family time

spending the weekend in alabama sounded like a great thing to do. i mean they're further south than us, so it just follows they'd be warmer, right?

wrong. 

about 25 miles into our trip, we encountered snow. i guess this milwaukee girl has been gone too long to just elicit a "pfsh, you call that snow??" to what appeared to us to be a driving snow storm. it really didn't amount to more than decoration for the trees. the road was certainly passable and didn't pose any real danger. but i'll be honest. i do NOT like to get out in the snow. around here, it's just flirting with an accident!

thank goodness there wasn't much more to the snow. we got a late start out of town (thanks to the mountain of work both of us have been dealing with or the past several weeks) and really didn't have time to deal with traffic issues. didn't have time to stop and admire the beautiful landscape. i kept trying to take a picture, but nothing quite captured it. by the time we were heading into birmingham, the sky cleared up and we enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

we made it in to town in time for the gymnastic meet, but missed dinner. oh well, it's okay.

i'm not sure how college gymnastic meets are attended throughout the SEC because this is our first meet, but we were amazed to see students painted up, TONS of people and the same kind of crowd excitement i've come to expect at a basketball game. there were cheerleaders. indoor fireworks. crowd dancing. a kiss cam and lots of exciting crowd contests to keep everyone engaged in between events. the meet ran like a machine, the crowd enjoyed the talent (i was impressed!) and bama soundly beat the gators.

for me, the meet was really enjoyable, but to be honest, i think i enjoyed just being back with our family. having time together doesn't happen nearly as much as it used to, so when we can get together, it's really special. and what's even more fun is sharing these moments with our childrens' significant others. it's really neat to see them growing in this way and learning how to honor and cherish someone.

what  better way to celebrate valentine's weekend!