Sweet Home Alabama

We just got back from a wonderful trip to Alabama. Everytime I go, I am reminded of how much I miss being there! I love spending time with my family, getting together with old friends, and just being in the town where I grew up. It's fun to drive down the road and have a story to tell the girls about each place we pass - "I ate there for my birthday once" "That's where I went to middle school" "We used to play there" "That's where I went to church" "I used to work there" "My friend lived there"... But even though everything seems so familiar, so much has changed. It makes me sad - I wish I could keep everything the way it was. Well, except for all the new stores - I do love to go and shop and enjoy what Alabaster has to offer now!

Anyway, the week was fun-filled and too short. Here are pictures from our time in Bama!

We went on Wednesday to spend a great morning with a few old friends and their children. There were 12 kids between us all and they had a great time playing. However, I'm pretty sure that we had more fun than the kids doing lots of "catch-up" talking and recalling stories about the good ol' days! We also had fun exchanging tips about cooking, shopping and saving money with coupons (thanks for all the info Becky and Jamie! I can't wait to check out those websites!)

We were at Sarah's, whose house is gorgeous by the way, and my kids were loving riding this car! All the kids wanted turns driving and I think we found out that none of them are going to be ready for a license any time soon. We had a few toes get run over, legs bumped, and a bookbag squished. Poor little Sophie may have gotten the worst of it when someone ran over her belly - hope she's doing fine, Jamie!

Look at the group of us and all these beautiful children! From left to right, the moms are Jamie, me, Becky, Carla and Sarah. The kids are Tres, Bryant and Sophie (Jamie's kids), Annlee, Maryella, Elianna and Kaylin (my girls), Alex (Becky's son), Haleigh and Hannah (Carla's girls), Emily Caroline and Parker (Sarah's kids)

On Friday, we went to downtown Birmingham to meet my dad for lunch and then go see the IMAX movie at the McWane Center. The movie was really good (although don't ask Kaylin about it because she watched the entire thing from behind her hands). I think the girls enjoyed this hurricane simulator thing even more than the movie though. They kept doing it over and over again. It lets you feel what it's like in 79 mph wind. Pretty neat!

And here are a few other pictures from downtown. We went to see this fountain to kill some time before the movie started.

On Saturday, we went to see the new house that Lindsey and Chris are building. It's beautiful! I can't wait to come at Thanksgiving and see it all finished!

Linny and Chris in the entryway

The master bedroom - I love the tray ceiling!
The living room



The kitchen

We then went out the lake house where they are living until their new house is finished. We had a great time on the boat ride that Chris took us on.

Here's all the ladies on the boat - Ma-don was even able to come!

Maryella and Sophie (Linny's dog) on the boat

Annlee

The girls on the swing overlooking the lake

And here is Annlee and Elianna in Linny's house - can you see the resemblance? I think they look so much alike!

Here are a couple pictures of Elianna at mama's house in a couple of new outfits I bought her. Sometime, I'll have Kaylin do a fashion show in all the new school clothes we got for her.


And here is one final picture from Sunday morning after church.