Ten years ago, Matthew had a FANTASTIC idea to SKIP Christmas gifts and do a family TRIP instead. Not only did our kids love it (and chose a trip each year moving forward), but I’ve heard that many of YOU have also started this tradition!

There have been years when we’ve splurged a little; but there’s been other years, like this one, where we kept our Christmas trip affordable by driving somewhere local, only spending a few days, and cooking most meals.

Our hotel rooms were significantly cheaper because Matthew and I sat through a 90-minute timeshare presentation. (Great travel hack IF you can say no!) Matthew and the kids also used 27 YEAR OLD Disney park-hopper tickets to go to the Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios for FREE! (When Grandmama died, we found “no expiration date” tickets with remaining days left on them. I contacted Disney and they honored them.)

When you add Parker going with us and a pit stop at Matthew’s brother and sister-in-law’s house, it was a sweet trip to mark ten years of MEMORIES > gifts!

You know you’re a WEIRD family when even the KIDS don’t want to go to Disney. Although my crew would much rather be by the pool, ocean, fishing or playing pickle-ball, using the tickets was a reminder of just how SWEET Grandmama always was to intentionally create MEMORIES for everyone. (On a side-note, when we arrived and traded the old tickets in, it was very emotional when I realized it was the EXACT DATE 27 years ago!)

Personally, I couldn’t have been any HAPPIER to stay at the resort! I had one sweet day with Ruthie. The following day I got to make memories with Rayna.

My trip highlight was going out in the wild ocean in Matthew’s brother’s boat! (Dawn’s brownies and watching them all collect COCONUTS for Ruthie were close seconds!)

The waves!
The breeze!
The music!
The sun!
The DOLPHINS!

Here’s the other memories we’ve made over the years!

2015: Pagosa Springs, CO { blog 1 & blog 2 }
2016: CRUISE! { blog }
2017: New Mexico
2018: CRUISE!
2019: CRUISE!
2020: Arkansas, then Colorado
2021: Orlando, FL { blog }
2022: New York { blog }
2023: CRUISE! { blog }

Back when Arkansas was home, a lot of my time on those country roads was spent also catching-up on the phone with my sister who was over 700 miles away. Driving past beautiful cow fields, I would listen to entertaining stories about a great family from her church. The story line usually always involved unmatched hospitality, incredible food, Russian traditions, a house full of kids and, of course, sauna followed by a polar plunge into their ice-cold pool. Regardless of the details, I always ended-up thinking to myself- “I’d love to meet them one day!”

It wasn’t long after we moved back to Georgia that we all found ourselves at my parent’s house for my nephew’s birthday party. Sitting at their long wooden table were four new faces that I’d only ever heard about on phone calls with my sister. In between Nerf war battles and swimming, Matthew, Ross and I enjoyed getting to know those brothers better. And by the end of that summer, even greater than my wish of simply meeting the whole family, we soon called them all friends!

Somewhere between family cook-outs, birthday parties, volleyball tournaments, Bible studies, summer camps, fish fries and church events, Rayna and Mark started a friendship of their own. Soon after, Rayna began intentionally praying for Mark and their future together.

Meeting young and both being quiet allowed their three year friendship to blossom slowly. But, soon enough, they both knew they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together. So on a foggy, late summer’s day, Mark surprised Rayna in front of a waterfall and asked if she would marry him!

I am proud of their love and commitment to one another and the Lord! I pray He will use their marriage to glorify Him in all they do.

Oh, and I was VERY excited to do their ENGAGEMENT photos as well!

It’s ONE thing that we were invited by another family to stay at a beautiful lake-house.
But it’s ANOTHER thing that we all actually LOVE being around one another!

Playing in the water…
Being with family…
Eating good food…

Praise the Lord!

Here’s a few photos that Ross took! I LOVE them!