Road Trip 2010

Saturday, July 17, @ 6am Andrew & I left Surprise, AZ for Panama City Beach, FL. Oh! Let me not forget about our backseat driver, our 100 lb Lab, Jack! He did not sit still for the first 4 hrs. of our journey. We stopped to get gas somewhere in Arizona or New Mexico (I can't remember) and we pulled into this side road by the gas station to let Jack out and release some energy! I was making sandwiches and then placed them in the front seat while I was getting Jack in the back. By the time I shut his door and opened mine, one of the sandwiches was gone! Jack swiped it up so fast! After making another sandwich, we were on our way. Jack figured out he was gonna be stuck in the car for a while so he got comfortable and did so good the rest of the way!

15 hrs later, we arrived in Oklahoma City, OK. After a good nights rest we stopped off at a nearby Starbucks to meet one of Andrew's AF buddies then we were on our way to Memphis! Pam had a delicious Southern home cooked meal straight from the garden waiting on us when we arrived. It was so good! I even ate my first raw tomato! After visiting the in-laws for a little while we ventured on to Birmingham. We arrived at Mom's around 10-ish and got to visit with some of the fam!

Monday morning I visited Mandy at the Beauty Shop and she gave me some much needed highlights! Also met a few friends/family there. Have to see as many people as I can when I'm in town! Around noon-ish we were beach bound! We arrived at PCB around 6-ish with some minor complications and a panic attack, thanks to dear ole' mom! A few hours later, all was fine and are vacation had started!

We spent a whole week at the beach and got to see some familiar faces too! We had a blast! It ended way too soon!

Unfortunately, a week later we had to leave paradise and venture back to the desert. We left Monday morning and stopped off at Serena and Walt's house to stay that night. Serena showed me how to operate my sewing machine that mom let me have of hers (because she had had it for a few years and it was still in the box. No surprise there.) I'm excited to start my new hobby! We will see how talented I am at it! I have already looked at Beginner Sewing classes and plan to attend one. I will keep y'all posted on my progress! Do far, with what little I can do, it has not come natural! I was so out of my element when I went to Joann's this past week to get some supplies to get me started. It took me forever to find what I needed! Anyways, back to the road trip...We left EARLY Tuesday morning from Jackson, MS and stopped off in Shreveport, LA to visit another one of Andrew's AF buddies. We stopped at Barksdale AFB and it was beautiful!!! The on base houses looked like old antebellum houses. They were so cute! The whole base reminded me of what I think Savannah, GA looks like. So green and plush! Big shade trees! Oh! it looked like a cute little Southern town. We couldn't get over it!

Our next stop was the Twisted Root Burger Co. in Dallas, TX! We found it on the Food Network's website for Diners, Dive-in's & Dives. It was by far the best burger I've ever had! It was such a fun atmosphere but a total hole in the wall and we would never have found it if we weren't looking for it! If anybody is ever in Dallas, check it out!

We decided we would stop off early in Midland, Texas and get some dinner and relax! Let me tell you, Midland is a little jewel that we found on this journey. We stayed in the city where all the business building are and, granted, we got there around 8pm, but there was nobody there! It was so lovely and quaint! We walked about 1/2 a block from the hotel to this bar/grill and ate dinner. We got to have a nice conversation with our waitress, who was such a sweetheart, since we were like the only ones in the restaurant at this point! It was a very nice, relaxing, encouraging night! Way to go Midland!

Wednesday morning we slept in, had breakfast in bed, then went on to Surprise, AZ. We got home that evening some time and unloaded the car then settled in for the night.
We had an amazing trip and the driving wasn't so bad! If only we had an SUV! Maybe that will be our next adventure!

A glance back

It seems like my posts are few and far between these days. Sorry! I've been so busy and I guess haven't felt like our life has been "blog worthy" these days, but just to give you an overview of our life lately... My mom and Sam came to see me for my birthday! I was so excited to see them. I didn't know about Sam coming until I saw her at the airport! I was thrilled! It's always nice to have little "treasures" from home to come see us!

Unfortunately, Andrew did not make promotion this year, which means he will have to test again next year. We believe that God just didn't want him to promote this year because He has better plans for us. We are hoping and praying to get transferred to the south soon. We are ready to go!

Needless to say, my diet did not go through as planned! I did good for 2 weeks then my birthday came, mom and Sam came, 4th of July came, you get the idea!! I'm gonna really try these last 2 weeks before the beach! I'm gonna have to get focused!...as I sit here eating Reese's while I type!

Playing Catch Up

I realize I haven't written in a while so I thought I would catch up! Let's see...Andrew & I celebrated our one year anniversary a couple weekends ago on May 23. He took me to Sedona, AZ. It was beautiful! We stayed on main street which was in the middle of everything. Sedona is pretty much the equivalent of Gatlinburg. We went walking up and down the streets and in and out of shops. We took a jeep tour up to the tip top of this mountain where we could overlook part of this wonderful creation we call earth. Later, we realized we could have driven our own car and avoided the windy, chilling weather we experienced in the jeep and saved a pretty penny, but, oh well! Overall, it was a very much needed, relaxing getaway.
Let's see, what else? We went to see Tim McGraw and Lady Antebellum last week and of course, it was awesome! We've been on a diet for one week and it's not bringing out my best qualities. 3 more weeks to go. I'm praying that we are able to get to the beach in July but the oil is quickly flowing!! I will be extremely disappointed if we don't get to go! After all, that is my inspiration for this diet! That's pretty much the gist of our life lately. Now my birthday is 9 days away and counting and Andrew's promotion results are 11 days away! Keep your fingers crossed!

Surprise on Rachael!

I was watching Rachael Ray the other day and she had a segment on "How'd your town get its name?" and Surprise, AZ was one of them. I thought it was pretty cool! If you've ever been out to visit I'm sure you will recognize the sign. It's really close to our house!

Check it out!
http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/show/segments/view/howd-your-town-get-its-name/

P.S. Mom, Amber: Do y'all remember passing Truth or Consequences, NM on our LOOOOOOONG drive to AZ? It's on there too!

Update:

Andrew and I met with our landlords this morning. We were ready to sign a a 60 day lease and be out of our house by July 1. But the good Lord stepped in and made our load a little lighter! They suggested that we could sign a 6 month lease and if we happen to find something before then we could break it, no questions asked! AND they're lowering our rent by $200! Praise the Lord! I just know that God is ordering our steps and what a joy to see Him working!

Breaking News

Well, Andrew & I just got home from our trip to Southaven (Memphis) last night. I will post about that later. I just wanted to let you know about our little surprise we got in the mail this morning. Our landlord is selling our house!!! We have until either May 31 to be out, or we can sign a 90 day lease. Andrew is wanting to get it over with and be out by May 31! Oh my goodness! I knew we weren't going to stay here forever but I wasn't expecting to move this soon! My biggest worry is keeping the house clean to show! I guess I'm gonna have to get busy and start packing!! Lord, help us!!!

Lessons Learned

I just wanted to share a little something with y'all. The other morning I was sleeping peacefully until my alarm went off at 8. Now, I know for most of you, you don't even need an alarm to get up at this time but I do! Plus, I had stayed up til wee hours of the morning playing Super Mario Bro. so, 8 o'clock was pretty early. Of course I hit the snooze. At 8:05 my phone rings and it's work. Do you think I answered?? Heck NO! I just knew they wanted me to do something and whatever it was, it could wait til later. Again, I roll over and go back to sleep. The alarm/snooze routine goes on for a little while and at 8:55 work calls again! Ugh, will they leave me alone? This time I turned the volume off. I finally get out of bed, dreadfully, and I'm ready to go 15 minutes later. I'm pulling out of the garage and I feel my phone vibrating in my pocket. Are you kidding me? I was pleasantly surprised to see it was my sister-in-law. We laughed and chatted about our silly little lives while I drove to my (least favorite) patient's house. How I wish I could have just stayed home! After talking with Serena I called work to see what was so urgent that they had to call me at 8am. I'm almost to the patient's house when I find out that the patient that I am on my way to see, the one that I got out of my warm, cozy bed for, is in the hospital! She's not at home so I don't have to see her today! Unbelievable! If only I had answered. It just never occurred to me that they were wanting to save me a trip. I turned around, headed home and thought, "I think I'll go to Hobby Lobby."

As I was lying in bed that night, I started thinking...as I always do! Isn't this how we treat God sometimes? We hear Him calling and we just know that He's going to want something from us so, we ignore Him. He then, being God, calls again. It still isn't the right time for US so we shut Him out and think, "I'll talk to Him when I'm ready. It's just not a good time for me, I'm busy doing something else He wanted me to do, I'm just too tired." If I had only answered the call from work the first time, I could have turned the alarm off, instead of hitting snooze, went back to bed and not drive 26 miles when I didn't have to. Sometimes, when God calls, He's really not wanting anything. Maybe He wants to save you from a road that you think you have to travel but you don't.

When God calls, He might say, "Go and do," but He might also say, "Stay here and rest awhile!"

Happy Easter!