Countdown til Christmas!!

The holidays are definitely in full swing!!  Thanksgiving was relaxing and now we are headed straight into Christmas!  We were able to put our Christmas decorations (before Thanksgiving:)) and now I am soooo ready for Christmas!!  I love having the house decorated and smelling of the holidays.  I am pretty sure that Stuart and I have both been pretty good, so Santa is sure to stop by this year!

Coming up in the next few weeks we have:

• Fantasy in Lights at Callaway Gardens
• baby pictures of Precious Eli!!
• Phenix City Christmas
• Christmas at work
• Huntsville Christmas

Get excited!!  It's Christmas!!

A Blessed Hump Day!!

First off... I find it disgraceful that it takes an almost disaster to get a post up, but here I am!!  As many people know, Auburn (Opelika and many other parts of the state) were hit with some tremendous storms and tornadoes today.  Our area was directly hit, but we are SO THANKFUL that is was not worse.  Stuart and I just got back from a walk around the hood to survey the damage.

Note the foundation on the left and the gazebo at someone's front porch

Gazebo's foundation

Gazebo's new home

No traffic lights left in any direction

All the sheet metal came from the Equestrian complex across the street

Tree at the Smurf Houses

Wire Rd/Webster Rd intersection--Exxon was hit hard



Back of the Vet School Fraternity on Wire Rd


After walking around, I feel very lucky that we only have thousands of leaves and limbs to deal with.  Alabama Power even has us back in business!! 

Another blessing...

WELCOME TO THE WORLD, BABY ELI!!

Can't wait to meet you and so glad to hear you and mom are doing well:)

No Worries...

No worries, guys.  We are still here, just been super busy.  With work, football, camp, friends, food and sleep, I just simply have not had a chance to update the old blog.  Don't fret though, I have pictures from football fun, all 3 of my Halloween costumes and some camp fun to share as soon as I get a chance to get them on my computer!

On another note, congratulations to AUBURN/OPELIKA for being voted as the #2 cleanest city in America!!  I am so proud to call this place home.... for now:)  In honor of our the big game this weekend...

WAR EAGLE!!

Hair today....

First off... I really wish this post could include an actual play list to give the full feeling of each photo.  With that being said, THE BEARD IS OUTTA HERE!!  (for this week, anyways...)

Let me paint the picture for you.  This is how we started....

Click HERE for the background music.

Then we decided to take a little step back in time... like to 1863.

Sorry for the poor picture quality:(

Next, we took a trip to the 70s.

Jumped up to the 80s.

And landed right back in the here and now...

Good ole SJB is back!!!  Yahoo!!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

FALL!!  Yahoo!!!  Bring on the cooler weather and crisper air.  Lately, it has been quite the tease, having crisp, cold mornings and hot, humid afternoons.  Ugh... it totally forces you to be creative with your wardrobe and either freeze or sweat to death at some point in the day.

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year to decorate for, probably since it can all stay out from September-ish to Thanksgiving time.  I thought I would share a few of my decorations, to share my fall spirit.

My homemade Candy Corn vases, courtesy of Pinterest.

4 out of 5 of our pumpkins.  Pumpkin #5 had a good life, but endured a tragic, untimely death. RIP.

Some gumballs-to-go!!

Trick-or-Treat!!

Hope your fall is going as good as ours!!  Coming soon... AU vs. FL and RIP to "The Beard!!"

The big 5-0!!

50 blog posts.  Wow!!  Who would have thought that I would actually keep it up long enough to reach 50?  In honor of my momentous milestone, I thought I would share my top 5 favorite posts.... so here we go!

#5 

New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys!!!  This was such an amazing night that I know Cotney and I will not soon forget... there is even a rumor of another tour next summer!!!!

#4

The Suse!!  One of my favorite-ist little people I know.  She is funny, silly, smart and loves her Aunt Sara:)

#3

Josiah!!  The most rockin-ist 6 year old I know that can transform anything into a robot!!

#2

Ringing in the New Year with a bang... enough said!!

and last, but not least....

#1

A celebration of a boy named Stu.

I hope that everyone enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed sharing.  I don't think that I thought blogging could be so fun, but I really enjoy documenting our life.  I also feel that it keeps me up-to-date with many friends and family who don't live near the loveliest village on the plains:)

To celebrate the big 5-0, I would love to hear about which blog post you found to be a favorite or even what you would like to see in the future.  I hope to hear from you all (all 4 of you) and hope everyone continues to keep up with the Browns'!!

A Shower for Eli

This past Sunday, some friends and I hosted a shower for sweet little Eli Veres and his mom, Adrianne:).  Adrianne and I go way back to our camper days at Seale Harris (I was her first friend at camp:)) and it is so exciting to be welcoming little Eli into the world, in just a few short months!  It was great seeing friends, catching up on everyone's lives and celebrating a new life that is already so loved!   Adrianne got some GREAT gifts to welcome Eli into the world!  While we showered Adrianne and Eli, all the men played an intense game of paintball.  I am not sure who had a better time, considering we didn't see them for about 5 hours.   Here are just a few memories from the shower!

Mom-to-be and the hostesses

"Wishes for Eli"

Delicious food:)

Eli's precious bedding!!





Traditional "Not It" picture:)

Welcome, sweet Eli.  You are already loved by all of your "aunts" and we can't wait for you to be here!!