Girls Beach Weekend

As most of you probably know each year me and three of my best friends from college (Whitney, Courtney and Margaret) always get together for a beach trip. We all look forward to the weekend and cherish the time together especially now since we all live in different cities.

Last year the wedding posed a problem, even though we did get together twice for wedding related functions so this year we were determined to get back on track. However with babies on the way and Margaret living in Missouri for 3 months we had a few hurdles.

Whitney is due in early April and Courtney is due in May so we figured that we needed to get the trip in before the babies come. So rather than our usually June/July trip we opted to go in February.

In January, Margaret found out that her husband John was going to have to spend several months in Branson, MO for his job. Rather than be apart for that long (with a 1 year old) Margaret decided to go with John. We tried to figure out a way for her to make the trip, but it just didn't work out this year. We missed her so much, but her absences gives us a reason to try to get together again later this year!



No trip to Destin is complete without shopping. So since babies seemed to be the theme this year we hit up the Carter outlet and found these cute outfits!

This picture proves that you do carry boys lower. Whitney is on the left and having a girl. Courtney is on the right and having a boy. Now look at their hands!

Just for the record...I would like to make note that this year (and probably ONLY this year) I was the thinnest in the group!

It was a wonderful trip, and I cannot wait to meet this two precious babies!!!

Let the Birthdays Begin

We had the privilege of celebrating my mother-in-laws birthday several weekends ago when they came in town for a visit.

Her birthday is the first of our family birthdays...Since then we celebrated the 2nd birthday of year with my sister Ellen on March 2nd (sorry no pictures). Dad is up next in April!

Below are a few pictures from our birthday dinner with Mrs. Susan!

Spring

Since Nick likes to make fun of me when I don't quite get the blog background changed fast enough I have decided to move away from the holiday themes and just do seasonal themes. So here is your Spring themed background!

Thank goodness I can leave this one up for a few months!

Like, Love and Don't Like

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY EVERYONE!

This week's installment is going to be lite on the "Like" and "Love" and heavy on the "Don't Like". BUCKLE UP.

This week, I like the prospect of warmer weather. I mentioned my disdain for cold weather in a recent post (and admitted that other parts of the USofA have it a lot worse). This week, the temps have started to climb. We've got our fingers crossed for a beautiful 64 degree day on March 13 when Clay "Bomber" Branch and I take on Ross Bridge.

This week, I love coming home to a good meal. Having nearly reached the 1-year mark in our marriage, I have come to take Julie's lip-smackin' cooking talents for granted. It seems that the days when the Arby's staff in Atmore (AL) not only knew my name but also my nightly order are long gone. But I want to take this opportunity to publicly express my appreciation for my loving wife. Even after battling Hwy 280 traffic each night, she always comes home in a pleasant mood and works her magic in the kitchen. I'm like Pavlov's dogs...sitting there watching her cook, letting the aroma waft into my nostrils. The stimulate in my case is when Julie looks into my eyes and softly says, "It's ready." When I hear those words, I know IT'S PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME!

This week, I don't like the Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300 HDC. This, my friends, is the name of the Digital Video Recorder (DVR) supplied to us as part of our HD cable package from Charter Communications. This device has a mind of its own, and not in a "this is NASA-level technology" kind of way. I'm so disappointed in this DVR for the following core reasons:

• The menu and guide function is 1992-level. Very primitive.


• The audio regularly fades out during TV viewing.


• Many programs schedule to record simply do not record.

That's right, the chief objective of a DVR is not met by our DVR! It didn't record LOST last night! Luckily, Julie was smart enough to set her early-version TiVo as a backup. The list of disappointments could go on so much longer. I miss the ease and capability of that little TiVo. There's loads of online message boards that feature endless complaints about this DVR. If you have any stories, please throw them my way. I really would like to hear them.