Weekend at Callaway Gardens!

*Note: this is going to be a really long post!


I had such a fun weekend traveling with my parents and little sister to Callaway Gardens! My dad attended the Medical Association of Georgia's annual meeting and was the recipient of the Physician's Award for Community Service! I am so proud of him, and I am thankful I was able to be there to see him receive the award! Traveling with my parents is always a blast. I have such fond memories from my childhood of how they would make everything so special for us and did all they could to make it a fun, adventurous time! Traveling with them again as an adult has proved to be the same kind of experience!

Ready for a road trip:


We decided on the more scenic route which led us through lots of country and quaint little towns. In one town, Trion, GA, there was an old Tavern that was built during the prime of the mill town. It is still a restaurant today:

The drive was absolutely gorgeous! I love traveling the country roads! We drove by several cotton fields and my sweet daddy asked if I wanted him to stop and let us get a closer look! Of course, I did!

That night, there was a progressive dinner, which was on the edge of this awesome view!

Saturday morning the girls rented some bikes to keep ourselves entertained while the docs had their meetings:

There are miles and miles of bike trails through the woods:

We stopped along the way and enjoyed a leisurely picnic lunch:

My mom is always up for adventure and suggested that we climb this tree (yes! that would be the same mom who just broke her wrist a couple of months ago playing tug-of-war with the children at church! :)

After my dad's meeting...he joined us for another bike ride to the "beach" where Kathryn and I just waded, but he took a swim! :)

Getting ready to dive into "Mrs. Callaway's pond" as he liked to call it! :)

Our bike excursion lasted for 4 hours, which left us only 1/2 hour to shower and get changed for the awards dinner :)

Here is my sweet daddy receiving his award! I am so proud of the work that he does. He is an amazing father as well as an incredible doctor! He loves the Lord and seeks to glorify Him faithfully with the calling that he has been given to serve others!

He gave the best acceptance speech!

After the dinner, there was lots of dancing, which the whole fam enjoyed! What a busy day--we were worn out!

Such a fun weekend! Here are we are on the way home today where we stopped for a yummy lunch:

Whatcha got cookin'?

I wanted to take a meal to a nurse from work who is having to take it easy due to complications with her second pregnancy, and decided to try Pioneer Woman's Chicken Pot Pie recipe. I know it's risky to try a new recipe on someone else before testing it out, but I felt pretty confident about this one. I was not disappointed! It was fabulous!! I made a little extra for myself and will definitely add this to my repertoire! I love the bright colors of the vegetables!

I decided to make a side of creamed potato casserole and also had a mixed green salad, which ended up being a super simple meal!

The finished products...(would be much prettier in a colorful casserole dish! :)

A Day in Birmingham...

Took a quick little day trip with my mom down I-59 to visit some of my favorite people! It's always fun to spend the day having a blast together...first on the agenda today was truck and tractor time... Thomas must think it's funny that Aunt RuRu wants to drive his tractor!

He looks a little concerned that I don't seem to know that tractors don't belong in the back of dump trucks! :) After truck time, we spent a little time on the floor using Aunt RuRu as an obstacle course!

Picture time with Grandmommy:

We worked up quite an appetite with all of our playing, so we decided to get some lunch:

We heard that Aldi had a great price on some pumpkins, so we went to check it out...of course, the one that I picked out would have the be the BIGGEST one in the box and it would also be the one on the very bottom, too!

Getting enough leverage over the side of a tall box proved to be a little challenging, and the fact that I was laughing so hard at my little predicament, made for quite the adventure!

With a little help, we finally got it out!

Totally worth it!

We met Tom for a wonderful dinner at the Fish Market (sorry you couldn't join us, Robby--I know you were working hard :) and headed back up the road....what a fun time together!

It's been a while since I've updated! Life has been super busy lately, but I am thankful in the midst of a busy life for the little blessings in life like fresh flowers! I love having my house full of them!

The next two arrangements only got to stay in my house for a few hours, but I thoroughly enjoyed them while they were here...there is something wonderfully therapeutic about putting flowers together! These two were for a double baby shower at work...

In other happenings...it's been a beautiful start to the fall, and I love being outside every chance I get...enjoying me some river-time in my inflatable kayak :)

The next two pics are from my birthday a couple of weeks ago that I never posted...my sweet sister Ivey surprised me at lunch thanks to the Rena Carolyn and her husband scheming together to have her catch a ride from Birmingham with Rob on his way back from a business trip! What a fun surprise to start the day (little did I know that there would be more surprises later :)

Funny story...I had a huge craving for a cinnamon roll on my birthday, and the first bakery we tried had sold out, so we called another one and were told they only had ONE cinnamon roll left...we told them to hold it for me! It was especially tasty knowing it was the last one in the city! :)

Surprise Party!

My sweet roommate, friends, and family threw an amazing surprise birthday for my big 3-0!! I cannot tell you how special it was...I think my face was sore from smiling so much! What a great way to start this new decade! I felt so loved... Wow! That number is a big one!

I was SO SURPRISED!!!

Lots of yummy food:

And drinks....

My sweet sister and nephew who surprised me earlier in the day thanks to my dear friend, Rena Carolyn making sure they were there...another post on that later...

Dear friends...

my precious family who means the world to me (we missed you Nathan)!

Wonderful Co-workers...all Child Life Specialists

Poor Maggie cut her finger just before the party, and had to make a quick trip to the ER for some glue... Loving my sweet little buddy... What's a B-day without a birthday hat? :) Sweet hostesses...what an amazing night...Thanks to everyone who helped make it so special! *a special thanks to Kate who took all of these pictures...what a gift to be able to remember the fun!

Coming soon...another b-day post about the beginning of my birthday!