Sunday, January 16, 2011

National Champions!

We have finally recuperated from our trip to Arizona. We had a wonderful time cheering on the Auburn Tigers to win the National Championship!!

Let me walk you through our trip.

When we landed in Phoenix and picked up our car, the first thing we noticed was that it had an Oregon tag. We were not happy about this, and we were hoping it wasn't a bad omen.

One of two Auburn billboards in Phoenix. Awesome!We all arrived on the Sunday before the game. We spent Sunday afternoon walking around Old Scottsdale. It was a fun downtown area with restaurants and shops. One of the many cacti we saw. I was so tempted to touch one, but don't worry, I didn't. Our group, from left to right, Jeremy, Nick, me, John George, and Mary Kendall. Nick enjoying his Blue Moon. John George excited about his new Auburn/BCS shirt. Us at RnR, a restaurant/bar we hung out at most of the afternoon and evening.We even ran into Brandon Cox here. You remember him? He used to be Auburn's quarterback. This was our meal, and it was delicious. I had some spicy shrimp tacos. They were great! I'm going to try and re-create them at home. Finally, it's GAME DAY! Us with our tickets outside the stadium! We were all nervous about losing, tearing, or damaging them in any way. Luckily we found a ticket holder to wear them around necks. Nick and Jeremy. Jeremy did not go to the game, he just came along for the ride. Some fans traveled in style. This was not the only limo we saw.Before the game we ran into some friends!We also saw Robert Gibbs, Obama's former press secretary. We saw him here after the game too. He did not go to Auburn, but he grew up there.This was in front of the big shopping center where a lot of pre-game action was going on. It is unbelievable how many Auburn fans were here. One last group shot before heading to the stadium!As we walked to the stadium we eventually found ourselves in line. We didn't mean to cut, but we ended up in the front of the line to enter the stadium. Just look at the line behind us! It was great being one the first in the stadium!Finally we made it in the stadium! Our excitement and nervousness was too much to describe!!This was not Auburn's eagle, but we still yelled our WAR EAGLE cry as he landed after the National Anthem! We were fired up now! And here we go! The cheers from the crowd were awesome! Every Auburn Fan was on their feet, and we barely sat down the rest of the game. There were more Auburn people inside and outside the stadium. It was great!Notice #2 Cam Newton and #5 Michael Dyer in the right hand corner. Two great players! This was on the final drive of the game. I couldn't take a picture of the winning kick, I was too nervous! And the kick was good! Down came confetti and toilet paper!!CHAMPIONS!Michael Dyer-offensive player of the game. Nick Fairley-defensive player of the game.Picture of Toomer's Corner! The news said thousands of people were at Toomer's this night!Finally, the game was over. The toilet paper has rolled, and it was time to go home. However, the winter storm caused almost half of the Auburn family delays on the way home. We were scheduled to leave at midnight on Tuesday. Our flight was cancelled, and we were fortunate to get a flight out by Wednesday morning. As we were waiting on our hotel shuttle Tuesday, we ran into Gus Malzahn! He is Auburn's offensive coordinator! He was really nice to take a picture with us, and he is a lot taller in person than he seems on TV! We made it home, and we have done nothing but sleep and laundry. What a great trip and great game! War Eagle!

I got this picture off of Facebook. This is Toomer's the morning after the game! Isn't this awesome!

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Jimmy Buffet Christmas #2

It has taken Nick and me a few days to get back in our routine after our week long Christmas vacation in Mississippi. We had a fabulous time, except for the occasional nausea and headache, which were not caused by family, but by my growing baby.

Before we left I got into the Christmas spirit by baking.
We celebrated Christmas with Nick's family on Christmas Eve and headed to my parents' house on Christmas day. We loved all our gifts, including our first package of diapers and an umbrella stroller! I don't think Nick was ready for the diapers.

Christmas night we celebrated with a Jimmy Buffet inspired dinner for the second year in a row. How many years makes it a tradition?


M
y family enjoys a change from the traditional Christmas meal. We like to celebrate Christmas with a Jimmy Buffet theme because December 25 is also Jimmy Buffet's birthday! We go all out with Cheeseburgers in Paradise, Heinz 57 and french fried potatoes, and of course, we have the margarita. We also have Jimmy Buffet music playing (some of it is from his Christmas album).
One of our cooks and our margarita maker. Shrimp AppetizerHead Chef DocBefore dinner we always open the crackers. They are filled with a colorful crown, a joke, and a toy. We try to wear our crowns all night! Christmas dinner is not complete without Table Gifts.
Table gifts are a tradition that my grandfather started, and now my mother is in charge. A table gift is the last gift of Christmas, and it is presented at the end of the meal. A table gift could be anything, but the funny ones are the best!
This year we had beer (with a story/joke attached). CheeriosDoc said he wanted a million aprons, so he got almost that many. All of them monogrammed with "Doc."Doc wasn't the only one to get an apron as a table gift. An Auburn tu-tu was great for Mollie! After dessert, the dancing began. We did not have as many participants this year, but watching them do the train was entertaining enough!
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Now I'm ready for pool weather!

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Happy 2011!

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas (post on mine coming soon). Now on to 2011! I never make New Year's resolutions because I know they would be hard to keep. But this year I have one thing I'm going to work on. You can call it a resolution if you want to.

I am going to try and watch less TV. This is going to be hard! If you know me, I love TV! I always have it on. Some of my favorite things to watch are on while I'm at work, so watching re-runs of Grey's Anatomy won't be hard to give up unless I'm home for lunch. I'm going to try not to turn on the TV every time I walk in the room. I'm going to try and read more or listen to more music.

I am not giving up TV all together, and I am not giving up my nightly shows. I just wanted to make that clear. Less TV does not mean cutting it out completely.

We celebrated our New Year's with some Good Luck Soup and
Collard Greens and Artichoke dip. They were both delicious!

I didn't take a final picture of the Good Luck Soup, but it came from the cookbook Come On In. It had the black eyed peas and ham.The collard green and artichoke dip came from the Neelys on the Food Network.

I think celebrating with food and football on New Year's Day is way better than staying up til midnight the night before. Nick and I watched the ball drop at 11 and we were both asleep before 12. It was a great New Year's Eve!

Do you prefer the day or night celebration or both? And what are your resolutions, if you have one?

Monday, December 27, 2010

You Know You're Pregnant When...

You know you are pregnant when...

1. You feel bad most of the time.
2. Your belly is poking out, and it is not because you ate too much.
3. Your reading material has changed from novels to
What To Expect When You're Expecting.
4. Every mother you run into tells you her pregnancy and delivery story, and sometimes it's more than you really wanted to hear about.
5. Coffee and alcohol, 2 of my favorites, smell terrible, and the thought of drinking them makes you sick.
6. You get excited about maternity jeans because they are more comfortable than your regular jeans.
7. Instead of making a to-do list when you're bored at work, you are writing out baby names.
8. Your husband tells you that you are not fat even though you have gained 10 pounds.
9. You google certain foods while grocery shopping because you can't remember if it is ok to eat.
10. You feel bad ALL the time.

Nick and I are expecting a baby in June! From our sonogram today we are 95% sure it is a GIRL! We aren't buying any baby clothes yet because we couldn't get a clear shot, but we are very excited!
"Every good and perfect gift comes from above." James 1:17

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Gotta Get Ya Some

CLEMENTINES!
What could be better for an afternoon snack than a coke and a clementine..or two?

Only 6 more days til Christmas!

Sunday, December 12, 2010

1 Peter

1Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
1 Peter 1: 3-9

I came across these verses last week, and I have been thinking about them ever since.

Have a good week!

Friday, December 10, 2010

The Mail is Here!

Don't you hate when you go to the mail box and all you have is bills? Bills are not exciting.

Today was a great mail day. I open my mail box to find a Christmas present I had ordered (for someone else) earlier this week, several Christmas cards, and my REAL SIMPLE magazine! REAL SIMPLE is my favorite magazine. And this one is for January. Since I have a subscription I get it a month early! It's awesome!
I also love getting Christmas cards and displaying them on my refrigerator! Nick and I have not done a Christmas card since we have been married. Maybe next year.

For now consider this my Christmas card for you. You can print it and put it on your fridge if you want. I think the toilet paper kind of looks like snow.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Happy weekend! I wish you a happy mail day!