Well, the verdict is in.

As I said, there was some possible big news. Well, that news is here....sorta. Back a few weeks ago, one of Z's coworkers was told that he would not be working on their Missouri job anymore but instead would be moving to Yakima, Washington to do a job there. Well, when Zach got word of the move, he immediately told the guy that he would REALLY like to go with him. Not only because it would be a good place to live, but also because he felt like this guy would be a good person to work with. Well, as hard as David (his coworker) tried, the big guys on the Missouri job didn't want to let Z go. Soooooo, we will be living in Poplar Bluff, MO for the next year or more. We are both really disappointed but glad to finally know for sure where we will be. Thanks for the prayers.

Changes to come....maybe.

It seems like every time I update the blog, something big has happened.

Ada Brooke Coggin is here!!!

Stats:

Born: Tuesday February 21st at 1:14 pm

Weighed: 7 lbs 14 oz

Length: 21 in

PERFECT!

Julie was induced Tuesday morning and Ada was here by lunch time. I was originally scheduled to work Tuesday but thankfully one of my coworkers agreed to swap with me so I could go down to Auburn for the day. And boy, was I glad she did. I worked until 10:30pm Monday night and Mom and I drove down the Auburn that night. We got to the hotel at about 2am and were in bed by 2:30am. Dad was already there because he had gone down that morning to see my cousin Tanner play in a baseball tournament near Auburn. We decided we would have time to sleep in since the doctor told Kevin and Julie that they shouldn't expect a baby until 3 or 4 pm. We finally left the hotel at about 11:30am, went to Kroger to buy some flowers and were then going to grab something on the way for Kevin and Janice, Julie's mother to eat. While we were in Kroger, Kevin called and was frantically asking where we were and what was taking so long. We kept telling him that if he kept calling us it was just slowing us down even more and that if he would stop calling so much we would be able to get there sooner. So we proceeded to get their food but as we were leaving and heading toward the hospital (5 min down the road) he called and said Julie's water had broken and that we would have a baby in 30 min. At that time, we went into hyperdrive. Mom left everything but her phone in the car, dad and I parked (not together because we were so frantic), and I grabbed everything I could fit in my arms and ran into the hospital. When we got upstairs to the maternity ward, Dad and I had to go to the waiting room. Ofcourse neither of us has cell phone service so periodically I would have to walk up and down the hall to get a signal so that I could check text messages and stay updated on what was going on. At about 1:45pm, I got a text from Mom saying she was here! I'm still not sure why it took Mom 30 minutes to tell me that but I'm going to blame it on the fact that she was in charge of video taping everything and as we all know, that woman can NOT do two things at once - God love her - so I guess we'll let it slide. When we got in there to see Julie, she looked like she could have gone back to work right then. She looked great and baby Ada Brooke was precious! We all already love her like she's been here all along. 

As many of you know, Zach has been working in Poplar Bluff, MO since the beginning of December while I stayed in Birmingham. The whole being married but never seeing your spouse thing just wasn't working for us. So about 3 or 4 weeks ago we decided that it would be best for us if I moved out there with him. So I put in my notice at work and began preparing for the move. Not long after we decided on the move, some friends of ours, Bryan and Jodi Wallace along with their two beautiful girls, Callie and Ansley, lost their home in a tornado that hit the Birmingham area January 23rd. So, since I was going to be moving out of our house soon and wouldn't be moving back in for who knows how long, we decided to see if they would want to stay there just until they could get their living situation figured out. Well, they signed a 6 month lease at the first of February and moved in almost immediately. I've been staying with Mom and Dad while I move closer and closer to the day that I get to be with my man :) My last day at my job is March 2nd which is next Friday. I'm sad to be leaving my job because I've made some great friends while working there and I'm going to miss them so so so much. But, I am excited because I finally get to be with Zach every day which hasn't been the case for most of our relationship, before and since we've been married. 

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we make this transition but also because there may be another big change for us. We may not be staying in Poplar Bluff for long but that won't be decided on for another week or so...(hopefully not any longer.) I am really excited but don't want to put out details until we know for sure. It would DEFINITELY be a big move for us but would be a GREAT opportunity for Z in his career. Soooo the details will just have to wait. I will keep you updated as we find out.

Here's a few more pictures of my sweet girls:

Annalee, Ada Brooke, & Addison.

Sweet big sisters!

Annalee loves her little sister. She wants to hold her constantly. So cute!

My sweet Caroline and her big brother, Jackson :)

St. Louis for the weekend

This past weekend I went up Wednesday after work to visit Zach. He had to work Thursday and Friday but when he got off work Friday, we drove up to St. Louis for the weekend. We stayed at the Drury Plaza Hotel just a block from the St. Louis Arch.

(street view of our hotel)

We got there pretty late Friday night and then got up early Saturday morning. We walked across the street to the Arch. I've driven past it several times coming and going to Kansas City but I had never stopped in St. Louis. We went down under the Arch and toured the museum of the history of the city. While we were walking around, Zach spotted an example of the egg-like pod that takes you to the top. I was inspecting it and began having second thoughts about wanting to go up. Zach told me it was a 10 min ride and that's when I KNEW I wasn't going up. Then someone at the counter corrected him and said it was only a 4 min ride. That, I could handle. Once we got to the top, it was cool. We stared out over the city for probably 20 min. 

The Old Courthouse

Busch Stadium

Edward-Jones Stadium where the Rams play

Such a happy couple

As we were leaving

Its crazy how huge that thing is.

If you look in the very first picture, you can just barely see a red roofed building at the top of the picture alongside the road that is to the left of the courthouse. That is the old St. Louis Union Station. Its hard to tell from the picture but while we were up in the Arch I think we counted 14 blocks (give or take a couple) from the Arch to the Union Station. Crazy us decided to walk from the Arch to the Union Station. Neither of us had on good walking shoes, I might add. The station has been made into a hotel/mall. We ate lunch there and walked around for a little while. The hotel part was having some sort of convention for a fraternity and as we walked in, there was a few frat guys walking out and they all yelled War Eagle. Once we got inside several more guys stopped to say War Eagle. Its always nice to hear those lovely words when you're so far from home. 

Once we walked all the way back to the hotel, we were both ready to crash but we couldn't crash for long. Zach and I wanted to take a tour of the historic Anhauser-Busch Brewery. I think the tour was one of the best parts of the weekend. As most of you know, I love history. It is just so fascinating to me. We got to see some of the famous clydesdales and tour their stables. Then we got to see a few parts of the brewing process. Then at the end they let you sample some of their products...beer ofcourse. My favorite was just seeing all of the old, ornate buildings and imagining how it would have been to live in a time where things were built to be beautiful and practical. Ornate but simple. Every building was marked with a stone sign with the year the building was built. most of those buildings were built in the late 1800s. How cool is that!? 

The "Brew House" (I did not have a good picture so I stole this one...isn't it gorgeous though?)

The building where they produced most of their non-alcoholic beverages during prohibition

A couple of the Clydesdales

These horses are amazing!

I loved all the beautiful buildings

You would have to drink 1 glass every hour of every day for the next 118 years to finish one of these massive drums. I'll take mine in Diet Mountain Dew please :)

Pretty

The ornateness of this place is unbelievable

St. Louis as a whole is such a beautiful city. There is beautiful architecture everywhere. Row houses, old homes, beautiful factories and business buildings. I could drive around all day long and never get bored. Hopefully we can go back. Maybe for a Cards game or something.