Alex turned 13 last week. His actual birthday was on Tuesday, so we celebrated by taking him to Mikata (his favorite choice). Then, on Saturday we had a party at Surge Trampoline park. They were so tired they couldn’t even stand for the picture! Jumping for 2 hours = hungry and thirsty boys! So we brought them to CiCi’s for lunch. One of the boys got Alex a doll! It was quite a hit. Click the link below to see more pics from the party! https://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/alex13thbirthdayparty
Rob’s cousin, Tara, recently got married. We drove down to Spring Hill Florida, which is about an hour north of Tampa. She had a Medieval Fantasy Themed Wedding at the Nature Coast Botanical Garden. It was lots of fun. Tara worked her fingers to the bone, but did a great job of delegating help that weekend. If you also want to have this kind of wedding, then you may start inquiring for affordable all-inclusive wedding packages with options for wedding ballrooms. And for grooms who still don’t have any ideas what to wear on their wedding day, you may consider…
On Day 5 of our West Coast trip, we checked out of our hotel and head towards the Golden Gate Bridge. We drove over it and then stopped for some photos. It was a chili, foggy day. We drove through Wine Country and stopped at a couple different wineries. The first one was Milano Family Winery. The lady there was friendly and educated us a bit on a few of their wines. We tasted a couple and ended up buying a bottle of Big A$$ Blonde, which is a white wine with fruity undertones. We paid around $15, I believe.…
Every February our church rents out Shocco Springs for 2 retreats that happen simultaneously. For the last 6 or so years, Drew has been in youth so he’s gone to the youth part of the retreat which is called Winter Retreat. The rest of us usually go to the Family Retreat that happens just up the hill. This year since Alex is now part of youth, he attended Winter Retreat. Rob and Drew are both Disciple Group leaders, so they went as leaders. So that left me, to either go to the Family Retreat without my family, stay home, or…
We enjoyed another annual ski trip with the Scouts again this year. Last year I stayed back to deal with moving and organizing stuff after having the carpet installed. This year, I went so that Caitlyn wouldn’t have to pay for a room by herself. As usual we caravanned up there Friday night arriving around 1 am. The next morning the scouts got up and gallivanted through Downtown Gatlinburg, while Caitlyn and I decided to explore Gatlinburg on our own. We walked around and shopped and then ate an early lunch at Bennett’s Pit BBQ, which is my favorite place…
Sunday was the Annual Bodie Bowl, where the trombones and trumpets wage war on the football field. The intense rivalry begins on the marching field every August when the band convenes to prepare for the upcoming AU football season. Even after the last note is blown, the last flag is popped, and instruments, equipment, and uniforms are returned, this staunch rivalry never dies. To continue the tradition, these 2 sections of the band meet on the football field not to march in concordance, but to see who can cross the goal line more. Here’s a few pics from the action……
When we found out that Auburn was going to the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, we decided we would go. We were able to get 2 tickets since we have 2 regular season tickets. Drew would be going with the Auburn University Marching Band (AUMB). They left Friday, Dec. 30th first thing in the morning. We left that morning too, but not as early because Rob hadn’t been feeling great. We stayed in Baton Rouge with Rob’s cousin and her family from Friday till Tuesday. We watched lots of football, played games, and just enjoyed visiting. Saturday, Rob and I…
Christmas was a little odd this year, since we got back from our cruise on Christmas Eve. Santa must have been hungry! Pics of our tree before opening presents We enjoyed the Christmas Day service at church Drew actually smiled for a photo with gift from Santa! Excited about my gifts! Family pic at church since none of us really in the mood beofre getting to church After church we headed up to Moreland to spend the day with Rob’s family. The calm before the cooking storm… This is Sweetie…she makes me laugh. My nephew staring in to space My…
Embarkation Day We spent the weekend before Christmas in Spring Hill, FL visiting with Rob’s Gramma, Grampa, Mom, and others. We celebrated Gramma McMahon’s birthday that Sunday. Then, on Monday we loaded up and headed down to the Tampa Cruise port. We always arrive at the port around 11am. Even though the cruise documents say you start checking in at 1pm that’s not true. Here’s everyone walking from the long-term garage to the cruise port and then Drew and Caitlyn after we checked in and were waiting for our group to be called so we could board the Carnival Paradise.…
My Granny was one of the best cooks around. One of my favorite things she made was her banana nut bread. When I started making the bread, I decided I’d like them to easier to eat on the go, so I made them into muffins. Just as good, just easier to eat on the run. So yummy and convenient. Granny would be proud. Servings: 12 Prep Time: 10 minutes Cooking Time: 1 hour 1 1/2 cups sugar 1/2 cup oil 2 eggs 1/2 cup buttermilk 1/4 tsp. salt 1 1/2 cups ripe mashed bananas 2 cups flour 1 tsp. vanilla…
This month I was happy about: going on a cruise right before Christmas. Christmas Cruise This year I’m going to rate the books & movies. Here’s my rating system: ♥ ♥ = Love it! A must read/see! ♥ = Really good! Highly recommend. ✓ ✓ = Good, not great ✓ = Not much to talk about X = Awful. Total waste of time Movies I watched were: Rogue One ✓ ✓ Hackshaw Ridge ♥ ♥ Christmas Belle ♥ TV Shows I watched were: Prison Break (Netflix) – finished it! ♥ ♥ One Tree Hill (Netflix) – finished it! ♥ ♥…
Back in January we got a killer deal for Cottonmouths Hockey game. They did the same deal earlier this month and its fun to take a quick drive to Columbus for some hockey and Waffle House. Our seats this time were even better, just behind the visiting team bench. Yeah, the Cottonmouth’s mascot, Boomer is really cool. It was also Super Mario Night, so the team wore special jerseys that they auctioned off after the game. It was Boy Scout Day. We sat right behind the Peoria Rivermen, the visiting team’s bench. We won in a sudden death overtime! Here’s…
Rob got up early Saturday morning and went to help a scout with his Eagle Scout project. The boys and I got up and cleared the spot in front of our living room for the tree and pulled all the Christmas decorations down from the attic. Last year the tree had to get was a little too tall because they didn’t have any decent ones that were shorter. This year they opened up a new lot with a little bit shorter ones. With the drought I was happy that they had trees, but especially Virginia Pines. Are we sure this…
Servings: about 2 dozen Prep Time: 15 minutes Cooking Time: 30 minutes Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 3 cups quick-cooking oats 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 1 tsp. salt 1 tsp. baking soda 1/4 tsp. nutmeg 1 tsp. vanilla extract 1 cup butter, softened not melted 1 cup granulated sugar 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed 1 large egg 1 cup mashed bananas (about 2 large overripe bananas) Optional: add your favorite cookie add-ins like chocolate chips, fruit, etc. Directions: 1. Preheat oven to 350°. 2. Spray cookie sheets with nonstick spray. I like Bakers Joy Cake Pan Spray. 3. In…
This month I was happy about: getting to see Drew sing in his first AU Cappella concert. This year I’m going to rate the books & movies. Here’s my rating system: ♥ ♥ = Love it! A must read/see! ♥ = Really good! Highly recommend. ✓ ✓ = Good, not great ✓ = Not much to talk about X = Awful. Total waste of time Movies I watched were: Storks (at the theater as a reward to Alex for making All A’s for the 1st 9 weeks) ♥ ♥ Zookeeper ♥ ♥ TV Shows I watched were: Prison Break (Netflix…
Yesterday we had a lovely Thanksgiving with family up in Moreland with my sis-in-law and family and brother-in-law. Rob’s Mom and Step Dad were in Texas so they weren’t there. We got there around 10 and got to catch some of the parade. Alex enjoyed cuddling with Maria’s dog, Sweetie. Sundae, Rob’s Mom’s dog, got some lovin’ too. I played with the youngest lil’ one. It was a balmy day, which made it great for cooking our turkey in the infrared oil-less turkey fryer and visiting out on the back deck. After watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade and hanging inside…
This is one of the first recipes I made after starting my sharing recipes on my blog. I haven’t made it in years, but finally decided to make it this year for Thanksgiving. Servings: 36 Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cook Time: 35 Minutes Ready In: 50 Minutes Ingredients: 2 cups all-purpose flour 1/4 cup packed brown sugar 1/2 cup butter 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk (NOT evaporated milk) 3 eggs, beaten 2 tablespoons lemon juice from concentrate Cool Whip for topping (optional) Directions: 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In medium-sized bowl,…
As I mentioned before Drew is in AU Cappella which is Auburn University’s all male acapella singing group. They do a concert every semester for the community as as well as singing for special events like the Brave’s games and other cool events. So last week was their Fall concert and Drew sang a solo to Michael Buble’s Just Haven’t Met You Yet. He did a lovely job and I was just so frickin’ proud of him and how confident he was during the entire concert. Here’s the AU Cappella Video of Drew singing his solo: Rob videoed the entire…
The 4th day on our exciting and jam-packed West Coast trip started off with a ride on cable car down to Fisherman’s Wharf. We had a fairly early ticket reservation for the ferry over to Alcatraz, so we got up early enough to catch a cable car and get some breakfast and walk around down at the wharf. We ended up just grabbing McDonald’s. Although, the bread at Boudin’s looked and smelled amazing. They weren’t open yet. Mural down at the Wharf when we got off the cable car. Love the sunflare from the morning sun.
So it doesn’t matter how many times doctors and nurses tell you something. Anytime the C word [Cancer] is involved it scares the absolute life out of you. I went for my annual gynecologist appointment back in September. The doc and I discussed my upcoming mammogram which was scheduled for mid October. Since it was going to be my first one, he warned me that often times they will call you back in for more tests for varying reasons. One reason is pre-menopausal women have dense breast tissue which makes it hard to see clearly. Another reason is that they…