We are officially UAB Blazer fans!

My cousin, Nolen just started his freshman season as a wide receiver (number 85) for the UAB Blazers. Thursday night UAB kicked off their season against Florida-Atlantic University and were favored to win. It was a tight game and the ending was not what the Blazers hoped for. However, it was a great night for our family because we became official Blazer fans and look forward to many more games. Now I'm on the hunt for some green and gold apparel! :)

Here are a couple of pics from Thursday night

Saturday Night at The Brick

Saturday night Rob and I joined some friends for dinner fun. We decided to try somewhere that none of us had ever been so we took the advice of another friend (Thanks Katie) and headed to Decatur to The Brick. We listened to live music and just had a great time.

Since Meredith was in San Francisco for work, we wanted her to know she was missed. :) See how sad he is Meredith? Haha! We did miss you though!

The band, Wild Ride, sounded REALLY good. They weren't a normal looking group but they were definitely good. The lead guitarist was a little strange and would walk around to all of the tables and just hang out while playing. You can tell in this picture how awkward this was! HA!

What do we drink next? :)

2 Week Beach Vacation!

Yes, you read that correctly! I was lucky enough to have a TWO week vacation! On Saturday July 31st, Rob and I headed to Gulf Shores for the week. It ended up being just the two of us and was actually one of the most relaxing weeks of my life. We had no set plans or schedule and it was WONDERFUL! I haven't gotten SO bad about forgetting to take pictures so this blog is LACKING! SORRY!

The beaches were beautiful and calm. It wasn't near as crowded as it normally is but there were still quite a few people. We had a rain shower at least once a day but with temperatures over 100 degrees, the showers really helped to cool it down so it was really nice.

The beautiful and calm beach
Of course while at the beach, we also had some wonderful seafood. At Tacky Jack's we tried some gator (I have had this before, but it was years ago)

We also ate lots of OYSTERS..........yummo!

We also tried the Ol' World Pizza and it was SCRUMPTIOUS!!! This is a pic of our shrimp pizza and we also had one with roasted red peppers and crawfish!

On Sunday, Rob headed home and I began my second week of paradise. My mom and her co-workers had to be in Orange Beach for the week for a conference so my brother and I tagged along. I know all of the girls and always have a great time with them. (I'm hoping that some of them took some pics that I can steal and add to this blog post...haha) During the day they were all busy so I spent some much needed quality time with my brother. We did some shopping, and spent LOTS of time in the pool!!! I don't think I've spent that much time in a pool since I was a child. It wasn't near as hot the second week as it was during the first. A tropical depression was brewing so there was a NICE breeze! The beach was absolutely BARE. We pretty much had the entire area to ourselves which was GREAT!

We headed home on Friday and I started back in the real world on Monday. After two weeks on the coast I had become a local and really hated to leave! Wouldn't life be GREAT if laying out was all we had to worry about every day? WOW...what a life that would be!

Plan B by Pete Wilson

photo courtesy of Thomas Nelson Publishing

If you have ever felt like your life isn't quite working out the way that you had planned, then this book is DEFINITELY for you! For those of you that know me, know that I'm a planner. I have a plan for everything and this includes life. Rob and I were going to get married and be married for about 5 years. We were going to start trying to conceive at the 5 year mark and by the end of 2008 we would have our own bundle of joy. Well, here we are in the middle of 2010 and we are still childless. Boy, did my plan work or what? :) Today I can sit here and smile about it because God definitely has shown me who's boss (and it's NOT me)! As most of you have read or know, we have begun the adoption process and really have no idea when we will be blessed with a child. It is all in God's timing. This has been a long road so far and we can't see the end yet. However, I have learned so much during this journey so far and I can only imagine what is still left for me to learn.

Plan B by Pete Wilson is a book that will ALWAYS be within my reach. I read the book over a month ago and still refer back to it on some of the "dark" days. Don't get me wrong, I don't sit and feel sorry for myself that things haven't "worked out" the way that I wanted. But I do have moments of aggravation or just plain ol' bitterness. Pete Wilson, the lead pastor of Cross Point Church in Nashville, has written this book to answer the question, "What do you do when God doesn't show up the way you thought he would?" Sometimes he just puts it bluntly. At one point he says, "I think we often treat God like we do a vending machine. When you walk up to a vending machine, you expect to insert the appropriate amount of money, press the correct number or code, and out will pop whatever you were hungry for. The whole process takes about forty-five seconds." How true is this? We feel that if we "do right" and "act right" that God should help us out, even give us what we want.


I truly believe that God's plan is bigger and better than my plan would have been! I absolutely cannot wait to see what God's plan is for us! One of my favorite parts of the book discusses the Saturday between the Good Friday that Jesus was crucified and Easter Sunday when he arose. Wilson points out the "Saturday seems like a day when nothing is happening. It's a day of questioning, doubting, wondering, and definitely waiting. It's the day of helplessness and hoplessness. It's a day when we begin to wonder if God is asleep at the wheel or simply powerless to do anything about our problems." He goes on to explain that Saturday is actually a day of preparation! When I read his description of "Saturday" it spoke to me and I think about it every day. I'm smack dab in the middle of my Saturday and just patiently awaiting God's will!


And that is EXCITING!


Here's a video of Pete Wilson discussing what Plan B is all about:





I promise that if you feel like things just aren't going the way that you wanted them to go, you NEED to read this book!


I'll leave you with my favorite passage from the book:


"You've got to stop looking at your shattered dreams and your unmet expectations as something God is doing to you. He's not doing something to you. But he might be doing something through you. He might be doing something in you."

Not a Care in the World!

I wish I could relax like this! Minnie isn't worried about anything! :)

Happy Birthday Rob!

Last weekend (July 5th) was Rob's 40th birthday. For all of you now doing math in your heads, yes Rob is 10 years older than me. :) I will be 3o in January! Rob kept drilling it in my head that he did not want us to spend much money for his birthday. We have a week at the beach coming up at the end of the month and then in November we are going to San Francisco for a week. Therefore, we are trying to save money for our trips. Also, for those of you that don't know, Rob works at the local credit union so he sees EVERY dime that I spend. Since our Dave Ramsey class, we no longer have credit cards so it is IMPOSSIBLE for me to do very much surprising!

On Saturday night, I had made us dinner reservations at Pauli's in Madison and also got us movie tickets to see Grown-ups. This is the only picture that I took from that night. :( I guess I was just having too much fun! By the way, my hair is not two-toned like it appears in this picture. Apparently the lighting was bad with the blackberry and you can't tell where my hair ends and my cardigan begins. HA!

Dinner was AMAZING and Grown-ups is a VERY funny movie!

Sunday was the 4th of July so we spent the day cooking out and swimming with my family in Russellville. Before we left that morning, I had a little trickery up my sleeve. Since I couldn't plan a weekend getaway without Rob knowing, I brought the weekend getaway to him. Before we left, I made our bedroom into a hotel room. After the family cookout, we headed to BridgeStreet to watch fireworks. When we got back to our house, I gave Rob his room key to Room 705 of Akins Hotels & Suites. (I forgot to take a pic the key) Here are a few pics from our "suite." (All of the pictures are taken with my Blackberry so they aren't great quality, but you get the idea)

Our room number was 705 (which is Rob's birthday) Of course, every hotel suite has a "Do Not Disturb" sign

Our ice bucket and wine glasses

The hotel stationary

The mini-bar

There were even movies to "rent"

Here are a couple from the bathroom

The maid even put chocolates on the pillows

Rob was definitely surprised and I was just glad I pulled off some kind of surprise. On Monday (Rob's actual birthday) we curled up in the bed with our dogs and watched movies all day. It was GREAT! I'm so glad this hotel allowed dogs. :)

I gave Rob a Bible for his birthday and also sent him for a massage on Tuesday. I'm pretty sure Rob had a great 40th birthday and I know for myself it was one of the most relaxing weekends we have had in a LONG time!

I'm the Worst Blogger...I Know!

I have been the world's worst blogger over the last two months. Let me just say it's been a crazy busy time AND we had computer problems on top of the craziness. But now, I'm back (hopefully life is going to slow down a bit) and on a brand new laptop! YAY me!

Anyway, can I just tell you how much I LOVE summer? I hate that it's so hot but I absolutely LOVE this time of year. We had a great 4th of July with family. And our vacation is just around the corner.......20 days to be specific! :)

Another great part of summer is all of the fresh fruits and veggies. My parents have a garden so we keep loading up on squash, zucchini, and tomatoes. Here's a pic of one of our great dinners.

We absolutely LOVE grilled zucchini. Our grill ran out of gas so I tried these in the oven. They were delicious, and just as good as they are on the grill. I sliced them and tossed them in olive oil, sea salt, and parmesan cheese. I baked them on 350 degrees for 35 minutes. They were scrumptious!!!!