roll tide and gig 'em

we took off friday and flew into alabama thursday night for a fun weekend of family, friends, and football.  my dad was awesome enough to get us tickets to the alabama/texas a&m game, and we planned to tailgate on campus with my brother and sister and their friends.

before football, we spent all of friday with family at my parents' house.  aunt beth, uncle john, wesley, hannah, and maw came to visit and play with brendan (and us, but we all know the real pull ;) ).  lee got his zaxby's fix and brendan got lots of undivided attention from the family.  my aunt was also awesome enough to bake me a birthday cake and extended that celebrating a little longer.  lots of laughs and fun catching up with all of them friday night.  maw even stayed the night to extend her playtime with brendan a little bit longer!

saturday, we woke up to finish making the food for the tailgate, loaded up the car, and headed to one of my favorite places.  the weather was gorgeous (although a tad bit too warm) and atmosphere was just as i remembered it.  after a 3-year lapse since my last football game, i was ready to be inside bryant-denny.  we got to visit with rachel and tyler which was great, as well as meet some of their friends who stopped by.  i also got to catch up with a couple of my old friends from college and some of our friends from our first married small group.

then, game time came.  i loved the pregrame hype, videos, and tradition that comes with that, but i should have known sitting next to the aggie section was a bad sign for what was to come.  you all know the results of the game so i will not dwell on those.  i would have obviously enjoyed a win more, but it was kind of cool watching lee and the other aggies celebrate such a huge victory.  we met back up with the rest of the family, grabbed a quick bite to eat, loaded up the tailgate and headed back to prattville after a long, fun day.

we have taken it easy this morning, recovering from the past few days, but brendan did create a new game to entertain himself this morning.  he got tickled closing himself into the pantry and playing peek-a-boo with us.

 can't wait for a week-long visit at christmas!  love you all!

one week in alabama

our first stop in alabama was tuscaloosa.  we have to alter our route for tuscaloosa to "be on the way" to prattville, but when the time allows, it is totally worth it.  we met up with adam long enough to unload the car and let brendan play with their basset hounds.  side note:  brendan LOVES dogs.  and thankfully, their dog, ginger, loved brendan back...or at least did not mind being "loved on."

we finally made it to the quad with brendan for the first time.  to say the least, i was excited about this moment.  i am sure if you are reading this you know my love for the quad, particularly denny chimes.  i realize brendan will not remember this visit, but i will and i love the pictures we have to document it.

the remainder of our time in tuscaloosa included dinner at cypress inn, church at calvary sunday morning, and lunch at jalepenos with the rest of the weeks family.  we really enjoyed being back at calvary...the place i called my church home for several years, the place we got married, the place where i had my first full-time job, and the place where we still have many good friendships.

a short drive later, and we arrived at grandma and papa's house in prattville.  we had such a fun week full of family, friends, pool, food, and baseball. the beginning of the week brought everyone to us for swimming and spaghetti.  as an added bonus, wesley stayed the night to hang out a little longer since he worked late.

later in the week, we made a trip to maw's house, and brendan played with toys, old and new, that maw had waiting for him.  he also got to enjoy dinner at the table with everyone else like a big boy.  he sure did enjoy time at his great-grandmother's house :).

we filled our last full day in prattville with a visit with my long-time friends, erin and kimberly, and erin's daughter, kaylee as well as a trip to the montgomery biscuits baseball game.  it might have been the hottest day to date in alabama, but we all enjoyed 6 innings of fun.

we said goodbye on saturday but will see them soon for the big birthday party!  we sure did miss aunt rachel, but we were able to facetime with her for a long time one day which was wonderful!

wedding weekend

last weekend, i had the honor of watching one of my oldest and dearest friends marry a wonderful guy, and i got to serve as a bridesmaid alongside other girls who have had the privilege of knowing kimberly as a friend.  kimberly and i have been friends since 7th grade, and we have kept in touch since graduating high school almost ten years ago.  although we went to different schools, now live in different states, and have very different jobs, we have remained friends and supported each other through all of life's events.  i am so thankful to have been able to share in this special day with her.  sidenote:  our other oldest friend's daughter was the flower girl and so sweet at it!  another plus to the wedding weekend was introducing brendan to many people i have known for much of my life.  he was a trooper being passed from person to person.

while i was busy with wedding festivities, grandma and papa got their hands at lots of brendan time.  aunt rachel and uncle tyler (as well as maw, uncle john, aunt beth, wesley, and hannah) joined in on the fun and got to spend lots of well-overdue time with our little man.  i think everyone on both sides had some withdrawals after the weekend was over and we all had to part ways :).

 did i mention that the airline changed our gate three times, delayed our flight by 2.5 hours, did not have our checked bag on our plane, and then delivered it two days late?  no?  that is because after such a fun-filled weekend and some rest, details like that are really pretty small in the long run :)


...and thus concludes our month of four weekends in four different states.  whew!

thankful for...

-brendan's first flight being smooth and easy and family who drove to jackson, ms to pick us up

-friendships that state lines can't falter and babies who are also destined to be great friends

-brendan meeting his great-great grandmother, re-re. we had all prayed for this moment since we found out i was pregnant with brendan.

-catching up with family and friends...and introducing brendan to some of those people for the first time

 -seeing family again in a month

 
-this sweet boy and his dad :)