this is life. the journey is the reward, right?

well, we signed up to do some campaigning in sparta this weekend @ their annual bluegrass festival. we took my mom along with us... just to make things a little more interesting (which she always does) & because she is a fierce Lankford for Congress campaigner. it was a nice little event & the day went well. of course, livi totally refused to sleep on the 2+ hour trip there so was exhausted by the time we were ready to hit the festival. but, we took turns passing her around & she did fine. then, by 3:30 pm we were ready for a break & livi was desperately in need of a nap. (note: i had called around the week before and booked us a room @ the only bed & breakfast in town. the lady @ the sparta chamber of commerce said it was a "darling little place" so i called and booked the "cottage" for saturday night.) we thought we would check-in, drop off our stuff, let livi get a 30 minute nap or so, & hit the festival again. little did we know that the b&b was 7 miles out of town down a winding country road. the main house was only a little scary but after paying our $$ the man said "now, just hop in the car & follow me down the road a bit & i'll take you to the cottage." so after going about a mile down the road & passed several graveyards we came to.......

the "cozy cottage".... a total dump.... it actually looks a little better in pictures than in real life. the man actually bragged it was "built in the early 1930s" which i have no trouble believing since it looked like all the furnishings were still the originals...ahhhhhh. anyway, we were just so exhausted, livi was crying, so i just went into the little bedroom to lay her down. i pulled back the sheets to find this guy waiting....

hard to tell in the picture but this spider was the size of a quarter. now, i'm not especially scared of spiders & may have just had drae kill him & go on about my business had it not been for the other 3 spiders that came out from under the pillow when i moved it. needless to say, we checked out... immediately... without a nap (which is why livi required a passie for the photo below).
so, we headed back downtown sparta where drae pulled the car behind someone's home & beside a patch of grass. we spread out this blanket- said forget the nap- and livi had a snack of puffs & water in a strangers backyard. this is where she & i waited while drason & peggy jean handed out flyers till they closed down the festival :)

needless to say, we were all very happy & relieved to check into the holiday inn express in cookeville later that night.... below is our bed... spider-free. however, we did spend the rest of the night attempting to locate my mother's Bible which she lost at some point on this trip... the fun never ends!

overall, it was a wonderful weekend. we made it home safe & sound & still all in a reasonably good mood and posed for one last campaign photo.... we are so blessed to be close to family & friends as we travel this crazy journey together!

good times with good friends...

our very good friends, daniel, jamie & annie marie jones, dropped by for a visit a few days ago. they live in kentucky & i miss seeing these beautiful girls (and dan too, i guess.)
jamie & i have been best friends since we were the size of these two little ladies above. annie was more interested in her dad here than her BFF so livi is just giving her a little tap to get her attention.

with our husbands off campaigning on friday night, courtney had the girls & babies over for a little play time. livi was pretty impressed with her cousin colby's army crawling skills... he was all over the place.
everyone playing & having a big time.... except maybe livi who appears to be contemplating suicide.... yikes....

overalls...

just had to post a pic of these & say "thanks" to livi's sweet aunt jeana for getting them for her. jeana said she saw them @ the dickson co-op and couldn't pass them up. i'm so proud my little girl already has a pair of co-op overalls like her dad! jeana even got them pretty big so hopefully we will be on our way to moving out to the land when she is big enough to wear them. can't wait to put livi lu in them...rolled up to the knee, without a shirt underneath, and barefoot, of course...and send her off down to the creek with her cousins.... what a fun day.

our first family photos...

we had some pics made last thursday & wanted to post a few for those of you who hadn't seen them. even though we've been married for over 6 years we've never really thought about getting family photos made till now...babies make it more fun! the photographer is jadie thomas & i stole these prints off her blog.... hope that was ok. anyway, she is great & if you have time & want to check the whole slideshow out you can go to www.jadiethomasphotography.com/beasleyproofs/

who are these grisly green guys?

i love these guys. i have loved these guys since i was 18 years old. it was my senior year in high school & i would go to this art studio in downtown dickson regularly just to stare @ this piece of art. i really don't know why but i loved it. i never dreamed i would own it. i had no money & was getting ready to head to college the summer after i graduated. one day, out of the blue, drae pulled up in his old green isuzu trooper and pulled this glorious painting out of the back. he had saved up (from working late nights after school & weekends @ east hills restaurant) to get it for me. it was my "growing up & going to college" present from him. these green faces have always made my heart happy for all they remind me of... with one glance i'm taken back to that summer & the feelings of excitement at everything that lay ahead of me & the joy of falling in love with drae. now, having said that, no one else loves this painting like i do. my mother abhorred it. she said it was scary & devilish & couldn't understand why anyone would want to look @ it. i'm pretty sure all my sisters agreed. my college roommates thought it was weird & that i was weird for hanging it over my bed so i it would be the last thing i saw @ night & first thing i saw in the mornings. nonetheless, it has hung in every college dorm room & apartment i lived in and is now hanging in my bedroom in our home (on my side of the bed, of course). drason, too, has never really been that big of a fan. he has said "how about we take that picture down for a while- maybe replace it with something else? aren't you tired of that yet?" i have always said "no way" and have been perfectly content with being the only person alive who has ever loved this little piece of art......... until.......






livi drae.
this is my darling daughter sitting on our bed laughing @ these green guys. she LOVES them! every time she catches a glimpse of them she chuckles. now, this is a big deal because although she is a wonderfully happy baby she is stingy with her smiles. it takes a lot to elicit a big grim or belly laugh. but, these guys- they just sit and stare- and always seem to crack her up. she will sit on our bed ( i will hide in the bathroom to watch) & she will interact with them with her laughter & cooing as if they are real. i love this... she is my daughter... and although she looks like her dad... i've got some proof now that she's got some of her mom in her.

messing around....

livi & me @ harvey park last weekend... p.s. this is a pretty neat little park in spring hill for any moms out there with kiddos
livi loved her first swinging!

and, i finally got around to taking livi's official 6 month old photo... (yes, i know she will be 7 months old in just one week so i guess i'll post a very similar photo to this one very shortly :)

LANKFORD FOR CONGRESS!

yes, i realize i have posted this picture before. but, i'm the mom who always forgets her camera (even though i have a darling 6 month old who needs her picture taken) so i have no pictures from the campaign luau we attended saturday night. however, while there we were all told by marsha blackburn to blog about monty today.... so i am. i'm not necessarily a rule follower, like my new friend ashley j :), but i'm doing it anyway. so listen up people!!...

monty lankford is my brother-in-law and he is running for US CONGRESS in tennessee's 4th district. there is not another person i can think of who would do a better job serving our state in washington... truly... i'm not just saying this because i feel obligated. i'm just telling it like it is & those who know me well know that is actually my speciality. he is honest. he loves Christ & follows Him. please go to his website: http://www.lankfordforcongress.com/ to learn more about him, tell your friends & family to spread the word (maybe even post a little link on their blogs to his website!!), and please (BY ALL MEANS) plan to get out and vote on november 4th!

laid back...

this is how our labor day went.....laid back. we loved it....

on friday night we watched my nephew, taylor lankford, & page high school beat centennial. here is livi with her aunt dana. dana, for those of you who have not read tiffany lankford's blog recently, has a magic sleepy-baby touch. this is a very fussy livi moments before this happened....
and her eyes were closed very soon after.

here is livi with her cousins, barron & colby lankford.
even though this is not a fantastic pic of all the kiddos i had to post these eyes. what beautiful & blue eyes sweet colby has!
and finally, this will have to serve as livi's official "i'm 6 months old" picture. yes, she is a very big girl now. here she is showing her new prized possession... her new tooth. it comes with the drool dribbling off her chin and a very grumpy attitude.