Holiday Weekend

**Warning** Longest Post Ever** Consider yourself Warned**

What a weekend we've had.  It's been one of those that you look forward to for weeks only to have nothing go as planned and you almost wish you'd never tried then the clouds part and you remember why you went to all the trouble to begin with.  Friday night my parents picked me up around 6:00 we crammed all my stuff in the car. I packed light...thank goodness!  We stopped by to get Ava and Drew decided he wanted to come too.  So we all climbed into moms car and we were off.  Drew was upset and crying because he was supposed to go with his dad one night and he decided he'd rather go to the lake.  He was worried that he'd made the wrong decision.  It was a teaching moment.  I explained to him that most often when you are given two choices you will wonder if you really chose the right one.  You have to make your decision with confidence and not let yourself worry about the option you didn't choose.  He didn't really care what I had to say!  He kept saying he thought he was going to throw-up.  I thought he was just upset about his decision.  We finally got to the lake and he jumped out of the car and vomited more than you could imagine.  He then decided to tell us he'd been sick all day long.  Great!  so we get to the lake and the power is out.  Has been out for about 3 hours.  We got the car unloaded and were settling in to chatting by candle light.

My sister, Amy, Aunt Pam and Uncle Donald were already there so they already had all the candles lit.  Uncle Donald had rigged up the tv to run on the car battery so at least we had that.  Drew laid down and took a really long nap!  Elizabeth, Amy, Ava and me decided we'd play Mexican Train dominoes by the light of a flashlight and candle light!  It was fun! 

 Then we hear a lot of commotion in the den.  Apparently Ava started violently vomiting! So if you thought cleaning up puke was bad imagine trying to clean it up by candle light.  So we got her and everything cleaned up and put her to bed.  Well she got sick again and again and again.  It was awful!  She was pitiful!  It made me so sad for her.  Meanwhile Drew woke up from a three hour nap and he felt way better.  He was back to is normal self.  So there was hope that Ava would feel better when she woke up.  It finally quit raining and we sat outside for a little while.  The power was out on our side of the lake for as far as we could see.  We could see the guys working on the lines and they were struggling.  They would get the power on for a minute or so and then we would hear the transformer blow.  We all decided to call it a night and we settled in.  Elizabeth, Amy and I got the room with the king size bed.  We laughed so much.  It was much roomier than the fold out couch we slept on at the beach.  We stayed up telling Amy stories about the lake and some of the funniest things that we remembered.  (We've had the house since I was 6 months old so as you can imagine there are tons of stories to tell).  Finally at about 3:00am the power came back on.  Every light in the house was on!  It was kind of funny!  We turned off some lights and finally went to sleep. 

Ally woke me up before 6 to go out.  Drew was already up so we just sat up and he read scary stories to me.  It was so sweet.  I was so excited that he was feeling better.  Then we heard Ava.  She was still sick.  She was so upset.  She was crying and just kept saying she wanted to go home.  I wanted to cry too!  I got her something to drink and told her to try to go back to sleep because I didn't want her to go home!  I really felt like she would feel better since Drew did!  So she went back to sleep.  It was about 6:45 by now and everyone was up.  Dad was getting his list together he was going to go up to the Dollar General to get Ava some Gatorade and a few other things we needed. I think I forgot to mention that it was raining, with no sign of letting up.  It was going to be a long day of eating, reading, napping, and playing dominoes.  (Kind of sounds like a retirement home!) At least we had power!!! Uncle Donald was out fishing in his rain gear and Drew was going stir crazy.  We found him a rain jacket and sent him out.  He caught two fish and was so excited!  He took the fish in the house and showed it to Amy and Elizabeth (who had gone back to bed!).

I laid down and started reading, then I took a little nap.  When I woke up I heard Ava giggling.  She was like a new child she said she felt so much better and was ready to go swimming. Then around noon the rain stopped and the skies cleared.  We all hurried and got our swim suits on and greased up to hang out in the sun because we didn't know how long it'd last.  It lasted the rest of the afternoon and the night was clear too!  We sat outside and talked and laughed!  It was so much fun!  Ava climbed up in my lap and let me hold her for hours.  It was so sweet!  I love that she still loves to cuddle.  I was just like that growing up!

Amy, Elizabeth, Drew, Ava and I canoeing.

I got tired around 9:30 and headed to bed.  I finished the book I was reading and was out like a light.  We were getting up early to go to church.  Ally did not like sleeping on the top bunk.  She was a nervous wreck and didn't sleep well at all.  Elizabeth and I went to church and then we stopped by the Dollar General to get some ice.  When we got back to the lake house the sun was out and Patrick was there.  He came up when he got off work Sunday morning.  I was so excited he got to come.  Then around noon it started raining again.  We all piled in the house.  We played some more dominoes!  I love that game!  The guys had already started the grill so we put an umbrella over it and they continued to cook!  Around 2 the rain stopped!  My brother Patrick and Leslie came and brought Porter and Harper and those babies were so excited to be at the lake.  Harper swam and Porter talked about swimming but he wasn't crazy about the water.  We played outside for about 2 hours then it stated raining again.  We all crammed around the tv and watched the race.  We had a little wager on the race.  Everyone put in a dollar and got to pick 3 cars and whoever's driver won got the pot ($14)!  My driver ran second most of the night.  He led a few laps towards the end but he didn't win!  Patrick and I loaded up and headed home around 10 last night. Today we had lunch with the Horton's...we just got home.  I love just sitting and talking with them.  That is exactly what we've been doing ally day long! 
I have more pictures to add later.  My computer is being difficult!

Family Night

Tuesday night we had an impromptu family night at my parents house.  It was my mom's birthday and my little brother came home for the occasion.   We were all there except for Patrick he had to go to work.  I got some really cute pictures of mom and the kids.  I'll let the photos speak for themselves...

Harper had a fashion with Elizabeth's shoes!

Ava wore her best fairy wings!

Harper had to call someone!

Then she changed shoes so she could work on her computer!

Mom and her grand babies.  I love this shot!  This is so typical of a family night at our house!

All he wanted was cake!

Then he wanted to touch the light bulb.  It looks like a dad got a tiny idea!

Mom and her first born!

Ally was worn out!  She just laid there until it was time to go!

TakeaPicturePhobia

Yes, this is a real phobia, and my own mother is a sufferer.  You may recall the Mother's Day photo shoot where it took about 40 shots to get this one decent one.

 Then last night at Mom's birthday celebration we went through this shoot...

Notice the poodle is making perfect eye contact with the camera...Mom eyes closed!

Again the poodle making great eye contact....Mom not so much...at least she's got a great smile!

Mom has eyes...they are looking at the camera...and she is trying to smile!  Ally was over it.

Maybe you or someone you know suffers from TakeaPicturePhobia.  The only cure is more photos.  You have to be comfortable in from of the camera.  This is something that my mom struggles with.  You see as a mom of four she was always the one taking the photo in fact if were to see my childhood in photos you would think I was motherless.  So now that the tables have turned and she is the subject of the photo she struggles.  This mini shoot was actually therapy for a big shoot that mom had today.  The dreaded DMV photo shoot. Yes, the one that will be proudly posted on your drivers license for the next four years.  I've been told the shoot at the DMV did not go as we had all hoped it would go for mom.  I haven't seen the photographic evidence but the words my sister used to describe it were "Mug Shot".  That can't be good for any one's ID photo!

I am committed to helping my mother overcome her TakeaPicturePhobia.  I will keep you posted on her progress. 

Wordless Wednesday Weigh-In

Up 0.4lbs from last week.  Not to bad considering I went on vacation and to my mom's birthday last night!  It's not looking to good for next week either with the holiday this weekend.  I'm heading to the lake!

Happy Birthday Mommy!

Today is my mom's birthday!  I won't tell you her age (for fear that she is fibbing again and I might give it away!).  I hope you've had a wonderful day!  My mom is the best.  Her birthday is always one of my favorites because we usually celebrate at the lake for Memorial Day!  We are headed up again this weekend!  I'm pretty excited!  Enjoy the rest of your day!  

Lessons in Life...

Yesterday Patrick's nephew was having his birthday party at Trussville Playstation.  I hadn't been there is years!  Patrick was running late (as always) and I had forgotten how to get there.  (I wrote down directions but we still managed to drive around lost forever!)  So the party was from 2-5.  We get there around 3:30!  I was already mad because I hate to be late and I hate being lost.  When we finally arrived  we walked into the front and handed the girl our invitation and asked where we could find our party.  She looked at me and asked if I had another shirt...um no...why would I have another shirt.  Well apparently the Trussville Playstation now enforces a strict dress code.  I had no idea!  I was wearing a tasteful spaghetti strap top.  Well apparently your straps on your shirts have to be at least 1.5 inches.  They would not let me in!  I was so embarrassed.  I had to just walk away because I was either going to scream at the girl or start crying and I didn't want to do either.  I guess I was just upset because I thought the shirt was cute and never even thought that it would be a problem.  I am very conservative and would never wear anything that I didn't think was appropriate.  I mean I was going to a birthday party for an 8 year old boy...I would never want the boys moms to think I was wearing something inappropriate.  It was an awful experience.  So moral of the story always check to see if there is a dress code.  I looked at the invitation after we left and it did say in small print the dress code was strictly enforced.  I obviously didn't see that part or I would have worn a different shirt.  If it is that important it should have been printed a bit larger on the invite!
So we decided to come home and order pizza!  I hate we didn't get to see the kids play all the different games! but I guess I learned a very valuable lesson!

Friday Night Wedding Fun

Last night my sister was in a wedding for one of her best friends.  It was one of the prettiest weddings I have ever been to.  It was outdoors and it stormed here all morning so we were all so worried that it would have to be moved indoors.  At about 4:00 the sky cleared and the weather was beautiful.  It was perfect.  The Sonnet House is one of the prettiest wedding venues I've been to.  It has a beautiful garden area, the inside of the house is stunning and it also has an additional building that is used as a chapel when the weather does not cooperate.  That is where the band was set up last night.  We had a blast.  The band was Nationwide Coverage and they were so much fun.  I want to get married again just so I can have them play!!!

My beautiful sister.

The bride and her daddy!

My sister and Me!

This place has three of these beautiful claw foot tubs.  We had to get our picture made in one!

Sister caught the bouquet!

Congratulations Whitney and Kevin!  Your wedding was beautiful!  I wish you nothing but the best of luck!  Have a blast in Jamaica!

Sisters Beach Trip

Sunday afternoon my sister and I loaded up for our annual sisters beach trip.  We've been going this time of year for 6 or 7 years now.  It started as more of a father/ daughter trip.  My dad has to go down for these meetings so each year in May just me and my sister would go with him.  It was always so much fun! So we had a 4 day window that we could get away so we did.  Now the drive to Panama City Beach is approximately a 5 hour drive.  My sister's best friend Amy is from Wilmer, Alabama.  Wilmer is a small town just outside of Mobile very close to the Mississippi state line.  Amy's mom is a seamstress and my sister had a dress that needed some work done for a wedding Friday (yes this Friday she is a bit of a procrastinator) so my sister thought it would be a good idea to swing by Wilmer on the way to Panama City and drop off her dress and then swing back through on the way home.  We also were going to pick-up Amy so she could enjoy the beach for a few days with us.  She practically a sister too!  I was not thrilled with this idea (not that I didn't want to Amy to go I just wasn't excited about driving 3.5 house out of the way.)

This is the map of our normal route to the beach.

5 hours; 294 miles

This is the route we took this trip.

8 hours 25 minutes; 460 miles

So as you can see it was really on the way!  I may or may not have complained about this for a week before we left and may or may not have continued to complain the entire trip!   We didn't leave Gardendale until 4:00 Sunday afternoon.  About 2.5 hours into the trip my Garmin GPS fell off the windshield and hit the gear shift and cracked the screen.  I totally freaked out.  I didn't know where I was going.  I didn't have a map or directions and my sister wasn't even concerned.  She said I was over reacting that we could stop and ask for directions.  I was not to keen on this idea.  Amy's mom told us to just get on I-10 and get off on 98 somewhere and we'd be able to find our way! We missed the turn to get on I-10 and called our Daddy.  (I may have slightly freaked out again)  He asked where we were...I wasn't really sure.  We were on a two lane road that felt like it was about a foot out of the water.  Dad said we were over Mobile Bay.  We turned around and were on I-10 headed East. 

No sooner than 3:00AM Monday morning we arrived at the beach!  We were all wired once we unloaded the car so we decided to go to Wal-Mart to get a few essentials.  We got back to the room a little after 4:00AM.  I seriously thought about putting on my swim suit and greasing up and sleeping on the beach but decided against it for fear that someone might get me! 

We were up pretty early and headed to the beach.  I was so excited because I got a new beach chair and towel.  The weather was absolutely perfect.  It was sunny and the sea breeze was perfect.  It was the perfect temperature.  I never got hot which is why I didn't notice the flesh on my stomach burning.  My tummy looks like a bullseye!  It hurt so bad!

My burnt feet. 

This little guy hung out with me for awhile.  He actually started posing for me when I got my camera out!

Monday night we went to dinner at The Back Porch.  It was pretty good.  I didn't get any pictures!( I didn't really take a lot of pictures the whole trip)  We were going to get in the hot tub but was to hot.  I know it's supposed to be hot but I felt like my flesh was being burned off my body.  So we got in the pool instead!

Tuesday we decided that we'd just go shopping at Pier Park.  It was so nice I got a really cute shirt for $6.49 at Old Navy.  The plan was to go back and sit on the beach in the afternoon sun but it started raining. so I watched some TV.  Mom and Dad came down they didn't get down there until about 10:00.  The room we stay in is small. Like an efficiency with one bed and a fold out couch.  When mom & dad got there we had to swap up our sleeping arrangements and my sister, Amy and I slept on the fold out couch.  

Here we are all tucked in and ready for bed!

I didn't get the memo that we were smiling in this shot.

Wednesday we got up and there were two huge schools of manta rays (well we think that is what they were) right at the shoreline.  It was so neat to watch them.

We went to lunch and then loaded up and headed home.  It was a nice trip even if drove 16 hours round trip! I wish I could have stayed and stayed.  I was so happy to see Ally last night and Patrick this morning.  I missed them both so much! 

Wednesday Weigh-In

Since I am at the beach with no scale in sight.  I weighed in on Sunday before I left.  I am using that as my scale picture.  Plus I'm sure I'm going to need a few extra days to work off vacation weight! 

Down 0.8lbs from last week.   I'm still 5lbs away from my goal weight.  We haven't been terrible as far as eating goes.  I have had a lot of soda and I bought 2 dozen doughnuts from my little brother's girlfriend as a fundraiser.  I have only had two though so that in it's self is an accomplishment.  We have walked on the beach every afternoon.  The pier is approximately 1/2 mile away so there and back is a mile.  That's been our exercise!

An Afternoon Drive

Porter loves to ride in the Tracker.  A few weeks ago John drove him to church in it.  Porter could not have been more thrilled!  It is amazing how Porter can recognize cars.  He can see a trailblazer on the road and he'll say "That's like Mommy's car."  He can spot John's truck from miles away.  The kid loves trucks and cars.  

Drew got to ride home with them.  Porter loves his big brother and Drew is an awesome big brother!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

I want to wish my Daddy a very Happy Birthday all the way from the beach!  You are an amazing Daddy and I hope you have an amazing day.  Can't wait to see you tomorrow!  Enjoy your day!

Cousins!?!

Ally and her "cousin" Bella in matching dresses.  Bella's mommy packed this super cute dress... so cute that Ally got the same one for her birthday a couple weeks ago!  Bella hates to wear clothes.  Ally doesn't really like to either but she does.  Bella wiggles and scratches and tries to chew the clothers off.  So I had to hold them to get a picture. 

Aren't they so cute!

I promise I don't have a grey streak in my hair I think it's blonde!

Sweet Saturday

Patrick took a holiday yesterday to go and hear his buddies play.  It was so nice to actually get to go and hang out with people as a couple.  We rarely get to do that.  After they played we went to our friend Gab's house to grill and talk.  It was so much fun! 

My sweet husband watching the band!

The most awesome mullet I've ever seen.  The pictures do not do it justice! (and yes this is a woman)

The Southern Boys Band.

The biggest hot dogs I ever seen.

It was such a fun day to just hang out with friends and listen to some great music.  I love Patrick's friends but I feel bad hanging out with them when he can't.  I know that he wants me to have fun even when he has to work but it isn't the same when he isn't there.  His friends are awesome though they'll come and cook out with us on a Sunday or Monday just because they know that is the only time he can.  A lot of people wouldn't do that!
I gotta go get ready for church then hurry home and pack because my sister and I are headed to the Beach for a couple of days!!!  I'm so excited!