Birthdays + Friends

The past few weekends were spent celebrating, laughing, shopping, and dining with some of my favorite people! I'll start from the top.....

Three weekends ago two of my best friends from college, Robin and Courtney, came to Jackson to visit me! Courtney's birthday was January 12th, so we had a little celebration for her at our house.  It's a rare occasion when we are able to all get together for a weekend so I soaked up every minute with these gals. We spent the weekend with Casey and Dana (Robin's sister) who are also Samford alums that live here in Jackson.  It was so good to have some girl time just like the good ole' college days. It is hard to believe that this coming May will be FOUR years since we graduated. Time surely does fly. I am so thankful for the friendship I have with these girls and look forward to sharing many more wonderful memories with them in the years to come.

 (excuse the poor quality of the photos due to i-phone) 

I got brave and baked Courtney a birthday cake from scratch. It was edible, and I was happy!

Happy Birthday, CC! I love you with all my heart.  Thank you for being my best friend.

Lunch at Primos! 

Dinner at Bablou!

Lunch after church at Beagle Bagel!

The next weekend, we headed to Birmingham to celebrate my sister's birthday! We had a yummy family dinner at Firebirds topped with Mary Catherine's favorite dessert, Granny's homemade chocolate cake!  Doesn't get much sweeter than this picture of MC and ASL...

Birthday Girl! So thankful for you her.

My babe.

With our favorite niece! She keeps us laughing! 

Love that smile! Loved spending the day with her.

While in Birmingham, I took advantage of being close to Arab and was able to have a much needed dinner date with some my best high-school friends! I love that no matter how long we go without seeing each other, when we all get together it's like we never missed a beat. We had such a great time catching up! 

Sweet, sweet friends.....All grown up and married! 

Yummy dinner at Cocina!

So incredibly happy for this mommy-to-be :) :) :)

Also got to see this little "all grown up" girl while in Birmingham! I started baby-sitting Lowery when she was in Kindergarden and I was a sophomore at Samford. Now she is a beautiful, smart, precious 5th grader who is one of my best friends! I love her dearly and can't wait until she can babysit my kids one day!

And lastly, this past weekend I traveled to Memphis for another weekend with my college friends. Alan was working all weekend and so I decided to get out of town and have some fun! It makes me one happy gal that I was able to see these friends twice in one month!


 Fun night in Memphis! (Robin is taking the picture)  Robin is a nurse at St. Jude Children's Hospital in Memphis. It was her dream all throughout nursing school to be a pediatric oncology nurse. I am so incredibly proud of her for the dedication and passion she has for her job. While in Memphis, she took Courtney and me on a tour of St. Jude. Walking the halls and seeing what these precious children are challenged with daily sure did change my perspective on life. It takes one special person to be able to work day after day with children who have cancer and I know Robin has been blessed with the gift to give those children the love and hope that they need to make it through each day.






This art work was done by a 14 yo boy who has cancer. What a testament of his faith. Makes me realize how much bigger God is than our problems, no matter how big or small they may seem. 

I love how happy and colorful the walls are....I'm sure the kids are amazed by this!   

In the picture above, they are throwing a "No More Chemo" party for this precious little girl. Robin said that after the patient receives their last chemo treatment they will throw a huge party with balloons, confetti, etc. to celebrate! I thought that was just the coolest thing!

"When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these."  Mark 10:14