• Life

    2022 Niece & Nephew Outing

    December 30, 2022 - By 

    This year Rob and I decided instead of trying to buy our nieces and nephews stuff for Christmas, we’d go in with Rob’s brother and start taking them on an outing. We took a trip to Birmingham for the day. First stop was donuts in Childersburg that we ate in the car. Then, we got to McWane Center, which is a science museum and research archive located in downtown Birmingham, Alabama. The state-of-the-art hands-on science center, aquarium, and 250-seat IMAX Dome Theater is housed in the historic and refurbished Loveman’s department store building. If you’ve been around the blog a…

  • Life

    Christmas Day 2022

    December 29, 2022 - By 

    Christmas Day we had a set time for the boys to come over. Alex had spent the night over and Drew’s on Christmas Eve. We started the morning as always with Apple Dumplins’, Sausage Balls, and store bought Cinnamon Rolls (for Alex). Then we took our family pics as always. So my big Christmas present was this. A piece of paper that said I have tickets for a Katy Perry concert in Vegas in April!! So excited!! This is from Alex. A Dainty Necklace duo that I will treasure forever. Drew and Caitlyn got me a really nice Dutch oven…

  • Life

    Leading up to Christmas 2022

    December 28, 2022 - By 

    This Christmas season was had many differences for us. I felt behind pretty much until Christmas Day. What got me behind is that I was in charge of a big party for our scout troop, which occurred on Dec. 15th. We did get our house decorated early December, which was good. However, usually the week before I get out of work, I get all my treat making/baking done and we do a good bit of our shopping, but that was the week of the party. So none of that happened then. So the week before Christmas, my anxiety took over…

  • Travel

    Carnival Glory:Day 4:Montego Bay

    December 22, 2022 - By 

    Here we are for another cruise post. This is our first day in port. Our first time in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Kind of crazy all the cruises we’ve been on and this was our first time in Jamaica. We ended up booking Off-Road Safari excursion through Carnival. The description says, “Begin in a 4×4 safari truck, negotiating mountainous roads for spectacular views of Montego Bay from sites as high as 1,500 ft. above sea level. Experience the diversity of charming rural communities and towns. Stop at a former historic hospital that was converted to a church in 1846. Enjoy the…

  • Travel

    Long Weekend in Lakeland, FL

    December 16, 2022 - By 

    Our good friends’ daughter got married this past weekend. Rob and I decided to make a trip out of it so we’d be there to help however they needed us. We left Thursday to drive down to Lakeland, FL and looked at hotels. Thursday We stopped about half way down in Valdosta, GA at the Smokin’ Pig for lunch. Nothing to write home about. We got into Lakeland about 5pm, checked into the motel, and walked over to Black & Brew for dinner. We met up with family that traveled from many different places. We were right across from Munn…

  • Photography

    iSpy #100 (the last one)

    December 5, 2022 - By 

    Hey yall! So this will be the last iSpy (at least for awhile). We will see. I was going to finish off this year, but then I thought with it being our 100th iSpy and it be the Christmas season, this is a good time to call it quits. The reason I’m not continuing on with iSpy even after having the survey is that the participation over the last month or so has dwindled to 1 or 2 people each week. Really more than that I’m just burnt out. 🙁 Thanks to all that have participated!! I appreciate it so…

  • Life

    Monthly Digest – November 2022

    December 2, 2022 - By 

    November was actually a long month for me, but then again I still can’t believe it’s almost December. It’s the Christmas season and I’m just not sure I’m ready for that. LIFE Happenings We had our yearly crawl space inspection and its a good thing because the pipe coming from our kitchen sink had a huge hole in it. Perhaps professionals, who may know the cost to jet sewer line, can fix that. This meant that everything from the sink including all the stuff from the disposal was emptying out into the crawl space. Yuck! Luckily we were able to…

  • Life

    Thanksgiving 2022

    November 29, 2022 - By 

    This year Thanksgiving was different. Rob’s mom and step dad went to Florida. Rob’s sister had all her in-laws at their house. With all that info, we just decided to do our own Thanksgiving at our house with just the boys and their dates, as well as Rob’s brother. I cooked all the sides and some things didn’t turn out as well as I would have liked, but it was a year of trying to make everything Gluten Free for Caitlyn and making some things these low carb for me. Nothing was uneditable. Thank goodness. Rob’s deep fried turkey was…

  • Photography

    iSpy #99

    November 28, 2022 - By 

    special What a special sunset! blunt Couldn’t come up with anything for this one. starts with S The sky looked really cool one day last week when I was walking. food My Thanksgiving plate your choice I’m still obsessed with all the fall colors I’ve been seeing in my neighborhood. You are invited to the Inlinkz link party! Click here to enter I’d love you to join along with us next week! Challenge yourself this week to step out of your comfort zone. Get low, go high, change your angle, get close, back up. Do something different with your shots…

  • Life

    Double Date in Atlanta

    November 21, 2022 - By 

    This past weekend Drew had planned a date day for he and Caitlyn. We ended up tagging along as we thought we were going to be doing some wedding stuff that day up in Atlanta, but ended up not having to. It was a surprise for me and Caitlyn. All we knew was dress comfy-cute, having brunch before the main ‘thing’ and just seeing where the day took us after that. Caitlyn chose Egg Harbor Cafe for brunch. There was a wait, but our food came out super fast and it was delicious. They have a good gluten free menu.…

  • Photography

    iSpy #98

    November 21, 2022 - By 

    lock Y’all, I thought I had something for this one, but no such luck. Spot in Town – quarterly – Didn’t get over there to take a pic. body parts in the dark your choice You are invited to the Inlinkz link party! Click here to enter I’d love you to join along with us next week! Challenge yourself this week to step out of your comfort zone. Get low, go high, change your angle, get close, back up. Do something different with your shots this week! A couple simple guidelines.. 1. Anyone can participate. 2. Since this challenge is…

  • Life

    A Sad Goodbye

    November 16, 2022 - By 

    I mentioned we had to go out of town for a funeral. I had started writing details about what happened, but really this isn’t my story to share. What I will share is that Drew’s fiance’s mom passed away. At 47… It wasn’t a surprise. She’s been sick for years. It was still the saddest thing. During our time down in Florida, I had 2 new experiences. 1. I witnessed someone on their death bed. That is hard. The beautiful thing that I witnessed, however, was getting to see Drew comfort Caitlyn as she sat there and watched her mom…

  • Travel

    Carnival Glory Cruise:Day 2 & 3

    November 15, 2022 - By 

    Today we’re continuing more cruise posts. If you missed my post about day 0 & 1, read that here>>>Carnival Glory Day 0 & 1 Day 2 & 3 of our cruise were days at sea. I probably won’t write about all the sea days. Sometimes trying to figure out how to structure these cruise posts is hard. So much I want to share, but also not wanting to take months writing these posts. We’ll see. Day 2 Monday was our 1st day at sea. We slept in and then decided to go to the main dining room for breakfast. I…

  • Photography

    iSpy #97

    November 13, 2022 - By 

    acorn plant – quarterly – this plant has grown so much. I’ve cut several pieces off to propogate. brown so much raking to be done. Pine straw…ugh! forever When I think of something that is forever, I think of time so I took a picture of my watch. your choice 3 out of 4 horses at the farm You are invited to the Inlinkz link party! Click here to enter I’d love you to join along with us next week! Challenge yourself this week to step out of your comfort zone. Get low, go high, change your angle, get close,…

  • Travel

    Carnival Glory Cruise:Day 0 & 1

    November 9, 2022 - By 

    Today I’m finally starting to share about our Back to Back cruises. Actually this first post is about us driving down to New Orleans and the day we got on the ship. We left around 1pm after an Eagle Court of Honor ceremony. We stopped at Conecuh headquarters for Cajun sausage dogs down in Evergreen, AL. The weather got scary. It monsooned on us for a bit, but we made it to New Orleans a little before 7pm. We stopped for dinner at Gretna Depot, which was about a mile and half from our hotel. They have a drink called…

  • Photography

    iSpy #96

    November 8, 2022 - By 

    I’m sorry this is so late. I’m out of town for a funeral. I’ll get my pics posted at some point, but for now here’s the link up and the prompts for this week. – Updated now with pics! leaf love This is a huge pile of leaves. The photo doesn’t really do it justice. on your plate – quarterly – Still eating low carb monochromatic A view of the leaves on the ground as I did my walk one day. no humans allowed choose anything – monthly same vantage point – Another view of my fridge. 😉 You are…

  • Photography

    iSpy #95

    October 31, 2022 - By 

    earth I had lots of ideas for this one, but these fall colors in my neck of the woods on earth are too gorgeous not to post. near I took this through a rain covered window Sunday morning when I was sitting in the car waiting from Rob to run into the gas station. I thought taking this shot through the window of this old house near me was different. starts with X I spent way to long trying to figure out what to do for this one and I could never come up with anything so… garden objects (no…

  • Travel

    Jefferson City & St. Charles, Missouri

    October 29, 2022 - By 

    Hey yall! Here we are again for another travel post. This will be my final post for our St. Louis and beyond trip. In case you missed other posts from this trip, they’re listed here: Missouri/Kansas Trip Jefferson City, MO The sky looked crazy when we arrived at the hotel that evening. After we checked into the hotel, we got back in the car and drove over to the Missouri Capitol. There are so many different areas around the capitol to see. Fountain of the Centaurs Governor’s Mansion This bunny was hanging out in front yard there. We drove by…

  • Travel

    Topeka & Lawrence, Kansas Highlights

    October 28, 2022 - By 

    Hey yall! Here we are again for another travel post. In case you missed other posts from this trip, they’re listed here: Missouri/Kansas Trip After getting up in Kansas City, our next plan of action was to continue driving. Entering the state of Kansas Topeka, KS Our first stop was in downtown Topeka. The rotunda was gorgeous! Down one hall were signs like the one you see below that talked about iconic Kansans. I enjoyed learning about some people I didn’t realize were from there. The stone corridors on the main floor were beautiful. From there we drove over to…

  • Life

    October 2022 Monthly Musings-Thanksgiving Prep

    October 27, 2022 - By 

    Today I’m linking up for Monthly Musings for October with Patty & Holly. 1. Do you host Thanksgiving or go somewhere else? I typically do not host. We either go to my mother-in-law’s or my sister-in-law’s depending on who’s in town. Sometimes my in-laws go visit other family for Thanksgiving. This is a pic of my sis-in-law’s kitchen from last year. 2. What dishes do you make or contribute? Everyone always wants me to make my Praline Sweet Potatoes. A couple years ago no one was bringing dressing or gravy so I decided to try a new dressing. This Andouille…