Simplified in September

September was not as busy as July or August (thank heavens).  It was more simplified.

Books

I set a goal to read 8 books this year, and I keep forgetting to post about them.  So, I'm playing catch up now.

I read Boundaries in Marriage, which was a very insightful book.  I'm all about learning how to make the most of my marriage, so I picked the book up and learned the importance of setting and maintaining personal boundaries, and respecting those of my spouse.





I also read Boundaries for Leaders.  I loved this book! Probably one of my favorite reads for the year.  I may not be the CEO of a company, but I wanted to read this book to help me become a better, and healthy leader in my church callings.

After reading the boundary books, I went on to read a book called START.  This one is definitely a keeper, especially if you want to try something new in your life (i.e., in regards to work).  There are only two paths in life: average and awesome.  But one of the things that can hold people back from going towards the road of awesomeness is fear, so you have to learn how to punch it in the face.

And the book that I just finished reading this month is another fantastic read: Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters.  It talks about how important it is for father's to be involved in their daughters life in the world we live in today.  I already knew the importance of daughters having relationships with their fathers, but this was extremely eye opening as Dr. Meeker used many of her experiences as a pediatrician for the last 20+ years in her book to illustrate the need for fathers.  Honestly, every father should read this book!






Alabama Football

I have never seen such die hard, or intense football fans in my life.  When it comes to the Crimson Tide fans, you better look out.

These are a few of the "school spirit" displays I've seen around town:

I am amazed at some of the clothing items that are for sale around here.

These are mens, MENS pants.  I think they were priced at $80+ or so.  I have not seen anyone wearing these pants, yet.  Maybe when the weather cools down some I will.

And the logo was on the pants too!

This onesie was so adorable, but it was $30!  I thought "$30 for something the baby will only wear for a few months -- WOW!"

Nathan and Hannah had a daddy-daughter-date this month, and got to go to a football game at Bryant-Denny Stadium.  Hannah had such a great time and loved it.  She will often talk about "the game," "the red team that's winning," etc.

Nathan said that every time Alabama got a first down you'd hear the entire stadium say "ROLL TIDE!"


ABC fashion show

All the Kindergarten classes at Hannah's school had an ABC fashion show.

They gave each child a brown paper bag, and they had to decorate it with the letter  assigned. Hannah had the letter G, so she helped color lots of things that start with that letter.

I had to take a picture with Hannah's "boyfriend."  She came home one day and said that her "boyfriend's" name is Steven.  "He's a boy mommy, and he's my friend, so he's my boyfriend" were the exact words she used.  She and this little boy like to play at school, and they get along really well together.

Lunch duty

I went to help out at Hannah's school the other day during lunch.  She was so excited to have mommy there, and she introduced me to all her classmates.

Sprained ankle

At the beginning of the month Nathan sprained his ankle pretty bad.  So he walked around with a huge boot on his foot for a few weeks.

Hannah wanted to wear an ankle brace like her daddy, so she often walked around with this smaller brace (see her right foot).

Date night

We went to a restaurant right on the river (this picture I got from the www.cypressinnrestaurant.com).

It had been a few months since we have been on a date so it was nice to spend time together.

After dinner, we walked around campus and looked at some of the historic buildings.  The President's Mansion is still my favorite building.

Church callings

We both got some church callings this month.  Nathan's in the Sunday School presidency, and I was called to the Young Women's presidency.

I went straight to work, and got the Young Women's closet organized.  I'm such a nerd, and I love organizing things.

I also got to go with the youth for a temple trip (which is only an hour away -- yay!).  I love going to the temple.  It's so nice to just leave the world behind for a few hours and focus on other things.

After the temple, we went to Chick-Fil-A for a bite to eat. As we were walking in, I noticed there was a band playing in there.  This is something I have never seen before!

Bye-bye house

It's official -- we sold our house!  Our last root in Pennsylvania was pulled up this month.  We loved that house, so there was a little sadness in selling it.  But most of all, it's nice to know we no longer have a property in the north while we are in the south.

Miscellaneous

Hannah discovered the game Operation this month.  It was at Nathan's work, and when we were waiting for him to finish up with an meeting we played the game.  She loved it!

Every week when we go to church we see this sign and it makes me laugh each week.

Well, that's what happened in our household for the month of September.  Now onto October.

Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters image courtesy of google.com
Start. image courtesy of google.com
Boundaries for Leaders image courtesy of google.com
Boundaries in Marriage image courtesy of google.com

August -- Sweet Home Alabama

August was a really big month for us because...

WE MOVED!!!

Packing up

Taking down decorations on walls makes your house feel so empty and blah.  We LOVED everything about our house in Pennsylvania it was sad to see it so bare.

One thing that was not sad, was that this time around we had movers come and pack us.  It was wonderful!  But as wonderful as it was to have someone pack you, it was surprisingly hard as well. We were completely forbidden to help the movers and we weren't allowed to touch anything.  If we packed it ourselves in then it wasn't insured.

So, this is what we did the majority of the day when we had the movers:

And this is what the awesome movers did:

While the movers packed the house, Hannah had one last play date with her friend, Emily, from up the street. This was a little heart breaking to see.  When we moved to our house, Emily's family had just moved into another house up the street.  These 2 girls have been gal pals the entire 4 years.

Here's a picture of the girls just after we moved to PA.  They were about 20 months old.  (Hannah is on the left).

And here's a picture of their last time together (Hannah is on the right).  I can't believe how big they have grown.

The day that we drove out of Pennsylvania, we had finalized an offer for the sale of our house!  It felt really nice to have that last little detail completed.

The Drive down South

We split the trip up into 2 driving days.  Our first day, we stopped at the Flight 93 memorial in Pennsylvania because they had finished constructing the visitors center.

The memorial had a big impact on Hannah.  She will occasionally ask us to tell her more about the "planes crashing."  I remember thinking about 15 years ago that there will come a time when I will have to tell my children about the September 11th attacks, but I didn't think it would be when she is 5 years old.  I thought it would be in the high school years.

This memorial is one of my favorite memorials of all time.  I put it up there with Pearl Harbor.  There is a very heroic, and reverent feeling there.

The Flight 93 memorial was a slight detour from our main drive so we took some back roads in West Virginia to get back on the main path.  It was an interesting drive, and there were some times where they scenery was beautiful!

We stayed the night at Uncle D's house that night which was a lot of fun.  Hannah LOVES going there.

The next day we got back in the car and headed more south.  This time though, we didn't do any sight seeing.  We just wanted to get to Alabama.

We were not surprised that this was the welcome sign upon entering the State of Alabama.

"Where the skies are so blue." Yes, it's true at times, but not always.  We get some pretty serious gray skies here when the storms come through.

I grew up singing the "Sweet Home Alabama" song by Lynyrd Skynryd.  It's an awesome song, and I sang it so many times.  Never in a million years would I have thought that the Lynyrd Skynyrd song would be about one of the State's I'd live in.  NEVER!  Now, when I hear the song I do feel like it is Sweet Home Alabama.


The Hotel

After about 8 hours of driving the second day, we finally arrived.  Hannah thoroughly enjoyed the hotel.  She loved the fact that it had a pool and a restaurant in it.

Truth be told, Nathan and I were happy there was a pool at the hotel because this is what the temperature was when we arrived.  HOT! HOT! HOT!

First day of work

Hannah and I dropped Nathan off for his first day of work.  Hannah was really sad when we had to turn him over to the University.  She had lots of crocodile tears.

Of all the Universities we have been to (for school or work), this one is by far my favorite campus.  I love the architecture of the buildings, and the history behind them.  Many of these buildings survived some of the fires during the civil war.

Swimming

As soon as we got into our apartment Hannah begged to go swimming!  There wasn't much argument from me because the weather was hot and muggy, and a dip in the pool was very refreshing.

School

A few days after we arrived, Hannah started school, but before she started we got to meet her teacher.  She was a little nervous and shy, and the look on her face says it all.

First day of school.

There was a HUGE screw up with the bus schedule, so we had to drive her to school and drop her off. It bothered me much more than it bothered Hannah, though she was disappointed she didn't get to ride the bus her first day.  Hannah has been saying for about 4 years that she wants to ride the bus to school, and the first day she gets to she can't.  What bothered me about it was I felt robbed of a memory.  Everything about how I pictured Hannah's first day of school in my head did not happen. That's life for you.

Feeling a little gypped, I decided to go to breakfast all by myself, which I enjoyed.  And while I ate I watched some of the Olympics on a TV they had at the restaurant.

Despite the trouble with the bus in the morning, Hannah got to ride it home from school.  Yay!

Living out of suitcases

Our first week in Alabama was interesting because we were living in our apartment without our belongings as they were still on the moving truck.  So we had to sleep on air mattresses, and sit on the floor and use a stack of packaged paper towels for our table.

Since there weren't many toys/games for Hannah to play with when she got home from school, we would often head to the library for entertainment.  

When our belongings arrived at the end of the week we were all very happy to have our furniture back, even though it meant we had to unpack it all.

The movers were wonderful.  They treated our belongings with care and respect in the entire process. Out of all the things we moved, we only had one thing break: a $25 picture frame.  Nothing got lost. Nothing got stolen.  Nothing got seriously damaged.  These movers were wonderful and we are so grateful for their service.

Everything about this place we love! There is one part that I don't care too much for, and that is the bugs!  There are some pretty big and nasty bugs here.  Yuck.  But, that's part of the package of living in the south.  I guess I'll have to get used to it.

Despite the bugs, we are settling in and making Alabama our sweet home.