Thanksgiving

Last Wednesday night Dustin & I headed west to Shreveport, LA to visit my grandma. We drove about 5 hours and then stopped in Vicksburg, MS overnight. We stayed at Aunt Sandra & Uncle Pat's house. It was nice b/c we got to visit with Dustin's cousin's Chris and Tracy while there. On Thursday, we finished the drive to Shreveport. We ate lunch at my grandma's and hung out the rest of the day. I got up early Friday and participated in the Black Friday shopping at Kohl's. I got a ton of good deals. I got to the store at 6 am and the parking lot and store were already packed with people. But, it was worth it for the deals I found.

On Friday afternoon, Dustin watched the Alabama vs Auburn game. During the last half of the game, my brother Kyle & I went to see the The Fantastic Mr. Fox at the movies. It was better than I expected. My dad arrived on Friday afternoon. On Friday night we went to a casino for dinner and then Dustin & I stayed and played some games. We did really well. I won $400 playing Keno and he won $70 playing Blackjack. Saturday we watched the disappointing OU vs OSU game. We ate at a really great local Italian place that night for dinner. Sunday was a long drive home but we had a great week with family. We rented "The Innocent Man" audio book from Cracker Barrel to listen to on the way home. We didn't finish it but it was really good. I'm going to try and finish it this week. It's a John Grisham book based on a true story of a murder that occurred in Ada, OK.

Halloween Weekend

For Halloween weekend Dustin & I along with his parents traveled to Chattanooga, TN for a short weekend trip to see the changing of the leaves. We got there on Sat afternoon. On the way, we stopped at Noccalula Falls in Gadsden, AL. Noccalula Falls, which drops into the Black Creek ravine, is marked with a bronze statue of Cherokee princess Noccalula who, according to local legends, plunged to her death after being ordered by her father to marry a man she didn't love. The bronze statue of Noccalula was, at the time of its creation, the first statue of a person jumping off a cliff. The bronze used in the statue was made from pennies collected from local school children in the mid-1960s. I was amazed at the falls. They were so pretty.






Once in Chattanooga, we rode the free shuttle to Sticky Fingers which is one of Dustin's favorite barbeque restaraunt's. We then headed back to the hotel and got a desert from the 24 hour diner attached to our hotel. Their desserts were so good looking it was hard to pick just one.

Sunday morning we ate breakfast and then drove up to Lookout Mountain. I had never been up there before and the views were so pretty.

We then headed to the river in Downtown Chattanooga to ride the Southern Belle Riverboat for a fall leaves cruise. It was a four hour trip down the river. They had a buffet lunch and bingo along with the scenery. The funniest part of the trip was when I freaked out about bread. I am an admitted germaphobe. I won't eat anything until I have sanitized my hands. We sat right next to the buffet line. They had tongs for the bread but a man in line decided to pick up TWO pieces of bread with his hands and PUT THEM BACK! Gross! I don't want to eat the bread you just touched, who knows when the last time you washed your hands was. Plus, I saw another woman in line who already had food in her mouth stick her finger in her mouth to remove some food from her gums and then touch the serving spoon handle again. UGH!! So, when I saw this man do that, I couldn't keep my mouth shut. He was about 5 feet from me with his back to me. I looked at Dustin's parents and extremely loudly said "Can you believe that man. He just touched two pieces of bread and put them back. That is so disgusting. I can't believe someone would do that". Dustin's parents looked shocked. The man never turned around but his wife looked at me. I know he heard me and am glad he did b/c he needs to know that is not sanitary. Ok, enough of my soapbox. But, it was a great trip!!!

Dustin's 30th Birthday & Burt's Pumpkin Patch

In October we traveled to Brandon & Christy's home in Covington twice. The first weekend was the weekend of Dustin's 30th birthday which was Oct 2nd. We got into town late that Friday night which was perfect because we got to see some filming of one of my new favorite tv shows Vampire Diaries. The scene had Ian Somerhalder who played Boone on Lost. He is so good looking. He was about 30 feet from us :) Here's a pic of the Mystic Grill that is shown on the show. On Saturday Dustin watched football. That night Dustin & I went to the Blue Willow Inn located in Social Circle, GA. It's an old house that's been converted to a restaraunt that has the best Southern food buffet. My fav is the Fried Green Tomatoes.

http://www.bluewillowinn.com/



The other weekend we were in Covington was to take the kids to Burt's Pumpkin Patch. They had a lot of fun running around the pumpkins. We took a hayride through the woods which was also fun.

Travis

On Oct 18th my favorite band Travis came to Birmingham to play at Workplay. The band is a four person group from Scotland. I first discovered them in 1997 and have been a fan ever since. They rarely tour in the US. It was my second time to see them. The first was in Austin 2 years ago. This time, it was only the lead singer and a guitarist on tour playing an acoustic show. It was amazing!!! Dustin went with me and he wasn't a fan before but he did enjoy the show. The lead singer explained why/how he wrote each song beforehand which was really interesting.

Labor Day Weekend

For Labor Day, we went to Jasper, Georgia with Dustin's parents and his brothers family. We rented some rooms at a cute little place called the Woodbridge Inn. We watched football all day on Saturday. On Sunday, we went to Mercier Apple Orchards in Blue Mountain, GA. They take you on a tractor out to the orchard where you can pick apples. The kids loved it. The orchard let you eat apples straight off the tree while you were picking them. My favorite was the Golden Delicious.

Moss Rock Preserve

There is a really cool place to go hiking near where we live called Moss Rock Preserve. It has extensive hiking trails through the woods and some amazing rocks and boulders. You don't feel like your in Alabama when your hiking there. One weekend in August the weather wasn't too hot so we hiked and had a picnic lunch by a waterfall.

Visit from Brandon, Christy, & the Kids

The weekend before July 4th we were in Jasper. Brandon & the kids came to visit for the weekend. Dustin & Brandon went fishing and caught a ton of fish. Here are a few pic's of them cleaning the fish. We fried the fish up for dinner that night and it was really good. The kids were fun as always.

House Sitting at the Lake

The weekend after Fourth of July we housesit Aunt Sandra & Uncle Pat's Lakehouse while they were out of town. It was nice relaxing all weekend. We did grill out kabobs for the first time and they were really yummy! Oh, and Dustin has on his new glasses in the photo of him grilling. He took advantage of his time being out of work by going to the eye doctor. He had never worn glasses before or contacts and was surprised at how blind he had been. I think he looks cute in his glasses. That weekend my friend Brian from OKC was visiting. We hung out with him and a couple other friends from OSU who live in AL. I love being around their daughter Riley b/c she is such a cutie.