Scrabble

In all the days of my life I cannot remember a time that I have even come close to beating my Grandmother in Scrabble.  Since I am still on night shift, I decided to go over there today to just hang out with them.  My cousin Elizabeth goes over there on Wednesday and her and Grandmother play games pretty much all day.  Grandmother is a champ at all the games they play: Aggrevation, Kings Corner, Sorry, and of course Scrabble!  Well, today was my day because I was able to not only use all of my pieces, but I was also BEAT GRANDMOTHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Oh yeah it's my birthday not really but go anyway!!  WHOOOO HOOO!!!!!  Rock on I beat her oh yeah!!!!! 

Ok enough with the party!  I wish that I could have taken a picture of the board, but I didn't have a camera on me. 

Here's a good one of the Scrabble queen herself!!  And my cute little Granddaddy too!  They are just the cutest aren't they!?  They have been married 59 years!

This is my cousin Elizabeth.  She and I are two peas in a pod!!

If you haven't seen this Michael Jackson Medley...

This guy recorded himself doing all of the parts except for on the far left there is a little helper!  ENJOY!!

The Night Shift

I started working the night shift last night because at the end of every quarter we try to pull in as much business as possible.  So, last night I worked from 2pm-9pm.  Tonight I'm working from 5pm-midnight.  Then next week we have mixed hours.  The longest and hardest night will be Wednesday because it's the last day of the quarter and we have to work from 6pm-3am!  However, it is actually really fun because it's like having a day off.  This morning Gary and I went fishing with Gary's Pop Washer.  Monday and Tuesday I'm going to the pool and Wednesday I'm going to spend the day with my Grandmother and cousin.  So, things that I don't normally get to do I am able to do when I work night shift!  It is a nice change of pace from having to work 8-5 everyday and missing the best sun tan times!

The Best Dad

 wrote this poem for my dad for Father's Day and sent it to him because I wasn't able to spend the day with him.  He said that would have cried if he hadn't been so busy when he was reading it.  There are a lot of inside family things that you might not understand, but just know that he did and that's all that matters.

The Best Dad

The Best Dad gives awesome hugs

he squeezes tight and never shruggs

The Best Dad does whatever he can

to make sure you are happy because he's your biggest fan

The Best Dad doesn't jump to conclusions

he listens to what you have to say and doesn't form his own illusions

The Best Dad spoils his little girls

he just can't resist those sweet little smiles and those cute little curls

The Best Dad will wake you up in the morning

even when you're 25 and married he still gives you a 10 minute warning

The Best Dad points to his cheek when he wants a kiss

There's no pecks allowed, but a good kiss with twisting of the head and humming, no other family does this

The Best Dad always drives the no air-conditioned car

he may complain, but that's a tough job.  He's a star

The Best Dad is very picky about who you marry

but how can you resist the lovable Gary

The Best Dad continues to take care of you even when you're all grown up

He even takes in your dog, she's such a cute little pup

The Best Dad tells you how much he loves you every chance he gets

he holds his thumb and pointer finger barely apart and pinches you to bits

The Best Dad in the whole wide worls is Papa Bear

and I thank God for him every night when I say a prayer

 Happy Father's Day Daddy!!!

This one's an oldie but a goodie!

Our Father/Daughter dance at my wedding!

 

Matt and Martha Riley's Rehearsal Dinner

Matt and Martha had one of the best rehearsal dinners I have ever been to...actually they had the best I had ever been to, including my own. 

We went to Black Jack Cove in Old Hickory, TN.  It is a restaurant on the Marina of Old Hickory Lake.  We had the entire indoor section to ourselves. 

The food was delicious and the atmosphere was perfect!!  Enjoy the photos!

The Beautiful Couple!

This was the door we walked through to get to the party.  I thought it was a cool door!

The Table's were so pretty.  Matt's Aunt did the floral arrangements and they were used for several different things throughout the weekend!

I wish that I would have moved the salt and pepper shaker out of the background, but it's still a good pic!

Matt is in the Marines and these are chocolate Marine symbols!! 

The man who cooked all the delicious food...Chef Ty!!!

I thought we were going to have to choose between filet mignon and grouper, but little did I know we were getting both.  It was so delicious and this is such a great place for a date too.  They have outside seating on a dock with live music!

The Bride's Family

The Bride with her Bridesmaids

Bride and Groom with their wedding party!

Suite 17 (The Vent) minus Rachel, she had mono :(

The Vent again!

Updates

Ok, so as you can tell I'm a little behind on weddings.  I just finished the highlights of Bryan and Ashlei's wedding from April 10.  I had Gary's cousin's wedding the weekend after that.  Then this past weekend I had my college and post-college roommate, Martha Waggoner Riley's.  This coming weekend I have Gary's friend Jimmy.  After that I have about a month before I have another wedding.  My goal is get at least all of the highlights completed on all 3 of the weddings I still have not done.  Sorry, for the hold up, but you know how it is life just keeps on going no matter how much stuff you have to do!! 

Bryan and Ashlei Winningham

It's here, finally!!  I finished the video tonight!!  I hope you enjoy Bryan and Ashlei's highlight reel!

Just driving home...

My adventure driving home from my friend Steph's house after the Bachelorette. So, first of all I stop at the ghettoist gas station to get gas and then of course when i get back in ranger joe he decides to be stubborn and not start. Well, I'm a little nervous so I call Steph and they know nothing about cars so then I call Gary to get him to tell me where the starter is so I can hit it (with my hand?). So, I crawl under my car at this nasty gas station and try to find the starter with no luck. Then, I just sit in my car until a family car pulled up and I felt comfortable enough to go over and ask for help (this was about a 10 minute wait). We pop the hood and look around, but I don't know what I'm looking for and he's not a mechanic. Then he gets brillant and asks if it's a 5 speed and of course it is. So, then he is going to push my truck all by himself to get it to start. Then this lady comes over and is asking all these questions like "your truck won't start?" (there's your sign) and she decides to help the man pushing. So, we finally get it started. I'm just driving along minding my own business, when all of sudden interstate traffic is completely stopped!!! I'm talking to my sister on the phone and she doesn't understand why there is so much traffic at 11 o'clock at night and I have to remind her that I live in Nashville, TN and she lives in Arab, AL...do you see a difference? So, they are paving the road and everyone is merging into one lane...I repeat...one lane!!! I ge the bright idea that my husband can get me home no matter what exit I get off of so I just pull off an exit and call my map. If you don't know Gary very well after 10pm is a hornet and doesn't like anybody!!! So, we get into a tiff and I just tell him I'll find my own way home, so I did find my way back to the interstate at a further down exit past the road work (thank you dad for giving me some of your navigational abilities). At this point the traffic is like almost none. I am driving at a pretty far distance from the man with a trailor on the back of his truck. Then I see something fly off of his truck, but I'm so far back I can't tell what it is. It looks like a piece of paper, so I just stay in the same lane and drive normal speed. Then it begins getting closer and getting bigger and it turns out to be a HUGE piece of styrofoam!! I swerve and miss it. I get home an hour after I left steph's and can't go to sleep because of all the excitment. So, naturally I turn on Gilmore Girls, who can always calm me down!!

This is about what was flying at my car on the interstate going 70 miles an hour!! Ranger Joe took it on the left side like a champ!!

Lingerie Shower

I had Sara Leitnaker's lingerie shower at my house on Friday June 4. The only other lingerie shower I had thrown was my sister's and I had my roommates living in the same house as me to help with everything. This time the other hostess didn't live with me and so I did all of the decorations and party ideas myself. Rachel Evans was the other hostess and she is such the party planner, but she sort of let me take free reign over this one and I'm thankful because I was able to come up with some great ideas (thanks to google). I used lace, candles, and rose petals as my decorations, which I loved!! Not everyone at the party knew the bride very well and the bride didn't know everybody at the party ver well so we played 2 truths and a lie and it was fun to find out some outrageous things that people have done, dated, experienced in the past! Then we decorated our "butt cookies." I had read online about this and I loved it!!!! So we made some and I have to say I think they turned out pretty good!! We played the game where I asked Jimmy (her fiance) questions and for every one she got wrong she had to eat a piece of gum. She was doing well until she got to the "What is Sara's favorite accessory?" He put her engagement ring and she was saying earrings, shoes, purses. Finally she figured it out. All together she only had to eat 6 pieces of gum but in the picture you will see what a big chunk that ended up being. We mainly just sat around and talked, which in my opinion is always a good time!! I think the last of the girls left my house around 1:30am!!

Sara and Jimmy are getting married June 19 in Kingston, TN and I'm their videographer! I can't wait!

The Butt Cookies:

                                                           This is the brides cookie

                                     This is Karen's cookie...that is a heart tatoo made out of sprinkles

                                               She and I obviously had the same idea :)

                                                          Sorry about the bluriness!

This is Jennifer's first one

And her second.

We weren't sure we were going to be able to read Rachel's but when I took it I got really excited...Karen thought it said "I OO"

Rachel's second one.  This one had lace around it if you can't tell.

This is the cake Rachel made!!  She was going to go get a cake from Sam's but she didn't have time and then she just whipped this up.  OH and was it delicious!!!!!!!

This is the gum that Sara chewed when she missed a question.

I wish I would have gotten a group shot, but for some reason I didn't think about it until after people had already left.  Oh well, it was a small group so we can remember who was there! 

Halloween 2009

Sorry this post is so late!  I just got the memory card back with this picture on it and I just thought I would put it up.  We went to our friends Josh and Bethany Wood's house.  I just used a white sheet to make my costume and Gary wasn't going to dress up, but then he got the smart idea to go to the church building and get a VBS costume!  He is a Roman Soldier!

One Year Ago

One year ago I put on a dress
You put on a tux and looked your best

One year ago you held some flowers
Your back was turned for what seemed like hours

One year ago you turned around
and for the first time that day we looked each other up and down

One year ago pictures were taken
one after the other memories we were making

One year ago I rode a horse and carriage
to begin a life and a long lasting marriage

One year ago the raindrops fell
I didn't even cry or yell

One year ago my daddy gave me away
after the clouds parted and dropped down the rays

One year ago we both said "I Do"
We became one in something new

One year ago was one of the best days of my life
I love living God's plan and being your wife

Happy Anniversary Gary!!  I love you!!

A Week of Celebration!!

Gary and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary May 25.  We really celebrated from May 21- June 1 because we were off work and just hung out together. 

We were able to go to South Carolina and stay in my college roommates apartment up there.  Her and her finace are getting marred June 12, but they already have an apartment there, but neither one of them are living in it yet.  So, Gary and I went up and worked out the kink for them (ac, shower knobs, drain, etc.).  We are so blessed to have friends that let us crash their place for a little mini vacation.  Thanks Matt and Martha!

We went to South Carolina on Monday.  Tuesday we went to this super cute state park (Hunting Island).  There was a beach, walking trails, and a light house that we were able to climb.  I have video that I will post later.  That night we went out to eat with Matt (martha's fiance.  He is stationed at Parris Island, which is why they are moving to South Carolina after they get married).  He took us to "Dock-side" which is where they filmed part of the Forrest Gump movie.  There were shrimp boats that looked just like the one in the movie (pre-crash :) ).  I had coconut shrimp and Gary had Grouper.  It was delicious and I think our favorite place that we ate.  OH and I tried Oysters!!!!!!!!!  I tried one on a cracker with cocktail sauce and all I could taste was the sauce.  So, I wanted to be brave and try it without and you know what it doesn't really have a taste.  I can tell why people don't like them because it has to be more of a texture thing.  Don't worry I got that on video as well :).  Wednesday we just hung around close to the apartment because Gary had to work on his sermons for Sunday.  So, while he did that I unpacked some boxes for the almost newlyweds.  Then we went and checked out downtown Beaufort.  It is super cute and right by the bay!  That night we went to eat with Matt again and then to church.  Matt attends a small but super friendly church!  Thursday we pretty much got up, grabbed some breakfast, and headed home.  We were a little ready to get home and just relax.  Sometimes I feel like going somewhere is more tiring than just staying at home.

Saturday we had Gary's dad's 60th birthday party!  It was soo much fun and he got some great stuff.  My favorite present he got was the blown up picture of him when he worked at the Grand Ole' Opry dressed up like a woman for Halloween.  He had some old friends there and he told some great stories! 

Sunday Gary preached at Mars Hill Church of Christ in Murfreesboro.  Sunday morning we brought in some guests.  They are a church of about 45 on a good day.  The morning that Gary preached the attendance was 65!!  He did a great job on self-worth in the morning and Josiah for the evening service. 

Sunday night we ate dinner with some good friends from church at Highland.  Right in the middle of one of Gary's stories I scream out "I JUST REMEMBERED I GET TO MEET ABBY TONIGHT!"  Abby are our friends dog and it just hit me like a ton of bricks that I was about to meet her because we going over to their house.  She is absolutely precious and it makes me want one, but I know we don't have time for one. 

Monday Gary made turkey bacon and eggs and I made cinnamon toast.  It was a great breakfast.  Then he hung out with his friend Brett and I hung out with my friend Rachel.  Rachel and I went swimming at her in-laws.  It was fun and relaxing.  Rachel is a great friend and I love hanging out with her!!  That night we went to a guy's house from church ate burgers, toured his new home, and hung out.  Then Gary and I left there to go to another families house from church to watch the Hockey game.  The guys watched the whole game, but us ladies got sick of it and played some games with their son.  It was so much fun and I learned some new games!! 

Tuesday / June came and the fun ended!!!!!!!!!!!  I had to go back to the real world.