March

Once again, I've fallen WAY behind on blogging! A lot has happened since my last post. :)

Brett's dad retired on February 29 and we went up there for a little over a week to help them pack and to celebrate his retirement. Thankfully their house sold (and closed!) 10 days before he retired.

{Brett couldn't resist a last chance to pose!}

We spent Jim's first day of retirement in Chattanooga. It was a nice break from packing! We have been to Chattanooga many times, but I had never taken the time to drive through the Missionary Ridge battlefield area to find the memorial for the brigade that my great-great-great grandfather, Jacob Perry Merrill, had fought with/been captured. I was glad to finally check that off my bucket list!

 {Moore's Bridgade memorial. Jacob Perry Merrill was in Co. C of the Alabama 37th}



We wrapped up our final trip to Scottsboro with dinner at Salt. It was our first time eating there and the food was great. Our dinner was interrupted with a massive hailstorm, but fortunately my car managed to come out unscathed! Phew!

{Dinner at Salt -- before the hailstorm!}

As soon as we came home from Scottsboro, I got busy getting ready for our local Arabian show. It is a qualifer for Region 12 and is always a good (but tough!) show. I was pretty tickled to get to show the same gelding that I had shown at the Baker show last fall.

Jim and Marlene drove up for the weekend to hang out with us during the show. It was great to have them there with us! We had a great group of folks all weekend and the show was a blast. Sadik did a great job for me and we came in 3rd in ATH Geldings!

One of my co-workers got married last Thursday night and she asked me to take pictures for her. I've never shot a wedding before (this was my first and last!) but we had a great time. It was a small ceremony with just family and close friends in the old chapel at the First Baptist Church. I've just started editing some of the pictures, but I love the way some of them turned out.

Brett and I drove down to Gulf Shores last Friday evening to spend the weekend with Jim and Mar at their new house. Let me go on the record and say that while I really miss going to the mountains, I'm THRILLED to have a place to go play on the beach! LOL

I didn't get any cell phone pictures of their house, but I did get some down at MeMe and Bubba's. Their house is our little piece of paradise. It's one of my favorite places!

{Pottery fragments from an old Indian shell midden}

We went to The Beach Club for dinner on Saturday night and it was excellent. The bartender made one of the best Mai Tai's I've ever had. :)

Jim and Brett went golfing Sunday morning while Mar and I went shopping for a bit. We met for lunch at Tacky Jack's and then hit the beach until it was time to go home.

Can I take a minute and say just how excited I am for private beach access? Can I get an Amen? LOL

This weekend is going to be a stay-at-home catch up weekend. Between yard work, cleaning out my closet, and editing photos from the show and wedding, I'm going to be busy for a while!