Life of the Party

This weekend I took a trip with my parents up to Huntsville for my niece's first birthday party, and it was wonderful. I don't get to see my brother, sister-in-law, and niece very often so I was super excited just to be seeing them, but it was extra special to celebrate Rachel's birthday! I'll keep the writing pretty short on this post because it has a lot of pictures, but here's a recap of the weekend.

First on the way out of town we stopped by J & M to get a children's book that I had seen and wanted to get Rachel. It just so happened that next door Coach Pat Dye was signing autographs and taking pictures. So we just had to get her book signed and I had to get a picture with him! After all I've never met him before and he's a legend!! Anyway I'm just glad I was able to form full sentences in front of him since I have a reputation of ambushing Auburn's celebrities with awkwardness. After that, though, we hit the road to Huntsville.

Once we got there we got to see William, Leslie, and Rachel for a little bit and help decorate for the party! It turned out looking so cute, which you can kinda see in the background of the pictures. Anyway the next morning we got up very early to watch Rachel at her baby gymnastics class (I don't think that's what it's really called, but let's just roll with it). So she was so cute in this class (not that she isn't super precious all the time!) She can't walk just yet, although she's very close, but I can really see how baby gymnastics can help build on those muscles needed for learning to walk. Just sayin'.

So that afternoon we all got together for the party, and here come the pictures...

Isn't she precious?!?

And check out how awesome that cake is!

Ha ha...I love this one!

She was too cute unwrapping gifts, and playing with toys as they were unwrapped. Classic.

And she's a pro at getting her picture taken! I mean, come on, she's so photogenic!!

And I think this picture is just about the cutest thing ever!! (by the way her t-shirt said "That's it, I'm texting Grandma!" haha)

And she was, of course,supporting her team!

So that's the party day and the next day we went by in the morning before heading out of town. Let me tell you that there is nothing sweeter than a baby in the morning time. Rachel was so cuddly and sweet! And I can't wait to see her again at Christmas time! And William and Leslie too. :)

By the way, that's us the next morning after the party.

So that was the weekend in Huntsville, and it couldn't have been more fun!

I can't forget about other happenings around the South, though. It was Auburn's homecoming, which we won so we are now 10-0!! One more win and we go to the SEC Championship!! Why, you ask? Because Bama lost this weekend. That's all I'm gonna say about that since I know Lauren Burnham reads this. :) Also, Sunday morning was the Chocolate Festival 5K and from what I hear it was a huge success!! This is very exciting because the actual festival is this week and we've worked very hard on it!!

Busy week ahead, but we're close to Thanksgiving!! :)