A week's worth of fun..part 1

Where do I begin? Well.. "the crew" arrived last Friday night and left today. I'm sad they are gone but we had a great time together and made a ton of good memories. Thank you to my awesome sis n law, Heather for letting the kiddos come down for a week without her. We sure did miss her but I hope she got a lot done kid-free!! And, I must give a shout out to all the SAH moms out there.. and to my sis in law. Wow! That's about all I can say. I got to see first hand this week a small glimpse into my sis n law's world with 3 small ones under 5. Need I say more? Thankfully, they are well behaved and we are allowed to spoil them rotten but I now understood the meaning of tired this week in a whole new way! =) And.. I wouldn't trade it for the world!! So blessed to have them in our lives and so thankful we got to spend a weeks worth of time with them. When you live 8 hours away, its hard to see each other all the time but we do what we can. Here's our week in pictures!

They loved swimming at Mimi and Pops house. They swam everyday!

This little man learned how to jump off the side of the pool.. he loved it! He would just laugh and laugh.. so cute!

little monkey

Chase and his new goggles.

Sweet Carter

On Sunday, we went to the galleria, rode the carosel, searched for animal bracelets, and got some yummy ice cream. Monday, we went to I-Jump. They absolutely loved it! Hannah was a little scared at first but then she made friends with a few big girls and they took care of it. They were so sweet to look out for her and Chase did too!

Even Carter man had fun!

Tuesday was Mimi's b'day. We made cupcakes and celebrated with grandma, and Nanny and Pappy who came up from Selma to see us. We had a fun day and then went to dinner at Cracker Barrell that night. The kids enjoyed showing off their bike riding..with no training wheels!





Nanny and Pappy with the kiddos

Grandma and the kiddos

..... more to come! =)

My Favorite kiddos...

are headed this way right this minute and I am soo excited. Haven't seen them since May and I can't wait. They will be here for a week and I've already planned several fun things for us to do. My brother is going to go to the lake and help my dear old daddy with the remodeling while mom and I hang out with the little ones. I hate that my sweet sis in law couldn't make the trip down. She is a busy woman this summer and couldn't be gone for a week. We'll miss ya but I know you will be enjoying a quiet house all to yourself. So, enjoy and I hope to see you soon sis!

What a nice surprise..

This is what I found on my front steps when I opened the door this morning. How pretty and so unexpected. Thanks so much Hayes family. The sweet family that I helped last week on the trail sent them to me. I also got an update on the little boy, Andy who fell off his scooter and broke his leg. He broke his tibula and fibula and is in a cast from his groin down to his leg.. sad! He will be in a wheelchair for at least 4 weeks and school will be beginning in less than that. So, he will be wheeling around school in his wheelchair. I"m sure he will be a pro by then. So glad he is doing okay and is at home resting!

Also, if you would please keep Jamie and I in your prayers this week, we would appreciate it. I'm not going into the whole story just yet but it's been a stressful 2 days and I know God's hand is at work in our lives. Please pray for peace and God's perfect timing for all to work out! Thanks! =)

Just what the dr. ordered..

Last week when I went for my doctors appointment they told me I needed to go get a massage. Well.. you don't have to tell me that twice! So, my sweet husband (who decided he would rather have a massage over the new iphone) went with me on Saturday and that was a treat for our anniversary. We don't get massages near as often as we should but after this last one.. I think I will definitly be getting them more often! It was heavenly and I felt so relaxed the whole rest of the day. We also got to enjoy the day at the Ross Bridge pool and it was awesome.. worth every penny!

*And..to all my b'ham friends.. if you go to Ross Bridge during the week Monday-Thursday they offer 20% off all services for locals. That's pretty awesome and their facilities are amazing. Beautiful hotel!

Other than that, we had a pretty low key weekend. One of my summer projects that I wanted to do but haven't was to clean out my closet. So, I got that task marked off my list and I will be heading to the consignment store this week. Yeah! I have also started going up to school some and working in my room. I can't believe its just under 3 weeks till I'll be back at work. I am ready for some structure but I've been spoiled this summer! Gonna enjoy the pool every little bit while I can!

Babies and Angels...

How precious is this little one?

My sweet friend and co-worker, Sherry had her first little one July 1st. His name is John Tanner and he is absolutely adorable. My friend Melanie and I got to go see him for the first time this past week when we took dinner over. What a precious gift from God. Sherry and her husband Tanner had to go through fertility as well and she has been a dear friend to me throughout this whole process. It is amazing how many people God puts in your life that have been through a similar experience that you are going through. I know he does that for a reason and I am so thankful for all the friends who really understand what it is like. It has been so nice to have someone like Sherry to talk about my own struggles. I'm gonna miss her next year! Sherry and Tanner give me hope that one day soon we will have a little miracle in our arms to hold too!

Mom made Sherry a cute little outfit, bib and burp cloth. I thought it turned out so cute. I have to brag on my super talented momma!

So.. I have to share my story about Angels because thats what I was told I was this past week. It's funny how God works. I had the worst day last week and I have been very upset about it for several days now. It was an experience I hope never happens again. Anyway, I was cleaning the kitchen and had the back door open for Oscar to go outside. I heard him barking and barking and wondered what was going on so I walked outside and I heard a little boy's voice yelling, "HELP!" "Is anyone at home?" Please help" It was something you never want to hear. My heart starting beating fast and I ran to the back of the fence. Overlooking our fence is a trail for our neighborhood and when I got back there a lady was holding a little boy in her arms yelling, "Please help.. I know he broke his leg and I don't have a cell phone." So, I immediately called 911. Got the little boy a towel, some ice and water. I tried to remain calm but the lady was clearly frazzled. Pretty soon, the police, ambulance and fire department were all at my house. They put the little boy in a blow up cast thing, put him in the ambulance and took him to Children's. But, the ambulance driver would only allow one person to ride in the ambulance and there was no room for her other son. The lady's husband was out of town and she was all frazzled about what to do with the other son, so I just followed the ambulance and took him to Children's. I felt so bad for that poor momma. Thankfully, the little boy is alright. He goes to my school and will be in the 2nd grade this year. He broke his tibula and fibula and will be in a cast up to his thigh for several weeks. The next day I get the sweetest email from the aunt (who met us at the hospital too) telling me how much she appreciated me being her sisters angel that day. It was so sweet and I am just so glad I was home and able to help! You just never know when God will choose you to be someone's angel.

One Love, One Ocean

Thanks to Jimmy Buffett for coming down to the beach and performing an awesome concert. I felt like I was right there with the 40,000 plus fans. Didn't I get good pictures? I had front row seats. =) Thanks to CMT I felt like I had a front row seat and no commercials the whole time. He put on a great concert and it gave my chills to see the aerial views from above with all the thousands of people supporting our beaches. Alabama has some of the prettiest beaches and I hope the world was able to see that from the concert tonight. The beach is my absolute favorite place to go and this whole situation with BP is just so sad. In the words of Jimmy Buffett as he sang Margaritaville.."It's all BP's fault." I hope they get this oil spill under control soon so our beautiful beaches aren't forever ruined.

Wow..look at all the people!

Even the people in the crowd spelled out, It's all BP Fault.

I really hope BP was listening..

And.. jan this is for you.. I spotted you in the crowd! (she's the one in the blue shirt)

We're Home..

From this awesome place! SOO beautiful. We had a great time together and the weather was really nice except for one rainy day.

The view from our balcony..this time we overlooked the lagoon area.

We spent a lot of time at the pool and enjoyed some yummy drinks.. my favorite was a miami vice. So good! We met a ton of new friends.. mostly teachers! We laughed because every person that we met..no joke either the husband or wife was a teacher. You just can't beat our teacher discount! We even saw one of my teacher friends and her family from school, The Fain's. We had a lot of fun and met some really awesome people.

I thought this was cute.. two little girls chased the ducks in the pool.

We ate a lot of yummy food.. two nights we ate at the resort and we also ate at Fly Creek Cafe and Market by the Bay seafood. The best ever seafood! We did take out that night so we could watch Big Brother! =)

And we had to buy these super cute t-shirts to support our beaches. All the proceeds go to support the oil relief effort.

It is so sad what has happened to our beaches but hopefully they are about to get it under control. Since we were on the bay side, there was no oil and they had big oil booms set up all over the bay. It was weird to see but luckily it was keeping it away. I hope our beautiful beaches won't be destroyed forever!

I'm sad this is our last beach trip for the summer. I can't believe summer is almost over already.. where did it go? I am about to be in school mode and I'll be starting this week going up to school to get my classroom all ready to go. =( Sad! I better pick up my summer reading.. I've read some really good books this summer and I still have a few left to read!

**Update on my sweet daddy!

I guess you could say he feels better now.. this is what he was doing last night when we took dinner over there. =)

Thank goodness he is better..that was a scary thing! He came home on Wednesday after 3 nights in the hospital. They said it was severe dehyration and a heat stroke. It is so nice to see him back to his normal self. I'm not sure how we are going to keep him from doing as much but he is going to have to watch it for sure. We brought him back a big thermos from the beach and told him that was his "work" cup and he had to use it when he was out in the yard. I hope he does but we're really gonna have to keep our eyes on him.. he likes to work that's for sure. Thank you all for the thoughts and prayers while my daddy was in the hospital. Our family appreciates it so much! God is good!

Looking Back...

I love to look back on pictures and reminisce.. do you? Since we just celebrated our 2nd anniversary I thought I would do a post with some of our wedding pics and 1st anniversary together. We got married on July 5, 2008. Our wedding was so much fun! Our rehearsal/dinner was on July 4th and after we ate we all got to watch the fireworks from downtown birmingham. Definitly something that we will always remember. I loved everything about my wedding.. the place, the colors, the flowers, the food, the people, the band. It was all just a wonderful day..except for a little bit of rain. But, it was okay.. it held off for the actual wedding. Thank goodness since we got married outside. When it was all over and Jamie and I were getting in the limo to leave I remember crying and saying how much fun I had and I didn't want it to end. It was a great day! Something Jamie and I have done on our anniversary night is to watch our wedding video. We love to watch it and laugh together. So fun! So, I'll share a few pictures from our special day.

The lovely place where it all took place.. the Donnelly house



My flowergirl and precious niece, Hannah


All the girls

Right before Jamie and I saw each other

Jamie seeing me for the 1st time

One of my favorite pictures

The whole wedding party outside in the garden

Me and my daddy

During the ceremony

Yeah.. we are now married!

Our beautiful and yummy cake

And yes.. I was doing the roger rabbit and Jamie was doing the running man..I promise they made us do it!

Our first dance

About to leave..

Jamie trying not to get injured.

So much fun.. and off to Mexico for our honeymoon.
Then, for our first Anniversary we went to Ross Bridge and spent the night. It was a lot of fun. We tried to eat the top part of the cake but it was pretty disgusting. I think ours had gotten some freezer burn over the months but we did try it. In our first year of marriage, we moved Jamie into my house then we listed our house and sold it and moved into our new house last July..right after our 1st anniversary.

1 year anniversary

Dinner at The Club House Grille

For our 2nd anniversary we came to Point Clear for the week. One of our favorite places. We have had an incredible 2 years together and I'm excited to see what the next 80 or so will be like. I love you babe!