Happy Fall Ya'll...

I am LOVING this weather. It is soo nice. Don't you just love fall? I actually come home in the afternoons and want to put on my running clothes to get some exercise. That's a big deal for me! ha! Time has slowly gotten away and next Saturday I will be running in the Race for the Cure again this year. I did it last year... it was my first time to RUN the whole 5K. Sadly, I don't think that is going to happen this year. I'm sure I'll walk most of it and run as much as I can. The main reason we are doing this awesome event is to support my sweet friend and co-worker, Melissa Jarrell who is a breast cancer survivor. She is such an amazing lady! I just love her to death and love being across the hall from her.

Me and Melissa.. Race for the Cure 2009

Since I am really excited about fall and so glad it is finally here I have gotten out a few things to put around the house. Nothing fancy.. I need some new decorations.. But thought I would share a few.

My fall wreath courtesy of Costco for like $20 bucks

How cute is he? Just got him to put on my console table in the hallway. He makes me smile.

My cute halloween bucket..yes, I'm a little early I know but we already have candy in it! I just can't resist. I also love the smell of pumpkin candles and I will be burning one soon and I can't wait to try a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks. Everyone is raving about those and I have never had one. Are they really that good? So.. what are your favorite fall decorations? Would love to hear how you decorate. Don't you just love fall?

MercyMe - Bring The Rain

This song is amazing and I am in LOVE! I just keep listening over and over. We all have hard times and this song just puts it in perspective. Love this part:

"I know there will be days when life brings me pain but if that's what it takes to praise you, Jesus bring the rain." I will never look at the rain the same again. I hope this song speaks to you like it has to me. I always need a reminder that Gods hand is at work at all times! Matthew 6:34 says, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Weekend Wrap-Up

We had a great weekend and I am SO glad my Auburn tigers won on Saturday. Another good but stressful game. Thank goodness we pulled off another win.. WAR EAGLE!

Friday night I had some girl fun with two sweet friends, Allison and Jan. We went to eat at Sumo and then went to the movies to see You Again. The movie was hysterical. We laughed a lot, talked a lot and had a lot of fun! I love me some fun friends.

Saturday we hung around the house. I went grocery shopping and used my coupons for the first time! It was kinda scary.. I must admit. But, overall it was a success for my first time. I saved a total of $25.00. I thought that was pretty good and it made me happy! We'll see if I can continue to do this. Sunday was church, lunch with Jan and then to see Legally Blonde the musical. I loved it!

It was so good and the girl that played Elle was the perfect one. It was a fun day! I'm looking forward to the fall weather this week! I think we got a little glimpse of it today and it was nice. I think I have "fall fever".. I got out our fall decorations and put some things up. It just made me happy. I do love when the seasons change. I'll show some pics later!

PS. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. We were hoping to do IUI this month but so far it doesn't look like that is going to happen. =( I will keep you all posted and we will continue to wait on the Lord's perfect timing. Thank you for all your prayers.. it means the world.

And.. since my tigers won this weekend, I thought this was an appropriate verse. "But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." Isaiah 40:31

Hope you all have a blessed week!

Surprises in the mail..

I don't know about you.. but I love a surprise in the mail. I love going to the mailbox and finding something that you might not have expected. A card from a friend, a coupon to spend at my favorite store,an unexpected check for overpaying a bill, an invitation to a party, a magazine and I do love my US weekly that comes each week, catalogs from my favorite stores or just anything. It just makes me smile! So..I ordered a few things online a few weeks ago and they came today. Even though I knew they were coming, it was still a surprise. Just this week..I've gotten 3 surprises.

#1 My blog book

I think it turned out great! I used this site and it even came early. Since this is my first time to print my blog, I didn't really know what to expect. You can pick the color of the book, hardback or paperback. I just went with the paperback one..it was a little cheaper. You can pick your picture for the front and the back if you want or they will pick it for you. It has a table of contents with all my blog posts and all the pages are numberd. I think it's really neat! There are a few things that I don't really like.. the font on the front is really small. You can barely tell that it says The Haley's. And.. maybe that was something that I could have fixed and just didn't. Not sure. The other negative is the captions under my pictures. They printed in with the text and not under the picture where they belong. Not sure if I could have changed that either, but oh well. It just makes the text a little hard to read because there will occasionally be a caption thrown in there too. So, if you do use this site.. you may want to check those things out. Other than that, I am glad I did it and I can't wait to have more books.

Surprise #2

A new book by my all time favorite author!! Yippee! I ordered a few books from amazon with a gift card that I had gotten for my birthday (thanks Chad and Heather) and this was one of them. It came out last week and I can't wait to get started. It sounds so good and I've NEVER been disappointed with any of his books or movies for that matter. But, the books are always better. So, I am trying to finish up my latest read, Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner. It is a really good read too and even though I am not completely finished with it, I would definitely recommend it!

Surprise #3

A late anniversary present for my parents. I ordered this off etsy. I thought it turned out cute. I used mom's kitchen colors so she can display it there and at the bottom it has their anniversary date. I know mom will love it and I'm really pleased with my first etsy buy! Yeah! Can't wait to surprise her!

Couponing and AU Football

On Thursday, I went to a couponing 101 class with Jenny from Southern Savers. It was helpful and overwhelming all at once. I am new to all this couponing stuff but my goal is to try to do better about saving money. If we can cut money in groceries, thats just more money for something else fun! So, we'll see how I do. Basically she does all the dirty work for you. You just go to her site and she will tell you all the good deals and you print off the coupons. The best way to save the most money is on the BOGO free items. If you use a store coupon with a manufactured coupon then you can really save the most money. It does make sense. I just hope I can do it. She saves over $400 a month on groceries and she does have 3 kiddos, so I am not counting on saving that much, but even a little bit would be nice. Wish me luck..I'll keep you posted.

In other news, the Auburn Tigers played Clemson last night and we WON!! Another nail biter game and OT but at least we won.. 27-24. A win is a win and I'm so glad we did it. I wish we could of been in AU, but we had a fun AU party at our house with friends and family. It was a lot of fun. Yummy food, football and friends.. can't get better than that! War Eagle!! I even made bakerella's famous cake pops.. I was really impressed with myself! I thought they turned out cute and they were delicious. Hubs grilled some yummy hamburger sliders and we had hashbrown casserole, and green bean bundles too!

All the sweets..

The cake pops...

Who knew they made football oreos.. cute!

And football shaped tortilla chips.. they sure do!

Erin, me and Diane

Jamie and Shane

John, Shane and Bryan

All the girls.. Simin, Erin, me Diane, and Jodi (Melissa had to leave early)

Jodi and Chris

Happy Birthday Chase!!

Today is my precious nephew's birthday. I can't believe he is 6. He started kindergarten and he loves school. It just melts my heart to hear him so excited about learning. We didn't get to make the trip up for the party this year but we know he had a blast. He had a Mario party yesterday and I can't wait to see the pictures. I am one proud Aunt of this little man. He brings a smile to my face every time I see him. I love that he loves life. He is such a good little game player too. Loves to play card games, board games and is really good at DS and Wii. (Better than some of the adults) He loves to read books and is a very good reader. He is a Mimi's boy. She spoils you rotten. He was my very first nephew. I will always love you sweet boy and I hope you have many more happy birthdays to come. I hope you know how much you are loved. I've posted a few of my favorite Chase pictures over the past few years. It brings tears to my eyes looking back and seeing how much he has grown, changed and turned into a "big boy."

Summer, 2006

Summer, 2006

Christmas 2007

Christmas 2007

July, 2008

Happy 4th B'day, 2008

Lake 2009

Summer, 2009

Halloween, 2009

Summer, 2010

We love you so much!!
So.. how was your weekend? Our weekend was relaxing. I had a girls day on Saturday with my friend, Jan. It was so nice. We got pedicures, ate lunch, went shopping, went to see Switch, (very cute movie), and got yogurt at 32 degrees (yummy). We had a great day and I found some deals. So excited about my new pair of Joe capri jeans that I got for $22.00 regularly $198.00. Seriously, what a deal. I got 2 pair of shorts for $5.00 each and a purse for $11.00. I love to find a good deal, however, I am not a good coupon/thrifty shopper. But, I'm gonna start after my coupon class this week!

I also started a new bible study with my friend, Melanie. It is a Beth Moore study of John. It's called Beloved Discipline. I am excited about my first Beth Moore bible study. I've always wanted to do one but for some reason or another it just wasn't at the right time. So, thanks Mel for asking me to join in. I know it will be awesome!

And.. lastly, I can't believe this is the final season of Oprah. Are any of you Oprah fans? Today was the season premiere of the final season and I must say I got teary eyed several times throughout the show. I just love Oprah and have grown up watching her. It is going to be sad when she is off the air. I do tivo her every day but I don't always get to watch it. But, I'm gonna miss coming home and watching after school each day. I can't wait to see what she has in store for her finale season.. I know I'll be watching.. Will you?

Two Words..

WARRRR EAGLE!!! I said It's great to be an Auburn Tiger! Wow! What a game! We were a nervous wreck but so glad they pulled it off! I was worried there for a minute. It was a nail biter for sure. Despite the loud cowbells.. we still pulled through! Woo hoo! Cam Newton you are awesome and I'm so glad you are on our team. Go Tigers!

Labor Day Weekend

We had a great LONG weekend.. I hope you did too. I get could used to those long weekends.. if only school could be four days instead of five. Wouldn't that be nice? We had fun babysitting sweet baby Cassie on Saturday night. She is such a good baby. She hardly ever fusses and is just so content with you holding her and talking to her. I was in baby heaven! She is also the best little sleeper. I put her down around 9:30 or so and she slept until 7:30 the next morning. She talks a little in her sleep and it was so sweet to wake up to that. She even watched the Auburn game with us and I'm pretty sure I heard her say War Eagle at one time. (Just don't tell her momma..she would not be happy with that.) I was proud of my tigers too..they played a good first game and I'm excited to see them play Thursday night.

We left for the lake on Sunday. It was a perfect weekend to be outside and it was soo nice to just get away for a bit and read, lay out, sleep, ride the seadoos and just chill. Dad had Jamie working most of the time..but Jamie still found a little time to do what he loves best, fish.

The lake house looks like a construction zone.. there is stuff everywhere. Dad is pretty much re-doing the whole house. But, the first DIY project is finished.. the bathroom. It looks really good and I'm so proud of my handy dandy daddy and brother. They did it all!

(ignore the plastic shower curtain..It is not staying..)

Love the tiles..

In other news.. Sept. 1st was my blog anniversary. Yeah.. I made it 1 year. I've decided to have it printed into a book since I am doing this for my scrapbook. Just wondering if anyone could recommend a good site to print it. Let me know if you have done this before? I'm thinking I'm going to do it every year. Would love to hear your thoughts.

Are you ready....

For some football... WAR EAGLE!! I'll be cheering on my team tomorrow night (with a special baby girl) and I can't wait to see how they do. Sweet baby Cassie is coming to spend the night with us and I am so excited. I get her all to myself. =) We had a fun day at school so I thought I would share a few pictures. Let me say first that I adore my school and the people that I work with. We really do have a lot of fun together and I have made some great friends that I know will last forever. We always have a tailgate party for the kick off of football season. So, today we all wore our team colors and brought some yummy food to share. It was a lot of fun. Jan and I were twins. She bought me this cute shirt for my birthday. I love it!



Some of the HES teachers... Roll Tide and War Eagle! It was the end of the day so please excuse how we look! I have to share these adorable pictures too. I have the cutest and sweetest twin girls in my class and when they came in today.. my heart just melted.

I just love them!

How cute are they? I could just take them home with me. God really knows what He is doing when he puts those kiddos in your classroom. I am so blessed to be their teacher! They make me smile!! Hope you all have a great, LONG weekend!