Way Down Yonder in Mississippi

We have been living in Corinth, Mississippi for almost a month now and we are enjoying life down South. We are staying in a bed and breakfast and love getting breakfast made for us everyday. It makes getting up early easy when you have warm biscuits, omelets, and/or pancakes and french toast waiting. We live in historic downtown where we are a stones throw away from gorgeous antebellum homes and lots of fun little boutiques and restaurants. With no responsibilities of a home I have enjoyed window shopping and I'm able to walk Jonah almost everywhere we need to go.

Our favorite activities in Corinth include:


Swimming at the ghetto Sportsplex

Swinging on every swing set in town

Shopping at Wal-Mart. Jonah has decided that he prefers to see where he's going, despite being buckled in. Jonah looks absolutely HUGE in this picture. He's chubby, but not that chubby.

Mike helps me stay sane by promising to take me away every weekend. So far, we have gone down to Birmingham, Alabama to visit my brother Dirk and his wife Marissa. We spent Mother's Day weekend with them, and Dirk and Mike fixed us a delicious dinner. Here's Mike's chocolate-banana cake.

He made it just for me, because he knows how much I love bananas and chocolate. It wasn't pretty, but it was delicious!
At church all of the women were given Gerber daisies. Jonah fell asleep with Marissa's broken flower on the way home.

Mike said he looked like a sweet dead boy. Sad, but funny.

This past weekend we went to Nashville, Tennessee. I'm not sure what we expected, but we weren't overly impressed with the country-style Vegas we found. I'm sure we would have had a blast at a concert, but unfortunately no one was playing the weekend we went.
Here are some pictures of our Nashville adventure:


Here we are at the famous Gaylord OpryLand hotel. It was like an amusement park inside complete with a river boat ride.

Mike just had to get a picture in front of this famous Dukes of Hazzard car. Don't ask me to tell you the name. Mike will have to update the blog to get this piece of T.V. trivia straight.

We enjoyed a riverboat cruise on the General Jackson steamboat. We were treated to a barbecue buffet, live band, and LOTS of drunk people.

After attending a small branch on Sunday, we headed to Bicentennial Park for a picnic. It was so warm that we stripped Jonah down to his onesie.

On Monday, we ate lunch at the famous Wild Horse Saloon. Famous for the country music stars who reportedly frequent the restaurant. We didn't see any, but supposedly Tim McGraw was seen there and Bon Jovi (I didn't know he sang country, did you?) Mike learned a line dance and we ate catfish and "award winning barbecue." Is it just me, or does every restaurant in the South have their own "award winning" BBQ?

Better Late Than NeverJonah's 6 Month Old Photos

So, Jonah had his pictures taken in February and I am finally getting around to posting them here. Maybe, it was the nightmarish ordeal of the photo shoot or the pushy photographer that made me delay, but nonetheless here they are for all to enjoy. 

The Greatest Egg Ever Laid

Mike, Kristin, and Bowling Ball Head (so named by his cousin) went to the farmer's market this Saturday to find some eggs and honey. While picking through the red wagon of eggs to find our favorites, we found the biggest chicken egg we have ever seen. The farmer noticed our stunned faces and simply stated, "Yup. We call those "Ouch" eggs." Well, we had to buy it. We tried to put it in the egg carton with the other eggs, but the carton wouldn't close. Here are some pictures.





And look what we found inside! Two yolks! No wonder it was so big! The egg was delicious. Mike ate it with some toast and Hoosier Wildflower Honey.


The End

Mississippi Here We Come!!

As mentioned, we will be spending some time down South this summer. After many phone calls and hours of looking for extended stay hotels online, I found the perfect place--Corinth, Mississippi. Mike will actually be working in Selmer, Tennessee, which is only 25 minutes North. Now, you may be asking yourself, "Where in the world is Selmer, Tennessee?" I asked myself the same thing. After conducting research on a few credible sites (i.e. YouTube), I came across several enticing videos. Among them: "The KKK in Selmer" and "Drag Racing Accident Kills 7." Sounds like a classy place, right? Thus, the reason we are staying in Mississippi. Check out our home for six weeks:








The Generals' Quarters it is. Think of this post as an official invitation to come on down and visit. I hear there are a lot of interesting Civil War sights and plenty of Southern charm to enjoy.

Jonah: The Tummy and the Teeth

Wow! Where do I begin. It seems that the last time we posted was in November. After receiving two emails: one from my Aunt Sherrill and one from my Aunt Sheila, and numerous hints from other friends and family, I have decided it is high time to update you all. I guess I should start by recapping Christmas and go from there on out.


Christmas
Christmas was wonderful. We spent two weeks in Utah with the Blacks and one week in California with the Lowes. We enjoyed every minute of family time. Here are some pictures of all the fun.


Jonah with Dad at a BYU basketball game. Oh, the concentration and focus it must take to be such a die-hard.

Jonah with Grandpa decked out in, you guessed it, BYU gear!

Jonah playing with Aunt Kelli and Grandma Jo.

Here's Mike and Brian being crazy. I think they ate 2 pounds of beef each.


After Christmas, we returned to Bloomington to brave the weather and Mike's second semester of his MBA. Mike's second semester was all about getting an internship. He interviewed with a lot of great companies and we have been so blessed to have TWO internships this summer. He will be working for GE in Selmer, Tennessee and EcoLab in St. Paul, Minnesota.


At the end of February, I took a little trip to Utah to visit my family and friends. Here are some of the highlights:
Is he really going to do it?


Yes! Jonah can really put his foot in his mouth while sitting in his high chair. Babies are so flexible, apparently no matter how chubby they are.
Here's Jonah getting his hair cut for the first time.

He was very brave and very wiggly.

Here's the final product. He looks so grown up with his fohawk.

Spring Break
After visiting my fam in Utah I headed to sunny, warm California where I met up with Mike and we spent a wonderful week with his family in Fullerton.
We went to the San Diego Zoo and enjoyed seeing all of the amazing animals.

I don't think Jonah looked at a single animal. Even when we stood right in front of the elephants, Jonah looked at everything else (the sidewalk, the bushes, the sky) but never at the elephants. We also ate yummy fish tacos, and had a delicious crab and potsticker dinner with Kathryn and Peter.

Mike's Mom and Dad flew down to see us. And, we were able to get a four generation shot of the Lowe men.
When we returned from California, we still had a full week of vacation left so we headed to Louisville, Kentucky. While there we attended the temple, went to the Louisville Slugger factory (pictured below) and enjoyed just being together.


Jonah also enjoyed our King bed at the hotel. We know who really rules in our house.
Here are some updated pictures of Jonah, being Jonah. Some of his favorite activities include: jumping in his johnny jumper, eating, taking a bath, crawling backwards, and growling. He has two teeth now, and one of the cutest little, big tummies around.




On May 5th we are off to Tennessee. We'll keep you updated on our summer...Promise!

Happy Holidays!

It has been a while since our last entry, so forgive us for keeping you out of the loop. We have some catching up to do.


For Mike's birthday, we went to an IU football game. They played Penn State, so Mike was excited to see Joe Paterno. We ended up losing, but the game came to a close and exciting finish.


Jonah was a chicken for Halloweeen. We thought it was the perfect costume for him, because of his "chicken fuzz" hair. He went to a Halloween party, but ended up sleeping through the whole thing. Maybe next year will be more exciting for him.

Jonah was blessed on the first Sunday of November, and like a bad Mom, I did not take any pictures of him so there are none to post here. The grandparents took pictures of him in his sweet blessing outfit, so they will have to email them to me. Both sets of grandparents came out, and it was wonderful to have them all here. We went out to eat, visited Nashville, and played with Jonah. The weekend went way too fast, and it was hard to see them go.


We had family pictures taken for our Christmas card. The girl who took them did a great job. Jonah did okay, but I'm pretty sure photo shoots aren't too high on his "Favorite Things" list. Here is a sneak peek...





For Thanksgiving, we flew out to California to surprise Mike's family. After some elaborate lying we tricked Mike's dad into picking us up from the airport, and then surprised his Mom and sisters by leaving Jonah on the doorstep. We had a great time. We ate way too much pie and we couldn't get enough turkey and stuffing. Grandma Nita went all out as usual and everything was delicious. We went to the Jelly Belly factory, which sounds cooler than it actually was. We did get free samples though...always a plus:)


Jonah loved meeting his cousins, and they loved meeting him. As Sam Drummond said, "That was AWESOME!!" And it was:)


On Saturday, we went and bought our first Christmas tree. We picked out a winner and named him Ferguson the Frasier Fir. It smells lovely and we decorated with lots of fun ornaments. Jonah got a little cold at the tree farm, but he was a good boy.


Saturday was also the big BYU football game against Utah. Mike and I were able to watch it and we all dressed up in our cougar gear. Jonah really enjoys watching football on TV and kept trying to peek at the game. We finally had to face him away from the TV and distract him with Christmas books.



Life is good and we hope all of our family and friends are doing well. Until next time...