Orange Beach to Mobile, Alabama

I recently agreed to travel from FL to Alabama with my mother in law and her mother, Grandma Mary.

We had a fabulous time staying with Uncle Tommy and Aunt Jackie (Jackie is Grandma Mary's youngest sister). We stayed in a beautiful condo in Orange Beach, Alabama which was absolutely beautiful! Who knew that Mardi Gras actually began in Alabama? Maybe everyone does, but I sure didn't. We had the privilege of attending one of the many Mardi Gras parades that took place in Gulf Shores.Aside from the wolves, donkeys, and 90 year old men jumping for beads (with their oxygen tanks in tow), the most entertaining aspect of the parade had to be  the amount of people who got hammered in the face with moon pies.

Hands down best parade I've ever been to. The amount of old people towering over the children was pretty unreal. Me being one of them, of course. The majority of people there were snow birds over the age of 50. How fun is retirement? Is it wrong to want to be retired at the age of 24? On our trip, we ate delicious sea food, laughed, and had a good time with all of the family we spent time with. Here is a picture of Billie Jo, Grandma Mary, and Mary's oldest sister, Geniva.













One of my favorite parts of the trip was the scenic tour they took me on to see where Tony and Billie Jo grew up. I always had this idea of what Mobile, Alabama looked when I would hear their childhood stories. Seeing what it actually looked like was so different than what I had imagined. Maybe I pictured something like this:

I guess it should have dawned on me that David's parents are only in their 40's and surely, their neighborhood wouldn't have looked as "rustic" or "southern" as I thought. I just hear those thick southern accents and my imagination got the best of me :) This is the home where Billie Jo was living when she met Tony, and when her father pastored Knollwood Church. 

This is the house where Tony and his brother, Steven, grew up. How charming were their homes? Southern homes are beautiful. 

The last highlight of my trip was getting to spend the night with Grandaddy and Granny Morrison (Tony's parents) in Tallahassee, where I got to sleep in the tallest bed I've ever seen in my life. How magnificent? It seriously took a stool to get up into it. Best bed I've ever slept in. It's definitely a bed for a princess.

Cheers to 3 years!

Today is a very special day! David and I have been married for 3 years. It's hard to believe that three years have already gone by. David and I often talk about how unbelievable our story is.  One day we should co-write it together so the details never get lost. It really is a remarkable story.  

Mind you, there are many details that I'm leaving out when I explain that I will never forget the day that David called and suggested that we marry before his second deployment. Two days later, I was in California and we were being married by his cousins John and Kari.  Only Kari and piano man were there to watch, but with the blessings of our family, and the peace we felt after much prayer, we knew we were doing the right thing.  

I'm sure many people speculated about our 
decision to marry, but we felt that it was a responsible and right decision that would ensure more stability for us as newlyweds when David returned from Iraq. Especially with me moving out to California when he returned, there were many things that I needed time to accomplish in the 7 months that he was deployed. Although the deployment was a frightening time, the excitement of building a life together kept all of our spirits up. We also wanted to have a "wedding celebration" in FL with our parents and friends there to celebrate, which we celebrated on December 15th, 2007. 

In the 5 years that we've know 

each other, we've 

accomplished 

a lot for being so young. When we got married, David was 20 and I was 21....looking back, that was definitely YOUNG! We're still young! We often discuss how most of our time spent together has been through times of "transition". This obviously makes sense since we married during a very transitional stage of life. I'm very proud of our accomplishments and the life we've set up for ourselves. David completed a 4 year enlistment and served his country through very hard years. I graduated with my bachelors and masters and have a dream job! We are so blessed with supportive families, good friends and are fortunate for God's favor and provision through our young marriage. We are in such a great place in our lives and are excited to see what will come in the next 3 years!!