Baby Adams Tailgate

What color is the balloon behind our heads? Keep reading to find out! :)

I know...it's high time for this post. However, when you are 25 weeks pregnant, nothing happens in a hurry. Or everything happens in a whirlwind and therefore, posting a blog post isn't the top necessity.  If I'm being honest, I threw myself 100% into this party and the second we got in from Starkville, I started working on the nursery.  That meant moving everything out of our spare bedroom/craft room, finding a place for it, and then starting on a nursery.  Our house currently looks like a tornado/hurricane came through. And for once, I can say I'm thankful for a room that I've yet to get my hands on decorating so that it can store all of the extra "stuff" while David puts together countless pieces of furniture that will store said "stuff" and I spray paint the rest of the furniture to the color of my liking (while wearing a mask, of course).

Where do I begin?  From before I was pregnant, I started dreaming about the gender reveal party. It's pretty much one of the coolest ideas that I'm sure some female came up with a few years ago.  Have all of your friends over for the moment that they all find out what you're expecting! Boy or Girl? Blue or Pink? Cheerleader or Quarterback? Perhaps, I should start by telling you how we arrived at this theme.

I couldn't get excited about holding a Gender Reveal party in the heat of August in Memphis. Yes, we have plenty of friends in Memphis who might have been able to attend, but I knew that it would not be the sort of thing I envisioned if we did it at our home. There would be no way for relatives to travel (other than parents of course), and it seemed silly to ask my brother and sister in law to come home from Starkville for a few suspenseful minutes. As I expressed these thoughts to my husband, he suggested, "why not do it at the first home football game?"  GENIUS!  I'm almost positive that what he envisioned and what I envisioned at that point were two totally different things, but oh well.  

I began planning a Starkville Gender Reveal Tailgate. Invitations were sent out. Cute Etsy invitations that I helped design. Go here for designer if you're interested.

Buttons were ordered for guests to wear their guess: Here for Etsy Link.

And water bottle labels that didn't make it in the pictures were purchased from here (not sure why it looks so crimson on my screen. Promise it was true maroon. I sent all of my Etsy vendors to hailstate.com to look at maroon colors!:

I'll spare you the details on everything that I was planning that didn't work out. Or the 45 minute ultrasound with the tech trying to determine what the gender of Baby Adams was. In the end, it turned out amazing!  We were surrounded by about 70 friends and family, and we couldn't have asked for a more fun day.  The only thing that would have made it better was it to have been about 20 degrees cooler. Despite the weather, a great time was had by all (I think--at least).

Somewhere along the way, David decided that it would be fun to not find out the gender until we were at the tailgate...with everyone else.  This meant a VERY impatient wife had to wait a total of 12 days AFTER the ultrasound to find out.  We had the tech write down the baby's gender on 2 pieces of paper and then we sealed each envelope.  I signed my name over the envelope and gave them to David to keep secure.  He was guessing boy all the way, and after the 45 minute ultrasound, I was convinced it was a stubborn girl.

We chose to have the Lodge and Campus Bookmart wrap either a Jersey or a Cheerleader outfit and a maroon or white cowbell. Maroon for girl, white for boy.  I wish you had seen me dropping off sealed envelopes. When the women at Campus Bookmart realized that I didn't know what was in the envelope and they soon would, they were overjoyed.  Like, I mean, they were so excited that they acted like MSU had won the National Championship.  And yours truly was so jealous. I kept telling myself that I had less that 24 hours and that I could make it!

When it was 12:30pm on game day, David and I picked up the gifts that were wrapped in maroon and white and opened them in front of everyone.  Obviously, we saw what it was before everyone else, but that is a surprise I will never forget. And out of all of my tailgating experiences, it definitely was my most favorite thus far (and probably forever)!  It was well worth the wait, and I'm honestly glad David made us wait. What a great way to find out--it definitely was a forever kind of memory!  I unwrapped a cheerleader outfit as David proudly rang a maroon cowbell and announced we'd be starting a wedding fund soon.  We learned that we were expecting a baby GIRL January 26th.  Don't worry, I only told David that I was right and he was wrong once!  :) 

We are thrilled to be welcoming baby girl Adams who DOES have a name.  The newest member of the Adams' family will be named Hannah Grace Adams, and yes, we're going with the double name.  WE. CAN'T. WAIT!  Enjoy the photos from our special day.



100 cupcakes made with love by myself.

Walking up on the MSU car to recreate wedding photos with a pink balloon--priceless.

Because you can't have a Gender Reveal without maroon and white paper straws...at least that's what Pinterest says...

Very special to have both of my grandfathers at the reveal.  Very special. 

And my uncle too!

What's your guess? Dad informed me that MSU had enough Cheerleaders and we definitely could use another Quarterback.  Haha.

Baby Adams' guestbook was an MSU Children's book called Legend's Storybook presents Bully. Guest wrote notes to Baby Adams and signed in. One day we'll read it to her and she can learn about Bully and how much she is loved by those who signed it.

Wishes for Baby Adams. These were so thoughtful and some were hilarious! We have had many laughs over "I hope you laugh...at Ole Miss" and "I hope you respect....the BELL!" to name a couple.

Couldn't have pulled this off without her!

Now for the big reveal! :) 

All of the Chi Omegas posing with the future Chi Omega! :) 

Let the owl buying begin!  Thank you Aunt Brittany! :)

Thank you Piper Reaves Free for this adorable cowbell!  Go here to check out her work!

First grandbaby on both sides. They are excited!

 Thanks for visiting! Would love to hear your feedback!



All For Your Splendor

 Since we found out that we were expecting, we have been praying for our unborn child. recently, we found out we were expecting a daughter (pics coming soon from the gender reveal I promise). And since that time I have begun to pray even more frequently. Specifically for all of the things I faced during my teen years to not plague her the way they did me. When I say, I would not go back to high school for a million dollars, I'm NOT exaggerating! Totally not worth it! Let's be real candid for a second...being a teen girl in 2000 was miserable. Being a teen girl in 2013 is a million times different and worse, and I can't imagine what it will be like when our baby turns 13. I have already started praying that God would protect her heart from self image issues and BOYS. I'm fervently praying that He would teach her, through me, David, and whoever else influences her, that her beauty only comes from being planted in The Lord her creator.

Those of you who know me well know that I love music. And I firmly believe that God can speak in a song and that I can speak to Him in a song (case in point...see King David and the Psalms). And I've had in my CD player (yes, I still use CDs) Christy Nockels this week. Sometimes you can't beat Christy Nockels when you need to sing praises to the Lord while driving down the road. Plus, I've always been a fan! of the 7 songs in our wedding, 3 were Watermark/Christy Nockels songs. She has a way of pouring her heart out to God in her lyrics and singing. I would say that she and Twila Paris could sing some incredible duets if they partnered up together! But I digress. The whole CD was new to me. I picked it up at Lifeway a while back. It was on sale and I had gone in to purchase the Passion CD. I thought I'd save it for a rainy day. Hence why I'm just now listening.

God blew me away with two of the songs. The first (and one I'm sharing) is All For Your Splendor. And I thought how very much I hope my daughter can sing this song throughout her life. It describes my prayer for her exactly.

Lord, give me the wisdom to know how to instill this in her heart so that she would not waiver when the storms invariably come and could sing this truth all of the days of her life!

All For Your Splendor

I’m so concerned with what I look like from the outside. 

Will I blossom into what You hope I’ll be. 

Yet You’re so patient just to help me see. 

The blooms come from a deeper seed that You planted in me. 

Sometimes it’s hard to grow when everybody’s watching. 

To have your heart pruned by the one who knows best. 

And though I’m bare and cold. I know my season’s coming. 

And I’ll spring up in Your endless faithfulness. 

CHORUS: 

With my roots deep in You. 

I’ll grow the branch that bears the fruit. 

And though I’m small, I’ll still be standing in the storm. 

‘Cause I am planted by the river by Your streams of living water. 

And I’ll grow up strong and beautiful, all for Your splendor, Lord. 

So with my arms stretched out, I’m swaying to Your heartbeat.

I’m growing with the sound of Your voice calling. 

You’re bringing out the beauty that You have put in me. 

For Your joy and for Your glory falling.

With my roots deep in You. 

I’ll grow the branch that bears the fruit. 

And though I’m small, I’ll still be standing in the storm. 

‘Cause I am planted by the river by Your streams of living water. 

And I’ll grow up strong and beautiful, all for Your splendor, Lord. 

You raise me in your love, love, love, 

You raise me in your love 

You raise me in your power. 

Thank you Lord. 

With my roots deep in You. 

I’ll grow the branch that bears the fruit. 

And though I’m small, I’ll still be standing in the storm. 

‘Cause I am planted by the river by Your streams of living water. 

And I’ll grow up strong and beautiful, all for Your splendor, Lord. 

You + Me

Well blog land....just when you think I've forsaken the blog, I throw you for a loop and return! This time though, I promise that you won't be let down. Why, you ask? Well, it's because I have some very exciting news to share. Football season is right around the corner!  Actually, from what I saw today, we have 38 days to wait. The countdown is ON! Everyone knows the Adams will be present and accounted for at all said home football games. We wouldn't miss them!

However, this football season will be different.  If you happen to "bump" into me this year in Starkville, you may be "bumping" into something else! When I say that all of the Adams will be present and accounted for at all home football games, I'm referring to all three of us! And no, we did not buy season tickets for Lacey (though we all know she is the cutest cheerleader you've ever seen).

Yep, you guessed it. The Adams are expecting!

We are very excited and can't wait to meet our bundle of joy. 

I thought I would go ahead and answer a few of the most common questions we've gotten so far:

1. I'm 13.5 weeks pregnant and my due date is January 26, 2014.

2. Yes, I've been miserably nauseated and extremely fatigued! Everyone tells me that both will go away. Forgive me for thinking those people are insane and lying! I don't remember a time when I wasn't both!

3. Yes, our parents are thrilled. They need suggestions on names though. I'm not sure they will have that picked out by January.

4. Yes, we will find out the gender of the baby....do you know me? I hate surprises! There's no way I could go nine months not knowing. Plus my mom will kill me if she can't start sewing clothes now. And I know my mother in law is dying to start monograming. 

5. Gender ultrasound is scheduled for August 26th though you won't know until after that.

6. Yes, we've started discussing baby names, but we haven't even shared those with our parents or best friends so they definitely aren't getting shared on the blog world! 

I think that covers all that I've been asked thus far! We are thrilled and can't wait to welcome baby Adams. We welcome your prayers for baby A and his or her parents! We sure are praying that God teaches us how to be parents. Thank goodness He gave us both wonderful examples to look up to. :)

Bulldogs and Waffles

I told you that I was coming back!  You didn't believe me?  Shame on you!  I even remembered to take photos for this post.  Even if they were on my cell phone, they still provide you with a fun documentary of our lives this past weekend!

Bulldogs and Waffles may be a strange title for a post, but it is fairly descriptive of our weekend--and you'll soon understand why.  We traveled to Starkville, MS to see our Bulldogs take on South Alabama.  I know nothing about South Alabama other then the fact that their logo/mascot looks like Penn State. In fact, I saw a fan wearing a t-shirt and thought it was FOR Penn State. Then we got in the game and I realized my error when I saw their logo on the jumbotron.  Random fact for you.

We showed up to Starkville around 8:00pm and dropped the dog off at our house then headed for our favorite Starkville treat: 

That would be a Mugshots Comeback burger for all of y'all who don't know.  I can still taste it.  Sadly, I only ate half of it and David ate half of my fries, but it was well worth every calorie!  If you are going to mess up on the diet, mess up on something well worth it, right?!  Well, it was well worth it!

We got back late to the cabin to see that David's parent's had arrived.  My parent's were unable to make it this weekend so we invited David's to visit for the weekend.  After preparing all of the food, we all crashed and fell asleep!

Now, my Mom began a tradition a couple of years ago.  She decided that every Saturday for football game weekends, she would make a big bowl of waffle batter and everyone could fix waffles as they woke up.  It was a huge success because it took minimal preparation, was ready quick, and was fairly simple to clean up. It's a tradition that we have added in to our Starkville mornings--football season or not.  So when my parent's couldn't make it to the first game of the season, David, desiring his waffle fix, requested about the time we got to West Point (15 minutes from Starkville) that we invite his brother and sister for waffles on Saturday morning prior to the evening game against Jackson State. Me, loving a good get together, said "of course" and told them to bring their roommates/friends.  That turned into 9 hungry college kids plus David and I.  A box of waffle mix, 18 eggs, 1 gallon of milk, 1/2 gallon of orange juice, 2 pots of coffee, and 2 quarts of strawberries later, we had 11 stuffed people and no leftovers. With little planning, we had a blast!  When they all left, we mentioned that we'd have to do it again.

Well, since the Auburn game was at 11am and none of us wanted to eat waffles at 6am, we skipped out on the waffle festivities for that game, but bring on South Alabama at 6pm and we were preparing for a party of sorts on Wednesday morning!  I text my bro and sis in law to bring a crowd!  And boy did they take us up on it!  

Want to see what feeding 12 college students + David and I + my inlaws looks like?

I literally made waffle after waffle after waffle!  AND IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!  This is what my parent's house looked like on Saturday morning around 9:30am...

So much fun!  I cooked and cooked until there were stuffed college kids and everyone said they couldn't eat anymore.  And 2 boxes of waffle mix, 22 eggs, 1 gallon of milk, 1 gallon of orange juice, 2 pots of coffee, and 2 quarts of strawberries later, we had 16 stuffed people and minimal leftovers.  What a fun memory!

Here are a few photos of these awesome new friends enjoying waffles and great fellowship and of course, talking about our awesome 4-0 Bulldogs!

These two guys rode their bikes from downtown Starkville to the refuge to Browning Creek.  They ate waffles and then rode all of the way back!  I was impressed!  Glad you guys made it!

These two just got engaged Thursday!  Excited for all of the planning that is beginning. Soak up being engaged!  As much as you want to wish it over with, you never get it back!  Such a sweet, sweet time in life!

Then, we decided to go take photos on the porch--except they wouldn't stop laughing!  Side note: I can't tell you how many photos I took in college with some very special people on this same porch! 

Then, at their request, they wanted a photo with Lacey in it!  Don't they look cute in their maroon and white and Lacey in her cheerleader outfit!

Next up were family pictures. And man, I must love you guys because I am looking ROUGH (and tired--from feeding an army) in these photos!

Maroon and white family!

It was a fantastic time. I can't begin to describe how much I enjoy being around Jesse and Danielle's friends. They are wonderful and so appreciative that they make me want to cook waffles every weekend just to allow us to see their faces.

Next, it was time to get ready for the game.  Since it was a white out game, it was necessary to wear white (or cream in my case).  There were a lot of lace tops/dresses on campus on Saturday.  It was so impressive to me how many people chose to wear white with maroon!  In my day at college, girls wore whatever color they wanted to.  It was refreshing to see so much school spirit in the clothes everyone wore.  (It's the little things!)

We saw some very special people on campus for the game. My sis in law and me:

David's siblings:

Very special girl in my life! Love Riley and all of our special conversations!  I can't wait to see where God takes your dreams!

My bestie Kat and her baby C!  He's grown so very much!  (it occurred to me that my friend's may or may not want their baby's names on here...so C is his name here!)

C is ready for cheering on the Bulldogs--except his mama won't take him to the game for fear of the cowbells.  My child will be deaf by age two because they will be growing up around loud cowbells!  Poor future Adams' children!  Isn't C precious?  Your Aunt Sara loves you baby! :)

Then it was game time!!! Everyone did really well at whiting out the game!

Even though it was one of the MOST boring games of my life.  And even though the Bulldogs played sub par for how they should have played, a W is a W.  And we are still 4-0!!!

Hate this game on the Jumbotron, but love the version this year!  Just a reminder of things to come!

That wraps up another maroon and white post.  Hope you enjoyed it. Look for more soon.  Our vacation is just around the corner and with it will come lots more posts!  Thanks for reading!

I'm BACK!

Well, today is the day. I do not know what is special about today or why I have decided to resurrect the blog on a day like today.  Maybe because it's raining.  Maybe because I had a terrible day at work.  Maybe because I am procrastinating on our ever expanding mountain of laundry.  Or maybe it's because the Mom of one of my best friends threatened to stop being my friend if I did not blog again soon.  It's almost been a YEAR!  And let's face it, the blog was dying long before then.  I just got burnt out.  I have no excuse.  But the other day, I bought Pumpkin Spice Coffee from Fresh Market.  And I thought, I remember when I recommended this on the blog? Yum!  And the desire sparked again!  (We'll attribute it to the coffee! :)

So here goes.  How do I catch you up on a year of the Adams' lives?  Well, I'll start with me.  Last year, I agreed to go to work full time as a Quality Engineer at a medical device company.  Wow, talk about a whirlwind. If you have had any conversation with me in the past almost 9 months, you know that it has been a wild ride.  God has taught me A TON!  I am attempting to not be a work-a-holic and enjoy life, but work responsibilities are intense. Thankful for the ability to use my brain that God gave me.  Days are far more stressful then they used to be, and resurrecting the blog may or may not mean lots less posts than what once was. However, I'm thankful for a boss who is teaching and molding me both into a knowledgeable person in my field and as a woman of the Lord.

Speaking of my company, they are exploding.  We are growing and growing and growing and we can't keep up.  So we are preparing for a facility move sometime soon.  If you want to read about it, you can here.  Pretty cool stuff.

That's what I've been up to.  Now let's catch you up on David.  David is still with International Paper at their Headquarters in Memphis.  His title changed from Replenishment Planner to Supply Planner in January 2012.  Basically, that means he now plans a Paper Mill in New York.  Pretty cool stuff too!  He has enjoyed the new responsibilities and challenges that come with a new job.  We love IP!  They have been wonderful to our family, and I couldn't ask for a better place for my hubby to work!  He has become an international traveler this summer with a trip to Poland to visit the customer service center for IP.  He also traveled to New York a few weeks later.  Needless to say, I was a complete pansy and was ridiculous when it came to staying alone.  Big house all by myself was not fun.

Speaking of house, we bought our first house in April!  We still aren't unpacked or else I'd show you photos of our beautiful, spotless, everything in it's place home.  HA! Yeah right!  One day it will be pretty and put together.  Until the day when I'm not working 50 hours + a week, it will remain as is.  We try to straighten, but it winds up becoming messy again. Somehow, I keep the dishes clean. The laundry is a different story.  (sidenote: never negotiate front load washer and dryers into your house contract. They take 4 hours to wash one load of laundry + another 2 to dry the load resulting in a 6 hour total time for one load.  Maybe I'm exaggerating a little, but trust me...you don't want to find out.)  I'll have to tell you about our home buying experience one day when I have "time" or am searching for something to write about!  Until then, I'll have to leave you with a photo of the front of it. Curb appeal!

This is a photo from the listing when we first found it. I know I have one that I have taken, but cannot seem to find it.  Other then planing flowers in the front flower beds, not much has changed.  The house is in East Memphis on 2/3 an acre. IN EAST MEMPHIS!

Yep, that's right. We have a red door!  We bought a house in East Memphis and love it.  The house was built in 1955 and has all fun things that come with a house built in 1955.  Like an air conditioner built in 1984 and a hot water heater built in 1988.  Needless to say, we are praying over multiple items in our home to break while we have a home warranty!

We have plenty of "projects" I am/have been working on that I promise to share. I have neglected to take before photos to most projects because generally I am in such a hurry that I don't even think about it. I'll be sure to take photos slowly but surely.  David's uncle told us that he'd heard it said that you buy a hobby when you buy a house. SO true!  Our home is an ever changing project, and I am convinced it will NEVER be exactly like I want it to be!

Now that we have plenty of space, my parents come visit!  There most recent trip included a fun celebration of Elvis during the kick off to Elvis Week.  Dad and David ran in the Elvis 5K and sang along to various Elvis tunes in the Graceland area.  They even met the King outside of the gates.

After the race, we all enjoyed a yummy brunch at Elvis' favorite breakfast spot The Arcade. YUM!  We hung out downtown and went to the National Civil Rights Museum.  We ended the day with dinner at Soul Fish in Midtown. It was an exceptionally Memphian day!

Now, with football season upon us, David and I have been making the trip back and forth to see our Bulldogs who are now 3 and 0!!! Great job Bulldogs! :)  It's hard to believe that last year, we were kicking off the season in Memphis with these two friends!  That's what football season is about. Good friends, great memories!  We are looking forward to another fantastic year with the Dawgs!

I'll leave you with photos from the Music City Bowl. I'm holding out for the Sugar Bowl this year.  That was my bowl prediction last year as well.  The Cotton would be fun too!  Excited for the rest of the season with the Bulldogs!  It's a great time to be a Bulldog! #hailstate

The coming days are busy for the Adams'. We are planning a trip to DisneyWorld soon so I know I'll have a lot of "material" to write about in the coming days.  I think it's safe to say, I'm back! Encouragement welcome!  Oh how I've missed you all! :)