Change

After 5 years of working at Advance Auto Parts as their Commercial Parts Pro, Brett turned in his resignation and took a job closer to home. He is so excited and I'm happy for him! Tomorrow is his first day!

Since he won't get any real time off for a year, we decided to take a few days off this past week and go down to Gulf Shores and see Jim and Mar. The weather was beautiful and we had a couple great beach days. We both got a little bit of sun and had a great time! We were also able to take a walk on Bubba's beach and collect some more Indian pottery fragments. Our collection has grown quite a bit this year.

Mardi Gras 5K

St. Mary's Episcopal Church had their 1st Annual Mardi Gras 5K for their Rice & Beans Ministry yesterday and the weather could not have been any better! 

Brett was in charge of the balloons (all the helium made it INSIDE the balloons!) and I was on official camera duty. The turnout was even better than expected. The last number I heard was somewhere around 160 runners! I'm hoping that next year Brett will be on camera duty while I run!

Sun, Sand, Water (and golfballs!)

Normally I'm the girl who LOVES Winter. I'm practically giddy when the crisp Fall air turns cold and I get more excited than a toddler when it actually snows, so it's pretty surprising that I'm actually excited for Spring to get here. I think that part of the reason is that there were no January or February foals this year and foaling season is one of my favorite times of the year. The first foal is due around the first week of March and I'm very excited to see what's been cooking!

We've finally had some warmer weather so Brett and I took a weekend trip down to Gulf Shores to see Jim and Mar. We spent Saturday morning seeing some of the houses that they've been looking at lately. I know they're ready to get out of that small rental! Saturday afternoon was well into the 60s so we loaded up and went out to the driving range in Orange Beach!

After we left the driving range we drove down to the Bear Point neighborhood to watch the sunset. It was absolutely breathtaking. Mar's family had a beach house in Bear Point when she was growing up so she gave us the tour down there. I fell in love and now I want us to get a little cabin down there!

We spent Sunday morning looking for more pottery on the beach at MeMe and Bubba's house. Their place is a little piece of paradise and I'm so grateful that they share it with us. Fort Morgan really is Alabama's best kept secret!

Snow Day 2014

Southern Alabama actually got my favorite 4 letter word this year --- SNOW! Winter storm Leon brought about an inch of ice and a couple inches of snow last Tuesday and it was enough to completely shut Alabama down for 2 days.

It started off as a COLD, light rain on Tuesday morning and then quickly became freezing rain as the morning progressed. My boss decided to close the office at 10:30 and I decided to grab a quick lunch (and a margarita!) with a friend before I went home. In the 45 minutes I was inside the restaurant, my car looked like this!

Brett's boss let him come home around 1 so we settled in and got warm and cozy because we knew we were going to be home for a while! The freezing rain turned into sleet about 2:30 and then it started to snow right after dark. I'm very grateful that the freezing rain transitioned into sleet quicker than they forecasted because I was really starting to get concerned about the trees and power lines!

When we woke up on Wednesday we had a beautiful blanket of snow covering everything! Nothing is more beautiful to me than a fresh blanket of snow and the absolute quiet that comes along with it. It's so peaceful.

Since the roads were completely iced over and everything was shut down we decided to get outside and play like kids! We rode the 4 wheeler through the woods and spent hours running around with Gomer. I'm not sure who had more fun, Gomer or us! :)

This was the first time that Gomer has seen snow. He was born 3 months after our big snowfall in February 2010. He wasn't quite sure what he thought about it at first, but he quickly decided that it was pretty fun!

I really hope that we get lucky enough to get just one more snow day this year!

Making memories

The past few months have just flown by and once again I forgot to keep up with my blog!

Despite having several "no new additions" conversations, we brought Lola home in October. We found her in the parking lot of our favorite Mexican restaurant which is right next to a busy highway. There was no way we could just leave her there so she came home with us!

Marlene had exhibits at Williams Station Day in Atmore and the Fall Art Festival at the Gulf Shores United Methodist Church and we were able to go to both of those. It's always fun to hang out and watch Mar go into her "professional" mode!

We had beautiful fall weather this year and tried to spend as much time as we could in Shell Banks. Walking along the shoreline just soothes my soul.

Brett and I were both able to take a week off for Thanksgiving so we met up with Jim and Mar and drove up to Aiken. Brett's grandmother had 2 good days while we were there and it was nice to be able to spend some quality time with her. Brett's younger brother drove up Thanksgiving Day so Jim was able to spend Thanksgiving with his mother and all 4 of his kids. As always, we had a fabulous time in Aiken. I honestly think I could live there and be happy as a clam!

Christmas was a little low key this year, but that was fine with me. We had Christmas dinner with my parents and my great-aunt and uncle and had a very good time. This was the first year that I cooked everything on my own and I'm proud to say that it all turned out just fine! (Thank goodness!)

We started off the New Year with some record setting cold temperatures. I was really hoping we would get at least a few snow flurries, but they stayed too far north. Our highs stayed below freezing for a couple of days and we dipped into the single digits at night. I was shocked when our slough at the river actually froze over! I've never seen that before.

2014 was also kicked off with a new look for Brett. The ponytail is officially GONE! She cut off a 16" ponytail, plus cut off another 3". I can't believe he had that much hair on his head in the first place! LOL

2013 ended with some pretty great memories and I can't wait to see what 2014 has in store!