Working Weekend

This weekend, Tanner's parents moved to their new home. So that meant lots of fun moving furniture, boxes, etc, for us! Luckily, they decided to hire movers, so it made it a lot easier to get across town. Of course, we were still busy packing up last-minute items and directing traffic for all of the furniture. Currently, they are living out of boxes, but soon their new home will be cozy and unpacked for good! I wonder if they'll be ready to grill on the 4th? Sure hope so!!

Impromptu Dinner

On Wednesday, we found out that Tanner's Uncle Richard & Aunt Liz were vacationing over in Pensacola Beach. Since they were staying so close, we decided to meet up for dinner. We had a great meal at Les Roux, a wonderful creole restaurant in town. It was a great time, and we were so glad to see them and catch up!

A Tale of a Tail

A little over a month ago, we took Josie to get her summer haircut. She came back and looked great, but within a few days, a nasty lump came up on her tail. We thought it was just a cut or maybe a bug bite, but it started looking so bad we took her to the vet. They thought it looked terrible, and thought that it was cancer. They recommended amputating a portion of her tail to remove the growth.

Fast-forward 3 weeks. Josie has now had 2 separate tail amputations, is on several medications, and is currently living with a protective cone on her head. That is because she's the most persistent dog we've ever seen, and she's managed to rip her stitches out TWICE...even with the cone in place!

The best news is that she DOES NOT have cancer. Apparently, after grooming, she had an ingrown hair that caused nerve damage and the boil. This, however, must be the most expensive grooming job in recorded history! We are just so thankful that the wonderful people at our vet's office have taken such good (and constant) care of her!

Relaxing Weekend

We've been so busy lately that our weekends are usually packed with to-dos. This weekend, we took it easy and it was great!

Saturday, we headed to the coastal green market in Orange Beach to check out the local offerings. Afterwards, we headed to the annual Hot Air Balloon Festival in Foley. We watched as they rolled out and inflated one of the balloons, which was really neat. We then wandered around and looked at the vendor booths, rock climbing wall, and the collection of collector cars.

On Father's Day, we celebrated with brunch at Tacky Jack's. The wonderful food and the awesome views did not disappoint! It was such a relaxing weekend and now we're recharged for another busy week.

Happy Father's Day!

Have a great and wonderful Father's Day! Andy, Bob, and Paul, we love you!

Monogramming for Dummies

Our boy announcement has gotten his Grandmother inspired to sew, embroider, and of course, monogram for this little one. Which means first we have to learn to use our machine!

Randi has had an embroidery machine since the days of Buttercups, but we've never really learned how to use it. We can monogram the styles that are already in the machine, but we never figured out how to import the extra software we bought. Until now, that is!

Early in the week, we took a private sewing class in Mobile to learn how to make the machine sew all the things we want to embroider, monogram, and applique. It was fabulous! We learned that our machine is actually awesome and can do everything we want. We had just never been shown how to convert the files. We're thrilled! Of course, we had to stop and check out all the fabric stores for ideas of what projects to start first!

We left the machine to be serviced, and we get to pick it up tomorrow. Let the monogramming begin!

Let the Shopping Begin!

We decided to wait until we found out what we were having to start buying anything for the baby. Since we found out, we've been making up for lost time! We've picked out our crib, chosen our room theme, bought our baby bag, and started collecting clothes for our little man. There are a lot of decisions to make, but it's been too much fun!

This is the first piece of clothing we bought. We love it, and it pays homage to his nickname, Scally!

The Big Ultrasound

Our last doctor's appointment was the big reveal. We are so excited to announce that we are having a little boy!!! We couldn't be more excited!! He looked so healthy on the ultrasound (the staff kept commenting on how good he looked) and he even waved at us! We also had our due date pushed up a few days, so we're even closer to him getting here. Now, we've just got to finalize a name for our soon-to-be son!

Weekend Retreat

Right after our TN trip, we headed to Palm Beach county, FL. We love going to Bo's mom's house, and this trip was extra-special, since Bo's sister and her family were there, too. We had an awesome time visiting with everyone!

We enjoyed great meals, a quick beach trip, and a fun shopping day at Ikea & Sawgrass Mills (the world's best outlet mall). Baby Howard was the big shopping winner, though, thanks to the super-cute outfits from Boba (Bo's mom)!

Mostly, though, we spent most of our time lounging by the pool & just enjoying each other's company. We had such a great time, and we are already planning our next get-together. We are so lucky to have such a tight-knit family, even though we're far-flung. Everyone should have as wonderful in-laws!!!

Bo and our niece, Mira, enjoying some time at the beach.

Boba & Mrs. Slater enjoying baby Ben.

Leigh holding Ben in his favorite position by the pool.

Tennessee Trip

We headed to TN for the wedding of Tanner's first cousin, Beth. The weather was amazing, and we spent Saturday relaxing at Bo's parent's house. We had a great time grilling out, catching up, and playing with the horses!

Saturday night, we headed to Smyrna for the wedding. It was wonderful reconnecting with our family....especially ones we hadn't seen in so long!

We rounded out the night with our dear friends Sam & Sarah Neil, who we met for dinner. We are so excited about their new adventure at medical school in Johnson City, but we're going to hate being so far away from them!

We wrapped up our trip with a great Sunday breakfast at Tanner's grandparent's house. You can't head to TN without her Grandmother's cooking!

As always, the trip was too short, but it was wonderful seeing so many of our nearest & dearest!

Bo's dad feeding one of the baby horses.

Tanner's Grandfather & his sister, Aunt Gigi.

Uncle Richard & Becky, the father & sister of the bride.

We're Back!

We've made it back from our travels, and we have tons to share! Now we just have to unpack, catch up on all we've missed at home, and sort through tons of photos. Check back in the next few days for a full recap of our recent adventures!