A Week Away...

Alex went on a business trip and has been gone for 9 days/8 nights. I can't remember the last time he had to be away for that long but I can tell you that none of us are a fan of Daddy being out of town. Alex helps with Amelia A LOT when he's home. He enjoys spending time with her and knows these days of her being little will pass quickly. He plays with her as soon as he gets home, gives her a bath, reads her stories, and gets her to sleep every single night. He's a hands-on-Daddy...a wonderful Daddy...we've missed him so much.

I'm reaching week 32 in this pregnancy and I've been really tired. Giving Amelia a bath with this growing belly of mine seems like a workout. So we packed up and went to my parent's for a week! It was so nice to have the help and Amelia enjoyed spending time with her Papa and Granny.

We skyped with Daddy several times and that made it easier being away from him for so long. Amelia wanted to do nothing but kiss the screen of the computer the entire time and would ask Alex to give her kisses.

My brother and his family live about an hour away from my parents, so we drove to Missouri to take my little bro to lunch for his birthday while we were there.



We ate at Lambert's. This is where they throw the hot rolls across the restaurant for you to catch and serve your tea in the largest container known to man.

Yet I still needed a refill.

Pregnancy makes me thirsty.



And y'all...let's just get it out of the way and talk about it...the pregnancy face has arrived. Every morning I wake up and think "my face is even bigger than yesterday!" It's just part of it for me...I always gain weight in my face. Unfortunately, there's just not a flattering angle anymore. Trust me - I've tried every angle - it's still large no matter if my chin is down and my head is tilted to the left. I've come a long way in the vanity department though - because I wouldn't have even posted this picture when I was pregnant with Amelia. I still have my skinny ankles though so I'm not complaining. HAHA!

After eating at Lambert's, we headed back to my brother's home to have cake and ice cream. I brought him a big 'ole cookie cake and my SIL made homemade snickers bars...they were YUMMY.





Amelia doesn't get to see Jackson and Millie very often - they played up a storm.



Millie's room truly looked as though a tornado hit it by the time we left.

On Sunday we went to my parent's church. I bought Amelia this little hat and was going to let her wear it Sunday evening, but she insisted on wearing it on Sunday morning. Girl LOVES a hat on her head. It doesn't even have to be cute...she just likes to wear hats.



I was so excited to hear my Daddy's message because it has been such a long time since I've been able to sit under his preaching. Just FYI - my Daddy can preach - he preaches straight from the Word (Old & New Testament) and I so appreciate that. I never realized just how blessed I was to have my Dad as my pastor for so many years...I took it for granted. I hope as they get older, Amelia and Sydney will realize just how blessed they are to have Alex as their pastor. Daddy's message was on "the tongue." What a convicting message. So much power in such a small member of the body. If I'm going to speak - I want to speak life and encourage those around me. There's power in our words, y'all.

They had their annual men's chili cook-off after church. And what do you know...my Daddy won this year!! Here he is holding the golden chili pot and golden chili spoon. (LOL!) He was so proud of himself. This was his fourth year to enter but first time to win. We'll never hear the end of it now. :)



Amelia went to Awanas on Sunday night. She cried at first (when I took her to her class) but was dancing in front of the entire Awanas group by end of the night!



We made a trip to the mall while there...she always remembers the ice cream cone truck and wants to take a ride.



She was allowed to stay up past her bedtime every night and do fun things like have a dance party at 10:30PM. Only at Papa and Granny's! :)



She read books and watched some of her favorite shows.



And thankfully, all but one night, she slept really well. My Mama bought these little cots for the grand kids to sleep on when they visit. This was Amelia's first time to sleep on one. I put it right beside my bed and she slept until at least 9AM almost every morning. I cannot sleep with girlfriend in my bed. She's practically laying on top of me by morning and that = zero sleep for this Mama.

She took a good nap for me on the way home and now we're just waiting for Daddy to get home. He should arrive home around 9PM this evening!! I can't wait to hug his neck.



Thank you to Papa & Granny for your help this past week!!

Love to all,

Cousins...

I've been meaning to post these pics since last weekend. We took a quick trip to my parents and Amelia was able to spend time with a few of her cousins. We headed out when Alex got off work. We put Amelia in some comfy pjs since it was going to be a late night drive. She did great on the way there...we only had to make two quick stops to change her diaper. :)



Amelia having a late night snack upon arrival.



She LOVES these squeezable fruit/veggie things. I love them too because there's no mess!



Having a little buttered toast and juice the next morning.



And here she is with her cousins. I love these pics. :)



Millie, Amelia, Jackson, and Joylyn



How cute are they??



Pretty darn cute if you ask me! :)



Sweet Millie Beth. Love this girl.



It was a quick trip but I'm thankful we were able to go. It was so much fun to see my parents/brothers/sisters/SIL/BIL/nieces/nephews. I miss them. A lot.

"Children's children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children." -Proverbs 17:6

Love to all,

Anniversary Weekend in Dallas...

Alex was all over Texas last week on business. We had plans of celebrating our anniversary over the weekend and since he wouldn't have been home until Friday evening, we found it easier for me to meet him in Dallas to celebrate. So on Friday afternoon, I took Amelia to Aunt Joy's house and jumped on a plane to Dallas! This was the first time that we've both been away from Amelia. I have to say that my sister knew how to keep me from calling every hour. She would text me updates regularly on what Amelia was doing. Ya know, important stuff like napping, eating, playing. :) I only called her once and that was when I landed in Dallas. Otherwise, it was a phone-free weekend!

We had the best time. We vowed to make more time for just the two of us. It's so easy to get caught up in work, Amelia's schedule, church responsibilities, etc. I think in order for us to do any of those things well, we need to "reconnect" with one another on a regular basis.

I will warn you that the pictures taken were all taken with my phone. They are terrible quality, but I didn't want to carry around my huge camera all weekend. I didn't take any pictures Friday evening. I was just so excited to have some time alone with my husband!!

I asked some blogger friends for some restaurant recommendations and I have to say, every single place was EXCELLENT.

We made reservations HERE on Friday evening.



From the appetizer to the dessert, it was by far one of the best meals I've ever eaten. We chose the Beef Croustades, III Forks Salad, and Filet Mignon which is served w/duchess potatoes, sugar snap peas, off-the-cob cream corn and ripe tomatoes and spring onions. I was told the cream corn was to die for. It certainly was. We ended the meal with fresh blueberries topped with a chocolate mousse. They even served it to us with a sparkler on top, since we were celebrating our anniversary. :) This entire meal spoke my love language. We give III Forks, four thumbs up!!

I had plans of sleeping in on Saturday morning, but I guess I'm so used to getting up with Amelia, I woke up at 8:00AM, bright-eyed and ready to go! Our hotel had a Starbucks, so Alex grabbed us some lattes while I was getting ready. Our first stop was the Galleria. It had been quite some time, since I had been to the Galleria. I had forgotten how LARGE and spread out it was. I found it a little overwhelming. We walked around for a bit and then decided to eat lunch. We had a couple of people tell us to try the Grand Lux Cafe, so we did. It was yummy!






Their portion sizes were GINORMOUS. I ate half of one of these chicken breasts and had to leave the rest. It was definitely big enough to split with one or four people.



While at the Galleria, Alex wanted to check out The Westin Hotel. He's thinking we might stay there next time. Have you ever stayed there?



After leaving the Galleria, we headed to Alex's heaven on earth. Heaven help. I sat and people-watched, while Alex drooled over rods & reels. :)



Then we stopped at Orange Cup and had the best yogurt I've ever tasted in my life. Alex looked at me (with a very serious look on his face) after the first bite and said, "they've been telling us that TCBY is yogurt...I think they're lying." I laughed so hard. Orange cup...you rocked my world.



After cooling off at Orange Cup, we headed to NorthPark to do a little more shopping. I enjoyed this mall. It was large, but everything wasn't terribly spread out.

And let it be known....I *heart* Kate Spade. It has been forever, since I've walked through one of her stores. From the clothing, shoes, handbags...it's all fabulous. I've already started making my birthday/Christmas wish list!



To end the day, my sweetie took me to get a longer chain for my Mother's Day necklace and then we were off to the airport!



Once back at the airport, we couldn't wait to get back to Amelia. I had only been away from her for less than two days, but Alex had been away for an entire week! We needed to squeeze our baby girl! My sister and her fam took such good care of her. Thank you Gerry & Joy, for loving Amelia like she's your own. We didn't worry about her for one second and without you guys, we wouldn't have been able to enjoy this wonderful weekend!!

Love,

Atlanta - Day Three

So this is my third and final post about Atlanta. I don't feel as though I can do this trip justice in just three posts, but if I wrote everything that's in my head about the weekend, this post would be EXTREMELY LONG. I know that I will treasure the time that I spent with all of these fabulous women and will do my very best to take what Beth taught and put it to practice.

Sunday morning we woke up to Joy saying, "y'all, it's almost 7:30!" I must have been tired the night before, because I set our alarm for PM instead of AM. OOPS! This caused us to wake up an hour later than planned. Don't get me wrong though...it was still early! So we ran through Starbucks and then found this place to grab some breakfast. We don't have Dunkin' Donuts in Arkansas. It was quite delicious.



My traveling companions...





So I stepped up to the counter - snapped up pic of this little guy - he gave me my lemon-filled donut - I told him that he had a great smile - and we were on our way!



Through Alabama...



Through Mississippi...



Stopped for a little refreshment...



We were so happy that the rain had stopped (it rained the entire day on Saturday) and it was a BEAUTIFUL DAY to drive home!



I missed taking a picture of the Tennessee sign, because we were only in Tennessee for a matter of seconds (it seemed) before seeing this beautiful sign! Home sweet home!!



Upon arriving home, we went straight to my church. I wanted to hold Amelia so bad. Though I had a wonderful time at the conference and really needed that time away, I was ready to get back to my girl. I hid, while Joy had my camera. Alex brought her down the hall and I started calling out her name...this is before she could actually see me.



When she actually saw me, she decided to snub me for the first 5 minutes. (LOL) This is something that she has done to Alex when he goes on business trips. She also did it to me when I left her with Joy to run some errands. I'm starting to think she knows what she's doing! HA!



Alex said when I would call home and they would put me on speaker phone, she would pout her bottom lip and almost start crying. :( She missed her Mommy! :)



Giving me kisses, but still not making eye contact!



Oh how I missed her while I was away!!



I think this is so funny...I just have to share it. When I first saw her, I asked Alex why she was wearing her froggy slippers (essentially house shoes) to church. He replied, "they were the only shoes that I could find that matched her outfit!" HAHAHA!! How cute is that!? I'm just glad her clothes matched. HA! He really did a wonderful job in caring for her. He's the best father to her and I love him even more because of it.



Thank you to my sweet husband for allowing me to have this weekend away. I also need to thank my M-I-L, F-I-L, and S-I-L for coming and staying with Alex and Amelia. They were here the entire weekend to help care for Amelia and cook for Alex! I love you guys!

Love to all,

Atlanta - Day One

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to go to a Beth Moore Conference in Atlanta. I was extremely excited for this trip, because I love me some Beth Moore and this conference was on her new book, So Long Insecurity. What girl doesn't need some help in that department, right!? Another highlight to the trip...I was going to get to meet some of my blogging friends for the very first time!

So on Friday morning, I kissed Alex & Amelia goodbye. This was the first time that I've ever left Amelia for more than a few hours, since she was born. Leading up to the trip, I couldn't even think about leaving her or I would cry. So Friday morning came and I kissed her goodbye.

And I started crying.

I continued to cry in the car, but promised Joy that I would stop soon! (LOL)

Look at this face...you would have cried too! :)



We met up with Mom in Memphis and she was our driver for the remainder of the trip. :)



Joy was gracious enough to let me have the front seat, since I get carsick. (LOL)



And then we hit the road in Memphis and headed towards Atlanta!!



It was a lovely scenic drive...

These are cows - just incase you didn't know...



No sweeter site than a Sonic...



This is Talladega Speedway. All I could think of when driving past this place was, "I'm all jacked up on Mountain Dew!!"



And then we saw this!!



Upon arrival, we went straight to the hotel, checked in, changed clothes and headed out for some dinner. We decided on The Melting Pot. The three of us had never been before, but have always wanted to go.



We started with the cheesy spinach-artichoke fondue. Oh.my.word. Delicious!!



For our main course, we had filet & chicken. The waitress told us that we were going to cook it ourselves and I was like, "Say what!??" I personally don't understand the whole "going out to eat and paying someone so that you can cook your own meal."

But we went with it.

This was my least favorite course.



I think it was my least favorite, because I needed some cheese to dip the meat in...

And I was afraid of not cooking my meat properly and getting E. coli, so I over-cooked it and it tasted like rubber.

Yet another good reason for a REAL chef to be on site to cook my meal.

But then she brought out the third course...

And angels sang.



We chose the chocolate peanut butter fondue. And they gave you all sorts of goodies to dip.



I actually had to lift my hands in praise after having the first bite.



You think I'm kidding. I.AM.NOT.

It was like an out of body experience.

It made cooking my own rubber filet & chicken worth it.

Definitely going back for dessert at The Melting Pot!

At this point, it's about 10pm (or later), so we head back to the hotel. I text my friend, Faith to see if they're at the hotel and she responds with a positive. So I head on up to meet these girls for the very first time. I was so stinkin' excited!! Caroline answered my knock at the door. We both did a happy dance. Then I see Faith and Jenna and I think my heart will just explode! We hugged each others necks and I make my way in to see who else is in the room. Kelly, Ashley, Betsy, and Mandi were there also. One word for all of the girls pictured below...PRECIOUS!

In the pic: Me, Faith, Jenna, Mandi, Betsy, Kelly, Caroline. All of these girls are just beautiful on the inside and out! And I can't forget Betsy's sweet daughter, Ashley, who took the picture for us (pics of her to come). :) I'm hoping we've talked her into starting her own blog very soon!



After visiting with the girls for a bit, I went back to my room and tried to get some sleep. TRIED being the keyword. It was hard to shut my mind off at that point. Eventually, I fell asleep and rested up for day two in Atlanta!

More to come...

Love to all,