BEACH!

I haven't had a beach vacation since....well December for our honeymoon. But that doesn't count. It was SO cold.

So let me begin again, I haven't had a beach vacation in 2 years! We went with my family in 2009, but skipped 2010 because we were saving for the wedding. We opted to not go with the family because we didn't think we could afford it, because we were still recouping from the wedding. However, my husband made it happen!! We went for a week! July 16-23.

We stayed at the Phoenix East tower in Orange Beach, AL. It was very nice. We had a one bedroom, one bathroom condo (which was the perfect size for just us.)

When we arrived on the 16th, we unpacked, did some shopping, and ate at a little Mexican restaurant. We went to bed ready to hit the beach the next day....

...not. It was rainy! BUMMER. We went down anyway to put our toes in the sand and waters, but it was not a day to lay there. So, we decided to go ahead and get the shopping part of our trip done. I love going to Gulf Shores because it is so close to Foley. Foley has an amazing Outlet mall called Tanger Outlet. I had good luck in stores like Gap, Ann Taylor Loft, Rack Room, and COACH. We shopped until about 6, went back to the hotel and changed and went to dinner at the Original Oyster House. They had yummy food, including their famous cheesy grits. Yup, grits with dinner! Here is Chris and I after dinner...

So on Monday, the weather cleared and we had our first full day at the beach. It was nice. Not too hot and breezy. Here was my view for the day...
Monday was also Chris's birthday. He enjoyed the day relaxing on the beach with me and then we went for a nice dinner at Lu Lu's. It's Lucy Buffet's (Jimmy Buffet's sister) restaurant. Such a great atmosphere. Of course I'd leave my camera at the condo on this night. I did get a few pictures with my iPhone though!

Lu Lu's

A prize for my mom in this bag...

Chris's birthday brownie....yummmm

Tuesday was a sunny day as well. Chris and I were a little red in areas so we were careful in the sun. However we still got plenty of it! We spent the morning looking at the beach...

The middle building is our condo.


The water was so clear!


Sportin' the tankini to cover up the burnt tummy!

We spent the rest of the day Tuesday jet skiing! I don't have any pictures because....well the camera would get wet! It was a blast though!! That night we went to Tacky Jacks for dinner. It was a really cool atmosphere too. It's right on the water and they also had a really neat pier to check out while you wait.


Wednesday was another beautiful sunny day. We spent the morning at the beach.

Isn't that a great panoramic shot? I love this function on my camera! After the beach, we went on a dolphin cruise on a glass bottom boat! It was fun, and we saw lots of dolphins!

Chris and I waiting for the ride.


This was another boat identical to ours in the water with us.


We saw lots of dolphins! You can really see it in this picture.

Our boat driver took us to Bret Farve's house. It is amazing! It's a trillion dollar home. He had to buy four houses just to tear down to build his. If you look in the picture, the house to the left is a two story house...look at the difference!

That night we ate at a cute little place called Gulf Island Grill. Great food!

Thursday...another great day at the beach. We spent ALL day there. I got sun, read a book, and just soaked it all in! That night we went to Lambert's. It's famous for throwing rolls. We waited for almost 2 hours! It was worth it, and was fun...but geeze!!!

That night we also met up with Mandy, Tim and Houston. They just so happened to be in Gulf Shores the same week we were. So neat!



So great to see them!

Well, I didn't know Thursday would be my last day at the beach, but it was....bummer. It rained again. But actually, it turned out to be a really fun day! Chris and I went down to the Wharf and shopped and even took in a movie. We saw Friends with Benefits. IT WAS HILARIOUS. You have to go see it. So we did our last minute shopping, ate at a little Italian grill and headed back to our condo to pack up. Perfect ending to our trip.

But I have to say...I'm already thinking about when I'll be doing this again.........

Time to get back to work! Hope everyone's summer was great!

Mrs. KB

"God will wrap some blessings in disguise."

I had a pretty crazy Friday.

My day started by taking Bella outside. We've had 4 or 5 kittens running around our backyard...we wouldn't see them all the time, just occasionally. So, I saw three of them. We went outside, they ran off, pretty typical.

A couple of hours later, I took Bella back out and saw one of the kittens laying down. Got a little closer and discovered what I feared was going on. Yeah, little baby passed away.

I'm so stinkin' emotional when it comes to animals. I immediately flipped out, grabbed Bella and ran inside crying. I called Chris and said I needed him to get home to get the kitten out of the backyard. He called animal control and they met him out to help us.

I haven't really seen the others much in the past couple of days. I wish I could get close enough to catch them. They are very cute, and if I could just get them to the shelter, I know someone would adopt them. They are just so scared of people. I worry about the heat, and if these little babies can survive. But, I have learned this over the past few years..."Worry is paying interest on nothing."

I find comfort in knowing this about myself: every pet I have ever had, have now, or will have is taken care of.

Let's move on to the other part of Friday.

Those of you all who know me well, know that my Dad and I have an EXTREMELY rocky relationship. Rocky enough that he and I fought 9 days before my wedding, resulting in him not coming to my wedding. (believe me, that is the SHORT version of that story.) After the wedding, I reached out to try and mend things with him via phone calls, e-mails, cards, etc. I got no response. Chris even called, and my dad told him, "Maybe I'll talk to her in a year."

Chris' dad died of a massive heart attach when he was eight. Chris immediately told my dad..."You don't know what could happen in a year."

Oh that is so true.

Friday I got a call from one of my dad's close friends. She informed me that my Dad is in ICU at Methodist Germantown. She told me it was serious, gave me the limited information that she knew, and said that my dad wanted to see me. So, I waited for Chris to get home from work and we went up there.

I wanted to find out what happened. What was going on! My dad is on a lot of medication and he wasn't really speaking very clearly. Nurses couldn't answer my questions! So frustrating.

It wasn't until Saturday that I learned the full story.

My dad apparently had been having back/abdominal pain for a month. You heard me right...a month. Over the July 4th holiday weekend, the pain got worse and he went to see his regular physician on Tuesday the 5th. When he got to the doctor's office...they immediately took him back. His blood pressure was 70/40. They had to get his blood pressure up to a safe range in their office, and they transported him from there to Methodist Germantown by ambulance. They got him in and immediately took him to ICU. They were running tests trying to rule out things that could be going on with him. They narrowed it down to some kind of infection in his abdomen. They also found that he had an ulcerated sore on his left foot. They took him to surgery and began searching for the problem in his abdomen. They found an infected abscess on his stomach lining, and it had been there so long that they even found gangrene in his abdomen. Not good. He's a severe diabetic. The diabetes complicates everything.

They were able to clear out the infection and the gangrene in his abdomen. He is on a wound vac machine that helps close the surgical site. He's not out of the woods yet because they have to stay ahead of the infection so that it does not inter his blood stream.

His foot was a concern because they didn't know how long that infection had been there. They were worried it had spread to the bone and in that case, he would have to have his leg amputated. He has since had an MRI and it appears that as of now there is no infection in his bone. This is a good sign.

So, I tell you this long, drawn out story to lead you up to yesterday...

Chris and I went to see him after church yesterday. My dad for the first time EVER, brought up our issue and apologized. We had a civilized conversation and it did not end up in an argument.

Did it take my dad knocking at deaths door for this to happen? Perhaps.

"God will wrap some blessings in disguise." - Bruce Carroll, Hope Church

He is by no means in the clear yet. They expect him to remain in the hospital for quite some time. I've also been warned by nurses that things could still take a turn for the worst, but to remain positive. I've placed this completely in God's hands. He's carrying me through...as well as my dad.

Love y'all.

Mrs. KB

Mexican Food, Paint, and Friends!

So my group of girl friends and I have totally gotten hooked on having "painting parties." For those of you who haven't experienced one of these, what these painting parties consist of is:

1. Meeting at a Mexican restaurant in Cordova called Rio Azul.
2. Getting a group of your friends together who want to paint.
3. An artist comes to teach your group of friends how to create a piece of art that you can hang in your home.

It really is such a good time! Sure you mess up, laugh, and maybe have a painting that is a little less than mediocre when you leave, but it's super fun! I have now done two of these paintings, and my friend is already planning another party. This next time she has chosen a big daisy for our painting! I think it'll be my most favorite one yet!

Here are some pics of my paintings so far:

Kim and I with our masterpieces! I think I had one too many margaritas. Look at my face!

This is the second painting. My red barn. :)

The group with our paintings! I like looking at this photo because while we all painted with the same instructions, everyone's looks a little bit different!

Doing things like this with my friends is so much fun. Looking back at this pictures helps to remind me just how lucky I am to have the support group of friends that I have. I'm a lucky gal.

Happy summer y'all!
Mrs. KB