MIA Lately

Sorry we've been MIA for so long! Definitely not like us! Life has been so stressful and busy between school, clinicals, homework, church, my calling in YW, family, and finding time for each other that I haven't made time to blog. Life is going on as normal for the most part and we are finally enjoying some cooler fall weather in our area. Last weekend Eric and I went down to Gulf Shores, a neighboring town, and attended the shrimp festival. It is on the beach and they have tons of seafood for sale, arts and crafts to buy and it's a lot of fun. We didn't bring our bathing suits and we later wished we had because it got so hot with the huge crowd. After we left the festival we went and ate an early dinner at Lulu's. If you follow this blog then you know by now that it is one of my favorite restaurants down by the gulf and Eric had never eaten there. We both loved it, and it was nice to just chill in the shade, listen  to good music, and watch some football. Eric also took me to go see Pitch Perfect last weekend cause I had been bugging him about it, and we LOVED it!!! This weekend we will be spending a lot of time at home for me to study for my psych final. I had my last day of my psych clinicals on Thursday and I am really going to miss all the patients I was able to work with. Mental illness is so fascinating to me, but I don't think I am meant to work in that kind of setting. Here is a picture of me with the other nurses in my clinical group! We had a blast and hope we can all stay together in our next rotation, however unlikely that will be!

Sorry for the horrible picture but it's a moile pic!

Hopefully next week after my final and I finish writing my Pharm paper I'll have some more time to update this thing!

 

Atlanta Braves

Thursday night I got a call from my mom asking if Eric and I wanted to go with her on a spontaneous trip to Atlanta on Saturday to see the Atlanta Braves play the Washington Nationals! "ugh, yeah of course!" hahahaha! Which probably shocked my mom because I'm always so busy the only thing I have time for is school! Well Friday night Eric finally returned from his week long training in Birmingham, and we took off again Saturday morning early, headed to Atlanta. We had such a blast! Our hotel was right across the street from the Turner field so when we arrived at the hotel we walked across the street and boom! we were there! The game was wonderful, the ballpark food delicious, our seats were great, and the company was even better! The Braves ended up winning 5-4 and it was a very entertaining and exciting game, so we were so glad we made the trip. Plus, I think my mom has made it her mission to entertain Eric with all the fun things to do here in the South! Maybe she has a hidden agenda, like convincing him we should stay here forever hahaha! Eric has experienced quite a few culture shocks since we moved here, but his favorite thing so far is going fishing with my brothers. Not just any fishing though, gigging for flounder. Basically you walk in knee deep water at night with head lamps and spear flounder. This has now become a weekend tradition with the boys! I'm so glad we are living here, and I know it won't probably last for long so I am soaking up the fun and family time whenever possible! Life is Good!

Turner Field

I love Ballpark food! Maybe cause I was raised on it…years of sports and nights and weekends at ballgames will do that to you! :)

Special edition Chipper Jones cup, autographed on the inside.

Waiting for the game to start!

So excited when I found out my best friend Brittany was going to the game too this weekend! The shirt I have on is hers!! haha She let me borrow it for the game! Our seats were pretty close to each other too, but not close enough!

We had such a wonderful weekend! Can't wait for more adventures down here in DIXIE!

Naps

It is Sunday afternoon at the Hale & Winberg house, and EVERYONE is napping, except ME. Why? I can't take naps! It's weird I know. I'm still trying to figure this one out. I was up till 2 AM with Eric last night watching my new favorite show Downton Abbey and woke up early at 7 AM for church. I'm running on a solid 5 hours of sleep and yet I am the only one who's eyes aren't closed and curled up on a bed or couch. For as long as I can remember, I just couldn't fall asleep in the middle of the day. There are of course a few exceptions a year I might actually fall asleep for an hour MAYBE, but its like when I wake up in the morning my body is in power mode till 11 PM. I just think I'm weird….and I'm bored cause I'm the only one awake in my house, and of course it is the most beautiful day we've had here, since we've moved to Alabama and it's a Sunday. GRRRR! Don't tell I may go outside and wash the car. So, if you all have any good ideas on how you can wind your self down in the middle of the day the take a nap, please share. I would like to enjoy a nice sunday cat nap with the hubs sometime, instead of my leg being the permanent pillow for his peaceful afternoon rest. Especially on fast sundays when sleeping would aid me in not thinking about eating for hours after church. Okay, THE END.

Surviving Hurricane Isaac

I know you all have probably been real worried about us here on the Gulf Coast (sarcastic tone..cough cough). The hype about this storm has been tremendous, and since Eric has never experienced a hurricane before he wanted to make sure we were prepared. I just laughed A LOT inside because I've been through quite a few hurricanes including Katrina and Ivan, etc. Down here in dixie if its not a cat. 3 we don't stress. Yes, we are in a mandatory evacuation area but you guessed it we didn't leave. Due to Isaac changing course so much we ended up on the the worst side of the storm (the east side) but since it hit harder and more directly 3 hours away from us all we got was a lot of rain, and a little wind. I think Eric was a little let down the storm wasn't more intense since he made us go to Home Depot and buy all sorts of supplies. In a normal week we probably get bigger storms than Isaac was. However, Eric did have work cancelled for 2 days and my University closed as well for 2 days, so we got to have a little hurricane party still. We never lossed power, although the cable did go out so we had to resort to Netflix and pajammas most of the day, while I typed a paper. I honestly can't even remember the last time I've been able to do that because of this nursing program, but it felt awesome. Although I have no idea how people could do that day in and day out. I felt like a ball of mush after 2 days. No bueno! In all seriousness the storm surge was the worst thing of all we experienced so I attached a few pics from our town so you could see it and some of the flooding.

This is the surge down in Gulf Shores, the beach we always go to. It is about 30 min. from our home.

This is a picture taken on the causeway, as its known to us. It is a road that is about 7 mi. long that crosses Mobile bay and connects Baldwin County (where we live) to Mobile County. This is about 5-10 min. from home for us.

This is just another picture of the causeway flooded.

In all seriousness we know our neighbors to the west of us in Mississippi and Louisiana got hit much worse than us, and pray for their safety. 

 BUT…….here in Daphne, AL. this is how we all feel!

We would all like to thank you Isaac for a much needed 2 day break!

Life As We Know It

Life as we know it here in Alabama:

Lunch with the main men in my life!

The joys of living on the water!

Eric is has also really enjoyed being in a house instead of an apartment. He LOVES yard work!

We enjoy lunch dates occasionally.

I get to baby-sit my niece Allie sometimes!

I have all sorts of new toys!

I get to wear PJs to school! BIG change from BYUI. I had to document this!

Aren't I just so official!

I do have days I get bored studying, and color on myself instead.

I practice frequently on friends family and even myself in the mirror for my practicals.

We celebrated our nephew Thomas's 5th Birthday! He is obsessed with toy story and woody!

Do we look alike?

Our home here in Bama!

We even get an occasional date night…I tried Five Guys for the first time on Friday! DELICIOUS!

MMMMMMMMM! Frozen Yogurt!

And thus ends life as I know it…back to studying. 

Just For Fun

So I honestly feel somedays that I have no life other than the four walls of the dinning room that I have turned into some sort of an office to do my homework every day when I come home. Imagine your life during college finals week, when you have 3 tests (each 20%) of your grade due along with a paper a practical exam and a project due, and thats pretty much my normal week! I just keep saying I can' wait till these first 5 weeks are over and I'm almost to week four and I'm still alive with all A's so I guess my hard work is paying off. Anyways, all this leads me to the point of writing this post because I don't get too many nights where I can just take a break and just be me again. I made dinner for me and Eric and my brother who is living with us until October. It was delicious and they can attest that this does not happen on most nights, and if it does its usually because they've begged  me to the point where I am no longer able to focus on what I'm studying so I give in and cook a frozen bag dinner, pathetic I know, but hey, they don't care! They're men, they are just glad that they didn't have to touch a pan. So, tonight I started looking through some old pictures from mine and Eric's wedding!! These are some of my favorite pictures for all sorts of reasons.

Kisses!

It was a beautiful day, and the flowers were AMAZING!

Car keys in hand, we were ready to go!

This is me with Lina! I have come to love this lady!!! She is Wonderful, and had been a great friend to Eric for many years and now to me!

Whispering sweet nothings :)

Me with my girls!

We were just sooooooooo HAPPY & EXCITED…we both waited so long for this day! So happy I married my best friend!

My bestie from Alabama made the long trip to Utah and Wyoming for the wedding!

"Everlasting Love"

I love this picture due to the fact that it shows my sisters REAL personality!

Okay so I promise I really am getting to the point….I just really am so blessed and as I was driving home from school today I couldn't help but see all the little things that I've been given! I just wanted share this song. It is exactly how I feel right now! Living and loving life to its fullest. Oh and it goes along with the whole theme of reminiscing about my wedding a year ago because this artist performed at our wedding! 

NIK DAY

"How Could Life Get Any Better"

And another just for fun!

The Twins Turn 79

If you know me pretty well, then you know that two of my favorite people in the WHOLE world our my twin aunts, Tia Allie and Tia Odie!!! We say, "tia" on my dad's sad, which is spanish for aunt, because we're Panamanian! Yes, thats right, maybe you're learning something new about me today. I'm 1/4th Panamanian…you know Panama, the country…not panama city…hahaha! Believe it or not, I've been asked that before. My grandmother was panamanian, who married my grandfather who was American, hence forth I'm a fourth, because my dad married an american woman too. Well my grandmother spoke very little English, and hardly ever, so needless to say I loved her to death, grew up my whole life around her, but never had a full conversation with her where someone wasn't translating. My two aunts, Allie and Odie, are the oldest in my dad's family and our 20 yrs older than my dad. They were second moms to him, and very much like grandmothers till this day to me! Some of my favorite memories as a child are of Christmas Eve and being so excited to see my Tia Allie, who lived just down the street from us, because she always brought us a gift on christmas eve….our Christmas PJs!!! And the present was always wrapped up so perfectly, with a FANCY bow and stickers all over the card. :)

Anyways, my cousins, Kerri and Karen, came into town last weekend to celebrate my aunts' 79th birthday! It was so good to spend time with the family and enjoy each others company. Also it was great for Eric to spend some time around our extended family he doesn't know too well. :)

The Birthday Girls!! My Tia Allie on the left, and Tia Odie on the right!

Think Mrs. Doubtfire and they are exactly like that!!!! Hehe, not the manly part of course hahaha

At the yacht club with my handsome hubby!

My Tia Allie!!! Best Woman Ever! And my niece Allie, who was named after Tia Allie! Thats how much we love this lady in our family!!!!

My cousins Karen and Kerri with my brother Eric and my niece Allie…she got passed around!

Other good news of the week, I took my first two tests in my Pharmacology and Health Assessment graduate classes and got A's on both! So I'm pretty happy about that! Just need to pound out a paper and a project this weekend, and study for a test in Pathophys for Monday! YIKERS! 

Also, our two nieces, Caellie and Maddie, on Eric's side of the family competed in their first Junior rodeo in Star Valley this week, and Caellie won her first belt buckle!!! We're so proud of her, and of Maddie for competeing!! Maddie's such a girly girl, but I think Caellie is rubbing off a little on her :) If only we could have been there to cheer them on! :( We love those girls and all of our Hale family and miss them so much already!

Caellie Competing! She is 9!! Can hardly believe it…she was 4 when I first met her. Eric brought me to his house with some friends of ours during a summer break from school after a rafting trip! She is growing up to be quite an amazing young lady! And I get to call her my niece now so thats pretty cool! hahaha