Easter Weekend

So we had a wonderful weekend with the Laney's! Justin and I were so anxious to hit the road Friday. It's been since July last year that we got to visit with them. (that's too long!) We had a great weekend of shopping, eating, geo caching, talking++++ and playing cards. We toured University of North Alabama's campus. It is so nice & they have lions on camps (their mascot). Who knew we would see lions in North Alabama?! The most exciting part of the weekend was feeling the baby kick! It was so neat! Audra and Andrew are getting ready for their bundle of joy to arrive. If you haven't been to her blog, the nursery is in progress and is so cute! I can't wait to meet their precious baby boy! Our outings will certainly be different with a baby in the mix, but it will be even more wonderful!
Thanks for a great weekend, Laney's! Can't wait to see you next month!

Lucy's first Easter egg hunt

Lucy had a wonderful time hunting the Easter egg I dyed for her. It said "Lucy" "wo_of."
She found it, licked it, played with it, bit it, ate it.

Our Patch of Earth

This past weekend we added some plants to the garden! We visited our local Feed & Seed and Miss Mary [pronounced May-ree] assisted us. She was great! Miss Mary-ree gave us good advice and answered our questions. She gave us planting guides for our area & an almanac. The Feed & Seed is so old fashioned. All the seeds were in wooden bins that had picture of the vegetables from years gone by.

After the organic fertilizer was added, the planting began! We planted tomatoes, squash, zucchini, cucumbers, bell pepper, onion, corn, basil, thyme and mint (herbs in pots). At the beginning of April we'll plant okra and purple hull peas. We are so excited and can't wait to see the results!

Lucy likes to help too!

Leigh & I planting the onions...

Justin waters our patch of earth.

Here Comes Peter Cotton Tail...

...Hoppin' down the Bunny Trail, Hippity-Hoppity Easter's on its way!!!!

Tuesday Leigh and I dyed Easter Eggs. Easter is one of our family's favorite holidays to celebrate...and it's because of the decor and the lovely colors! Since I was in the 4th grade we went to a church convention (Lads to Leaders) every Easter, so we didn't get to hunt or dye eggs each year. So, once I was out of college and done with L2L, we started celebrating Easter the old fashioned way. To this day we still hunt Easter eggs that our Daddy & Papa hide for us. I never want to be too old to hunt Easter eggs!! Here are some pictures from our festivities last night. Martha Stewart worked her way into our efforts; some successful other not so much. By-the-way, we look so lovely because we just got back from an hour workout...

Pictures from GIRLS weekend...

GIRLS!

Way back at the first of February, my girlfriends from Faulkner and I got together. It was wonderful to see them again. This trip was super special because I had the pleasure of meeting two new additions to the group, Sonora & Grayson. They are both fabulous...neither had a true nap and were happy the entire day! It truly was amazing!! Grayson is very mobile, but he was so good and so content with his ball. Big pats on the back to Shaunna & Lisa! Grayson & Sonora are so adorable and I can't wait to see them again!

We had a great day that began with breakfast at Sashy's (which btw, is AMAZING). Our spouses (minus Mark) joined us for the initial reunion and it was sooo fun!! Boys and girls split (except Grayson) and the gals headed to the oxygen bar. It is an old tradition we started when we were at Faulkner. It's quite hilarious. With an oxygen tube that you see on hospital patients, you inhale pure scented oxygen. For example if you sniff eucalyptus, you will feel more energized. If you sniff cinnamon, you feel more vivacious in the bedroom! Lisa and Jan have experienced wonderful bursts of energy [haven't heard the outcome of the cinnamon], but I've yet to experience the difference. But it's a fun tradition anyways. ;)

We did a bit of browsing at a children's store and the antique mall, and then headed to the main event...tea time!! Gracie's is so good. This is also a tradition and hats are a must!! It truly is hilarious. You can see that in the pictures. Following tea, [former] Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee had a rally at Faulkner. It was really awesome. I had never been to a rally and the excitement can reel you in! We met back with the guys there and headed to Jan's favorite spot - Wings! I think we were there FOREVER...super slow, but at least we had even longer to visit. Also, we got to talk a heap of politics with Jared Morris, who worked on the Huckabee campaign and was a delegate! He convinced us to vote for Huck!

It was a wonderful time and I cannot wait to do it again!

Additional shout outs to Jan, who is with child, was a TROOPER on her birthday because the baby is having a ball hanging out on her sciatica nerve = pain, lots of pain. Shaunna gets a special shout out for sticking to her diet. Her will power was amazing!! I know her trainer was SO proud. And to Mark for keeping Brock, so Jen could have the day off. We missed you both! And Jenny we missed you sooooo much too.

Starkvegas

In February we had the pleasure of going back to Starkville, MS [Mississippi State University] for the first time since we graduated in 2005. It was so fun being back in Starkvegas. The campus has changed a lot, but we still felt like it was "home." We quickly realized that Starkvegas would not be a place we would want to live again, though. We forgot how unplanned and not pretty the city is, which is really sad. While I was in grad school, I actually studied the zoning issues-or lack there of-that the City of Starkville has. There can be a really nice neighborhood smack in the middle of run down rentals, across the street, an apartment complex, followed by a restored home, next to Bronzed Bunz (tanning salon). Yikes, major issues.

Oh well, we LOVED our time at State and it was awesome to be back. Our dear friends Lindsay and Brad Abbott hosted us and we had a lovely time catching up with them. Their dog, Bella, wasn't too sure about Lucy at first, but that became fast friends. They would whine when their cages weren't side-by-side or if one was shut in a room and the other wasn't. Bella is a wrestler so Lucy had to get used to that. In the wrestling ring we dubbed Bella "The Bulldozer," for her technique in plowing down her opponents. Lucy was dubbed "The Bounder," she she loves to jump over her opponents. They wore each other out and chewed on each other's faces.

We ate at our old favorites, which were still wonderful. I think that was Justin's main agenda for the weekend. We also got to hear Brad's band, Deco, play. They were really great; it was an enjoyable, but late evening. We actually were able to stay until Monday, so we got to see a bunch of people from church and hang out with a few that evening. That was super. I love going back to church and seeing old friends. There were a few new family additions that we got to meet and that was SO fun. One of the little girls we finally got to meet, we prayed and prayed over her coming! It was so wonderful to see God's amazing creation and plan!

We spent some time on campus with Lucy. I felt like we were new parents with a baby (human), showing them around campus, telling them they would come here one day ;) We got decked out in MSU gear. Lucy now has a MSU collar and leash. Justin got another cow bell and I got a hoodie sweatshirt and a car tag. whew! We really wanted to go to a basketball game, but they were sold out and the scalpers were selling them for $75 each...no thanks. But we did get to see it on TV and we beat Arkansas for the SEC West Title!! Yippee! [too bad we just lost by ONE point to Vandy yesterday:( ]

So thank you to the Abbott's for a wonderful weekend. We LOVED it! Y'all are such gracious hosts!!

5 Random Things About Myself

Audra tagged me to tell you 5 things that you might have not known about me before...

(1) I recently quit drinking coffee! In pursuit of a thinner body, I began fixing my coffee with fat free creamer and fake sugar...it really wasn't good anymore, so what was the point in drinking it? None, so I quit!
(2) I detest talking on the phone to Justin for long periods of time. The truth is that a phone call only fulfills one of the five senses, when we could be experiencing them all if we were face-to-face. Believe it or not, we long distance dated for the majority of our relationship and most of our courtship consisted of phone calls. We would have fights all the time. Finally we made a pact that if the other wasn't "ready" to talk or was busy we would call back later and talk only if it was convenient...no hard feelings. When Justin worked out-of-town this summer, we really didn't talk that much. Of course we talked multiple times a day, but they were short and sweet.
(3) I get ready in the same order every day. Makeup: cover up, base, eye liner, eye shadow, curl eye lashes, mascara, and right before I walk out the door I apply loose powder. The same is true with my hair same order everyday. I HAVE to do my makeup before my hair. My hair looks terrible if my face isn't on!
(4) My sister taught me how to write in cursive. In the third grade my family moved after Christmas from FL to GA. In FL cursive was taught after Christmas break. In GA it was taught before. So I missed out. Leigh taught me a few years before thank goodness! If I saw a letter in someone elses handwriting that I liked I would copy it and practice until I got it how I liked it. My "H" I picked up from our church secretary, Brenda Owens.
(5) Justin thinks people think I'm a "sissy-fru-fru-head," but really I have some tom-boyish tendencies. I can hang with the guys pretty well...I like to camp, fish, kayak, hike, shoot guns, be outside, dig holes in the ground...

Blogging Blues

Evidently it is time for me to turn and repent in Blogging Land. I’ve been lazy and enjoyed the blogs of friends and total strangers. I even have the audacity to get upset when they don’t update them often enough! In reality I have the winter blues. I am so ready for spring. I’ve been enjoying the fine weather we’ve had, but it will end tonight with a big, fat, stupid storm bearing down on us. Initially, it was predicted that Tuesday we would have “snow showers,” but now it looks like it won’t be that cold. I actually have had things to blog about, but motivation has left the building. So I need to catch up.

I think I’ll start in reverse order…this weekend. Justin, Leigh and I prepared the ground for a garden! I really don’t think that my back has ever been so sore. Really, even when I walk up hill I can feel it in my back. Thankfully my wonderful hubby has connections in the landscaping business and worked his magic with a Dingo, otherwise, I would have been down for the count…Leigh too. Even though we had wonderful machinery, we still had to produce manual labor.

Right now it looks like a burial plot. I want to get a sign that says, “Justice served IMMEDIATELY.” But Leigh prefers the title “Dingo Patch.” In a few weeks we are going to plant tomatoes, cucumbers, yellow squash, zucchini, onions, corn, field peas, bell peppers and something else that I cannot recall. The garden is in Leigh’s backyard, ours is too shady.

As a side note, Lucy had her yearly check-up. The vet was very impressed with her! He said that there wasn’t a speck of plaque on her teeth. We attribute that to her love of eating/gnawing on sticks. Not only that, but she is obeying so well these days. We can actually walk down to Leigh’s off the leash! And she will stay in our unfenced yard without us having to supervise the entire time!! But wait, there’s more! Lucy has begun playing in the water! After her first traumatic experience in the water when she was 6 months old (that’s when J threw her in the river saying, “she won’t sink.” Splash! Wait for it, wait for it…then finally Lucy surfaces and won’t come to J for an hour). She is hilarious to watch in the water. Her favorite are puddles. We’re such proud parents…