Professional Blogger....What?

So, I'm officially a TV blogger for al.com. A few weeks ago I saw where al.com was looking for people to blog about the television shows they are watching. Well, I sent in my information and after looking at my personal blog, they set me up as one of their bloggers. Kind of exciting. This is a new feature on al.com and there are about 6 or 7 of us at this point. Right now, I'm blogging on Big Brother, but I will be blogging on other shows as the new season starts.

So, check us out at http://blog.al.com/tv/ and let me know what you think (only if you have nice comments) :)

Birthday PARTY!

Saturday night we surprised my mom with a birthday party/cookout. There were a lot of people including friends that Mom went to high school with, family, and most of her co-workers/friends. It was a lot of fun and I think everyone had a great time!

We ate grilled hamburgers and hot dogs along with grilled veggies that were scrumptious! Here are Jacob and Rob working on the veggies.

We also had music going -and here are a few of the DJ's (Donny, Allison, and Derek) putting their heads together to decide what to listen to. It was really great getting to catch up and visit with people that we don't get to see very often.

We also enjoyed a Costco cake with cheesecake filling. As you can see, some people enjoyed the cake more than others. Rob got dirty while grilling and had to change clothes which is why he is in a t-shirt! :)
And some people (Susanne and Kristie) were up to no good. Haha..not really! I'm just jealous because I wasn't in on this conversation. ;)

If you've ever been to a party, you know the later it gets in the evening, the braver people get. Once "Thriller" came on, Rita and Becky decided to attempt their M.J. moves.

Jacob enjoying the tunes!

Like father, like son - This was definitely one of the funniest moments of the evening. I think I might have been adopted. ;)

Kristie dancing to "Baby Got Back"
Overall, it was a FUN evening. My parents have the PERFECT place for a party at their new house. There is LOTS of room to park and lots of room to spread out in the yard. I'm definitely thinking we will be having more parties there since this one was such a blast!

Happy Birthday Mom! I hope you had as much fun at your party as we did!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Tomorrow is my mom's 50th birthday. I say how old she is going to be just because you would never guess by looking at her that she was 50. Thank goodness for those genes - I hope I keep them. :) My mom and I have had a very interesting relationship during my lifetime. She and I have not always seen eye to eye, but at the end of the day, I know I always have her support! She isn't one of those moms who tells you what you want to hear, but instead is honest. I have hated her for this many times ;), but I also appreciate it more than she knows. I appreciate the honesty because that has made me the strong person that I am. Though I may have thought I needed her sympathy at times, but actually I needed her to kick me back to reality!

Mom and I are very different in many ways, but similar in others and each day I find more of her in myself. (This is not a bad thing, Mom!) She is a caring, genuine, and wonderful person and mother! God definitely blessed me with a great family!

I'm sorry I won't get to see you on your birthday Mom - Rob makes me work! ;) But I will see you this weekend!! Have a great birthday and I love you!

Weekend in Review

Friday night we attended a Going Away Party for our friend Josh who was flying to Korea on Saturday where he will be stationed for at least a year. Rob and I will definitely miss seeing him! We ate a yummy dinner at Greenbrier BBQ and just visited with him and other people we haven't seen in a while. I was a bad blogger and didn't get any pictures. :(

Saturday night we attended the Downtown Summerfest with friends, Scott and Meredith and some new friends, Matt and Stephanie. This is a new event in Downtown Huntsville and I hope it was a success so that it will be an every year event! It was a lot of fun, just SERIOUSLY hot! The first band was Gringo Star and we only heard the last few songs of theirs. Then, Cowboy Mouth performed and they were excellent!

Sister Hazel performed last and headed the show. They are always good and their songs take me back to my younger days! :) They do have a new CD dropping in August so I look forward to listening to that. They have such a unique sound! It was dark by the time they took the stage and I was taking pics with my Blackberry so sorry these pics are so bad! (I have gotten really bad about NEVER having my camera with me....I have got to work on this)

As you can see from this picture, there was a lot of sweat in the crowd:

Today, we have just spent the day being lazy. Midday we set up the plastic pool for the dogs and they went swimming. Buster, of course, loved it as usual! Minnie was okay with it and surprisingly Sam decided the kiddie pool is much better than the real pool. Here are a few pics of their fun!

Overall a fun, summer weekend!

Wordless Wednesday!

How can this not make you smile?

Happy Birthday Rob!

Happy Birthday to the most wonderful husband in the world! I'm a little under the weather with a head cold so today has been kind of blah. I had plans of taking him to eat and to a movie but instead we have lounged around the house. I'm giving him a rain check on the day's events. I feel bad about today because Rob has a way of making my birthdays special and I'm feeling kind of guilty for not doing the same for him. Of course, it is not really a big deal to him so he is completely fine with a rain check! I will keep you posted when we "make-up" this day!

This is how it works when you are married to someone who is carefree and doesn't really get stressed or upset about anything. God really knew what he was doing when he paired us together since as we all know, I'm the opposite - always stressing about something. Rob is such an awesome person and I am so blessed to be his wife. I'm also very grateful to his parents for raising such a kind, caring, genuine person! Rob is the best husband and best friend that I could have asked for! I love you Rob - Happy Birthday!

Since we didn't go out for his birthday and don't have a picture, I will leave you with a picture from Las Vegas.

Happy 4th!

This year we had a quiet and relaxing 4th of July and it was SO nice! Some friends of ours are out of town so we have been utilizing their pool - don't want the pool to be lonely. My mom came up (Dad had to work) and we laid out by the pool. Rob cooked an AWESOME lunch with steaks, grilled asparagus and snowpeas, and grilled corn on the cob and I had made a pasta salad. Then for dessert, we had a French Vanilla Pound Cake (thanks Fresh Market). Lunch was great as was just lounging at the pool! It was a great day and we had plenty of time to think about how lucky we are to be Americans and how blessed we were to born in the United States!

We took the dogs along with us for the day. Buster LOVES to swim, Minnie is okay with it, and Sam absolutely HATES it. They had such a good time.

Buster laying out after swimming....how much is this dog loving life?

Minnie's life is pretty good too....

What's the 4th of July without fireworks? Rob and I loaded up with some Bruster's ice cream and headed over to BridgeStreet to see their fireworks.

It was a great day and a wonderful 4th! I hope everyone had a great day and took a moment to reflect how great it is to live in this wonderful country!