Thought I'd just do a random post about all of the happenings with us right now. Feel free not to read. :)

-Mom is coming to visit us on August 15th and we are very excited! She will be here for a full week and we have plans for lots of cooking and down time but we are also going to tour the Biltmore and visit Gatlinburg for a day. It should be fun to have Mom in our state!

-In two weeks, we are going to Nashville to visit Matt's sister and her family. We are excited because this will really be the first time that we have visited them that wasn't for a specific purpose (i.e. birthday party, major holiday etc). We are just looking forward to time with them without any pressures. Hoping it's good "visit time".

-We are loving this summer. Granted, it is hot as FIRE! literally but aside from that it has just been a good summer. Matt and I have been continuing with our 5k training and we have also been staying cool inside (contradictory, I know). The best part of the summer, though? Fresh VEGGIES! We have had so many meals that consisted of just vegetables, including lots of tomato sandwiches! Our farmer's market here is awesome as is the garden that Matt's grandparents have and they have generously shared with us!

-Matt and I have been in Spartanburg for just shy of 8 months. That really doesn't seem possible! We had a pretty long adjustment period just because of jobs, schedules and literally being in a completely new and foreign environment. We have loved it but within the last 6-8 weeks have realized that we are just ready to form some more serious relationships with our peers. We have visited a couple of small groups at our church. They are great groups BUT we just haven't found our niche. Some of the people are married with children and older than us. Great people but not our peers, exactly. Some are our age but with children and just a little more "tied down". Great people but not us. A few weeks ago we spoke with the small groups pastor at our church and are moving toward making more connections. We are VERY hopeful and not at all discouraged, just ready for more friends!

-Ever have a time in your life where you really feel like you are supposed to go in one direction and then God shows you something and you head a different way? Yeah, that's happened to us recently. Best part? It's so much better than our plan! DUH!

-We are so blessed. Don't really know how else to say that so it doesn't sound flippant. We are just plain blessed!

Looking forward to sharing our fun date day with you!

Til then-
Did YOU Hear about the Morgans?

Knoxville

Matt and I had a great visit with the Moody Family a couple of weeks ago. Here are a few pictures. 

Matt and his "girlfriend" Savell; She just loved Matt! 

Leslie and "O"; He is growing so much! 

Us with the Moody "kiddos"; Love those beautiful babies

Leslie with Mandy; Love her

Til then-

Did YOU Hear about the Morgans? 

Open Letters

Dear Husband, YOU are awesome. Seriously, who just cleans the toilets to help someone out?!?! Oh, wait, that's you. I am glad you are mine.

Dear Tomatoes, Thanks for making the BEST sandwiches ever, for real. 

Dear Criminal Minds, the Mr. and I LOVE YOU!

Dear Jesus, Thank you for giving someone the revelation to create air conditioning. You are the best!

Dear Grandmom and Granddad, Thanks for planting a huge garden and sharing the harvest with us. We are grateful!

Dear Karen Kingsbury, Thanks for continuing to write awesome books!

Dear Student Loans, YOU ARE GOING DOWN! :)

Dear Friday, We love you!

Dear Cici's Pizza, we will see you tomorrow for date night. We love visiting because it reminds us of our first trip there together. (I love Cici's and I always told people that the only guy I would ever go to Cici's Pizza with was the guy I was going to marry because once he saw me eat all that pizza, he may change his mind. :) Matt took me to Cici's for the first time the day after we got engaged) 

Dear Mom, you are coming to visit us in 40 days! :)

Til then-

Did YOU Hear about the Morgans? 

Lela Update

Hey Guys! I realized recently that I had blogged about the beginning of Lela's journey but that I had not updated since then. To read the first part of her story click here.  My second post was here.

Here is the current update. :)

Lela had surgery at St. Jude on April 20th. They removed her left eye which was almost completely "full" of a tumor and really showed no likely signs of vision. When the doctor removed the tumor, he came out to speak to Jeff and Mandy and told them that the tumor had already begun to bleed and even if they had opted for chemo and radiation, she would have still had to have the eye removed anyway. Praise God for giving Jeff and Mandy confirmation that their very difficult decision was the right one. The eye was sent to pathology for a check and she and her parents were able to go home that weekend.

On April 25th, they received results from the pathology that the cancer had not spread to the other eye and that the brain was clear as well. At that point, they knew that they would need to return to St. Jude every four weeks for the next six months for repeat scans to ensure that no cancer is present. After 6 months, the exams will be less frequent.

On May 16th, she had her first repeat scans and they were all clear.

They went back in June to have follow up scans and then Lela had her permanent prosthetic eye placed. I know I won't do it justice to explain it BUT the eye they placed is permanent and will eventually move when her muscles attach to it. The front of her prosthetic eye is like a contact lens that has been painted for her to match her other eye. Jeff and Mandy can clean it and it really looks amazing. This portion can be changed as much as needed to keep up with her as she grows.

We went to see them last weekend and Matt took Lela's 4 month old pictures and she is adorable! Here are two of my favorites!

Love that precious baby girl!

Til then-

Did YOU Hear about the Morgans? 

Commenting Challenge Day 4

My husband and I are actually going out of town tomorrow so I won't participate in day 5. So here's to the last day for me!

Matt and I like many of the same hobbies. We both love to read, watch movies or TV shows on DVD (we don't have cable). We also like to be outdoors when it isn't crazy hot. We like to surf the internet. He loves "articles" and I like blogs, of course. We love to travel when we are able.

Favorite movie for me: Dirty Dancing or Steel Magnolias
Favorite movie for Matt: The Fifth Element

Favorite book for me: Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
Favorite book for Matt: Neil Peart's travel books

Favorite music for me: anything contemporary Christian
Favorite music for Matt: same as mine as well as Dream Theater

We are currently in love with watching back episodes of Criminal Minds on DVD that we get from the library. We are also reading through all Newberry Award Winning Books since the years we were born. It's cheesy but fun for us!


Til then-
Did YOU Hear about the Morgans?

Commenting Challenge Day 3

Today's commenting challenge is about social media which just isn't something I care a ton about. So I guess I'm sitting this one out! :)

Til then-

Did YOU Hear About the Morgans?