Kitchen helper

Excuse the blurry picture, I was hiding behind the counter to take this so he wouldn't notice. We were making dinner the other night and I asked him to brown the meat. While he was in the middle of it he became concerned about it getting splattered on his workout clothes so he asked me to get him something. The only apron I have was a bridesmaids gift from Cile. She picked it especially for me since it had blue, green and yellow on it (favorite colors) and I love it. But the sight of Ben wearing an apron was HILARIOUS! I had to capture it on camera. I think he's good looking enough to pull it off...and I was very grateful for the help!

Beach trip

We spent a few days in Orange Beach last week.  My family had been looking forward to this trip for a LONG time! The weather was perfect and it was a much needed break for all of us.   I love being with my whole family, and it was great to see how Ben fits in so well.  A family with all girls got a taste of what it's like to have a big brother.  

Our first stop was lunch at Sea n Suds.  Dad had been looking forward to these oysters for months.  Jen, Jamie and I decided to try a raw oyster. 

Here Jen and Jamie are about to take the bite.  Jen looks nervous and Jamie looks like we are crazy for letting her do this.
And here Jen spit it out.  Right by my face.  Lovely.
After lunch we headed straight for the beach.  Ben and Jamie took advantage of the floats in the condo.  Something about the beach makes Ben act like a 5 year old.  Trust me, SO fun to watch.  He gets a big goofy grin on his face and actually giggles.  
He was entertainment for all of us....
The Martin (now Martin/Calvert) family crabbing tradition.  We mean business.  

We start out with nets, but then get frustrated and use our hands.
Jen and Jamie look so hardcore right here.  Ben was our designated flashlight holder and he did awesome.  
We only caught a few, and we were getting frustrated.  Then a 7 year old kid runs up to us to show his bucket of crabs.  He had at least 30 in there!  It was a little embarrassing that one kid caught all of those crabs when there were 6 of us.  Oh well.
We rented a kayak one day and it was lots of fun.  It was a 1 person kayak so we took turns going out there.  Jen and I tried to fit both of us but we were sinking.  My favorite person to watch out there was mom.  She wanted a good workout for the day so she was going pretty fast!
All the girls...
My 2 favorite men!
Jen and I both got crab legs on our last night of the trip.  They were HUGE!  
It was such a fun trip, and I am thankful for the time we got to spend with our family.

We're back

Goodbye beautiful, sunny beach. Back to the real world. As soon as I can get the pictures on my computer I will do a full update on our trip. For now I just wanted to say congrats to everyone from church who had their beautiful babies while we were gone! Three babies!! We have been praying for all of you! Apparently there is something about having me and Ben on the gulf coast that makes people go into labor. That being said, in the future if anyone is ready to have their baby and wants to pay for us to go back to the beach to get things started we are more than willing. Just let us know.

Nursing School

I am going to make this short and sweet...I got into UAH's nursing program!! I got the call today at work! I would say more but I am soooo tired right now. Just wanted to let people know!

Our new "pets"

I want a dog. I've always wanted a dog. My friends know that I tortured myself by visiting Auburn's Humane Society on a regular basis. Every time I found "the one". I always named them too. Unfortunately I have already used up most of my ideal pet names like Manning, Riley, Maddux, Turner and Toby. The dog I wanted to name Toby just looked like if he could talk, he would talk like Toby from The Office. I loved him. We could have been lazy together. Anyways, I think that since those dogs never actually belonged to me I can still use those names. Now only if I can convince Ben to like them...but we will approach that battle when it's time.

For now we have adopted these baby birds to be our pets. We watched as the mother made her nest in the stairwell of our apartment building, we saw the eggs, and now we have the babies. I am almost positive there are 4 of them. Ben thinks there are 5 but I have yet to see the 5th one. They are the perfect pets. We get to see them every day and talk about them but we don't have to take care of them. Seriously, our entire drive to church today was talking about our birds. Think we are strange? We do too, it's ok. It's fun watching Ben park the car, walk halfway up the stairs, stop and smile at our birds.

I've decided to name them Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz and Avery. If it turns out that Ben is right about the 5th bird we can name him Javy Lopez. I love them, and I love not having to pay a $500 pet deposit.

Jammers in Peru

My baby sister, Jamie, is in Peru right now with a team from Southwood's youth group. I am so excited for her! I went on several mission trips in high school and they changed my life. Be praying for her and the rest of the team while they are there. My mission trip experiences in Mexico and Belize were with a few of the same leaders so I know that she is in great hands. Southwood started going to Peru the summer after I graduated so I never had the chance to go...bummer! When I went to Mexico one summer we memorized a passage that is my prayer for her team.

" If you have any encouragement from being

united with Christ, if any comfort from His love,

if any fellowship with the Spirit,

if any tenderness and compassion,

then make my joy complete by being like-minded,

having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit,

but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

Each of you should look not only to your own interests,

but also to the interests of others.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,

did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

but made himself nothing, take the very nature of a servant,

being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself

and became obedient to death-even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

and gave him the name that is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

-Philippians 2: 1-11