Vegas Baby!

Well, last week Doug's company sent him to Vegas for a conference. I was lucky enough to get to tag along. While Doug was in classes, I got to sit by the pool and lazy river and well... be lazy. It was nice since I was recuperating from surgery.

At night, we got to go around and see all the hotels/casinos. And let me tell you... Vegas isn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Granted, there is lots of bad things around you that is easily accessible but otherwise it is a very clean, classy place. Beautiful array of lights and extravagant architecture. If you just stay away from the bad stuff, there is so much to enjoy. And that's what we did. We went to a jousting show called Tournament of Kings and ate with our fingers (which is what they did back then. Ha). We looked around at all the major hotels/casinos. We really had a good time just exploring. They had aquariums, lions dens, fountain shows, the Statue of Liberty and even the Eiffel Tower you could ride up in to the top. It was amazing. We even had a tv in our bathroom of the hotel room. Crazy!

Yes, it was all very beautiful but VERY expensive. Just a hamburger... no fries or drink... $10. A bottle of Pepsi (no coke) was $3-$4. We spent way too much money even though we didn't gamble. Let me rephrase that... I gambled $7 at the slots. Ha. Not too fun for me! So we probably won't ever go back unless it's a company trip but I'm very glad we got to go one time. Next time we will definitely try to go see the Grand Canyon. It's not near as big or impressive from the plane. Ha.

Blessings!

Sometimes we all get so stressed and focused on things in the future or problems around us. I just want to take a moment to list all the things that God has blessed me with right now. If something happened to me today and I went to be with the Lord, my life would have been a great one!

Alison's Blessings:
My Savior dying for my sins!
My Loving and Awesome Husband
My More-Than-Wonderful family
My precious niece and nephews and the time I get to spend with them.
My Supportive Church Family (oh what a great one)
My Encouraging Friends
My dream job - graphic designer
The Opportunity to Bless other women in my Mary Kay job.
My time with God every morning!
My Christian Upbringing
Lessons I have learned and treasured over the years (and continue to learn)
My Car Wreck - Because it taught me so much about myself and about God's love!
The Joy that God has given me in my heart.
My positive attitude & the hope in my heart!
My house and all the blessings and love inside.
My sweet animals!
The new friends that I meet every day!
Prayer! The prayers I pray for others and those that are lifted up for me!
God's Grace, Mercy & Forgiveness!
DeeDee's Bible Study that teaches me so much about God and myself.
Christian friends and coworkers that hold me accountable.
Free time to spend with my husband or my family.
Restful sleep every night so I can enjoy my day.
God wakes me and allows me to walk every morning on my tainted feet.
The money we have in the bank to pay our bills and put food on the table.
Keeping us safe everyday as we drive.
For email and computers for us to keep in touch with people we would not normally talk to.
Also, for email being able to send out prayer requests all over the world if needed!
The closeness of my family!
My Faith!!!!

That's all I can think of right now. I know my blessings are endless and continue every day. God is so good... all the time!

Camping with the In-Laws

Sounds like a possible nightmare doesn't it? Well, it wasn't as bad as I thought. We are so blessed with a wonderful family regardless of the minor organization flaws. Ha. Let me explain...

We're camping on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Tennesse River in Tuscumbia, Alabama. It's in Aunt Diane's back yard which is the size of a football field. There are about 25-30 adults/kids. We have 2 travel trailers, a pop-up trailer and 2 tents. Doug and I of course are in a tent. It's a massive tent though. Would sleep about 10 people I imagine if we didn't have so much stuff. We are normally over-prepared. We have 2 air mattresses since my dog has be fit in the bed with us. (She's spoiled!) We have lots of clothes and covers for the cold (thank goodness).

So we get down there Friday night (around 8:00) and set up the tent. Everyone else is already there and has been there for a couple days. We sit around the fire and talk with everyone until bedtime. We're very tired since we worked all day. It's quite cold but we do have a sleeping bag. We get ready to go to bed. I turn my sound machine on to hopefully drown out all the crazy noises so I can sleep. No such luck. We are 1/4 mile from railroad tracks with a train passing every 15 minutes. Overlooking the Tennessee River on which barges move throughout the night tooting their horn. About a mile away from a steam plant with alarms and such. I sleep a little then wake up thinking I'm going to be frozen. It's cold but we're bundled up under the covers. The only thing cold is my face. My dog however does wake up shivering so we finally got her under the covers. As the sun comes up, so do the roosters down the street and geese flying above. We were actually the first ones up. Ugh. Guess I didn't need much sleep?

So everyone starts asking about breakfast. Ha. They finally start preparing it about 9:00. Mind you... we will be having a birthday party for our niece and nephew at 11:00. We all finally sit down to eat breakfast at 10:00. My sister-in-law asks me to go with her to pick up the cakes for the party at 10:15. She asks her sister to decorate while we are gone. (Party scheduled to start in 45 min.) We get back from picking up the cake at 11:00. Decorating is almost done and looks great. Cowboy theme. Andi Layne is turning 3 and her brother Wesley is turning 1. All guests start arriving but the majority come over from camping. We sit around for a while. Lunch is finally ready at 12:15. (Party started at 11:00) We ate, then played games which was so much fun! Bobbing for apples, sack race, wheelbarrow race, etc. They even got the adults to play. After that we go over to open presents. Slowly but surely all the presents for both kids were opened. Then time for cake. The candles have melted in the sun. It's actually gotten hot so ice cream would be good with the cake. Oh, we left that at grandma's house. Oh well! 4 hours later the party is over. Have we lost anyone in the shuffle? Ha. By the way, the Alabama game is on so all the men (including Pop Pop) missed the party!

So we go back to camping and trying to relax. The rest of the night is uneventful except the fun hayride. I love acting like a kid too. We are so tired from not sleeping the night before, we go to bed a little earlier than everyone else. Did I mention that they forgot to tell me which door to the house was unlocked for us to use the bathroom? Ugh. I finally found it before I peed in my pants in the middle of the night. Ha. So that night besides the fun stuff listed above from trying to sleep the night before... there are now mosquitoes in the tent with us. The only thing exposed is our face but they magange to find it. After turning on the lantern 3 times and searching the tent for them. We seem to have killed them all and finally got to go to sleep (as much as possible anyway).

We get to take family pictures and that was nice. I don't have them yet though. I'll share when we get them. Doug's sister has a very nice camera and took them all for us. We were very ready to go home on Sunday. Even though we had a lot of fun and good family bonding... it was on the verge of too much. :) This was the first of many annual camping trips in Tuscumbia. This will now be a tradition. Can't wait! Gotta love the In-Laws! :)

Stress!

Well, I had my first migraine this morning. On the way to work, I started seeing "stars" in the left eye. I didn't think much about it since everyone had their headlights on. However, it went on for about an hour. Reading the computer screen became very difficult. I didn't know what it was and started freaking out. I had trauma to my brain from my wreck 7 years ago and that was the first thing that came to mind. So I called the doctor. The nurse said it was probably a migraine but to come in and see the doctor anyway. The "stars" went away and turned into a severe headache. I went down the street to my doctor. He gave me a shot and a prescription. He said it would start to work in 30 min. to an hour. Unfortunately, that meant I had to come back to work. So now it's gone away but I wonder why it happened.....

Some people say it can be caused by sinus trouble. My sinuses have been acting up a little. Or it could be caused by stress. Stressed? I'm not stressed. My friend reminded me that I am working 2 jobs (JDA and Mary Kay), in charge of the family finances (very difficult), and we are trying to have a baby (going to the fertility doc tomorrow). I guess I had forgotten about all of this somewhere during my headache. Yes, I guess subconsciously I am pretty stressed. I put on a good front though. We cooked dinner and watched a movie last night. I just started a new Bible study too. And we're going to the beach this weekend. I'm sure hoping the beach trip eases my stress a little. Just pray for me and all that is going on in my life. :)

Wedding Pictures

Check out the wedding pictures I posted on my old blog (to the right). I just got the cd of all of my pictures from the photographer. I love looking through them remembering the happiest day of my life! I hope you can tell how happy that I truly am in all my pictures. Everything about the day was absolutely perfect! I wouldn't change anything (except maybe the air conditioner going out during pictures). I prayed about it and God made my day perfect! :) Hope you enjoy the pics as much as I do. God bless!

Marriage and Babies

Ok. I don't know how good I'm going to be at this but I'm going to try. I don't even know who will read it but here it goes....

I've been married for about 14 months now. It's so much fun. It's like living and spending lots of time with your very best friend. It's difficult at times but for the most part, it is wonderful. Right after we got married, I read The Power of a Praying Wife. I HIGHLY recommend that book for anyone who is married or getting married. It taught me to pick my battles and pray about things when I get mad and frustrated. This has saved a lot of fighting. Due to this... we hardly ever fight. Most of the time, it's just not worth it. We are enjoying life right now. We watch lots of movies, travel, experiment cooking and just spend quality time together. We have, however, been trying to get pregnant for about a year now. Most of you know that Doug is going to turn 38 at the end of this month. We're ready for kids. I know it is all in God's control and I have faith that he will give me the desires of my heart. Since nothing has happened yet, I have an appointment with the fertility doctor next week. I'm very nervous. Just pray for me and us. It is very hard to understand how so many people get pregnant accidentally. It's amazing how many people have gone through this that you didn't know about. Our bible study at church has shown me that I'm not that different and there is hope. Seems like no matter what happens in this situation, there is someone to talk to who has been through it. God provides and is ALWAYS in control! I will let you know how it goes!