My new "grown-up car"...

Before I post about our second trip this year, I have got to say how excited I am about our new vehicle!

Since Jay's truck was in the shop having work done from the break in:

 we wound up having to take my car on the six hour drive to our other vacation.  While we were on vacation, my car's radiator started leaking which made us have to do a quick fix on it in order to get it back home and in the shop...

Background on my car... My 2004 Midnight Blue Hyundai Tiburon
1.  My daddy bought it for me.
2.  In 2004 when I was in the middle of my senior year of high school.
3.  It was paid off.
4.  It comfortably sat 2 people...it had been known to seat 5 people uncomfortably.
5.  I loved it.

But when it came down to it, it was time to upgrade.  Especially after watching my 6'6'' husband drive it for 6 hours straight.  His knees were on both sides of the steering wheel.  It was cute. :)
When we arrived home from our vacation, we quickly put the car in to the shop THAT afternoon.  Since we had no other car at that point, Jay picked me up on the Harley and said, "Well, where do you want to go?"  As I put on my helmet, I hopped behind him and said "the closest dealership."  He laughed as we drove off.  See, he had been trying to get me to get a new car for a while and I think that this trip had been the last straw for him too.
So we went to a Ford dealership (because I thought that I wanted a hybrid Escape), and our biggest "test" for the car was that we both had to sit in it and have PLENTY of room.  After sitting in a few, we decided that the Explorer was the way to go for us.  The dealership had three different black ones and a white one...and my wonderful selfless husband said "pick one".  Now, I know that this will not always be the case.  One day our money will be spent on diapers and extra savings and dentures, etc.  So I am enjoying this.  And I did.  I picked my favorite one:

(I look that way because we had been in the car all day and then on the bike.  If I had known we were buying a car, I would have put on lipstick at least, Mom.)

So, I cried when we signed the paper work...I sobbed to my mom on the phone telling her "but my daddy bought me my car" and various other blubbering emotions.  Poor Jay, it was probably hard to tell how excited I was at first. :)  This is me getting off the phone with Mom and realizing that I'm a big girl...a big girl who is getting a new car.  A big girl whose husband is getting her a new car.  It's a growing up thing.

And here she is at home!  I haven't named it yet... I can't decide if it's a boy or girl... (yes, we name our cars)  Jay's truck is Bertha. Ha.  I'm open to suggestions.

I'm so happy and excited.  It's just another story in this next chapter of our life.  It's our "family car"...but its mine... ( hee hee )

I love you Jay!  Thank you for loving me.  Thank you for getting us a new car the afternoon before you leave to go to work again...I will NEVER figure out all of these buttons. :)

Trip one: Sandestin, FL

March was an incredible month.

Since Jay's job only allows him to be home for 30 days at a time, we spend the 60 days that he is away on PLANNING.  So far, we have planned probably ten trips for our first year of marriage...and we are so excited!  Our first trip of the year was a fantastic beach getaway to Sandestin, FL. I have never been a "beach person" per se, but every year I think that it should be mandatory for a trip to a beach SOMEWHERE and Sandestin is my fav. 

Jay was only home for one day when we loaded up his truck with our luggage and made our way out of town!  (Before we left, I used a Groupon that I had previously purchased for Dave's Mobile Car Wash to come to our house and clean our cars...for 12 dollars...I am ADDICTED to livingsocial.com and groupon.com.)  There is nothing like leaving for a trip right after you get off work.  I was a ball of energy that probably could have propelled the car all the way down there without using any fuel.  We sang an entire set of 105 songs that we had on a cd.  We stopped for coffee 3 times.  We cut off our phones.  It was amazing.

To break up the drive to Sandestin, we stopped at an awesome Holiday Inn in downtown Mobile, AL.  It's a super cool "round" Holiday Inn with reeeeeealllly nice rooms.  The next morning we enjoyed breakfast at a place called Spot of Tea that I found on Yelp.com that had good reviews.  It was YUM.

The drive to Sandestin from Mobile did seem to last a little longer than it should have...or it could have been that the GPS woman in Jay's truck completely hates me and wanted me to hate her back...which I do/did. (She was stolen from Jay's truck in the Baptist Medical Center parking lot this past month...and since Jay's insurance bought him a new one, I'm not sorry. :) )  So, after much ado and yada yada yada, we arrived at our condo in the resort's Luau.  Wow.  I mean, all that it lacked was having food in the refridgerator...which it didn't. Jay checked it first. Ha.

The condo also had a king size bed in the bedroom, 1 1/2 baths, a dining room, living room, washer/dryer, and a wrap around balcony.  It was incredible.  We were very impressed.  And thanks to his sister Tracy telling us about bookit.com, the price was about 40% less than the Sandestin website offered it for.
I love Sandestin.  I love Baytowne Wharf.  I love Jay.  So....I was ecstatic.the.whole.time.

We were at Hammerheads and Rumrunners the first night.  Fortunately it wasn't crowded too badly on a Thursday night so we got to enjoy the dual pianos playing and the drink lines were short! (*That's my ring that Jay bought me in the Paris airport at the Swarovski store...love.it.)

Day two was all about parasailing and shopping! 

ha ha ha ha

800 feet above the Emerald Coast!

We had incredible food every night.  We ate at Bistro Bisoux, Old Bay Steamer and a couple of other places...

scallops over pureed sweet potatoes

Long Island Iced Tea.........Bread Pudding w/ goat cheese ice cream

We can't wait to go back next year.  March is definitely our month for the beach...

Also to be mentioned:

-Jay's next career should be "Sand Dollar Finder".  He dives like a duck and grabs with a passion.  We came home with a pocket full o' sand dollars....free.

-While Jay was diving for sand dollars, the dolphins found him interesting enough to swim within ten feet of him.

-I can sleep peacefully for an infinite number of hours on the beach, amidst a crowd of people.

-If you fall from parasailing from 800 feet, you will die...

-If I don't see a jellyfish, they don't exist.

     

Trip one: Sandestin, FL

Thanksgiving 2010...a little late!

I love the fact that through posting on our blog, Jay and I get to relive our memories one at a time! 

Since Jay and I were married on November 12, 2010, our first family holiday as a couple was Thanksgiving...and we had so much to be thankful for.  We split our day between our wonderful families.  We had a feast of a lunch at Jay's sister Tracy's house and then we drove back to my parent's house for the night time meal.  I have some pictures from Tracy and Steve's house that I would like to share!

 This picture is in front of Tracy and Steve's beautiful Christmas tree and we used this picture for OUR Christmas card this year! 

 Left to right: Kris, Kamaryn, Madalyn and Maggie Hynum (Jay's cousin)  It was a day of mixed emotions...Kris left on Thanksgiving day for work for THREE MONTHS.  We were all so glad to have gotten to celebrate the day with the whole Hynum family at least for the wonderful lunch!

 It was impossible to get a serious picture with this group.  But we tried.  The ladies are me, Tracy, and Maggie and the guys are of course Jay, Steve (Tracy's husband) and Kris.

 Steve with their dog Brit and then Molly on the right! 

 The guys!  Stuart, Jay, Kris and Steve!

 What beautiful girls!  Kamaryn and Madalyn were our flowergirls in the wedding!

We had so much fun, but the day was ALOT of family togetherness and I do remember us crashing that night! Ha! 
My one mushy comment though, would have to be that out of all of the Thanksgivings that I have experienced in my short life (I'm glass half full), this was the Thanksgiving that I have had the most to be thankful for.  Not only do I have a wonderful family that will always be a constant support in mine and Jay's life, but so does he.  He has a great family that is so full of love and has welcomed me with open arms.  We are so blessed, even when we seem to forget it at times, we are so blessed.

A Peek At The Knot!!!

SO......I have been labeled Amy's giggle-box.  Which the title of this Blog has made me giggle for at least 5 minutes.  My beautiful wife and I traveled to the historic Peabody Hotel and stayed one night, then New York for the other part of our honeymoon, which was fantastic.   As we arrived at The Peabody and got settled in, I was like a small child wandering around looking for the ducks.  Amy added earlier in the Blog for my liking of Ornithology.   We finally got a glance of them in their fountain and followed their stamped footprints to our elevator.   It was such a beautiful hotel and the whole day was perfect.   It's simply amazing to have found such a partner and friend for life. I Love That Girl!

Our Room

Delicious, I saved Amy one I think!

The ducks going to their pool

NYC Bound!!!!

As we arrived in New York City that afternoon, we took a taxi to Hotel Wingate which is where we stayed only a few blocks from Time Square.  We were both anxious to check out the sites.  I spent the first few hours outside staring up just like a tourist. 

 

Time Square was beautiful.  Something everyone should experience at some point in their life.  I'm glad I got to spend it with my BFF!

A little video on Amy and I on a pedicab going through Time Square

The Rockerfeller Center Christmas tree was brought in and put up on our wedding day.  Here you see them installing scaffolding to trim the tree.

Radio City and about 10 pictures later just trying to get my 5-head out of the way

We of course got hungry close to mid-night and had to order Chinese takeout which was probably one of the best meals we had.  Head member of the clean plat club to the right.

Each morning, we would find a Starbuck's and have some coffee.   After our caffeine kicked in, we were off on our Manhattan adventure, we strolled towards lower part of the island.  In search for something that catches the eye, I had the most beautiful by my side.  Can I just say Amy Jordan makes the world seem so small.  Wowzers!

We got to see the Statue of Liberty!

The Charging Bull

As Kris says, I finally pulled my head out of my own.....

After the Charging Bull, we walked down Wallstreet and saw these people that we both thought were protesting something.  I had to have a picture with them in their new threads.  

These were not protesters.  It wasn't but yesterday I found out that this is a actual artist who works all over the world and lives in NYC.  Her name is Agata Olek. She has been creating some of the neatest works of art out of her crocheting. 

She actually covered the bull while a security guard was away.  This was done in December sometime I had found it on the net and put it all together. 

A sad face when she found out there is no El Sombrero anywhere in the NYC area.  We were so tired.  After a few days in the city, we were ready to go home.  Manhattan was really beautiful in its own way but there was nothing like arriving back in Memphis and taking the drive back home as Mr and Mrs. Jordan.  

And we finally made it home and celebrated our first Christmas together as a family.  Amy I love you so much and I am so thankful for you.  Your my best friend and I know what a lucky man I am. 

If I...were king...of the forreeeeeessstt!

Completing a blog post makes me feel accomplished in some sort of way...its so much more rewarding than doing the dishes or putting up clothes!  So tonight, while I try to ignore the feelings of apathy about my job, housework, the blahness of the daily routine, I will post!

And tonight's post is mainly about pictures.  Pictures that make me smile.  Pictures that I flip through in my mind when my computer isn't near.  My dad has always said, and I love to quote him, that "land is the greatest investment.  They aren't making any more of it."  My father was raised in Jackson, MS and my mother was from a definitely more rural area of the state.  And I believe that the truth is that Dad decided very shortly after meeting my mom that he would live and raise his family in Franklin County.  He has always loved it there.  He is definitely an outdoorsman, a hunter with an appreciation for nature and hardwork.  This is probably a contributing factor to my sister marrying my brother-in-law, Jamie.  Jamie definitely believes in a hard days work and what it takes to keep things going.  And its probably a big reason that my husband is...my husband. :) There's nothing cuter than watching grown men that I love giggle over a new tractor...or be completely confused by a half broken down tiller.  hee hee.
My grandmother's property and my father's property is all planted in pine trees (or soon will be).  It's the most beautiful place in the world.  And these pictures remind me of that beauty and also of how lucky I am to have these three great men in my life. 

jamie hates cameras so I HAD to post this good one of him. :)

I went on a walking tour with the menfolk. 

They complained about my picture taking, but yet they all wanted copies....

 The King of the Forest

 Having manly discussions on the four wheelers...

 Daddy getting eaten by a tree cutting machine

 Playing Bow Tic Tac Toe...Who won???

 "Uhhhh, I don't know guys, what do you think it is???"

 "hmmmmmm..... its probably the carbonator's piston starter belt."

Annnnnnd there they are!!!

And dressed for the occasion. Ha ha. Love them.