Rachel and Gabe's Wedding Weekend

Rachel is, I guess, my second cousin and by far my closest cousin. I loved going to Kentucky every summer and seeing all my family there. We have so many awesome memories so I am so thankful that we were able to be a part of her wedding and have a weekend full of fun and family!

We arrived to Kentucky around 11:30 on Wednesday night. We stayed the weekend with Robert and Kelly. Where my family was also staying. We pretty much went to bed because we knew we had a big weekend ahead of us. So Thursday morning was suppose to start with a bridal shower for Rachel. We got there and helped get the food ready and when it was time to sit down and open presents, they (my family) informed me that this was a surprise baby shower for me. Boy was I surprised! I actually had NO CLUE, and honestly that's really hard to do!!! It was so sweet of them and of Rachel for letting us share her weekend. We got lots of cute things!!! Here is a couple of pics from the shower.

And a group shot of my family that was there.

Next, we spent the day looking for things for the Redneck party and just being together. David and Austin fished most of the down time that we had. Austin had a blast and David enjoyed being his fishing buddy! At 5 we all went back to Aunt Mary Alice's for a wonderful meal. Honestly I ate so much because I haven't had fresh veggies like that in a long time!!! So then, on to the Redneck Party. See the below post for more on this shower!

After the party we went back to the house to work on programs and then went to bed. Friday morning we got up and went to a few antique shops and just hung out most of the day. Austin played with Price and Jackson and they also went fishing again. Here is a couple of pics I took of Austin and Madi on our excursion, that I thought turned out pretty good!

Then that night we were off to the rehearsal dinner while David, Robert, and Thomas took a fishing trip. We had fun at the dinner and loved seeing everyone there. Madi meet her cousin Brock for the first time and they had a blast together. Actually every kid there bonded over that bag of chips Madi had. They had so much fun chasing eachother, it was fun to watch them! Here is the best shot I could get of them. :) And I won't disclose whose bottom that is in the background. Sorry! :)

So, we went home and relaxed a while. The boys were still out fishing and didn't get back till 3 in the morning. They said they had a blast and actually caught an alligator gar. Not really sure what it is, but it's ugly and has very sharp teeth!

Here's a picture of the boys admiring the fish!

So Saturday morning we went to Aunt Mary Alice's for the morning. Mom stayed there with everyone and the kids so that we could go to the bridesmaid's luncheon. It was a great restuarant and the food was so delicous. It was fun just being able to relax and talk to eachother. After that we headed to the church where a friend of Rachel's met us there to take some belly shots of me. It was hilarious and we all had a good time doing it. I really am excited to get the pictures! :)

So then we headed back to the house to see some of our other cousins we haven't seen in a while. Madi had a blast with them and really enjoyed getting to see them all. I sure wish I had taken some pictures because they were all so cute, but I didn't.

So then we all got dressed and headed to the wedding. It was decorated so pretty. The chapel was pretty small, and they had tons of people there. Thankfully we got a seat pretty close to the front. Everyone looked gorgeous! I sure hope they filmed it because Gabe was the cutest thing I've ever seen when Rachel came down the aisle. My emotions were so overwhelmed. I was crying, laughing, couldn't control anything. He was so excited!! The wedding went great and really didn't have any glitches.

So then on to the reception. As soon as we left the church the sky turned black, there was about to be a HUGE storm. But we arrived right before it got bad. It was a fun reception and the food was great. Was a little crowded so we just made ourselves at home in the hallway so the kids could run. It turned out great!! Here is a picture of us with the bride and groom and Nick's precious little girl Abby.

And here is a picture of me and the beautiful bride. She she was gorgeous!! And then here are David and I with a few of our cousins. I just can't get over how tall the twins are!! It's crazy!

And here is one of David and I and also of the mother of the bride with her brother, Robert. She looked so pretty too!!

I really wish we had gotten a group picture of everyone who was there, but we did the best we could.

That pretty much summed up our wonderful weekend. We had a great time and it just makes us love and miss our family even more!! We got back home Sunday afternoon and got settled in before another week! :)

A shower to remember...

So this whole blog is a part of Rachel's wedding weekend, but this part of the weekend was too good not to have it's own blog. So my cousin's (Bill and Teresa aka the bride's parents) are in the process of building a gorgeous house. But in the meantime, they have sold their house and are now living in a trailer. Now, I'm not downing trailers because I lived in one in college, but this trailer is a little different, lets just say they are one BIG happy family in a single wide with 1 bathroom. It's a pretty hilarious site, if I must say so myself. So anyway, Teresa decides that we should live in the moment and create a redneck shower for Rachel. We all jumped in because we had done one a few years ago for my other cousin's birthday and it was so much fun. So, Thursday night was the night and we had to get Rachel out to the trailer without her knowing, so that was my job. I must say, I did pretty good at playing it off, but I'm afraid there was some questioning going on in her head. So we pull up to the trailer and are greeted by about 15 women dressed in their best redneck attire. Hilarious to say the least. We were crying we were laughing so hard! Here is a picture of the group who pulled it all together.

I wish I had captured all the hilarious decorations and things that happened through the night, but I was too busy living in the moment. But I did catch a few shots that I will share with you. Sorry to my family for doing this, but it had to be done! :)

Here is Madi and her precious self. She had the best time on the lawn mower and actually decided she had a pretty good microphone, just her size. Of course, she had to play the part too and only wear a diaper, which she didn't complain a bit about! :)

Here are a few of the decorations that were scattered about throughout the yard.

Next came the gag gifts. She got some good ones. This is what I got her. I thought it would look precious in her new kitchen! :) And I got it for a great price of $.69!!!

And this is the mud wrestling cake that Kelly made, complete with jello and 2 barbie dolls. She did make pudding for the middle, but it didn't quite make it to the party. :)

Now, here is a moment that I just happened to catch. Teresa going in the house to go to the bathroom, and no this was not made for effects, but this is actually how you enter the back door. I just thought it was so funny!!

So next came the water balloon toss. We all had fun and it ended with many people wet and actually it turned into a water balloon fight which was started by my mother! :) Mandy was my partner and it happened to bust on her, I just love this picture. :)

Here is a picture of my grandmother and her 2 sisters. They did so good playing the part! :) I'm so glad that everyone was there and we all had such a blast!

You would think by now that we were all exhausted and tired of being out there, but guess again, we were not and it had only just begun. They had mattress surfing set up and a few dared to try. Now, I definitely would have if I wasn't 8 months pregnant! :) Here they are all loaded up and ready to ride. Nick was the driver and Austin helped him. And here they are after the ride. I'm pretty sure they are still picking grass and hay out of their nose! :)

This is Teresa and one of her friends. :)

So pretty much this concluded our party because it started getting dark. We played a couple more games that we could play sitting down, and laughed so much more. If you are ever in need of a good laugh you should definitely throw one of these parties! It was a blast and I know it's one shower that we will remember forever!! And here is one last picture of our family who was there. I love Rachel's face in this one! :)

Sorry this was a little scattered but so was the whole night, so it's hard to organize your thoughts when they are all scattered! :)

I love holiday weekends!!

This weekend was a real treat because we had Friday off for the 4th. Thursday night about 11 of us went to Hanging Rock State Park to camp out. We got out there around 5 and started setting up camp. It was so fun and we really enjoyed all being together. I sadly didn't get any pictures of our camp site, but hopefully someone did. Thursday night consisted of sitting around the campfire making s'mores and just catching up. I know this picture doesn't look too exciting (and everyone looks a bit bored), but we were all just relaxing. :)

So we all went to sleep around 11 or so. The weather was awesome and we slept pretty good. We all started waking up around 8 or so. Had a good easy breakfast which was muffins, bagels, and fruit. Luckily the place had a pretty good bath house so we were able to wash our faces and brush our teeth, it was very nice. So after breakfast, David and Byron headed to the lake to fish and the rest of us decided to go on a short hike. We hiked to the waterfalls. It was a good hike and we all had fun. Here is our hiking group, keep in mind that this is just after we woke up from sleeping in a tent, needless to say, me above all, look a little rough! :) Honestly, I can't believe I'm putting this picture up, but oh well. It's a memory! :) And let me just tell you Francesca is such a little trooper. She camped out with us and was so good (until her mommy and daddy woke her up), but they got her back to sleep. :) And here she is on the hike. I let them try out my new backpack stroller. You can carry it on your back and then stroll it around if it gets too heavy. Dom said it worked pretty good for the most part, a little awkward to carry, but convenient, but he was also on a hike, so I'm sure that didn't help the situation.

Then we hiked back to the camp site and cooked hot dogs. So we had a good lunch and then we packed up the tents and everything. We were going to go to the lake, but it was so crowded and it looked like rain might be coming, so we decided to take it to the house.

So we went to the house, showered and rested for a few hours before the fireworks. We met a group from church out by the Warthogs stadium to watch the fireworks. We were there for a good 2 hours before they started but it was fun to just hang out with everyone. Here is the group that went, minus a couple that hadn't arrived yet. And of course, my husband can't go anywhere without accidentally matching someone. And sure enough he and Brian basically had the same outfit on. It was so cute. :)

Finally when the baseball game finished around 10:30 the fireworks started. It was a good show and I really did take lots of pictures, but this is the only one that turned out. After the show, we went to the Chunn's house (with a few others) for dessert, keep in mind, that it was 11:30! It was fun though and we had a good time! And here is a picture of David and I at the fireworks, I'm also going to include a pic from last years 4th of July, I'm not going to lie, it's pretty scary what one year can do to you. :)

So Saturday, I convinced David to close the curtains so that we could sleep in and we did! It was great to sleep till 9:30! So we went downstairs and ate breakfast and then I didn't get off the couch till 4!!! I couldn't bring myself to do it! So David left around 1 and went to the Chunn's to work on a slide show and I met them over there around 5. We stayed there till about 10, just hanging out and watching the Olympics and HDTV. :)

So Sunday morning, needless to say, I was well rested. After church we went out with some friends for lunch and then we headed home to clean. We got a good portion of it done until the power went out around 3 and we couldn't see. So we headed to Target, just to get out. Then the storm finally hit. After church we headed to Lowe's to get some supplies for a shelf David was making me and then home for Mac and Cheese. Yumm!

So, that was pretty much our weekend. We had fun, but we definitely relaxed, which is really what we needed!

And never fails... Here is my 29 week belly picture.

Well, I thought I would catch up on yesterday. It was our anniversary, and my sweet hubby started out by delivering 25 white roses to my office, so when I got back from "being in the field" I found them. They are gorgeous and smell so good! Can you believe that a lady at my office actually came to my door with a vase and said I'm begging you to let me have one. I mean, I did, but I will admit it was a little strange to me! :)

We met for lunch with Bill and Charlie because it was also Charlie's birthday. So Bill and Jo took us all (that were having special occasions) out to eat. Thankfully it was our anniversary and not our birthday because Charlie had a little performance. We went to a Mexican Restaurant and they did their sing and dance for Charlie, it was quite funny! :)

So anyway, after work he had arranged for us to go to Greensboro to eat at The Melting Pot. I was so excited. When we arrived they said, "Happy Anniversary" and lead us to our table that was set up with 2 red roses and balloons and an anniversary card that all the servers had signed. It was so sweet and David was so precious. He loves when he can surprise me and make me feel special and boy did he ever. So then, on to the meal. I have been known to obsess a little over food, so if you're not into that kind of thing, just stop reading now. Anyway, if you haven't been there before it is a fondue restaurant, with basically anything you can imagine. Since it was our 1st anniversary we decided to splurge a little and get the "Big Night Out", which is a 4 course meal with all the fixins.

So we started out with Spinach Artichoke Cheese Fondue. It was so good, and they served it with veggies, bread, granny smith apples, and chips. Strangely to us, the apples were are favorite, but the cheese was amazing just by itself!!

Then on to the salads. I ordered the California Salad, which was really good, and David got the Tropical Salad, which he LOVED!!

After we ate that they brought us the meat. We got the Fondue Feast which had: filet mignon, jerk seasoned sirloin, chicken, pork tenderloin, shrimp, butternut squash ravioli, and fresh vegetables and got it cooked in Coq au Vin, which is bouillon based seasoned with spices and veggies. It was so good! We loved it all! And as you can see it came with every dipping sauce imaginable! :)

And last but not least the chocolate. After much debate, we decided on the Flaming Turtle, David really didn't want this one, but once again, he's so sweet! :) So this one consists of Milk Chocolate, caramel, and chopped pecans. They brought, strawberries, bananas, cheesecake, marshmallows, pound cake, and brownies to dip in it. It was so delicious!! Of course we couldn't eat very much because we were stuffed, but it was so good!!!

I tried to take pictures of most courses, but as you can see, I got a little carried away with eating before I took the picture, so in most of them, we were pretty much done. But you get the point. :) So we had lots of laughs and really enjoyed just being together. This is us before we left at our little table.

We know we are very blessed and not a day goes by that God doesn't reveal another blessing to us. We are very thankful for each other, our family, and our friends. Life wouldn't be the same with you!!

A year ago today...

Would be 7/7/07 and our one year wedding anniversary. So I thought I would share a few pictures from that wonderful day!!

I can't believe it has already been a year. It has flown by and we have had so many fun happy memories this year. Yes, we have been faced with a few downs, but ups for the most part. David truely is my best friend and the man that I get my strength from. For you all who know him, he is the light in a room. He brightens everything and puts his heart and soul into everything he does. He truely is a wonderful christian man and I am so thankful that God put us together. We really do compliment eachother and fill eachother's weaknesses. He is so thoughful and romantic. He makes me feel like I am the most important person in this world and does the "sweet" stuff every girl craves. I cannot say enough about him, but that if the rest of our lives just get better, I cannot wait to see what God has in store for us. He has blessed us so much already and now that we are getting ready to bring Tyler in this world we are so excited to see what the years ahead look like. I love you David and could not ask for a better husband and friend!!! I love you now and forever!!!

A random posting.

Well, this blog is going to be somewhat random because I have a few pics of this and that that I want to post, and really none from the weekend because we were so busy doing everything else, I unfortunately didn't take any pictures!

So here are a few more pics from when my sister and kids were here. This is one of Me, Austin and Madi. And also one of them playing with Kylie. They loved her and she was so good with them. Kylie's brother, Rusty, is at my grandmother's house. He is much bigger than Kylie and much more aggressive, so Austin was just wondering if he could bring Kylie with him and we take Rusty for a while so that everything would be fair. I didn't really go for that and I really doubt that either dog would go for that either. :)

We played alot with the Trinh's once they got back into town. Austin and Eliott played so good together and Madi and Millie did too. They were all so cute following eachother around. I didn't get a pic of Austin and Eliott, but here are Madi and Millie with their KiKi. :)

So this weekend, we went to Ohio for David's cousin, Jillian's wedding. It was a pretty good trip down there although twice we hit horrible storms. So we got there around 10:30 on Thursday night. Friday we got up and headed down to grandmas to help cook and prepare stuff for the wedding. The whole family basically did all the wedding stuff, so we were pretty much busy the whole time helping out with what needed to be done. All of David's aunts and cousins were there so it was really fun just all being together. Also there were 9 kids under the age of 12, so needless to say, it was a full house! :)

Sarah went to pick up Tyler (her fiance) from the airport and met us back at grandmas. We spent most of the day there and then headed back home for a wonderful steak dinner. After that all the kids (David's sisters and significant others) went to meet up with some of our friends and go sing karaoke. It was a fun night, but boy were we tired!

Saturday we got up and headed back to grandma's to do all the flowers for the wedding. It was a big job but with David's mom at the lead, they turned out beautiful and we all got them done on time. The wedding was that night at 7:30 in her (Jillian's) back yard. It came after a huge storm, so the ground was very muddy, but everything looked great and it was a great time. Here is a picture of her with her 3 sisters.

So we all went home that night and crashed. Sunday, up for church and then headed with the family to eat leftovers from the wedding. Which was great food. David's aunt did most of the food, and it was all so delicious! So we headed back to North Carolina shortly after lunch. We stopped by one of David's old friend's house for an hour or so and then hit the road again. We had a good trip although ran into more storms. It was crazy! But we did get to see a double rainbow and it was beautiful. The crazy thing about it was that we saw it about 7 or so and I talked to Barbara that night and she said when they were leaving church there was a double rainbow too. Wonder if it was the same one. Crazy! This pic is from the car window driving by, but I thought it turned out pretty cool.

So, we made it home around 11:30 that night to a very anxious and excited puppy, although we shortly found out that she is in heat! Blah! But either way, it was a great weekend and so fun to see our family!!

And as always, here is my 28 week picture. I really did get bigger this weekend. His whole family kept telling me that I really did get bigger while I was there, and I believe it! I went for my check up yesterday and everything looked good. I had my glucose test, and will get the results in about a week. But I"m sure everything is fine. So that little boy is just growing and growing. He's kicking and stretching a lot more lately! It's so cool to feel him! Still no crib, but I'll keep you posted! :)