It was the best of times.....

and the worst of times. :)

 

Girls trip 2019 will go down in history!

 

We planned over the winter that this year we would go to the mountains to do some hiking for our girls' trip!  McKenzie also planned a tubing adventure for us, and it was quite the adventure!
I won't go into details on here because I'm tired and ready to post these pictures and go to bed, but we found out after we almost died that the river we were on was not safe for tubing.  Madeline and I both fell out of our tubes and were sucked under in the rapids.  We both were pretty banged up afterwards and just thankful we survived to tell about it.  The locals were very upset that the business we used put us in that dangerous of a situation.  The business owners even told us not to worry about wearing our life jackets!  Crazy!!!  We will be a little smarter next time!

When we were driving through Atlanta we stopped to have breakfast at this cute little place.  I realized while we were there that we weren't far from my mom's childhood home.

I heard many stories about my mom growing up in this house with her parents, two brothers, a cousin and her grandma!

 

The tubing company had these great bathrooms for us to use before we got started!

 

                                  The view by the river!  So beautiful!

Just look at those smiles!  We thought we were in for a fun time!  Haha... I can laugh (well, sort of) now, but it was so bad!

 

                                             The calm before the storm....

 

It wasn't long after this that we got separated because the water was getting rougher. Madeline was way ahead, I was in the middle and McKenzie and Mariah were together.  I actually looked ahead when I was stuck in a whirlpool (still in my float at the time), and watched as Madeline got sucked under and wasn't coming up.  After it was over I was so thankful that McKenzie hadn't fallen out. I don't know how she would've done being pregnant!

 Mariah even fell out but thankfully wasn't stuck in a rapid. 

 

 

That evening we drove out to our little house that we rented.  It was SO nice!  We had four bedrooms and three full baths but ended up piling up in two bedrooms, and we all would end up in the same bathroom talking while we got ready. :)  Such sweet memories.....

 

Talking to her man..... :)

 

 It was so peaceful sitting out in the back.

I always enjoy different scenery while running when I'm out of town.  It was so peaceful!

 

We hiked three different trails while we were gone. We certainly didn't lay around and rest on this girls' trip!

 

 

 We saw beautiful water falls!

 

My little "nerd",,, always reading. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My favorite part of the house was the screened in back porch.  We are already scheming about closing in our back porch at home now! :)

 

One day was spent shopping in downtown Blue Ridge.  This little shop was our favorite, and these mugs said it all! :)

 

 

Well, it is late and I need to get to bed.  I was determined to get these posted though! 

We have had several more trips since this was!  Life is so fast paced right now.  Lots going on AND things are moving along concerning Baby L!!!  I will update soon!

 

~Goodnight....

#debtfree

When Marc and I got married we were poor college students. :)  We didn't have much.... but we didn't spend much either.  We worked our tails off to get through college without student loans.  When I was expecting Matthew we bought our first little starter home.  We always had a frugal mindset, but it never occurred to us to opt for a fifteen year mortgage.  We lived in that house throughout graduate school and the birth of our third child, Madeline.  Marc finished his specialist degree and took his first administrators job in another town, which meant a move.  When we sold that first little house we made enough off of it to have a good down payment on the next house, but we still took out another 30 year mortgage.  We lived in that house for three years and added our fourth baby, Mariah.

 

During this time, we always lived modestly and paid cash for everything.  We never felt like we were missing out on anything, we just lived simply.

Our last move was to our current house.  We bought this place in the country fourteen years ago with the hopes that it would be our forever home.  We knew we didn't want to raise our kids in the city!  This place allowed for McKenzie to have her horse on our property and to add lots of other animals! 

 

I

We bought less house than the bank said we could afford, but again.... we took out a thirty year mortgage.  We added three more babies during this time and when Macheus was a toddler we attended our first Financial Peace University.  Wow!  I wish we had learned these things when we got married!  So during the next four years we got serious about paying extra payments on the house, but we also renovated almost the entire house.  We remodeled the kitchen, completely gutted two of our three bathrooms, ripped out carpet from upstairs and put wood floors in, refinished the ceilings throughout the entire house, and built the tiny house on our property... and we cash flowed all of it!

About a month ago, Marc and I walked into the bank and paid our mortgage in full- sixteen years early!  It has been amazing to be completely debt free!  I am very excited to see where we will be in another ten years! It is exciting  to be able to save, and also have the freedom to give even more when we see needs!

                                                   (Do you see those sweet little faces peeking out?)

I think the key to financial freedom is contentment!  Along this debt free journey has also been my quest for minimalism!  My goal with our home is to love the space we have, but to do it with less!  I still have a ways to go, but it seems that each day we learn a little more.  I have let go of so much "stuff" and it has been so freeing! 
I love this place and the memories we have made here, and look forward to many more!