Happy 4th of July!

We had a great weekend at the lake with friends and family...

It was SO hot that anytime we were on the pier, we were pretty much in the water. We had a good time just floating around hanging out with everyone.


Monday we went to a pool party at Amy & Matt's. Too bad the best weather we had all day was while we were inside eating lunch. It was a fun time with friends anyways..

Does this shirt not just scream, Happy 4th of July??

Hope everyone had a safe and happy 4th!!

More birthdays and Father's Day

May and June are always packed with birthdays for our family and friends...

Several weeks ago, Steven's parents came into town and we celebrated Steven's Dad's birthday and Father's Day. We had a great dinner together and then Fred opened a few presents...

A few days later, we celebrated Father's Day again with my dad, at Beef O'Brady's. Can't beat a place where Dad's Eat Free!
Dad and his girls


Mom and her son-in-laws

The next weekend, we celebrated Kristen's birthday at the lake. Wendi, Shaun, Braelyn, and Nicholas joined us at the lake to celebrate.

Nicholas snoozed on the pier while the rest of played in the water. What a sweet baby he is!

As you know, Kristen takes opening presents very seriously...as she savors every inch of wrapping paper and stream of ribbon.

(We did celebrate Kristen's birthday on her actual birthday, the 23rd, at a local eating establishment which was short of a disaster, so we were glad to celebrate again with a better meal and presents).
Please take note at the spelling of Kristen's name on her cake...Mema was in charge of the cake. I would have totally blamed that one on the bakery, but she took full credit for it...bless her heart :)

Matt also celebrated a birthday in June, but I was the photographer at that celebration, so I did not get any pictures with my own camera.

Birthdays and Memorial Day

There have been several birthdays over the last few weeks.

We celebrated Mom's birthday on the 26th (her actual birthday) at a local Mexican restaurant...Mom's choice. She got some super cute things as well as a Nook. She is much more of a reader than her eldest daughter (I started reading a book on our honeymoon...haven't picked it up since), so I am sure she will put this puppy to great use.

I picked up some cupcakes before dinner and everyone enjoyed tasting all of them...

except Dad :( He did get some of the icing.

strawberry, peanut butter cup, chocolate high and wedding cake...loved them all!

A few days later, we were ready for our first lake trip of the season.

Matt, Harley and Kristen hanging out

Sunday, we celebrated another birthday...for Doretta. Kristen brought the cake out and Doretta thought we were all singing for Mom's birthday, but to her surprise, the cake was for her.

Not really sure why, but everyone wanted to build a fire Sunday night...yes in the 100 degree heat! It was all about the Smores though :) For some reason, I just don't care too much for Smores, so I hung out for a little while, then Kristen and I headed back inside while everyone else sat around and sang campfire songs.

Monday afternoon we celebrated yet another birthday...Miss Marie's 1st!

She didn't really get into eating much of the cupcake, but she sure did give that thing a good massage, and made a pretty good mess :)

Michael helped little sis open her presents...which turned out fine, because all Marie was interested in was sitting on top of her presents.

Tornado

The past few days have been unimaginable.

Luckily, my family and I did not experience any damage from the storm, but I can't say the same for some communities just down the road from us.

This picture was taken from another building downtown Wednesday afternoon, but thankfully, I was already home (the words in the picture are sitting right on top of my building).

Sitting at home watching the tornado just rip through Tuscaloosa was just heart breaking...and praying that we were not in the tornado's path. When the local meterologists are at a loss for words, you know it is bad. The coverage on damage has just been devastating...complete destruction for so many areas.

Saturday, we did a little shopping and dropped off a nice load at one of the local drop off locations. I still feel so helpless and wish there was more that I could do. Hopefully in the coming days, I will have a chance to serve in some capacity.

Bring on the Blue!!

If you haven't heard...Steven and I will be an aunt and uncle to a precious little nephew in September. Head on over to Kristen's blog for the full story. She and Matt had a very fun way to tell us all!

Happy Easter

He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!!

We had a great day today celebrating Easter!

Steven's parents came into town yesterday, so the four of us went to church together this morning...then we headed to Mom & Dad's for lunch.

No egg hunt again this year :(

The temperature was pushing 90 degrees and I think Kristen was ready to go home for a nap after we ate lunch :)

But....next year, we will have a little one to celebrate with...oh how much fun that will be!

Hopefully this year wasn't the Easter bunny's last visit to see me.

Tuberous Sclerosis Walk 2011

Last Saturday was the 4th annual Tuberous Sclerosis walk-a-thon here in Birmingham.

The day was beautiful and we had a great turn out for the walk. I might have even scored a few things from the silent auction :)

Thanks again to all those who donated to TS...it means so much to me and to the Cox Family. Team Michael raised almost $20,000!

I slacked a little on the picture taking this year...but I did get manage to get one of the star himself...in the top right corner of the collage.

Looks like we all were at a LSU pep rally or something with all that purple and gold, doesn't it??

My Birthday

Since my birthday was almost three weeks ago, I figured it was about time that I blog about it. I just haven't been in the mood to blog lately...and truly have not had time.

Anyways...

this is what I saw when I arrived at work on Thursday (two days before my actual birthday). My co-workers were so sweet to decorate my office and put balloons EVERYWHERE! That night I celebrated with my fam at Firebirds...one of my fav places!!

We all shared the creme brulee cheesecake...

I think this empty plate speaks for itself! It was wonderful!!

Friday, Steven's parents came for a visit and we went to lunch at Sumo...I hadn't been there in a while, and it was so good! (sorry no pictures from our lunch together :( )

Friday afternoon, Christie arrived! She and I hung out together on Friday night and just caught up on all that was going on...

until Saturday morning, when Mere and Ellie joined us! It was so good to finally meet Ellie! She is the sweetest baby!

Christie teaching Ellie all about facebook :)

Getting ready to head out for some lunch and shopping...being with these two girls makes me so happy...reminds me of such great memories when the three of us lived together...fun times for sure!!

me and my cake pop from Starbuck's...if you haven't had one of these, you must!!

TSaturday evening we met up with some friends at Beef O'Brady's... the Cox Family, Julie, Amy, Matt, Julie, Christie, Mere...and Steven, of course.

and my wonderful husband got me a much needed new laptop that I am typing on right now! I LOVE it and I love him for getting it for me!!

Thanks to everyone that made my birthday so special!!

St. Patty's Day at the beach

We took decided to take a last minute trip to the beach weekend before last...well Thursday before last really. I called Steven on Wednesday at work and was like, hey, you want to go to the beach tomorrow?

We rolled into town, dropped our stuff at the condo and headed down to the Hangout to celebrate St Patrick's Day with the Beasley's. The had a great band playing and we all enjoyed "hanging out" with each other. We love having this fun place so close to the condo.

Sorry, not very many pictures...but you didn't really want to see me by Saturday afternoon, I was little red. My snow white skin had not seen the light of day in quite some time...hope I did not scare anyone off the beach.

Also...it's been quite a while since I've been to the beach for Spring Break, so that was interesting to see all these "kids" running around down there that looked way too young to be without their parents. I know, I am getting old (stayed tuned for the next post).

It's almost time...

...time for the annual walk for Tuberous Sclerosis

The 4th annual is just a few weeks away! In the past 3 three years, we've been able to raise almost $200,000 for TS research! This is all because of wonderful people, like you who have donated to this worthy cause.

Michael has progressed SO much...even since this time last year! His vocabulary is getting better everyday and he is adjusting to life with a little sister.

My fundraising page has been set up and if you would like to donate, please visit my page...

http://www.firstgiving.com/step-forward-to-cure-tsc-mountain-brook-al-18c9ae

Or if you are in the Birmingham area, come walk with us on Saturday, April 16th in Crestline.

And for your viewing pleasure, here's a picture of Michael and his friend Tyson (from just a few weeks ago)...notice the stickers that Tyson is sporting.