Orange Beach 2009

At the beginning of May we took a vacation to Orange Beach with our friends Brad and Angie and their little girl Emily. It was Tanner's first time in the sand and he LOVED it!!! Our resort, The Beach Club, also had a swimming pool which was another first for Tan Man and I must say, that was another big hit!!! You could even say he was a bit obsessed with the water!! I don't think you understand. When we got back home, we had to buy a blow up pool for him so he could swim in the back yard!! We've got TONS of pictures from these sandy shores so just get ready!!! Hope you enjoy!!

We were so excited to FINALLY be at the Beach!!
These are the Crosswhite's - our fellow beach bums!!
When we pulled up to The Beach Club "Aunt G" and Emily were outside waiting to welcome us!!

We took our stuff to the condo (on the 16th floor!!) and then headed out for some grub!! Here's Brad and Scotty indulging in some raw oysters at Sea and Suds!!

We ate right there on the beach and enjoyed a great view while we waited for our food!!

Tanner was so pumped up about being at the beach he didn't know what to do with himself!!

The next few days were filled with sand and sun!! We got there early and stayed late!! We just couldn't get enough!!

Each day we lugged our gear to the beach. It was quite a treck, but well worth it because.....
This is the spread we enjoyed each day!! I think me and Angie were the most prepared moms on those sandy shores!! What can you say when you pretty much share the same brain?


Me and Tan Man spent lots of time cuddling under our beach umbrella!!
Tanner is such a beach baby!! He absolutely loved every single thing about this vacation!!! We weren't really sure what he would do if we put him in the sand, but when we tried it out for the first time he took right to it!! He would get so excited and shake all over his entire body!!

Whoa! That sun is bright!!

Tanner wallowed a lot on this trip, but I couldn't get enough of it!!

Not even the waves could come between these babies and their food!!*-

From the second his feet touched the water, Tanner was obsessed with swimming!!

It was so funny because he would swim, swim, swim and then all of a sudden he would just lay his little head down because he had no energy left!!

Tanner and Emily were tuckered out by the time we would get out of the pool!!

They were so cute playing together on the beach!!

This smile pretty much never left Tanner's face the whole week!!

As you all know Tanner's not the best sleeper at night, but on this trip I vowed to move to the beach and live right on the sand!! This kid slept so hard every time we went down!! One day he missed his afternoon snack and the next day he missed out on the entire day at the beach!! However, he did wake up for swimming!!

Bath time was just as enjoyable as any other water activity!!

We were sad to leave the beach, but on the way out of town we ate lunch at Lambert's and got us some throwed rolls!! Yummy!! Tanner needed his picture taken on the wooden train outside the restaurant!! He's the cutest conductor I know!!

And you can't go to Orange Beach without getting in a little shopping!! So we hit up the Foley outlet mall!!

Tanner wanted to help Daddy drive back home, but we convinced him that, as cute as he was, he was not above the law and that sweet little boys ride home in their carseats!! He was agreeable!!

Can't wait for the next Cravis Family Vacation!!

Fast Asleep

For those of you who may not know, Tanner's not the best sleeper!! Bless his little heart!! And not much comes between him and his meals, but this day, however, was a different story!! We had gone swimming and he wore himself out!! Little did I know that snack time would be the magic hour!! I gave him a bottle and before he could finish it, he was fast asleep!!

Poor thing couldn't even enjoy snack time!!

He didn't even wake up when I took the tray off the high chair!! He just slumped down even farther!! When I took him out, he got in a good little nap!! I was very productive that day!!

Curb Appeal

Each year we've added a little here and there to the outside of our house, but this year we decided we really needed a little something extra!! Every time we would weed the flower beds it would take us forever because of our stinkin' Bermuda grass!! I hate that stuff!! I wanna Round Up our whole yard!! Anyway....we decide that we needed a barrier so we agreed to get some rocks to line the beds!! Now, Scotty is very dedicated to his job and it requires a lot of him. I'm so proud of how hard he works, but because he's been soooo busy, all the "we's" above really meant "me's"!! Let me just tell ya...if you've got some pent up anger just yank out your Bermuda!!

So here's how the story went: I was in the flower bed weeding and me and Scotty were in mid-discussion about the barrier when he had to go inside and take care of Tanner. While he was gone I just dug my heels in and made a trench around our flower bed. I was almost finished when he came out and saw all my progress and had a melt down. His idea of barrier was visquine and my idea was rocks!! So that was a little hitch in our get up but it all worked out in the end!! Our neighbors Nichole and Jonathan used to do landscaping so we called them over to help with our dilemma (actually they did lots of reassuring Scotty!!) And then the next day while Scotty was at work, Nichole helped me with the rocks!!

We loaded up the rocks in Nichole's Tahoe!! Tanner loved to stand up while we were riding around the rock yard!!

He took a nap while most of the dirty work was goin' on, but I put him in the Exersaucer to get the job finished!! Most of the time Tanner terrorizes Edie, but they're best friends when he's got food to share!!

Me & Nichole had to take a short break for a picture!! Who said this was man's work?

I love how the rocks looked when we got finished and thankfully Scotty was pleased when he got home from work!! I think we'll be taking lots of cute pictures on these rocks!!

Tanner's Baby Dedication

We dedicated Tanner at Wynndale Baptist Church on Mother's Day!! There's never been a question of whether or not we will raise Tanner in a Christian home, but making a promise to God in front of a congregation just makes it official!! Kinda like a wedding!! The fact that it was on Mother's Day was just an added bonus!! We thank God every day for the special gift that Tanner is to us!!

Mother's Day

This year was my first Mother's Day with Tanner and we went to Jackson to celebrate. Before Tanner was born everybody told me that babies changed your life and he has!! He's the best thing that's ever happened to me and Scotty and I love being Tanner's mom!! Thanks, TAD for making my life so special!! You mean the world to me!! Love you!!

Tanner's 1st Hair Cut

About 2 weeks before Mother's Day Tanner had his first hair cut and he did really well!! I thought we took more pictures of the actual cutting but it was video so here's some before and afters!! Hope you enjoy!!

Look at how wild that hair is in this before shot!! He looks like a little renegade!!

What a big boy sitting in that chair!! Actually, I had to hold him while his hair was being cut!!

Kristen, my soon to be sis-in-law, gave him his first haircut!!

He got a popsicle for doing such a great job!! Now he looks like a little boy instead of a baby!!