I promise I'm going to do better...maybe!

Starting at Labor Day, Patrick and I went to Destin with the Cooke's. It was beautiful, but there was bad seaweed nastiness. There were a couple of days that we didn't even get in the ocean at all!




Then we attended the annual Braggin' Rights Barbeque at Matt's. The food was fantastic! We didn't come home with any trophies, but it was great to see everyone!

Then we had Jackson's 3rd birthday. Does that boy love green?! And, I'm so glad that I didn't listen to anyone and got him the Lincoln Logs. He loved them! Now he has something to haul with all of his tractors!

Now, on to the biggest change at the Cooke house....Addie! I think I posted the breeder's pic of the puppies, but here are some from October, when we got her, to our attempt at a family Christmas photo!

Ok, so I'm a little lazy...

I have given up on the Shutterfly promotion from my previous blog. There was too much time waiting on codes and "promoting" your blog, so I just broke down and ordered my cards with 20% off and free shipping. I'm definitely not a writer, so the thought of telling all of my facebook friends about the blog...No Thank You! So, anyway, we should be getting our cards on our doorstep today, so be looking in your mailbox for a card from the Cooke's!

More updates to follow........eventually!

Christmas Time

So, it's that time of year again! I LOVE Christmas! I am so excited to send out picture Christmas cards, and was even more excited when I heard about the offer from Shutterfly. They are offering 50 free Christmas cards for a blog post! Go here to find out more! Below are just a few of my favorites! It is going to be so hard to decide which card to feature our family on!

(Images from shutterfly.com)

I was looking at cards that feature just one photo (they have cards that can hold multiple photos), but after seeing the picture of Peyton, I might just have to get one that has space for a few!

She just loves her sweater that her Daddy bought her! This one is one of my favorites despite the fact that Peyton wants nothing to do with Christmas pictures!

We are missing one child...Corley wouldn't even attempt a picture with us. She ran and hid under the bed! Well, maybe next year!

Day 3 - Our Parents

The Cook(e)'s! Yes, I thought it looked a little strange when I was working on all of the programs, invitations, etc.! Here are my parents, Danny & Susan:

And Patrick's parents, Jerry & Chiquieta:

We have wonderful parents that love us both very much! We are very thankful for all of them!

Day 2 - Crush

So, who is my crush? Well, as with most people, this person changes as you grow up. When I was young, my celebrity crush was JMM - John Michael Montgomery. I even made him a part of a school project! (Of which I made a 208/200!...Yes, maybe I was a little of an over-achiever when I was younger!)

Just look at those dimples! So, now that I'm movin' close to 30...UGH! :)...my crush has definitely changed! Actually, I really don't have a crush right now. I am perfectly happy with my wonderful husband! Now, do I think that some guys are VERY good looking, well of course! I am a living breathing woman! Are there random guys that I see that I think "if Patrick looks that good at ____ age, I will be one lucky woman!"? Absolutely! But, we'll leave it at my elementary/middle school celebrity crush!

How about this!? I'm 2 for 2 for blogging days! I may stick to just the weekdays, though. If we go out of town, I may not be able to get to a computer and/or internet.

Happy Friday everyone!

Day 1

My best friend....well, I have two. Of course my husband is the easy answer. I can share anything with him. I can laugh, cry, be mad, joke around...whatever with him! He gets me completely. He knows just the right time when I need a sweet text message saying that I'm beautiful. Or, just when to tell the punch line of a joke so that I spray Coke through my nose!

But, for the purposes of this post I'll disqualify Patrick! :) I met Amanda Davis Harbison in the 5th grade when the student council went to a pool party. Who knew then, but we would eventually become roommates at UA and best friends. We were also each other's maids/matrons of honor. Even though we may go weeks or a couple of months without talking to each other, we always pick up right where we left off. Just as a best friend should!

A Post A Day To Keep The Doctor Away!

So, I'm jumping on another bandwagon! I have been seeing this blog post "program" recently on a lot of blogs (which is why I'm not going to link to another blog here!) There is a list of 30 items to blog about in 30 days. So, I'm going to try this so that maybe it will make me blog every day!

Here is the list (which I will probably start tomorrow!):

Every day, put a picture up of the next thing on the list. Feel free to copy the list and start your own!

Day 1 — Your Best Friend

Day 2 — Your Crush

Day 3 — Your parents

Day 4 —Your sibling (or closest relative)

Day 5 — Your dreams

Day 6 — A stranger

Day 7 — Your job

Day 8 — Your favorite internet friend

Day 9 — Someone you wish you could meet

Day 10 — Someone you don’t talk to as much as you’d like to

Day 11 — A Deceased person you wish you could talk to

Day 12 — Your dream vacation

Day 13 — Something you’re looking forward to

Day 14 — Someone you’ve drifted away from

Day 15 — The person you miss the most

Day 16 — Someone that’s not in your state/country

Day 17 — Someone from your childhood

Day 18 — The person that you wish you could be

Day 19 — Something that makes you different

Day 20 — Your house

Day 21 — Your favorite tv shows

Day 22 — Someone you wish you had tried harder for

Day 23 — The last person you kissed

Day 24 — The person that gave you your favorite memory

Day 25 — Someone you wish you could forget

Day 26 — Your favorite cousin

Day 27 — The friendliest person you've met only once

Day 28 — The thing you most enjoy doing

Day 29 — Your neighbor

Day 30 — Your reflection in the mirror

Some of these things are a little off the wall, and I may not be able to come up with anything, so I might change them as I go along!

Ok, back to work! I have to get my stuff done so that I can leave on time. We are going to pick up Peyton's little sister tonight! Literally, she's Peyton's 1/2 sister! They have the same dad. Here's a little sneak peek of that little cutie! Her name is going to be Adelaide (Addie) Shelby Snickers Cooke. (The Snickers is not definite!) Peyton's name is Peyton Shelby Smores Cooke, so we're trying to stick with the chocolate/candy theme name to represent their color.

There is one little boy that's available if anyone needs a cute little ball of fur! We'll take a family picture tonight, but until then, here is one of Peyton when we first got her!

I can't help myself!

You can find love in Auburn!

House Divided

So, it's that wonderful time of year again! Time for cooler weather and college football! We are a house divided, Patrick for AUbarn and Alison for the 2009 National Champions, the University of Alabama! Both teams have gotten off to a good start...4 wins, so hopefully, they can keep it up!
So, since I have not been a good blogger...a little catching up to do.

Patrick's sister had her baby on July 28th. Bryleigh was 8 lbs and 3 oz and 22 inches long. We went to Atlanta the weekend after she was born to visit.






Her hair has already started to lighten...we think she's going to be a red-head like her mom. But, that's the only part of Kelly she got!

We also went to the George Strait and Reba McEntire concert here in Birmingham. It was so much fun, and Patrick was able to get us great seats!

And a picture of a flag like the one in our front yard...(this isn't our actual flag because it is a little faded!)

Maybe we can make it another year through the Iron Bowl! ROLL TIDE!!!

Playing Catch

Up! So, like most people this time of year, we are having to come back and try to catch up on everything that's been going on lately. I'm getting settled in with my new job, and I LOVE it! Anyway, first up...

Kelly's Baby Shower!

Amanda's Baby Shower!


And Jon's little brother also got engaged that day! Congratulations Kacey and Mark!


That Monday, Patrick and I headed to the beach. I got to spend my birthday headed to the coast! I had to work a little that week, but we got to stay in a sweet suite!

Next up....Jonathan DeWitt Harbison, Jr.! He was born on July 6th. He weighed 9 lbs 12 oz! Mom did a great job!


Since I just started my new job and don't have vacation days built up yet, and since I had a seminar in Mobile the Tuesday after our anniversary, we headed down a little early on Sunday. We ate at Felix's and it was fabulous! Much better than the Original Oyster House, which is where we went on Monday night. When we got back to the hotel, we ate some of the top layer of our wedding cake. I still thought it was awesome! But, I do love bakery cake...and I had been eating on the other cake leftovers this whole year!


Wow, I looked sleepy! Oh, and we took a few hundred pictures learning how to use the tripod and remote that I got with the camera! It works really great! Now Dad or Clint doesn't have to kill themselves trying to get back in the picture at Christmas!

Since I felt bad that we couldn't go somewhere great and wonderful for such a milestone anniversary...I let Patrick plan the day on Monday. We intended to go to an alligator farm, but the feeding times didn't work out so well with our other activities. Yes, he wanted to go during feeding time! It didn't hurt my feelings that we had to miss that one! So, we headed to the U.S.S. Alabama! I had been a long time ago, so it was neat to go back now that I'm older and can appreciate it a little more. Patrick was like a kid in a candy store! He loved it! But surprisingly, after the 5 hours we spent there, he actually said that now that he's gone through it, he never has to do that again! Surprised...but thankful! Everyone needs to go once, but DO NOT go during JULY!


Wow...that was long! Ok, so we are going to do a better job of keeping this up to date. And congratulations to Patrick's sister, Kelly, and her husband. Bryleigh Grace Brock was born last night around 7:30 EST. She weighed 8 lbs 3 oz and was 22 inches long! We're going to see her this weekend, so I'll do a post on her a little later! Have a great weekend!!!

Changes are comin'....

So, I have been looking forward to this day for a while, but then again, didn't think it would ever happen. In the next few days I will be making my transition from public accounting to the private sector. I will be starting with a local credit union as their CFO. I will focus mainly on compliance and slowly transition into taking over all of the CFO duties, as well. I am so excited about working in a credit union, as this was one of my top two favorite industries to work with while I was doing audit work! Another fantastic thing about this job....banking holidays! And NO TAX SEASON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think Patrick is secretly pretty pumped about that little perk! The past month has definitely been a roller coaster ride, with the lowest of lows, and the highest of highs, but I'm looking forward to this new adventure!

And since no post should be without a picture....

My Dad and nephew at my cousin's wedding. He looks like a little grown up man! Happy Anniversary to his parents, who will have been married five years tomorrow! I cannot believe it has been that long already!

Really......?

So, at my software job, because we don't trust the banks that we work with to know what we are talking about when it comes to our programs, we have our own remote system where we can go in through the Internet and take control of their computer so they don't have to do anything but put in a web address. That being said, on Thursday, I had a bank call and ask me to remote into one of the teller machines to check a problem they were having. I actually had to call the teller who was having the problem and then proceeded to ask her if she had Internet access on that machine, to which she replied, "whats that?". Really...? Now granted, this is better than the the little old lady at one bank who, when I told her to point and click to get to our software, she picked up the mouse and literally pointed it at the monitor and was clicking furiously trying to make it work (by that time her pointer was off in the corner of the screen not really sure what to do).
Let that sink in a bit....
This is a bank, people, the ones that we trust with our money, and she doesn't know how to get on on-line on her computer....
makes me want to go bury my money in the back yard.

FREEDOM!!!

So, we made it past April 15th!!!! I hope everyone filed their taxes on time! My firm closes on the Friday after the 15th, so Patrick took off and we took it easy, ran some errands, and enjoyed being off together. Then I took a day to myself on Monday. Now it's back to the grind, just not nearly as many hours! Time to get to planning a baby shower for Patrick's sister, get my gift ready for my best friend's baby shower, my cousin's wedding this weekend, and some much needed catching up this summer on everything that I need to get done! Hopefully, I will actually get to enjoy some of my Friday's off this summer! Corley, Peyton and I will be doing a lot of this....

Easter 2010

We do a lot of Easter celebrating! We usually head to Cullman for the Easter vigil service at Sacred Heart...which is 3 hours long! It's really neat because we all have candles, and then 7 scriptures are read, pretty much in the dark. The service is very special and intimate. After mass, it's off to Denny's (where we saw prom-goers from one of the area schools! Wow! Prom dresses have changed a lot in 10 years!) Then it's on to Albertville the next morning for church with my family and then Easter egg hunting! This year it was at Pops & Nana's house (my Mom's parents). At one point Lilly started pouting because she was hiding eggs for Pam and Holly, and Zoe kept picking up all of the eggs. I wish I had a picture of her on the storm pit. But, if you look at the very end, I did find a picture of my pouting incident when all of the boys found the prize eggs, and I never got one...Here are just a few of the pictures we took.

And the picture you've all been waiting for...

Dad was giving me the "the prize egg is not what Easter is all about. Now dry up and get out there and have fun!" speech. Glad we don't have to have many of those anymore!

Have you ever heard the saying, "let sleeping dogs lie." If we did that, I don't think she would ever get up...?

The last 3 1/2 years...

So, It's been 3 1/2 years since Patrick and I met. Now I have a very best friend that I get to spend the rest of my life with. Here is a very BRIEF recap of July 11, 2009...the best day of our lives!


Mr. & Mrs. Patrick Cooke

The Cook Family

The Cooke Family

Love this picture of the guys!

The girls

The First Dance

My Mom, her sister (who did the big arrangement at the reception) and me

LOVED my candy buffet!

Highly, highly recommend B&A Warehouse for a reception! The food was awesome! And Stacey is great to work with!!!

The Bling!

So sad it's over...but off to MEXICO!

The Definition of Torture....

You're Catholic... it's a Friday during Lent..... and you're mission is to pick up 200+ pounds of fresh steaks, roasts, and ground beef and bring it home. Think I'll go to hell if I just lick one of the T-Bones?

Jumping on the Band-Wagon!

So, this is one of the few times in my life where I'm going to use the wonderful excuse of "But, everyone else is doing it!" I usually avoid what everyone else is doing....but, I figure this would be good to look back on in the future. Kind of like a diary or journal (of which I never kept growing up...too busy being a tom-boy!) Anyway, this is really not meant for anyone but me, well and Patrick, but if anyone actually reads this and finds some enjoyment, then I'll be glad. I enjoy reading so many other people's blogs, that maybe I can put a smile on someone else's face...So, here's to a future of pictures, happiness, rants, tangents, and ramblings!