We're goin' 2 the Bahamas! & Our NEW Shower!!!

We're going on a BABYMOON!!!!

In one week, YES we will be laying out by THAT pool!!! We are going for an 8 day, 7 night, stay to the all-inclusive, Sandals Royal Bahamian Resort! Even better...IT'S FREE!!! Last November I won the Superstar Sales contest for my work, Perfect Wedding Guide. PWG is in 60 cities across the U.S. therefore the contest was divided into different categories. Bigger market category sales people competed against one another, medium market against one another & so on. You basically had like 4 months to get the most sales "contracts" in your category. So...I found out in November that I had one in my category!!! The original reward was take $1000 or a 4-night, 3-day Caribbean Cruise. Well...I LOVE To travel so I decided I wanted the cruise. I also knew that if we got that money it would go towards bills :) & we NEEDED a vacation. Our vacation the past 2 years has been bible camp counselors. Fun...but not relaxing. Since it took a while for them to get the winner voucher to me they decided to extend it to an 8-day, 7-night Caribbean cruise! Wow..it got even better...just for being patient. :) Well...it then took a long time to get this trip redeemed. So...literally, 2 weeks ago it all fell into place! Well...you cannot take a cruise 24 weeks pregnant or after. I am 24 weeks pregnant today! So...the travel agent said they had an even better option for me. That's when they offerred the 8-day, 7-night stay at Sandals Royal Bahamian All-Inclusive Resort! I of course jumped on that offer! Originally we were supposed to have to pay for our flight to the port if we were going on a cruise. But, since it was out of my control & they didn't get that lined up in time the president of PWG decided to put a chunk of change towards our airline tickets! Yay! So...all in all we made out pretty sweet! We fly out next Wednesday & return the following Wednesday. When we arrive in the Bahamas a car will be waiting for us to take us to the resort. Once we are there we don't tip a single person, or pay for a single thing! Even most excursions are included! We are thrilled to just get-a-way one last time before our little Colton arrives in November/December. Everyone has said this is such a blessing to be able to do this...because after you have the kiddo planning a get-a-way, especially this long, just get's more complicated. I knew that & was adamant this trip would happen one way or another prior to Colton coming. :) Good thing I am stubborn! :) (see Ryan..it's a good thing sometimes) ;) Not a honeymoon...but a Babymoon....here we come!!!

SENOR ANDY :) finishes remodeling our master bathroom!!!

His last week to work at our house he showed up with this sombrero on. Ryan walks out of the bathroom & there's my dad sitting on the couch in this hat! LOL!!! Since my Aunt Janet is an avid "garage seller" he had her hunting for one for a while for this occasion. We had been calling him Senor Andy for his manual labor. I would write on my magnetic magnadoodle on the fridge, "Welcome Senor Andy!" :)

So...my AWESOME DAD, Handy Andy, can do ANYTHING he puts his mind to. He LOVES to stay busy & since he retired not too long ago he offered to remodel our half bath into a master bathroom for us. We were saving up to pay a company to do it but that was going to take forever to save that much. SO...Andy saves the day!!! He did the plumbing (his 1st time) which meant lot's of time under our house in the crawl space. (but I hear we have very clean crawl space thanks to whoever lived here before us!) He did the wiring for lights, venilation fans etc. He did the painting, framing, tiling, install of toilet, installed a new window...should I stop now? :) HE DID IT ALL HIMSELF! He started in February of this year & finished in July. He lives in Pensacola, FL so he would come work for a week then go home for a week. Sometimes he stayed away even longer, such as to go to bible camp in SC to be SWAT crew or to take a trip out to Utah to see my sister...etc, etc. (I wonder where I get my love for traveling from?) :)

The below photo is as you walk from our master bedroom straight into the mstr bathroom.

This is the floor of our shower. The tile on the floor, ceiling, trimming out the door opening, & window is all slate. I had found the wall tile & was trying to pick out an accent tile & my dad pointed to the slate at Don's Carpet & Tile & I said, "oh...yeah...I like that. That's what I want!" My dad could NOT believe I liked something he liked. :) (He thinks my taste is wild & crazy most of the time). He really, really, agrees now that the slate was the best choice b/c it just makes everything pop! Didn't he do an awesome tiling job! This was his first time to tile a shower. He has tiled plenty of floors...but no showers. He's a perfectionist...so I trusted him completely. :)

This is the ceiling of the shower. That recessed light is actually our venilation fan also! Instead of having a seperate fan you can buy these (not cheap) lights with fans in them. It's the quietest fan I have ever heard, but still does the job! Would highly recommend one! We have another one in the little room with the toilet.

This view is if you were stepping out of the shower into the vanity part of the bathroom. (I showed the vanity in a past post..so I didn't put those pic's on here). Right now, we don't have a shower door because we just haven't ordered it yet. BUT...we still use the shower with no problems! It's so big the water just barely splatters out onto the rug outside the shower door! Who knows..we might stay "doorless" :)

Shower head :)..in case you couldn't tell. :) And my little corner shelves. That one is Ryan's & I have my own too.

Frosted window my dad installed (previous window was old & clear w/ blinds because remember...this whole shower was a half bath all of it's own. It had a sink & toilet in it. That WAS our master bath. Not so "master" huh?

Just another view of window where you can see slate around door opening.

My towel bar :)...I got this actually to use as my "rag" bar. The tile folks were making fun of me & how I called it a "rag" instead of a wash cloth. :) I guess AL has worn off on me more than I thought after 6 years!

Other corner of the shower with my corner shelf.

My dad just did an incredible job! We are SO THANKFUL to him for all his hard work! Talk about manual labor! Don't you see why we called him Senor Andy! :)

Now onto my preggers self! The picture below was taken, Monday, August 3rd after I got my hair highlighted. She decided to straighten it as she does periodically. This time after straightening it she curled the ends a little. It was fun! I didn't wash my hair for 3 days so I could keep it like this. :) I was 22 1/2 weeks pregnant here.

Here's the front view of preggers! (no..I don't have a bad tan on my left leg..that's my "ho" aka: ted hose. The one that keeps my circulation going so I don't have another blood clot) :)

Saturday, August 1st, some of my family came to stay the night. They arrived to Bham about 5:30 so we met them at Cracker Barrel for dinner. (if you know my dad & grandparents at all...you know they LOVE CB!) After CB we headed to our house to chill out. This is Grandpa Hinote "chillin' out" :). He is my Dad's, dad. My dad lives a mile and a quarter down the road from them. So..we grew up at there house ALOT! Still go over there ALOT. :)

Grandpa Hinote, my 1st cousin Ashlyn Rhodes & my dad.

As I like to call her, "My Fun Aunt". :) This is Aunt Janet. She is one of my dad's sisters. She is actually going to be moving in with my dad once she sells her house. They are traveling buddies. She & I went to NYC a few weeks before my wedding in 2003 to see my sister up there. She'll do anything & will travel anywhere...yet again...I wonder why I love to travel? :) Apparently most of my family does! :)

Me, my "will do anything for you Aunt, Becky Rhodes" & best cook ever Grandma Hinote. Becky is my dad's youngest sister. (he is one of 5) They all just stayed one night because they were passing through to Huntsville for my Aunt Zelma's 100th birthday party! I couldn't go with them the next day b/c my work had it's annual bridal show.

My Aunt Janet needed to go to the mall to get a gift for the 100th bday the next day. So we did take a little adventure trip to the mall about 8:00pm! Me, Aunt Janet, Aunt Becky & Ashlyn. While in the mall Janet decided she needed something sweet...like a cinnamon roll. I was craving something sweet too! So..first we went to Starbucks b/c Ashlyn wanted that, so her & Becky got Starbucks. Then, we headed over to Krispy Creme in place of a cinnamon roll (because what cinnamon roll place is open at 9:15 at night?) :) Well...the "hot donuts" sign was on & that means you get a free glazed donut! That also means there is a long long line inside! So..we decide to go through the drive-thru! Well..what we didn't know was that the drive-thru line was wrapped around the building! So..we waited in line for like oh...20 minutes! But ended up with 1 dozen glazed donuts & 1 dozen chocolate covered donuts! We ended up getting home at 10pm with Dad, Grandpa, Grandma & Ryan waiting up for donuts. :) I can't have wheat so no donuts for me...my "donuts" were peanut butter m&m's. :) Colton liked those.
It was great to have them! So glad it worked out for them to stay a night with us!

Just wanted you to see our funny dog. The only time he is allowed in the house now is when it storms. He is honestly fine when it storms, he doesn't bark or anything we just like to bring him on for those random times. :) So...the below picture is of Ryan's desk. My desk is off to the right. Heisman will just lie in the middle of the floor while we work. Just as long as he is near us he is content. Well..it stops storming & so Ryan tells Heisman to get up & come outside. :) ha!ha! it's not that easy. So...as Ryan tries to coerce him outside Heisman finds that he can lay under Daddy's chair & we can't really "get" him. :) Lab's are so smart!

Please look at our 90lb., 20 month old dog under this chair! He looks like Goliath! Hularious!

This past weekend we went home to Pensacola, FL for my home church's annual youth rally Conquerors. I have been teaching the teenage girls class there for years. It was a fun but busy weekend. Some exciting news is that my Best Friend Lori Beth Presley-Walker just so happened to be in town that weekend too! :) We haven't seen one another in probably over 6 months. So we were able to spend all of Friday evening together & a little time Saturday evening. This picture was taken at McDonald's :)...it was McFlurry time for Kelly & cone time for Lori! I hated to have to leave her but hopefully I'll see her at Christmas since we'll be in FL for that.

Well...that's my updates for now. My brother & his family are coming in town tonight. Jeremy is a youth minister at Central church of Christ in August, GA. He is bringing his youth group down to Gardendale, AL for a youth rally. So, they'll stay with us tonight & we'll keep my almost 2yr old nephew, Mason, :) tomorrow. My dad will be getting here in the morning so he can visit with his Grandson too! They all head back on Sunday. So..we'll begin packing for the Bahamas!!!! I'll try to post our weekend with fam' before the Bahamas!

See ya' soon...Kel