Rodeo Drive

Today we walked down to Rodeo Dr and did a little shopping! We started walking around 11:30 and finally made it to Rodeo Drive at 1:30!! Needless to say that it was a little bit farther away than we had anticipated!! Once we got to Rodeo Drive we were hungry, so we ate at a Whole Food Market Deli, then we had to send mom back to the apartment to rest before work tonight, then the rest of us continued our walking down Rodeo Drive. You could tell when you entered into Downtown Beverly Hills, instead of regular street lights they had chandeliers hanging from the street posts and there were so many BMWs, Mercedes, and Bentleys down there it was crazy, but still no celebs!! As were we were leaving Rodeo Dr. the last store on the corner was Tiffany & Company, and Seth surprised me with a necklace! So I am now the official owner of a cute little blue box with a white bow!! (The necklace is still in the box, I don’t want to unwrap it!! J ) We are exhausted from walking so much today, so I’m not sure what we will be doing tonight, but here are some pictures for your enjoyment!

We finally made it to Rodeo Dr!!!

Yes, these are really chandeliers!!
See?!?!

The last stop before heading home!! :)

Mondays Adventures!

On Monday we decided that we wanted to check out a theme park in the LA area, so we decided to go to Six Flags Magic Mountain!! We had a ton of fun, though we didn't take any pictures!! Magic Mountain has a beautiful view of Mountains all around, when you would get to the top of a roller coaster (if you could look around, I couldn't!) you had a beautiful view of the mountains!! We rode The Viper, Riddlers Revenge, Goliath, Tatsu, Scream, and Colossus. Needless to say we were exhausted when we were done!! We went to eat after leaving the park and had a WONDERFUL dinner at Woodranch BBQ- def. a must try if you have one near by!!

Tuesday we are going to Rodeo Drive to go shopping and take TONS of pictures, then we are going to drive through Beverly Hills and hopefully see some stars!!! Will post, hopefully, tonight!!

Welcome to LA!

Last night we got here after mom had to be at work, so Albert took us around the neighborhood where they are living. We ate dinner at this 24 hour diner, Canter's, it had a variety of food, so we ate dinner and then headed to The Grove, a shopping Center about 3 blocks away- very pretty, outside mall!! Seth, Paden and I were so tired from our airport experiences we headed back to the apartment shortly after and crashed!!

Today was our first full day in LA and it was full of fun stuff to do! We started off going to the LA Clippers game at the Staples Center at 12:30! (LA Lakers were playing at 6:30, but we were unsure if we could get tickets to that game, so we opted for the sure thing!) Quentin, a friend from camp, met us at the game, too!! After the game we headed back to the apartment so that we could get mom to work, and I needed a little nap :), so after about 30 minutes of rest Seth, Paden and I took a walk to Hollywood Blvd. I'm not sure how long it took, but on the way we crossed Santa Monica Blvd and Sunset Blvd (needless to say, I didn't think I was going to make it!!) While we were at Hollywood Blvd. we got to see the Chinese Theatre and the Kodak Theatre, along with many unique people! We were also able to see the Walk of Fame and the handprints/footprints left by many popular stars!! Below are some pictures for your enjoyment!! Tomorrow we are going to try to get tickets to Jay Leno- look for a new post tomorrow night!!

Seth at Staples Center- When we were leaving they were getting things ready for the Lakers- they have another floor that they lay on top of this floor for the Lakers! Paden and Albert in front of the Staples Center with the new statue of Magic Johnson, dedicated on Dec. 1, 2008.Quentin and I- so glad that we got to see him, hopefully we can see JoQuese before we leave!

One of the first stars when you walk down the Walk of Fame- "Alabama"!

The front of the Chinese Theatre where all the hand/foot prints are located!Paden with The Governors Handprints! Below his name he wrote, "I'll be back". Just a few of the prints!

WE ARE HERE!!!

Finally! It only took us 2 days, but we made it! We got to sit in business class on the way from ATL to LAX, which was GREAT!! We were served a nice meal, snacks, drinks- whatever we wanted, along with that we had HUGE leather seats, pillow,blanket, and a personal TV with our choices of TV, movies, HBO, or in-flight map travel! I was VERY embarrassed by Seth on our trip due to the movie that he choose to watch- if you have ever been to the movies with Seth, he is the loudest one when he starts to laugh and it did not matter that he was on an airplace, he was STILL loud!! Overall, it was a great trip and I can't wait to begin exploring!

Also, no celebrity sightings, yet...

Here we go again!

Ok- day number 2 of trying to get to LA!! Things start off great, kind of... we get up around 6:50 and begin showering- a HUGE thank you first of all to Josh and Rosalyn Parker, and Rosalyn's parents for allowing us to stay the night and for offering some sleep clothes so that we would not have to unpack our huge luggage! So, again, we get up and start getting ready- leave their place around 8:00- headed to get breakfast and to the airport. Paden, for some unknown reason, really wanted McDonald's hot cakes- so we stop, thankfully. As we go to eat, I go to check my bloodsugar and realize that I had left my monitor at Rosalyn's mothers house, so Paden and Seth continue eating as I run back to the house and pick it up. Had we not stopped for breakfast, there is no telling when I would have realized that I left it!! Anyways- after that, off to the airport we go...we check luggage and successfully go through the checkpoint and begin waiting for our flight. About 20 minutes before we are to begin loading the airport attendant announces that our flight is running about 40 minutes late, meaning DELAY! So we are currently sitting in the B'ham airport, again, waiting. Seth just went for a walk around the concourse and ran into some Alabama football players (John Parker and 2 others)...I guess you could say that was our first "celebrity" sighting... not very exciting! Hopefully we will be in LA for our next posting!! :) 

STUCK...

Well...today started out great! Seth's sisters, mom and niece, Harper, agreed to take us to B'ham airport to catch our flight that was SUPPOSED to leave at 4:38. We did a little shopping at the Galleria, had a little excitement at the mall....then headed to the airport! On the way to the airport I received a call from Orbitz stating that our flight was cancelled- so I start calling... and talked to some lady at Orbitz that stated our flight was indeed, NOT CANCELLED! So we arrive at the airport, I check the flight departure list and all is a go, until we go to check in...that is when it all began. Seth's family went ahead a left because we assured them that we had a flight and all was well, so we did get another flight, but it isn't until tomorrow morning, so I begin calling every buisness invovled in our ordeal and get NOTHING! I am about to go stand back in line to, hopefully, get a hotel or rental car for free...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

"Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord" ~Luke 2:11

And that is the reason that we celebrate this wonderful season!! Our Christmas celebrations started on Tuesday at my Pa-Paw Goss' house, then today we had Christmas with my Ma-Maw Parker and then for dinner we celebrated with Seth's family. This year, we decided instead of drawing names, only to give to the children and the money we would spend on gifts donate to a charitable cause or sponsor a needy family. So Seth and I racked our brains for the "perfect gift" for nieces and nephew... Harrison asked us for numerous things including a four-wheeler, police car, tractor and trampoline. Well, Seth and I did some research and we had contimplated getting them the Up and Down Roller Coaster to share, but if you give one gift to 2 kids, sometimes the sharing is hard to do, so we kept looking and found a trampoline that has a handle for the kids to hold onto and bounce...BINGO..and we got 2 of them! Clark and Harrison both loved them!!

The trampolines!!

Christmas day Seth and I are going to wake up and make our rounds to see what Santa left for Clark and Harrison, enjoy some breakfast and then go hang out at my dad's before coming back to Auburn and packing for LA!! I truely enjoy the Holidays, but there just isn't enough time to get everything done!! I will hopefully update the blog while in LA- so stay tuned, if not, I'm sure I will have A LOT to blog about when we get back!!

Also- as for the house, the sheetrockers should be done and we can begin priming on FRIDAY!! We have found a painter, so while we are gone the painters will be at the house priming while we are gone!! I will update house pictures when we get back!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

More pictures of sheetrock

Here are a few more pictures from the house!! I found them all!! :)

This is the tray ceiling in the living room and this is what the master bedroom ceiling looks like, too. Our bonus room enterance into the attic/roof area!

It actually looks like a HOUSE!!! This is the hallway from the bonus room stairs- straight ahead is the guest bath/bedrooms, the first opening to the left is the dining room and the one to the right is the living room!!

Graduation Day!!

Seth graduated today with his Master's Degree in Elementary Education!!! I am so proud of everything he has accomplished this past year, with this topping it all! Seth took a full day so that he could enjoy his graduation day, we had plans to meet his parents for lunch at Amsterdams downtown. The Junior High only had a 1/2 day, and Amsterdams is only 1.5 blocks away, so as soon as the bell rang, I changed into my flip-flops and walked down and joined them for lunch. From there we headed to the University!! My dad was able to make it for Graduation, too, (although we didn't get a picture of him with Seth) so we went to meet him and to see Seth off to the floor!! Seth sat so that he was either going to be first one to walk or the last one- it just happen to be the first one...of 1296...So, he walks and we wait...and wait...and wait...YES, we were very proud of him and excited, but after 2 hours of listening to names and seeing them walk across the stage- it gets a little boring!! Seth ended up having his phone and texted me that it would be ok if we all went ahead and left, so that we did- yes, I do feel a little bad, but I did get to see him walk across the stage and heard his name! We were all VERY PROUD of what he accomplished!!

Before Graduation

Seth with his mom and dad

Seth getting his name called

After shaking President Gouge's hand! :)

Oh- amoungst the 1296 other people who graduated, Evander Holyfield Jr. happen to be one of them, and YES, I did take his picture. I was working on my skills of taking pictures of famous people (well, he isn't famous, but his father is!!) for when we get to LA! (We leave in ONE week!!)

Thank you to everyone who helped and supported Seth over the past year as he was back in school. We love you!

Sheetrock...it's coming right along!!

So, I have better pictures, but I'm having technical difficulties right now, so this is all that I could find!! The top one is our kitchen or as of now- the resting place for all the reject sheetrock! :) The guys had a day off today... (not approved by me), but they were waiting on a few more sheets of rock to be delivered. They are going to begin tomorrow mudding the house!! 

We have also ordered all the interior doors, they should be in by Monday of next week!! I can't believe that it is really happening! It really looks like a house now, and I can tell how LARGE my rooms are!! I was worried when the footing was laid, it didn't look that big, but not it looks HUGE,  and actually I am dreading cleaning it already!! (Good thing we are living in Daviston, it's affordable to have a house cleaner there!!:) )

Well, Seth graduates tomorrow!! I will post pictures, hopefully, sometime over the weekend with all the details from the day!!  

Sweetwater Road

I receive a call yesterday around 2:00, I didn't recognize the number so I ignored it until after school let out. When I listened to the message I realized it was the Sheetrock Delivery Guys... they had gotten stuck on Sweetwater Road. This is the 2nd person that had been on Sweetwater Road, the first one was lost... these guys weren't as lucky to only be lost. They were in a HUGE truck, according to my dad and father-in-law, and they had gone down this little dirt road that had 2 wooden bridges- they were lucky to make it over the bridges! Anyways, once I got the message, I called the guys to see if there was anything that I could do- at this point they had been stuck for about 1.5 hours. They had called for a tow truck, so I told them that I would call my father to go check on them and see if there was anything that he could do to help. Well, my dad and Seth's dad go down there and check on them...well, needless to say, the tow truck they sent was too small to even budge the truck, so the delivery guys get in the truck with my dad, (I can only imagine at this point how scared the guys must have been, my dad is not a scary person, but being out in the middle of no where and getting in a truck with some random guy can't be too comforting), so daddy takes them back to his house to wait on a larger tow truck...and waited....and waited.... the larger tow truck didn't show up until around 9:15 that night. Around 10:30 I called daddy to check, and the guys had just gotten off of Sweetwater Road and were headed back to Birmingham! Needless to say, they took the sheetrock back with them and we will get a new delivery on Monday morning!

My father-in-law saw the directions that they had and noticed that Sweetwater Road was scratched out, but I guess they were just going to chance it...boy was that a mistake!! So, if you ever mapquest our house and it tells you to take Sweetwater Road- call me and get better directions (unless you have a 4x4 truck!)!!

Seth's Surprise Party

Seth's birthday started out with his home room class throwing him a surprise party during SSR (silent sustained reading)! The teachers across the hall help the students arrange the party- they used one of the other classrooms, then had another teacher occupy Seth so that I could sneak in before the party, all of his kids were so excited to pull it off that they could hardly be quiet while waiting on him! When Seth entered the room, they all screamed and he even had one jump on his back! Some of the kids had brought in cookie cakes and they had drinks- over all the kids had a blast, and Seth was surprised!

Then for dinner I had planned a surprise dinner at Provino's, but that got a little ruined when I received a phone call from a friend stating that Provino's was BOOKED and we wouldn't be able to eat until 8:00- which would have been fine for us, but Seth's sister and her husband with their 2 kids came, and I don't think Harrison could have waited that long. Then we also had friends from out of town coming, so I didn't want to post-pone for 2 hours, so I had to tell him so that we could plan where we could go. Needless to say, Seth was upset, but he decided on Shoguns for dinner. (Provino's normally doesn't take reservations, except 2 weeks a year- this just happened to be one of the weeks!! :( )

Harrison and his Uncle Seth

Then we went to Marie and Karin's apartment and had a cake! Thanks Marie, it was GREAT!!

Overall Seth had a great day turning 25!!

Happy Birthday Seth!!

Seth turns 25 today!! This morning his home-room class threw him a surprise birthday party this morning, and they invited me- pictures will come soon! Tonight our dinner crew, plus a few, are going to eat at Provino's for dinner- it was supposed to be a surprise, but that didn't work out as planned! Anyways- more pictures to come of this morning and tonight! Happy Birthday Seth, I love you!!

We passed Inspection!!

I’m not sure if I posted last week when our house did not pass county inspection- it was very small things that needed to be fixed, but to hear that you didn’t pass puts an uneasy feeling on you! But we contacted everyone that needed to correct something, they were in and out in less than 3 days and this time we PASSED!! So what does that mean? Well, it means that we know have all our insulation in and have hired someone to do our drywall! The guy that we are using is from Auburn, I actually teach his daughter, that is where we found him!! He came in way below others and he is even going to do smooth ceilings for us since I do teach his daughter!! He told us that he would do whatever it took to get our business- and he did!! So, that means next weekend EVERYONE needs to wear their best work clothes and shoes and come visit us to begin painting!! We are currently looking for paint colors to use- HELP?

House Update

I haven't had a house update lately! We went to the house Friday night and insulation was up!! He is going to come finish blowing it into the ceiling tomorrow- and then sheetrock can begin!! It's really beginning to look like a house that I can move into soon!!

It's kind of hard to get a picture of insulation

The brick people are supposed to be back by the end of this week, and they told Seth tonight that they would stay at our house until they were done!! Hopefully we will be moving in by March- cross your fingers and say a little prayer for us that God places the right people into our lives to help us finish the job!

On another note, my mom has made it out to LA and we will be going to visit her December 26th- Jan. 3rd! I am super excited and I have my camera ready to take pictures of all the stars I see while I'm there!! :)

Christmas Celebration Concert

Saturday night, Marie, Karin, Lauren and I headed off to Birmingham, AL to see Casting Crowns in concert! (along with Michael English, Natalie Grant, Avalon, Denver and the Mile High Orchestra and Pure NRGY) Marie has a friend, Harry, that is a member of the sound crew- we weren't sure if we would get free tickets or not, but Harry pulled it off! We had 4 free tickets on the 11th row! They were great seats! We also got Aftershow Access Passes!! We got to meet everyone! Needless to say- we were excited!! Below are a few pictures from the night:

Marie and Harry Avalon

Casting Crowns (Part of the group, anyways)

Us with Natalie GrantUs with the lead singer from Casting Crowns, Mark!

Us with Denver from Denver and the Mile High Orchestra- he was VERY outgoing on stage, but very quiet during the meet and greet!

Merry Christmas to me!

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and with that has come Christmas shopping! I believe I have purchased my last Christmas gift for the year, hopefully, but I also received a gift! After much research for a digital SLR camera, Seth and I bought one! I am very pleased with my purchase! Below are some pictures that I took Sunday with the camera, I also have photo-editing software that I hope to learn how to use soon, too!

The brick is coming right along!

King!

Caddy!

This is my Pa-Paw Stephens, he would probably kill me if he knew his picture was on-line!!