Christmas in Dixie

Hi everyone! I hope you had a fabulous Christmas! Praise the Lord for His magnificent Gift in sending Jesus to this Earth. What a day to celebrate!

I'm sorry for the lack of blogging. I haven't had much to say recently, but am excited about a few updates that are coming over the next week or so.

Last week, Brian planned and took me out on our Christmas date. We tend to be boring daters, so I wanted something unique, but based on our budget, cheap. 

We started at Cheesecake Factory with a giftcard. I have only eaten a meal there twice, so this was extra special. That cheesey pasta is delish.

As we were heading into Cheesecake, Brian presented me with the rest of our date- a photo scavenger hunt. He had created a list of 10 Christmasy items that I had to find and take pictures of during the night. 

The list included:

 a piece of cheesecake, 

holiday traffic,

a fountain,

  an outdoor tree,

an over-decorated house,

 downtown Birmingham,

 an angel,

 a cup of hot chocolate,

 a nativity, 

and a picture with my husband. 

This was a challenge for me because I haven't had much experience shooting in the dark. Most of the pics turned out pretty good, but some of them could use a bit of improving... I guess we will just have to do it again!!

This was actually one of my favorite shots from the night- Brian took it as we were setting up for our photo of the Nativity. The stars and sky were gorgeous that night.

Though I'm a little late, Merry Christmas my friends! I hope you had a fantastic day!

Five.

Today, Brian and I are celebrating five years of marriage.

Five years.

It feels like yesterday.

It is so hard to believe that we have now been married longer than we dated. We have lived in two homes, owned a cat, purchased two vehicles, been given the gift of making a baby, carrying her, and experiencing the glorious blessing of being her mom and dad in these five years. We purchased land, done renovations, travelled all over the world, served Jesus together and supported each other when our call was to serve Him alone. We have intwined two lives into one glorious life together.

Brian helps me to know Jesus more, models a strong walk with the Lord, and makes me more like Christ each day. He makes me laugh, provides for me, offers me encouragement, challenges me, and loves me unconditionally. 

I can not imagine my life without him and am so very thankful for our five years together.

Happy Anniversary BK!

Sigh.

I am so in love.

A week of dates

So, as we draw nearer to the due date, the due date seems much closer. Funny how that works. 

Though we can not wait for Emily Ann to be here, we have both found ourselves to be very protective of our time together for this week and the coming weekend. Maybe, hopefully, we won't make it until then, but on the other hand, a nice, carefree weekend would be the perfect way to prepare for a baby.

So in honor of our last few days of just the two of us, I created date night cards for Brian to choose from each night (for up to 8 nights.... hopefully we won't have to wait that long :) ). Our budget is much tighter than it has been in the past, so the ideas aren't expensive, or even out for the most part, but they are simple things to keep the TV off and just enjoy each other.

After finding this idea at Find Joy in the Journey, I decided to create an idea board of my own. I typed up fun ideas using cute fonts and borders, then printed them out and adhered them to scrapbook paper.

Next, I mounted them on magnets and placed them on the fridge. Each night, Brian can choose an activity for the evening!

I loved Shannon's idea of mounting fun ideas for summer- I think you can use this set-up for so many different things!
What are your cheap date night ideas?

Happy Monday!

Birmingham Celebration Date!

Brian and I debated between spending the weekend in Atlanta or just staying here to celebrate his birthday and my being done with school. He was out of town this past week, so we decided an out of the ordinary Saturday in Birmingham would be fun. We were SO right!

We slept a little late on Saturday morning, then went to Waffle House for breakfast. It was *SO* good and was actually a perfect meal for my diet. Because of the celebration part of the day, I did get a cherry coke- not the bobo cherry cokes from the grocery, but an honest to goodness coke with cherry syrup. It was delicious, but super sweet. My body doesn't really know what to think about these things anymore.

After breakfast, we made our first stop of the day at Pepper Place. This is a huge Alabama based farmer's market that has all sorts of fruits, veggies, fresh flowers, fresh cheeses and eggs, and homemade jellies. They also sell different homemade crafts, which I have to admit, were my favorite.

It is called Pepper Place because it is located in and around the old Dr. Pepper factory. The fun buildings and signs made great decor and ambiance.

There was a woman taking part in the Harry Potter read-a-thon. She was sitting there reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It took a lot of self control to not sit at the table and listen to her.

Brian and I loved walking around the area, but were shocked at how much great stuff there was right there in the middle of Birmingham. It might have been the first time to stop by, but it certainly wasn't the last!

After Pepper Place, we drove down a little and stopped by Sloss Furnace. I was a little sketched out at first, but it was a really cool (and free!) place to explore.

Next, we went to Vulcan, but we didn't go up. I am deathly afraid of heights and it seems to have grown since I got pregnant. Behind the statue, there is a gorgeous view of Birmingham, so Brian and I enjoyed that for a few minutes before we headed to lunch!

For lunch, we ate at the Urban Cookhouse. It is a scrumptious deli with lots of Alabama grown products. I had a turkey sandwich and fruit and Brian had a braised pork sandwich on homemade yeast rolls with mac and cheese. It was so very good. It was also good to be able to have a seat and get off our feet for a little while!

After lunch, we walked around Homewood and looked in the shops. I got an amazing deal on some bags and bought a ball for Emily Ann, but found lots of treasures that I would have loved to have purchased. Brian was a fabulous sport and shopped without complaining. Such a doll!

When we finished shopping, we headed to an overlook that looked over the hospital where Emily Ann will be born. We had a time of prayer for our sweet baby and the doctors and nurses that would be delivering her. Though the entire day was a blast, this was by far the best part of the day. The overlook was gorgeous and the time with Brian was so so precious. I was so blessed by the leader my husband is and adored that opportunity.

We finished the day with splitting a midnight magic chocolate chip cupcake at the new Gigi's Cupcakes in Hoover and a $5 pizza from Little Caesar's (and yes, in that order :) ). 

It was such a fabulous day and we didn't even have to drive more than 15 minutes! 

I hope everyone else had a fun and relaxing weekend!

Happy Birthday Brian!

Today my sweet husband turns 26 years old.

I am thankful to have been able to spend almost 8 of those years with him. 

Happy Birthday BK!

I love you!

My love.

4 years ago today, I married the man of my dreams.

He is a man after God's own heart.

He is learning to be more like Him each day and encourages me through that.

He constantly makes me laugh.

He is going to be an amazing father. 

He enjoys what I enjoy.... well.... most of the time.

He is such a servant.

He is my best friend.

He loves his country.

He is a fabulous travel buddy.

And he loves me like Christ loves the Church.

I am so thankful for our four years of marriage together.

I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with him. He is the very best there is and I am so very blessed to call him my husband.

Happy 4 years BK. I love you!

The Graduate

Last weekend, I had the honor of watching my husband walk across the stage at graduation Sunday. For the past two years, as I have been working on my degree in school library, Brian has been working on his Masters in Business Administration. He has worked so SO hard and I am beyond proud of him. Even though he chose not to walk at graduation, he DID walk at our church graduation Sunday, along with his two brothers, who graduated from Auburn in December and May.

Brian shaking our pastor's hand.

The Johnson clan, celebrating not one, but THREE graduations!

Congratulations Brian!!! I am so proud of you!

3 years ago...

This weekend was the three year anniversary of when Brian asked me to marry him. We had been dating since September of our freshman year at Auburn. I came to school planning to avoid a serious relationship as long as possible, but God had other plans for me. Brian and I were both in the band and attended Lakeview Baptist Church. We officially met at a Fall retreat for college students, where a mutual friend brought us together. We spent the next week getting to know each other, going on long walks around campus discussing what God had done in our life, worshiping together at Encounter, and of course, talking on AIM, and then we were dating. The next 3 1/2 years were filled with truly building a relationship and getting to know each other. Every memory I have at Auburn has him in it and I love it.

The weekend he proposed, I was coming to Auburn to march in Gov. Riley's inaugural parade. We had lunch at Mike and Ed's, an incredible BBQ restaurant in Auburn, then he said he needed to drop something off at his brother's dorm. On our way to the dorm, we walked through Memory Gardens. Memory Gardens was between our dorms our freshman year and was where we spent most of our time getting to know each other. As we were walking, he stopped at our bench, and I saw he had carved Brian heart Ashley. At that point he got down on his knee and asked me to marry him. I, of course, said year and the rest was history! We were married 6 months later.

I adore my husband and love the way he asked me to marry him. It was thoughtful and intentional, with him choosing the place where we most got to know each other. I love going back to Auburn, looking at the bench, and just remembering. It is so strange that it has been three years ago- time has flown by and though I never would have believed it possible then, I love him much more today than I did three years ago.

We have a day planned full of yard work, school work, and cleaning the house!
You have to love those days off! Have a wonderful Monday my friends!