Pictures that make me smile

At my cousin's wedding.

Our Buddy on a road trip.

Brandon. SO serious after getting his haircut.

Doesn't he look like a stinker? What a happy kid.

Jack runs at the camera every time he sees it so this is a typical result. I love the excitement on his face.

I look through the pictures that we've taken over the last couple months and realize how much fun we have with Jack on a daily basis! He's such a joy! He's been working so hard on learning new words lately. He was giving "book" a solid attempt tonight. I am thankful he is learning "book" before "tv" :-)

Now on to a different topic.... due to some trouble a friend has had lately with finances, it has reminded me how toxic debt can be. It wasn't that long ago that we used credit cards on a regular basis, because I convinced myself that the cash back percentage was worth it, and I could use the credit card company's money interest free for a month. While these factors were true, the biggest variable was that it was easy to just spend and spend, and not worry about the total until the end of the month. We've now chosen to stop using debt as a tool for instant gratification. It's so easy to think, oh, I have a month to pay it off, but then a new bill comes in or something else comes up that we just have to have now. For us anyway, choosing to stop using debt hasn't been easy, but it has helped us stay more aware of our spending on a consistent basis. For those of you who haven't read it yet, I highly recommend the Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. I didn't seem to get it before, that the reason we kept turning to credit cards was because we were cash poor. Just having a small emergency fund has given us a lot of peace of mind, and I have found I'll do whatever I can to avoid dipping in to that account. So, no emergencies YET anyway, thank goodness. But I know if one comes along we'll be able to handle it with a lot more peace. We are currently working on paying off some debt we accrued while I was in college, then we'll add more to the emergency fund. Wish us luck!!!!!!!!