Sunday, July 24, 2011

Marriage Advice

Kelly's Korner is having a "Linkie Party" for marriage advice, while I am no expert I thought I would share a few thoughts that we try to live by.

Check out more advice Kelly's Korner

#1-You have to know who leads you. I will steal the closing remarks from Tay and Brad's wedding "Let the Lord guide you each step of the way and never forget to follow". Bryan and I try to make it a point to let the Lord lead us everyday. A few things we do....we hold each other accountable spiritually, we pray most everyday before we head off to face the world, we are not afraid to get on our knees together and cry out to God and we are involved with a body of believers. While we are a far cry away from experiencing the depth of the relationship we desire with HIM I hope that when it is said in done he will say "The Radfords were faithful".

#2-Be a TEAM!! Bryan and I are both extremely independent people so this was one thing we had to get in order early on, even prior to marriage we knew that we had to be a team. We each have a part to play in our marriage we know our strengths and leverage those, while the other picks up during our weak moments. An example, would be I don't mind at all washing dishes while I am not one the yard, but Bryan takes great pride in that so he takes that and I take the dishes.

#3-Have a BUDGET!!!!! On the way home from our honeymoon I broke out the laptop and we put together a budget for the our household. I don't necessarily recommend doing it on the way home from the honeymoon, but do it soon. I am little OCD over a budget so I will let that example the need to break out the laptop in route from our honeymoon. I would also say that for us it has worked to have a ELR account, The Radford account and a SBR account that way we each have a our own and we have our household account. However, I have had friends that have one account and it works well for them. If you are a 1 account or 3 account family just have a budget. :)

While I will be the first to admit that marriage it hard, but I look at as a journey and I thank God that I get to walk the path beside Bryan (most days:)).

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Hooter's Tour in Snow Hill


Cutter Creek in Snow Hill hosted the Hooter's tour this week. Daddy had been begging us to come over for a little bit of the action. Saturday morning we all met up at his house to enjoy a breakfast with the golfer, Corey, that Daddy and Ms. Terry had hosted this week. Unfortnately, Corey missed the cut by 2 strokes so we said our goodbyes to him and headed to the course. Daddy has had the opportunity over the past week to spend a good amount of time with the golfers in the evenings. The town of Snow Hill extended a great big southern welcome to the golfers with meals and games each night. Daddy had a favorite, Brandon Brown, that he was dying for us to see or should I say Zack and Bryan to see. I must admit it was pretty entertaining to follow these guys as they played their hearts out. I dismissed myself a little early, but Daddy and B followed Brandon the entire round. As of yesterday afternoon he was in the lead so, Daddy and B hit the course to follow him today to victory. You can read all about the tournament and Brandon's win below.
http://www.ngatour.com/general/news/release_754.html
Ms. Terry, Corey, Daddy
 Liles-Radford-Liles
Brandon doing a little thinking. 
DK and B

Daddy and ELR

Sunday, July 10, 2011

The Bowen Wedding Weekend

After the rehearsal at the church we headed over to Rock Springs to enjoy a scrumptious meal and fabulous fellowship hosted by Brad's parents.
The cake warned everyone "Fore Brad is off the market"; I might add that it tasted as good as it looks.
Brad's sister, Brittany and her beau, Andrew sang a song wrote especially for the soon to be Bowens; it was too cute!!
Bryan Meeks sharing some words of wisdom.
Brad's mom, Ms. Judy sang a song that she wrote to the couple and it was so funny!!

The Girls
We decided to a progressive toast for Taylor and Brad. We each went up one by one based on how long we had known Taylor, Jessica kicked us off and Katie rounded it out. At the very end Katie said "Brad we know you are here to stay but we want to you know" and we all chimed in with "FRIENDS ARE FOREVER".

The Boys
The Crew
We all stayed at Taylor's moms house on Friday night, when we got up that morning we all went our separate ways for a while before reconvening at Bojangles for some good breakfast. I went and ran with Zack, he decided that he would come join in on the wedding morning fun.
Hours away...
We are at the church it is getting closer...
KT dressed and almost ready...
Ms. Nancy taking a peek at Taylor to make sure she is perfect...
Jessica is dressed and ready with her bouquet...
Quick picture with the bride...
Stacey with the bride we are counting down...
I am proud to introduce you to...MRS. TAYLOR FLOWERS BOWEN!!!!!!!
(Sorry I don't know where MR. BOWEN was!?!)
Mrs. Bowen and Lesley take a moment for a picture.
Some of the boys had little notes in their jackets that they showed Brad on the way down. I could not tell you what "At my club" is all about, I was told it was an inside joke from the Vegas trip.
Stacey, Elizabeth, THE BRIDE, Katie, Melissa
The Radfords
Bryan has a dance that we fondly call "The Pitt County Shuffle" and it is performed to "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", thankfully Bryan agreed to entertain us last night. He is probably having trouble walking today, but we sure did enjoy his performance last night.
The Girls and The Moms

The weekend was truly a blast!! What a blessing it is to gather with friends and family to celebrate the union of two very special people in our lives. I loved what the preacher told Taylor and Brad yesterday as they left the church, he said "As you walk down that aisle in just a moment picture Jesus walking in front of you and remember to let him lead you everyday of your life." That advice was spot on! It is my prayer that Jesus guides The Bowen marriage each day.

Taylor and Brad-Thank you for letting us share this special time with you. The Radfords love you both lots.

Monday, July 4, 2011

Happy 4th!!


Last night we had over some family and friends to cook out for the 4th! We had a great time filled with delicious food, games and good old southern fellowship!!


The Meeks
Papa and his girls
Mama feeding AK some cake. I guess Anna Kate was getting warmed up for her 1st birthday!

Pam I am waiting for some more....Come on women!!

Sure thing I will be happy to watch you clean up Mom!!

To all our service men and women we say thank you and we pray that God blesses you each in a very special way.

The Last Fling Before the Ring

Last weekend we loaded up and headed to Savannah to celebrate with the soon to be MRS. BOWEN. Above is the house we stayed in downtown Savannah. It was neat to stay right downtown in a historic home. We rented this off of VRBO website if you have never visited it you should, they have great deals!

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The Bride

Cinnamon Rolls sooooo good!!

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The Pirate House

We went out to dinner on Saturday night and then we went to the Savannah Theatre to watch "The Beat Goes On".


Heading home after a fun filled weekend.

Behind....Of Course


This summer is going by way too fast, but it has been a fun one. A few weekends ago we had the opportunity to keep our friends, Melodie and James' 3 little boys. It was a great way to test drive parenthood and I am happy to report that I enjoyed every minute. The boys are Will (7), Lee (6) and Redden (2). You know I am not one for setting around so I had some actvities in store for the weekend for us. On Saturday we started our day at a rodeo, we went out to lunch and quick trip to WalMart. That afternoon we came home to let Redden nap and the big boys read and watched a movie. I must admit Ms. Elizabeth had to "rest" her eyes for a few minutes too. Saturday evening we loaded up and head to my house for a Father's Day cookout. I am proud to say on Sunday I got 3 little boys and myself ready to go to church and we were 5 minutes early!! It was such a fun weekend, what special blessings children are in our lives.

Redden and Will
The big boys.
The Boys
Zack and Redden
Bailey loving on Dowdy.
Redden loved Dowdy! He kept saying "Dowdy fur is soft".