MLK Day

I had today off of work thanks to MLK. I told Rob I planned to do as little as possible. However, I did manage to get out of the house. Rob gave me a gift card to "Earthly Delights Day Spa" in Madison for our 1-year anniversay, so I thought I would get a much needed massage. Yes, our anniversary was in July. I really felt bad that I just now used it, but it's really the only time I have had off that I didn't have to do anything. I wanted to use it during Thanksgiving or Christmas, but with the contant coming and goings of the holiday, I never managed to make an appointment. Let me just say how great my massage was. I had a 1 hour "delightful" massage. At times, I wondered if whatever fat on my body would still be there when it was finished...but it felt really good! So if any husbands out there are looking for a gift to give your wife for Valentine's Day, I strongly suggest a massage from Earthly Delights. After my delightful massage, I went home and had two of my favorite things to snack on...Doritos and Dr. Pepper. What a great day!!

Bible Study Girls

This is a picture of the wonderful girls in my bible study. There are a few faces that are missing. This was from our Christmas party at Gretchen Shull's house. These girls are the greatest and such wonderful examples of Christian women. We meet every Monday night usually at someone's house in Belhaven. Presently for our study, we have been sharing our testimonies. It's amazing and encouraging to hear all the different ways that God has shaped our lives and made us into the women we are today. I am truly blessed to be part of this group. I love these girls!

San Antonio Christmas

As I mentioned in my last blog, Rob and I flew to San Antonio on the 26th to spend a week with his family. Lance Bass was on our flight from Jackson to Dallas. I tried to get Rob to take my picture with him, but he would have none of it!! I got the back of his head on my camera phone. As always, we find plenty of things to do while in San Antonio. Rob's family was gracious enough to hold their Christmas celebration until we arrived, so on Saturday we had Christmas dinner and opened presents. We also got to meet Mark's (Rob's youngest brother) fiancee' Natalia and her daughter Shaila. The week was spent shopping, going to Six Flags, seeing the movie "Marley and me", going to the zoo, and going to the Alamo Bowl. Missouri played Northwestern. The director of the Alamo Bowl died suddenly this year and his son is one of Mr. Jim's students. They gave us free tickets to the game. The son and his mom were recognized before it started and they got to hand out the trophy to the winner (Missouri). Most of Rob's childhood was spent in Hannibal, Missouri...so I became a Missouri fan for a few hours. It was fun!

I wish I could say that we completed our great trip by going to Dallas to watch Ole Miss BEAT Texas Tech...BUT we couldn't go. When we bought our airline tickets a few months back for this trip, I had no clue that Ole Miss would be in a bowl..and especially not the Cotton Bowl. Our flight home was on the 2nd and we decided that we would rather save that money than have to pay to get our flight changed, etc.. We watched the first half from the Dallas airport. The second half we were high in the sky. I wouldn't let anyone tell us when we landed who had won. I heard a guy on the plane call his dad when we landed. He said, "Dad, who won the game?" "Really!! That bad!!" As soon as I heard that I was certain that Texas Tech must have come back and really whipped us. We DVR'd the game, so when we got home I got to see the opposite of what I had thought!! It was the best half ever!! I was getting all these text messages from my friends that were there and Rob wouldn't let me read them. I kinda figured out that we must have won..they wouldn't have texted me so much if we had lost!! It was great! The next day I made Rob rewatch the "highlights" of the game. It's a great time to be a REBEL!! HOTTY TODDY!!

this is someone in our neighborhood's Christmas decorations!

Christmas in Water Valley

We had a great Christmas this year filled with traveling, friends, family, and football! Rob and I had our Christmas actually on the 23rd in Jackson. We went to a great restaurant in our neighborhood and came home to open presents. On Christmas Eve, we drove to Water Valley. Before we got to my parents, we stopped to see my dear friend Kelley Hart and her son Cohen. That night we went to church and back to my parents to open a "few" presents. Christmas morning we went to my grandmother's house for Christmas dinner. We missed Lloyd, Lindsay, the Patterson's and the Sheet's, but we still managed to have fun! The day after Christmas we flew to San Antonio to spend a week with Rob's family. I will make another post of that trip soon.

Cohen didn't want to look at the camera!

me with Grammer and Me-Mama on Christmas Eve

Barry gave me a cotton bowl t-shirt! Go Rebels!

mom + wine + fireworks = Rob almost getting shot at!! (true story)

Christmas morning at my parents

the popcorn family at Me-Mama's

the family
getting ready to read scripture, sing, and open presents (a family tradition)

Ruth, Joy, Bethany

Joy and Louis

sitting at the "kids" table

Girl's Christmas lunch

Saturday, we had our annual Girls (plus Banks) Christmas lunch at Primos. We had such a great time telling each other news of what's been going on in each of our lives the past 2 weeks (since our last lunch). These girls are the best. God has truly blessed me with these friendships, and I am forever grateful for what the girls have meant to me over the years. We had LOTS of presents that pretty much covered our whole table. Amelia made friends with some of the waiters by waving at them with her Miss America wave. Thanks girls for all the presents and fun. We love you!!

Christmas decorations

Don't you love those crazy green walls? I painted the room just for Christmas....just kidding, but it does make the house look festive during the holidays (and all year long). We love our Belhaven home! It's so much fun to decorate at Christmas.

Amelia turns 1

Valerie's little girl, Amelia, turned 1 several weeks ago. We went to her birthday party at Val and Glen's new home. She wore the cutest little tutu that Val made for her. She was precious!

Val made her cakes too!

Amelia greets Banks Banks is wondering where all the pink came from!

where is Aunt Carol Anne?? Amelia's cute tights!

yard work

I must give a shout out to my sweet husband. Yesterday after church, he went outside and didn't come back until late in the afternoon. We love our cute house and neighborhood, but our trees can cause many problems when it comes to this time of year. We have 2 huge Sycamore trees in our front and back yard and their big leaves cover almost every inch of our yard, deck, porch, flower bed, shrubs, etc.. We have a creek to the right of our house with a fence that lines it. So when there is a good wind, every leaf in the neighborhood blows to our house and gets stuck on the fence. It's amazing how many leaves there are. Our gutter guards that were on when I bought the house weren't in the best condition. Most have blown off during storms. So Rob bought new gutter guards and spent the afternoon cleaning out the gutters and installing new guards. After that he started raking leaves, so I came out to help. We didn't even get to the backyard...It's like swimming in kudzo back there. We are hoping some young kid who wants some "easy" cash will come knocking on our door so we can give him that great responsibility. After Rob finished the gutters and raked the front yard leaves, he cut back our "out-of-control" shrubs. The house looks so much better. The only problem we are running into is all the leaves in the flower bed. Back in the Spring, we put down mulch (recycled rubber tires). We got it for free from one of Rob's co-workers so it really worked out great for us financially. It also looked SO good!! The problem though, that we didn't realize then, is that the leaves are covering the mulch and there are so many that it will take forever to get through it all where you can see the mulch again. I don't want to rake them, b/c the mulch will go with it. So, I got down on my hands and knees and picked up as many leaves as I could by hand. Maybe that's just something that little old ladies who have a green thumb enjoy doing, but I don't. I gave up and Rob and I went inside. Other than that, it was a very productive day!

New Orleans

This past weekend, we went to New Orleans for our "3rd annual" Saints game weekend. Our friends Todd and Tate are big Saints fans and we have had so much fun getting together with them each year. We were kind of worried, because going into the game this year, Todd had a 0-9 record watching the Saints. We were hoping this would be his year....and it was!! The Saints beat the Falcons 29-25. I was excited to get to see my fellow Ole Miss alum Deuce McAllister play, however, he was only in for one play. It looks like Deuce's pro-football days are numbered. He has had two knee surgeries and it's amazing that he is still playing. Todd told me that the average "life" of a running back in the pros in 2 years. So, I guess Deuce is extraordinary in that he has played for 8. Here are a few pics from our weekend.

dancing in the street! these guys were really good!We went to the aquarium on Saturday. I got to pet some sting rays! I almost dropped my purse in the water, so we didn't take any pictures of that.Todd, Emily, Shane, Tate, Rob tall, taller, tallestReggie Bush and his autograph

Drew Brees
Todd and Emily

DEUCE!!

well look who it is!! It's Coach O

Todd's losing streak is OVER!!