Closing day

What a wonderful Thanksgiving we had! Lots of family, food and football. We enjoyed three Thanksgiving meals; my mom/step dad's, dad/step mom's AND Jonathan's amazing parents. We helped decorate at mom's house which I enjoyed especially since Jonathan and I aren't decorating too much at the apartment.

After Thanksgiving, November 30, we closed on our first house!! We are gracious and more importantly shocked at how smoothly everything went and that God blessed us with a wonderful home, stress-free preparation and perfect timing. We can't WAIT to move in :)

Siblings and husbands

Jonathan helping fix the tree...being a trooper :)

Again...it's a beautiful tree 

Great friends

Jonathan with our closing binder & festive pillow, haha 

We closed!!...thought the pillow was appropriate

Today is Jonathan's Birthday!! I am so thankful for him, all he does and how much he loves his family. Looking forward to this year and spending many more Birthdays together. I love you sweetheart! 

And Thanksgiving is here

Since I started working in October, time has been flying by. I'm thoroughly enjoying my job and thankful that I get to work with two of my best friends! J and I have been quite busy but having a lot of fun. He went to Gatlinburg for a bachelor party and I went to Atlanta with the bachelorette. We had a great time despite the bride getting a nasty cold right before we got there :( 

Last weekend we headed to west Alabama to visit grandparents and cousins...that was a lot of fun and Lacy and I got some great antique treasures from my grandmother. We are slowly but surely gathering more things to fill our home...We are scheduled to close on our NEW HOUSE Nov 30! The incredible blessing is that the sellers are building a home and can't move in until March and we have our lease until March so we actually won't be moving in until then.

Our new house! Can't wait to move in

Made it to ATL for Lauren's bachelorette weekend 

Kristen, Ashley & Sarah (Ash pretending to be the bride)

Again-the girls at lunch

My adorable husband 

Hubs had a strange episode while working out & had to visit the ER...thankfully, everything is fine!

Next week is Thanksgiving and there is much to be thankful for...health, marriage, family, friends, being back in Birmingham, jobs and more. We're looking forward to spending special time with everyone next week.

All Hallows Eve

Halloween is a bizarre holiday to me but I've always participated in the festivities...dressing up, giving candy to trick-or-treaters, carving pumpkins and watching Hocus Pocus (which is my favorite part). This year, Jonathan and I came up with last minute costumes that were free and easy, the way we like it. Friday night we went with friends to a costume party at a local brewing company. It was a lot of fun to see such creative costumes and spend time together. We carved pumpkins but with the weather going back and forth between 75 degrees and 38 degrees, we couldn't leave our pumpkin out all week or it would have collapsed. This is one of my favorite pumpkins so far!

Carving & separating pumpkin seeds

The girls & our pumpkins (see my flame pumpkin?)

Great costumes!

My friend Haley

Lacy, Eric and me being silly 

Me, Lacy and Hubs :)

Peyton Manning (his career) and football

Peyton throwing the football, haha

Favorites

I never thought I would care to join the 21st century in the world of cell phone technology but I did about a year ago and I love it. I have the iphone and the applications you can download are endlessly creative and abundant. YouVersion is an app that keeps me connected to scripture throughout the day and outlines great reading plans for those of us bible reading people. Jonathan and I are reading the marriage plan right now and also reading the one year bible plan. If you have a smart phone and you read the bible, download this app!

Another favorite of mine is Warby Parker...we heard about the company a while back and shared it with our friends and now they are popping up everywhere. They are a customer-serving company that will send you 5 pairs of glasses for free (AND pays for shipping) and you can buy a pair of frames with prescription lenses for only $95. Yes, it's awesome. I wear contact lenses and glasses and i'm anxiously awaiting my 5 pairs to try on.

A weekend on The Plains

Jonathan and I packed up and headed to Auburn this weekend for the Florida game and we had a blast. We stayed at Ethan's apartment...I still can't believe he is a freshman in college! Zach came down too and it was a lot of fun hanging out with both brothers. We saw friends, enjoyed food, tailgating, walking around campus and going to the game. Hubby and I had great seats thanks to Pat! We are looking forward to sharing Auburn Football weekends with our kids :) Our must-stop was Toomer's for lemonade before heading back...until next time! 

 My babe and I at Toomer's Corner

My husband looking good :) 

 At the game!

 So happy I got to hold baby Zoe (Mary & Eron's baby girl)...glad I got to see the fam!

 We checked out the National Championship Trophy

Amazed by the new Basketball Arena! 

Toomer's picture with Kristen that's a bit dark

 Again with Kristen at the tailgate

Lauren, me, Kristen holding Zoe and Mary...love them!

Sweet Home Alabama!

Lauren's wedding shower

Lacy and the sweet dogs

Dad and Lacy

My sweet husband :)

Cousins at Lacy's Bachelorette Party

Dad, Kathy and Lacy at Lacy's and Eric's wedding shower

Lacy's BEAUTIFUL wedding day!

We are back to Alabama!! Time has absolutely flown by since the end of July and every step of this journey has been incredible. Jonathan was traveling to Texas with his previous job and they planned to offer him a promotion and for us to move to TX...well, God's timing is perfect and out of the blue he had an interview in Birmingham. We didn't get our hopes up and took it a day at a time and low and behold, they offered him the JOB! His dream job, back to our roots.

Lacy's wedding was August 20 and it was beautiful and fun. We flew home for that, looked at our future apartment, flew back to FL and was there for the movers to move our things (so thankful for that). We lived in a hotel for almost 2 weeks while J started his job and then Sept. 1 we moved into our quaint apartment. This is temporary but in a great location for us to house hunt.

Well, here we are just a month later and we found a house! What seems like 8 months has only been 1 month as we have been busy visiting with family and friends 24/7. We love it and each day, we are aware of how blessed we are. One regret is that J broke our camera so all we have to depend on for now is the iphone :(

We miss our friends/coworkers from Florida but we are so thankful to be surrounded by family (and great BBQ). Football season has kept us busy and we are looking forward to a trip to the plains next weekend! Can't wait to see the Tigers play Florida!

2 Chronicles 7:14

"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." God is good and as Jonathan and I work on humbling ourselves each day, God is revealing this truth to us. For this, and so many other blessings, we are thankful.

Our cup is running full: The Nevins' visit was awesome. We relaxed, talked and enjoyed just being together...and watched a magical fireworks show over the ocean on Sunday night. They packed up and headed back to Birmingham on the 4th and then Wednesday night, Lauren and Brad arrived! We were thrilled to have so many guests visit us at our beach home. Lauren and I have been friends for years and I treasure our friendship so much- we've grown up together and I love sharing stories and advice with her. She is getting married in January and it's crazy how fast time has flown by...she is going to be a beautiful bride!

I will share the few pictures we took on the next update. In a few hours, I am flying home for Lacy and Eric's wedding shower weekend. My sis will be married in 1 month and 5 days!!! :)

Happy Friday!

Family coming to town!

Jonathan's parents & sis are headed this way for the long July 4th weekend and we are THRILLED! I was spending some time crafting some cute straw decor that we might put to use poolside OR beachside...here are a few I designed but you can craft them however you'd like: all you do is punch two holes and slide the straw through.
Tonight is Bunco with all the ladies and the host is having taco night! Looking forward to dice-rolling, laughter and fun...off to do quick laundry before I head out!

Quality time with my husband :)

The past few weeks have been low-key and I have to say, i've thoroughly enjoyed it. Quality time for us to enjoy watching movies, volunteering, cooking, playing tennis and softball, going to church and reading...lots of prayer and discussion about the near future and different opportunities that have come about. We will see what happens as details unfold the next few weeks but until then, we keep working hard and working on ourselves. I am so thankful that Jonathan is thoughtful, courageous, ambitious, God-loving and humble.

49. for putting aside worries at work
50. for lunch with coworkers
51. for businesses donating great gifts for a work event
52. for quiet mornings with Jonathan
53. for playing tennis with J and the competition and laughter
54. for delish dinner date at Panera with a free coffee
55. for rain showers to cool the temperature and prevent more fires
56. for a phone call from dad
57. for meeting with our wonderful financial advisor and christian mentor
58. for new adorable beach towels that I found on sale at Target
59. for a smaller apartment that is much easier to clean
60. for the comfort of answered prayers

Tennis match at sunset

Volunteering with Habitat Humanity is awesome...pictures from the house to follow soon!

Hubby's softball game...he makes me so proud

Daily thanks

31. for God letting us know he has a plan

32. for hubby's excitement about work & great coworkers he has met

33. for phone conversations with hubby while he is traveling

34. for a stronger friendship with my girlfriend at work

35. for prayers from friends

36. for peace about what the future holds & trusting in his plan

37. for wonderful kayaking trips

38. for beautiful days & cool breezes

39. for budgeting & planning trips home

40. for quiet time in the morning

41. for seeing Bridesmaids with Shannon & lots of laughter

42. for bargain shopping & new summer dresses

43. for friendly faces at church & Panera lunch after

44. for volunteer opportunities & the joy it brings

45. for Dad's kind words

46. for Lauren & Brad's visit in a few weeks

47. for hubby's family visiting in in a few weeks

48. for excitement of planning Lacy's bachelorette party!

Love my family!

This is a picture from our wedding shower in March 2010.

Can't wait for Lacy & Eric's big day!

Busy summer begins!

So at the end of May, Jonathan went to New Orleans for a week to work on a project for work. He brought back some Cafe du monde delish coffee which I am still enjoying this morning. :) I flew to Bham to be there for mom's retirement recognition on that Thursday which I was blessed to be there for that special time. Mom has been at ASFA for 28 years and she is finally saying goodbye. I have many memories of that school and we have been such a part of her career so it was bittersweet to end those chapters.

Jonathan met me in Bham on Friday and we enjoyed spending time with family and friends. We were able to go to our friend Jenny and Jacob's wedding which was beautiful. Sunday, we enjoyed a day out on the lake with Dad, Kathy, Lacy, Eric, Zach & Margaret. Jet skis and tubing was pretty intense considering it's been over five years since i've been tubing! We attended graduation for Ethan and Jessica on Monday night and got to have a celebration dinner with both. Congratulations Graduates!!

The next weekend, we enjoyed our long weekend catching up on laundry and chores. Monday was Memorial Day so we ventured out on a kayaking trip. We got to see many manatees, dolphins, sting rays, fish & other creatures swimming alongside of our kayak. We spent most of the day on the water and stopped at the country club to have a picnic lunch. It was so much fun!

This past week was incredibly busy for me...we had two events at work and I was on cruise control. It was chaotic and stressful right before the event so I had the sweet company of the little dog named bean who hung out with me in my office. Friday was our Casino Night which is a lot of fun but I was worn slap out by Friday at 11pm when we got home. With that said, we got up early and headed out to the port for the hot rod power tour show. Jonathan LOVED it which made me happy- we took a lot of pictures but here are a few to enjoy...