I grew up in a SUPER small town in Missouri. (Like 12 people in my graduating class kind of small).
After much deliberation and procrastination, I decided to go to college at Arkansas State University. It wasn’t too close or too far away so I thought it would be the perfect choice. I met lots of great people there, and still have some dear, dear relationships that all began in Jonesboro, AR.
I met Tab the summer before my senior year. (I’d actually met him a couple years before that but it was a really not-so-great time for both of us, so I don’t count it). We instantly hit it off and began dating a month later. He graduated and moved to Dallas for a job. I graduated, we got married, and then I moved to Dallas too!
We eventually bought a house, we both had jobs and were waiting patiently (maybe not patiently) for a baby! I learned SO much about myself during this time and my relationship with Christ really grew. After months and months of prayer and fertility treatments AND on an “off” month, we got pregnant! Funny how that happens isn’t it? All in HIS timing. 🙂 In April 2009, sweet Miss Ebby Lee was born…
Such an answered prayer
On August 10th 2009, Tab’s birthday, I decided to take a pregnancy test (just because I felt a little off) and guess what…
Happy Birthday Tab! Another blessing on the way and all on HIS timing again 🙂 But…we had a 4-month-old baby so it was a crazy time in our life. I remember calling my family/friends and kind of laughing and crying all at the same time. Little Miss was so much fun. We felt so good about our decision for me to stay-at-home with the baby considering #2 was arriving in a few months!
In September, we took our first family vacation…to the beach.
I know this is going to sound crazy, but I’d always dreamed about pumpkin patch pictures of my family! (I know…it’s a little crazy!) But my first pumpkin patch trip was so special!
Thanksgiving 2009
April 9, 2010, (we actually partied in March..just in case baby brother made an early appearance) we celebrated our baby turning 1!
April 12, 2010, we welcomed Nixon Talbot to the world.
We adjusted to life with two little babies.
Pumpkin Patch 2010…18 months and 6 months
Christmas 2010
Our family of four
April 2011, we had a Lumberjack and Jill (double) birthday party. Nixon turned 1 and Ebby Lee was 2.
Pumpkin Patch 2011
April 2012…we threw a big Easter birthday party for these two turning #2 and #3. (I should mention I felt HORRIBLE this weekend.)
I took a pregnancy test on Nixon’s ACTUAL birthday (April 12th) and POSITIVE! Soon to be…Slaughter Party of 5! We took another beach vacation. Made some GREAT memories.
Pumpkin Patch 2012…Mama was 8 months pregnant.
Thanksgiving 2012
Bowen Hency arrived on November 27, 2012. What a special day!
These 3 kiddos kept us SUPER busy in 2013.
We celebrated Ebby Lee turning 4 on April 9.
Nixon turned 3 on April 12th.
A beach trip as a family of five…funny how that first beach trip with one baby should have felt like a breeze! ha!
Loving living my life with this guy!
We moved into our new house in July 2013. This was our first night! Poor Bowen! He had no clue what was happening.
I turned 30 and we celebrated with a 30th Rapunzel Birthday. 🙂
Tab and I celebrated 8 years of marriage at a kid-free dinner and then a selfie in the playroom. Doesn’t everyone do that?
We celebrated my 30th and Tab’s 32nd birthdays with friends. Love these girls!
I’m going to fast forward the next three years pretty quickly.
The summer of 2015, the we moved into a new home, built in 1998, which means all kinds of renovations and updates are needed. We’re slowly working through this-one project at a time. We love our neighbors, our new ‘hood, and the area so we’re being patient with the upgrades. {Or at least I’m TRYING to be patient.}
That same summer we enjoyed a week long family vacation back to Destin, Florida.
We sent a first-grader and a kindergartener off to school in August.
And we ended 2015-with a six-year-old, five-year-old, and three-year-old.
The next summer we took an amazing family vacation to Mexico. When asked if our kiddos enjoyed their vacation, “YEEESSSS!!!”. 🙂
Meanwhile, God was stirring in our hearts for us to grow our family. Tab and I were praying about this and began getting our paperwork complete.
Later that fall, Tab’s football crew got assigned the Army/Air Force game taking place at West Point. We decided that was worth a family trip to New York. One of my favorite family trips to date…we took the crew to New York City, the football game, and then back for more fun in the city.
We closed the door to 2016 with high hopes and big prayers for a sweet girl to join our family in 2017.
Everything else from 2017 pales in comparison to this day and this moment. On May 15, 2017, we welcomed Britt Bradford Slaughter into our family. Our hearts all grew three sizes this day.
We celebrated Britt turning TWO on November 12th, 2017. What a blessing it was to experience all these firsts through her eyes.
In 2017, we praised God for this sweet baby. We didn’t even know how much our family needed her until she arrived.
In 2018, we took an amazing Spring Break vacation to Disney World and then followed it up with a Disney Cruise {with the Shull crew}.
That summer we took a family vacation to Rosemary Beach, Florida, to enjoy a week of fun in the sun, way too late bedtimes, and more memories we can even count.
Tab and I celebrated THIRTEEN years of marriage in July.
And when it was back to school time, this year-we had another kindergartener headed off to school. It was Bowen’s turn!
