Our First Family Vacation

The weekend of August 20-23, Chase, Brantley and I went on our first family vacation to Gulf Shores Beach, AL. We went with my parents and had a BLAST! Brantley was an angel the whole time! Even the car ride there and back. She was so sweet!

We stayed in condos called Sanibel. It was very nice! I would love to go back there maybe next year or something. Brantley or course loved swimming in the pool. We spent a lot of time down there because she was NOT a fan on the ocean water, the sand or the heat.

She really loves the water. We have a few videos of her but I've been having trouble with YouTube so they haven't gotten uploaded yet or I would share with you guys.

She that top middle picture...that was her reaction to her feet touching the gulf water both times we tried. She was NOT having anything to do with touching that water. It wasn't any colder than the pool so I think it was just that the water moved and made noise. haha! I'm sure next summer she will love it but for now she prefers the pool.

We went to dinner the first night at The Hangout but I forgot our camera. It was really good! We didn't stay and party or anything since we had BR but I would like to go back sometime when we can stay out later than 7:30. ha! Saturday night we ate at Bahama Bob's, which was wonderful and then on Sunday night we ate at LuLu's. Everything was great! No complaints on food here!

Saturday night was the most BEAUTIFUL sunset. Chase and my dad both took lots of pictures of it. Have you ever seen a sunset with green in it? How awesome is that?!!

On Sunday night we got to take these great family photos on the beach just before a really big storm came through. That's why the sky is so dark. I think they turned out great! I was determined to take some good family pictures because it was our first vacation and it had to be documented correctly. ha!

I thank my Mom for putting this trip together because otherwise we wouldn't have gone to the beach this year as a family. It was great to spend so much time with them. We love you, Mom and Dad, and we thank you for helping us with BR. My parents kept her one night for us so we got to go get TCBY and play mini-golf. It was so fun! We played at Adventure Island where they have a volcano that really (but not really) erupts. Fire comes out of the top! I mean a HUGE burst of fire blows out the top every once in a while. It was wild! 

All in all it was a great trip and I'm so glad we got to spend the time together relaxing and having fun. I can't wait until we get to go back when BR is older. Hopefully she'll decide that she likes the water one day. :o)

Sunday School Fall Social

Last night, Chase and I went to our Sunday School class' Fall Social. We had a wonderful time socializing with everyone. They had Moe's Southwest grill catered in and it was great! I hadn't eaten there in a long time so it was a treat for me. I'm glad we were able to make it out!

Thanks, to the Bragg's for hosting the social. We are very blessed to have such a large and supportive group of couples to fellowship and worship with every week. Thank you, Lord for our class!

Grandmother Harris' Birthday

On August 27th, some of my family members got together with my Grandmother to celebrate her 83rd birthday! She is the sweetest lady and I'm glad that she is my grandmother.

Happy Birthday, Grandmother! We love you!

Brantley and the Newspaper

I took this video yesterday while Brantley was fussing in the floor and I gave her a page of the newspaper and she was instantly happy. It was so funny!!

Number 3...Check

Last weekend I took Brantley to the beach for the first time. I went on a whim and we had a great time! We went down to meet the Bachofer's in Santa Rosa Beach. We stayed in a great house that was in the same neighborhood as their Aunt Pooh, aka Charlot. Both houses were beautiful but I liked Miss Charlot's better.

 I love my baby girl so much! It was great being at the beach with her and I'm pumped that we get to go back this weekend. Chase, BR and I are going to Gulf Shores with my parents for the weekend. It's gonna be great!!!

1920's Murder Mystery Birthday Party

Saturday night, I went to my friend, Brittany's 25th birthday party. The theme was 1920's and we played a Murder Mystery game. It was so much fun! 

I was the murderer but only one person guessed me. haha! It was a really great way to have a grownup party. Thanks Brittany for the fun night out.

Happy Birthday, Brittany!!

Leslie's Graduation Get-Together

A few weeks ago, my cousin, Leslie, graduated from Jacksonville State with her Master's in Special Education. She and my Aunt rented a condo out on Lake Logan Martin and invited all of the family out on Friday to help her celebrate this awesome accomplishment.

There was an awesome pool that we swam in almost the whole time we were there. It had a great kiddy pool/really shallow end that was great for us to sit with BR and Molly Lane to play. The lake was kind of a hike to get to so we just stayed at the pool. 

We had a great time and are very proud of Leslie and happy for her. 

CONGRATULATIONS, Leslie!!!

Brantley's Dedication

On July 25th, we had Brantley's dedication at church. It was a wonderful ceremony and BR did really well. She started to cry a little right in the middle, but Dr. Fenton handed her to me and she stopped. He held her again during the prayer. This was a very special day for Chase and I. We stood in front of friends, family and our church body to commit to raise Brantley to know the Lord. It was also a blessing to watch those in our church body commit to being a part of Brantley's life and help her learn about the Lord when she is in their care. We are so blessed to have an amazing church, family and friends around us.

 These are the pictures I got from Bebe that Taylor took with her camera. You can see her starting to cry in the middle picture on the top. Even when she's crying, she's cute!!

 After the dedication, we all went over to my parents house for brunch. My mom had done such a great job with everything. Thank you so much, Nana for having us all over to your house to celebrate such a special day in Brantley's life.

I'm still in the process of getting more pictures from the dedication that everyone else took. We didn't think to have someone take pictures with our camera. Duh!! So if you're reading this and you were there, will you please email me any pictures that you took during the dedication. Thank you so much!!

A few days after the dedication, I took BR over to PawPaw and Bebe's house to take some pictures of her in her pretty dress. They didn't turn out as great as I had hoped but I still like them.

Her dedication was very special and we thank all who were there to share that special day with us.

Our New Playroom

We finally converted our guest room into Brantley's new playroom a few weeks ago. So far she's only played in there a few times but she likes it. I've actually left her in there to play by herself for a few minutes and she has done really well. She's getting so big and I love watching her learn.

I'm gonna start keeping another baby girl in a few weeks so this room is gonna be a great place for the girls to play. I'm super excited!!!

Wow! I've been busy

Unfortunately, I have been neglecting my blog for a while now and I hate it. I've been super busy with converting our guest room into a playroom, meeting with families about child care and starting my Willow House business. I'm super excited about all three things!! 

First off, we finally took our guest room furniture back to my parents house and bought colorful foam floor tiles and a toy shelf for the playroom. There is still a lot of work to do in there but for now, it's a place for all of BR's toys that isn't in our living room. ha!

Second, I now have two babies that I will be keeping this coming school year. A little girl starting in September and a little boy starting in March. I'm so glad that this finally worked out. God is so good and really came through with two great families! I can't wait to start keeping these babies. It's going to be challenging but also very rewarding. :o)

Lastly, Willow House!! Wow!! I am so pumped up about Willow House that I can hardly stand it. I now have my own Design Consultant page. Please feel free to click on the link below and check out my page. Allison Williamson - Willow House Design Consultant

I have scheduled my launch party for August 19th and I'm already working on hosting a party for Chase's aunt in Prattville. It's great!! I'm hoping to book a few more parties this month since it's Double Host Dollars month. Willow House is number one is host rewards of all the party plan companies so DOUBLE the rewards is super awesome. If you're interested in hosting a party, attending a party or would like to learn more about starting your own business with Willow House, contact me at willowhouse.allison@gmail.com

I do have some things I need to blog about so hopefully I'll get around to that tomorrow but for now I need to go to bed. Night Night!