Newly Newlin

Ups

2012-01-29T19:33:00.005-06:00

Jack's got the ups. (Beware: I'm going to be a proud mom in this post and brag about Jack)

He loves more than anything to chase a soccer ball. He will run and run for as long as you will kick the ball. I get tired chasing it just once, but not Jack. He also likes to try and either "chest bump" or eat the ball mid air if Chris throws it up. I tried to capture a few of his high jumps. I'm pretty impressed with his abilities.

After playing, he guards that ball with his life

Until someone comes close enough that he can give lots of kisses to :)

My Best Friend

2012-01-23T16:23:00.007-06:00

I'm sure from the title you're thinking this is going to be some sweet post about Chris, but I found a different kind of best friend today; one in the kitchen. I was doing some chores around the house and realized our kitchen sink was super dirty. I mean it looked gross. (I know that's sad to say, but it's honest). So I pulled out Bar Keepers Friend.

My mom told me to get some of this stuff several years ago. Boy, does it work! I should use it about every 2 weeks, but I don't really like the way it smells. So I wait until I can't stand it any longer and then wish I didn't let it get so bad. But no matter how dirty, Bar Keepers Friend works like magic. All you need is a sponge and some water.

If your sinks need a little cleaning, go out and get some magic. While I was cleaning, my plants were getting some MUCH needed sunshine. It has been a little gloomy here lately, so I know they soaked in all in.

And here are two pictures of our new bedroom furniture. Clearly, I need something above the bed and we need bed-side tables, but you know we just aren't there yet :) I'm sure you'll notice the bed is a little high. See, when I bought it, the bed only had a mattress on it, not a mattress and box-spring. Can you sleep on a bed with no box-spring? It's really not a big deal to me, but I do wish I could see the headboard a little more.

I am loving the dresser too. I haven't had a dresser since high school, so it's nice to have one again.

I would like to not have the TV on the dresser, but there's really no where else to put it and I like to watch the news while I get dressed in the mornings! P.S. Our walls aren't white, they just look that way in the pictures.

2012 thus far

2012-01-19T08:51:00.006-06:00

It's been busy, but so fun! We finished out 2011 watching Auburn win the Chick-fil-A bowl and then fell asleep by 10:30 pm. We did have to work Saturday and Sunday, the 31st and 1st, so we thought it was ok not to stay awake and welcome in the new year! :)

We bought a new bed and dresser as a Christmas gift to each other, so we've been rearranging our bedroom and adding some wall decorations. I was so thankful to come home from work one day to see that Mr. Linton, Chris's dad, had come up to help him put together the furniture! Yay! We're really enjoying how the room looks.

The first weekend in January we headed to Atlanta to one of my college friend's wedding. Chris and I loved seeing college friends and catching up. Lauren was a gorgeous bride!

White house girls minus Julie and Ali

(Please don't pay any attention to how white my skin is in these wedding pics. I look like a ghost!!! Must visit the tanning bed before I scare away children!)

"singing" to Lauren

Courtney, Chris and I stayed with Mark and Kristen Saturday night!

Leaving after a fun night of dancing!

Courtney, Kristen and I did make a stop by to see Julie and Kyle and check on baby Abbie's progress before the wedding. We knew the next time we saw Julie, she'd be a MOM!! This past week, I went to Atlanta for a quick trip to shop at market with my mom and Miss Pam. I had so much fun with them and had to perfect opportunity to go and meet Miss Abbie for myself. She is absolutely wonderful! Beautiful and perfect! I had to take a quick picture on my phone of the precious little one! It was a blessing to see Julie and Kyle as new parents. They seem like they are naturals. Can't wait for my next visit to see little Abbie and mommy, Julie!

That about catches you up! Chris and I are just working, working, working. Oh yeah and he is driving me crazy with his new hobby: learning how to use a mouth call for turkey hunting. :) He recently bought a few calls and then my dad gave him a box call and one other kind of call that I can't think of the name of...I'm already not liking it and he's only had them for less than a week!

Merry, Merry Part 1

2012-01-03T12:30:00.008-06:00

We were fortunate again this year to be able to go to Sugar's for Christmas Eve lunch and dirty Santa. It's so fun to be with aunts, uncles, cousins and of course, Sugar. This year we moved our meal to lunch time instead of dinner so everyone could get back on the road if needed.

A bunch of the girls in the Gentry family

After lunch, we sang Christmas carols to the lead of Uncle Buddy and Drew. They were singing at their church that night for the Christmas Eve service, so it was good practice :)

We mix up the style of carols sung each year. This year's included Little Drummer Boy, Away in a Manger, and Jingle Bells. Here is Sugar singing Jingle Bells!

After carols, Papa always read the Christmas story from the book of Luke. Since his death, the sons have taken turns reading. This year Uncle Jim had the honors.

After she helped Sugar open all of her presents, Emma Cate posed for a picture!

We missed the family members that couldn't be there, but as always we had such a fun time. Family is so special and I am so thankful for everyone on the Gentry side.

We left Sugar's and headed home to have present time and Christmas dinner with my parents. It was a special treat to have a nice dinner on Christmas Eve at home with our immediate family. We've always been at our grandparents during dinner time, so this was a new tradition, but one that I liked a lot. Emma Cate was so fun to be with while opening presents! She loved tearing off the paper and once one was opened she couldn't wait for the next one. We were surely blessed this Christmas and had a great time with everyone!

All the kids gave my dad a new pair of waiters for duck hunting

Emma Cate and Jane (her baby doll) got matching pjs :)

Thanks Big Daddy and Nina for a wonderful Christmas!

Hope your holiday was wonderful this year too!

Merry, Merry Part 2

2012-01-02T14:05:00.007-06:00

Part 1 (Christmas Eve) will come soon, but I've got to get a few more pictures downloaded.

Christmas morning we woke up in Aliceville, packed up our stuff and headed to Cullman to spend the day with the Newlin family.

We had a fun time in the kitchen getting all the food ready for Christmas dinner and Mike, Lindsay, J and AP got there that afternoon in time for presents and a little relaxation.

J and AP loved opening their presents and all the paper that comes along with the gifts! :) J loved helping us open our presents too!

J and AP told me uncle Chris is so fun to play with!

Family dinner was fabulous and we had a good time sitting around the table. Sadly, Chris and I left soon after due to the working world and having to be back in reality on the 26th. Thanks Momo and Popo for a wonderful Christmas day!

Jack's Christmas

2011-12-20T19:50:00.004-06:00

We celebrated Christmas a little early last night at home, just the 3 of us. After dinner, we opened presents and finally after 4 years, Jack learned how to help open presents. He likes lots of tissue paper!

But then got a little tired and had to rest.

But quickly regained his strength and wanted to play and pose for the camera!

"Joy to the world, the Lord is come: let earth receive her king!

Let every heart prepare him room and heaven and nature sing."

Merry Christmas!

82 years

2011-12-11T21:50:00.010-06:00

This week my grandmother, Sugar, is celebrating her 82nd birthday. I've written about Sugar before, but I believe my words never give her enough praise because she is such an amazing lady. My family jokes about how her prayers go higher than the rest of ours, but honestly I think sometime it could be true! She is such a Godly woman and a true prayer warrior.

I went to Aliceville last week to spend some time with my family while Chris was out of town for a whole week at a pharmacy conference. I had a great time Christmas shopping with my mom, playing with Emma Cate and spending some quality time with Sugar. As her multiple sclerosis progresses, it's hard for her to even talk. She's lost all of her hand/arm movement, so really all she has left are her facial muscles and head movements. Her voice is also really soft, and it's hard to hear her when a crowd is around. (She always has some words of wisdom though!)

I went over to visit around lunchtime and had some good one-on-one time with her. We caught up on everything while I fed her the last bits of lunch. Ever since Papa passed away last fall, it's hit me that I might not have her around too much longer either. (That's sad to say, but they loved each other so much and were so devoted to each other that I know she wants to go and be with him in Heaven.) I've been trying to learn more about their life as children, their families and the time when they were newlyweds. Papa and Sugar were/are so special to me and I want to learn about the important details in their life, so I can tell my children about them.

Papa and Sugar truly lived out a Hollywood love story. Once they realized they wanted to get married, Papa couldn't wait for them to have blood tests done and the results to return, so they drove to Mississippi (where that law didn't exist) and got married over the weekend with only a couple of dollars to his name. For their wedding dinner they shared an orange drink and a pack of crackers! Papa left to go to Korea a mere 19 days later to serve for an entire year. Sugar finished college at Judson, then moved to New York city for a job. When she heard news that Papa was coming home, she hopped a train to meet him. They drove home to Alabama and a few months later returned to NYC for Papa to serve for the Navy there for another year. They then finally settled in Alabama and worked on having a house-full of kids. Originally they wanted 12 children, but ended up with 6 little ones equally spread out by 2 years.

I learn something new every time I'm with Sugar. And I know I could learn a whole lot more about marriage seeing that she and Papa were married 60 years! Hearing her talk about Papa is just so sweet! I truly cherish these times with her especially being one-on-one. Growing up I was always close with my grandparents, but being 1 out of 18 grandchildren, you rarely got a lot of time by yourself with them. I guess I'm just more thankful that she is still here when I am more aware of how important grandparents are! I loved my mom's parents so so much and think about how much I wish they were here to get to know Chris and our kids one day. I don't think I knew just how important they were though while they were still alive, so I'm trying to spend as much quality time with Sugar as I can while she's still here with us.

Happy birthday Sugar! I hope your 82nd year is as amazing as you are!

Decking the Halls

2011-12-01T20:26:00.006-06:00

The Newlin house is full of Christmas cheer! Monday when Chris and I were both off, we got our tree and put up a few decorations. Chris was very patient while I obsessed about the tree being straight in the stand :) He also hung up garland outside!

I think the tree turned out really good. I absolutely love live trees! I know they are a hassle sometimes, but the smell is amazing and I love the tradition of getting a new one each year. Decorating it is so fun too; getting out the ornaments year after year and remembering when we got each one.

For the last two years at Christmas, I've gotten pieces to the Willow Tree nativity. I set it out this year and have loved having it in our living room. I think each figure is amazing and even though there are no facial expressions, they represent the birth of our Savior so perfectly.

I added some Christmas cheer to our dining room table. I also have received Christmas china from my mom for the last few years as gifts. I use it as my everyday china for the month of December. I love the red accent plates! And as a side note, one more good thing about a real tree is that I get to use trimmings all around my house!

P.S. If you're looking for an easy, yet delicious fudge recipe, the one on the back of the marshmallow creme jar is great!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-29T09:16:00.007-06:00

Chris and I have so much to be thankful for! God has truly provided for us and blessed our year in numerous, immeasurable ways! We were so happy to be able to spend the holiday with a lot of our family, although we missed seeing some of our loved ones!

We spent Thanksgiving afternoon and evening at the Newlin's house and had a delicious meal with Chris's side of the family. It was super relaxing and fun to be able to hang out with all of them. Too bad I didn't take a single picture. I tried my hand out at an Italian Cream Cake to take for dessert.

Honestly, it turned out pretty tasty, but you needed some coffee or milk to wash it down with because it was also super sweet! This was my first cake to bake with 3 layers, so I just wanted to document a little of the process. (I didn't place the second layer perfectly on the top of the bottom one, so it was a little whop-sided.)

Before dinner, Chris's parents were very patient to walk around the lake with us and take multiple pictures while we attempted to get a Christmas card picture. This is one of the attempts. I think Jack had just licked my face! I'll save the one because most of you that read the blog will be getting a card in the mail. :)

We both worked on Friday after Thanksgiving and then headed to Aliceville to spend the weekend with my family. Chris, my dad, my brother Phil, and James went duck hunting early Saturday morning. They came back ready to pose with their kill. Chris said it was "so fun!" and he couldn't wait to go again!

We had a great time in Aliceville and got to see both of my brothers and their families and spend some quality time with my parents and Sugar, my grandmother. She came over and watched the AU/AL game and ate supper with us! Even though she cheered really hard for Auburn, we still came out on the losing end...

We headed home Sunday afternoon and got in the Christmas mood Monday! Chris and I were off and picked out a Christmas tree and decorated the outside and inside of our house!

It's snowing this morning and I'm about to do a little wrapping! Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving full of love and laughter with family and friends!

The Simple Things

2011-11-15T13:29:00.010-06:00

It's all in the little things of life:

- finding cute Christmas wrapping paper that's on sale

- having a few Oreos as a snack

- talking to my mom every morning on my way to work

- seeing where Chris's grandparents lived and the dock he would jump off of when he was a child

- finding the "perfect" Christmas present for someone

- reading a verse of Scripture that hits right down to my core and lifts my spirits

- hearing a good song on the radio

- a sweet customer bringing homemade cookies to the pharmacy

- dinner out with Chris

- remembering/knowing that God already has planned each and every day of my life

- finishing all the ironing in one day

- looking out my back door and seeing pretty flowers

- Jack being with me on my days off

Chris and I are praying through some tough decisions right now. It's the simple, little things that have really made my week.

All pictures below make me smile and are from Pinterest!

Yard Work

2011-11-14T10:26:00.004-06:00

Yesterday we worked in our front yard to rake some leaves and pull some weeds. It was a great afternoon weather wise, but I didn't realize how hard it is to rake and bag leaves. All in all, we had 16 bags just for our front yard.

We didn't even touch the back yard where the big trees are. I think that might have to be a full-day deal. Sometimes I can't seem to find Jack because his coat matches the leaves. Good thing he loves his white soccer ball. It shows up so well with all the leaves as does his white wish-bone chest.

(I promise I didn't make him pose in this picture. I woke up and looked up out the kitchen window to find him posing, waiting for me to come out and play!) Look at all those dead leaves, that just a few weeks ago, I thought were soooo pretty!

The First of Many

2011-11-09T22:14:00.007-06:00

Refreshing. That's what this weekend was to me. I spent pretty much all day Saturday with some of my dearest friends. Kristen, Courtney and I hosted a baby shower for Julie and 'baby girl Florence.' Julie is the first to experience the adventure of motherhood and she's handling all that pregnancy entails with amazing grace. And I know she will be an awesome mom! Although we don't get to see each other too often, the times we are together are so wonderful and truly boost my spirits.

Kristen, Courtney and I are so ready to be aunts to 'baby girl Florence' :)

It was so fun to see some friends from Auburn at the shower and to meet a lot of the women in Julie's family. If you're in the business of hosting a baby shower soon, here's a good game idea. Set up bags as seen below with the word 'baby shower' spelled out. In each bag, put a present for the mom-to-be or baby that starts with the appropriate letter. B could be for bib, A for stuffed Animal, etc. Ours were pretty funny and somewhat creative! To get all the attendees involved, have everyone guess what they think is in each bag before mommy opens them and the person with the highest number of correct guesses wins a prize. It's pretty entertaining!

Although we had never hosted a baby shower before, I think everything turned out good. I know this party will be the first of many that the 4 of us will be a part of and that makes me excited!

The Plains and Zebra Cakes

2011-11-01T08:54:00.004-05:00

A few weekends ago, Chris and I went to Auburn for the AU vs Florida game. It was so fun to be back on the Plains for fun and not work. We had awesome seats thanks to my cousins Mac and Kristi! Chris and I were so thankful to get to go back and see friends and family! Sadly, we will not get another chance to go back this fall.

I got to see some of my sweet college friends! It's hard to think we're all grown up from our days in the White House, but we really are. New jobs, babies on the way, some about to get married; that's just a little about what's going on. It's all so exciting!

Switching subjects just a little bit to Halloween. I worked last night so I missed out on the little ones that came to trick-or-treat, but Chris filled me in on all that went down. He said there were some cute little ones that came by.

First of all, he decorated his deer target. Supposedly all the kids loved the Ghost Deer!

We bought a lot of candy this past weekend to get ready for all the kids. Chris texted me at work and said he was out after about an hour. He rushed to the closest grocery store to only find a few boxes of candy/treats: 3 Musketeers, Donut Holes, and Zebra cakes...And when I got home all the boxes were empty! :) Who knew kids liked zebra cakes and donut holes so much??!!

Last, but not least, we've been able to visit with M, L, J and AP a lot over the last two weeks! It's been great! J and AP looked so cute in their Halloween attire!

Happy Fall and Happy Halloween from the Newlins!

Boston

2011-10-24T21:00:00.002-05:00

This past week Chris and I headed to Boston for a little getaway. We decided to go when Chris found out he could be a representative for the hospital at a conference that was being held there. I was able to swap around my work days and not have to take time off, so it worked out perfectly. Boston is a super cool city! It's big, but not too big, and it sort of seemed to be several small cities within one larger city. I liked it a lot!

Our hotel, The Boston Park Plaza was so cool. It's the oldest hotel in Boston and located less than one block away from the Public Gardens and Boston Common.

I couldn't pass up this photo opp below. I think this is the prettiest flower/garden shop I've ever seen! It is located in Beacon Hill, the cutest neighborhood right outside of downtown Boston.

When we got there on Wednesday, we went to Cambridge to see Harvard University. It was pouring down rain, so we didn't get to take a lot of pictures, but here is one with Mr. John Harvard himself.

We walked the Freedom Trail, which takes you around all of the historical landmarks in Boston. I really enjoyed seeing American history all over the city and I learned a few things along the way too.

Here is Granary Burying Ground, where Paul Revere, Sam Adams and John Hancock are all buried. We also posed by several statues :) (Ben Franklin, Sam Adams and Paul Revere below)

The Public Gardens and Boston Common, which are both extremely gorgeous are a popular place for locals and tourists alike. One day while Chris was at a meeting I just sat and people-watched. It was really peaceful and entertaining! The Public Gardens is also popular due to a well-known children's book that has its setting based there. A cute statue of "Mrs. Mallard and her ducklings" from Make Way for Ducklings is right at the entrance of the park. And every spring you can take a swan boat ride around the gardens. We missed that opportunity by only one month :(

We found Cheers, the bar and needed a photo opp...

Thursday, we went to the Samuel Adams Brewery for a tour. It was really cool to see and Chris found Bob, one of the brewers that is always on the TV commercials.

The Boston Harbor

The oldest tavern in Boston, Bell in Hand Tavern

The subway (that I never quite mastered...)

Crossing the Boston Marathon finish line :)

Dinner our last night at Antico Forno, a great Italian place

And finally a quick subway ride to Fenway Park!

I apologize for the photo dump, but I wanted to document as much as I could. (I did spare a few photos from the blog, although I'm sure it doesn't seem so...) If you ever get the chance to visit Boston, I would highly recommend it!

Pure Beauty

2011-10-10T10:29:00.005-05:00

Although leaves get stuck at our carport door and make me upset sometimes because I have to sweep a lot, our backyard looks gorgeous! (at least it does to me) I like the way leaves look with all of their colors on the ground and it works out well that I'm not all that into raking! :)

Jack even likes the way the leaves look because he has pulled his pillow out of his house multiple times in the last week. And now with the leaves, the pathway to the backyard that once was dirt is now looking pretty.

And our front yard looks so nice too! The dogwood tree has turned a burnt red color and brightens my days. I've also received a hydrangea from Ashley, one of my sister-in-laws, that will hopefully root and I can plant next spring. Thanks Ashley! I'm letting it get a little morning sun in the pic below. That's what she told me was best for it!

Thank you God for making the season of fall! It makes me happy!

EC and Jack

2011-10-05T14:11:00.011-05:00

Whew, I cannot believe that we are in the first week of October! Time is really flying by.

Chris and I have been busy with work and with play and can't get enough of the awesome weather in North Alabama! It's been gorgeous this last week.

This past weekend we had some super special visitors. Phil, Ashley and Emma Cate came to see us!! I wish I could put into words how much EC loves animals, especially dogs. From the moment they pulled into our driveway, she was saying "pup pup" or "jack" or "jack I wuv you" in all drawn out syllables. If he was outside, she wanted to be outside and visa verse. It was precious! But I'm not entirely sure Jack was as much into her... :)

Their first time inside together: she's on his pillow and he's thinking about how to get her off and get her cookie!

He inched closer to get a better smell of the cookie and she noticed the bubbles he produces when he smells something yummy :) you can see the bubble if you look close...

They both made it onto the pillow...

But only for a brief second before Jack bolted off. The funny thing about it is that we never asked EC to sit on the dog pillow, that's just where she wanted to sit. We had to beg Jack to go sit by her! One time we were all in the kitchen and couldn't find EC, then spotted her lying face-down on Jack's bed! Let's just say again, she LOVES dogs.

Emma Cate is talking so much and it just melted my heart when she called for "minsey" for me and "kis" for Chris. We talked, read books, played with her babies, went on walks and cheered on Auburn to victory.

We had a fabulous weekend and are so thankful the Phil Gentry family made the trip a few hours north!

A Few Pretties and Life Updates

2011-09-19T09:47:00.008-05:00

I am loving this weather! We have had mornings in the 50s-60s and highs in the upper 70s. It's been glorious. I'm not fooled though. I'm sure we will have some more days in the 90s, let's just hope not!!

Along with the weather has come our first batch of taco soup. :) Once again this year, Chris requested it as his birthday dinner!

Also with fall weather comes fall flowers. Before I begin to plant my pansies, I wanted to show you how my summer flowers fared this year. (I'm a little proud!)

Here are my gate flowers at the beginning of summer.

And here they are now! (pic from my phone...)

I've been on a kick to have fresh flowers in our house. Mainly I just pick roses from our knock-out rose bush, but I also bought a few white flowers that were on sale a few weeks ago and loved having them around. I think I get this desire from my grandad, Papa. He always would have flowers from his garden in their home in little vases and jars.

Fall has provided no relief from the busyness of life, however. We are both enjoying the 'real' world and feel like we've found our groove in the realm of pharmacy. Chris has been truly blessed by all of his co-residents at the hospital and I love all of the girls I work with. Our weekends are also full with work, football watching and a little traveling added in. Hopefully, we are going to make it to at least one Auburn game in the near future.

I haven't been cooking as much as I would like lately, so I'm hoping to get back in the kitchen in these next few weeks. If I find some new, good recipes, I'll definitely share them on the blog.

Here's to a good week! Happy Monday!

Happy Birthday Chris

2011-09-14T06:55:00.001-05:00

Happy Birthday today to Chris! Twenty-seven years ago, a precious, yet large (over 10 lbs) baby boy was born. Little did the world know how truly special he would be! Chris is the most fun, most loving, most caring man I know. He is my very best friend! I am so truly thankful for God bringing him into my life over 7 years ago. Chris honestly makes every day better!

Chris, I hope today is wonderful and you know how loved you are by me and by so many others!

(I wish I had more baby/childhood pictures scanned because Chris was such a cute little guy! oh well)

I do have to be cheesy for just a brief second...I heard this song about a month ago on the radio and immediately Chris was brought to my mind. God definitely gave me Chris. And I couldn't be a happier or more thankful! (Listen if you have a minute)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7M7cJ4DydQ

Bunco and Bean

2011-09-10T09:41:00.005-05:00

Tuesday night I had some girls over to play Bunco. I'd always heard how fun it is to play and how little your brain has to think while you play it. :) Both proved to be true! I had a great time with some girlfriends and am so looking forward to next month's get together!

It's also sweet little Bean's birthday today (our niece AP)! She turns the big ONE!

Love at first site! (Chris was already giving her kisses!!)

Wish we were with her on this special day, but a little 'face time' on the phone this morning and hopefully again later today, will have to suffice until we actually can see them face to face! Happy Birthday AP!

Uncle Chris and Aunt Minsey love you!

Birthday Post #2

2011-09-05T08:07:00.006-05:00

I'm super late in posting this, but I had more than one birthday celebration and I wanted to share the second event with you. I left my sweet husband to head to my parents house for a couple of days because I had a few days off from work. It was a very good birthday! I was able to spend some time with my parents, Sugar, my grandmother, and my brother Phil and his family.

Ashley made me a birthday cake and I think it was pretty hard for Emma Cate to keep her little fingers away from the icing. I let her get a few licks in before supper! Isn't that what aunts are for??!!

EC is so fun to play with! My parents were given this interactive horse from some friends who had young children and EC loves it. She fed it carrots and candles that look like apples. :)

Phil and Ashley better watch out. Emma Cate's already got her eye on Prince Charming!

And she might even be the next child prodigy!

While in Aliceville, I got to see my dad's new work shop. He is 'semi-retired' these days and has a new hobby. Wood-working has taken the place of the pharmacy and now dad spends the majority of his days out in his shop. Here he is with his good friend and wood-working mentor, Mr. Charles.

When my family came to Huntsville to spend the weekend with me, they brought along a little surprise. My dad had been working on a special present for me and I love it! He built a really cool bench that has tons of character. It's perfect for indoor decorating or out in the garden. I am still deciding where to put this special piece, but I wanted to go ahead and show it to the blog world!

My dad made it even more special with this sweet message under the bench top!

He's currently making another bench for a friend and my brothers and I have given other requests for future furniture! Thanks Dad, I love it!

Now that we are in the month of September, we'll be celebrating birthdays on the Newlin side. Sweet, AP, our niece, and Chris have important birthdays coming up. With football, fall and birthdays, it seems that this month is going to be really great!

Birthday Celebration

2011-08-29T08:34:00.004-05:00

Last weekend (August 20-21), my parents, Brant and Brittany, and the Newlins came to celebrate my birthday. It was such a fun time for me to have a lot of my immediate family in town visiting. I definitely missed our Newlin and other Gentry siblings though. My side of the family got in town around lunchtime on Saturday and I was able to take them to see the pharmacy where I work and shop around a little bit. Saturday night we grilled out at our house and the Newlins came in for supper.

I think Saturday night supper was my favorite birthday present. We all spent time together in the kitchen preparing appetizers and supper and it was such a blessing to me. I love being in the kitchen, but it was so much more fun for me to have lots of people in there too! My mom has always said she makes her food out of love. She would say that about our lunches for school and Sunday lunch at my parents house growing up. I felt like the food we had Saturday night was definitely made with love and I loved every second of it!

My mom brought a yummy strawberry cake! Remember these candles because I'll probably reuse them for Chris's upcoming birthday!

Oh and we decided you only turn 25 once, so the fine china was brought out for its second debut since being recieved :)

All in all, I had a great birthday celebration! Thank you to all of my family that made the trip north to visit! It really meant the world to me. I'll be back with more from my trip to Aliceville and more birthday celebrations there.

Here's to Jack

2011-08-16T09:57:00.005-05:00

It's been a while since I dedicated a post to Jack. (Well probably it's only been about a week or two, but you know, I love my Jack!)

A few weeks ago, we had our front door open so Jack could see out and all of a sudden he started freaking out and whimpering. I looked out and this little cutie was right in our front yard.

Jack just sat there and watched the baby rabbit for about 30 minutes before it hopped away. Good thing there was a glass door between the two. If it hadn't been there, I'm afraid the little bunny would be no more...

These last two pictures are from the iphone and are just funny to me. I guess he was super hungry. He couldn't wait for us to scoop out food into his bowl, so he helped himself to the storage bin.

Jack was so happy when Chris got home the other day! He had to be touching Chris at all times, so I snapped this pic of him all propped up.

That's all I've got for now. Happy Tuesday from Jack and me!

A Good Day Indeed

2011-08-14T17:50:00.006-05:00

Yesterday, Chris and I went to the lake with some friends and it was so much fun!! I loved being on the water and being in the sun.

Some friends from the hospital have a new boat and invited us out and we gladly accepted. We got to the lake around 10 am and stayed ALL day. We probably would have stayed longer, but mother nature decided to produce a strong wind/rain storm that forced us to leave.

One of the guys with us, Ryan, introduced the sport of wakeskating. Best described, the board is sort of like a piece of fancy plywood with roofing shingles on it for grip.There are no holders for your feet, so you wear tennis shoes that can grip to the board. (This terminology is definitely in girl's language, Chris would probably describe it differently...) The act of the sport though is similar to wake-boarding. I didn't try to wakeskate for fear I would knock my teeth out, but Chris was all up for the challenge as was Ed. Our friend, Ryan, is the pro at wakeskating and he was a very patient teacher. He taught the guys. I wish I would have taken more pictures, but on Chris's last run at it, I snapped a few iPhone pics.

I'm looking forward to going out again before the weather turns too cool. We're relaxing today after a full body workout with water sports yesterday. Hope your work week starts out good!

Guilt-Free Chocolate Dessert

2011-08-02T16:33:00.004-05:00

I made this chocolate pie for dessert last night and it turned out pretty good. I guess you can tell a little bit that it's supposed to be guilt-free because it's not nearly as sweet as a normal chocolate pie. All in all though, it satisfies my sweet tooth, so maybe it will do the same for you with a few less calories. :)

The recipe is from Southern Living, probably 6 or so months ago.

Ingredients:

1 refrigerated pie crust (or it can be frozen and thawed) - cook according to directions on package and let cool completely

6 oz unsweetened chocolate baking squares, chopped

1 (14 oz) can fat free sweetened condensed milk

1 (8 oz) container of fat free cool whip

may garnish with raspberries, or the berry of your choice if you so desire

Directions:

Cook pie crust as directed and let cool. Melt chocolate in microwave until smooth for about 1 1/2 - 2 minutes, stirring at 30 second intervals. Once chocolate is smooth, whisk in milk and let stand for 2 minutes. Next, fold in half of cool whip. Pour mixture in pie crust. Cover and refrigerate for 4- 8 hours. Spread remaining cool whip on top of chocolate and garnish as you wish.

Mine turned out pretty tasty and it was super easy. Here's another picture just for looks.

A Bunch of Random Things

2011-07-31T15:00:00.004-05:00

All of this is in no specific order and of no significant importance. I just wanted to share them with you:

1. Darvin Adams, my favorite Auburn player of last year, will now be playing with Cam in Carolina! I'm pumped!! The picture below was from the National Championship game when I thought Darvin might stick around for one more season at Auburn.

2. I made a yummy side dish a couple of nights ago that was super easy. Almond Rice Pilaf by Paula Deen - recipe from here http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/almond-rice-pilaf-recipe/index.html

3. My favorite household item these days is Resolve Foam. Sometimes Jack tracks in some dirt and this stuff does the trick every time. It works like magic on our white carpets!

4. How could I have forgotten to mention our only purchase from our trip last weekend! We bought a flying pig for our backyard from an antique store in Franklin. I think having yard art adds a little spunk!

Of course I have to put up a picture of Jack! :)

5. I've been working out on a more consistent basis and it feels good.

6. I'm currently reading The Help and its great! Hard to put down...

That's it. Told you it was random...

Franklin Trip

2011-07-27T10:04:00.009-05:00

I'm a few days late on this post, but I am excited to share it with you. Chris and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary a few weeks ago, but decided we needed to get away for a night this past weekend to truly celebrate. We headed right up the road to Franklin, TN. It is a super cute city that has a small town feel to it. (I am apologizing ahead of time that these pictures are not the greatest. It was so hot everywhere we went so Chris and I opted out of most of the pictures. I also wasn't as concerned with the picture quality, so I just snapped and went on my way... oh well, it's not about the pictures, right?!)

This is Franklin's teeny, tiny, adorable visitor center. They gave us some good options for eating out.

A talent show/fair was going on while we were visiting and it was crowded with vocalists and dancers.

After our walk around downtown, we headed back to our hotel and I had a visit to the Spa! Chris gave me a Swedish Massage from The WoodHouse Spa in Franklin. It was fabulous!

Saturday night we traveled about 10 minutes outside Franklin to Arrington, TN to Arrington Vineyards. I have never been to a vineyard before and it was awesome! And from the likes of the people there, it's a popular place.

We signed up for wine testing, but the wait was almost 2 hours, so we left before we were called. The policy here is that you can bring any food and drinks, other than alcohol of course, and lawn chairs or blankets. They have tons of picnic tables and swings that are first come first serve and plenty of free ground space to lounge around. We bought a bottle of wine and found an open swing with a perfect view of some of the grape vines. (Except for the couple laying all other each other...)

The blackberry wine was so tasty!

This is one of those not so great pictures, seeing that we had been sweating for the last 2 hours or so. I still like it and it's our only one from the weekend :)

Sunday we woke up and drove to Nashville to the Nashville Flea Market. I love garage sales, so this was right up my alley. The fairgrounds have about 5 huge warehouses/sheds full of individual booths. We saw some pretty cool stuff and also a lot of junk. I only snapped a couple of pictures and wish I would have captured some more. Excuse the quality, but I wanted to show you a whole booth designated to old chandeliers.

And this particular one was full of random stuff, but I liked the old water skis.

Chris and I are so thankful for the 2 years we've shared together. God has blessed us beyond measure!

My Summer Reading List

2011-07-17T09:47:00.013-05:00

Well I guess this reading list is going to be my summer/fall reading list since the summer is passing by so quickly. I've been thinking about books lately and the sad fact that I haven't read a "fun" book in a long time. This summer I read pharmacology and pharmacy law books which were definitely not leisure reads. I'm going to utilize my free library membership and start one of the following very soon.

Here is my list in no specific order, except I might start with The Help since the movie is coming out soon. (I do know that some of these are probably old releases, but I am behind the times these days.)

Where the River Ends

The Help

Her Mother's Hope, then the sequel Her Daughter's Dream

Ree Drummond's Black Heels to Tractor Wheels

As a side note, I do want to mention that I had the privilege of traveling to Atlanta this past Friday with Brittany and Ashley, two of my sister-in-laws, to meet my mom and Mrs. Pam at market. It was so much fun shopping for my parents' drug store, finding a few "happys" for myself and even getting some Christmas presents. I loved spending some time with all of the women on my side of the family!

The Number 2

2011-07-11T20:26:00.011-05:00

The number 2 is special today for several reasons!

First and foremost, today marks year 2 as being Mrs. Newlin! I can honestly say that these 2 years have been the best ever. Chris is an awesome husband and I love him with my whole heart! Here are 2 of my favorites from our wedding day.

The second reason why number 2 is so special today is that we found out that we passed our 2nd pharmacy board exam. We are officially pharmacists now!! Whoo hoo! It's been a long road, but one well worth it. All I can say is thank you, Jesus!

And last, but definitely not least, Jack turned 4 today. I know that's not 2, but at least it' s a multiple, right??!! Happy birthday little guy! Although you're not quite so little anymore :) Here's me being sentimental for a quick sec...

I am so thankful for all of the above!!

Not too Exciting, but Nonetheless Fun

2011-07-07T18:01:00.009-05:00

We spent our 4th of July at home hanging out and studying. Well, I did, but Chris had to work from 6 until about 3. We did hang our stars and stripes proudly and are so thankful for those who have served to give us our freedom.

This is where we spent lot of the weekend, in our backyard trying to get some sun on our Vit D deprived bodies. Normally by the first of July we at least have a base tan. Well, not this year. I sat in the dollar store chair while Chris relaxed in his "one man's trash, another man's treasure" chair we found at the beach in April. The chair is actually pretty comfortable if you don't mind the edges being a little rusty!

We took Jack to a certain park that has a pond in hopes that it wouldn't be too crowded and he could swim.

Family Photo

Luckily, there was only one other person at the park, so Jack ran straight to the water!

You can barely see it, but he did get a pretty nasty cut on his nose when he found some barbed wire that was blocking off an entrance to a runoff creek. And yes, we are giving him water from a bottle. He's just a baby! :)

Although I studied a lot and had to say goodbye to M and L this weekend, it was a good one spent with Chris and Jack!

Friday Nights

2011-06-25T17:08:00.006-05:00

Friday night marked the last of what the Newlin "kids" consider a tradition. We (as in Chris and myself) have been going over to Mike and Lindsay's house to have dinner and a movie or the likes ever since we moved here. Now there have been some Friday nights that we missed, but I can honestly say that the majority of the time, we made it happen. Dinner at their house was always something Chris and I looked forward to. It was a time for us to relax from the week with people we loved being with. And not to mention we got to play with J and AP! Due to their upcoming move, Friday night was our last shebang. We're going to miss them, but are super excited about their upcoming adventure! I guess I'm curious to see if any of you readers out there, as few as you may be, have a Friday night tradition? We're up for suggestions!

I have been absentee from the blog world. It's not that things aren't happening in our household, it's that the real world outside of school has happened. :) We've been working and studying... Our last test is coming up soon and then hopefully our nights won't be so consumed with pharmacy law studying.

This past weekend, we got to see both of our dads and it was nice to be able to tell them in person Happy Father's Day! They deserve it for sure!

Chris worked this weekend, so I piddled around home and got a few things accomplished. For the months of June and July, our work weekends are off, but starting in August, we think we'll be on the same schedules.

These Days

2011-06-15T20:00:00.009-05:00

It's been a while, almost a month, since my last post. We've been super busy as both of us have entered the working world. In my mere 4 weeks of full time work, some of my weeks have totaled over 50 hours... On the flip side, it's been great to be in the real world. I've been able to put to use a lot of the knowledge good ole HSOP (Harrison School of Pharmacy) instilled into my brain. It's a good feeling when you help out a patient with their medication questions/concerns. And by God's grace, Chris and I both passed our first pharmacy board test!! Just one more to go.

When we're not at work, we're working in our yard or playing with Jack or both.

Long story short, our neighbor laid some sod in our side yard after it was sort of torn up due to some of her yard work. It was super nice of her and Jack has loved playing in the water sprinkler each day.

This past Friday, our friends, the O'Connors invited us over for a cookout. It was great to see so many friends we haven't hung out with in a while. Sweet Kasey stayed the night with us and I loved spending some time with her.

All the guys had fun playing corn hole Friday night and then playing golf Saturday morning.

Also during my blogging hiatus, we found out M, L, J and AP are moving to a far away place. :( We're definitely happy for their upcoming plans, but super sad they won't be only a few streets away.

I guess that's about it for now. It's been a good few weeks around the Newlin household. Hopefully I won't be away from the "blogosphere" for so long the next go around.

Around our House

2011-05-21T13:24:00.016-05:00

Petunias are my new favorite flowers. I've never planted them before, but they are super hearty and have done really well. I've got some in a planter in the backyard and in a hanging basket on the carport. This year my flower color choices are pink and purple and I'm happy with how they have turned out.

"Million Bells" - small petunia buds

Jack has been loving his new home and backyard. He's also grown quite fond of his dog house. Chris has been working hard at trimming some trees and bushes in the backyard and now we have a good view of Jack's house.

If Jack is not in his house, you can normally find him here; on the cool dirt by the gate. My dad helped Chris build this gate to make sure little bit couldn't get out. We didn't want to spend a lot of money, so my dad provided this gate that used to be for his cows. It has a cattle feel to it, but I love it and it works great!

We've been slowly but surely getting the house in order. Hanging pictures, rearranging, making finishing touches and giving Jack a little front porch freedom have all been on the list. He's done quite well out there and we're feeling more at home every day.

In other news, I've finished my first week at my big girl job and I have really enjoyed it. I've still got lots to learn, but I think the first few days have been a success. I'll leave you with one more Jack picture. The car is not as pet friendly as Chris's old Tahoe, but we've managed with adding in a bed sheet when he rides. He seems to like it just fine. Here Jack is riding in the back seat like he's a human... Got to love him!

A Good Day

2011-05-13T11:33:00.016-05:00

Tuesday goes down in the record books for Chris and myself as one of the most glorious days in our lives. We graduated from Auburn's pharmacy school!

There are lot of pictures in this post, so brace yourself, but I wanted to document thoroughly.

We posed for a quick shot right after we got our diploma and our hood (representing our doctorate).

Our orange and blue hoods!

Moving on to Samford Hall, the infamous spot for graduate photos.

Chris and I are so thankful for our parents. They have been the biggest support for us throughout undergraduate and graduate school and we appreciate their love and encouragement so so much! A big thanks to them for being there on Tuesday to celebrate with us!

After so many formal shots, we decided to be cheesy for a brief moment :) I am so happy to have shared all of my Auburn years with Chris. He was there through all the fun and all the not-so-fun parts of college and pharmacy school. It truly was a blessing to have someone I could always turn to. He understood every hard test, every awful lab class and every time I had to miss out on something fun with friends to study. He also was there to celebrate with me in the good times and to congratulate me in my studies. (Although he always seemed to make a better grade :) ) All in all, it's been a good ride being by his side!

Little did I know that my mom had been talking to Julie and Kristen about coming to AU for graduation. They took off of work to surprise Courtney and myself. Thank you girls for coming. It meant the world to me!!

Courtney and Rose Lynn, I wouldn't have made it without you!

After about a million pictures, our parents treated us to lunch and got us a cake with our new names on it :)

The day was a bit nostalgic. We had known the graduation date since our third year of pharmacy school, so in the back of my mind, I've been counting down for a long time. Once the day arrived, it was a bit surreal and went by extremely fast. I was emotional all day, in a good way, happy to be celebrating our achievement with family and friends. Real world hits Monday for me and pretty soon for Chris with his residency. A new chapter in our lives starts and we can't wait to see what's in store. It's exciting! But I won't lie, a little scary too. However, as the Lord has provided through this point in our lives, I know He will continue in His sovereignty. Here's to a fun filled weekend!

Mom's the Word

2011-05-11T08:56:00.003-05:00

Chris and I are so excited to have graduated yesterday from Auburn's pharmacy school! More on that to come, but first I have to talk about my mom for a brief minute.

Mama is a delight! Always full of energy and love! This past Sunday Chris and I were able to visit Aliceville to see her and my grandmother, Sugar. I was so thankful to have a day with them. Mama, thank you for being a wonderful example to me. I love you!

We also were able to stop by and see Chris's mom on Saturday! We love you Mrs. Janice!

Vacation to the Beach

2011-05-03T12:44:00.004-05:00

This past week we went to the beach to celebrate being finished with pharmacy school. It was a much needed vacation. We were so thankful that the trip was also inexpensive because we stayed at my parents new place! Thanks Mom and Dad! We were out on the beach all day everyday. It was relaxing, rejuvenating and pure wonderful!

When I got a little too sunburned the first day, I happily sat under this! Thanks to the boys (and Courtney) for putting it up for us.

Chris and I had guests for the week and they were so fun! We were so happy to meet Brett!

We saw a bunch of these little (or rather big) jokers. Blue jellyfish. I always thought they were pinkish colored, but we ran across several of these washed up on the shores. Their tentacles were all curled up underneath them so we couldn't get a good picture of those.

Wednesday night we heard the awful news of all of the damage that hit the state of Alabama. The weather had been so nice at the beach that we were kind of in a little bubble and didn't realize how terrible the storms were that hit just north of us. We watched the news in horror that night and made several phone calls to check on all of our friends and family that were in storms way. Thankfully, none of our friends or family were lost in the tornadoes, but many had damage to their homes and their friends' homes.

Courtney and Brett left Thursday morning, but we were lucky to gain 4 more guests. Due to many areas in North Alabama not having any power, M, L, J and AP came to the beach. We stayed 3 more days and arrived back home to power! (sad I didn't get any pictures of the kiddos at the beach) In a sense we all felt guilty for escaping the damage and power outages, but our thoughts and prayers were definitely with family and friends in the areas hit so hard. I read a friend's blog this morning and saw this scripture that truly is perfect to read during the hardships Alabama is facing. God is in control and His hands are always upon us. I hope your family is managing well this week.

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging." Psalm 46:1-3

Easter

2011-04-29T08:25:00.005-05:00

This year, we spent Easter at home with Chris's family coming to our house for lunch. Our church service was just incredible with the passage coming from 1 Corinthians 15: 55-57. "Where, O death is your victory? Where, O death is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

After lunch, J got to hunt eggs in our front yard. They were filled with stickers and candy and boy did he love it all.

Chris and I have so much to be thankful for this past week, starting with celebrating our Risen Savior. We were not in harms way of the tornadoes that struck through Alabama, but many of our friends were. With such horrible circumstances, the only comfort we have is in Christ, our Lord. Although storms and damage never come at a good time, the hope we were reminded of at Easter gives me peace through this grief stricken time.

Pharmacy School

2011-04-22T22:34:00.008-05:00

Basically these last 4 years of my life have been spent in anticipation of the current state I'm in. I can't wait until we graduate. This class is too hard, I can't wait to be finished with it. If I have to take another 'Drugs and Diseases' test, I might die. They're too hard and I can't wait to be done. I can't wait to be a pharmacist and not have to study. I think you get the picture. For 4 years, I've been waiting for this time in my life. The time that I can actually say I'm on my last day of rotations, on my last day of pharmacy school. I am officially finished now!

Ok, let me back up a bit. I have enjoyed these 4 years immensely as well though! So much has happened during this time period that it's hard to recap. God has blessed me with friends, family, a husband, numerous places to live, numerous experiences to be a part of and the ability to pass each and every class in pharmacy school! God has sustained me when I was weak and weary and didn't think I could go on or study any more. He has given me peace in tough times and has given me a smile when all I wanted to do was cry. He truly has blessed this time in my life. So for a quick recap.

P1 year (P1- pharmacy student year 1)

I lived with these girls in the white house! 10 girls in a big white house. Precious friends that will undoubtedly be some of my closest for forever. They kept me sane that first year. They let me study, but also knew when it was time to get me and Courtney (top right, also in pharmacy school) out of our rooms and downstairs to have a little fun! Such awesome encouragers!

P2 year at good ole Ross Park

P2 year is by far the hardest in pharmacy school. They cram in so much and require you to obtain it all at an unheard of speed. Good thing I lived with these two!

Rose Lynn, Courtney and I were 3 peas in a pod. Sometimes we wanted to pull our hair out because of too much time together, but I know I couldn't have made it through this year without them. It was a hard year, not just due to school, but also because all of our 'undergrad' friends had graduated and left the Plains. Big adjustment year. I also got engaged this year. Such a special day! RL and Court were super friends to hear me talk about wedding planning all the time and to love me "when I thought I had an unexpected sickness" for pretty much the entire year :)

P3 year - I started living with a boy!

Chris and I lived in an apartment at the cool college place. Lots of parties at the pool and at our neighbors apartments. Sometimes we called the cops and sometimes decided to be the nice married couple. Depended on if we had a test or not... This was a better year with school. Not as many tests and we learned a lot of practical knowledge. Being with Chris made the year all that much better too! He kept me sane and loved me well!

P4 year - Left Auburn, our home away from home

Now we have a new place to call home and we love it here! We've learned a lot about pharmacy and about life. Our marriage and our friendship is stronger than ever and we're thankful God placed us here.

Now as I can see graduation day in my immediate future, I look back and am so thankful that God has helped me make it this far. He gave strength not only to me throughout these years, but also to my friends, family and Chris to put up with me. :) I've been encouraged in countless ways by so many. All you out there who have been with me through thick and thin - - thank you!!!

Let's Play Catch-Up

2011-04-16T12:01:00.001-05:00

I have gotten behind this time. Like real behind on my blogging. Several people have boosted my spirits though by texting or facebooking (if that's a word) and asking where I've been for the last few weeks. I've been here and there, packing and unpacking, making a few purchases, celebrating some birthdays, getting ready to begin my last week of 'school' and I guess that maybe sums it up. I will try and be brief with each event, but since it's been so long that I've updated ole "Newly Newlin", this post may prove to be lengthy. I will understand if you have to close the link from too much :)

The ball got rolling when we sold Chris's old car back at the beginning of March. School/Rotations were hectic for about 2 weeks there; we went to Aliceville/Louisiana for a weekend of family time/hunting. The next Saturday, March 26th, we were supposed to have Newlin yard sale, but the weather was awful, so we rescheduled. Now I think I've caught you up to my last post.

Well on that Saturday afternoon, or maybe it was Sunday afternoon, we were out looking for new rental houses. Chris found one for us! We really liked it, got our landlord to agree to not make us pay April rent in our current house and we started packing up to move across town.

During the week of packing, we also decided it was time to return the borrowed car by parents let us use and make a car purchase. After much discussion and debate, we finalized our decision and bought a Camry on March 31. We really love it!

Friday, April 1st, we headed to Auburn for a pharmacy school field day. It was worth the long day of driving from Huntsville to Auburn and back to see all of our school friends and get to enjoy being outside!

Ultimate Frisbee Team (4th year pharmacy students and faculty)

Saturday, April 2nd, we had an awesome yard sale! (I meant to take pictures, but forgot) We combined goodies from most of Chris's family and really had a good turnout! It worked out nicely because Chris and I were able to use the money we made at the yard sale to buy a used washer/dryer for our new home.

After the big sale, Chris, Mike, Mr. Linton (Chris's dad) and myself finished moving all of the furniture from the old house to the new house. A big thank you to all the Newlin boys!!! We really couldn't have done it without y'all. And thanks to the Bobos and Crows for letting us use your trucks! The rest of the weekend was spent unpacking and getting somewhat settled.

Oh I've forgotten to mention that while all of this is going on, we've started our last pharmacy school rotation ever!! It's been a refreshing feeling for sure, yet has brought a lot of uncertainty/fear regarding future plans. More on graduation and ending school in a future post.

The first weekend in April my parents came up to help us build Jack a fence in the backyard and to get the inside of the house to start feeling homey. We worked them so hard, but they were good sports! Thanks Mom and Dad! While they were here, we also got to celebrate my dad's birthday!! He's halfway to 110 and hoping to make it all that way! Love you daddy!

As we are now upon the second weekend in April, we've made another trip down to Auburn for an awards banquet for Chris and are finishing up our next to last week of school. We also had our friends over for dinner last night. Mike, Lindsay, J and AP came over so we could celebrate Lindsay's birthday! We loved having them!

I think that will do it for now. Here are a few pictures for those that made it to the end! Have a good one this weekend!

I was finally able to get my fine china out of boxes and to use! I like the way Mom and I set it up. Sorry for the glare through the glass doors. (I didn't want myself in the picture, but oh well...)

The living room. We just purchased the painting over the couch and are still deciding if we like it or not... Opinons would be appreciated.

This one is so dark, but I wanted to show the front windows. We like that we can see "the mountains" in North Alabama from the front porch.

Jack is really liking the new home. Since the bedrooms and den are carpet, we're trying to keep him outside as much as possible. He's now sleeping outside too and I really think he's fallen for his new dog home. Although as you can see, sometimes he gets a little too excited and pulls his pillow out. This is how we found him this morning. :)

My mom and I planted some really pretty flowers, but they haven't started blooming yet. We've had some pretty rainy weather, so hopefully once the sun comes out, I will be able to get some good pictures!

Cancellation

2011-03-26T10:24:00.005-05:00

Due to the crazy thunderstorm that came in around 5 am this morning, we had to cancel our yard sale. All week there has been a small chance of rain showing up on the news, but we were hopeful for a late afternoon shower. Too bad it came early and messed up our plans. Any who, we are moving on and rescheduling for next weekend!
Due to it being so dreary out. I thought I would share about some of my green plants inside. And I couldn't resist giving you a picture of Jack. It's stopped raining at the moment, so we opened the door and he is happy just looking out. Maybe it will clear up enough sometime today and he will be able to play outside...

The wreath on my door was used at our wedding rehearsal dinner with an initialed sash hanging through it. I love it a lot. The wreath is made out of dried boxwood leaves and then we added some twine to give it a nice textured look. I think it adds a 'homey feel' to our front door.

Next for my indoor greens, I replanted one of my pothos plants in this cute wood lantern. Mrs. Pam, my mom's friend who helps in the gift shop and my dad's pharmacy, gave me this idea last weekend. I think it looks super cute. (Although the plant itself looks a little scraggly because I almost let it die a few weeks ago. It wasn't getting any sunlight and I forgot to water it for about 3 weeks. It's still alive now and growing better!)

I filled the bottom of the inner part of the lantern with dried moss and then just took the plant out of the plastic container and dropped it in. It's sitting on our breakfast room table/dining room table and gives that room a little green pop.

My greens are making me happy on this dreary day. I really want to go out today and get some spring flowers to plant outside, so hopefully the rain will hold off for a while and I can get out and plant a few things.

PS. Excuse the lighting in these pictures. I'm not that great with my camera and really don't know how to use the correct settings, but I'm learning. As for now, this is all you get :)

New Job = we eat pies

2011-03-23T20:22:00.009-05:00

This is how we celebrate

With homemade Peanut Butter Pie!

Don't worry, Chris and I both got a piece :)

So what are we celebrating, you say? Chris found out today that he is going to be doing a pharmacy residency at Huntsville Hospital next year! We are really really excited! All of his options for a residency program were good, but we wanted Huntsville all along. God has truly provided in this season of our lives. We both will be graduating in just a few short weeks and we both have a job!

We're also getting pretty excited about our weekend adventure. Saturday morning we are having a...

Our office room looks like this and we're still collecting :)

It should be a fun time by all :) More pictures will be coming of the actual event!

Chopped, Being an Aunt and Turkeys

2011-03-20T20:06:00.009-05:00

We're back from a long weekend in Aliceville (me) and Louisiana (Chris). I spent the weekend with my mom just hanging out and Chris went with my dad and a friend from Huntsville, to his land in LA to turkey hunt. We both had lots of fun!

But now let's get back to the title. I did get my hair chopped on Friday. It's really not all that short, compared to previous haircuts of mine, but a little over 5 inches was cut off. I really like it a lot!

My mom and I got to babysit my little niece, Emma Cate, for the afternoon/evening on Saturday while her parents ran some errands in Tuscaloosa. It was so fun, but I haven't kept a baby for more than an hour or two in the last few years and it wore me out! :) EC is 13 months and is all over the place. We strolled, rode in the wagon, picked up sticks and put them in the wagon, played with baby dolls, read books, ate snacks, played with Tupperware and played in the bathtub. My mom (Nina) and I loved spending the afternoon with EC! I managed to snap a few pictures of our playtime inside. The pictures aren't very good, but I couldn't get my mom's camera to focus...

This high-chair was one of the two chairs my brothers used and that I used as a child. My mom sanded it and spray-painted it red. So cute!

There is no way to adequately describe on the blog the stories Chris told me about their trip. I haven't had the chance to talk with my dad about the trip, but from what they told me on the car ride home, I think Dad had a great time! :) Chris said the company was awesome, the Cajun food was awesome, the land was awesome and the hunting was awesome! They didn't get a turkey this time, but there's hope for next time. Saturday night though, they did almost get eaten by a 12 foot alligator...For some reason, they thought it would be a good idea to be out in a boat on the river to catch bullfrogs. Instead they wound up almost getting knocked out of their boat by an angry gator. Good thing I didn't know about this until the next morning.

The whole gang at the hunting camp in LA

Inside the "man cave" (in Chris's words)

Chris, my dad and Ed

I'm so thankful for Spring to have sprung. This weekend was so wonderful!

To Cut or Not to Cut

2011-03-16T19:27:00.008-05:00

So, I've been growing my hair out fr quite a while now. It grows sooo slow. Honestly, I haven't had a true hair cut, like more than an inch off, since before my wedding. My last trim was around Christmas time, so whether short or not, I need something done. The split ends are out of control. I've decided to get your opinion if you'll give it to me. I've had several styles in my lifetime, so I'm not afraid of going short. Here are a few of my 'hair-dos'.

Alpha Gam formal spring 2008 (super short)

Julie's wedding, summer 2008 (growing a little)

Kasey's wedding, summer 2009 (getting longer)

Current length (longest in my hair history) - excuse these two pictures of me, but at least you'll get to see my two cute nieces :)

I've got an appointment for Friday, so if you want to share your thoughts with me, I will be happy to take them.

I Feel Sorry for Babies

2011-03-11T11:45:00.005-06:00

I am finishing with week 4 of a pediatric pharmacy rotation. I have really enjoyed it and learned a lot about pediatric pharmacotherapy. The pharmacy and medical students round with medical residents, a pharmacy resident, a pharmacist and the attending. It's really a good learning experience for eveyone I think. I've been lucky not to have caught any of those nasty viruses that are going around. Thank you Lord! (I guess I shouldn't be speaking too soon because I still have one more week to go.)

Today, my preceptor brought in a bunch of common liquid medications that children take. The other pharmacy student, myself, the medical students and the medical residents all tried the medicine and all had equal reactions.
Steroids = nasty
Antibiotics = nasty (with the exception of amoxicillin which isn't all too bad)
Acid Reflux medicine = super, super gross

We only swallowed a few drops of each, so I can't imagine taking a full dose (like a teaspoon) of the meds. Now I feel a more sympathetic when a parent asks me if I can flavor their child's liquid medication. If any moms are reading this, my preceptor said that the best thing she's heard of to mask the taste of awful meds is to have your child take their medication, then follow that with a spoonful of chocolate syrup. I think I could handle that if I was a kid!

After the medication tasting, the attending physician brought in some infant formula. We had all different kinds to try, but I only made it through 1. I think that was the sickest tasting something I have ever tried in my entire life. I feel so sorry for babies having to drink this stuff, but I know they don't know any better. And they have to eat. Not sure what the taste comparison is between breast milk and formula, so I can't give you any insight into that...

This info is kind of random, but before the rotation is over, I hope to be back with more pediatric drug facts. Happy Friday!

Crows and Cars

2011-03-06T09:45:00.006-06:00

Friday afternoon I saw this. Luckily there are no flowers in them that could have easily been destroyed with their claws.

And then found the culprit flying to our backyard...If we had only had a BB gun I would have shot the crows myself.

If they come back when I have planted my spring flowers, there will be serious consequences... :)

Saturday morning Chris and I drove to NW Alabama to sell this jewel.

I made Chris pose by his Tahoe for one last picture yesterday morning. :)

Chris has had this Tahoe since his sophomore year in college, but we realized it was time for it to go. Too expensive to fill it up and we need something a bit more practical these days. We feel super blessed because it sold super fast and we got a great price for it. Now we are in the process of deciding what kind of car to buy. It will be our first big purchase on our own! In the meantime, Chris is driving my dad's old car that he uses to drive back and forth to work in. We're thankful they are letting us borrow their car for the next few weeks until we can make our purchase.

In the process of selling the Tahoe, we got to see Chris's dad (Chris also saw his mom), my two brothers and their wives and my little niece, EC. Friday night M, L, J and AP came over to eat dinner, so the weekend was a nice family affair too! Hopefully we'll see my parents and Mrs. Janice soon!

What would you be?

2011-02-27T07:44:00.000-06:00

The other night, Chris and I went out to dinner. (Thanks Mom and Dad for a Valentine's dinner gift card!) I think the topic came to my mind because the lady sitting at the booth beside us was studying. She probably was a student, but in my mind, she looked like an author. I asked Chris "what would you be if you could be anything in the world?" He immediately asked me the question and I responded that I would be a chef and have my own TV show on Food Network! Chris answered with this... "I would be a zoologist." I said explain to me what that is. I was confused about what the difference between a veterinarian and zoologist was... He said the zoologist takes care of the zoo animals. I told him he could continue to take care of Jack because sometimes he acts like a zoo animal!

Jack as the sleeping giraffe (his legs look sort of long, right??)

As a sea otter...

As the lazy lion...

As a monkey about to swing...

Buffalo??...

A sweet lamb! (not sure if lambs are zoo animals or not, but that's what he looks like to me)

A sprinting antelope

Don't you just love all of my posts about Jack, our DOG??!! I guess I'm just a proud mom! While we're on the subject of jobs, (well we were at the beginning of this post), I would like to share a big blessing in our lives. I found out recently that I am going to be a Walgreen's pharmacist when I graduate! God has been so faithful through this process of job searching. Chris is currently praying about how to rank different programs for a pharmacy residency and we feel confident in the Lord's provision through this process as well. He will find out where he will be working at the end of March.

One more thing that's happening in our life these days is that we've found a church here that is absolutely wonderful. I honestly can say that each week I leave the worship service challenged and inspired. Chris and I are joining today and are very excited about it.

That's what's current in our life as of now. Counting down the days until graduation!

All Boy and All Girl

2011-02-23T11:50:00.009-06:00

I'm going to do this out of order, because that's how I accidentally uploaded my pictures.

This past weekend we went to Aliceville late on Friday night for our niece, Emma Cate's, 1st birthday. Ashley, my sister-in-law, outdid herself. Saturday day was so fun and EC seemed to really enjoy herself!

EC's first time meeting Jack. She LOVES dogs and seemed to take well to Jack!

Ashley and her sister, Ali, made delicious pound cake for the big people and a yummy strawberry cake for EC. She thought it was so tasty! Everything was pink and it was perfect for little EC!

Ali and I were proud aunts and we ended up matching at the party! It was great visiting with her!

We took Jack to Aliceville so he could play with Phil and Ashley's dogs. After the party, we made our way down to their lake and he loved it. I think he would fetch sticks for hours if we let him...

After about 10 lapses in the pond, he still managed to out-run Chris in a race :)

Happy Birthday sweet Emma Cate! Aunt Minsey and Uncle Chris love you!

Now, let's go back a night, to Friday, for J's 2nd birthday celebration. Lindsay was super host this weekend and cooked some awesome meals. She also came up with a great birthday theme that's all boy and perfect for J. It was a wonderful party!

Buzz and Woody were wishing J would give them a bite of oreo cake and ice cream

AP and I were discussing what we got J for his birthday

When J wasn't watching, AP was playing with Mike

J got Thomas trains for one of his presents and he loved them!

Lindsay came up with the cute idea of making 'Mike' cookies. J loves Monsters Inc and he carries Mike around with him everywhere.

J picked the one in the middle with the eyeball messed up, but everyone voted that Mrs. Janice/Aunt Glynice's was the best. It's the one on the bottom right.

J, we love you and were so happy we got to celebrate with you on your special day! Sunday, we were back in Hville for AP's baptism. I didn't get any pictures from the day, but it was a super sweet time in the Newlin family.

Just in the nick of time

2011-02-18T16:20:00.007-06:00

When my mom was visiting several days ago, we went to the mall to take back some Christmas presents. Yes, we know it's the middle of February, but neither of us had had time to exchange these gifts. Mom got some new PJs and I decided it was time for me to get control of my under-eyes, aka the extremely dark circles that are always present no matter how much sleep I get. *This is for 4H, who saw me at my worst concerning this eye problem. :)

Well, I bought this

and it has done wonders for me this week! We have started our next to last rotation for pharmacy school. Mine is a pediatric rotation that requires early hour patient review and rounding. I've been getting to the hospital around 5:15ish, which requires me to wake up in the early 4s, so my circles are sort of darker than ever. (I did mention they are always dark, but truly this is a dark, dark time...) I'm enjoying the rotation a lot so far and am not complaining because I know friends who have had to get up way earlier for rotations.

I wanted to commend Clinique on their product. I bought this just in the nick of time for my rotation. If you need a little extra help correcting those ugly dark bags, this might be just what you need.

Happy Friday to you all! We're going to be celebrating it up with our awesome nieces and nephew!

The Greenery

2011-02-13T15:17:00.008-06:00

Welcome to The Greenery. Chris gave me a great Valentine's present on Saturday by letting me stop at 3 local shops that you might consider more "girly". We were out riding around looking at different neighborhoods and decided to make a short visit to The Greenery. Little did I know how wonderful a place this was going to be. We also stopped at Harrison Brothers, an old general store that dates back to the 1890s and is kind of like a museum now with gifts and at a local antique auction type store downtown that is int he historic district.

I took pictures of The Greenery so my mom could see how awesome this place is. She was visiting for a few days this past week while Chris was out of town interviewing for residency programs and we tried to go by, but it was closed due to the snow. Even though we didn't get to stop here, we did hit up some cute shops around Hville and got to spend some good QT time together. Thanks Mama for making the trip just to visit me and keep me company. But now you've got to come back just so you can see The Greenery for yourself!

Can you get any prettier than this y'all? This is the home center. They have the most gorgeous home furnishings and antiques inside.

Part of the nursery where the bigger plants and trees are.

Part of the nursery that contains smaller flowering plants, indoor plants and more hanging baskets than you can imagine. It was fabulous! And if you know me, you know that I wanted to buy everything in here. Chris was thankful we made it out with nothing except for a promise that we could go back once it becomes spring and perhaps get a few flowers :)

I had to hold myself back from buying this cute bird water bath. I didn't know where it would fit at my house, but isn't it the cutest thing??

If you are ever visiting Huntsville and you even like flowers in the least bit, you must make a stop by The Greenery.

I hope your weekend has been wonderful and you've been able to enjoy God's beauty outside in this awesome weather. Chris has been helping me with a project for our house this weekend too. More to come later!

The past 4 weeks

2011-02-11T20:24:00.009-06:00

My most recent rotation was in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). I really loved it a whole lot, besides the fact that I never got to hold a baby, not even once. That was likely due to my incompetence when it comes to holding less than 1, 1 and 2 lb babies. (There are bigger babies in the NICU, but most of the time they move to progressive unit after a few days.)

Some of the situations and circumstances I saw in the NICU were just plain sad. In these cases you know the mom and dad would do anything to make sure their baby was healthy, but for different reasons the baby came early and is no really sick. Other times, if the mom would have brightened the doors to the NICU, I would have strangled her because of her stupidity during pregnancy. Don't worry, she didn't visit, so I didn't have to hurt her. I wish I could go into detail surrounding each and every perfect creation from our Father that I saw over these last few weeks, but that would break some mighty strict rules. When I asked one of the nurses during my first week how she made it through the days when babies would get worse and die, she said "I look at it in one of two ways; either I do my best to take care of it and it gets better or I do my best and he/she goes back to be with their Creator." That helped me when I felt so super sad about a precious little one passing because of prematurity and its complications.

I guess what I'm trying to say with all of this is that I am so super thankful for my healthy little nieces and nephew. When I see them, I am thank the Lord that He carried them and their moms through pregnancy and has continued to take care of their precious little selves. Starting yesterday and going through next weekend, our nieces and nephew are going through special times. We are going to be celebrating birthdays and baptisms and I am so excited!

And yes, being in the NICU has given me baby fever, but we are not.there.yet. Although on a couple of occasions, I did almost convince Chris that he should let me bring one of the babies from the NICU home. He convinced me other in the end. We have a big enough baby to take care of! { and he thinks he should sit like a human sometimes as seen in the 2nd pic below... :)}

Happy, happy birthday!

2011-02-06T21:04:00.007-06:00

Happy Birthday to my wonderful mama! You deserve the best and I wish you a happy, wonderful day!

I hope that I'm half as good a mom to my kids one day as you have been to me :) Can't wait to see you soon! I love you!

Our first 'big' purchase of 2011

2011-01-31T17:57:00.009-06:00

Haha, we bought Jack a new crib!

It's great, although it's super heavy. A big thanks to Bobo for helping Chris get the house into our back yard!

Jack has never been in a doghouse, so it's taking him some time to get used to his new abode, but I think he likes it. {He really likes it best when Chris gets in there with him and when he gets treats as seen below :)}

Please excuse the photo quality; taken in the dark with the iPhone

When Jack is inside our house, you can normally find him as seen in the picture below: standing, but asleep with his eyes closed, dreaming we would give him table food... :)

Welcome to the Fam!

2011-01-29T09:37:00.007-06:00

I am so happy to say that I have a new sister-in-law! Brant and Brittany were wed on January 15th in Ider, Alabama, Brittany's hometown. We celebrated with a gorgeous ceremony and super fun reception. My parents also put on a great rehearsal dinner, although my mom did accidentally fall in the ice right before the dinner and break her arm. :( She was a tough cookie and sat through the whole dinner, then we made our way to the ER for the diagnosis.

Brant and Brittany are perfect for each other! Each one complements the other in ways only they could. I know their marriage is going to be blessed!

Mom's friends came up with her on Thursday and helped decorate for the dinner. They were so sweet!

The happy couple!

My parents and Brant (my mom's are was broken at this point, but you would have never known it)

I wish I had more of the actual wedding, but I left that up to their awesome photographer, Ann Wade. She also did my wedding pictures and is so much fun! Moving on to the reception. Sugar was there with bells on and her black fur jacket. She looked gorgeous!

Father of the bride, mother of the groom dance :)

Our nephew J made his way out on the dance floor before anyone else. He loved the music!

The Bobos came up from Huntsville!

Maria and Haley

Brant and Brittany left to Auburn shakers, the perfect theme since we had just won the National Championship!

I'm so happy for both of them and wish them the absolute best!

Sedona, Arizona

2011-01-28T14:40:00.007-06:00

Tuesday after the National Championship game, Chris's parents and the two of us made a trip north to visit Sedona. We didn't have any plans, but had heard that Sedona was a fun place to visit. It was really great!

We ate at Ken's Creekside for lunch and it was delicious! It was sort of like Amsterdam in Auburn, but with a kick and a prettier view.

After lunch, we rode around the shopping areas of Sedona, then decided we would really like to go on a helicopter tour of the city. It was totally gorgeous! My pictures don't give it justice at all. I was lucky enough to sit in the co-pilot seat for my first ever helicopter ride. Really neat stuff! Thanks Mr. Linton for the adventure!

;

The pilot and co-pilot seats of the helicopter had glass bottoms. Really cool, but also made me a little scared at first :)

The scenery was beautiful! Snow covered parts of the mountains, then there were luscious greens down in the valleys. Similar, yet completely different than the Grand Canyon.

We flew through this tinnnnny opening!

It was super fun to visit Sedona and you wouldn't believe how many Auburn fans were out there sight-seeing too. It was fun saying War Eagle to everyone after the big win!

Happy weekend! I'll be back soon with pictures from my brother's wedding!

near and dear and ALWAYS will be

2011-01-25T16:16:00.011-06:00

This post has been on my mind a long time and I want to make sure I give its contents justice. Sorry I'm so late in posting, but the time between the game and now has been sort of full and the blog has been on the backburner.

To put it simply, I LOVE AUBURN! Auburn is super special because its where I met my husband, met my dearest college friends (and where most of my dearest childhood friends went to school), and truthfully where I feel like I grew up into adulthood. I will always reminisce about my college years. They were pretty awesome!

So with that being said, going to the National Championship game in Glendale made me love Auburn even more! It's not even for the fact that we won, although that was definitely awesome, as cheesy as it sounds, I was just so happy to be part of the whole experience with so many like-minded, die hard, Auburn men and women.

So, moving on to the pictures with a small bit of commentary. We started off our day here,

surrounded by thousands of other tiger fans

Immediately after the Tiger Walk, we headed into the stadium because we wanted to soak it all in. Thank you Newlins for such an awesome trip and great seats. (Note that I'm restraining myself from typing 'AUsome' each time I write 'awesome', although I really want to!!)

All of the pregame festivities proved to be fantastic and we loved being so close to the Auburn players! (You'll notice I have lots of pictures from pregame, one taken during the game, and then lots postgame.)

My main man, Darvin!

Chris and I did see Coach Saban and Coach Meyer in the stairwell during halftime. They were surrounded by policemen, but Chris managed to get a "hey son" out of Coach Meyer.

Challenger, the Bald eagle that flew was good. He'd give Nova and Spirit a run for their money :) I was glad the Oregon fans got a glimpse into what every home Auburn game is like. I hope it made their hearts begin to palpate and wish they got to see this amazing sight more often!

Didn't get a shot of the kick itself, but caught the pep-talk before

Whoo-hoo (22-19)!!

I loved that people brought toilet paper to throw :)

My parents also were at the game, so we met up with them afterwards for a photo-op!

All in all, it was a fabulous time! Chris and I were definitely ALL IN! War Eagle!

Too much for now!

2011-01-19T15:22:00.003-06:00

I have so much I want to say on the blog, but am going to have to wait until next week. Lots has happened in our lives over the past several weeks that I can't wait to update you on. Until then, happy hump day and happy weekend to come!

Just For Fun

2011-01-07T07:11:00.004-06:00

I wanted to share this picture of all the Newlin kiddos at Christmas this year! It might have to be a framer. :)

We're off this afternoon to celebrate with my brother and soon-to-be sister-in-law on their last weekend of singleness! Be back soon!

A Big Year

2011-01-02T17:33:00.011-06:00

2011 is going to be a big year for us. I guess you could say it's been the year we've been looking forward to for the past 7 years in my life (8 years in Chris's case) due to the fact that we are graduating from pharmacy school in May.

Words really can't describe to you what I'm feeling inside right now. I am sitting here pondering how these next few months are going to pass by. Within these months a lot of decisions will be made and questions will have to be answered. Where to move, what job to take, will there be a job available, should I drive the long distance to work or should Chris, when do you start thinking about children, should we get another dog, am I going to be ready to be a pharmacist, will I know the answers to questions that patients have and the list could go on and on and on...???

I could very easily let myself get consumed. If I think about these things long enough, I start to sweat. :) Amidst all things though, I find hope and security from above. I'm not granted tomorrow and worrying will not add any profit to my life. As I've been thinking about these such things, I've come up with the number one item on my new year's resolution list (along with a few others I'll share...some I feel like I would rather keep to myself and Chris)

1. devote myself to read more instead of watching TV (Bible, books, pharmacy notes/journals, cookbooks)

2. find new "side items" to cook for supper

3. exercise more consistently - after the race with my dad, I've only exercised probably 3 times

New year's eve was spent with some faithful friends in Aliceville. I loved being with Maria and Rose Lynn!

Chris was on a hunting trip with a friend of his, so we didn't actually spend New Year's together, but are happy to celebrate 2011 back at home now. We wish you all a happy year in 2011!

White Christmas

2010-12-29T08:04:00.016-06:00

White Christmas is my all-time favorite Christmas movie and this year I was able to experience a white Christmas myself! It began to snow at my parents' house just as we were leaving for Chris's family Christmas in Cullman. The snow never stuck in Aliceville, but it was coming down in Cullman for about 2 days straight. I would love to share ALL of my pictures with you because I think they are precious, but I'll save you. Here are just a few with Jack. He loved the snow and was eating it as if it was the best steak ever. Pretty funny!

Christmas with the Newlins was wonderful! Christmas day was low-key and was spent with some great family. We headed over to Mrs. Janice's (my MIL) identical twin sister's house and had an awesome lunch, then relaxed during the day and then had a great dinner at the Newlins. We celebrated Christmas with Chris's brother's family (M, L, J and AP) yesterday and had a grand time. I'll let the pictures tell you about our day.

Merry Christmas to all! May we always remember the love of the Father given through His Son Jesus during the special time of the year.

Ho, Ho, Ho and Merry Christmas

2010-12-26T10:41:00.010-06:00

We have had the best time this holiday season. After enjoying a few days at home by ourselves, we traveled to Aliceville to be with my family for a few days before Christmas.

Aliceville was great as always. All of my family got into town on Friday morning and we celebrated Christmas Eve at Sugar's house. Christmas Eve at the Gentry household is a tradition that has been going on for more years than I can remember. (Sugar told us, but I can't remember how long she said it's been going on.) This year was sad because Papa wasn't there to read the Christmas story from Luke chapter 2, but my uncle read it beautifully in his place. Sugar was so thankful for us all to be there. After reading the Bible, we sang Christmas carols which is another special tradition we have as a family.

Then we played dirty Santa. We all love each other, but when it comes to the presents, the Gentrys are cut-throat... :)

Christmas morning at my parents house was special as always.

Phil, Ashley and EC were able to come over after Santa came to their house, so it was great to have all three kids with our special others there.

Chris got a present on Christmas that fits (no pun intended) him perfectly. This red onsie, or so called Union suit, was Papa's and my dad decided it would be a better fit for Chris than himself.

My parents loved having their granddaughter around on Christmas day!

Santa brought all of the children Auburn t-shirts, so my mom made us put them all on for a photo opp.

We left Aliceville around lunchtime yesterday to head to Cullman to visit Chris's parents. We made it just in time to play in the snow storm that came through. So, so fun! We'll celebrate with M, L, J and AP in a few days.

Jack, 'baby' J and Christmas Treats

2010-12-21T21:41:00.008-06:00

Last Friday night, our nephew J, (he's not really a baby, but sometimes I still refer to him as one) came over to play while his parents went to a Christmas party. We love having him at our house and it gives us a little glimpse into the life of parenting a 2 year old. These are just some cute pictures of J playing with Jack.

"Help me out Uncle Chris, Jack's really big."

"Ok, I can handle this, I think"

"Let me down Uncle Chris, I like Jack!"

"Come on Jack, we've got to get ready for Oregon"

Changing subjects a bit, but I wanted to share the easiest and best Christmas treat ever. Spread peanut butter between two Ritz crackers and dip in white or milk chocolate. Delicious is an understatement in my opinion. (I guess if you don't like peanut butter, chocolate and crackers, then you might think differently...) I decided to be a little festive and sprinkled crumbled candy canes on the tops of a few of them. You should make these little jewels over the next few days!

And last but not least. Chris and I celebrated Christmas last night with each other before all of our family festivities begin. My favorite gift from him (we did stocking stuffers this year) were little jars I used to organize all of my cooking spices.

Our house doesn't have a lot of cabinet/pantry space, and my spices were all over the place. This organizes them so nicely and I think they are just cute in general. Thanks Chris!

Tis the Season to be Jolly

2010-12-18T10:19:00.012-06:00

This has been the week of Christmas parties and it has been so fun! We've just finished up rotations for this year and are off until January 10th, 2011. We're both trying to enjoy the last Christmas break of our lives :)

So on to the parties.

Monday night, we went out to one of our preceptors' house for a dirty Santa party. Our preceptors live out in the country and their house reminds me of being in Aliceville. :) All the students and teachers brought homemade goodies and then we played dirty Santa. I came up with the idea of 'Cammy Cam Juice', you know, the juice Cam Newton gave to the CBS sideline reporter for her to drink during the SEC championship game. I got a green nalgene type bottle and printed out the Gatorade logo to tape on the side, then printed in an orange color 'Cammy Cam juice' to also tape on the side. It was pretty funny, but I don't have a picture. Chris decided to really go out on a limb and get something crazy. We saw this idea last year on a friend of a friend's blog. Chris gave a partridge in a pear tree. As in a real bird. It was pretty hilarious as you can hopefully tell by the pictures.

A friend of ours, Lauren, first opened the present and then it got stolen by one of our preceptors, so he could take it home to 'scare' his friend.

Not sure why a pear is taped to a tree limb:

Seeing the live bird down in the box:

Amazed!

Proud of her partridge

Our preceptor with his stolen bird:

All in all it was a fun party and we were glad to get to head out to the Eilands for another great night!

Thursday night we had a tacky Christmas potluck dinner/party at our friend, Mo's house.

Not everyone dressed up, but the food and fellowship were really great! I was super impressed with some of the guys in our class because they made casseroles, stuffed mushrooms and desserts all by themselves to bring. We were glad we all got to hang out before everyone went their separate ways for the Christmas break.

We have no more Christmas parties to attend, but I've still got a little more shopping to finish before family Christmas festivities begin this next week. I hope you all have been enjoying this season of love!

Happy Birthday Sugar!

2010-12-16T17:37:00.008-06:00

Yesterday was my grandmother, Sugar's, 81st birthday. She is amazing and deserved the most special day! I know she missed Papa very much, but she told me she had a girls only party at lunch and that is was wonderful. Sugar insists on seeing the positive light in all situations and it's something that I admire and could totally learn from. If it were at all possible, I would want everyone I know to be able to meet her because your life would be blessed. I know mine has been by all 24 of my years I've been able to spend with her. Sugar, I hope you had a fabulous day! You're the greatest grandmother I know!

This picture sums up both my grandparents to a tee. Sugar in love with all things her grandchildren and children do (we made a book entitled '60 things we love about Sugar and Papa') and Papa adoring and caring for Sugar. This was a picture taken during their 60th wedding anniversary weekend just a few months ago. It's the most recent one I have of both of them before Papa passed.

Phillips Family Christmas

2010-12-14T15:48:00.007-06:00

Sunday night we started out our Christmas season in Birmingham with my mom's side of the family. Growing up, we would head to Union Springs, AL every Christmas morning around 9am to be there in time for a fabulous Christmas meal prepared by my grandmother. My parents have been doing this ever since they married almost 31 years ago. We continued the tradition even after my grandmother passed several years ago, but once my granddad passed two years, we've had to make other arrangements. It's been a sad transition because I loved that tradition (even though it did mean we would have to get up about 5ish on Christmas morning...)! Well this year it just so happened that Birmingham seemed to be the most common ground for everyone, so we had our celebration at my brother's apartment. My mom only has one younger brother, so we all fit nicely in the apartment. I didn't get a group picture, but I captured a few cute ones.

Emma Cate's favorite present was an Auburn cheerleader bear from Mac and Kristi

My twin brothers, Phil and Brant

Mac, my Dad, Chris (no smile, caught him with food in his mouth), and Kyle

Chris with all of his Christmas presents

Another one of EC and Ash

Family time is so priceless and even though we don't get to see our Phillips family all too often, they are dear and near to my heart! Being with them for our first Christmas event of the year started things off perfectly!

A Good Week

2010-12-10T17:26:00.009-06:00

I am so behind in blogging. It's actually a little ridiculous. I wrote this post a few days ago, but haven't made time to add pictures, so I put it off until now.

I thoroughly enjoyed these last several days, even though Chris was gone for an entire week. I had some good girl time and it was quite refreshing. This past weekend, I ventured my way to Birmingham to visit with my dear friend Courtney. We went shopping, ate good food (including a delicious pizza with sweet Kimi), watched Auburn dominate South Carolina in football, went to church, went to GAP (not the clothing store) and ate some more. Before getting married, Courtney and I had been roommates for 5 years. She was my first friend at Auburn! Two of my favs...

Lupton Hall freshman year

At Julie's wedding. Typical.

We’ve experienced a lot together, but since our move away from Auburn, we don’t get to see each other as often as we’d like. So, this weekend was just what I needed. She always inspires me to just be myself no matter the situation. I’ve seen this attribute in Courtney from the first day I met her. It’s definitely a good thing for me to emulate.

After returning home on Sunday, I had the pleasure of hosting my mom for a few days. She kept me company while Chris was gone and it was delightful. My mom is what I like to refer to as a renaissance woman. She can do it all and I love her dearly. She loved being able to hop in the car and be at the mall within 3 minutes and I loved having her company, her good food and her decorating ability. My house is now all ready for Christmas. All the decorations are up, my table is set, my nativity is out, and we even had time to make a few Christmas goodies.

My first ever batch of rum cake was a success (see the four mini loaves below) and our first batch of turtles (for this season, I’m sure there will be more) are made and in cute Christmas tins. Please come over and we’ll have one with some hot chocolate!

Thanks Mama for coming to visit! Love you!

More to come on Chris's trip to Anaheim this past week!

A Whole Lot of Family Time

2010-11-29T17:12:00.009-06:00

And I loved every minute of it. I love being with family! Thanksgiving we were with Chris's side of the fam. We had enough food to feed an army and it all was great. I regret not taking more pictures, but I'll share what I've got.

Chris with AP, our Newlin side of the family niece. Even though he's a little too cautious when it comes to holding babies, he's great with our nieces and nephew.

Sweet, little AP. She's starting to coo a lot and will smile at you! It's precious!

Chris, Mike and Mr. Linton were outside a lot of the day on Thanksgiving target shooting at this headless deer...

Friday night after the Auburn/Alabama game, we headed to Aliceville to spend the weekend with my family. WAR EAGLE!! I am so proud to be an Auburn tiger!

At 7:15ish this was still what traffic looked like heading back in the Birmingham direction. Miserable.

I enjoyed being at home so, so much. My mom outdid herself with cooking delicious food, we decorated my parents' Christmas tree and the guys hunted almost all day Saturday. Looking forward to heading back during the Christmas season. We had fun playing with Emma Cate, my brother's little girl. Sometimes it's hard for me to believe Phil is a dad. He's great at it though.

EC loves her uncle Brant

and her Big Daddy's shoes

Yesterday, when we got home, Chris and I decorated our house with a little Christmas cheer! Jack likes having the stockings over his head!

Our Christmas tree! I love it! Excuse the excessive blue lights. Not quite sure why the they shine the brightest...I don't have a tree skirt, so I'm using one of my grandmother's (my mom's mom's) quilts. It reminds me of her, so I really like using it.

Chris and I are so thankful for our families. Holidays are so much fun because we get to share them with people we truly love! I hope your Thanksgiving was as blessed as ours.

A Visit to My Home

2010-11-23T16:37:00.008-06:00

This past weekend, several of my closest friends from home (aka Aliceville) came to visit me at my new home. Rose Lynn, Maria nor Tracy had seen my new place and Tracy had an ultimate frisbee tournament here, so they came for the night.

Friday we went to eat at Sam and Gregg's, a locally owned pizza place downtown. Sometimes the crowd that gathers is a little different, but the pizza is awesome! After dinner we headed home and ended up staying awake until around 12:45am. I haven't been up that late in a while. I'm know, I'm a grandma.

Saturday morning, Tracy headed off to her tournament, and RL, Maria and I drank lots of coffee, watched GameDay, went on a walk around our neighborhood, and then went to eat at Little Rosie's, a super tasty mexican place. After a short trip to Target to shop for skinny jeans, shoes and pajamas, we went to see a few minutes of ultimate frisbee.

Self Timer (minus Tracy)

The four of us at the game.

I feel a little out of sorts in this picture above because Jack was wanting to chase frisbees while also wanting to meet new dog friends (if you know what I mean)... I was a teeny bit stressed without Chris there to 'control' Jack. :)

Some parts of growing up are hard. Things like moving away from friends that are really more like sisters, not being around when new jobs are started and new boyfriends are in the picture is sad. It's like the quality time you used to get to have for days upon end is now more like 'let's play catch up in a matter of hours.' That's why I'm so glad they came to visit me! We're hoping to catch up again over Christmas break, if not before, because I sure do miss these girls.

I will be back sooner than later hopefully with a recipe and more pictures. Happy Thanksgiving and War Eagle!

Glad we did it, but GLAD it's over

2010-11-14T18:52:00.009-06:00

Yesterday was a special day! It was absolutely gorgeous here and the race weather turned out so nice.

My dad and I were up bright and early to eat breakfast and get all of our nerves settled before hitting the race track. Here we are about to leave my house.

We got there pretty early to get the "feel" of the race and about 15 til 8am, we went and lined up. Both my dad and I were a little nervous, but we put on our game face and ran the race along with about 1100 other people.

I'm so proud of my dad! He decided to train for a half marathon this past March and really got down to business this summer. He ran a lot when my brothers and I were elementary/junior high age, but then sort of gave it up for other forms of exercise and work getting more busy. He's done so well and I couldn't be any happier for him. I was so proud of him for getting in shape and being able to run 13.1 miles. He did an awesome job!

I, on the other hand, had a "bad run day". For you runners out there, you do know that sometimes runs are good and they feel so natural and then other days it's like pulling teeth to put one foot in front of the other. The latter is how it was for me yesterday. I struggled through, and even though I made it, I do want a better race time next time I run a half. That is if I run another one... Although, I've already talked with a friend today about running one with her next year. :) I guess we'll have to see when that time comes.

Here are some pictures that Chris took as my dad and I crossed the finish line. We both look a little tired, but we're both really GLAD to be finished!

Cheering for my dad was priceless!

I didn't even realize my hands were up like that...

Dad crossing the finish line

Right after he finished

How we really felt (just kidding, we weren't ready for the picture)

Happy to be finished

Our faithful supporter

Thanks Daddy for doing this with me! Love you!

A Glorious Occasion

2010-11-09T07:21:00.008-06:00

It's turned just cold enough that I recently had to pull out my faithful flannel pjs. Two years ago at Christmas, my mom gave me some blue pin-stripe flannels that are absolutely delightful. I love them! I will probably wear them every night between now and February. (Don't worry, I'll also wash them often...)

I'm hooked on cozy flannels, and I think Chris likes them too even though he probably won't admit it. But I have proof. Here we are on Christmas morning last year. I recruited him to start wearing flannels when we started dating and I gave him his first pair (the same ones seen below). Maybe he needs a new pair for Christmas this year??

It's also going to be glorious day this upcoming Saturday when my dad and I race in the Huntsville Half Marathon. We've been training for a while now, but due to the recent loss of Papa, my dad getting really sick for several days after coming back from a hunting trip out west and work, our running has taken a back seat. We're hoping and praying it's not too chilly and that we can make it through. I will keep you posted.

Mi Abuelo (my grandfather)

2010-11-05T13:25:00.004-05:00

My grandfather taught Spanish and he would appreciate the title (hopefully I wrote it correctly). Currently, I am wishing I was an English major instead of studying science and pharmacy because what I feel in my heart will never come out right in words.

These past few days have been really hard, but I've also been extremely blessed in numerous ways. My sweet grandfather (my dad's dad), affectionately known as Papa, passed Tuesday night to be with the Lord after suffering from several different forms of cancer. In these next few paragraphs, I am going to try and describe to you what a wonderful, Godly man Papa was, but I know this post will do him no justice.

Papa was 85 years old, but truly acted like he was maybe more along the lines of a 65 year old. Most people couldn't believe he was that old. He was a family medicine doctor and practiced in my home town for his whole career. He delivered babies, took care of the elderly, made house visits, supposedly gave the most painless vaccines ever, and was the only doctor I had ever been to until I had to go to the "female doctor" before getting married. More importantly than being a doctor though, he was a loving husband, father to 6, grandfather to 18, great-grandfather to 3 and he welcomed all of the "in-laws" of his children and grandchildren with open arms. He loved flower gardening and vegetable gardening, bird hunting with his dog, classical music, the opera, singing in his church choir, missions and teaching Spanish at the local high school he was a founding member of. I honestly do not remember a time when I would go visit Sugar and Papa when there were not fresh flowers lovingly planted, grown and then picked for Sugar by Papa.

I'd like to share a few words about my Sugar and Papa. For more than 60 years, Papa and Sugar have been the epitome of what a marriage should look like and be about. Their marriage was God-glorifying. As I've written on here before, Sugar has multiple sclerosis, a neurological disease that has lead to her being paralyzed pretty much through out her entire body. The disease was diagnosed about 30 years ago, so my whole life I have seen Papa taking care of Sugar. She was able to walk while I was a small child, but the disease has slowly but surely progressed and taken over her body. Throughout the entire progression, all I have ever seen is pure love. They are who I want to model my marriage after. I wish everyone could see and experience their love for each other blossom day by day. The pastor at the funeral service said it perfect in regards to their marriage; he said "Sugar, I believe Papa never viewed you as just his wife, but always viewed you as his BRIDE." That's the perfect explanation I think.

As a grandchild of Papa's I felt so loved. When I would call on the phone to talk, after saying "hey Sugar and Papa, this is Mary Lindsey, he would 100% always say 'hey darling angel Mary Lindsey'". When I was little, my cousins and I would spend the night at Sugar and Papa's and every morning, Papa would wake us up singing to us and would bring freshly squeezed orange jiuce to us in bed. Those memories are priceless. Sugar and Papa also prayed together every morning for each family member, so I knew each and every day someone was praying for me. What commitment that is! I can't even make it through my immediate family without falling asleep or getting distracted...

I have many more stories to share, but I just can't think of the right way to say them. Maybe some other time.

Sugar is holding up extremely well. I have never met a more wonderful lady. She could so easily give up and blame God for her disease and disability, but never once have I heard her complain. Out of her mouth flow praise and glory to her heavenly Father for the wonderful life she is living. Chris and I were home this past weekend visiting and it was such a blessing. While Papa was lying in his hospital bed, any second possibly being the last he lived on earth, and Sugar in hers, she just kept repeating Psalm 27:14 "Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." She provided comfort to her children and grandchildren when we've been so sad. She's been the rock. My sister-in-law has a picture on her blog of Papa and Sugar holding hands during the last few days he was alive. You can see it here. Most of us would be wanting to hold our loved one, kiss them, rub their hair, just let them know we are right there, but Sugar was not able to do that with Papa due to the MS. However, over the last few days, when she would get out of bed, my uncles would wheel her over and put a pillow under both of their hands just to keep them in place, so she could hold onto him. She was letting him know she was there and that she loved him. As he passed, Sugar was holding his hand and she told our pastor that she was holding onto her 2 Js, Jimmy and Jesus. As Jimmy passed on, Jesus continued holding both of their hands. I feel so blessed to have a grandmother who is also so strong in her faith that at the point where she probably should be the most upset and sad, she is the one continuing to spread the hope of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those around her.

I'll leave you with a few pictures of Papa and Sugar and the lyrics to the third verse of the hymn sung at yesterday's memorial service, Great is Thy Faithfulness. I would appreciate your thoughts and prayers for my family over the next few weeks.

'Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!'

Papa told me after seeing this picture, that he was smiling like an opossum. :)

My dad with Sugar and Papa before my wedding

Thanksgiving 2009

Chris's bday in Septmeber

What's Going on with Jack

2010-10-23T11:45:00.010-05:00

Lately, Chris and I have been a little more lenient on Jack and have allowed him to sit on the front porch not tied up.

He's done really good, except once I looked out and he was gone. He was only down in the yard using the restroom and he came right back up, but I did worry a little.

In a way, even though he's a dog, we feel like we are letting loose and he's growing up. Good thing I don't have 'real' children right now because I get sentimental with even the slightest changes in our dog's life.

He loves the park, but has gotten a little out of shape seeing that his backyard territory here at our house is a wee bit smaller than his backyard at the grandparent's house (where he lived all of last year).

He also rides with me to the grocery store. He just stares out the windows. I love it! :)

I've also already started making a Christmas list for Jack. The main thing, really the only thing, on the list is a rubber toy that you can put peanut butter or other treats inside and it will entertain a dog for hours. Jack had one once, but 2 moves later, it's missing. It's a Kong brand and really lasts a long time, but is a little expensive for a dog toy ($16), hence the reason we're waiting until Christmas.

Again, I will say that I have not always been a dog lover, but Jack is my little buddy and I feel like he deserved a post all to himself. Happy weekend and War Eagle!

So Glad to Head South

2010-10-21T09:21:00.007-05:00

I am so late in writing this post. The real world is taking over my life. I mean that working 12 hour shifts multiple days in a row is kicking my tail and therefore when I come home, anything other than falling out on the couch is not in the picture. (You people who work those kind of shifts all the time or those with children, etc are like blablabla, but I don't know if I'm cut out for that :) )

So in moving on, this past weekend, Chris and I left our house to head to Auburn at 6:45 am and got back out of the car at our house at about 11:45 pm. Auburn was SO MUCH FUN! We loved being able to see pharmacy friends, family, Alpha Gam friends and other college friends.

As I mentioned in my last post, my pledge class in Alpha Gam was having a tailgate. I'm super sad that I missed the group photo, but I did snap some picks of a few White House girls. (we named our house that in college because 10 girls lived in it and it was big and white) We missed all you other white house gammers (and other white housers). I miss all of my girlfriends so badly. It's such a fun time in all of our lives, but these girls were so special to me during college. They made college for me and I'm so glad I got to see some of them on Saturday. I wish I was more of a writer/author because I have so much to say, but it only comes out as cheesy... :)

Look here to see my family. My cousin and his wife set up a tailgate at every home game right by the stadium. It was so good to see everyone that really I only get to see about once or twice a year. Good food, good family, good time!!

We sat at the game with the O'Connors. It was such a fun game to watch live. Auburn's offense was AUsome (sorry for being cheesy on that one!) Thomas and Kelly now live just down the street from us, well sort of, and even though we don't see them all too often it's fun that they are so near.

All I can say is that I am going to insist that my children go to Auburn. I might have to take back my words one day, but I really hope I don't have to. :) War Eagle!

Working for the Weekend!

2010-10-15T14:12:00.004-05:00

Well, I'm not actually working at a pharmacy today because I work the pharmacist's hours on this rotation and he works two 12 hour shifts and then has two days off, or something kind of like that...So today is my day off!

I started my morning with coffee and the Today show. Then read a few blogs. Then it was off to do my absolute most hated of all house-hold chores: cleaning the shower. I don't know about any of you, but I dread that part of cleaning more than anything else, even hand washing all of our dishes (we don't have a dishwasher). It seems that no matter how often I clean the bathtub/shower, it still gets so dirty. A few friends that help me though are my shower cleaning sponge, COMET, and a washable fabric shower curtain liner. The liners are a little pricey, but all you have to do to clean them is spray it with mildew cleaner (only if it has mildew on it of course) and throw it in the wash. Comes out sparkly clean and white. If you want to splurge on something for your bathroom that will last and make cleaning a little more bearable, go to your local Bed, Bath and Beyond or wherever you like to buy things like that and get one. My friend, Rose Lynn convinced me of this a few years ago.

Next on my list this morning was an overdue "long run". My sweet dad and I are training for a half marathon next month in Huntsville. He told me after my last/first one that he wanted to do the next one with me. So we've both been training on our own over the last few months and will conquer this challenge in just a few short weeks. I do hope though that I can manage it. Today's run was ok, but not great. I think the only way I made it to my goal of 8 miles was the fact that the weather was so nice. I really didn't even break a sweat. And the fact that I bought some new tennis shoes last week. I hadn't had my old ones all too long, but I was getting blisters and such, so I bought a new pair of Asics and I love them! They are my all time favorite running shoes.

Hopefully tonight, we will be having our weekly dinner with M, L, J and AP. Haven't talked with them about it yet, but most weeks we're normally on for the occasion :)

Then tomorrow bright and early, we're off to AUBURN for the game. I'm so pumped for two reasons. One is the obvious, it's an Auburn game and I get to revisit the campus, but two is that my pledge class from my college sorority, Alpha Gam, is having a tailgate. It's going to be so much fun!

Happy weekend and WAR EAGLE!

Words Can't Express

2010-10-12T08:50:00.003-05:00

1. Words can't express my excitement for the fact that I registered for GRADUATION yesterday! Including this current rotation I'm on, I only have 5 more 5-week rotations!! (Note - when I say "I", I'm also including Chris too...)

2. Words also can't express how insignificant I feel about our mediocre yard decorations for Halloween.... :) My mediocre decorations include a pumpkin on our front steps. I do love it, but if you could just take a drive around our neighborhood and the surrounding area, you would be amazed. I have never seen the likes of such decorations. It's crazy! Just a few streets over from us, we have a "witch/homeless man" climbing a telephone poll, more "RIP" signs in several of the yards than you can count, cotton spread all over shrubs which I assume to be spider webs, and one front door with blood-red handprints, "HELP", and blood running down the door.

I guess what I'm trying to say with #2, is that I'm looking forward to Christmas decorations. Hopefully they won't be quite as extreme!

A Little Bit of Everything

2010-10-09T16:13:00.002-05:00

I haven't blogged in so long, so I am going to write about a little bit of everything in this post. Promise you though, it won't be too long :)

I feel like every blog I read, everyone's talking about the weather, but how can I not?? It's gorgeous here! So nice and cool in the mornings, warm during the day, and then cool enough at night and in your house that snuggling with the big comforter feels so wonderful! I have really enjoyed Chris not having our ceiling fan plus an oscillating fan on high during the nights.

Chris bought me a real pumpkin yesterday! I think it's great, but can't decide if we should carve it or just leave it the way it is...I'm not too creative and not too good with a knife, so we might just leave it be. (You can see it in the pictures below.)

Let me say a tidbit about Saturdays. They have been absolutely wonderful! Waking up to have coffee in the maker, being able to throw on a sweatshirt,watching Auburn football, throw in a yard sale here and there, etc, etc, etc. I could go on and on, but that will hopefully give you a small glimpse. Today was a little special because I took a photo shoot of our baby, Jack. Here's what I have to show for it. (I know this might seem a little strange, but I thought they were cute!)

This past week, we headed down to Auburn for a quick visit to the HSOP (Harrison School of Pharmacy) for a pharmacy conference. I loved going back! We got to see three sweet families that we miss a lot since moving up north. We spent the night with the Sullivans, the family that we want to be like when we grow up! Wednesday after our school stuff was over, we went to eat at Amsterdam's cafe with the Harts. It was a fabulous dinner with good food and good friends. We had to get a little dessert, so we met the Cunninghams for ice cream at this new place called Chill. So yummy! We're hoping both families can come visit us in Hville soon! We miss them both terribly. I didn't manage to get a picture with the Cunninghams, but here is one of us with the Harts at dinner.

We've now finished our fourth rotation.Time is flying by! Only five more to go until graduation. Woohoo!

This last picture is for my mom. She helped me plant these flowers in May and they are still blooming. Thanks Mom for all your 'flower help!'

Adding in some Blue

2010-09-28T10:27:00.005-05:00

I'm a little tired of everything in my house looking like my old sorority chapter room. (Don't get me wrong, I do love the gammers, but one can only handle so much red, buff and green.)

Slowly, but surely, I'm going to add in a little blue to my home decor. These two pieces came from my grandparents house and I think they are just the right addition for my new idea. My grandmother, my mom's mom, LOVED blue. Her entire kitchen was covered in blue china, blue pitchers, blue decor plates, blue salt and pepper shakers, etc. To remind me of her, I've included her blue tea pot and blue flower pot to my home.

I cut the handle off in the picuture, but it does have one.

I think they are so sweet. Hopefully one day down the road, I'll branch out and incorporate more blue pieces (maybe even some furniture...) into our belongings. :)

This weekend, I had to break out my fall pumpkin. I know it's not blue, but you know...

Hope your weather is as nice today as our's is up in Hville! Sunny and a high of 75 degrees!

Two Celebrations

2010-09-20T06:41:00.004-05:00

This weekend we celebrated two different times. Once after the crazy Auburn/Clemson game when we finally pulled out a win! I was so worried the whole time. Our second celebration was for Chris's birthday. He sort of had a week long celebration!

We headed to Aliceville Friday night to visit with family. My grandparents' health is not the best right now and we wanted to be able to spend some time with them and my parents, brother, sister-in-law and niece. We really had a nice time. I do love going back home and seeing so many familiar faces and places. Even though Chris has been going to Aliceville for over 5 years now, I still enjoy showing him "this" and "that" from my childhood.

Saturday, after working with my dad at the pharmacy, we all hung out at Phil and Ashley's for the afternoon and watched the game there. Sunday we went to church and I was able to sit by Papa, my grandad, in the pew and smile as I listened to him sing each hymn in his low bass voice. It was definitely music to my ears. My mom made a fabulous lunch, all of Chris's favorites for his birthday, and then we headed back home in time to get a little school work finished before the work week begins.

Jack stayed with Chris's parents and I know absolutely loved his weekend as well.

I love playing with Emma Cate! She is at such a fun stage and is super sweet. Sunday she wore a dress that my mom made and I wore as a baby, so I had to snap a quick picture.

Sugar, Emma Cate and myself

Chris and papa with the birthday cake (a chocolate trifle)

Happy Birthday Chris!

2010-09-14T07:06:00.006-05:00

Today is my wonderful husband's 26th birthday! Whoo hoo for him!

He is such a great guy and I love him dearly. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to be married to him! (I could keep going on and on, but neither you nor he wants me to do that on the blog...) I do hope today is absolutely amazing for him! He truly deserves it!

Instead of birthday cake, this year Chris wanted chocolate angel pie. It's a recipe that's been passed down in my family. My grandmother's sister made this pie a few months ago as dessert at my grandparents house and Chris loved it! So Sunday afternoon, I got down and dirty and tried my hand out at it too. There are definitely some tweaks needed before I make it next time, but seeing that I had never whipped heavy cream or beaten egg whites and sugar, I would say it turned out ok. And Chris really likes it, so that's all that matters in my book. :)

A total of 3 now

2010-09-11T17:10:00.011-05:00

Chris and I are super excited that we are now the proud uncle and aunt to 3 little ones!! Our newest niece, AP (I'll keep it confidential until Lindsay wants to share), was born yesterday! She is Chris's brother's second child and we are so happy for them (Mike, Lindsay and J)! I'll let Lindsay say more and she has all the really cute pictures!

This morning I decided to make some banana bread with a few old bananas we hadn't eaten. It was a really easy recipe and turned out pretty good in my opinion. Chris doesn't like banana bread, so I haven't gotten anyone else's opinion, but toasted, it tasted good to me.

Here's what you'll need:

Recipe:
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c. butter
3/4 c. brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/3 c. mashed overripe bananas (I used 3 bananas because that's all I had and it was fine. Turned out to be about 2 c. bananas.)

-Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 9x5 loaf pan
-In a large bowl, combine first 3 ingredients. In a separate bowl, cream together brown sugar and butter. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas.
-Stir banana mixture into flour mixture, just enough to moisten. Pour batter into greased loaf pan.
-Bake for 60-65 minutes is what the recipe says, but I only did it for about 55 min and wish I would have done it for a few less than that. I guess just use your judgement.
-Cool in pan for about 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack to completely cool.

(Recipe is from allrecipes.com)

As I side note, I just wanted to say a quick promo for OXO containers. I love them. I am a big fan of cute kitchen canisters and always find ones that I would like in my kitchen, but in here and in our apartment in AU, I have had no room for any. So I found these when registering and I really, really like them. They hold all of my cooking goods and coffee grounds nice and compact in a small space. And they come in all shapes and sizes which is great when you want to store all different types of stuff.

Well I better go. Got to get ready to cheer for Jo Pa and Penn State!

You'd think we were hoarders...

2010-09-04T13:00:00.009-05:00

This morning we were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at about 7 am. After a few sips of coffee, I found out online that there were 3 yard sales going on within 1 mile of our house. Well out the door we went. If you read my post about last weekend, you would recall that we went to yard sales on Saturday morning. We're not junkies for stuff, but in Chris's words, "there's nothing like waking up on Saturday mornings and going to look at other people's junk". I think that pretty much sums it up.

At our second stop, which was an estate sale, we ended up buying something for all of $5. (We didn't feel guilty about it because we didn't spend anything last week :))

It's about 15 Childcraft 'encyclopedias'. I'm not sure if that's what they're called, but that's how I can best describe them. They are the annual childcrafts dated 1965-69, 1970-79, 1980-81 and then the lady was also selling 'poems and nursery rhymes' and 'what people do' childcraft collections. I am so excited about this buy. I know they are a little old, but as I was flipping through some, I saw some really cute things.

Here's a page from one of the annual books entitled "Live and Learn" teaching kids about sports signals. I feel like the left page is very appropriate for today! Maybe I will show this to J, my nephew, tonight when he comes over.

Hopefully we will see a lot of this tonight.

My parents have a collection that my brothers and I used to look through all the time, so I hope one day our kids will enjoy them as well.

In so many ways our weekend has been wonderful! We went over to some friends' house last night for dinner and had a great time hanging out with them. I've been able to catch up on all of the house chores this morning and made a quick trip to the grocery store to buy tailgate food. :)

Tonight's festivities will include multiple kinds of dips/salsa, grilled hot dogs and dessert. I can't wait for Auburn football! One little side note, however, is that a small part of me is sort of sad because in the past six years, this is the first time I have not been in Auburn on game day when the game has been at home. Don't get me wrong, I'm in love with where we are, I just feel a little nostalgic.

Anyways, enough of the sadness. I'll leave you with a picture of some flowers I picked from the backyard. If you want a flower that will live through just about anything and loves the sun, plant some periwinkles/vincas. They are super hardy and I think pretty as well.

War Eagle!

Give it up for Auburn!

2010-08-30T19:41:00.009-05:00

Today as I was checking my Auburn email, (yes, I still have an auburn.edu account), I saw this: http://wireeagle.auburn.edu/news/1723

Auburn has moved up in their ranking among national public universities. We're now 38th, moving up from last year's ranking! Upon reading this, I was again reminded how proud I am to be an almost Auburn alum. :) I loved, loved, loved going to school there! So many great memories and friends were made during those 6 years.

I guess another reason I'm so proud to be an Auburn tiger is that the other day, Kirk Herbstreit, the ESPN guy, ranked Auburn as the SEC west champs picked to play Florida in the SEC championship. Now, he didn't pick up to win the championship game, but to be western champs, that means he picks us to beat Alabama this year...!!!

I found these pictures the other night on my mother-in-law's computer and was so happy to have them since I assumed no one had them except the lame-o person who stole my computer. Because I can't wait for the first game this weekend, I wanted to relive the "glory days" and post a few Auburn gameday pictures. (These are more for me because I want to make sure I don't lose these pictures if something happens again to our computers, but hopefully you'll enjoy them too :) )

Sophomore year

My two brothers and my sister-in-law

While we were in Jordan Hare...we decided to be the 'hard fighting soldiers'

The White House girls before a home game

After beating Alabama 6 times in a row

Tailgating my 6th year at Auburn :) (I'm including pharmacy school here)

After beating Florida my senior year in the Swamp

Chris with a bunch of his friends during the Georgia game

War Eagle! We're counting down the days until the first game!!

Our Weekend in a Nutshell

2010-08-29T13:35:00.005-05:00

Today Chris went to meet his mom in Decatur to pick up a few things, so I was busy doing laundry and cleaning up. It's raining here and I hadn't heard from Jack in a while. I walk into the den to find this...

Jack up on the couch waiting for Chris to get home. First of all he's not allowed on the couch, so immediately he had to get off, but then on the other hand, I thought it was sweet and felt bad for being mad at him. I got really upset with him yesterday because I made a batch of cookies to take to some friends house and Jack ended eating 10 of the 15 cookies off of the counter. After punishing him, I ended up having to make another whole batch of cookies. He normally doesn't do this, but now we're going to have to me more strict with him being in the kitchen because I think it's gross to have a dog's paws in places where food goes. Enough about our baby, that I love dearly even though I might not be making that too clear at the present moment. :)

Friday night we babysat our nephew, J, and had a really good time. He was so sweet and loved playing with Chris outside. He's really into books right now too, so we also read a lot! I managed to take a picture of the two of them moving a big stick in their back yard.

Saturday morning we walked down the street to what we thought would be the most awesome yard sale. From the outside, this house looks as if it holds an enormous amount of treasure, yard sale treasure that is. When we got there, however, it was nothing more that just a few over-priced ugly pieces. Nothing that just screamed for your attention and had to be taken home. I was bummed. We ended up hitting a few more yard sales around our neighborhood, but came home empty handed. The prices of things we were eying were just too expensive to be in a yard sale.

Saturday afternoon, we headed out to a friend's house and were able to fish, Chris got to practice shooting his bow, and then we grilled out. It was a nice get away from the busyness of our rotations.

Church was really good today. We're enjoying having a new senior pastor at Southwood and have just found out which small group we will be in for the fall quarter, so it should be really good for us to meet some more couples here in Huntsville.

Baby girl Newlin's sprinkle, easy recipe and our backyard

2010-08-22T19:12:00.006-05:00

Saturday morning I was delighted to be able to help host a sprinkle for my sister-in-law and her soon to be baby girl. It was so much fun to be able to meet a lot of Lindsay's friends for the first time and help plan the party with a few of them. They are all great! I had a blast with the whole process and I can't wait to meet little baby girl in a few short weeks. Lindsay's new induction date (if baby doesn't decide to come on her own) is the same day as Chris's birthday! I would love it if they got to share their special day! Here are a few pictures from the morning.

the new mom-to-be

the hostesses

The easy recipe I want to share is for peanut butter cookies. My friend, Kristen, started making these when we lived in the White House in Auburn and I absolutely love them. (Kristen, I hope you don't mind me sharing your infamous recipe!!) 1c. sugar, 1 c. peanut butter, 1 egg, bake at 350 for about 10 minutes and wa-la... Try these sometime soon!

And last but not least I have my dad to thank for this.

Chris has been practicing with his new bow. Friday night he even got his brother Mike to join in on the fun! Jack doesn't seem to mind, but I on the other hand think this no-headed deer target is hideous. I guess my motto for this one is "you win some and you lose some." My mom lost the battle of having animal targets in the backyard long ago and I think I just lost it as well.

Wake Up Call

2010-08-20T15:33:00.008-05:00

So I mentioned in my last post that I would be coming back later in the week with something of substance to write about and hopefully be able to throw in a few pictures here and there; possibly a new recipe or some fun activity that Chris and I took part in. Sorry to say, but that will not happen in this post. Maybe after tomorrow I will have some fun stuff to post (tomorrow is my sister-in-law's baby shower), but today we are down to the nitty gritty.

During the day Wednesday, our house was robbed. Back door busted down, door frame shattered, house ram sacked, clothes everywhere, computers stolen, tools stolen, several other things including our privacy and sense of security stolen. No clue as to who or why.

I don't tell you this so you will throw me a pitty party. I'm writing about it because I want you to be safe. We love our neighborhood and have always felt 100% safe out and about. I'm sure you feel safe where you are as well, but please be on the lookout. Lock your cars, your houses, etc, etc and always be on the lookout for strange behavior.

I also wanted to tell you about God's provision in this situation. I was going to run home before heading to the gym. Instead of coming straight home I thought I would just stop by and say hey to Lindsay, my sister-in-law, and baby J. Upon leaving their house, I passed Chris in the road. At this time, I was now heading to the gym and Chris was going to get a change of clothes at home before meeting me there. As soon as I pulled into the gym parking lot, my phone rang and it was Chris telling me about our house. God totally lead me to visit Lindsay so that I wouldn't have to walk into our house alone and see the mess left behind by some stranger. Every time I think about it, I thank the Lord.

Over and over I've let my head run wild over what could have happened and what could have been stolen that wasn't. I have memorabilia from both of my grandmothers that is dear to my heart and on Wednesday it was clearly visible to the intruder (not anymore though), but nothing was touched. Wedding books and keepsakes that not a finger was placed on. The things we did lose were valuable to us, but replaceable, and I'm reminded that earthly things are of no eternal value. We are blessed that no one was hurt, not even Jack who was home the entire time. Our heavenly Father protected us during the intrusion and I will be forever thankful.

I'm sorry if this is drab and depressing, but please be careful. It could happen anywhere at any time. We would appreciate your prayers as we continue to clean up and move on. Have a great weekend and I do hope to have some exciting things to say later on. It's my birthday weekend too, so I'm off to start having some fun!

Time

2010-08-15T19:12:00.006-05:00

Time is flying by. We're already beginning our third week of this rotation at Huntsville Hospital. It's been good. Busy, but good.

My parents came into town last weekend to visit and go to a wedding. It was super fun to have them here. I always feel so grown up (even though I'm really not) when my parents visit because of the plain fact that they're in my house. It's kind of weird I know, but I like the feeling. We showed them around H'ville, took them to our new church, etc, etc.

The week has been same ole, same ole. It has been so extremely hot though that we've had to come up with ways to stay cool. These two items have become favorites of ours: pop-ice popsicles and Kroger's frozen chocolate yogurt. Both are equally delicious in their own ways. After what seemed like a month of temperatures over the 100 degree mark, it finally rained Friday and little bit yesterday. That cooled things off for approximately 10 minutes, then it was back up to triple digits.

Yesterday, Chris and I went to one of our pharmacy school friend's farm near H'ville. It was fun to get out and about. We hiked and ate lunch out there. With time flying by over these last few weeks, it seemed to halt for about 20 minutes yesterday afternoon. While on our hike through the woods, we somehow managed to lose Jack. He was right with us one minute, then the next he was completely out of sight. No where to be found. After panicking, praying, panicking some more and searching, he finally came back panting so badly, we thought he wasn't going to make it back to the barn. I know this doesn't compare to parents and children being lost, but in our eyes, it seemed like the worst case scenario. We were in woods we, nor Jack knew well, and it was blazing hot. We were close to the road, not close to any water, you get the picture. I was not thinking positively, but the Lord took care of all of our fears and brought our baby back. We're so glad Jack is home safe and secure now!

I know time is going to continue to speed by because our next month is super busy as well. We're getting more plugged in with our church here. Small groups and a new Sunday school quarter are starting up. I'm helping with a baby shower for Lindsay and baby girl Newlin this next weekend. Auburn football is starting. Both mine and Chris's birthdays will be here in the next few weeks. The list could go on and on, but I will spare you any more boredom you are feeling from this post so far. I'm sorry I have no photos. It just seems that even though we've had a great couple of past weeks, not too many pictures were taken. Hopefully the next post will be more exciting and will have something of value in it. :) Have a great Monday!

random pictures update

2010-08-04T20:41:00.000-05:00

Chris and I went to a Huntsville Stars game with the O'Connors. It was really fun! I don't think I watched a single play of the game :)

For an early birthday present (his birthday is in September), Chris bought a very inexpensive, used, left-handed bow that he can take hunting. After getting a nice sized buck last year, he's into the hunting thing and now wants to kill one with a bow. So, this past weekend in Aliceville, he and my dad did some target practicing. This picture below is of one of Chris's arrows. Little did I know however, is that my dad would be giving Chris one of his spare target deer to go in our backyard here in Huntsville. We'll see how well Jack takes to the newest addition...

The other night we watched J, our nephew, for a few hours. He loves to be outside, so we went on a little walk around our neighborhood with Jack. J wanted to be a big boy and walk for a little bit of the time!

Jack sitting by the couch salivating with bubbles because he wanted our food. (Yes, we sit on the couch most nights and eat dinner. I don't like it, but I've almost given up the thought of sitting at a table.) We only allow Jack to eat a small amount of leftovers if they are in his dog bowl. I guess this particular dinner smelled really tasty...

Sorry for all the randomness. Be back soon!

60 years worth celebrating

2010-08-03T19:37:00.003-05:00

This past weekend, Chris and I headed to Aliceville, my hometown, for a wedding anniversary celebration. My grandparents, Sugar and Papa, got married 60 years ago but didn't get to have a formal wedding because my grandad was due to be deployed. So, they "eloped" over to Mississippi (the only place where they could find a judge on a Sunday) with my grandmother's parents and got hitched.

Chris and I are so thankful for my grandparents. They are the only 2 grandparents we have, so we cherish them dearly. The love they share for each other is impossible to explain in a blog post. You have to experience it for yourself before you can truly know how much they mean to each other. You see, my grandmother has multiple sclerosis, a disease that has been fighting against her body for about 30 years now. However, she has not allowed this to keep her from loving on her family and being willing to serve the Lord in so many ways. My granddad is a physician and he has been right by her side every step of the way along this journey. They used to take medical mission trips every few years and my grandmother would go in her wheelchair . Amazing! No obstacle was going to stop what they felt called to do. Even though there were so many grandchildren running around when we were little, not one of us was left out from the love and adoration from Sugar and Papa. They are amazing grandparents and I am so thankful to have them in my life.

6 children, 18 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren later, there we all were back in Aliceville for the party. All the children, 17 of the 18 grandchildren, the 3 great-grandchildren and several of Sugar and Papa's brothers/sisters and nieces/nephews with their children were there. I think there were about 50 family members all-together.

Saturday night all my cousins and aunts and uncles came over to my parents house for a BBQ. My dad had is grill going, kids were running around the yard and riding the golf cart, etc. It was great!

We all sent my Aunt Meg reasons why we love Sugar and Papa and she made a book entitled "60+ reasons why we love Sugar and Papa". (60+ in honor of their anniversary) Here's when we gave it to them.

After church Sunday, the Gentry family invited everyone from church to a luncheon in honor of Sugar and Papa. In Aliceville, that's how you do things. What I mean is that when you have a get-together, you invite whoever can come and host them to some of your best cooking. The fellowship hall of our church was decorated somewhat like a wedding with white table cloths and lilies as the centerpieces and Sugar and Papa had a white wedding cake. I don't have any pictures from the church celebration, but it really was such a great day!

Chris and I are back in Huntsville now and fully back in the swing of pharmacy rotations. We are at the hospital around 6:45 am every morning. Even though we've only woken up in the 5's two days (one 4's day for me due to some reading), we're already tired :) We've got to get used to it though because this is just the beginning!

Hope you all are enjoying your last few days of summer.

Finished with Home Improvements

2010-07-30T22:19:00.002-05:00

Today we decided for it to be the last day of home improvements around our household for while. I took the day off yesterday and went window shopping in Huntsville. I found the cutest interior decorator shop close to our house and then I ventured to the mall. I know that doesn't sound like fun when I say 'the mall,' but where I grew up, you had to travel about 50 miles to the closest one. I now live about two blocks from the mall here. It's great! My outings yesterday were more of a "get yourself aquainted with Huntsville's shopping areas" than actually buying anything, although I did find a little something at Forever 21...oops. So, today before work, Chris and I finished up the front porch and back deck and boy, do they look good. We were so happy with the end product.

Before:

After:

I think it was a little too hot outside though when we were working...Chris's numbers from his t-shirt burnt his back they were so hot!

We're off to Aliceville in the early A.M. to celebrate my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary. More on the trip and my wonderful grandparents when we get back Sunday. Hope your weekend is super!

Home Improvement Day

2010-07-29T11:22:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was designated as home improvement day because I didn't have to work. Chris did have to go to work, but before he left we were out in the yard "growing grass." We bought some fertilizer, top soil and hay to spread out in the yard. We're trying to grow grass as cheaply, but effectively, as we can. (Since we are only renting our house and our landlords have not decided to take care of our yard.) We were told hay is the best way to do that, so I'll keep you updated on the progress. I'm sure some of you might think we are crazy for putting a little money into our rental house, but we just want it to look nice and we're not breaking the bank with these costs by any means, hence no sod or anything like that.

I did go to the pool with Lindsay and J for a few hours, but when I got home I was determined not to let home improvement day go to waste. Just recently we found some old paint in the shed beside our house that matched the front porch and back deck. It was not the most smooth paint, as it is a few years old, but it worked perfectly for what I had in mind. I painted the back porch steps and most of the front porch. Here are a few before and after.

back porch before:

back porch after:

front porch before (except, the small area closest to the rail):

getting closer...

I ended up not having enough to finish, so home improvement day will have to be continued tomorrow. (And our landlords are taking paint costs out of our rent, so basically I'm just working for free, but I'm used to that with this year of pharmacy rotations - 40 hrs/week with no pay.)

I'm taking a break today for several reasons:

a. Chris is at work again today and I don't want to work alone :)

b. It's supposed to rain today, so painting outside wouldn't be the best idea.

c. I went to a cardio sculpt exercise class yesterday afternoon and I'm too sore to do much outside work. It was a great class, almost felt like cheerleader practice back in the day, but a few too many lunges with weights.

d. I super into my book, Breaking Dawn, and I'm in to mood to read and not sweat :)

I do love working outside, but today my household chores and reading will be taking over and I'm sort of excited about not having to sweat so much! And I'm enjoying my last few days of this vacation block in rotations. We will be starting back Monday morning. Happy Thursday!

Just What I Needed

2010-07-26T08:23:00.001-05:00

This past weekend was so wonderful! Friday afternoon I met up with my dearest friends from Auburn for a girl's night. We stayed at Courtney's adorable apartment and truly had the best time.

The four of us - Courtney, Julie, Kristen, myself

After an extremely hot walk and lunch at Big Blue

Friday night we had dinner at Cocina and then a little ice cream for dessert. Totally delicious! Saturday morning we went to Pepper Place, the most awesome farmer's market ever. Fresh fruit, garden vegetables, herbs, flowers, jewelry, paintings, green plants, wine tasting, meat and cheese tasting; it was all there. So much fun! I ended up buying a baby Job's tears plant. It's so cute and such a pretty green color. The other three made fun of me, but I do love indoor and outdoor plants. After talking it through with a friend, I believe I love them so much because they fulfill my needs to nurture something. Instead of babies, currently I'm caring for plants :)

Back to my sweet friends. Courtney is our social butterfly and our weekend caretaker, Kristen is our deep thinker and the one who wants our friendships to thrive, Julie is the one who keeps us all sane while constantly making us laugh and I'm just a lover of plants and baking. We fit together perfectly! Thanks you three for making my weekend so wonderful.

I also was able to see Rose Lynn for about an hour. After a long hiatus of not getting in touch with each other (not because of anything bad, just business and living in different cities for the first time in our lives), we caught right back up. RL, I'm so glad I got to see your sweet self!

And, a quick promotion for my brother Brant. I went to Birmingham early Friday morning to have a cavity filled. Brant is a 4th year dental school student and he gets to work on patients' mouths in the UAB clinic. I was having a little bit of a toothache and decided I should let him check it out. Three hours, a rubber dam, a cracked tooth and two cavities later, I got out of the dental chair. (maybe I need to be better at flossing...)Brant did such a good job and all that went on didn't even hurt, although once I saw silver stars floating around due to all the Lidocaine. :) Keep up the good work Brant!

Randomness

2010-07-13T21:03:00.010-05:00

I conquered my fear of GRILLING last night. My sister-in-law Lindsay grills a lot and it always turns out good, so I thought maybe I should give it a try. Chris was working until 7 last night and I knew after 10 hours he would be starving, so I had to "man up." Chicken, squash, purple onions and green bell pepper. Yum. Try it sometime soon!

I'm in love with the kitchen of the condo where we stayed this past weekend. I took several pictures because one day, I might have to somewhat copy its design :) Love, love, love it!

Wear deodorant when you work out. Yesterday at the gym, I was less than 1/2 mile away from my running goal when a man came and began walking on the treadmill beside me. It was almost unbearable. Honest to goodness, if I wasn't so close to being finished, I would have quit right then and there.

I just found a new oatmeal cookie recipe. Delicious! My taste buds begin dancing at the thought of oatmeal cookies. I added a few chocolate chips to the batch, but that part is completely up to you. The recipe is simple: 1 c sugar, 1 c brown sugar, 1 c butter, 2 eggs, 1 1/2 c flour, 3 c oatmeal, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt. Mix all together and bake at 350 for about 10-11 minutes.

365 days later

2010-07-11T21:09:00.001-05:00

Today we celebrate our ONE year wedding anniversary! It's so crazy and exciting to think that it's really been a year since we said "I do." Chris is an absolutely wonderful husband and I love him dearly. I won't say that every day has been perfect, but this year has been the best in my life. This weekend we went to Chattanooga to celebrate. It's a short drive from Huntsville, so we left Friday night after I got off work.

We stayed at some of the Newlin's family friend's condo which was super nice. It was located in the downtown area and was right on the Tennessee River. Saturday morning we woke up early to go on a river kayaking trip. I've never been kayaking before and let's just say that you could tell. One of the guides had to stay right by me for the first 20 minutes or so. I couldn't figure out the direction part of paddling. After a little bit of practice, I was feeling somewhat better about the next two hours on the river.

Kayaking was super fun and I highly recommend it to anyone who has the chance to do it!

Saturday afternoon we ate lunch at Lupi's, a local pizza place, that was DE-LI-CIOUS! Afterwards we were still a tiny bit hungry for something sweet, so of course when we saw a sign for free fudge samples we couldn't pass it up. We went into All Books to find no fudge, but the most awesome old bookstore I have ever seen in real life or in on movieset. Thousands upon thousands of books lined the shelves. We didn't go in looking to buy any books, but came out with three: The Boxer written in 1950 (about boxer dogs, like Jack), Principles of Pharmacy written in 1909 and The Man Paul written in 1900 (Paul from the Bible). We were so excited! I could have spent hundreds on the books in this store, but we limited ourselves to our top three. I've already found a great place for them as you can see below :)

Saturday night after a nice dinner at River Grille and Brewery, we made our way across the longest pedestrian only bridge in the US. It crosses the Tennessee River and leads to another downtown area north of the river with fun shops and a great ice cream place. We walked around and had the best time just taking it all in.

This morning we ate at a great local place called Rembrandts for breakfast. It was in such a cute area called Bluff View. After packing up and making a picnic for us, we stopped at Lookout Mountain for lunch. The view from way up high is so pretty and we enjoyed our peanut butter sandwiches from atop Lookout.

Thank you Chris for making this past year so wonderful! I love you!