We're Back!!!!!

Hey Y'all!  We are back from our cross country road trip. Well, almost cross country. More like 1/2 country.  We had a great trip visiting friends and family and attending weddings. Now I can say I have been to Oklahoma.  Both weddings we attended were absolutely beautiful! While in Kansas the weather was great. As soon as we left Kansas I think the rain followed us the rest of the trip. It rained a good bit in Oklahoma and FLOODED at the beach so we didn't see too much of the sun or the beach, except from our balcony. NO FUN! But it was a great time with family! And guess what??? While driving through Texas, Kevin decided to buy some $1 scratch offs and we won $500!!! Oh yea, just paid for our trip. Thanks Texas!

I took some little snap shots with my phone along the way. One of these days I am going to get a nice fancy smanchy camera! :) I have a digital, but I think my phone can sometimes take better pictures. It's amazing how far the cell phone has come, isn't it?

The Arch in St. Louis on the way to Kansas.

Cows for miles in Kansas on the way to Oklahoma

More Cows and Pastures for miles!

We went to see the KC Royals play the Twins in KC. Very fun!! 

Toby Keith's Restaurant in Oklahoma City, I <3 This Bar & Grill

In Gulf Shore we got to play with this adorable little thing, my niece! Isn't she cute!!!

And this one, too. My nephew Lucas!

All in all the vacation was much needed and wonderful, but it is good to be back to a regular routine.  

Coming back to work was hard after being out of our routine for 10 days, but somebody has to pay the bills, right?  Although, I do miss playing with the two little bundles of love above. I could kiss and love on them all day long!

Hope you have a great Wednesday!

A Day of Remembrance

It's hard to believe that a year ago today, tornadoes ripped through the state and took the lives of 250+ people and damaged thousands of homes and businesses. I remember the day like it was yesterday. April 27th will be one of those days like 9/11 that we will never forget. It took me 3 hours to get to work that morning because a tornado had ripped across one of the main highways in the city going toward downtown. Power poles were down and the road was closed. That was a smaller tornado, but it did so much damage to hundreds of houses and many businesses.  The rest of the day everyone was on pins and needles for what was expected and what we would later see on live TV. It was so tragic and sureal. A tornado around a mile wide would track across the center of our state. The town of my college alma mater was hit hard and it will never look the same.

After that day our state came together as one to help find loved ones, begin the cleanup or just lend a shoulder to cry on. Celebrities from all over would even show up to cleanup and Red Cross sites to lend a hand. Benefit concerts took place. Even this day, one year later, Bo Jackson, Lance Armstrong and others are biking across the state to raise needed funds to continue the clean-up and rebuilding process.

Kevin and I attended one of  the many benefit concerts Bama Rising that Brad Paisley and Alabama put on along with several other country artists. It was awesome to see the kind of support and love our state was shown during that tragic time.

Events like these make you realize how precious this life is. I pray that many lives were changed for the better after that sad and tragic day. A song that was played with many of the vidoes showing the damage was "Praise You in This Storm" by Casting Crowns. Everytime I hear that song I am reminded of that day and how even in the hard times we are to praise Him. God is the one who will get us through the many "storms" in our lives.

On a happier note HAPPY FRIDAY and I hope everyone has a great weekend!