Sweet Home Alabama~Gulf Shores

Welcome to another installment of Kelly's Korner~Show Us Your Life. This week Kelly is featuring favorite vacation spots. Welcome to our Sweet Home Alabama. The Hargrove Clan has made Gulf Shores, Alabama our summer beach tradition.

We fell in love with beach vacations 10 years ago when we first went to Destin Florida with my sister's family. We can hardly wait to sink our feet to the white sugary sandy beaches each summer.

We pretty much just hang out at the beach most of the days, then head to the pool , then back to the beach, etc... This year we invited our friends The Arrington's to come along and we had a total blast. It was so fun for our boys to have friends to play with 24/7.

We have always stayed at The Beach Club at Fort Morgan and love it!!! It is out from Gulf Shores, but well worth the few extra milesbecause it has a real resort feel to it. This is what I love to do the most at the beach, sit under the umbrellas and read. Check out the boy's trench in front of our chairs.

A little "Hot Box" on the lawn. Why is it baseball is never too far out of our minds??

Of course, our other main activity is EATING!!!! This is our clan eating at Lulu's. LuLu's has gotten so big a popular now. When we first starting going to Gulf Shores, it was a little bitty place and now it has tuned into a money making empire!!!


Of course, what would be a trip to Gulf Shores without eating at Lambert's? Home of the "throwed" roll! If you have never been there, it is a Gulf Shores MUST!!! They actually throw their delicious yeast rolls to you. The kids love this place and the food is so good and cheap!!!


We also went to a new place called The Hangout. Very Fun!! I would say it is like Lulu's meets Joe's Crab Shack.

If you have ever been to Gulf Shores, you know where this is...Souvenir City. The best place to buy those souvenirs.


We also spent one day at Waterville, the local waterpark. We usually do this mid-week to break up the beach for the boys. This was particularly fun because our boys experienced a roller coaster for the first time. Look at Little Man's face in the last seat...it says it all.

Pure Delight!

A visit to The Track to ride go-carts


One of the things that I love most about this trip is that is full of family time without all the distractions of work, home, school, sports, etc... We just get to enjoy being together. We ( Me) wanted to take some pictures on the beach. The last two times we had a photographer come out and take our pictures and I am so glad we didn't this time because it was so windy. I can't believe I wasted one minute fixing my hair....that was 30 minutes of my life that was totally wasted that I will never get back. It looked a total mess!



However, I did get a good one of my boys.

While we were on vacation, Big Daddy and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary.



pause...sigh..., ok back to reality...

We had a wonderful time making memories with our friends.

Bye, Gulf Shores...we will see you next year...

Be Still...And Glue A Few Cracks

You know that it has been a long summer and time to start thinking about getting back into the routine of school when you have this.....

plus this....

equals this...

Uh Oh, not a good thing.

Let me start by saying, I was not having my finest parenting moment(s). My big boy and I had already been at sorts with each other earlier in the day when I felt he was being ungrateful for something I had done for him. He is too much like me and has a big problem with pride; and he had done a little self imposed time out in his room. Big Daddy kept telling me that I needed to talk to him and tell him he could come out of his room...well, I never sent him to his room in the first place, he left and went up there on his own devices. Why should I tell him to come out? Quite frankly I was enjoying that the family room TV was off for what seemed like the first time all summer and I could not hear iCarly or Wizards of Whatever.

He later came down as they were all going to our elementary school to work on baseball (little man has a try-out for a select team tomorrow). Some how big boy had a brain lapse and thought nothing of playing with a beach ball that was in the house. That is when I heard the crashing and tumbling of things...I have never quite seen that shade of green on my big boy...especially when he had to bring me the broken "momma bird". I was fuming and grateful that they were leaving for a while. I was in dire need of a self imposed time out.

I sat down after they were gone and went to work on momma bird, both of us "momma birds". I kept telling myself that this was a 3.99 trinket from Garden Ridge, why was I so mad? Good golly!! Do I want my babies to think of me later as a mom that always loses her cool?? Do I have to much pride to be the first one to speak and make up? Sister you are the adult here!!!

As I glued and put her back together, I thought we are all alot like this broken momma bird. We all have moments that we snap, someone throws a ball at us and knocks us off our rockers, or we're just not equipped, but we most of the time can easily be fixed with little or no damage done. I would rather bear the cracks, than my precious babies bear the cracks any day. Food for thought. Thank you Jesus for this learning moment! I am listening!

Momma bird is mended has returned to watching over her nest... Thank goodness there is a Big Daddy bird tending the nest with her.

Not Your Everyday Scrambled Eggs!!

Welcome to the new look of Scrambled Eggs!!! I won a blog makeover from Tricia Nae and she did a great job of re-designing my blog!! Thanks Tricia!! I have a lot to post from the last week. I turned the unmentionable BIG 4-0 and my fabulous friends and family helped ease the pain by helping me celebrate. I also just returned from a beach vacation and have pictures to post of our relaxin, chillaxin good time, but gotta get the groceries bought and the laundry done then I will get them posted.

Let Freedom Ring!!

I love the 4th of July and love to decorate for the 4th of July even more. I think there is such a long break from Easter to another holiday and that is why I love to decorate for it so much. We are going to my mom's (Meemommie's) for the 4th of July and it is full of family traditions, but I thought I would share my entry way decor for the 4th. I got this cute pillow at Hobby Lobby last year, but I saw it again there this year.

I love to decorate the entry way. I do something here all the time. I had to adjust some of the decor to incorporate the hard earned baseball trophies from the end of the season. They have found their way up to the boy's bedrooms and Big Daddy's office.

I bought this iron tree a couple of years ago and have LOVED it!! I love figuring out a theme for it for each season or holiday. I found these lanterns in the dollar section at Target last summer. Perfect!!!

Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty

These red chairs are from Garden Ridge, sometimes we drag them out the front door and sit on the porch and watch the kids play in the cul-de-sac.

My boys rooms are sort of Texas lodge, meets Americana, meets sports. So I snag these throw pillows from their beds this time of year.

You can do alot of decorating with little flags from Dollar Tree. Poke 'em here...

there...

and everywhere!!


Little bench on my front side porch, the bench is from Canton Trade Days. (It starts this weekend).

I will have lots of fun pictures from our trip and activities/festivities to post when I get back. My mom doesn't have Internet at her house, only at her little office. Maybe I can hi-jack off someone's wireless in her neighborhood.

Everyone have a wonderful and safe Independence Day. Enjoy your families, traditions and make some new cherished memories.

Show Us Where You Live Fridays~Backyards

Welcome back to Kelly's Tour of homes. This week she is featuring backyards (YES!) and garages (err...NO!) When she put out the schedule about 6 weeks ago (Spring) I thought I would be so excited to show our backyard, the flowering bushes, pots with plants, etc... Well, that was before this Texas heatwave and everything looks like it is about to kill over. Hello Summer in Texas!!

The pool looks refreshing doesn't it?? Well, its NOT...the water is 90 degrees. UGH!! This is just the first of July. Come August and September (our hottest time in North Texas) it will be a shrimp boil for my little shrimpies. Cue Margaritaville, oh yea, I already did that:-)

I was out taking these pictures this morning and the temperature was already 97 degrees. I thought I better get them taken because we are expecting friends over to swim in a bit and the toys and floaties would be everywhere. We built the pool the end of 2007 and as Big Daddy says "we have gotten our monies worth." The boys swim for a bit, then they ride their bikes, then back to the pool, then some baseball or basketball, back in the pool..... you get the drift.

Big Daddy and I each had our non-negotiables, his was the rock waterfall on the hot tub...

....and the palm tree. He loves them, me not so much. Only at the beach.

Mine was the fireplace and sitting area. S'mores galore and plus it is a fun place to decorate.

I got this Smith and Hawken lantern last year at Target, but my sister has turned me onto these outdoor candles from Target. They are battery operated AND have a timer!! They are in the outdoor section at Target. I love walking by the windows and seeing the lanterns on out by the pool.

Looking back towards the house from the sitting area.

This is under the patio and we love hanging out under here too. Big Daddy installed the TV out on the patio and I love to sit out here on the couch and watch Food Network and not be out in the sun so much.

We get to enjoy the back patio in cooler months with this patio heater. I love having the chance to sit outside when it is chillier, but we are all still toasty. This would be on my list of My Favorite Things if I were Oprah. Excuse the cruddy beach chairs, but we like to sit on them in the water on the tanning ledge. (once a country girl, always a country girl). My city girl friends all have them now too.

What would pool side be without "grab yourself a coozie for your beverage" from the basket 0'coozies?

Shoes, um I mean Crocs the boys footwear of choice during summer by the back door. Funny to see how each one wears the straps. Front or back??

Big Daddy and his Dad built our arbor. Big Daddy was like, I know why those are so expensive to have built. He doesn't want to have to do that again anytime soon.
This is a close up to the finish on the decking. It has what they call a Tuscan finish. They do all the scoring for the tile look by hand and there is sand placed on top before it is dry to make it not as slick. It can be hot to walk on, but good golly, it is 101 this afternoon anything would be hot.

That's it...that is probably more than you wanted to see, but one last picture. This is what is going on while I do this post. Wiffle ball, swimming pool style. Stay cool everyone!!! See ya next week.