Day on the Plains

#17, 18 and 19... cute coincidence!








We took Wyatt to his very first Auburn game on Saturday. I will admit, I am LOVING this age- he is finally getting old enough where I feel more comfortable taking him to events with large crowds and to activities that might interfere with naptime. He did great! For some reason, I was extremely apprehensive about the whole tailgating/stadium experience. We did have a dress rehearsal with A-day earlier in the year, and this was Homecoming, so I knew it would be pretty laid back. Nonetheless, SEC football is SEC football :)

We made the experience extremely "Wyatt" friendly by not trying to push past half time. We also tried to sit as close to Aubie as possible (this was his favorite part of the game) and promised a trip to Toomer's Corner after the game. As you can tell from the photos-- the whole toliet paper thing was beyond his wildest dreams (fun times for any child, I can imagine) and I was happy to share these memories with him- Auburn will always hold special memories for Mark and I, and to be able to expand upon those memories with Wyatt is an incredible blessing. What a wonderful day!

War Eagle!

A-Day 2011

The 'Ole Freshman Dorm
You can't visit Auburn without the Samford Pic :)
Where Wyatt will one day stand in his cap and gown...
Toomer's Corner
Game Time!
Hard at work, stealing some poor kid's shaker
Again, hard at work- only this time, he's workin' on the ladies :)
Where Mark and I stood side by side at Graduation - only 5 short years ago, and now I stand with our little boy-SERIOUSLY, where does the time go?!
Delaney's first trip to Auburn (better known as God's Country ;)
The new arena
My boys on Campus, AND (drum roll, please...)
The ENTIRE Tiger Paw clan. Mark was so upset to take this picture, let me tell ya ;)

It was a great feeling to be back on campus this weekend! So much has changed since I attended, but it is always fun re-visit our Alma Mater- especially when you are literally surrounded by people who love Auburn as much as you do. Everyone seemed to be floating on air as we celebrated the first A-day as National Champions. Auburn, as you well know, is where Mark and I met and fell in love-- so it will always hold a special place in our heart. Sharing those memories with Wyatt is a blessing, and this time around was no exception. War Eagle!!

Rachel, the OCD artist

We are iced in today, (roasting Duck :) as is most of the state is right now. I am so excited about the game tonight- I literally cannot wait to see our boys take on the Pac 10! I so wish we were in Arizona, but it didn't work out this time, so we will be watching it from our couch.

We literally did nothing this weekend- it was so nice just to chill out and relax after such crazy holiday season. I did have the most.fun.girls.night.ever!

Before you go thinking I was hanging from a chandelier, let me just say that I did not spend the evening in a bar (shocker, I know!) anyways, a bunch of my friends and I decided to check out the local sips and strokes... so I spent the evening with some of my best girlfriends, attempting to conjure my inner artist. An artist, I am not, which I found out very quickly. My OCD-self had a very hard time with the "manic" brush strokes, and my second attempt at an "office-worthy" piece did not come out the way I had expected.

My red tulips were not red, and my image looked absolutely nothing like the pictures that surrounded me... in fact none of ours looked the same. When I took it home and showed it o Mark, I was pleasantly surprised that he liked it so much-- even remarking that it was beautiful. Certainly not the reaction I expected, but I 'll take it!

It struck me all of a sudden, that isn't this exactly how life is?

The lines get blurred. Things get incredibly messy. Frustration mounts at times.

Anxiety builds. You have a few laughs along the way... and, voila! you right smack dab in the middle of a beautiful mess called life- which is nothing how you expected it to be, but it is beautiful all the same.

and, without further adieu...

My not so "red" tulips :)

Hope everyone is staying warm, and WAR EAGLE!!

Lens Envy Pictures... and others too :)

Merry Christmas! Erin as always.... captures the BEST of my baby :)

WAR EAGLE!! It's great to be an Auburn Tiger... ARIZONA, here we come! Don't we look excited?!

Gettin' ready for that National Championship!
A wonderful Santa experience this year! What does he want? A choo choo and a Spiderman... in that order :) Ask him any day, any time, and he'll say the same thing. Cracks me up!

The Christmas Patch with papa

Turkey Day! Yay for Uncle Kurt!
These pictures are backwards... but we are playing catch up :)

The Woes of Single Parenthood

This is the time of year when my husband begins to chase tail- literally. Everything from white tail to duck tail is fair game. Unfortunately, that means he is traveling around the country (or, in this case, around Canada) thus, leaving Wyatt and I to fend for ourselves.

The past 5 days have been beyond exhausting. I have spent the majority of the time in the car shuttling Wyatt around. I seriously am starting to consider installing a meter and painting my car yellow! Yesterday it took me 2.5 hours to get to work. I have NO idea how single parents do it.

Anyways, we got to hang out with baby Delaney, and catch up on some quality mommy-son time. As you can see, we are most excited about trick or treating with Miss Cutie Pie this year. Wyatt was such a gentleman and even shared the wagon- who would have thought?!

Lily, the new big sis, also came over to play. She was so excited to see someone her own age :) They had a great time cheering on their Auburn Tigers- and what an incredible game it was. I am really trying not to get my hopes up... but we might just give the other school something to reckon with. We shall see!

War Eagle... and... Happy Fall Ya'll!

Auburn V. Clemson

Tailgating with the Bufkins

The two bearded brothers- watch out ladies... these Patagonia guys are Hot
Me and Sharon... my pretend big sis :)


War Eagle!! Mark and I certainly picked an exciting game to go to this season. We spent the weekend in Auburn (where we met and fell in love :) with Chris and Sharon- sans kids.

It was an absolute blast to be able to catch up with Bufkins, enjoy some good food... and some GREAT football. What a nail-biter! I wasn'y sure our tigers were going to pull it off, but in the end, we surely did- even if it was in overtime... a win is a win!

Friday evening we enjoyed a wonderful dinner and even tried to keep up with those college kids... but lets face it- I am a mom now, and sleep is much more important now than hanging out in a bar where all the kids are a good 5-7 years younger than me. Also, I realize I am waaay behind the fashion trends... but I am on the hunt for some super cute cowboy boots to wear with my dresses this fall. Nothing like a trip to a college town to realize what your wardrobe is lacking :). Good thing the 'Ole birthday is around the corner. That's what I love about an early Fall birthday- it's a great time to stock up those pieces I wouldn't normally buy for myself.

In other news- we have made the costume decision for 2010.... and I CAN'T wait for the big reveal!!

I have also posted a picture of the two cousins with Uncle Kurt on his birthday. I thought it was too cute not to share.

Also, in case anyone is curious... Kurt is still single! A 26 year old accountant who lives in Destin and owns his own home?! I'd jump on that, Ladies!! Let me know if your interested ;)

p.s. He's great with kids too!!

My Little Piece of Happy...

Mark came home with these last week, and it has really been a bright spot in my week (pun intended). They were originally in a plastic bucket, and he even took it upon himself to plant them in my favorite planter. This planter was used in our wedding so it is really special to me. Our florist filled it to the brim with white lillies and pink roses. One of these days I will dig the file off my computer and post the pictures... such a beautiful day :).

Anyways... back to my front porch. I didn't want to spend a ton of money on my "harvest" look, so I simply added a fall wreath. It doesn't look like much from the picture, but it always makes me smile when I pull into the driveway and see this:

And this is pretty sweet to come home to as well:

These PJ's crack me up- we put them on for the first time on Saturday night, and they are so tight they resemble Long John's. It is a good thing I bought them in a 2T... there is no extra room to be found :)

Erin, one of my good friends who just so happens to be an incredibly-talented photographer came out to take our Christmas/Wyatt's 15-month pictures on Saturday. She met us at the train depot in Calera, and it was a perfect day. If you need any pictures taken (maternity, engagement, Christmas, family ect...) I highly recommend her. This is the second shoot she has done with Wyatt, and I could not be more pleased. Check out a few of his pictures here. Did I mention that she is AWESOME and AFFORDABLE? Double-bonus: She can design your Christmas cards too! For busy mom's like me, this is one heck of a deal. Thank you Erin for capturing these amazing snapshots of my little boy.

Besides the Christmas shoot, we completely chilled out this weekend. It was wonderful to have a weekend off from entertaining, and not have to worry about my house. I declared it a "no-clean" zone and only did the bare minimum like dishes and laundry. The floors did not get mopped and the furniture did not get dusted... and I didn't care. We just played and played. I did get to the mall on Saturday morning and finished rounding out Wyatt's fall/winter wardrobe. He needed a few more long sleeve t-shirts, dress shirts and a couple more pairs of shoes. WHEW! I am glad we are done with that. I think he is okay until Spring- let's hope anyways. Mark's mom is making him an adorable Pumpkin Long-All, and my mom ordered him two fall appliqued long-all's, so I am very excited to get those in the mail this week and to try them on my handsome little man.

We watched the Tigers roll over the Vol's at Steph's house Saturday night. The food was awesome- Turkey Chilli, hotdogs and dip galore- YUM! Good food and family make the best weekends in my opinion. Thanks Steph for a wonderful evening. War Eagle!

How 'bout those Tigers?!

WAR EAGLE!

Teaching Wyatt how to share...Apparently our lesson didn't work so well :)

Wrestle Mania!

Wyatt and Ava... (I was holding Ava, and somebody got a little jealous :)

Here we go, folks- Our Auburn Tigers are on a roll, and let's hope Chizik's magic keeps on working. We beat out the Mountianeers 41-30 in a nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat game.

Saturday night, we had Lori, Johnny and Ava over. It was so much fun! Mark smoked two chickens all day, and they were FANTASTIC. Anything my husband grills is amazing- props to the BBQ king:). I am embarrassed to admit that I made the twice baked potatoes and the homemade salsa again this week- they just sooo yummy that I wanted to make it again (thanks Trista!) I added a cheese ball and peanut butter bars to the mix this week, and everything was delicious.

Ava was cracking me up! Wyatt has finally found his match - our living room resembled a WWF ring during the game- our two toddlers were wrestling like grown men. It was hilarious to watch.

As you can see- I got my hair colored this weekend. It was half price day at my salon- so I decided to give the Loreal box kit a rest. What do you think? Is it too dark?

I hope everyone had a great weekend. War Eagle!