Happy 5th Birthday, Julia!

I cannot believe my sweet little baby has grown up so fast. It is unbelievable that she could possibly be 5 already. How could it be this sweet little baby is already to register for Kindergarten next month.This sweet little baby completes our family! She is full of personality and lets everyone know what is on her mind. Julia knows exactly what she wants. I cannot imagine my life without this precious little girl.

1st birthday

2nd birthday

3rd birthday

4th birthday

5th birthday

Alabama State Dance Competition

Savannah participated in the Alabama State Dance Competition last Saturday in Bessemer, Alabama. She did a great job in both of her numbers including two great round off backhand springs. Her group got two gold medals and place 4th and 5th. This was our first competition so I am sure the next few years will be nothing but improvement.

I Love Karen Kingsbury!

Karen Kingsbury has a new book out that is surrounded around the characters in the Baxter Family! It is awesome. The only downfall is that I now have to wait until June to get the new one. If you have not read the Baxter Family books you need to get on it now! You will not be able to put them down.

Training Day Begins Sunday

I read lots of blog and love to link to other blogs from some of my favorites. Well, I found this great blog Simple Thoughts! The author of the blog writes about simple everyday occurrences in her family's lives and gives insight to moms with daughters. A few weeks ago she had a post about running the Vera Bradley Half Marathon. I showed it to Trey and we decided we would begin training for the very same half as soon as we returned from Vegas. I am determined that we are going to do this. I need to loose a lot of weight and get in better shape. Trey doesn't really need to loose that much weight, but he says he needs to get into shape. We have told so many people that we are doing this event that there is no way we can back out now. I think I have rounded up some friends in Winfield to run with us and I think Trey may have talked to his boss about running with us as well. So here goes my next year of fitness training and running. Wish us luck! I am going to need lots of encouragement along the way, so please send it! I know we can do it as we are placing our training in God's hands. As Luke wrote in Acts 20:24 "however, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the tast the Lord Jesus has given to me-the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace." I will be by God's absolute grace that I finish this race, but I am determined!

Vegas Baby

Trey had a trip to Vegas scheduled for work to attend the ConAgg show, so I tagged along with him for a few days. We left late Friday night so we would have a full day on Saturday to see the sights. Friday night we stayed at the Embassy Suites, but on Saturday we moved to the MGM Signature. MGM Signature is awesome! Great suites with very comfortable beds. We had a great view of the pool, but because the weather was so yuck there was not much scenery at the pool. Saturday we spent most of the day walking around and looking at some of the different hotels and casinos. I love the different architecture in Vegas. While we were getting ready for dinner, some of Trey's friends from Milwaukee called and asked us to dinner. We enjoyed a wonderful meal at the Lakeside Grill at the Wynn Hotel. I had a filet with truffle macaroni and cheese. That was the best mac and cheese I have ever put in my mouth! During the meal different shows were performed on the water. The first show was a large inflatable frog that came out from the top of the waterfall. The frog sang and danced to a song. I was just as entertained by watching Trey and 2 of his coworkers pull their phones out and video the show. After a fabulous dinner, Trey and I went to see La Reve! Awesome show that I recommend for anyone going to Vegas. My kids would have loved it as well. After the show we headed back to our room, but stopped by the Eifell Tower at Paris for a look over the strip. Trey does not like heights so this was not his favorite thing to do, but the views were fabulous.

Sunday, Trey and I spent most of the day just walking around again. We had brunch at the Sugar Factory! Oh my, what a great place to eat. I had Belgian Waffles topped with strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and melted white chocolate. Wow, is all I can say about that meal. We continued our tour of the different hotels and rode the gondolas at the Venetian after brunch, but had to go back early to get ready for a dinner with Trey's customers. For dinner we ate at Emerills at the MGM. I had Mahi Mahi with garlic mashed potatoes. It was really good, but the best part was of course the dessert. My favorite Creme Brulee!!! AWESOME! After dinner we had a late night of entertaining customers at the Piano Bar at New York New York! Fun times, but I really found out how old I was when I woke up the next morning.

Monday, Trey and I completed our tour of the different hotels today. We had lunch at Serendipity III. It was pretty good, but not my favorite place. We did have one of their famous frozen hot chocolate. It was good. For dinner we ate at Galaghers at New York New York with customers. It was a great steak place, but my steak was way too big. We ended the night with a few drinks with Trey's boss and ran into a few people from Milwaukee we had not seen in a while. I flew home on Tuesday by myself and Trey will be home Thursday. He is working hard I'm sure at all the special dinners and breakfasts he is having with customers the next few days. He loves his new job and I am so happy! He is getting to do lots of great new things and is truly excited about working. The trip was wonderful and I hope I get to go back to Vegas in '12 when Trey goes for MineExpo!

A Little MSU Baseball

On March 5th Trey and I took Jack, Andrew and Julia to a baseball game at Mississippi State. The Bulldogs won!! The kids had a great time.

Famous Alabamian

Savannah had to do a project for Alabama History on a Famous Alabamian. Savannah choose to do her project on Micheal Spann. Micheal was a great American and what an honor to say that he is not only from Alabama but also from Winfield. Micheal was a very special person to my family as we grew up across the street from each other and his youngest sister was one of my best friends in the world. Savannah learned so much doing this project and loves to tell Jack and Julia about Micheal.

Happy 5th Birthday Caroline!

Julia's friend Caroline celebrated her 5th birthday with a sweet shop birthday party. Julia had a great time playing in the jumping house with Caroline and Blake. We were super excited to go to this party because Julia does not have very many girl friends.

Wasn't her cake just beautiful!