Babies Galore

This post is long overdue and part of a series I will call "Better Late Than Never: The Summer Recap."

Back in July we hosted a baby shower for my sweet friend, Anne, who is expecting her first baby in late November. We cannot wait to meet Baby Maggie and had the best girls time celebrating her soon-to-be arrival. A special thanks to J-Go's mom for letting us host the shower at her home and providing the hostess wisdom and all the Paula Deen strawberry cake and decorations that go with it to us hostess newbies.

We were pretty green considering this was my first (in what appears to be a long line) of baby showers to host. (Anne, hanks for being the guinea pig!) Ask me to host a lingerie shower or bachelorette party and I can do it in my sleep. Baby showers are a different story. But since then I've helped host two others with another scheduled in October. I think I'm getting the hang of things with the decorations, games, etc. I will have to attempt a diaper cake creation in a few weeks, so that may be a blog post of its own!

I added it up and I had/have nine baby showers to attend in a period of three months, and I am helping host about half. Keep in mind, these aren't for random friends. All are either for friends at church in our Sunday School class or for close college friends (think roommates and bridesmaids). It appears the baby bug has bit. We are so excited to meet all these new additions.

Now, for some pics from the shower....

Mom and daughter

With the grandmothers

All the guests. (Note five of the ten are preggers.)

Anne got so many cute, frilly, pink, ruffled things for Maggie. Baby girl shopping is just too much fun.

Roommate pic! These girls go way back. Long before husbands and babies.

Just call us the hostesses with the mostest!

And, I have to plug the amazing Icing on the Cookie iced cookies I got for the shower. Delicious!

Memphis

This past August we made a fun weekend trip to Memphis to visit our good friends, Alex and Sam. We don't get to see these sweet friends from college often enough, but I'm so glad they were willing to host us and show us around town during - of all things - Elvis week in Memphis. Only we would plan a trip to Memphis and have no idea it happened to be on the weekend the whole town celebrates Elvis' birthday in full style. Let's just say downtown was quite the scene on Saturday evening with all the Elvis impersonators and the many tourists decked out in Elvis apparel. Love for The King was live and well.


I do have to say that Alex and Sam know how to feed their friends. We had great food at Gus's Fried Chicken and later at Rendezvous. The latter is a Memphis legend for vinegar-based BBQ, and it was my first time to visit. The full rack of ribs did not disappoint. Neither did our hook up with a table since Alex knew the manager. No line. No waiting.

We also did some shopping on the town square in Colliersville, a suburb of Memphis. I scored a nice leather handbag and mirror for our guest room at an antique shop before we stopped by a coffee shop for some gelato. Had to take a pic of Alex with the Christmas Story leg lamp in the shop. It was hot, but luckily we had some pool time earlier that morning. We also learned to play Settlers of Catan.


After dinner at Rendezvous we headed to the top of the Peabody Hotel to catch the fireworks from the Memphis Redbirds game. The Redbirds had a dramatic, 9th inning, come from behind win that was really entertaining, even from the top of the hotel. And, we actually got to watch a live marriage proposal while we were up there, and of course saw the famous Peabody ducks.



Thanks, Alex and Sam, for a wonderful weekend! Can't wait to see you guys again soon!

When stadiums expansions make you feel old

So this is the brand new South Endzone expansion of Bryant-Denny Stadium (photo courtesy of Hoar Construction). It is beautiful and majestic and pristine, and I can't wait to see it up close and personal on game day. As an Alabama fan, this psyches you out of your mind because it's bigger and better and puts us among the largest sports facilities in the world. This taste of expansion makes you salivate for even more space for football glory - almost enough to pay a law student to look though pages and pages of state laws, codes, and regulations to figure out a legal way to move that dang cemetery to make way for a plaza....but I digress.

As new as it is, the South Endzone makes me feel crazy old. Why? Because these pictures are suddenly old....outdated...antiquated...relics...antiques...from times past.




They were taken only four years ago when we had our engagement photos shot in Tuscaloosa. Now, none of this exists, replaced by something new and better.

All of the sudden, we've joined the ranks of the "remember whens..."

I can here us now, telling our future kids, "When I went to school, that was just a sidewalk..." or "When I went to school, we walked to class cause we didn't have those fancy Crimson buses to ride in... or "When I went to school, that dorm was just a field of grass..."

Funny thing is we could actually say all those things now (sans the children we don't have to say them to) and many more.

The campus and community have changed so much since we graduated - all in better ways. More dorms, more shopping, more restaurants, more national championships. I'm not complaining. I'm just saying, makes a girl feel a little old.

SI Cover

Much to Celebrate

This past week the Lord has blessed us with much to celebrate. When I thought back to all the things that have made us laugh, and smile, and fill with joy this week I found myself so thankful for the blessings God provides in family, friends, marriage, spouses, new babies....I could go on and one. Here's my attempt to chronicle our joy.

My best friend got ENGAGED last Friday night to a wonderful man who I have yet to meet in person but who Robert and I already love.

Julia was my maid of honor and is, for all practical purposes, the sister I never had. She was my roommate for two years in college in the SAME room. Let's just say we're about as tight as friends come. She has loved me through thick and thin, pre-Robert and as a married women, with tough love and courage to say what I needed to hear even though she knew I wouldn't like it. She has loved me over literally pounds of TCBY yogurt that got us through four years in college. She is the kind of friend who borrows your car, happens to accidentally hit a mailbox, tells you about it, and you just laugh - because it's Julia and its just a car. (True story; I was actually surprised at how laid back my OCD self was about the whole incident.) This sweet, precious friend is getting married! We are so thrilled for Julia and Joshua and how the Lord will use them as man and wife to advance his Kingdom. We cannot wait for the big day - yet to be determined - in possibly Denver??? Can you say Colorado here we come? Love you Jules and so excited for you guys!

After the big engagement news, we had a wonderful weekend with Robert's sister, Liz, and her husband, Mike, who drove down to Birmingham from Lexington for the weekend. I really think impromptu visits are some of the best. It was so good to be able to catch up with them and enjoy the small things you take for granted when you live close - like good conversations over meals. We didn't take very many pics but I did manage to snap a few.


I am actually very thankful for Liz and Mike's willingness to help us with everyday life. Mike and Robert did some pretty heavy manual labor on Friday and took out the gazillion-year-old, could-I-really-be-more-hideous concrete planters on our back patio. Here's the before pics for those of you who don't remember.


And here's the post demo pics. What you don't see is the hours of labor and sweat in insane Alabama heat that Mike and Robert put in to haul all that rubble to the front of the house for Homewood Sanitation to pick-up. (Thank you Mike!) Let's just say there's good things to come if our home renos/re-landscaping adventures don't get the best of us. But more on that later...


We also celebrated the wedding of a dear friend from college in Tuscaloosa on Saturday. The bride's father actually had an unexpected stroke the Monday before the wedding and wasn't able to attend. Her younger sister walked her down the aisle, and her mother was so strong sitting on that second row representing the family without her husband by her side. That's just not how you picture your daughter's wedding. Fortunately, the dad is doing well and will make a full recovery with therapy and over time. At his insistence, the wedding went on. It was such a reminder of what's important in life - not the dress or the flowers or things going as planned but having the people in your life that you love and, at the end of the day, being married to the man God has picked to be your spouse.

I also loved this wedding because it was such a sweet time of reunion with some of our best friends from college. (Think roommates, groomsmen and bridesmaids, the friends that last despite distance or time.) It was so good to see them all and catch up on life.




Speaking of life, these two precious ladies are growing new ones in their tummies! Anne is expecting baby Maggie McKay Riley in November and Amy is expecting Baby Bogue in February. More details to come from an upcoming baby shower/it's-literally-raining-babies blog post (with pics from Anne's recent shower). Then there's Megan due in November with Annie and sweet Leigh (both college roommates) due with Baby Prickett in February. Elizabeth H. could have baby Wilson any day now - and that' just girls from college. We've also got a handful of precious ladies at church expecting kiddos, including one couple expecting twins! Let's just say we've got some fun times coming down the pipeline and lots more reasons to celebrate.

And, I'm also thankful for this man, who celebrated 28 years on Tuesday, the same day we celebrated the birth of our newest nephew, Stephen "Tate" Cannon (see link for blog post with precious newborn pics). I am so blessed to have Robert as my husband. He certainly embodies the role of a godly spouse, preparing me for heaven as he works for my sanctification as well as his own. He is so forgiving and constantly shows me the love of Christ. As my parents would tell you, I am married to a good man, and God is faithful.

I forgot to take pics, but Wednesday night was our second book club meeting. More in a coming post about this adventure, but suffice it to say I am so thankful for the new girlfriends God has put in my life recently. These ladies have been such a blessing, and I haven't laughed so hard over Pat Conroy, Charleston aristocracy, a glass of wine, and crazy life stories in ages.

This coming weekend we again celebrate marriage. I'm throwing a bridal shower at work for a dear friend getting married in September, and later we travel to Huntsville for the wedding of a good friend from college.

So, yes, there is much to celebrate. And we are filled with joy.

Stephen "Tate" Cannon

Baby Tate is here and adorable. I can't wait to hold this sweet little guy in a month when we travel up to SC to visit the family over Labor Day. I stole these amazing pics taken by the talented Aron Cannon (who is also an aunt to this sweet kiddo) from facebook, but do so with a shameless plug for her and her husband's amazing photography (www.cmsmithportraits.com/). So thankful they captured the memories for us! Robert couldn't be more excited that his newest nephew shares his birthday. We are so thankful for this new addition to the family.

Baby T is Here!

Meet our newest nephew - born on Robert's birthday!