speed addiction

Ok so this is how it goes- Braden throws Anabelle in the bean bag and flys her through the air. Very fast and high and rough. Many, many times. Over and over and over again. She's not laughing or really even smiling. But don't let that fool you. You want to see a world class, pitifull crying tantrum see below where Braden tries to stop. He was dog tired and she just wasn't giving the giggles that warrant continuing through exhaustion. Each time he stopped she would throw herself at him, climb onto his chest, pulling at his shirt to help him up, curl the lip over and just let the tears flow. It was so dramatic Braden and I were laughing our heads off at our daughter's 5 star performance. She has this thing on the swings & any other activity too- never high enough, fast enough, long enough. Hmmmmm, this should be a lot of fun when she's 3. Or 13.

Mixing business with pleasure...

...in Longview, Texas. Braden happened to have a business meeting right in the little town where my dear ol grandma lives. Anabelle and I checked our schedules and amazingly found ourselves very available that particular weekend, so we went along to hang out with Grandma. I mentioned to Grandma that I had never had sweet potato pie and before I had finished my sentence she was shuffling out to the garage. She came back in with a bag of sweet potatoes and immediately started boiling them. We spent the afternoon baking the pies and I also happened to tell Grandma that I don't know how to make sausage gravy and biscuits. Same thing happened- she went to the freezer and got sausage to defrost. We had sausage gravy & biscuits and sweet potato pie for dinner that night. It was a great chance to hone my southern cooking skills. Sweet potato pie and Blue Bell ice cream is something that should be enjoyed regularly. I reckon we'll get started on that.

We also went to a fantastic park with very unique toys to be explored. We however, did not get past the swings on two visits there. It was actually quite nice because the swing was big enough to fit Braden and I so we took turns holding Anabelle and pushing each other. Her love of the swings is something unreal.

My uncle Greg (who is a personal hero of sorts to Braden because of his meat smoking skills) hooked Braden up with his own Briskette to take home. It was quite entertaining to be driving down the road and look over to see Braden with a huge pan of cow on his lap and a full quart jar of BBQ sauce for dipping.
Grandma said Anabelle is the happiest baby she has ever seen-and the most active. I think Anabelle may have worn her out a little bit. It was great to spend a few days with her and other family we rarely see.

Aldridge Gardens

We live down the street from a Botanical Garden. I absolutley adore this place. It has a lovely little lake with a trail around it, a boathouse to picnic in and feed the 456 resident turtles your leftovers which husband says he will eat but does not, and beautiful flowers and trees. We go there most mornings and walk or run and often times don't see another soul. Finding the gardens actually made me feel more at home in Alabama because it is so Virginia-esque. I took these pictures the other day when we had a fall picnic.