I like to KICK! STRETCH! AND KICK!!

Thankfully my mom does not look like Sally O'Mally! Nonetheless, she is still 50!! The big 5-0! I can't believe it. Last weekend we celebrated my lovely, beautiful, and age-defying mom. What a good time we had. 
I am so thankful to my sweet mom. She is such a wonderful, Godly woman and I am grateful that I have her to be an example of the kind of mother I want to be to my children. I'm also thankful that I have her genetics. I complain now that people think I'm 15, but one day I know I'll be happy to look half my age. My mom definitely looks half her age! So thanks, mom, for a) being a great mom and b) for having such great genetics - and passing them on to me. My (distant) future children say thanks too.

Here are some photos of the weekend:

 My mom and stepdad, Chris

 My brother, Nick, and nephew, Taylor

 lovely and delicious cake by www.loveandcupcakesal.com

 Mimi and Taylor

 Can you tell we're related?

Li'el Bugah

That night Mom had several close friends come over for a little partay to celebrate her first wonderful 50 years of life. At around 9, we got a call that totally shook us and took us by surprise. It was my grandmother calling saying that my granddad had been taken to the hospital for chest pains. So we cleared out the house, packed up our bags and took off to Huntsville, about 2 hrs. north of Birmingham. 

Finally at about 11:30, Rob and I arrived at the Huntsville hospital. We got to see my granddaddy and saw that everything was ok. After a few hours, Rob and I decided to check into a hotel just 1/2 a mile from the hospital. The next morning we visited my g'dad and found out that, thankfully, it was not a heart attack. Instead it was a herniated esphagus. Not good, and very painful, but still better than a heart attack. We were so relieved. 

Once our visiting time slot was over - btw should not be called visiting "hours", because it was actually visiting minutes - we headed to Hartselle to visit my grandmother before heading back to Birmingham to meet Rob's parents. 

I am so thankful that we had time to meet with my wonderful "In-laws" (parentheses because this is not how we feel about each other). They brought so much serenity after a crazy night like we just had. They were so flexible with us and took a ton of stress off that we had been feeling for the last 12 hours or so. 

 Yes, we met at McDonald's. At that point we would have eaten anything.

Needless to say we were exhausted after this trip. We probably drove at least 15 hours that weekend. We got home to Jackson at about 8 pm. Right about the time we pulled into the city limits, I got a call from the lady I nanny for - who is 9 months pregnant. She was having contractions and just wanted to make sure we had made it back to town. They weren't going to the hospital yet, but when they decided it was time, I was going to go to their house and stay with Peyton until they were able to come back home. I don't know if I've mentioned yet, but this all happened the weekend/day of mine and Rob's 1st anniversary. 

Once we got home Rob and I decided we would celebrate our anniversary as much as we possibly could  before I got called away again. We got some sushi, went home, opened presents, had some of our wedding cake (which was still delicious) and started watching Enchanted - the movie we watched on our first date. 

Not but 15 minutes into the movie, my phone rings. Jaime is going into labor. Awesome. I grab my "go-bag", hop in my car, and high tail it out to Madison, MS. 

On June, 20 at 4:14 a.m., Brendan Burke Anderson made his grand entrance into the world! Jaime was able to come home with him on Wednesday. He is so tiny, it is unreal. Congratulations to the best family I've ever worked for. I am so happy to get to watch this sweet boy. I don't have any pictures of Brendan yet, but I will post them as soon as I can. 

Have no fear. Rob and I did celebrate our anniversary. We just did it 6 days later. It wasn't as lavish and extravagent as we may have hoped, but if there is one thing we've learned this year, it's that sometimes you just have to go with it. We had originally planned to spend a week at a fancy bed and breakfast in Gatlinburg, TN. However, we've had to change those plans because very soon we will be making a huge move and we need to save every penny we can. 

I was pretty bummed about this but instead of throwing myself a pity party, I decided to bring the resort to our apartment. We had mimosas with strawberries, chocolate covered and powdered donuts, as well as blueberry, choc chip, and banana pancakes. We watched movies and layed around in our PJs all day long. It was fabulous!! I love our love; that we can be at home just the two of us and enjoy ourselves so much. I could not have asked for a better mate. We were so obviously made for each other it's ridiculous. I fall more and more in love with this man every day. I am so blessed.

Here are some pictures of our Hotel at Home breakfast:

A Wedding Weekend

Two weeks ago, Rob and I made a journey to Tuscaloosa, AL to witness two sweet college friends tie the knot. I have a special place in my heart for the bride and for her groom.

My sophomore year of college, I led my first freshman Bible study at Calvary in Tuscaloosa. Sweet Anna-Kate was a member of that Bible study group and a very special one at that. This girl has the sweetest spirit I have ever seen.

I will never forget this one night after church a year later when she came up to me a thanked me for being there for her during her freshman year. How sweet is that she would think to let me know what I meant to her a year later. I greatly appreciated that and will never forget it.

Here are some photos of when Anna-Kate and I first met.

Our whole freshman group, Anna-Kate is dead center, in the white

Fall Retreat, 2007

Forgive the horrible lighting

The groom is as equally sweet as the bride. I don't quite remember the first time I met Leslie, but I remember what a sweet and genuine person he has always been. To give you an example of his genuinely kind spirit, I found a letter today that he had mailed me after hearing me complain about all the junk mail I get. In the letter, after his disclaimer that it was simply a letter of encouragement from a brother to a sister, Leslie shared how encouraging my smile and happiness were to him and others. What a thoughtful letter. 

Anna-Kate and Leslie have a very happy life ahead of them. A life full of glorifying God and encouraging everyone they come in contact with. I am so proud to call you guys friends. Thank you for always being such genuine people. I can always count on you two to lift my spirits and make me smile. I look forward to seeing how God uses your sweet selves to further his kingdom.

The lovely Bride and me

My groom and me 

Updates, Updates

I find the irony of my previous post too much to handle. Only 2 weeks after blogging about my visit to Tuscaloosa and our dodging tornadoes, a massive tornado literally ripped through the city I called home for 4 years of my life. I don't think there are enough words in the English language to express my deepest pains for Tuscaloosa. I also don't think I can stomach reliving the terror of watching the live streaming of that tornado. It was a moment I will never forget.

I also feel a load of guilt for my petty complaints over the newly refinished kitchen of my old house. The house in which I resided for 1/2 of my college career was all but ripped to shreds. That lovely new kitchen has been destroyed. Thankfully, however, my dear friend, whom I once called roommate as well, is safe! God is sovereign. The neighborhood, and even some neighbors, around that house, however, were not so lucky. We grieve for the lives lost.
Here are a few pictures of my old house:

 My house is the white one in the middle

Here is our neighborhood. Our old house is in the top left corner. You can definitely see the path the tornado took. 

The Milo's across the street, where we ate just weeks earlier, was completely demolished in the storm. It is very disheartening to see the damage, but I have no doubts that Tuscaloosa will rise above this, stronger than ever!

On a happier note: I have lost 18 LBS since November, with Weight Watchers!! If any of you are wanting to trim up a bit, please consider WW. It has done wonders for my eating habits. If you've tried WW in the past and it either didn't work or didn't stick, try it again. They have revamped the whole program to where it actually encourages healthy habits (i.e. fresh fruits and veggies are 0 pts, what a deal)! In the midst of my 18 lbs, I reached my 10% weight loss goal that WW set for me. To congratulate me on the loss (and for being in the program for 16 weeks), I got this super awesome key chain and charm. 
Forgive the not-so-great lighting in the photo:

Snaps for me :)

In WW, they encourage you to celebrate your weight loss by treating yourself to something. I decided that for every lb. I lost, I would put $5 into a jar. At the end of my weight loss journey, I would take the $$ I "raised" and go buy myself some new clothes. Well, I had to cheat on that just a little bit, because literally nothing but a couple of shirts and one pair of shorts still fit me. And by fit me, I mean they're not falling off of me. 

Thankfully, Gap was having a 40% off sale today in honor of Memorial Day, so I got a few necessary items to keep me from looking like a complete hobo. And guess what...I fit, with some room to move, in a size 6! I have not been a size 6 since high school!! I'm pretty excited about this. I also donated all of my big clothes to Goodwill, so no excuses for weight re-gain. 

I still have 10 lbs to go to reach my personal goal. However, I'm just not sure that I should lose that much now. For the first time in, I'd venture to say since body image began to matter, I feel good about my body. It's an amazing experience. I'm going to keep trying to lose the weight, but the stress is off. Now, it's the fun part of weight loss. It's the "let's see how much more I can lose" part. 

Anyway, moving on to the rest of my updates. I also lost a few lbs off my head. And no I don't mean I lost an eye or nose. I lost some herr! And by lost, I mean I had some cut off my head. About 6 or 7 inches to be exact. This was my first big hair cut in 3 1/2 years and it was definitely time.

Here is the before and after:

 I was a little nervous

But I think it was worth it!

I dried my hair in 9 minutes today. It used to take me 20!! That's less than half the time! WOW! I'll take that. And I have the cutest, tiniest little ponytail now.

I finally got my post-wedding hair cut...almost a year later. 

Well I believe that is all for my updates. Stay tune for more (really exciting) updates to come! I'm really excited to share our next update, but I must wait. Excited yet? You should be!!! 

OH WAIT! I do have one more update. 

About a month ago, we got a super cool Nikon d40x! It's amazing! Just look at this super awesome picture: 

 

What a doll!!

Alright, that's all. Thanks for reading and being interested in what's new with the Wiggins duo. Remember, stay tuned for some super exciting news coming to a blogspot near you (aka, this one).