It's been a while...

Sorry I haven't posted in forever, but we have been really busy with "everyday stuff". I have been studying for the CPA exam again. I just took the Business section on Monday. I need prayers that the graders in Montgomery have mercy over me and just pass me when they realize that I have now taken and paid for that horrible section 3 times. I would say that we have all been healthy and out of the doctor's offices since I last posted but that would be a big ole lie. Joel's foot fungus/disease, whatever you want to call it, came back again. But I think we have it under control now and hopefully it won't come back to haunt us again.

I went to the beach with 16 of my best friends from church at the end of September. It was so relaxing and so much fun. We stayed up every night until about 2 or 3 laughing and talking just like a grown-up slumber party. I'll leave you with some beach pictures...

Joel and I are leaving on Friday to go Chattanooga to celebrate our 1st anniversary. This has been the most incredible year and God has blessed us in so many ways.

Birthday pictures...as promised

We are headed to Nashville this weekend to celebrate with our friends up there. Joel still says that he feels like he is in his 29's....I guess marrying a such youngin' is making him feel young!!!

SOMEONE'S THE BIG 3-0....

And that someone is my wonderful hubby Joel!

On Friday night I had a surprise party for him at his parent's house. It is so hard to surprise him because he can read me like a book. Everytime he would mentioned something about his birthday I would giggle like a little girl, but he said what tipped him off to the surprise is when I called my mom when we were almost there "just to see what they were doing". He said my phone call was WAY shorter than normal. Go figure! It was a lot of fun. We always enjoy weekends filled with family, friends, and food!! (Pictures to come later...I forgot my camera cord)

On Saturday we pretty much spent the day with Joel's family. His brother and sister-in-law were in town with my favorite (and only) nephew Jay. We stayed around the house just catching up. Our plan was to swim all afternoon, but the hail storm kinda put a damper on that! Saturday night Joel and I, along with our class at church put on an Elder's Appreciation Dinner at church. I think they really enjoyed it. We did a luau theme and played games like the "Not-so-newlywed game". It was such a special time to interact with Christian men and women that we look up to so much.

Well, that pretty much sums up our weekend. We always enjoy weekends filled with family, friends, and food!!

Congratulations!!

I just wanted to let everyone know how proud I am of my hubby. He has been studying so hard over the past several weeks for his arborist certification. (I learned just recently that he can be a nerd when he wants to!!) Anyways, he got his certificate in the mail yesterday...HE PASSED!! We just want to thank everyone for all their thoughts and prayers. God truly our answered prayers!

Have a great weekend!

Happy 25th to me!!

I know it is about 2 weeks late, but on June 20th I celebrated my 25th birthday. Joel makes a really big deal of birthdays (which is a great thing becauseI like to celebrate for at least a week). He planned a wonderful weekend in Nashville. On Friday night we stayed at the Loews Vanderbilt and went to eat of the Melting Pot. The hotel was so fancy. It was too fancy for Joel though, he could not understand why a cup of coffee in the room would cost him $1. He insisted that it be free after all we paid to stay there! Our dinner at the Melting Pot was AMAZING. We spent Saturday with our Nashville family and friends. And for the record don't let Joel tell you that he beat me at a friendly game of cornhole because that is so untrue!!

Thanks honey for making my birthday and everyday so special. I love you bunches!

I hope everyone has a wonderful, long, 4th of July weekend!

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