40 miles in 7 hours

Last weekend, after reveling the excitement of baby Ella's birth, I jumped in the car and headed south. Several of my college girlfriends had planned a weekend getaway to the Orange Beach area, and I was so excited to catch up with them and lounge on the beach. I knew it was going to be a super short trip, but it was going to be worth it to spend time in the car with some of my besties.

So, I met Kara at her apartment, we fearlessly braved downtown Birmingham and picked Jen up from the Greyhound station (yes, Greyhound station), and we were off!

Fast forward lots of hours: we were parked on 65 south about 40 miles south of Birmingham. We later learned (when the mood shifted from slap happy to stir crazy) that a gas truck of some sort had flipped on 65, and the cleanup was literally taking all day. We got off on the first exit possible, which was unfortunately not soon enough. In the end, we spent seven hours driving to and from Kara's house in Birmingham. We ended up spending the night there, and Kara and Jen made it to the beach Saturday morning. I decided not to spend three straight days in the car for a few hours at the beach with the girls, which was an excruciating decision to make... but the right one for sure.

The plus side? Seven uninterrupted hours in the car with these two:

passing the time by steering with heads, feet

I had an amazing college experience, and I made some wonderful friends. Kara and Jen are two of these girls, and I love, love, love both of them.

So, it wasn't all for naught :)

Baby Bo is...

a GIRL!

Ella Dorothy Bogensberger arrived this morning at 2:59am, weighing 6lbs, 2oz and 18 inches long. She is PERFECT, and Jodi did so, so well! Greg has not stopped smiling for the past 24 hours, and they couldn't be a happier little family. Praise the Lord!

more pics here

it's almost time!

Jodi and I just had our "last supper" before baby Bo comes tomorrow!! I can not wait to meet this precious addition to our "family"!

*Becca and I did the same thing the day before she was induced with KJ!

small group

love. this. group!

project for baby Bo

Several months ago we started a big project for Greg and Jodi's baby. Jodi and I found a great glider rocker at Goodwill for $30, but the cushions had all seen better days. We figured we could tackle recovering them

before

Greg and David worked on peeling the wallpaper in the kitchen while we did rocker stuff.

We also thought this would be a good opportunity to teach Jodi how to sew. Turns out, a project like this really isn't the right time for a sewing lesson... we'll have to come back to that. 

So, the project took a little longer than planned, but the good news is: it is finished! And, in time for baby Bo to arrive (he/she isn't here yet... TODAY is the due date!)!

I wanted to make the arm covers removable because, well, they will probably get projectile vomit/poop/spit up/etc. on them at some point. Let's be honest. 

Finished!

besties

take one

take two

take three

take four

baby Lawhorn, pizza and Mother's Day

Sarah's shower Saturday marked three baby showers in seven days for me!

It was so fun to celebrate baby L's upcoming arrival with friends and Sarah's family!

After Sarah's shower I had just enough time to change and rest for a few minutes before heading to church (we still LOVE Saturday night church). We had planned to go to the Chattanooga FC game, but church was longish so we all decided against it. Instead, we went to Hill City Pizza (thanks, LivingSocial!) with the Bogs and the Ehingers. It was a great evening to sit outside and enjoy our friends (but most people didn't enjoy their food so much... oh well.)

you can hardly tell Jodi is pregnant!!

Sunday was Mother's Day, but other than phone calls to our moms we didn't do much to celebrate. Their gifts were mailed on time (for once), but we seriously missed being together. My whole family was together (Greg is home for the summer!), and I was feeling very sad all weekend. Four hours isn't very far, but when every weekend is packed full of stuff, it's too far away to be together as regularly as I would like.

I spent most of the day at the Rock City Southern Blooms Festival selling JL Cookbooks. It was party fine and partly super annoying, but whatever. Two shifts down, three to go! Because our book club (and every other one in America) read Water for Elephants, we went with Greg and Jodi to see the movie. David was the only one of us who hadn't read the book (surprise, surprise), and he LOVED the movie! We all really did.

David made shredded beef and mashed potatoes as we enjoyed probably our last night dinner with the Bogensbergers before Baby Bo makes his/her debut! This should be an exciting week :)