Snow Day!

Remember how I said that we have been having some crazy weather lately? Well, our snow day was no exception. Snow had been forecast for the day, but in the south you never know what that will mean. As it turns out we really did get snow and quite a bit at that!

As Daniel and I parted ways after lunch it had begun to flurry. Many of the area schools were being let out and several of my coworkers had to leave to pick up their kids. Our office opted not to close when the snow started which turns out to have been a great decision.

Courtyard outside of our office

Snow, snow, snow!

 Evidently since everyone was leaving school/work at the same time the traffic was horrendous. Add to that the fact that no one really knows how to drive in the snow and we live in an incredibly hilly area and you've got your self a mess. Thankfully by the time the work day ended most of the snow had melted and the traffic was next to nothing since most of the area had gone home when the snow started. I followed the advice of some of my northern friends and drove carefully home. Here are some pictures of my view of the drive home (taken at stops):

Our apartment complex covered in snow!

Thankfully we made it around safely and were just able to enjoy the pretty snow. Most schools and businesses opened late the next morning since a lot of the hills had iced from the melted snow.

Nice little snow day surprise! Did any of you get caught in the snow this winter?

Date Day!

2013 has brought with it some really strange weather in our part of the country! We've had warm days, cold days, threats of tornadoes, a snow day.. you name it! So on one warm weekend we decided to make the most of the unseasonably mild weather and enjoy a day outside.

After visiting the Moss Rock Preserve the last time the Logan's visited we have been wanting to go back. We put on some walking gear and headed to the preserve. We noticed when we were there last time that there was a cute little pub in the preserve area so we stopped there for lunch first before beginning our walk.

The Boot Pub

Post lunch/Pre hike :)

After enjoyed a delicious lunch we headed out to take a little hike/walk through the preserve. The weather was just perfect! It wasn't too hot or cold, and there was a nice cloud cover that kept the sun from heating things up too much.

Here is a view of some of the things we saw along our hike:

Here are some of us:

And here are some of my brave cutie:

We had such a fun date day together getting to enjoy each other's company and the great outdoors!

Holiday Greetings!

So, I am incredibly late in posting this (better late than never, right??), but I wanted to share some pictures and memories from our 2012 Holiday Season!

We began the season by traveling to Troy for Thanksgiving. We were so thankful for the long visit we got to have there with Dad, Mom, my sisters, brother in law, and Meemaw. It was such a special few days together. As you can see from the picture below we did a lot of eating! It was so good!

Our delicious Thanksgiving feast at Mom & Dad's house

On one of our last days there we went to see the new James Bond movie, "Skyfall". I found out that this was Meemaw's first James Bond movie!

We were sad to leave, but took comfort in the fact that we'd all be seeing each other again soon for Christmas.

Daniel enjoying reading with Gracie on Mom & Dad's porch

Daniel survived his finals and came out of the semester with all A's! I was one proud wife. He is such a disciplined person and I couldn't be more proud of him. Amidst his finals and papers he took a break to take me on a Christmas Tree date! We went out to eat at a place called Newk's and enjoyed a yummy supper, then we headed over to where the Boy Scouts were selling Christmas trees.

 It was a lot of fun to look through the trees and pick out which one we wanted. The Boy Scouts were so cute and were trying so hard to be "big boys" by carrying our tree around for us. It was pretty adorable.

Selection of trees

Boy Scout Tree Sale

After we found just the right tree we took it home and enjoyed having a real tree fill our apartment with that wonderful tree smell during the Christmas season. Here was our final product:

Our 3rd Logan Christmas Tree

The Nativity

The Night Before Christmas (one of my favorite Christmas traditions!)

Some yummy scents to warm up our apartment

We also had an Advent Tree this year which was special. During college I bought a purple tree to have in my room and as it worked out that was kind of perfect for our Advent Tree. My sweet Mom cross-stitched several Advent themed ornaments for us to add to our own Advent Tree. I wasn't sure how it would work with my old purple tree, but as Daniel pointed out purple was just the right color for Advent! So, thanks again, Mom! :)

Our Advent Tree

Close up of the ornaments

Just a few weeks later it was time to celebrate Christ's birth! We traveled to LaGrange first to visit with the Logan side of the family. It was a great visit, but we definitely missed Andrew! During one of the days we were there we drove to visit Aunt Cathy. Going to Aunt Cathy's house is like a little slice of heaven. She lives in the Logan family home and has done such a wonderful job of keeping the family memory alive in her preciously decorated home. Her house is perfectly nestled in a tiny little town and it really feels like you're going into a story book or something when you visit there.

View through the front window

Aunt Cathy also has a sweet dog named Diogi (D-O-G). If you know me you know I'm a huge dog fan so I always enjoy getting to keep company with a sweet pup.

Sweet Diogi trying to take a nap

Diogi and I holding hands :)

Aunt Cathy & Diogi

We had a great meal, enjoyed visiting, took a walk around town, then watched "The Polar Express" together. One cool thing Aunt Cathy showed us were these neat figures she got while she was overseas awhile back. You light incense (I believe) and it caused the figures to look like they have smoke coming out of their mouths (see below). They were so cute!

And here is one last picture from Aunt Cathy's house to show you just how magical it is:

Told ya.


So after our wonderful time with the Logan side of the family we drove to Troy to see the Butler side of the family. It was a short, but truly sweet time together. We arrived on time to go to the Christmas Eve service with the family, then returned home to make Christmas cookies and have a visit together.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

On Christmas morning we got up and Sarah & Chase drove over to spend the day with us, too. We had so much fun giving each other gifts, listening to Christmas music, and celebrating the birth of Christ. 

We had quite a few laughs at the expense of the poor pups, Buddy and Gracie.

My darling Buddy

I love this picture of Gracie- caught her mid blink!

For the first time in his life Buddy complied with wearing a jacket of some sort and looked awfully cute in his Christmas sweater. I guess in his old age his isn't as concerned with fashion as he is with warmth and actually kept his sweater on for most of the visit. Gracie got a rain jacket (just for fun), but it actually came in handy when it was raining on Christmas night. She normally won't go outside when it rains, but once her hood was up she went along with it. Hilarious!

After such a fun Christmas we reluctantly headed back to the real world to get back to work and other commitments. We are so blessed! I thank God for our precious family, sweet friends, and most importantly the gift of our salvation which is found in Christ. What a special season!

So grateful for all of our sweet friends & family who sent us Christmas cards! We loved having them up.

Can't wait for the next holiday season, but first cheers to a Happy 2013!

Christmas Cards!

I finally ordered our Christmas cards yesterday! Here is a preview:

I changed the personal message color from red to a light green (similar to the one used in "Merry Christmas") so it is easier to read. The cards are supposed to come in sometime next week and then we'll get those in the mail asap. The pictures of us were taken at Thanksgiving by my sister, Sarah, and the nativity picture is of the nativity painting in the Beeson chapel. Daniel wanted to include that and I think that was a great idea!

Just thought I'd share a little sneak peak with you all!

Love,
Laura & Daniel

Mom & Dad Logan came to town!

A few weeks back we had the privilege of having Mom & Dad Logan come for a weekend visit! We really enjoyed that special time with them and appreciated them driving to see us, sleeping on an air mattress, and sharing a tiny bathroom. That is true love!

When they arrived on Saturday we headed over to Moss Rock Preserve in Hoover which turned out to only be about 10 minutes from our apartment. A friend of mine recommended this park and I'm so glad we took the time to explore it! It was hard to believe that such a beautiful, grand park could only be a few minutes from a busy city highway. Truly a diamond in the rough.

We explored for a bit and then found a nice, flat rock to sit on to eat our picnic lunch.

Enjoying our picnic atop a rock! (Top: Mom & Dad, Bottom: Laura & Daniel)

                              

After lunch we had fun exploring and hiking and all really enjoyed that time out in God's great creation.

Isn't he cute??

Once we had worn ourselves out from walking around we headed back towards home where we stopped at the Library in the Forest (the awesome library just up the road from our apartment). I know I had to have sounded like a total nerd to suggest taking my parents-in-love to the library, but it is just too cool not to share! I have to admit that I go there at least once a week. (My Sunday afternoon routine usually involves taking a nap and then spending a good bit of time at the library..). Once we got to the library we had fun showing them around and ended up renting some DVD's to watch that night after supper.

We had a good dinner together and afterwards we all retreated to the living room to watch one of the movies that we rented. We ended up picking Out of Africa. It was an excellent movie! Spoiler alert: it was a little bit sad, but it really was a great movie with excellent acting, beautiful scenery and exotic animals. Despite the feeling of melancholy after watching the movie I think we all enjoyed it overall.

We are so grateful for that time we got to have together with Mom & Dad Logan! We love having family come stay with us. It was a fun weekend filled with great memories!