February 28th

Dinner tonight: Oven baked ribs, crash hot potatoes & bacon wrapped asparagus with plum dijon sauce. We are now laying on the couch admiring our big bellies.

February 27th

I took this photo (and a few others) today with all intentions to shoot something else for "the blog" later. But then life happened and I forgot. So I thought about this photo... and how hard it is to actually get one of her that is in focus. I felt triumphant. I call it "Photo of a young girl....who is desperately trying to escape from her mother."

February 26th

Its funny...'cause you are.

February 25th

A toast...to being debt free!(except for the house) David, Emery, and I went out to dinner tonight to celebrate us paying off his student loans. This new fancy schmancy restaurant opened yesterday right in front of David's mall so we decided to check it out. Absolutely scrumptious! Everyone that comes to visit us will be taken there from now on!

February 24th

I started a new project today. I figured since I cook so much, it would be nice to have some fresh herbs and tomatoes at my finger tips when ever I need them. The strawberries are just a sweet indulgence. The problem with this whole project is that I have trouble keeping plants alive. My thumbs aren't exactly green...they are white...or peach... Well whatever color they are, it isn't green. Greenless thumb people like me buy "growing kits." I need extensive directions to which I tape to the back of the pots so that I can read and follow them carefully everyday. Hopefully, if everything "grows" as planned, I'll be able to transplant them to big girl pots outside on the cute little bakers rack on our back patio. I'll let you know how it goes in 6-8 weeks. Green thumbs crossed!

February 23rd

fini, beendet, finito, terminado, afsluttet, afgewerkt, cheng....finished! Finally! My project is done. I hate unfinished projects. They just eat at me. Its all I can think about until it is done. And I was all but done with this one when I hit a glitch in software. Branson is a little behind the times when it comes to stores that carry the kind of thing I need computer wise. So after going out of town, special ordering, and shipping, I finally received it and can now say that my project is finished! Whew. What a load off. Unfortunately, I am not going to tell you what my project was. Some of you will find out soon enough! Don't you just hate it when people are vague...

February 22nd

*Sniiiiiifffffffff* Ahhhhhh....
So in case you haven't noticed, cooking is a little hobby of mine. Although, I had not planned to bake bread today. I was passing through the bakery of the grocery store today to get some fruit from the produce section when this lovely scent wafted through my nose. It was freshly baked cheddar cheese bread. Naturally, I strolled over in a zombie-like fashion to buy a loaf. Just as I was reaching out to grab this lovely mouth watering loaf, I had an epiphany. "Wait a sec...I have a bread maker, and bread flour, and cheddar cheese, and the other necessities. All I need is yeast!" One dollar and fifty nine cents later I was on my way home trying to remember where I had stashed the bread maker after the move. The aroma around the house all afternoon was way more heavenly than what I smelt in the grocery store a few hours prior. The taste...even better. And since the yeast came in a 3 pack, I think I'll be leaving the bread maker on the counter for a few more days.

February 21st

Rain, rain wash away
all the mess that snow has made.
Its nice to hear your little drops
up on the roof and off the rocks.
I normally wish you'd go away
but compared to snow, you're welcome today.

February 20th

A delightful Daddy-Daughter moment.

February 19th

Here are the Legends folks. From left to right we have Buddy Holly, Tim McGraw, Whitney Houston, Elvis, and the Blues Brothers...celebrity impersonators of course. This was our first Branson show. We had a blast thanks to our friends who hooked us up with VIP tickets. It was a great double date.

February 18th

My favorite part about this magazine is the "Baby Blooper" section on the very last page. In this section, parents send in short stories about their children and the funny things they do and say. The one I read today made me laugh out loud so I thought I would share it with you.

"My 14-month-old, A.J. was babbling to his 5-year-old brother, Ben. All of a sudden, Ben turned to A.J. and said, "Dude, I don't speak your language."

HeeHeeHee Kids are so funny. Sometimes I want to say that to Emery. She will just babble on and on like you know exactly what she is talking about. It is the cutest. I can't wait until I can actually understand it.

February 17th

By George, she HAS found it! A friend of mine posted a chocolate chip cookie recipe that was supposed to be THE one. I, myself have been searching for THE ONE as well. And I have heard this before..."Try my cookie recipe. They are to die for..." and all that jazz. Usually they are good but not THE ONE. However, the ingredients in this recipe intrigued me so I decided to give it a try. Well get out your recipe books my friends! Take out every chocolate chip recipe in the book...rip it up, throw it away, and write this one down in their place because my friend is right. This is THE BEST homemade chocolate chip cookie recipe I have ever tasted. And follow the directions exactly. Don't veer. As you can see I added white chocolate chips because I didn't have enough semi sweet in my cabinet. The cookies need semi sweet. They end up being too sweet otherwise. Still quite delicious mind you, but they would have been perfect had I followed the directions properly. So that means, when it says add one egg plus one yolk...do it. When it says to grease the cookie sheet...do it. When it says to add a TABLESPOON of vanilla...do it. Yes a Tbsp. I know that means about a quarter of the bottle but hey its worth it. When it says melt the butter first...do it. And don't even think about using that margarine crap. You are already making cookies. If you are going to splurge...do it right. The recipe also says to drop 1/4 cup at a time onto the sheet. This is the only thing I would change unless you like GINORMOUS cookies. 1/8 cup works just fine.
So is your mouth watering yet? Have I hyped up these cookies enough? Click here for the recipe and enjoy.

February 16th

Bert, Ernie, and a few of their friends (not pictured) came out to welcome us home from vacation today. We chatted briefly. Emery told them how much fun she had visiting family. They filled us in on what we missed while we were gone. It was nice to catch up.

February 15th

This is what 9 hours of my life looked like today. It sucked. I'm glad its over.

February 14th

Happy Valentines Day! I spent the morning cheering for my superman husband while he broke personal records running his 10th marathon; crossing off the 8th state out of 50. 3:38:52 not too shabby. Congrats David! Another couple joined us on the trip and the husband ran as well breaking personal records of his own. Congrats Scott! This was a great race to watch. Since it was two loops around the city, we were able to see the guys many times. There was also a wonderful pastry shop in the heart of downtown Birminham with the most delicious blueberry muffins and ham and cheese scones I have had the luxury of experiencing. We went back twice during our race-watching breaks. If you are ever in town, visit Zaza. You won't regret it.

February 13th

We celebrated Valentines Day on Saturday this year since we just happened to be in Birmingham...alone. While Em was eating pancakes with molasses at Gigi and Papi's we were in Alabama for David's 10th marathon. It was so nice to have adult conversation and not have to worry about having enough cheerios, dropping dinner items on the floor, and making sure the stroller was in the trunk. The hotel was not so bad either. :)

February 12th

We sponsored a child through World Vision last night. After hearing the stories of these children that live in poverty and AIDS-affected communities, we felt that a small monthly support was the least we could do to benefit a child and their family. His name is Maduhu. He is 7 and from Tanzania. Maduhu is an only child whose father struggles to provide for the family so he helps out at home by caring for the animals. We are excited to hear from him and hope that our support will help provide him with an education, basic health care, economic assistance as well as HIV prevention education based on biblical values.

February 11th

That's right folks...that is Jeremy Camp. And his concert was Ah-mazing. Check out our view! We had great seats. We also were treated to a little music from Jason Gray, Chasen, and The Afters. Two great musical nights in a row! I wonder what tomorrow has in store....

February 10th

We went out for dinner and live music tonight courtesy of the Justin Caldwell Quartet.
That's my sister's new beau over at the piano on the right. Awesome jazz band. That's what I love about Nashville; you can go see a great band on a Wednesday night.

February 9th

This is where the bottom of the bumper is supposed to be. Although, a broken bumper is a small price to pay when you slide on some sneaky black ice going 65mph on the highway; the car turns 90 degrees and shoots off into the median which is 4 inches deep with snow; then slides out into on coming traffic still uncontrollable mind you; finally crashing into a snow banked ditch. Yes a tiny missing piece of the bumper is a small price to pay. God was watching over us today, as David, Emery and myself are all completely unharmed. Immediately after the crash, some good Samaritans stopped to pull us out of the ditch. The car seemed to run fine so we drove a mile down the road to the closest auto shop which happened to be the nearby Walmart. The best line of the day was from the mechanic, "I've seen more damage from a car hitting a dog than the damage you have here. You were really fortunate." I agree completely. This was about 2 hours into our 9 hour road trip and we had a long way to go. Luckily we made it just fine. Emery was a trooper. Other than about 10 seconds of crying after the accident...she was a perfect angel as per usual. Momma's shoulders are a little tight from all the ice driving but again...a small price to pay. Praise the Lord!

February 8th

While our snow was melting last week, everyone else got pounded with feet of snow. Well, I guess it is our turn again. We woke up to a light dusting this morning and it has been slowly falling ever since and supposedly won't stop until the wee hours of Tuesday morning. Normally I would be happy about a snow filled day and welcome the white stuff because you know me, I like it fresh. But since we have planned a road trip in the morning, I'm not too excited about driving through this mess...mainly because I will be the one that has to drive. Hopefully our 5 to 10 inches will be more like 5 and less like 10.

February 7th

I thought this seemed fitting for the superbowl. We gathered at a near by neighbor's house to watch. Congrats Saints.

February 6th

I couldn't choose today so you get a bonus: 3 Pictures!
Emery and David were having a loving father daughter moment on the floor this evening. She was giving out lots of hugs and kisses. Lots of hugs...

And then she sat up and smacked him right in the face. Hilarious. You go girl.

February 5th

Has this ever happened to you? After a long day of work and dinner with friends, you come home to change into your comfy clothes only to find that you have had a dryer sheet stuck in your sock the whole time. This happens to me all the time. Only I usually find the dryer sheets in my workout pants...after the workout of course.

February 4th

High Speed plus Curvy Roads plus Slainow (Sleet/Rain/Snow) equals...well...this. Yikes what a mess! And we are supposed to continue to receive slainow for the next 3 days. Give us a break weather! Em and I went straight home after seeing that. Just wait until Hubby D lays his eyes on this abandoned wreckage. We'll be on lock down for the rest of the weekend!

February 3rd

We had a bit of freezing fog this morning that didn't burn off until about noon. Though visability was poor, it made everything look amazing. Crystals of ice clung to tiny branches while leaving the trunks of the trees free. The air was cool and humid at the same time. It was really neat to see.

February 2nd

My attempt to make Emery a genius. (Thanks Grandpa Ayer)

February 1st

I don't think I'll ever set foot into this fudge shop because frankly, these things on the roof really freak me out. I don't understand why they are up there. What do they have to do with fudge...or any other tasty treat for that matter. And why is the one guy on the left separated from the rest of the group by a row of fake mallards? He also didn't get a santa hat like the rest of the group. Maybe he realizes that it is Feb. 2nd. And what's with the guy all the way on the right? Is that a bird beak? He looks like he is about to commit birdman suicide. That really puts me in the mood for "one FOOT of Chocolate only 99 cents". Heck, I would want to jump the roof too if I had to stay up there year round with the rest of these clowns in santa hats. I don't know if you can see the signs in the window because this shot was taken on a drive by. But one of them says, "Dolly Parton Suckers Only 99 cents." Hmmm that sounds interesting. I don't know which is more disturbing, sucking on Dolly Parton's head or...well I'm just not going to go there. I have never come close enough to actually figure this place out because like I said, it gives me the heebie jeebies. Click the picture to enlarge if you dare but don't blame me for you nightmares.