New Orleans and Granny's 87th Bday

Raise your virtual hand if you love free vacations! We got to experience our first ever all expense paid "business trip" to New Orleans 2 weekends ago.. Ok, I'm not being completely honest.. gas, food, and hotel were free, but we did have to pay for my Southwest flight back to Bham, since I had to leave early. Regardless, we had so much fun being away from work/school for a couple of days. Matthew had a poster accepted back in January to the the American Thoracic Society Conference, and Ed had been asked to give a talk on the last day, so the whole lab headed down for a little get-away... and I got to tag along :) My guess is that New Orleans didn't know what to with itself, having so many nerds in town at one time. I have never seen so many MD's and PhD's in one place in my entire life. And I'm allowed to say that, because Matthew said it first. We overindulged ourselves on food, hey it was free! And, I'm more than a little embarrassed to say that I definitely had my fair share of beignets. How could you not love anything made of fried dough and powdered sugar? Unless it's a funnel cake...gross. And guess what. The Conference is in Denver next year.. So Matthew, start working on a new poster now!

New Orleans bound!

"Dad are we there yet?"

Bourbon St

Cafe Du Monde.. AKA Best Beignets EVER

Worth every calorie

This past weekend we went to Memphis for my Granny's (mom's mom) 87th birthday and the Kobeck reunion. On Saturday night, we spent the night with Mimi and Papaw (dad's side) and then went to the birthday party on Sunday afternoon at my Aunt Waverly's house.

On Saturday night, Mimi and I went bowling while the boys watched the basketball game. My Mimi is an incredible bowler. She bowls in a league on Thursdays, and her average is above 150. I usually never break 100. She's also 78 and still throwing a 10 pound ball... the same size I use.

Apparently, Mimi was my good luck charm. 111!

Sunday morning, Lexi came in from being outside with Papaw looking like this...And with a tick on her back.

Love them :)

Happy Birthday Granny!

Granny with her children. (2 missing, mom's sister Linda passed away a couple of years ago, and Aunt Tiny left before the pic) Mom is the baby of 10. Yes, 10.

And a pic with the grandchildren. Missing A LOT. Obviously with 10 kids, there's bound to be more grandkids than this. We counted up with my Aunt Peggy while we were at the party, and all the siblings either had 1 or 2 kids. My mom is the only one with 3. Also, it is hilarious to note, that my cousin Tony (the one in front of me) has a child little Matthew's age. And my cousin Wendy next to me has a child that was born before little Matthew. ha

We had a lot of fun at the party. It was good to see family that I haven't seen in a VERY long time. Also, I was glad that Matthew was finally able to meet Granny.

Headed to Smith Lake for Hardison Family Get-Away this weekend. But more importantly, Samuel David Hardison (Sam) is due in less than 5 weeks. Hurry up! :)