Beach Trip and Birthdays

A couple of weekends ago, Matthew and I got to spend the weekend at the beach with our good friends the Harrises and the Guesses.  I apologize for my lackluster approach to blogging as of late.  All I feel like doing when I get home from work and the gym is crawling into bed... which shamefully happens more than it should. 

Anyway, we had a blast in Orange Beach with our friends, eating, relaxing, eating, reading.... and more eating.  Confession:  I think I pounded four five donuts while we were there, and I don't even eat donuts!  Not to mention the pound of crab M and I splurged on.  What makes crab better?  Dipping in it in pure melted butter.  Totally worth every heart clogging calorie. 

Enjoy the pics!

Drew, Blake, and M.  The sweet baby girl is Katie and Drew's baby, McNeill.  She is PRECIOUS!

Katie, me, and Holly Beth (whom I like to call HB)

We celebrated HB's birthday while we were there. 

Like I said, absolutely precious.  How sweet is her little outfit?!

 I have the most beautiful friends!

The pound of crab.

This past Tuesday night, we celebrated Jason Booton's birthday at the Fish Market downtown.

Holly Beth, me and Brittney

Happy Birthday Jason!

We're headed to see Grandma and Grand Daddy Wayne this weekend, then spending Sunday night at the Smith compound...no work on Memorial Day! 

Huge Congratulations to our best friend Russ! He is graduating from medical school tomorrow.  Way to go Dr. Clendenin!

House Pictures

Here it is folks!  La Casa De Hardison.  It's taking me forever to get around to putting these up.  I think I was trying not to jinx it, since we had such a hard time actually selecting/putting in offers on the THREE other houses we liked before this one :)  Apparently, the real estate market isn't hurting in Houston as much as it is other places.  Nonetheless, unless the rapture really does come between now and Friday..barring any life changing event, we will officially close on our home and become "real world" adults.  Exciting, huh!?

9 more work days until my last day of work.  13 more days until Hardison Family Vaca in Santa Rosa, FL and roughly 32 days until the big move. 

Real Hardwoods!

Office right off the entryway. 

Something I can get behind!  More counter space and a gas stove!

Double sinks!  And there's a soaking tub.. not pictured.  Awesome. 

Guest Bedroom #1.  Otherwise known as Ashley's room. 

Guest Bedroom #2.  Currently a nursery, obviously. 

Fenced in backyard for sweet Lexi!

Steps away from the playground, community tennis courts, park, and pool!

We're incredibly excited... I'm also incredibly nervous about this whole transition into home-ownership.  What's more debt, right?!  We can't wait to get there, get settled, and see the place with our own furniture/and finishing touches.

I'm pretty sure I will cry the whole way out of the state of Alabama.  B-ham, I hated you so much when I first arrived.  I couldn't wait to the heck out of here.  But, now that the time has finally come, I can't imagine what life is going to be like outside the Magic City.  We've been SO blessed with a great church home, awesome jobs, and lifelong/forever friends.  God definitely placed incredible people in our lives here, and we hate so much to leave.  But we know that through this move to Houston, God is going to guide us to a new church home, with new friends (not to surpass the old!), new jobs, and new opportunities.  We're just along for the ride!

And in case you were wondering.  Door to Door.. 807 miles from our new home to my parents' house.  Can't think about it too much, or I might start the water works early :)

Marathon Video

Here is the video of Team Smith finishing the marathon. You can see us at the very end of the clip, wearing our lime green t-shirts. As we were getting up to the finish line, Dad said, "We gotta hold hands!" And we did.. and we were cute.

I'm swinging my arms so badly. Very poor running form :) I guess I was just so glad to be done!

Also, the clock says 3 hours. We did not take that long. Although, we were by no means fast. Ha. Your actual time starts when you cross the starting line, not when the "official" race starts. I'm not sure what our exact time was; I'm sure Dad knows.

Have a great finish to the week! I will post pictures of our beach trip with friends in the next few days!


http://www.asiorders.com/view_user_event_video.asp?EVENTID=75416&BIB=16963&S=230&PWD=

Half Marathon Weekend

Team Smith took to the streets of Nashville this past weekend.... on foot, for 13.1 miles.  We decided back in January to run the Nashville half-marathon.  I was fully expecting my knee to give out a couple of weeks beforehand, so I didn't get too excited about it, assuming that I would have to drop out again this year, but fortunately my knee held up!  Dad has run a couple of full marathons before, but this was a first half for both Ashley and me.  And we did it!  Ashley has a bum knee as well, but we both did great, despite both of our knees hurting around mile 6.  We finished, without walking, and I'm so glad that the three of us did this together!  As dad said, "we're making memories!"

Our theme for the race...  Fitting.  Although dad is not technically called a pastor, we couldn't think of anything clever than rhymed with preacher or minister. 

Pre Race.  Before the pain :)

Proud of our medals.

Aren't we cute?!

Mom's stance on driving to LP Field with road closures for the race.. "All y'all had to do was run... getting down here was stressful!"   

On another note.. Please continue to pray for the families of those who lost their loved ones, homes, schools, businesses, during the terrible tornadoes in Alabama last Wednesday.  If you would like to find a way to help, you can go to myfoxal.com and click on the "How to help, donate and volunteer"