Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

Daddy, thank you for always being there for me and supporting me in everything that I do. Thank you so much for the example you have been to me, not only the Christian example but also the father/husband example. I am so grateful for that it helped to show me exactly what I wanted in mate and I am so glad that I waited until I found just that. As much as I call you a "dirty old man" when you are around mama, I want you to know how much it means to me that you show her that you love her, even around us. Thank you for being such a hard worker and always providing for our family. You are the best daddy in the world...and I want you know that I will always be your little girl no matter how big I get or think I am. I love you!

Never a dull day in our house!!

The past month has been a whirlwind for us. We went to the beach for Memorial Day weekend for our first family summer vacation. It was so wonderful laying out on the beach all day and eating seafood every night. In case you didn't know it, my husband can out away some shrimp. One night we went to the seafood market and got them to steam us 3 lbs of shrimp and a pound of crawfish. We took it to the beach and ate every bit of it. The only thing left was the shells...which we buried in the sand (come to think of it, I bet some kid was pretty freaked out the next day building a sandcastle and finding a crawfish head :) We had a great time getting away from the day to day life here and home and spending quality time together.

Joel finally has the fence and deck built in the backyard. He has worked so hard on it. It look so good and we are looking forward to entertaining out there this summer. I am so thankful for Joel and his "handyman" abilites. Macie Mae is enjoying her backyard, too. She loves going outside and sitting in the sun and chasing the birds.

And now here is the inspiration for the title of this post...Joel has been in the hospital once again!! In case you are wondering...yes, this makes the 2nd time in the 8 months that we have been married. He starting getting sick last Sunday. He was running 102 fever, throwing up like every 15 minutes and complaining that his leg and foot was hurting. He went to the doctor on Monday because his foot was so swollen that he couldn't move his toes. They gave him and antibiotic shot and sent him home. During the night he started running a fever a again, so I took him back to the doctor Tuesday morning. They have him another shot and sent him home. By that afternoon, his foot was so swollen it has turned completely purple. I called the doctor and they admitted him to the hospital. After being there for 2 days, they said that he had an infection in his foot and he was allergic to the infection. That is what caused all the swelling. At one point his foot seriously looked like Adam Sandler's foot on Mr. Deeds!! But we are home now and he is getting better. I really think that he is just testing me on the "in sickness and health" vow I took. I hope I have proved to him now that I will stick with him no matter what. I don't know how many more hospital visits I can take (or afford)!

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Ash

A Day at the Zoo

Joel and I spent the day in Birmingham a couple weeks ago. After working EVERY Saturday for 4 months, I wanted to get out of Huntsville and do something fun. So, when I woke up on my first Saturday not to work I looked at Joel and said, "Let's go to the zoo today!" I know random...but you have to understand how much I LOVE the zoo. I think the only way I got him to agree to go by telling him that he could see the alligators and that we would eat at the Cheesecake Factory on our way home. Here are some fun pictures that we took:

It was kinda funny that day because you don't see many young couples walking around the zoo without kids. I think we were the biggest kids there. We were more excited to see some the animals than the all the little kids were :)

There is the update...not much else going on around here!

6 MONTHS OF MARITAL BLISS...

Now that we have been married for 6 months, I guess I should catch everyone up on what has been going on in our life. First off, our wedding was absolutely a fairy tale. Everything was exactly how I had always dreamed my wedding would be. Here are a couple pictures from our wonderful day...

We left the next day for Cancun, Mexico for a week. It was the best week just spending time together and laying out by the pool. Joel got so burned on the first day that he had to sit in the shade for the rest of the trip. We went snorkling out on the coral reef one day..it was amazing! One day we decided to venture away from the resort and we got a a city bus (it was only $1 to ride). We told them to take us to a flea market. The bus driver took us into the main city of Cancun (out of the hotel zone) and we did not see a flea market anywhere. We were lost for about an hour just walking around trying to find another bus to take us back. Joel kept trying to act like he wasn't scared for our lives, but now he says that he really was. I mean we pretty much just screamed "tourist honeymooner"! But we made it back and we never left the resort again. Enjoy the pictures...

I guess being married was a little too much for Joel and he ended up having heart surgery at the end of December. He had started having problems with his heart racing and feeling like he was going to pass out a couple weeks before the wedding. He went to the doctor and they told him to just take it easy and come back after the honeymoon. Well, it didn't get any better so we were off to Birmingham for surgery after Christmas. He recovered really quickly and is now 100%. The surgery fixed the problem.

Now that I have caught up up to 2008 this is what has been going on...Life has been pretty normal with the exception of the dreaded tax season and 10 hour work days for me. Joel has been the best husband a girl could ever ask for during the past 4 stressful months. I would come home to a clean house and dinner most nights. But then the great laundry room renovation occurred...we had the the idea to make our laundry room a little bit bigger since it is the main entryway that we use coming in from our garage. It turned into a HUGE project and I learned a lot about my hubby's construction abilities. My man can do everything from knocking out walls, sheet rocking, electrical work, tiling. You name it he can do it!

Well, I believe that is it. Sorry it is such a long post...I'll try and keep it updated more often!

Have a good weekend!

Almost Here!

Well, as you can tell from my countdown Joel and I have 4 days left until we are married. I can't believe it! We were talking the other night about how surreal it is. We have been looking forward to this day for so long now (since I was like 4) and we can't believe that it is finally here. Just a little update on what we have been doing...Friday night we worked on assembling our programs for the wedding (who knew it would take so long to punch 500 holes and tie ribbons through them). I had my bridesmaids luncheon on Saturday morning at Emma's Tea Room. It was so nice and girly...I loved it (Thanks Mrs Berry)! After that Joel and I went to the church and did a run through of the ceremony with our wedding coordinator. Later that night we decided to turn our phones off and just go on a date and not do anything wedding. I cannot tell you how wonderful it was. It was so nice to just spend time together. We have tried to stay really calm this week and just get everything done, 1 task at a time. Sunday we spent the day cleaning the house and washing all the clothes so that we can start packing and on Monday we finished tying all the ribbons on the programs. So I guess the rest of the week will consist of packing for our fabulous honeymoon to Cancun and decorating the church for my (our) fairy tale wedding.

Next time I write I will be Mrs. Joel Essner and I will post several pictures of the wedding and honeymoon!!

Almost Here!

BREAKING NEWS...

Well, in case you were wondering...my hubby to be is now an official Alabama resident and is EMPLOYED!!! Thank you for all of your prayers and encouragement. He got the call back from Huntsville Utilities last Thursday and he will start on Monday. This is such a blessing to our new family. In my opinion it is the PERFECT job for him. He will be the line clearance planner, basically the guy that drives around and tells you that that gorgeous 100 year old tree you have in your yard will have to be cut down becuase it hangs over a power line.