happy 1 week, baby braden!

my friend, tara, had a baby last week! little braden scott was born march 3rd at 9:40, weighing in at 7 lbs. 8 oz, and he is a whole week old today. he and baby mama are doing well.

check out those pouty lips (he gets those from his mama). he's just so cute!

i'm going to denver!

danny has a business trip to denver next week & i'm going to meet up with him at the end for a 3 day weekend in the mile high city. i'm excited!

back from the woods

through the rain, wind, and snow, danny and i have returned from our weekend minimoon into the woods. i think we may have picked the weekend with the wildest weather (how about that alliteration, huh?), but it was still so much fun & we had a really great time.

we woke up friday morning in huntsville to the sound of rain (great), so we took our time driving down. we took the scenic route that the gps took us on & the stopped for lunch at dad's barb-b-que which was unlike anything i'd ever experienced. no, i'm not talking about the food although it was good. i'm talking about the concept of the restaurant...this place is like sonic but indoors. each booth has a menu with a phone attached. when you're ready to order, you just pick up the phone, and then a waitress brings you your food at the table. i couldn't get over it. have you ever been to a place like this?


here's danny getting his last bit of email and internet before the self-imposed cutoff from the world.


friday night was filled with heavy rain, winds, thunder, and lightning striking the mountain around us. when we woke up saturday, it was like we were in a cloud, but we got a 4 hour window of now rain! we were able to get out and hike a couple of trails before the afternoon rain started. i got to wear my new hiking boots! it was a good thing i got them too because parts of the trails were under water. we even climbed around a waterfall & had to ford a couple creeks. the boots really served me well (as did my other bits of new valentines day outdoor gear). the rest of saturday was spent lounging around napping, eating, and/or watching season 1 of buffy...yes, the vampire slayer (a christmas gift from mel and arthur).

sunday morning we woke up to a park ranger knocking on our door encouraging us to get off the mountain as soon as we could & this:


a blizzard of white. we considered "accidentally" getting snowed in, but in the end, reluctantly packed the car and made our way slowly down the mountain.


good bye cabin and all your snow (and privacy)...


weekend nutrition brought to you by
baked penne with meatballs
mocha chocolate chip muffins
hot 'n spicy chex mix
nestle toll house mini chocolate chip cookies