May 29, 2012

Memorial Day Weekend

For Memorial Day weekend, Doug, Weston, I and my parents went to south Georgia.  There we met up with my in-laws and went to an amusement park/water park.

We thought we'd get into the hotel around midnight, but it was actually around 3am when we got there. :-(  It made for an early morning when we needed to get up a few hours later.  Surprisingly, Weston was in a great mood all day.  

On Saturday, we went on a few rides at the amusement park, but it was 100 degrees and between my pregnant self and Weston's little body, we couldn't stay in that heat too long.  We ended up spending the entire afternoon in the water park area.  Weston LOVED the lazy river and the kids water area.  He didn't want to get out of the water.  It's not all that surprising, since his mom and dad are huge water people too.  Saturday evening, there was a concert in the park, so we stayed for that. The Band Perry was performing and even though he had swam all day, only had a short 20 minute nap and about 3 hours of sleep the night before, Weston danced through the whole concert, cutting up and entertaining the people around us.

On Sunday, we went back to the park.  When you buy a ticket at the amusement park, you get in a consecutive day free, so we figured why not go back?!  It was a little cooler on Sunday because Tropical Storm Beryl was heading in our direction.  We went on the few more amusement rides and then headed over to the water park area again.  We spent the entire time in the lazy river.  The only reason we got out of the water is the sky seemed threatening and we were getting cold since there wasn't any sun.  After we got dried off and changed into our clothes, the sun came back out (and stayed out).  Isn't that the way it always is?  Doug's parents and brother left to head back to Florida since they had work on Monday.  The rest of us wandered around the park a little longer, but as soon as we put Weston in his stroller, he fell asleep.  Doug went on a roller coaster and then we headed towards the gift shop to get Weston a souvenir.  When we left the park, we went looking for dinner and spent about 2 hours hunting down a non-chain pizza place.  There weren't any open, so we ended up at Pizza Hut.  While we were in there, it got very windy and started pouring.  Beryl had arrived.

On Monday, we headed back to Alabama.  We went through Atlanta and met up with my uncle and aunt.  We ate at the Varsity, which is so fattening, but so yummy!  We ended up getting home in time to go to our Monday night trivia game, where our team took first place for the 3rd week in a row.  

We had a fabulous weekend and hope you did the same. :-)

May 21, 2012

Mo Isom

As I have previously mentioned, I am a HUGE fan of LSU.  I was going to go there for college, but ended up staying in Florida.  My aunt and uncle went to LSU and Fall 2013, my cousin is planning on going there as well. 

As you may or may not have heard, there is a girl trying out for the men's football team.  She wants to be the placekicker and has been working out with the team for several months now.  

This girl's name is Mo Isom and she was on the soccer team for 4 years, kicked a 90 yard goal, has been on the honor roll, was Homecoming Queen, her list of accomplishments goes on and on.  She is also an awesome Christian.  She had two horrible and traumatic events occur within 10 months of each other, which had her at polar ends of her Christian walk.  You'll have to go to to Mo Isom's website and read about all of her accomplishments, but also the trials she has been through.

I follow Mo on Twitter.  I saw on Saturday that she tweeted she was going to be speaking at a church in Nashville.  Since I live close enough to Nashville, I asked Doug if we could go see her speak.

Yesterday, we went to First Baptist Church Nashville to hear her speak.  She shared her testimony and challenged the high school seniors (who were being celebrated yesterday) to go out into the world and not be afraid of your Christianity.  She warned them that they will face temptation and adversity, but that God will not challenge you beyond what you can handle.

After the service, Mo was standing in the foyer greeting people.  I spoke to her for a minute and then I asked her to take a picture.  She readily agreed.  She is so nice and very down to earth.  If I could re-live my life, I would like to be like Mo Isom.

Mo is such an inspiration and excellent role model for young adults.  

May 14, 2012

Mother's Day

Yesterday was my second Mother's Day (although I was pregnant with Weston for Mother's Day 2010).

Doug and Weston did a really good job of loving on me yesterday, as they do every day. 

*A disclaimer: I think that Mother's Day is another holiday thought up by retailers to make more money.  I feel that children are a huge blessing and there doesn't need to be a day set aside for mothers (or fathers).

We started the morning at church and then met my parents for breakfast.  Afterwards, we went home and all three of us took a nice nap.  When we got up, we started getting ready to go to dinner.  We decided to go early so that we could beat the dinner rush.  We pulled up to the restaurant before 4:30 and we were told it would be an hour wait (which it was).  Guess we didn't beat the rush. 

While we were waiting to be seated, I opened presents from Doug, Weston, the dogs and my parents.  We also gave my mom presents as well.  Doug got me a book I've been wanting to read, Weston got me the Beauty and the Beast DVD because I want to collect all of the Disney movies, and the dogs got me a new iPhone cover.  My parents got me a fan to help combat the hot Alabama summer since, lucky me, I will be pregnant until the end of August (or that's the plan).

We got my mom a picture frame from Weston that says "I love you Mamma".  I saw a deal on the frame and since we can't find anything with Mamma on it, I decided to order it.  And then it occurred to me that I should have waited until Grandparents Day in September.  Oh well, she enjoyed it.  We also got her a chaise lounge for her back porch so she could sit outside and read.

Mother's Day 2012 was a very nice day and I felt celebrated, even though I don't deserve it.  I'm just doing what I've always dreamed of doing- being a Mom.

May 4, 2012

Making New Friends

A warm welcome to those of you coming from Kelly's Korner

My name is Ellery and I live in North Alabama.  I am married to Doug, an engineer and I am a former teacher, now SAHM to Weston, our almost 2 year old son and a new baby due in August.  We have a Great Dane and a black Labrador.  

I enjoy going to church and hanging out with my family and friends.  In the fall, SEC football is on as much as possible.  We are a house divided between University of Florida and LSU.  Living in Alabama and Auburn territory is difficult, but we make it work.

We've lived in North Alabama since November 2010, but I grew up on the Gulf Coast of Florida and have lived in Mobile, Gulf Coast Mississippi and Texas.  I would love to live where it snows on a regular basis, but I do enjoy Alabama.

This kind of sounds like a personal ad, so I am going to stop here.  Maybe we can be friends?

May 1, 2012

Giveaway at ELF Family Blog


As I've mentioned before, I am very vigilant of my blog and what I share.  I don't post pictures of my family and I don't post my last name.

Over at ELF Family Blog, there is currently a giveaway for memberships to Safe Shepherd, which is a cyber-safety company.  They help remove unwanted information off the internet and to companies that sell that kind of info.

Go over to the blog and enter to win.  I did!