Southern Fried Labor Day

We had so much fun this weekend in Atlanta with family. Most of the weekend was spent outside watching football and baseball, too! We laughed about family stories, watched the kiddos play and dance, and ate way too much good food!

The Bama boys watching game day before the game. I love how they lined up to watch tv...they are a little too much! ha!

The Bama boys getting ready to go to the game! We went in shifts...which was awesome. Some of us went much later. We were all dropped off on the side of the road which was funny and great all at the same time...very little walking! After the game our rides were waiting on us!

Our traditional victory picture! I have to sit on my uncle's left side during the games...he won't let me sit anywhere else. Well, this game we were on the other side of the field, and he wanted to be closer to the 50 so I was on his right...until the second half when I reminded him of our typical sitting arrangements...guess it worked. ha!

This picture is out of order but was pregame where the player met in the middle.

Another pregame pic...my cousins during our 5-10 min. tailgate!

"A" cheering for another team


These are some of my favorite pics from the weekend. I had a lot of favorites but just picked a few! The first are at duck pond where we met a photographer to get some pics of the little ones. They weren't too happy about it, but she did get some good ones. These were some I took as we were leaving.

4 generations!

4 generations!

Matching PJ's!

Coloring a birthday picture for their Papa!

"A" wearing the shirt I made! She is the cutest!!! Also, she has an owl on her bday invites which is just awesome and so very cute! She might just need an owl creation!!!

Dad's Birthday

Friday night we all celebrated dad's birthday. We went out to eat and then came home to dad's favorite cake...homemade strawberry cake! He got this as a surprise last year and requested it this year. I wanted to try something new; however, he reminded me that it was his birthday and that is what he wanted, so that is what he got. :) After cake and ice cream, we played a little Wii! I had not played in forever, so my arms were burning the next day.

Cheese!

I am sure his wish was for Alabama to be #1 this year!

Me with the birthday boy!

Happy Birthday dad!

Hotel Hopping Vacation

Mom and I took this past week off from work for a mini vacation. We started out in East TN on Sunday to visit with my granddaddy and take care of some things while we were there. The hotel we stayed at was brand new...like opened Friday! It was soo nice and great knowing we were probably the first ones in our room! Monday we were out all day to take care of some things with and for granddaddy. When we got back that night we had a note that there was no hot water but that they hoped it would be working by that night and it was! Tuesday morning mom got in the shower with no problems. When I got ready to take mine there was no hot water and then no water at all. She found out that the water was not working throughout the hotel but that I could go to the hotel next door to shower. I gathered my things and walked across the parking lot only to find a line for a shower...that's right a line! They were frantically cleaning bathrooms as people checked out! So, I finally got a shower then walked across the parking lot to go back to the room to get ready...fun times! We finished up some things and then headed to Nashville for shopping and time with friends! We arrived at our first hotel and were really not impressed. It was not bad but not great, so we made reservations for another hotel the next night...yes that is 3 hotels in 4 nights or 4 hotels if you count the one I showered in on Tues. morning and we were only in 2 cities!
Wednesday we met some of my friends in downtown Franklin for lunch and some shopping. The food was so good as was the company!

After lunch and some shopping we decided to try some cupcakes (MBS is still the best!)

Hannah with a strawberry cupcake and mom with red velvet.

I got lemon and Stacie picked vanilla! All were very good!

That is a lot of icing!!!

After shopping in Franklin, mom and I headed to some outlets east of Nashville. We found a few good bargains and had just about crashed, so we headed back to check into our final hotel. We then ate at one of my favorite places, CPK in Green Hills! I just love their pizza!!

Thursday morning I moved my car to a closer spot so we could load it up one last time. As we were getting ready to drive off, I noticed my key was missing...kind of hard to start the car with no key. We looked all over the parking lot and hotel...nothing. Luckily, mom had the spare set of keys, so we could continue with our shopping adventures.

We meet Lindsay for lunch! Lindsay and I went to church/school together. She is a couple of years younger but we spent lots of time together in youth group and on mission trips. She is in grad. school right now. We missed seeing the rest of her family though!

After lunch mom and I continued shopping. At some point in the day I noticed lovely scratch marks in my car. I don't remember hitting anything but it doesn't really look like a car backed into mine, so who knows what it is from and how it happened...just another story to add to this crazy mini vacation! ha!

We finally decided we had had enough shopping for one week and headed back home. As we were unloading the car, my keys were found! Too bad the car can't be fixed that easily! This was definitely a vacation I will never forget!

Fun on the Fourth! (and Fifth!)

We celebrated the 4th with friends and the next day with the fam! We had a good time both days! I made my special 4th of July cookies for the family who hosted the party...I am not allowed to come without them and this is one of the only times I make them. They are just slice and bake cookies with a glaze for the icing...very yummy and easy to make! We had fun visiting with friends and then it rained and we called it a night. ha!
The next day Jason, Jessica, and Ruby joined us for fresh summer veggies! We had a nice quick visit with them!

Mom made Jason's favorite cupcakes for the party the night before. I told him we didn't have anymore. He believed me.

The very best summer treat!

Ruby even got in on the action. She seriously went around the table to have the last little bit of ice cream in our bowls...gross.

Ruby telling Sally hello/good-bye

A family picture! I got dad this shirt for father's day!! He loves it! I am just glad to add some color (other than crimson and white) to his closest. I am trying to decide on a good color for his birthday! ha!

Such a cute little family pic!

After J,J,and R left, we headed in the same direction to take my granddaddy to see his sister before she moved to Colorado. :( We had a nice visit but will miss having her so close to us.

I have more to update, but my brain is slightly tired! Good thing tomorrow is my last day before a week of vacation time!!!

Catching Rolls, Thrill Rides, and a Trip Down Memory Lane

This weekend I headed to St. Louis with my Sunday school class to go to Six Flags. We stopped at Lambert's on the way there! This was my first experience eating there, and it was definitely a fun/interesting experience!

The girls while we waited on a table.

One side of the table...

...the other side of the table. We caught lots of rolls...some were better at catching than others. ha! If you look in this picture, you can see the word rolls in the license plates. They served way more food than I could possibly eat and could have split it in about 3 meals, but it was pretty good!


Our first ride was Superman. I considered this to be a mild ride because it did not spin! It was a pretty good view of the park way up there!! Some people liked this more than others...it might have been my favorite this trip.

What goes up must come down!!!

This picture is hilarious...I have no idea what I am doing...giving thumbs up?? I don't even remember! I did think it was fun though!

Awesome! ha! This was while I was waiting for everyone to ride the Batman ride...one of my favorites in the past, but the heat and spinning on other roller coasters made me slightly dizzy, so I didn't want to chance it on this one. Maybe next time...if I ever go back...I definitely prefer Disney in cooler weather! ha!

Before leaving, we had to get one last picture...naturally we waited until we were all a hot, sweaty mess!




This morning my mom and I made our way to Rossville, TN to hear her Uncle Frank preach. Rossville is very small but such a sweet little town. This is where my grandmother grew up. My mom tells stories of Christmas Eve and Christmas morning when all the cousins stayed together and then came down on Christmas morning to find tons and tons of toys.

This is what the house looks like now.

Photoshop fun!

Here is the church we went to today.

After church the family and some friends went to Collierville Square to eat at the Silver Caboose...yum!