Things I'm loving

• Dennis Prager's article, Why a Good Person Can Vote Against Same-Sex Marriage
• Pumpkin spice coffee creamer! Now I don't have to go to seven eleven to get the best hot chocolate in the world.

• Tamn from seriouslysoblessed. I am especially missing her right now during this election because she had such persuasive opinions about the candidates in 2008. 
• Jack, who will cuddle with me for 10.5 seconds now instead of 1.7 seconds because he has a cold. Not loving that he's sick though :(
• Shrimp and grits (that is a lie). I had been told by numerous people that the shrimp and grits at a certain restaurant were the best ever, so we bought a groupon there and I got brave and tried it out. Maybe it is an acquired taste? Yuck.

Family Visit: Watercolor

Spencer had a healthcare conference in Destin, Florida on Wednesday through Friday, so on Tuesday we packed up and headed to the beach! Our friends' (who we went down with for the conference) parents own a beach home in Watercolor, just outside of Destin, and they were so so nice to let my family come down and stay too! 

We had to drive through redneck country to get there and I was totally in my element. (Not really)

When we got there the storybook cottages, beautiful porches, and perfectly clean neighborhoods looked too perfect to be real. My mom said, "I feel like I'm in the Truman Show!" and sure enough, we later found out that The Truman Show was actually filmed there.

I have grown up visiting southern California beaches, and the beach here had a totally different feel. The water was warmer (even in October!), the weather was perfect (in October!), the waves were calmer, the water was bluer, and the sand was so white and fine that my brother described it as "pitch white and not working!" It was also crazy to me because there were so many trees. I felt like we were staying in a forest cabin, yet the beach was so close. It was the best of both worlds. We rode bikes, went on walks, played on the beach, used my mom to babysit while we went on a date, and body surfed the one day the waves were big enough. We had sooo fun!

My vacation blogging is over now, I promise! This week has been awfully mellow compared to the last one and I have decided that the world would be a better place if Alabama was smooshed between Utah and Arizona.

Family visit: Montgomery

Elizabeth did a report on Rosa Parks last year so while they were here, we headed down to Montgomery to go to the Rosa Parks Museum. Montgomery was a cooler city than I imagined (it helps when you have very low expectations) and the Civil Rights Museum and Rosa Parks Museum were really neat. 

Elizabeth is planning on writing to the American Girl company to tell them to make a civil rights American girl doll which is why her doll is in every picture.

We also went to the popular Dreamland BBQ and unanimously decided that the BBQ sauce was better than Joe's BBQ in AZ, but the baked beans were not as good. They also had very tasty banana pudding!

Family visit: Atlanta

Over the weekend, we headed to Atlanta mainly to see the aquarium (the world's largest!) and to take Elizabeth to the American Girl store. We also ended up going to the World of Coca-Cola and the Varsity (also the world's largest!) drive-in restaurant.

The aquarium was awesome. Spencer was abnormally excited to see the whale sharks (they were really cool), Elizabeth got brave and touched a shark, Jack rode his stroller in every way possible other than the "regular" way, and I regretted my choice in education after the awesome dolphin show. I should have followed my childhood dreams and been a dolphin trainer.







While the boys did manly things like ride the merry-go-round and wander the mall, my mom, Elizabeth, and I enjoyed our adorable over-priced and surprisingly delicious dinner at the American Girl Doll restaurant. Elizabeth's doll got her ears pierced but we didn't totally splurge and give her a facial. (Twelve bucks!!! For a facial for a doll!!!!)

We decided last minute to stay in Atlanta over night so we could go to the World of Coca-Cola. I'm so glad we did because it was a lot of fun! 

Jack loved the Coca-cola bear and even reached for the bear to hold him.

We got to taste test Coke products from around the world. My favorite was the Bibo Pine Nut flavored soda from South Africa and the absolute worst was the Beverly from Italy. And I have no clue how I didn't get a picture of my mom loitering around the Diet Coke machine! :)

 
 We ate at the Varsity on the way home. They had below average burgers, the most amazingly delicious onion rings, and the closest thing to Lemon Custard Aggie Ice Cream possible! It tasted like pure Logan happiness.

 

Family visit: Birmingham

My family came to visit and we had soooo much fun! We only spent a total of three days in Birmingham for the week they were here.

We first took them to the Irondale Cafe where the movie, Fried Green Tomatoes, was filmed. The food there is as foreign to me as the food I ate while in China! The restaurant is cafeteria style, and since they don't label their food, we couldn't identify at least half of the menu! I just made sure I didn't accidentally order the slow cooked pig's foot or smothered chicken livers, and ended up with fried catfish, jalapeno hushpuppies, a dinner roll, collard greens (they tasted worse than they looked, if that's even possible!) and Spencer and I split the coconut cream pie and peanut butter pie! YUM!

In Birmingham, we also went to the Boo at the Zoo, the Birmingham Temple, and all seven of us managed to eat, sleep, and play in our tiny apartment! Jack was in heaven. 

Breakfast food and Autumn

I haven't blogged for a while, I've barely creeped on facebook, and I am so behind in my blog stalking, I don't even know if it is possible to catch up. My family came to visit for their fall break so for the past week and a half, I have been really busy having a lot of fun with them in Birmingham, Atlanta, Montgomery, and the beach! But more on that later!

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There are two things that I feel I missed out on growing up.

One, is breakfast food. How come nobody told me that breakfast is the best meal of the day?! My first 17 years of breakfasts consisted of microwave burritos, microwave chicken pot pie, ramen noodles, and an occasional bagel and cream cheese or french toast (with butter and powdered sugar because that's only way to go). What a waste!*

Two, is autumn. I've missed way too many autumns in my life because Arizona is just way too good at staying summer. We found this park a couple of miles from our apartment yesterday and I love it!

*My mom wanted me to clarify that my breakfast choices growing up were in fact, my choice. Everyone else in my family ate regular breakfast foods.