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.

Already Christmas!?!?

Wow, I think I say this every year around this time but man, this year flew by! Seems like just a few weeks ago we were packing up our stuff and moving back to Alabama. Truth is, that was almost 1 year ago. We have so many things to be thankful for this year, as usual. We got to move back home, we have been blessed to get to spend a lot more time with family and friends because of the move, we bought a house, we added a new niece, we've got another niece on the way. The list just goes on and on. In the last month and a half, Zach accepted a new job and moved up to Poplar Bluff, Missouri...AKA Nowhereville, USA. Nah, it's not that bad. We are thankful it is only 5 1/2 hours from Birmingham. There's not much to do in Poplar Bluff but at least its not 14 hours away in Kansas City.

Just this past weekend I went up to PB to visit Zach. I left work in Forestdale at 3:15pm and pulled into PB at 8:45pm. Its not a bad drive at all either. It was so nice to spend the weekend together. Zach had been working nights (5pm-3am) but found out Thursday that they were moving him back to day shift which we are both happy about. He will be in charge of layout. We spent a lot of time just hanging out. We didn't really have any engagements that we had to attend so we just focused on spending quality time together, which means we did a lot of wandering around Walmart :) I had a blast and was sad to leave but thankfully they are letting Zach come home for Christmas. He is planning to leave PB around lunchtime Friday and head back some time Monday. It'll be nice to have him home. I know the dogs will be super excited to see him.

This year, we are having my immediate family Christmas at our house because Mom and Dad's basement flooded and there is not enough room upstairs for everyone. Not comfortably at least. Zach family will also be up for the weekend so we will have my entire immediate family and his immediate family. I hope I can get all of my gifts made and wrapped as well as the house cleaned in time. There's so much to do but so little time. To top it all off, I am having to make up for CEs I didn't get completed to renew my Pharmacy Tech license by December 31st. I am a professional when it comes to procrastinating. I'm confident it will all come together.

Merry Christmas,

Zach and Maleah

I've been so tense...

I feel like I need to get some things off my chest. When we moved back to Alabama back in January, Zach quickly found a job with Hoar Construction working on the new Children's Hospital in Birmingham. We knew when he got hired that his position as safety coordinator was a temporary position but it was a good job because he could potentially get a more permanent job with Hoar which is a good company. We kept waiting and waiting but never heard anything about a more permanent job so Zach decided to start looking elsewhere.

He got hired on with MJ Harris who is a company based in Birmingham (yay!) who specializes in building health facilities; mostly hospitals. The pay was good and benefits were good but the downfall was that he would have to travel; something that comes with the job for most people in construction. His first assignment would be a hospital in Poplar Bluff, Missouri; about 6 1/2 hours from our house we just bought. The project is supposed to take 13+ months. Before taking the job, we discussed what accepting the job would mean for us. Clearly, both of us would like for me to travel with Zach wherever his job takes him but realistically, I just can't. If I ever want to have a real career, other than a Pharmacy Tech at Walgreens, I have to get my degree. I decided a while back that I want to do special education. I have always had a heart for people with disabilities but have always been discouraged away from it. I realize that if I don't go back to school now, I probably never will. So, as nervous as it makes me, my plan is to go to Wallace State in Hanceville and get the rest of my pre-requisites then transfer to UAB to get my degree in teaching. I really need to start this coming spring but I feel like I have so much other -for the lack of a better word- crap on my mind, I don't know where to start.

With Christmas 3 weeks away, I haven't done much shopping/crafting, I've got to finish my CEs to renew my license, Zach is 400 miles/6 1/2 hours from home, trying to decorate for Christmas, keep my dogs from tearing up my entire house, trying to get the house finished, working 40 hours a week, and on top of all of that, Mama C fell and broke her hip the other day and had to have a hip replacement. She's so frail making the surgery even more major than it would be for most people. I know I don't have it anywhere near as rough as a lot of people but I don't hardly know which direction to walk. I will be so glad when I am back in Zach's arms. Thankfully my boss has been VERY understanding and has given me a 4 day weekend for Christmas so that I can spend time with Zach. Plus, I have a 3 day weekend this coming weekend so I am going up to PB, MO to spend the weekend with Zach. Unfortunately, Zach got moved to the night shift so our schedules are going to be off when I go see him. Hopefully I can have some Christmas crafting to keep me busy while he sleeps.

Well, as much as I'd like to go to bed, I've got two stinky dogs who need baths desperately! Adios!

UPDATE!

Wow, its been 2 months since I posted and lots has changed since then. Last time I posted Caroline had just been born.I can't believe she's already almost 2 months old.

About 2 weeks before my last post we had put in an offer on a house in Mt. Olive and were working on getting everything agreed upon. The last 2 months have been nothing short of miserable. Everyone always says buying a house is stressful but I never imagined this. The sellers took our offer immediately but then after the inspection revealed a poorly done roof, we asked that they put a new roof on. Well, long story short, that roof has caused a lot of stress BUT they put the new roof on and we closed on the house today!

We are so excited and can't wait to begin our new life there! We thought we were going to be able to take possession of the house today but the sellers still have a few things there and are staying in the house for one more night. We will be able to start moving in Thursday morning. We already have keys too.  Zach and I are both so anxious. We have been living with my parents for 10 months and as grateful as we are, the whole situation was beginning to drive us crazy. Just living amongst someone else's things is hard in itself. Most of our belongings have been in storage since we moved back Alabama so we can never find anything we need. We don't really even remember what we have. A lot of our wedding gifts never got unpacked in Kansas. Unpacking is probably going to feel like Christmas morning :) Can't wait to move in!

Welcome to our humble abode on Memory Lane...

(Before the new black roof)

Yay! She's here!!!!!

Caroline Reeves Coggin

Born August 8, 2011

1:38pm

6lbs 12 oz

19 inches long

She has a full head of jet black hair. 

Mommy and baby are doing amazing! She's only been here for a few short hours but we all love her so much already. 

This was the first picture we saw of sweet Caroline before we got to go back into the room to see her for real.

Aunt 'E' loves her sweet Caroline!

Funny side note: Last night, Tyler and Heather decided to let everyone guess the time, weight, and height of Caroline. Her mommy guessed the weight and height exactly and was only off on the time by 10 minutes. Can we say "Mother's intuition always wins"?

Awaiting the arrival of Miss Caroline Reeves!

The last 9 months we have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of Miss Caroline Reeves. Tyler and Heather are expecting their first!!! This time tomorrow, we will have another sweet little girl to add to our brood.

She'll be the 3rd granddaughter for my parents, mine and Zach's 3rd neice, and she will be the first grandchild for Heather's parents, Karen and Allen. Needless to say, we are all anxious and excited! Unless Heather goes into labor tonight, she will be going in to be induced bright and early tomorrow morning. I am so thankful my schedule worked out because I'm off tomorrow and Wednesday when they get to bring her home.

Please pray a smooth and safe delivery. I will try to keep everyone updated and will post pix just as soon as possible.

New Hair

I have always kept my hair pretty short (if you consider to my shoulders short) but when Zach and I got engaged in December of 2009, I decided I would try to grow it out as long as possible so that I would be able to do more with it for the wedding. Well, the wedding came and went and I still kept growing it out with the occasional trim just to keep it healthy. I guess after keeping it short for so long I hated to cut it but finally this summer it just got too hot to handle. So here is a before and after shot of my hair.

Before: 

After:

What do ya think?