18 Month Pictures

Here are a few of my favorite shots from Hayden's 18th Month photo session. We love our photographer, Lori Mercer. She is amazing and always has a way of capturing the moment. As you can see, she does a beautiful job! I am already looking forward to Hayden's 2nd Birthday session! I have been waiting to show you these because we used the family picture of us as our Christmas card and honestly now that I think of it, I don't even have it included in this blog post, oh well. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. I will be posting pictures from all of our adventures soon. I just haven't had the time lately.

A Visit to the North Pole

Third time's a charm, at least when it comes to visiting Santa. Brian and I wanted to take Hayden to visit Santa again this year at the North Pole (Bass Pro) and we tried unsuccessfully two previous times, because the lines were out of control. But last night was a success. We were planning on meeting my sister, Lesley and her kiddos, but they had something come up at church and were unable to make it so we decided to give it a try anyway. I figured we wouldn't be able to see him, I was wrong. We only had to wait about 5 minutes.

The walk up there started like this...



Hayden was getting excited and even more so when she saw these beautiful reindeer...



Then we got a little sidetracked walking up to see Santa when her eyes spotted the presents and snow...



Then she set her sights on Santa himself and realized that she was about to sit in his lap and apprehension set in and she said "No, No, MaMa, MaMa", but being the good Mama and Daddy that we are, we gave her to him anyway and got our pictures made!



After she was done visiting with Santa, she promptly starting smiling and waving at everyone like she was something else. Merry Christmas and Ho, Ho, Ho, as Hayden says.

This Time of Year

Christmas is a time of year that typically makes everyone happy and excited. But let's not forget that there are MANY people out there that dread this time of year. So many of my friends have reasons to be sad this year. Brian and I have both lost friends this year and each of them has left behind grieving family members.

I can't think about Christmas this year without thinking of those that are hurting. My heart goes out to them. If you will remember several months ago I had a post about two good friends of mine that lost their infant daughter. Not a single day goes by that I don't think of them. Her first birthday would have been next week, she was born on December 23rd and I can only imagine how hard that day and Christmas will be for them. I am praying constantly, please join me if you don't mind. Their names are David and Michelle Azbell, their daughter's name was Reagan. She was only 3 months old. I am sure their thoughts are all about what should have been. I pray that God continues to heal them and place comfort on them during this very difficult time of year and always.

And just yesterday Brian lost a classmate of his from high school. Some of you may have seen it on the news, she was the EMT that had been called to an accident on Interestate 65. She was helping one of the accident victims when a truck, that was speeding, left the road and hit her. She left behind a 10 month old daughter. Only days before Christmas, I just can't imagine.

I didn't mean to make this a sad post, but please lift up your prayers for so many families out there that are struggling this time of year. May they each find a moment during the holidays to find something to laugh about or smile about, even if it is only a happy memory with their loved ones.

Christmases Past

I love this time of year. I love the feeling that I get when the holidays start rolling around and I never thought growing up and being an adult would be as much fun as it is, but to see Christmas through the eyes of a child is amazing. Hayden doesn't really know what Christmas is, but her eyes light up every morning when she catches that first glimpse of the tree twinkling and she is already drawn to the presents under the tree. She loves her Christmas books and the Christmas songs we listen to every morning while eating breakfast. I can hardly wait for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning!!

I can only hope that her Christmases are half as amazing as the ones I had while growing up. I LOVED Christmas. I remember very fondly all the special things my parents did for us while we were children. On Christmas Eve we would all gather and Dad would read the Christmas story from the Bible and we would read together, as a family, "Twas the Night Before Christmas". I remember sleeping in their bed with my sisters on Christmas Eve waiting on Santa, we would stay up all night talking and waiting and listening for Santa - well I say "we", but I mean me and Lesley. I suppose Lori "needed" her beauty sleep. Lesley and I would wake up every few hours and try and sneak in to the living room to see if Santa had come yet or if he had eaten the cookies that Mom and I baked for him. We would listen closely by the window in my parents room for the jingle bells of Santa's sleigh, and would you believe we actually HEARD them! After we heard the bells we would lie very still and wait paitently to hear the reindeer hooves on the roof. And amazingly enough we heard those too - then of course we would immediately go to sleep. Oh, those were the days, it still makes my heart skip a beat.

I can remember waking up super early and Mom and Dad bringing us our stockings in bed and then we would tear down the hall to see what Santa had left for us. The den was always overflowing. I never wanted to grow up. I never wanted to NOT get toys for Christmas, because how fun could that possibly be? But I was wrong, Christmas just keeps getting better. As I got older and my sisters got married and moved away, Christmas morning was just me and Mom and Dad and our traditions changed a little, but they never dimmed. We would eat dinner out on Christmas Eve, then drive around and look at Christmas lights, then we would come home and watch Christmas movies. Christmas morning was still the same, I had a stocking and we opened presents. We always had a wonderful breakfast! I looked forward to these moments. I guess I still do.

I hope that I can provide the same magical moments for my kids! We will definately have our own traditions, but I am going to incorporate some of the ones I had while growing up too, because as an adult they still make me smile and they make me want to go home for Christmas once again. Thanks Mom and Dad for being the most amazing parents. We are so blessed.

Snap Shot From Mexico

I am trying fast and furiously to catch up on my blog, I have so many things I want to say and show you all, but I am a little OCD and I HAVE to do things in order, which is why it seems, that my blog is always way behind schedule. You see, I don't have time at work to write my blog or post pictures and I have been traveling a lot lately. That means my time at home is very valuable, plus my computer at home is in the office, and it is not a child friendly room. The only time I have been able to find to sneak away to type is at night when Hayden goes to bed and the past few nights I have chosen to wrap presents and go to bed early, but now I will show you some pictures from our amazing trip to Mexico last month. My family members have seen them all since I have already sent them out via snapfish, but I wanted to share with the rest of you too.



Walking into Cozumel, Mexico



I thought this fountain was so pretty, I just had to have my picture made sitting in front of it



Brian being silly



At lunch at a very wonderful Mexican Cantina




Here are Brian and I during the Auburn Game - I had just asked someone to take our picture and right before the flash, Auburn scored so Brian was WAY more interested in that than looking at the camera.



This was my view during Hayden's naps. Brian stayed in the room with her while she napped and I was able to sneak away and read my book and enjoy the peace and serenity.



Hayden and Daddy "playing" putt-putt golf



Hayden was just precious playing with the life-sized chess set




Our last dinner onboard - my parents with Hayden.



Brian's family after our last dinner



I won't bore you with any more pictures, but we had such a good time and I am so thankful that both of our familes were able to go. It was precious bonding time for Hayden that can't be replaced. I know she will enjoy hearing about her trip to Mexico and her first cruise, that she will never remember - haha.

Cross off Number 2

So I can officially cross number 2 off my bucket list! If you would like to refresh your memory on my bucket list, you can click here. Very excited about finally having parasailed in the carribbean. It was an exhilarating moment and the view was nothing short of amazing. I won't say that I wasn't a little nervous up there and right before I flew up, but I wouldn't dare NOT go. This was something that I have wanted to do for years. Ny niece got mad at me over Thanksgiving for not doing this with her, but we tried one time to do this while at the beach on vacation and a hurricane came and we had to evacuate to go home. That was the last time it was mentioned and she is starting college next year so honestly I wasn't sure how many more summer vacations we would all have together. I decided now was the time for me. I tried really hard to get Brian up with me, but nothing worked. He stayed in the boat and took pictures for me.

I am thinking now that I did this, I might add skydiving to the list. Just kidding mom. No worries I have no plans to ever jump out of a perfectly good airplane.

Here are a few pictures from my adventure in the air!





















So what's next for me and my list? Well, the most obvious one to me is number 6, which is go to the Natational Football Championship Game with Auburn playing. Now, really who would have thought this could possibly happen back in July when I wrote this post. It is funny how things happen. This has never happened before and not sure if it ever will again, but I hope so because it doesn't look like this dream is going to come true. Brian has to leave town that day and be gone for an entire week for work and I would hate to go without him. Don't get me wrong I would go without him, but I just hate to do it, plus not sure if I can find tickets or not. Oh well, at this point, Auburn has one more tough game ahead of them before we even know if they will make it to the National Championship Game. Only time will tell.

Thanksgiving 2010

Hard to believe another Thanksgiving has come and gone. This is truly one of my favorite holidays throughout the year. I took two days off of work and made my holiday weekend extra long. I took Wednesday and Monday off to extend my time with Brian and Hayden to an entire week! I loved my time at home and I think Hayden especially did and I might have gained about three pounds too, because while at home we ate out some, I fixed breakfast every morning, nothing fancy just a little something different for us. One morning we had struddles, one morning cinnamin rolls, and one morning eggs and bacon and grits. Yummy!

Here are some pictures from this year's Thanksgiving. We had such a great time together at my Mom & Dad's house. It is so nice to all be together as a family and really enjoy the time together. I think you can tell by the pictures that we all love each dearly! And check out the two littlest ones, they were adorable this year playing together. They kept giving each other hugs and holding hands and playing.

Early Thanksgiving

Weekend before last Brian's extended family had everyone over for an early Thanksgiving celebration. His uncle was scheduled to have surgery that week and wanted everyone to get together. Brian and I have been together for four years now and I had only met a handful of them, so it was nice to put some faces with names that I have heard over the years. We all had a great time and from talking with some of the cousins they are wanting to try and do this every year, how nice for all the little ones.

Here are a few pictures from the lunch!

The Twin Cities

Ok - well I didn't actually see both of the cities, but apparently they are one in the same. The National Recreation & Parks Association annual Congress and Trade Show was held in Minneapolis a couple of weeks back. It was late October and it was just beginning to get cold there. And by cold I mean, when I flew out of Montgomery it was in the 80's and when I landed in Minneapolis it was a dreary, rainy, windy 30 something.

Minneapolis is a really neat town because everything downtown is connected via a massive skywalk system. The skywalk system expands over 8 miles total. Every building, shopping center, restuarant, bar and hotel is bascially connected - so once we arrived we never even had to put our jackets back on, until the last night.

I had to work some of this trip, but during the times I didn't have meetings, my friend Erica and I, (she and I love to travel together)did lots of shopping and lots of eating.

We spent an entire day shopping at the Mall of America - this place is unbelievable and made the entire trip to Minneapolis worth it. I would love to have the opportunity to take Hayden back there some day. Did you know they have an aquarium and an amusement park inside this mall? It is amazing! And one little fact about that mall is if you were to spend 10 minutes browsing in every store it would take you 86 hours to finish, that's what I call shopping!

Here are a few pictures from our visit. Not very many, but honestly it was too cold and too rainy to get outside most of the trip. But we did have a great time. Thanks for always traveling with me Erica.

Each trip we try to make a visit to Hard Rock, our hotel was connected to this Hard Rock, it was neat.





Here is a shot of the amusement park inside the Mall of America. I know this picture doesn't really show it, but this park is huge. Crazy big for inside a mall. I really wanted to ride some of the rides, but maybe next time.



And these last two pictures were inside the Twins Stadium. I had a party to attend there and we were up in the Suites - very nice. It was freezing that night, so we only walked outside briefly. Not very good pictures, but you get the idea.