Kimberly Washer

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

2012-02-14T13:21:00.001-06:00

Our first V-day together!

Just in case you haven't gotten any roses today, these are for you...

We aren't big V-day celebraters, but I have recieved some pretty good presents on this Hallmark holiday in the past. Our first Valentine's is one I'll never forget!! I was still in college and was a makin' music director. He drove from Murfreesboro (about a 2 and a 1/2 to 3 hr drive) on V-day (middle of the week) to surprise me at practice and bring me those flowers. We literally only got to spend a couple of hours together before he had to leave. It was one of those times that I will always remember though. The next year I told him I didn't want flowers, but a Chronological Bible. He's pretty smart sometimes and realized that I probably wanted both, so he went to the resource room at church and made me card with die-cut flowers on it :). I still have that card! The first two years of our marriage, V-day hasn't really stuck out to me. I honestly can't remember what we did, but everyday with Gary is a blessing!! I LOVE being married and it's something that I will recommend to anyone!!!

Speaking of being married, I was reading my friends blog and she had an awesome post about weddings and marriage that I wanted to share with everyone.

I hope that everyday is a Valentine's Day!

Juicing

2012-02-14T12:44:00.000-06:00

For Christmas Gary wanted a juicer. So, I searched high and low for a juicer that not only would do the things that he wanted it to do, but was also in our budget. I finally settled on the Jack Lalanne Juicer

I bought the one in black to match our kitchen. I purchased it at Kohl's on sale, but then Rachel, the bargain shopper that she is, found the exact same juicer for half the price at Macy's. So, we both ordered one. Christmas morning, Gary opened his juicer and the first thing out of his mouth was, "I have a juicer in my trunk..." WHAT?? EXCUSE ME??! Come to find out, one of his participants for SFT bought him a juicer. Oh and let me tell you it wasn't just ANY juicer. It was a more powerful one and one that Gary really wanted. Of course it wasn't in our budget is why I didn't get that one for him. His friend, Brandon, has this juicer and he knows how it works and loves it. SO, after a long pro and con list (mental not physical) Gary decided to take my juicer back and stick with the Bed, Bath and Beyond juicer (I'm not even sure what brand it is).

That brings me to my current story...last week, and yesterday, we juiced! Now when I say we juiced I mean for breakfast we had a berry smoothie (ingredients include but not necessarily limited to - frozen strawberries, frozen blueberries, keifer and raw eggs). We have this for breakfast on mornings when we aren't juicing as well :). Then Gary made a mason jar full of the juice. You are supposed to drink 4 ounces every hour. You don't necessarily have to do it that way, but it does keep you busy and moving throughout the day to get up and go to the fridge every hour. There were days when I was able do that and others when I wasn't. Our juice concotion was - carrots, apples (I asked Gary to add an extra apple to mine to make it sweeter) and celery. Now that may sound disgusting to some and there were days that it was harder to drink than others, but all in all I think I did pretty well. At night we would eat a normal healthy meal.

Today is my first weekday since 2 friday's ago to actually eat a real meal at lunch and I brought a ceaser chicken salad :). I'm enjoying this healthier lifestyle!! I'm not saying that I don't still crave all of the bad foods that I was so used to eating and I can't say that we sometimes don't give in, but all in all I know this is better for me and I'm excited!!

Wish us luck,

Resolution Check-up

2012-02-01T17:29:00.002-06:00

A fellow blogger had their resolution check-up yesterday and it reminded me that I need to do mine.

I started a prayer journal and I still haven't really gotten into the groove with it. Also, it was sitting on my bedside table...along with about 30 *over exaggeration* cups from my kitchen...and water spilt on it. You know like during the night when I'm tossing and turning and yanking the sheets from my cover-stealing-husband, I knocked one of the glasses over and soaked the whole table. I'm still learning and experimenting with it and I'm anxious to find my groove. I can, however, tell you that something I have been praying for was answered and the answer was YES and RIGHT NOW!! So, that was SUPER exciting!!

As far as reading the Bible through, I'm anxious and excited to announce that I am on day #2 of reading through the Bible in 90 days. I found this cool checklist that will help me along the way.

I haven't actually finished today's yet, but I'm almost done so I went ahead and checked it off :). I'm super pumped and excited! This morning when I got to work our systems were down, so that gave me the perfect opportunity to make the most of my time. Plus, it's really awesome to start your work day with a little bit of God. I have read through Genesis a number of times (uhh umm you know from starting to read the Bible through and not finishing), but this time I can already see how different it's going to be. I understand that the entire Bible isn't in Chronological order, but I think that Genesis is. So far I have read about creation, the fall of man, Cain and Abel, Noah, the Tower of Babel, Abram (before God renamed him) and Sarai, Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham sacrificing Isaac (that one always gets me), Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Esau and so many others. A couple of the stories really touched me and helped me see them in a new light. It's neat how no matter what stage of life you are in the stories in the Bible seem to always relate.

So, wish me luck and continue to keep me in your prayers!

Let me know how your resolutions are going. Leave me a comment below :).

All you wedding planners...

2012-01-27T07:37:00.002-06:00

If you have planned a wedding you know how expensive it can be and one of the things that most brides want to spend the extra money on is the photography. Now I'm no photographer, but a videographer (see videos here). I would like to make it my full-time job, but I get a bit nervous that if I charge too much that I won't get any weddings booked.

I was ready this blog and she found an awesome response to a brides cry on craigslist for a "decently priced, exceptional, amazingly talented, fun photographer." The bride went on to say..."WHY because the word "WEDDING" is involved photographers think they can charge you $ 3,000.00 for wedding photos? Oh, because no bride is going to go without, so they are going to pay it, because they HAVE to. They are ripping people off for all they have!"

Since I'm just 'starting out,' I did my first wedding in August 2009, but have still only done friends and family weddings for the most part, I don't charge near as much. However, if I was doing this as my full time job, I would have to.

David Grupa, a professional photographer, replied to this craigslist post in a very polite and explanitory way. It definitely shows that your wedding venders (at least those that are self-employed) really aren't walking away with that big check you wrote them...(it's a bit long, but explains well)

Dear [Craigslist Poster],

A colleague shared your Craigslist ad with me a bit earlier today. I wish I could say that "hanging out at a wedding and taking tons of photos" is "easy money" as you seem to think, but it's really not. While I agree that professional photography is not inexpensive, try working with a "weekend warrior with a camera" and see the difference. Sure, you may pay less money, but the resulting images will be of such poor quality, you'll be certain to feel "ripped off."

However, rather than tell you about award-winning photography, explain my credentials and attempt to convince you why a talented photographer is worth $3000 or more, I'm going to do some basic math instead.

First, let's talk about taxes. Don't you just hate opening up your paycheck at the end of the week and finding that Uncle Sam and friends have taken about 30% of your hard-earned dollars for federal, state and other taxes? Well, photographers have to pay them, too. That's $900 straight off the top of that $3000, leaving $2100. (You may think that 30% seems like a high number, but remember that since I'm self-employed, there's nobody else kicking in a percentage; the entire tax burden is borne by me.) Since there's no withholding, it's up to me to put this amount away so that I can make my quarterly tax payments on time.

Another huge chunk of the pie is a rather surprising expense to many people. We call it "Overhead" and "Cost of Goods Sold". In this category are visible items like albums, prints, frames and those items you take home. You don't want cheap things that will fall apart or fade, so I'm willing to pay a bit more in the search for a quality product. Remember, "good things aren't usually cheap, and cheap things aren't usually good." The photography industry is a showcase for that motto; really, ask around. (The pages of that "Snapfish" album will fade and discolor before your first anniversary.)

However, there are also other things in this group as well; things that we need to deliver our best to you, but are somewhat "invisible" to people other than business owners. They include our studio rent or monthly location payment, phone, computer, website and hosting, equipment and liability insurances (because we realize that we live in a litigious society), and local business and other licenses. Add in the membership dues to professional associations where we go for new techniques and to stay current so that we can deliver those amazing images you seek, and this Overhead category takes another 30% bite out of that $3000 so that just $1200 remains.

Then there's the equipment we use. Digital has brought some awesome advantages to photographers, but it comes at a price. New cameras and lenses are not inexpensive; we don't photograph with $500 Canon Rebels from WalMart. Since it takes a while to save enough money for this, I put away 10% of each job toward new equipment, equipment repairs, cleaning and maintenance. (Yes, I carry at least 2 working professional cameras to your wedding in the event something happens. A professional will simply pick up a new camera and continue photographing as if nothing happened. Your bargain photographer may panic or worse yet, not even realize that something is wrong. Not sounding like such a bargain anymore, is it?) Subtracting that $300 brings me down to $900.

Since I realize I won't be able to do this for the rest of my life (and I haven't found a sugar momma to support me) I'd better save something for retirement. Financial planners say that should be 10%, so there goes another $300. I'm down to $600 of the original price.

Being self-employed, I have to buy my own health insurance for me and my family. For an individual who's not getting it through their employer, this is NOT cheap. (I'm not going to use the term "WACK", but I think you get where I'm heading.) Another 10%, another $300 and I'm down to $300 "profit" from your wedding.

While I'd like to say that I take the remaining $300 and spend it on me, it's only partially true. As you do, I have responsibilities such as monthly bills, gas for the car, car payment, food, clothing . . . the kind of stuff you were mentioning.

Let's say I spend 6 hours at your wedding, another 8 hours editing your images, not to mention the meetings we've had that last an hour each. When you come back to select the images for your album, we'll spend another 2 hours going through choices and then I'll invest another 4 hours (minimum) designing the perfect album for you, prepping it for printing and sending it to the manufacturer. When it comes back, I'll inspect it and make sure it's perfect, then spend another 45 mins going through it with you when you pick it up. Almost a full 24 hours . . . divided by the $300 I got to keep . . . and I've just made $12.50 an hour. (Which totally blows the "You're making so much money it's crazy" theory.)

On a side note, over the past 36 years I have been photographing weddings, I can't even begin to count the number of ball games and other events I've missed. My kids got used to it; "You know that Daddy works on Saturday", but over the years it took its toll on my relationships as well. I refuse to make those mistakes again; those who refuse to learn from the past are destined to repeat it.

I'm sure you're probably tired of reading, but I hope you understand what I'm saying. Producing a quality product at a fair price IS what professional photographers do; it's always your choice to work with us or someone else. The problem is, what will you give up when you "get what you paid for?"

Respectfully,

David L. Grupa
Certified Professional Photographer
M.Photog.Cr., AFS-MNPPA

So, think about this brides, mom's, anyone who is hiring someone that is self-employed for anything really. Remember they don't get a paycheck where their taxes are already taken out and their insurance is paid for. They have to save and pay for all of that with the money you are giving them, so be generous...especially if you LOVED their final product.

Shout Out!!!

2012-01-26T13:33:00.001-06:00

I like to do shout-outs every once in a while to let my readers know what I'm reading :). Well, lately I have been catching up on one of my college roommate's blog's. She just recently started her blog and for good reason. On January 10th she and her husband moved to NEW ZEALAND!!!! It has been aweseme hearing about her life as a kiwi! Gary and I are planning a trip to see them, hopefully in July!!! Can't wait for her to take us around to all of the exciting places she has been writing about!

Now for a little flashback in time...

Oh man!!!!! This is classic!!! This was for a social club meeting at Freed. We were all 6 in Phi Kappa and bought those jerseys on sale at a shop in Henderson. This particular meeting was the air band meeting. It was soooo awesome!! There is actually a 15 second video floating around somewhere that I'm going to track down!! Just in case you're wondering we are Boys II Men...

Here's Rachel and me at Riverboat our sophomore year! Geez louise I was so skinny!!

Here's the suite at Halloween. Rachel, Beth and Martha are Christmas carolers! I was an Asian girl and Trish and Megan are pirates!

This is our senior year at the marshmallow fight, that obviously turned into mud sliding!

Senior year officers!!

Re-charge!!

Riverboat our Junior Year!

I think this was one of the first pics we took as suitemates! This is at the Phi Kappa mixer at the very beginning of our junior year!

The 4 of us liked to go on the roof of Porter Terry and sing devo songs!! We felt like such rebels! We even recorded some of those...I should probably try to find those too :).

Homecoming!!

Megan actually didn't make it to this trip to Crossville. This is us on Rachel's parent's boat.

This is our junior year when we snuck out to go to IHOP...what a night. That could be a whole post of it's own!!

The bean scene. A skit we did in Gatlinburg with our church group at Stantonville

Mine and Rachel's senior year. I was a Makin' Music director...we swept!!!

Our graduation!!

Suite 17 reunion for Martha's birthday!

Another mixer picture! Suite 17 "THE VENT" This is our classic picture!!

At Martha's birthday after we all left Freed!

Again at my wedding!!

Me and RD at the demo derby in Lawrenceburg. The first and last time we hung out as couples!!

This is our very last picture together while she lived in America at the Race for the Cure.

I miss you tons and tons, Rachel, but I'm soooo excited for the life that you have in New Zealand!! I love my little kiwi!!

Randomness

2012-01-18T07:27:00.002-06:00

The birthday festivties continued this past weekend when we went to my parent's house and they took us out to dinner. The birthday girl (or boy) always gets to choose where we eat. I chose Cheddars!! I love that place!! We did my cake and presents at the restaurant because Shelley and Jared weren't coming back to mom and dad's to spend the night. I got a new iphone cover (for my new iphone my manager gave me...crazy right?), some money and a best buy gift card. The food was great and then we all enjoyed some cookie cake afterwards! We even gave the server some, who told us he got a little bite because he was bombarded when he got back to the kitchen with it :).

So, the rest of this post is super random...

This is the frame wreath I made my friend Rachel. I didn't get to celebrate her birthday because December was super crazy, so I took it to Gatlinburg with us and gave it to her there. She loved it!!!

On Wednesday night I stayed up to make this canvas for my manager and his wife, who were having a baby on Thursday.

I love her name!!

Isn't she beautiful!!!

Monday night Gary and I needed to run a few errands. We have been needing to buy a new dishwasher since we got home from Malaysia, so Monday night we 'started' shopping. Our first stop was HH Gregg. We got out of the car and Gary said, "I don't want to buy anything, I just want to look." So, we started looking and one of the sales guys came up to us, asked us what we were looking for and what our budget was. He showed us 3 dishwashers within our budget. The Whirlpool was definitely the best out of the 3 and it was $30 below budget. He said he sold one earlier that day and checked all of the competitors prices so he knows they had the cheapest one, well the smart amazing man that I married said, "Let's just go ahead and check them again." What do you know...Lowe's had it on sale for $22 dollars cheaper than HH Gregg and that means that HH Gregg will match it and take 10% off of that...we walked in not planning to buy and walked out as the owners of a new dish washer!!! We haven't picked it up yet, but I'm SUPER excited to get it home and get it to work!!!

We also went to the grocery store that night. We always shop at Kroger and I can honestly say that Gary is the better grocery shopper out of the two of us because he is really good about going in order through the store and not having to go back to find something he forgot. I always have to go around the store at least twice before I'm done, but this particular night we were both all over the place and that is because they decided to move everything...

This aisle was the worst by far, but these signs were everywhere. What normally went in that spot wasn't there, but a sign to tell you where to go.

Any ideas on why grocery stores decide to confuse and frustrate all of their customers by rearranging everything?? I sure hope they keep those signs up even after everything is moved so I'll still know where to go :).

I hope everyone has a wonderful Wednesday!!

Kimberly

Birthday Weekend

2012-01-12T13:56:00.000-06:00

The weekend started with this beautiful lady getting married!!!!

Congrats Beth and Kevin!!!

Pic by: Shonta Harper - Sharper Photography

Immediately after Beth and Kevin peeled out, literally, of their reception, Gary and I hit the road for the long drive to Gatlinburg. Our GPS charger is broken and my iphone was dying. Before it died I looked up directions and got some from Rachel so I could be prepared. She even sent me a picture of the entrance to the cabins. We arrived in Gatlinburg and turned left at the first light. This is where things got crazy!! We were supposed to go about 10 miles and the place we were staying (Bent Creek) was going to be on our left. I knew the sign was lit up (per the picture text) and as soon as we hit 10 miles on the odomoter we were both looking. We came to a golf course (Golf Creek) and I immediately thought that was it. So, we turned in and made the lefts that was supposed to take us to our cabin on the left, but this road only took us up the scarriest, skinniest road I have ever been on. The turns were sharp and steep. We were driving Dora, so she really isn't the easiest thing to be driving in situations like this. Thank goodness I married a patient, loving and good driving man because he was able to do a 50 million point turn at the top of this mountain while I literelly held my hand over my eyes the entire time and kept repeating, "I'm so sorry! You're doing a great job! I love you!!" Bent Creek ended up being a few more miles up the road and there were no scary roads to get the cabin...

There were 2 couples already there for the party. Lee and Rachel, who I've mentioned countless number of times and Rachel's sister Stephanie, her husband Richie and their baby Carson. Richie and Stephanie surprised us at the last minute and decided to come and we were sooo excited to spend the time with them! That night we played games and got in the hot tub.

The next day was my actual birthday!! Rachel made me my birthday breakfast of whole wheat pancakes, turkey sausage and eggs!! It was yummy!!! She even added some blueberries and choc chips to some of the pancakes. The boys then left us to do manly things, like fly fish.

Lee and Gary with their waders.

The water was too cold and the trout were not out.

This is Don Winningham. He is an elder at our church and Gary's mentor when it comes to fly fishing. He and his wife have a cabin in Gatlinburg and happened to be up there so the boys of course wanted him to go along.

He's such a cute fly fisherman!

Wading in the water!

While the boys were off doing that, us girls just hung out at the cabin for some relaxing time. We played with Carson, he's 4 months old and oh so sweet, and watched movies! That night we played more games including my favorite Hit or Miss

Monday was the day the girl's got pampered. We went and got our nails done and then met back up with the boys to eat at Old Mill. It was sooooo yummy!!!

Then we sent the boys back to the cabin and we went shopping!! I came back with soup and lotion from Bath and Body Works to last me a year!!

Once again games were played and fun was had by all that night!!

Tuesday morning we all had to say goodbye to the Polar Bear (our cabin). Gary and I decided to walk in downtown Gatlinburg for a bit and left with 2 kinds of cheese and 6 bottles of sauce and salsa!! Then of course you have to stop at Bass Pro!

We got home about 3:30 and it was back to reality!! We did have such a great time in Gatlinburg and I can't wait until we get to go again!! Thanks Gary, Rachel, Lee, Stephanie, Richie and Carson for making my 27th birthday one to remember!!

Happy birthday to me!!

Winter Table Centerpiece

2012-01-12T08:09:00.002-06:00

I did end up putting a lot of my snowflakes away, just because it was easier when I had all of my Christmas boxes down from the attic. However, I did decide to leave the table pretty much the same. I did have change out the centerpiece since it was Christmas trees before.

I, of course, found this idea on pinterest. I already had pretty much everything to do it, so the cost was nothing.

I had some old bottles that I spray painted white and then added the epson salt. The smaller salt looks more like snow and sticks better. I used spray adhesive.

The silvery sticks I purchased our first year of marriage to be my tree topper. My mom gave me a snowflake topper last year, so these weren't being used anymore.

The tall sticks in the vase are sticks from our yard that I painted white and silver. I then added some more silver sticks to that vase and some 'snow' in the bottom.

It is all sitting on one of my glass platters scattered with 'snow' and snowflakes. I'm not sure how I'm going to store the bottles because the salt falls right off if you touch it. I guess I'll do the best I can to wrap them up, but it was so cheap and easy that it will be ok if I have to re-apply next year.

Happy Winter,

My new husband!!

2012-01-12T07:55:00.000-06:00

For those of you who don't know, Gary was growing his beard and hair out until the end of the year. At first it wasn't that bad because it was still kind of cute...

This was how long it was in November.

But once December hit, I was done with the facial hair!!!

Here he is the day before he got it cut last week.

Do you notice that his mustache is covering both of his lips?? Try kissing that!!

This one is a bit scary!!

He enjoyed fluffing his beard out!!

and flipping his mustache up!!

And this is what he looks like now!!

No, he isn't posing. He's just laying on the floor watching TV and I got this pic. I decided you could see him better if I didn't turn it sideways :).

He looks sooooooo much better and the morning after I woke up and was shocked at how stinkin' cute he was!!! I just rubbed his face and told him how handsome he is!!

I love my new husband,

Looking back and Looking Forward

2012-01-05T07:33:00.000-06:00

2011 wrapped up:

In January we went to Singapore, which sadly I never blogged about. I have all of the pictures on my home computer so maybe I will do that soon. We celebrated Chinese New Year while we were there.

In February, we had our final hoopla at the Sheraton before heading back to the states.

In March, I didn't blog much because we were celebrating all the holidays we missed with our families.

April showers definitely hit hard. The big storm that took away my sister's in-law's house. It is something we still talk about. The time that Shelley mentions it the most is when we are at my parent's house and the washing machine is running. Yes, that sounds completely weird, but she says their washing machine sounds remind her of the tornado sounds. We all try to refrain from doing laundry while she is there. I also wanted to update you all on how Steve and Rhonda are doing. They were able to find a house that a couple was selling fully furnished. The couple was moving to South America to be with the wife's family and they were leaving everything behind. The house is only minutes away from the land the old house was on (which is where they still keep their horses) and even though they've had to start completely from scratch, buying this fully furnished house was a huge blessing!! I went by to visit when they first moved in and it is gorgeous with a wrap around porch, pool and huge garage! Thank you for all of your prayers for that family!

In May Gary and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary in CHICAGO!!!!

Also, Gary graduated with his Bachelors degree from Heritage Christian. It was a fun day filled with lots of celebrating!!

June brought Gary's 29th birthday. We kept things low key, but 2012 might be the year for the BIG BASH!!! 30!!!

In July we experienced heartache. We lost Gary's grandfather, which was one of the hardest things I've ever had to go through. I am fortunate enough to still have all 4 of my grandparents, so losing Pop Washer was extremely diffcult and still is.

Gary and Pop at his graduation in May. The last picture they had together.

August was the month for babies!!! We had one on Gary's side and one on my side!! Benjamin and Alyza are growing so fast and we are so blessed to have them in our lives!!

September produced MUD!!!!! Gary and I ran our first Warrior Dash and it was amazing!!!!! They are doing it in Tennessee again next year. We are already making the plans!!

October was a pretty low key month, but Gary and I did take some much needed time off and spent a couple of days together for our stay-cation!! It was way fun and I highly encourage these!!

Thanksgiving (which was never blogged about for some reason) was of course celebrated in November, but something else fun that we did was go on our first marriage retreat!!

December, of course, was full of Christmas!!! I went a little crazy decorating and crafting this year, but it was so fun!!!! We also rejoiced with my cousin when he was baptized!!

As you can tell, our 2011 was filled with a little joy, a little happiness and a little sadness, but it's another year in the books and we are SUPER anxious to see what God has in store for us in 2012!!!

New Years Resolutions:

I actually have a few of these and most of them are the general lose weight, eat better, exercise more, but 2 things in particular are high on the priority list.

1. Read the Bible in it's entirety. This is something I am sad to say that I haven't done yet. I have started and done very well many many times, but I have never read the entire thing through consecutively. I'm anxious and excited about the things I will learn and how I will grow!! Please pray that I will be have the endurance to do this task and hopefully I will be able to do it in less than a year :). I will definitely keep you updated and let you all know how it's going.

2. Start a prayer journal. My friend, Rachel, gave me the great idea to get my cousins prayer journals for Christmas. They all three seemed to really be excited about them. I wrote them a sweet note in the front to encourage them. After doing that I decided that I needed to start one this year too. I have heard that they are amazing and show God's awesomeness!! It's been a slow process so far, but I'm excited to look back at the end of 2012 and see how God has answered my prayers. I know that God always answers our prayers with either a yes, no or not right now, but it will be neat to actually track it and see how he is answering. Do any of you have prayer journals? Have they changed your life? How?

I truly hope that 2011 was amazing for you all and I pray that 2012 will be that much better!

Happy New Year,

Kimberly

The public has spoken

2012-01-03T08:06:00.000-06:00

I asked this question yesterday while putting my Christmas stuff away. I also put it on facebook. I got several responses and I'm sure there will be more, but I wanted to let you all know what the final decision is...

THE SNOWFLAKES ARE STAYING!!!

Happy Winter,

Your Opinion

2012-01-02T13:23:00.000-06:00

So, remember my theme for my house? Well, I am trying to put all of my Christmas stuff away and I'm having a really hard time deciding if snowflakes are considered Christmas decorations or if I can leave them up all winter...HELP!!!

I love my snowflakes and I don't want to take them down, but I don't want people to come over and think I still have all of my Christmas stuff up.

What do you guys think??

Christmas Celebrations Part 2

2011-12-30T10:38:00.000-06:00

I want to start this post off with the most amusing 'blow up doll' seen in a front yard this year...

Yes, that is Santa peaking out of port-a-potty. Oh but don't worry he moved and opened and closed the door...classic!!!

Christmas weekend festivities began on Friday night when all, but 1, of the nieces and nephews came to spend the night. Of course we didn't have Benjamin because he's too small to stay away from Mommy. The rowdy bunch started shuffling in at about 6pm. We played Christmas Bingo, nerf gun war, built a tent, ate pizza and the older ones watched The Help. I know what you're thinking...not Christmasy, but it's such a good movie I wanted to watch it :). Finally at about 11pm everyone started settling down. The three youngest, Ruthie, Sarah and Caleb, claimed the guest bedroom, while Christopher and Hannah were stuck sleeping on couches in the living room.

Morning came too early! Caleb doesn't have a quiet speaking voice and he opened the door of the bedroom practically yelling at about 7:30am. Now that is actually later than we expected the little ones to wake up because of their excitement on Thanksgiving morning...4:30am!!!!! I'm guessing it's because it wasn't actually Christmas morning, but Christmas Eve. The rest of the family started arriving at about 9am and the men started cooking breakfast. Man, did it take FOREVER!!!! I don't think we ate until almost 11. Everyone was able to get through the entire movie or Home Alone 2 before the food was done. However, it was delicious and I guess worth the wait.

Then came present time...

I couldn't get all of the presents in the picture because a lot of them had been handed out at this point. But lets just say that the TV on the left side of the picture was completely covered :).

Look at Benjamin's cute little Santa booty!!

We are sooo glad that Gary's Pop Washer was able to join us this. Usually Pop Barlar and his wife Christine would come up for Christmas morning breakfast, but we were so blessed for Pop Washer to be there this year.

We start with the youngest and move to the oldest so that everyone can see what everyone got.

Benjamin goes first!!

And that's as far as he made it. He loved the tissue paper!!

Melvin passed him off to Pop and opened the rest of his gifts.

Caleb goes next. He ripped through his presents so fast we couldn't even tell what they were. He wasn't really excited about anything and when he was done he just sat there and looked at everyone like, ok who's next? He is so goofy!!

Once he was able to take all of his toys out of the boxes He was a little more excited. He was actually more excited for Christopher's presents and kept commenting everytime he opened more money.

Then Sarah went,

and then Ruthie!

We all opened our presents and then it was Gary's dad's turn. Once he was done opening his gifts Gary said, "You aren't done." We had taken a gun cabinet that he had in his basement from his great grandparents house and refinished it for him and it was sitting in the corner of our dining area (where that tree was) covered up with a blanket. Gary said, "Dad, I can write you a check for $20 or you can you take what's behind the blanket." He laughed and said he wanted what was behind the blanket.

Gary put his guns in it just for show.

He loved it and actually told Gary that he was planning on doing that for him...HAHA!!

After everyone left, Gary and I rested up and then headed down to AL to spend the night because Gary is teaching class at my parent's church all quarter. We were there all alone the whole night because my mom was already in Smyrna getting ready for Christmas lunch and my dad had to work that night. It was kind of weird waking up on Christmas morning to an empty house. Right after church we headed back to TN to celebrate with my mom's side. We got lots and lots of money and subscriptions to Gospel Advocate and Christian Woman (thanks Grandmother).

What made the day was when my uncle and cousin put on their matching outfits...

Yes, those are pajama jeans. Uncle Paul's actually look more real than Evan's because his have chaps on them.

Then he pulled them way up...

Oh and did I mention they both have tuxedo shirst?

They definitely wore them to church that night. Hilarious!!!!

Christmas was great!! We had so much fun and received way too much stuff. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas as well.

Happy New Year,

Christmas Celebrations Part 1

2011-12-27T12:14:00.000-06:00

Our Christmas actually began the first weekend in December when we had Christmas with Gary's extended family. This is the only picture I have to document that Christmas...

but I must say it's a good one :). That is Gary with his nephew Benjamin. That was the Christmas that we received the nerf guns.

The weekend before Christmas we had my immediate family Christmas at my parents house. We snuggled,

My mom (bebe) with Alyza and Adeline (my sister's best friend's little girls. We always celebrate with them too).

we had lots of presents,

got some awesome gifts from the girls,

She's definitly a gift. At one point she had 3 bows on her head. Alora and Adeline would add a bow to her head everytime they opened one of her presents. They didn't stick for very long.

we took lots pictures,

AND SANTA CAME!!!!!

He is real!!

We had a spa open,

and a fashion show to show off all the new clothes!!

Dad didn't want to be left out because he got new jeans!!

Merry Christmas from the Washers!!!

2011-12-22T10:17:00.001-06:00

Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland

2011-12-20T09:16:00.001-06:00

After seeing a tour of a Christmas home here, I figured it was time to share mine.

Just for reference, this is what my dining area used to look like...

This is the view of my dining area from my kitchen. I say area because it's not really a room. The tree in the left corner is actually no longer there because it was my mom's christmas present that I was storing at my house until this past weekend. I wanted, however, to show everyone the picture of when it was there because it made my dining area look a lot more full.

big difference huh?? Of course everything that I have added to this room since the first picture was taken isn't all christmas stuff. I now have my grandmother's kitchen table, I have the picture covering the breaker box (left wall), I have red curtains now and I have my aprons hanging (right wall).

Now for the details...

I made the tree in the middle by following the instructions here. The other two I got for a $1 each at the dollar tree.

I have big snowflakes hanging from my ceiling. I got these from the dollar tree for...a $1!!!!!

Snowflake plates and mugs found at Old Time Pottery. The mugs have little markers that come with them and you can label whose mug is whose if you have a little holiday party :).

I just threw a few snowflake ornaments on the table to add that extra umph. The snowflake ornaments were mostly purchased in bulk from the dollar tree and hobby lobby.

The cute tree that is no longer blessing my house...maybe I'll ask for one for my birthday? Yes, I added some snowflakes to it :).

Up close of the kitchen window...see the curtains are now red. Don't mind that one of the blinds are missing. I might or might not have tore them down while I was decorating...oops. Gary will fix it. Garland, silver balls and white snowflakes. The silver balls were purchased from the dollar tree. The garland was purchased from Old Time Pottery on black friday...got it super cheap!!

View from the living. There is garland hanging from the entry way and now I have christmas cards all across that little area between the ceiling and the garland. Maybe I'll take a picture of that later. Of course snowflakes are hanging from it.

The back door has garland with white snowflakes and red balls. Yes, I'm still loving my roman shade.

The 'first year' ornament my sister got me is a little big for our tree, so I hung it from the door handle. Isn't it sooo cute!!

The kitchen doesn't have much going on. Just some lighted (is that how you say it) garland and

a seasons greetings sign that I've had for years!!

Oh and some snowflake towels I got from the Dollar General.

On to the living room...

This snow decoration is hanging on the inside of my front door. I got this at Hobby Lobby for cheap, but it was all wooden before I added a little glue and glitter.

I have red curtains at the front of the house too, so white snowflakes and silver balls are hanging from the garland.

Since this rod is a little longer than the other two (the windows are further apart) I hung a Happy Holidays sign from the middle section. I snagged that sign from The Good Will for $.99. You know it had to have a snowflake :).

The tree is in the front corner so I can open the blinds for the world to see. You might remember when I made that tree skirt.

My tree is full of snowflakes and ball ornaments with snowflakes on them. I LOVE IT!!!

The black curtain behind the red couch has red snowflakes and red balls.

I bought the big black vase whenever my roommates and I had a fireplace at our house in Mount Juliet. I have been wanting to do something with it for years and finally I decided to grab some sticks from my parents yard (after the tornado they have plenty to choose from) and paint them white. This little guy usually hangs out in the corner where the tree is, but I wanted my tree to be by the front window, so I moved him and added some ball ornaments just for kick and giggles.

Now for my 'mantel.' We don't have a fireplace (sob sob), so I decided to add a shelf above my couch that I could change out season to season. You might remember that this is what it used to look like.

And here is it all decked out for Christmas...

I kept the clock., made another cardboard tree,wrapped some leftover garland around a heavy duty cardboard 'W' I got from Hobby Lobby.

and hung the stockings and snowflakes. The stockings were bought our very first Christmas from Bed, Bath and Beyond.

As I was walking around the room taking pictures, this is what Gary was doing. Whew I'm so ready for the first of the year so he will shave that beard!!

This is the final wall on the inside. As mentioned earlier, I have added Christmas cards on the wall, well I also made these. I don't have them all hanging in this picture, but they are all hanging now and maybe I can get a picture of them for you. I decided to do a candy cane stripe on the other two and hang only picture cards on them. I feel as though people like to see your picture cards, so if they are hanging too high they can't see them. It looks really cute!!

On to the outside...I had planned on making this door wreath, but as I was searching on pinterest the night I was about to create, I found this. I didn't really want to run to the store to get the craft sticks, but I really really really liked this one...SOOOOOO...I thought really hard and decided that I could make the same thing out of a cardboard box!!! And guess what I did!!!

I added the silver glitter to the circles. I think it turned out well enough to use for this year. I'll probably make a more sturdy one next year, but it looks great and guess what it was free!!!! The ribbon is a little crooked in this picture, but that has been fixed :).

Here is the view of the whole house from the road. I have always wanted some net lights and I found some at the Good Will for $2.99, however, there were only 2 boxes. I couldn't handle it and had to buy 6 more to cover all the bushes. You can't see three of them because of the cars. I already had a TON of white lights so I just wrapped them around some of that cheap garland I got from Old time pottery. It was easy and fast. A couple of years ago I climbed up on the house by myself to add lights all around. It looked really cute, but it was hard work. Who knows maybe next year I feel up to adding to the roof as well.

Well, that's it for our tour. I hope you enjoyed it!!! Stop on buy anytime and visit our Winter Wonderland!!

Merry Christmas,

Why I love this time of year

2011-12-16T11:11:00.000-06:00

I honestly feel that the holidays brings out the best in people. Have you ever watched the news? I mean seriously, it's quite depressing!! I used to want to be a news anchor, but after 4 years of college and broadcasting school after that, I decided I did not want to deliver bad news to the public all the time...instead I do wedding videos, much more upbeat :).

However, this time of year the news is full of neat stories just like this one: (story via)

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - The young father stood in line at the Kmart layaway counter, wearing dirty clothes and worn-out boots. With him were three small children.

He asked to pay something on his bill because he knew he wouldn't be able to afford it all before Christmas. Then a mysterious woman stepped up to the counter.

"She told him, `No, I'm paying for it,'" recalled Edna Deppe, assistant manager at the store in Indianapolis. "He just stood there and looked at her and then looked at me and asked if it was a joke. I told him it wasn't, and that she was going to pay for him. And he just busted out in tears."

At Kmart stores across the country, Santa seems to be getting some help: Anonymous donors are paying off strangers' layaway accounts, buying the Christmas gifts other families couldn't afford, especially toys and children's clothes set aside by impoverished parents.

Before she left the store Tuesday evening, the Indianapolis woman in her mid-40s had paid the layaway orders for as many as 50 people. On the way out, she handed out $50 bills and paid for two carts of toys for a woman in line at the cash register.

"She was doing it in the memory of her husband who had just died, and she said she wasn't going to be able to spend it and wanted to make people happy with it," Deppe said. The woman did not identify herself and only asked people to "remember Ben," an apparent reference to her husband.

Deppe, who said she's worked in retail for 40 years, had never seen anything like it.

"It was like an angel fell out of the sky and appeared in our store," she said.

Most of the donors have done their giving secretly.

Dona Bremser, an Omaha nurse, was at work when a Kmart employee called to tell her that someone had paid off the $70 balance of her layaway account, which held nearly $200 in toys for her 4-year-old son.

"I was speechless," Bremser said. "It made me believe in Christmas again."

Dozens of other customers have received similar calls in Nebraska, Michigan, Iowa, Indiana and Montana.

The benefactors generally ask to help families who are squirreling away items for young children. They often pay a portion of the balance, usually all but a few dollars or cents so the layaway order stays in the store's system.

The phenomenon seems to have begun in Michigan before spreading, Kmart executives said.

"It is honestly being driven by people wanting to do a good deed at this time of the year," said Salima Yala, Kmart's division vice president for layaway.

The good Samaritans seem to be visiting mainly Kmart stores, though a Wal-Mart spokesman said a few of his stores in Joplin, Mo., and Chicago have also seen some layaway accounts paid off.

Kmart representatives say they did nothing to instigate the secret Santas or spread word of the generosity. But it's happening as the company struggles to compete with chains such as Wal-Mart and Target.

Kmart may be the focus of layaway generosity, Yala said, because it is one of the few large discount stores that has offered layaway year-round for about four decades. Under the program, customers can make purchases but let the store hold onto their merchandise as they pay it off slowly over several weeks.

The sad memories of layaways lost prompted at least one good Samaritan to pay off the accounts of five people at an Omaha Kmart, said Karl Graff, the store's assistant manager.

"She told me that when she was younger, her mom used to set up things on layaway at Kmart, but they rarely were able to pay them off because they just didn't have the money for it," Graff said.

He called a woman who had been helped, "and she broke down in tears on the phone with me. She wasn't sure she was going to be able to pay off their layaway and was afraid their kids weren't going to have anything for Christmas."

"You know, 50 bucks may not sound like a lot, but I tell you what, at the right time, it may as well be a million dollars for some people," Graff said.

Graff's store alone has seen about a dozen layaway accounts paid off in the last 10 days, with the donors paying $50 to $250 on each account.

"To be honest, in retail, it's easy to get cynical about the holidays, because you're kind of grinding it out when everybody else is having family time," Graff said. "It's really encouraging to see this side of Christmas again."

Lori Stearnes of Omaha also benefited from the generosity of a stranger who paid all but $58 of her $250 layaway bill for toys for her four youngest grandchildren.

Stearnes said she and her husband live paycheck to paycheck, but she plans to use the money she was saving for the toys to help pay for someone else's layaway.

In Missoula, Mont., a man spent more than $1,200 to pay down the balances of six customers whose layaway orders were about to be returned to a Kmart store's inventory because of late payments.

Store employees reached one beneficiary on her cellphone at Seattle Children's Hospital, where her son was being treated for an undisclosed illness.

"She was yelling at the nurses, `We're going to have Christmas after all!'" store manager Josine Murrin said.

A Kmart in Plainfield Township, Mich., called Roberta Carter last week to let her know a man had paid all but 40 cents of her $60 layaway.

Carter, a mother of eight from Grand Rapids, Mich., said she cried upon hearing the news. She and her family have been struggling as she seeks a full-time job.

"My kids will have clothes for Christmas," she said.

Angie Torres, a stay-at-home mother of four children under the age of 8, was in the Indianapolis Kmart on Tuesday to make a payment on her layaway bill when she learned the woman next to her was paying off her account.

"I started to cry. I couldn't believe it," said Torres, who doubted she would have been able to pay off the balance. "I was in disbelief. I hugged her and gave her a kiss."

Being a Christian, I feel as though we hear these types of stories more often than others. So, I love seeing people making the news for such awesome deeds!!

Remember to give this season,
Kimberly

The angels rejoice!!

2011-12-13T10:36:00.000-06:00

Last night after I left work, went christmas shopping, grabbed dinner, started dinner and was about to eat my cell phone rings. Gary answered the phone and I overheard 'baptized' and 'right now.'

I knew who it was as soon as Gary hung up the phone. My cousin, Evan, was making the most important decision of his life! I was soooo excited. I called my sister, my mom and I would have called other people, but we don't live that far from the church :).

Unfortunantly, when we got to our church building the water in the baptistry had been drained. Luckily, we are super close to plenty of other churches that were willing to open their doors to us.

Gary and I were the first ones to arrive at Old Jefferson besides the man who graciously unlocked the doors for us. Just a few mintues later the rest of the crew started showing up. Within a 30-45 minute time frame Evan had gathered just about his entire family to witness his new birth. It was an incredible moment to know that I have a HUGE extended family that are believers. I am blessed to not only have an amazing church family, but it feels like, a lot of times, that I am related to most of them.

A list of who was there last night:
Gary and me - Evan's cousins
Aunt Kecia and Uncle Paul - Evan's parents
grandmother and granddaddy - Evan's grandparents on his mom's side
Granny and Pawpaw - Evan's grandparents on his dad's side
Uncle Eddie - his dad's brother
Aunt Luana - his dad's sister
Aunt Paula and Uncle Tommy - his dad's twin sister and her husband
Elizabeth - Evan's sister
Paul Jr - Evan's brother
Matt Wilber - Evan's youth minister

To gather that many people in such a short amount of time goes to show you how incredible it is!!

God is AWESOME and I know he was sooooo excited last night to welcome a new child into his family!!!!

Please pray for him as he starts this incredible journey. We all know that it's not an easy road, but it is the road that is the most joyful, comforting and has the best family anyone could ask for!!!!

Rejoicing,

Tis the Season

2011-12-07T07:50:00.000-06:00

This past weekend, we were involved in all things Christmas!! The excitement started on Friday evening when we attended a play at Chaffin's barn.

The play we went to see wasn't Christmasy, but it still felt seasonal because we never go the theater. We got there about 6pm and enjoyed an AMAZING buffett until the show started at 8. We went with a couple from Crieve Hall that has been inviting us for months. It finally worked out and I honestly hope it's not the last time! The play was Boeing Boeing and it was hilarious!!

It's about a man who has 3 fiances and they are all from different airlines. He keeps a time-table of when they will be in their hometown, in the air and in Paris with him. I won't spoil the play, but just know that his time-table got a little unhelpful :)!

On Saturday morning, I hosted the ornament swap for the Secret Sisters at church. We had a Great turn-out and lots of yummy brunch food! I meant to take a picture of all of us with our ornaments, but alas I forgot. I even wanted to get all of the ladies to take a picture of themselves with their ornaments, but I wasn't sure of how good of a response I would get. So, sorry there are no pictures to document it, but I promise it happened!!

After the ladies left and I cleaned up, my aunt, sister and cousin came by to get me to go Homecoming dress shopping for my cousin, Elizabeth because...guess what...she's on the HOMECOMING COURT at MTCS!!! This is their first year at that school and girl has already made the friends, I guess. We were sooooo excited and even found this super cute dress!! There are rules:

1) Must be white

2) Must be long

3) Must have straps

Now this dress doesn't currently have the straps, but my aunt is going to add them. Isn't she soooo cute!!! I think they ended up finding it online for a lot cheaper than it was at David's Bridal :).

Now, I know that wasn't very xmasy either, but it was still fun and not something we get to do everyday :).

After the dress shopping was complete and she 'said yes to the dress,' Gary and I headed down to AL where we will be every single Sunday until the end of February. Gary will be teaching class at Merdianville CofC this whole quarter. You can actually listen to his first lesson here. So, if you are in the area swing by any Sunday and me the Gar will be there!! Anyway, went to AL to my parent's house and I had told my mom that if she wanted to save her tree until we were there I would help put it up. And that's just what we did on Saturday night!! Mom and I put the tree together, while Gary sat on the couch and watched The Fugitive, might I add. Then we had to wait for dad to get there to put on the lights. He is pretty OCD about the lights. Once he had eaten and was putting on the lights, the tradition began...Home Alone was on, mom was making hot cocoa and we were decorating the tree (every year never fails!!!!!). Gary and I have already watched Home Alone several times this year, but it doesn't compare to watching it with my dad!! I even have to sit in the right spot so I can see his face!! He turns bright red from laughter and I know which parts it's going to happen, so I don't even watch the movie, just him :).

After church Sunday morning, Gary and I had to rush back to Murfreesboro to get to a family xmas with Gary's extended family. We had Thanksgiving with them last Sunday and there wasn't another day that we could all get together again expect for this Sunday. Yep, Barlar (Gary's mom's side) Thanksgiving one week and family Christmas the next!!! We played a little dirty Santa and Gary got some nerf guns!!

They are single shot with whistler nerf bullets. Oh it has been a war zone in our house every night this week. If you walked in, you would think we had kids because there are nerf bullets everywhere. We like the surprise attack on each other. When the other isn't expecting it we will shoot and that has caused some full out hide behind the doors and walls shooting match. We laugh and giggle and it's fun until someone gets hurt. Let me just say that a nerf gun straight to the mouth doesn't feel so great. The wound has healed (if there even was one) and the exciting nerf action has continued. I can't wait to get home and ambush him!!!

So, that was our fun-filled Christmasy/not so Christmasy weekend!!

This coming weekend is my cousin Page's wedding!! Congrats to him and Mary Beth! I'm excited that she is joining the family!!

Happy Christmas,

Kimberly

The Happy Scraps Giveaway

2011-12-02T06:46:00.000-06:00

The Happy Scraps is one of the crafty blogs I follow. There are a few ladies who post some super fun craft ideas on this blog. Well, they have reached a big milestone and they are doing a big giveaway to say 'thank you.' Go check them out here and even enter to win...I'll fight you for the those 'home' letters :).

Good Luck,
Kimberly

Thankful to be a Christian

2011-11-28T14:08:00.001-06:00

This post is a bit late considering Thanksgiving was Thursday, but it's never too late to be thankful for something.

It all started on Tuesday when Ellie showed up at work. I'm not sure if I ever told all of the blog readers the whole story, so I guess I need to back up even further than Tuesday.

HMMM…let’s see…how far back should I start? At the beginning? Ok…

Let's go back to the summer of 2010. I had just returned back to work after a week at church camp. We had a big meeting that morning and they announced that ‘today was the last day to let your manager know if you are interested in going to Kuala Lumpur to help train.’ I went straight back to my desk, texted Gary and sent an email to my manager letting him know I was interested. The text I sent Gary said something like, ‘Wanna live in Malaysia for 6 months?’ He texted back ‘we could talk about when I got home.’ I was so prepared with my pro/con list when I walked in the door to find him lying on the couch. I closed the door, dropped my bags and got ready to present my case when he interrupted me with a hearty, “LET’S DO IT!!” We jumped and down and were so excited!! Of course then came the not-so-fun part of getting prepared and actually getting picked to go. I ordered my passport right before they upped the price, which only meant disaster and a long wait. I was finally pulled into the meeting with the manager and she offered me a 2 month span, but that just wasn’t good enough for me. I asked if I could go for the 6 months. Her face instantly went to shock and she asked if I was serious. She said she would have to get the approvals through, but she didn’t see why not. She then proceeded to ask several other people to go for the 2 months and the torch finally landed on Ellie. She left a few weeks before I did and was obviously there when I got there. She is a super fun girl to hang out with and has been traveling out of the country for years with her family. She isn’t new to long plane flights or hanging out in different cultures, so naturally when our team in the US was faced with having someone stay in Malaysia for 18 months she was the first one that popped in their heads. Gary, Jonathan and I were home for 2 weeks when she packed her bags to stay for the long-term.

Back to current day…

She came into the office on Tuesday and I asked her all about Malaysia. She said she liked it, her apartment, the people, but she just wasn’t happy. She has had some family members come and visit her, but it really hit her when her cousin was there and called her out. She told her she didn’t seem happy. That’s when Ellie realized that she wasn’t. She had a meeting with the ‘big’ manager when he was in KL to let him know that she would either have to quit or they would have to shorten her contract. I was completely shocked when she was telling me all of this. They ended up shortening her contract by 5 months and she will be home for sure at the end of March. She was able to come home for 2 weeks for Thanksgiving and that is why she was here (plus her boyfriend works with us). I was telling Jimmy, my car pool buddy, all about this and as soon as I was done with the story the first thing out of his mouth was, ‘Is she a Christian?’ Now, I’m not completely sure of Ellie’s spiritual beliefs, but I do know that she didn’t attend church the while we were in Malaysia together. My eyes lit up when Jimmy asked that question. I seriously hadn’t even thought about it, but the only ‘family’ she has over there are the people she works with, whereas when we were there we had our church family. That does make a huge difference. I have no doubt that I would miss my family if I was away from them for 18 months, but being surrounded by other Christians makes things like that so much easier.

I am so thankful that I can go anywhere in the world and feel at ‘home’ because of the family that God has given me. It is something most people don’t have and I took it completely for granted while in Malaysia. I love all you guys at the Wangsa Maju church and we miss you very much!!! You truly are and will always be part of our family!!

Love,
Kimberly (and Gary)

Kisses from Katie

2011-11-28T13:24:00.003-06:00

I was introduced to this blog while I was in Malaysia. Katie doesn't post daily, weekly or sometimes even monthly, but when she does post it's inspirational!

She is a 21 year old single mother to 14 little girls in Uganda. She brings them into her home and loves them like they are her own. She is an incredible writer and I'm sure her book is extremely inspiring.

Like so many things I have referenced before, this video is an incredible!

Home for the Holidays Part 2

2011-11-23T09:55:00.000-06:00

The next project I had was to make a ruffled tree skirt. The tuturial this girl has is pretty good, but I did run out of fabric. I think I made my ruffles too big or too small or too something because I had to get more red fabric and be very frugal with the burlap towards the end. I did not do the white and burlap, but red and burlap. It took me three evenings after work to finish and I honestly hope I never have to do it again, but it was worth it because I LOVE the way it turned out!!!

I meant to take pictures along the way, but I forgot until I got about half way done...

My sister said her text looked like it was white and pink, but don't worry it's red and burlap.

You can tell my last burlap layer is a little slim, but once it's under the tree you can't tell. There is also a random piece of red fabric sitting on the right side, don't worry it was taken off after this picture was taken.

This picture isn't that great, but here it is under my tree :). I didn't even want to put my presents that are already wrapped under the tree because it would hide my cute skirt. They are currently stuffed right beside the couch so the skirt is still visible :).

More Christmas transformations to come!!

Kimberly

Marriage Retreat at Fall Creek Falls

2011-11-22T13:33:00.000-06:00

A couple of weekends ago we loaded up the car, drove to Fall Creek Falls and enjoyed a GORGEOUS weekend!!! The past few years our church has offered a marriage retreat that another local congregation has been doing and this is the first year Gary and I were able to go. Let me just say that I hardly had a dry eye the entire weekend. Not because mine and Gary's relationship has been struggling, but just thinking about how much I love him and what he means to me. The lessons were focused on 'remembering your first love.' Danny Camp did a wonderful job delivering the lessons!!!

One of my favorite parts were the 'knee-to-knees,' which is when you sit with your spouse and pray together. I loved sitting there in a room full of other couples and completely focused on us. He would whisper his prayers and I love to hear Gary pray anyway, but this seemed so much more intimate between the two of us and with God. I'm sure if anyone peaked in our conference room when we were in our knee-to-knees we looked extremely silly, but I bet to God it was beautiful!!

We had some free time on Saturday and if you have ever been to Fall Creek Falls you know that the only thing to do is go to the falls...so that's what we did!!

Pictures compliments of Rachel's camera

Don and Lori Winningham. This is one of our elders and his wife. We ran into them on the trail and snapped a shot of them at the falls.

Lee and Rachel weren't able to go down with us (see the crutches), but we got this cute shot at the top!

We were driving around and came upon this prime spot!!

This is my favorite picture!! Thanks Rachel!!

We both talked about this retreat everyday afterwards and we CANNOT wait until next year!!

Love,

Kimberly

Home for the Holidays

2011-11-17T11:10:00.000-06:00

I am soooooo ready for the holidays!!! When I say holidays, I really mean Christmas!!! Remember where we were last Christmas?? It was GREAT celebrating with the Clayton's last year, but I have to be honest I really missed decorating my house...so this year I'm making a winter wonderland!!! I have snowflakes galore and I can't wait until they are hanging everywhere. I have a lot of ideas that I'm going to create, but I just ~~finished~~ took a picture of one last night...

This is an absolute HORRIBLE picture and I'm actually not even done with it yet because I intend to add more buttons and such, but I LOVE the way it turned out!!! I got it from none other than pinterest. My paper isn't as christmasy as that one, but I still love it and I'm not complaining at all!! I think this might go in my guest bedroom to spruce it up a bit because the colors match that room the best!!

Keep your eyes open for more crafty holiday goodies :).

Kimberly

YOU GOT BIEBERED!!

2011-11-11T13:16:00.000-06:00

The guys at work think it's HILARIOUS to pull pranks on people. This morning they came in saying one of the other guys was getting engaged this weekend so we needed to decorate his cube. Well, long story short we found out they were joking about that and while the culprit was away at lunch we Biebered him...

It was a good time!!

Happy Friday,

Kimberly

Susan G. Komen - Race for the Cure

2011-11-08T12:15:00.000-06:00

A few months ago I got a text from my college roommate, Rachel, asking me if it would be ok if her and her new husband came to stay with us because they were running the breast cancer 5k in Nashville. She then proceeds to ask me if I want to run with them. I had just started running and actually just a few days later I signed up for the warrior dash, which by the way was my first 5k :). So, a couple of Friday's ago (the friday before Halloween) Rachel drove up to spend the night. Jared ended up not coming because he had to go back to Denver for some school stuff. She and I hung out like old times and I even kicked Gary out of our bed so she and I could have a slumber party!!!!

The race started at 9-ish and we got there a little early to see all of the festivites. However, there were just too many people (and dogs) to really see anything.

A few pre-race pictures...

Brett and Jessica (thanks to Jess we have all of these pics :))

Me and Gary

Rachel and Lee

The racers!!

Jessica, me, Rachel, and Rachel

We inched our way up to the 'start line' (start line is a relative term considering we were still about half a mile away from it) and were surrounded by either survivors or those running in memory of someone. My heart sunk and it took all I had to hold in the emotion. Before the gun was fired I felt like we needed to say a prayer and of course the girls were all about it. We prayed for the survivors of breast cancer and those that have survived a friend or family member that has been taken by breast cancer. To read some of their posters and things they were carrying was incredible!! It amazed me how many people in our area have been affected by this disease.

Our goal was to finish the race in 45 minutes because we knew we would probably walk some. Jessica didn't even want to sweat, but that didn't happen after the first 2 minutes of running. We would have reached our 45 minute goal had we not stopped for me to take a picture with...

SANTA and his pink beard!!!!

We had a great time and I'm looking forward to next year!

Gary and me post-race!

Kimberly

The Genius that is my Grandmother!!!

2011-11-04T11:26:00.000-05:00

I have been planning on making an ornament ball wreath for quite sometime. I'm honestly not sure what has taken me so long to do it because even though it was time consuming it is pretty simple. I didn't realize, but I already had all of the supplies in order to make it. I pulled out my big Christmas box of goodies last night and I knew I had to make it. My Grandmother had given me several things in the past few years that she was no longer using as her decorations. She doesn't know that I tweeked them a bit, but I'm pretty sure the crafty woman would be ok with it. I pulled out the wreath that she had made I don't even know how long ago and realized I could use that as my base for the ball wreath. I meant to take pictures the entire way through, but as you will see I got distracted and forgot.

This is a picture of all little do-dads that were connected to my Grandmother's wreath...a little outdated.

This is what the wreath looked like once I removed all of the little do-dads. It was made, get this, with a wire hanger as the base and then plastic pieces wrapped and tied around it. I am pretty sure I said about a TRILLION times last night what a genius my Grandmother is for thinking to make a wreath out of wire hanger...can you say CHEAP!!!!!

Here's the close up of the hook to prove it's a wire hanger.

There was a little bit too much fluff going on for me to cover with the ornaments I had, so I made a huge mess around my garbage can and ended up with this as my frame.

Once, again I want to point out that my Grandmother is a genius!!!

And the wire wreath with fluffy plastic wrapping is transformed into a beautiful ornament wreath!!!

Here it is hanging on the inside of our door. I mean seriously you can use the, already there, hook from the wire hanger to hook it on the wreath hanger...have I mentioned what a genius my grandmother is??

Just for kicks and grins here is the genius herself, Grandmother!! This picture was taken at her 80th birthday party just a few weeks ago. Our backdrop is the quilt she made me. She is super crafty and she doesn't even know what Pinterest is!!!!

Happy re-creating from old crafts,

Kimberly

Stay-cation

2011-10-27T08:04:00.001-05:00

Gary and I had a mini stay-cation this week. We took off Monday and Tuesday and pretty much just did whatever we wanted to. Tuesday became craft/hang all of the things on the wall day. I feel like we got so much accomplished. We Gary hung curtains, shelves and hooks.

We added this shelf and decorations above our couch in the living room. This picture is a bit blurry, but it's way cute!! The great thing about that shelf is we can hang our stockings on it for xmas :).

I worked on a little crafty project I have wanted to do since I saw the picture on pinterest. It was a little time consuming, but I love the way it turned out and I'm pretty sure I might try this on a couple of other windows!! Our back door (aka side door) has had these nasty blinds on it for sometime. They are all torn and crooked and it just looked horrible, so I made a roman shade...

At night it looks really good, but during the day you can see through the black fabric a little more than I liked, so I might have to tweek it a bit soon and just add more black to the back side...we'll see.

Here it is pulled halfway.

Then an up close shot. It looks pretty good huh? The lady that has the how-to did a great job!!

We also took this stay-cation time to watch as many scary movies as possible!!! It all started on Friday night when we went to see the new Paranormal Activity.

I'm not sure if it was the fact that we were in a crowded theater with screaming teenagers the whole time or that it just wasn't as scary, but I thought this was the least scary of the 3. Also, there were parts that were shown in the trailer that were not in the movie...3 big parts!!! If you have seen it, do you know what they are?

Some of you know that Gary and I live off of watching movies and TV shows from the internet because we don't have cable or even the basic channels. However, we do not suffer in the entertainment department because of websites like you tube and hulu. This week hulu is showing a lot of classic scary movies, in celebration of halloween I suppose, so we have watched at least one scary movie a day since Friday (key words: at least one).

We watched 3 Michael Myers movies.

The original Halloween (the first of the slasher movies). Halloween 4 and Halloween 5. We would have watched the others, but they weren't available.

Zombie movies get me everytime!!

We watched Day of the Dead and the original Night of the Living Dead.

The crazy thing about these two are the quickness of the zombies. The night one they are super slow and you can pretty much walk amoung them, but the day one they are speedy and can chase you down in a heartbeat!!

We also watched the original House on Haunted Hill. I think I have seen the re-make, but I can't remember. However, I hated how this one ended. It was a little awkward.

We are still watching the scary movies and I can't wait to see what we decide on tonight :).

Happy Haunting,

Kimberly

I'm a sucker for a great video

2011-10-20T12:53:00.001-05:00

I have always had the desire to do international mission work and living in KL for 6 months definitely got my feet wet. But when I see videos like this one it makes me yearn for it.

I don't know this group, I have never heard of them and I have no idea what church they are affiliated with, but what they are doing is so inspirational. This video is amazing and it puts my life into perspective so much. Life Stage films always amazes me, but this one astounds me.

The part that is my favorite, that part that made my heart and eyes burn is when they wash their feet and put a fresh pair of socks and shoes on them. I honestly feel that the best way to show servanthood, especially in poorer countries, is washing their feet. This gives me hope and deteremination that one day, I too, can provide such a thoughtless thing for us, but oh so meaningful thing for them.

Kimberly

Hobby Lobby here I come...

2011-10-17T13:59:00.000-05:00

I won some money at the end of the quarter and it finally got delivered to me today!!!

I can't wait to make some awesome things that I have found on pinterest.

Oh don't worry, there's more that this came from!!!

Happy Purchasing,

Kimberly

Greg and Annie Wedding Trailer

2011-10-12T11:34:00.000-05:00

Not sure if everyone knows what I do on the side...wedding videography!!! This is a trailer I recently completed. Let me know what you think!!

This couple is so sweet! They are laid back, easy-going and totally in love!

I have known Annie longer than Greg, but I remember the first time I met him and saw how they interacted, I knew that she would never let him go.

Annie's family loves Greg and Greg's family loves Annie. This wedding was so easy to find the sweet moments because everything that was happening around me was just that.

I hope you enjoy their trailer!

And then there was MUD!!

2011-09-21T07:38:00.000-05:00

The ‘goblet of fire’ is what started the stampede of warriors racing to the first obstacle.

¾ of a mile later the warriors climbed the hay hill and dropped down on the other side

The scrap yard of rusted wreckage was next. While running through the tires some warriors might have face planted and had the battle scars to prove it.

The next obstacle challenged the warriors up and over skills as well as their limbo skills…it’s called the BARRIOR BREAKDOWN

The Great Warrior Wall is only for true warriors…can you survive??

After feeling nauseated from the heights warriors then have to get low to the ground and dive into the darkness of the BLACKOUT. What you’ll find in there is too scary to say…

The few that made it out.

Crawl across the tangled mess of the chaotic Crossover. You have now reached half way.

Some choose to roll, others chose the hard way.

With no foot pedestals the giant cliff hanger challenges even the toughest warrior.

Maneuvering over and down a cargo net may sound easy, but not if it’s 30 feet high and there are 30 other people on it at the same time. Talk about some major rope burn.

To finish out the dash there’s the roast

And then there was MUD!!!

Most of our group before

My battle scars from the road rage obstacle. I might have been that warrior that face planted :).

Most of our group afterwards

I feel like this picture really sums up the day!!

I'm sooooo glad we did this and I'm soooo glad that people were able to step out of their comfort zones (hhmmm Rachel and Shelley :)). We all had a blast and can't wait for the next one...Maybe the Spartan Race or the Tough Mudder?

Get Muddy,

Kimberly

A few crafty things and something new!!

2011-09-14T12:38:00.000-05:00

I've been quite crafty lately and I think if I had enough time I would start an etsy shop, but that will have to come later. For now, I just want to make these cute little things for fun and for people's showers (baby showers that is ;) ).

Alyza Brooke has been mentioned a lot lately on here, but it's because she is practically my neice. We had a baby shower on Sunday and this was my gift along with the video.

I wanted to do a mod podge like this one my friend did for her baby room, but I just wasn't digging what I had so then I tried something else and then something and finally I got to this...I think it turned out way cute!!

Last night we had a mini surprise baby shower for a girl that plays bunco with us. Her baby is due in October and his name is Connor Jack. I checked out her registry and what she was doing the baby room in and found this

So, I tried to re-create the turtle for her canvas :).

Rachel and I also made our first diaper wreath!!! Let me tell you this thing is so much easier and cheaper than a diaper cake. I can easily spend $40 on a diaper cake because the diapers alone are $20 and then you have to buy all of the accessories (which is my favorite part by the way), but with the wreath you don't use near as many diapers. The best part, besides the diapers, is Rachel got a cute straw wreath that the mom can re-use one the diapers are taken off (genius!!) so it's not only a baby gift, but a mommy gift too!!

I found the cute little woodland animals at Hobby Lobby. We are planning on making another this weekend and it might get a little crazy :), but we'll keep you updated!

Now for the something new!! We have been using one of Gary's old roommate's couches because when he moved out he didn't need them. His girlfriend just got a new apartment, but didn't have any living room furniture so he decided to give his to her, which opened our living room up for something new!! I was overly nervous and anxious about furniture shopping. This was our VERY FIRST big purchase (minus Dora the Explorer Rosie Washer) and I know that couches can be WAY TOO EXPENSIVE. We did a little shopping around, but went back to our very first love...

sorry the picture is so dark. It was taken at night and obviously our overhead light isn't as bright as I thought.

RED COUCHES!!!! Gary came home early this weekend from Alabama while I was at Alyza's baby shower and moved them in. Everytime I would think about them being in the living room when I got home I would get all tingly and excited. They look so much better than I expected. We do have to do a little curtain swaping because the ones that are up right now are red and red on red is a big no no in my book. Anyway, I love them and you all are welcome to come over anytime and cozy up on a red couch!!

Happy crafting and coozying,

Kimberly

Alyza Brooke

2011-09-12T12:07:00.002-05:00

Remember when this baby was born?

Remember when I showed you all this a little while back and mentioned I would be doing my first baby video soon...well, here is the edited teaser for friends and family to view online!!

Let me know what you think. Leave me some comments!!

Thanks to the fill-in videographers since I wasn't able to be there for the actual birth!!

Where Was God?

2011-09-07T12:59:00.000-05:00

I read this on a friend's blog and I just had to share...

In conjunction with the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11th, Frontline is airing a special that asks where God was on the day that a total of over 3,400 people died in America at the hands of terrorists.

Did you know that on a typical work day, there were 50,000 workers combined in both towers of the World Trade Center? Did you know that every hour, approximately 10,000 visitors came to the twin towers? Did you know that it is estimated that at least 3,000 emergency personnel were on site at the time the buildings collapsed? Did you know that there were 304 people who died when the airplanes crashed?
Where was God? He was busy. He was the hope in the over 60,000 who did escape. He was the courage of the men and women who went into burning buildings. He was the resolve of those who refused to let their airplane kill more people. He was the unexplainable strength in the ones who lost their loved ones. He was the compassion in those of us who watched helplessly. He was the camaraderie of a country.

On a day when evil made such an impact, I saw more good. There was more love and service and sacrifice on that day, than I believe was ever seen in our country. The loss of even a few would be devastating, but the loss of so very many should have been crippling. Bin Laden had to have expected far more Americans to lose their lives…he had to have been disappointed at his failure.

Years ago, Billy Graham’s daughter was interviewed on national TV after a natural disaster of some sort. She said that of course God has disappeared because we haven’t invited Him into our schools, our businesses, our lives. But I respectfully disagree with her. God hasn’t disappeared. God is the only good that comes from any of those tragedies. He is the only reason we continually escape with fewer lives lost than estimated, He is the only reason there isn’t far, far more devastation in our world.

I submit to you that without God, there would have been 63,300 + lives lost. I know where He was. The only question I care to ask is: when tragedy strikes, where will God find me?

I love living in Nashville (Part 3)

2011-08-29T13:24:00.001-05:00

This is the third installment of almost celebrity sightings. The first was Here (still can't find if there is a show yet, but I'll keep you posted) and here.

Here is the Joe Nichols video...

Take It Off - Joe Nichols - Joe Nichols Videos

The part with the above ground pool are what the pics are from.

On to todays sighting...

A Rodney Atkins video

That's him in the blue shirt sitting down with the guitar. This is actually right outside our building, next door. I sit at those tables some and there is a starbucks to the right of this image that I go to regularly.

Kind of a shot of the camera crew...spectators are in the way.

Happy Sightings,

Kimberly

Another Baby!!!

2011-08-22T13:24:00.000-05:00

P.S. My friend from college had a baby on Friday too!!! You can see her here and here!!!

Congrats Helton's and Rutledge's!!!

Kimberly

Boy or Girl?

2011-08-22T13:20:00.000-05:00

I have known several couples that have chosen the route of waiting until birth-day to find out the sex of their baby. I think it makes things very exciting and it's definitely something I might try when that time comes around.

Our family friends, Nick and Rachael, are one of those couples. They already have 2 adorable girls, Alora and Adeline, and waited until August 19 at 11:57pm to find out the sex of their third child.

I was unable to be at the hospital when the baby was born due to prior engagments I had on Saturday with my grandparents, but you better believe I was waiting by my phone on Friday night to hear the gender. I had started a week before painting the baby canvas and I decided to do a little different this time. Instead of the normal ol' stork canvas I decided to step it up a little and try to do the theme of the baby's room. So, I texted Rachael to ask the theme and she replied...

MONKEYS for boy

and

OWLS for girl.

So, I got started on both canvases so I could be ready!

The phone call came in about 12:21am that it was

A GIRL!!!!!!

So, while I hung out with my grandparents on Saturday I added all the detail and stats to the owl painting. It was a big hit at the hospital and I do believe this is going to be my n

Here I am with the 6lb, 5oz, 20 inch long Alyza (a-lie-za) Brooke Tunstill born on August 19, 2011 at 11:57pm.

Congrats Nick, Rachael, Alora and Adeline on your new addition!!!!

More baby-lovin'

Kimberly

Baby Movie

2011-08-19T12:22:00.000-05:00

My sister's best friend, Rachael, will be having her third baby either this weekend or Monday and she asked me to video it. In preparation I would like you all to view Armosa Studios recently added video.

River Asher from Wes Wages on Vimeo.

Armosa Studios

Pretty amazing huh??? Needless to say this makes me super excited for the next few days!!

Poll Closed

2011-08-13T16:20:00.000-05:00

Good thing I set a date on the car voting poll because I completely forgot about it. If you haven't noticed there was a 3 way tie!!!!!!! I did vote, however, I'm going to be the tie breaker and vote one more time for the one out of the top 3 that I like the best!!

The finalists are:

Red Robin

Dora the Explorer

Rosie

I honestly love all three of those options a lot, so I might give her a first and middle name.

So, without further adieu I would like to introduce to...

DORA THE EXPLORER ROSIE WASHER!!!

Of course, we will probably just call her Dora, but in case anyone asks she does have a full name.

Thanks to everyone who gave name options and to those who voted!!

Towel Cake

2011-08-13T16:12:00.000-05:00

My friend, Rachel, and I are hosting a bridal shower tomorrow and we wanted to think of something crafty to give the bride. So, we made a towel cake!!!

This was our first one and I think it turned out pretty cute!!

I watched several you tube videos, but this was my favorite and it's how we made ours.

Happy caking,

Kimberly

Just a little reminder of what I was doing about this time last year...

2011-08-07T17:43:00.000-05:00

About this time last year we did this and remember this? Good times!!

My little friend!

2011-08-06T09:38:00.000-05:00

After being at the hospital ALL DAY because of this, I got the pleasure of going to watch one my friends little girls while they celebrated their 11th wedding anniversary. Since they have had Jadyn they haven't really been able to go on a date, but last night was a huge success!!! They were able to go to dinner and enjoy themselves. When they got home they looked so refreshed. I can't wait to go back and hang out with Jadyn again!!

I don't know why this picture won't rotate for me in here, but it's rotated in my photo album. I think you can still tell how cute she is!!

Happy baby watchin'-

Kimberly

Benjamin Michael Aseret!!!!!

2011-08-05T22:21:00.000-05:00

We welcomed our new nephew into the world this morning!! Gary's sister and her husband had our 3rd nephew (we also have 3 nieces) at 7:50 am. He weighed 7 lbs 12 oz and was 21 inches long. He is perfect and I just can't get enough of him!!!!

Getting warmed up under the lamps.

The proudest Aunt Kimberly there ever was!!!!

He is sooo handsome!!!

Happy baby-lovin'-

Kimberly

Car Names

2011-08-02T11:46:00.000-05:00

I mentioned a while back that I was going to let you all vote on what I should name my car. However, I've been a little side-tracked and out of town. So, now that I'm back I have decided to put the voting poll up for you all to have some say so in what the car will be named. Like I said in the previous post, I do have a couple of names that I am going to add to the poll along with those that were suggested in the comments. Please take a look at the left hand side and cast your vote. The polls will be closed next Friday (Aug. 12) so make sure you vote!!!

Happy Voting,

Going Down Backwoods

2011-07-23T07:41:00.000-05:00

It's that time of year again!!!

Backwoods here I come!!!

Why I've been MIA

2011-07-17T00:08:00.000-05:00

We have had a lot of things going on lately and I'm sorry that I haven't been able to blog very much. I usually do most of my blogging at work and I have just moved to a new position so I have been in training and trying to figure out what I'm doing.

Also, remember when I posted this? Well, on Tuesday morning at about 4:45AM my phone rang. It was Gary's mom and you could tell she had been crying. She simply said, "I guess you know why I'm calling." I didn't really keep you all updated about the health of Pop, but he slowly got worse over the last few months. His heart was just giving out. Gary and I went and saw him several times while he was in the hospital. I would try to run up there after work a few days and check in on him before I went home because he was at St. Thomas, which is pretty close to downtown. I guess it was a couple of weeks ago that they only gave him days to live. The family made sure, even most of the ones that live in Florida, to visit Pop. He would still tell his stories up until the last few days. He was such a wonderful man and we all know that he is in a better place, but it's still hard. I know I only knew him for the last few years of his life but he welcomed me into the family and never treated me any different than his own grandchildren. He will be truly missed. If you could say a quick prayer for the family and especially his wife Christine. Christine is Pop's second wife after Gary's grandma, Martha Ruth, passed away in 97. Christine also lost her first husband. I obviously wasn't around when grandma passed and when Pop and Christine got married, but she too is part of the family and it has been really hard to see her go through such a big loss not only once in her life, but twice. So, please make sure when you pray that Christine is mentioned as well. We spent the last few days down in Pulaski at the visitation and funeral. Pop was one loved man and there were a lot of people that came.

We are now on Lickskillet Rd in KY visiting Matt and Martha Riley. Martha was one of my college roommates and she and her husband live on the farm! Gary has to do a mission report at a church in KY tomorrow night so we thought we would head up here a little early and spent some time with the Riley's. It has been a good day. Gary's told Matt and Martha several stories about Pop and we have laughed a lot.

So, that's where we have been the last few days, weeks, however long it has been since I blogged.

Kimberly

Gary Graduated!!

2011-07-06T14:51:00.000-05:00

My handsome little husband finally graduated from college!!!! He had a little bit of a detour in his younger days, which lead him to the degree that he has today. He got his Bachelors in ministry with an emphasis in counseling.

This is at the church party.

Gary and two other girls were college graduates

The college graduates normally get a concordance, but Gary requested a Greek New Testament (he got it) since he already has several concordances. They also do a roasting session and Gary's award was...I married way out of my league and maybe even out of my universe...Hey I can't make this stuff up!

Here he is on graduation day!!!

With his oldest niece, Hannah

Getting his diploma

I even got a diploma...My PHT (Putting Hubby Through)

The graduating class of 2011 from Heritage Christian

with professors

Gary with his Pop Barlar

his parents, Tony and Delores

Gary's family from left to right: dad, Tony, me, sister Laura, Gary, sister Emily, niece Hannah, mom Delores, Pop Barlar

with his sisters Laura and Emily

with my family

with his Aunt Denise and Uncle Phelan

with my diploma

closer

The two graduates :)

There was a little reception afterwards...

And then we partyed at our house that night...

Gary with his nephew, Christopher

Gary's diploma

Happy graduating,

Kimberly

60 Years Together

2011-07-06T12:44:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago we celebrated my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary! They are such a wonderful example of a Christian couple and I'm so glad that we all have them to follow. My grandfather has dementia and my grandmother takes care of him full time. They live with my aunt and uncle and have a helper that comes during the day while my aunt (a nurse practitioner) is at work. I love to go over there when things exciting aren't happening and visit with them. My granddaddy is just so sweet and even though he might say some things in his old age we all know he loves us!

My aunt and uncle came up with the idea to have the surprise party for them and invite all the kids, grandkids, and great grandkids! I was in charge of the cake and a couple of days before the party I asked my cousin to ask my grandmother what her favorite cake is. She told him and then asked, "Why?" The little clever thing that he is said, "Oh it's a facebook 'know your family' quiz." I thought that was genius!!! The two cakes she said were her favorite were coconut (BLAH!!) and mandarine orange cake. So, I made the mandarine orange cake...

My sister got the toppers. Yes, it's a little crooked. The G = Gordon & H = Hazel. 60 is the diamond anniversary, so we have some bling on there.

What do you get a couple that has been married for 60 years and has everything they could ever want or need? Well...

flowers of course!!

The cute couple!!

I had a hard time trying to get granddaddy to look at the camera.

Here's Granddaddy (aka Pops) and Grandmother with their youngest great grand-daughter Zoy (pronounced - Zoe)! Pops just smiled and squeezed her and she did so good with him!

You can click on it to make it larger.

She really is sooo stinkin' funny! If she has a question for you, even if you aren't currently focused on anything or anyone but her she will say, "excuse me, excuse me." It's the cutest thing ever!!

Now let me introduce you to my mom's side of the family...

Grandmother and Pops with their oldest son, Brad.

and his family starting from the left...His wife, Gail, son, Brian, Grandmother, Pops, Brad, his daughter Jenna with her daughter Zoy and Riley and Jenna's husband Pat. We took so many pictures and this was the best one of the Evans.

My mom, Jan, is their second child

Then there's me and Gary, Shelley (her husband, Jared wasn't able to make it) and mom (dad wasn't able to make it either.

Pops and grandmother with their youngest, Kecia. She was out of town and I thought she deserved to be in the pictures :). Her shirt and skirt don't really match and she's heavenly bright, but you know.

Then this is her family starting from the left. Her oldest, Paul Jr., her husband, Paul, her middle child, Evan, and the youngest sitting by grandmother is Elizabeth.

Then here's all the grandkids, great grandkids and spouse's of grandkids (that were able to make it).

We had a great time and we are all so thankful that we were able to celebrate our grandparents 60th anniversary!!! We love you Grandmother and Pops!!!!

Happy celebrating,

Kimberly

My new car

2011-07-06T11:50:00.000-05:00

Better late than never to show you all pictures of my new car!! It's not really new, but it's new to me and I LOVE IT!!!!!

Sorry I didn't get any of the inside, but I'll describe it to you. It has grey leather interior with a third row (yes, I know to haul more kids) and a sun roof. Oh and the air vents go all back to the third row!!!

I also have my first TN license plate!!! I've been driving an AL car for years now because my dad just kept buying my tags (not complaining, thanking). It was nice to have 'foreign' tags just in case I ever had to slam on my breaks due to passing a road or cutting someone off because I was about to miss my exit...it gave me a good excuse, 'oh she's from out of town.' Well, I don't get to use that one anymore. I guess I'll need to make sure I drive like a Tennessean now, which equals slamming on my breaks and cutting people off, so I don't have to change much :).

I don't have a name for her yet. I decided that she needs to be a her since I drove Ranger Joe for so long and had The Green Machine before that. Ideas are welcome!!! I already have two options to add to the voting poll that I'm going to put on my blog, but I need two more options. Leave a comment and I'll pick my favorite two!!! Good luck!

Happy Driving/Naming,

Kimberly

I love living in Nashville (Part 2)

2011-06-30T16:21:00.000-05:00

Remember this? Well, it's happened again! As we were walking from the office to the parking garage a guy stops us before we cross the street because they were shooting a music video right in front of our garage. I didn't see any celebritites (once again), but the video was for Joe Nichols

I didn't think about taking a picture until I was already past it, but I did flip around and get this.

You can't really tell what's going on, but there is an above ground pool with people laying out around it.

Closer shot.

Anyway, just thought it was cool!!

Happy almost celebrity siting to you,

Kimberly

To My Social Media-Using Christian Friends:

2011-06-29T09:11:00.000-05:00

I read this on a blog I follow and I thought it was very thought provoking and needed to be shared further. I don't have a twitter account, but I can relate to the facebook status updates.

To My Social Media-Using Christian Friends:

Sometimes we are whiny, superficial, proud, judgmental jerks on Twitter.
Lately, I’ve been feeling very convicted by what I think is not only a lost opportunity but probably an abuse of power by those of us Christians representing Christ on the Internet.
According to Galatians 5, God’s people bear visible fruit. They’re loving. Joyful. Patient. Kind. Peaceful.
I do follow people on Twitter who are all of those things. Reading their words uplifts, encourages, challenges, and delights me. Among the often dismal offerings in my feed, they are a ray of light.
They don’t ball out the phone company or bash the president out of hand. They don’t mock other people’s work, other people’s clothes, other people’s taste, other people’s less than wise choices. They steward well the attention of friends and associates, many of whom do not know Christ.
I don't imagine that kind of persistent joy, gentleness, and kindness comes easily.
Personally, I’m regularly tempted to Tweet out of anger, to Tweet out of pride, to Tweet out of envy. I update my Facebook status as much to feed my own ego and glorify myself as for any other reason. I’m struggling to define for myself what is and is not appropriate to “share” in a status.
Whatever words I type into that little white rectangle represent more than a whispered concern to a friend over coffee. I must be fully aware that 100, 500, 1,000 or more people are listening and weighing the truth and power of God almighty based on the fruit or fruitlessness of my post.
I want to believe that we Tweet or update unwisely because we type in haste, hurrying to capture what seemed funny or important in the moment. I’ve done this (I do this), speaking before thinking, offending people I respect, losing credibility, and making an idiot of myself.
I’m reminded of Proverbs 29:20:
“Do you see someone who speaks in haste?

There is more hope for a fool than for them.”
A wise woman thinks before she types, sending her words through a filter before she shares them with every person she met at that cool party last night, every woman in her grandmother’s ladies Bible class, and every potential employer visiting her profile page. Not to mention her hairdresser who she just invited to Bible study.

I worry, though, that it’s about more than typing in haste. I know people who plan their Tweets or Facebook notes days in advance and still they’re bitingly sarcastic, mean, or petty. I’m afraid that many of us are jerks on the Internet because we’re jerks in our hearts.
As Jesus said:
“Every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.”
I do not want to criticize the judgmental by being judgmental. I just want to encourage all of us to live with discretion and integrity, doing all we can to look like Christ—at church, at work, at the homeless shelter, and on the Internet.
I want, more than anything, for my light—God’s light in me—to lead others into a powerful, life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ, Savior and Redeemer of mankind. I don’t want anything to get in the way of that.
Definitely not a hastily composed, ill-spirited Tweet.

Post via,
Kimberly

I forgot something

2011-06-29T08:13:00.000-05:00

So, when I wrote this I was in a little bit of a hurry and I left out some of the funny parts. Only when I read my friend's blog here this morning did I realize that I too had a similar story when trying to cook for Gary. You may think that I'm a good cook, but honestly I'm not great at it and that's why Gary does most of the cooking. We actually try to cook together so that each of can focus on something. He usually takes care of the meat and I do the veggies. It works perfect for us!!!

So, me cooking and baking the entire meal is not something I'm used to. Remember I made a new recipe of Chicken Madeira and I had never made Chess Pie before either. Needless to say there were a few hic-ups throughout the preparation. I most definitly use every pot, pan, dish, spoon, and all of the counter space when I'm cooking. There's never any down time for me to wash the item I just used (and by the way our dish washer is broken) so the dishes just get PILED HIGH!!! When I got home the chicken was still frozen, so the suggested time of 4-6 minutes on each side turned into a little longer for mine. I got the potatoes boiling and then remembered that the sauce takes 20 minutes...oh well too late to stop them now. The actual food wasn't the problem, it was the dessert. I put all of the ingredients the recipe called for and when I went to pour it in my pie crust it definitly overflowed!!!!!! All over the countertop. I tried to pick the pie up and dump some back in the bowl and when I did it toppled over and spilled practically the entire filling on the counter. Of course it started dripping off of the counter onto the floor...and the sauce is done...and the potatoes are boiling over...whew it's making me tired just trying to remember what all happened. I just told myself to stay calm and not get upset because my friends could stall him as long as I needed. There was a little pie filling still in the bowl so I put that in there and just prayed everytime I had pick it up that it wouldn't spill again. I got the counter cleaned off before Gary got home, but the remnants were still on the floor...OOPS! So, just a bit of advice...you might want to make two pies if you use this recipe or cut it in half for one!!

The food did get cold before Gary got home, but I zapped it for a few minutes and I have to say I was pretty proud of myself. I kept patting myself on the back throughout the night...HEHE!!

Not that I'm going to be cooking alone all the time, but I know that I can do it. However, don't expect my kitchen to be clean afterwards, the food to be hot or for me to look less than being run over by a train!

Happy Cooking (alone),
Kimberly

A little surprise!

2011-06-28T16:06:00.000-05:00

I'm going to try and shorten this story since I don't have pictures to break it up with, but it might be a little draining to read. You can't say I didn't warn you :).

If you haven't already figured it out, I love to surprise Gary! I think it's fun and exciting and I'm such a complete hopeless romantic it's out of control. So, I had been planning since last week sometime to make Gary dinner last night for his birthday and surprise him when he got home. Well, the plan seemed to fail when he told me either Saturday or Sunday that he wasn't going into the office at all on Monday.

Sunday afternoon we went to his parent's house for lunch and I told his mom and sister that I needed one of them to come up with an 'emergency' to get him out of the house between 3:30-5:30ish. They shook their heads in agreement, so I thought whew the toughest part is over!

Before church Sunday evening, Gary had a session and I thought that would be the perfect opportunity for me to shop for the ingredients for our dinner. I was planning on making...

Madeira Chicken

and

His favorite Chess Pie

I honestly had a lot of the ingredients so I only had to pick up a few things. Normally when he gets back from his session I haven't started getting ready for evening worship, but this Sunday was different. When he walked in the door I was sitting in the living room dressed and ready to go working a new craft project (blog coming soon). He was kind of taken back, but obviously didn't think much about it cause he just sat down and started watching the movie I had in until it was time to leave. Oh and by the way I hid the few ingredients I had to get just in case he saw them and wondered when and why I had bought them. Surprisingly our fridge is quite full right now so I could have put them in plain daylight and he probably wouldn't have noticed, but I did hide them in a draw instead.

I had also already been to get him his birthday present during the week. I have a stash of wedding gifts I've recently bought that are hanging out in our office. He knows they are there and has no reason to go through them so I just stuffed his birthday bag behind those. He's pretty easy to surprise with presents because he's not much of the snooper. Speaking of, have you ever heard the story about me searching for my engagement ring??? Well, it's funny and that's a whole other blog post.

Back to the topic at hand...So, I came into work yesterday at 6 so that I could leave at 3 and head home to have the extra time to cook. Well, at around 2 his sister calls and says, "So, what exactly am I supposed to do?" I knew at that moment that I had to come up with another plan. His friend, Jimmy, works with my company now, but he used to work with Gary doing SFT, but he didn't have enough funds so he had to find a "real job." Him and his wife are leaving for Costa Rica on Thursday and so he and I collectivly came up with the idea that Jimmy needed some materials printed off so they could get mailed out today. It was pretty genious and fool-proof (is that the right word?)...so we thought.

I had to make one final stop before heading home, but Jimmy called him at 3:15 and told him about his emergency. The printing off and dropping the papers off would take Gary about 45-an hour. So, if he would have left in a hurry (like I thought he would), we would need to find somewhere else for him to go at about 4.

Laura, his sister, has been getting rid of girl baby clothes to make room for Benjamin's stuff. I took a few things that I liked recently (no we aren't pregnant, but it's ok to plan ahead) and had told her I didn't really want anymore. However, for the surprise purposes I had told her that I might send Gary over to get some, but whatever he got I would just give back to her later. So, the plan was when I got home I would call him to see where he was and then 'while he was out' he could stop by Laura's for me. Laura was ready to stall (he would have been so frustrated!!). But instead of him already being gone when I got home his car was still there!!!!!! I literally pulled in our neighborhood, turned down our road and slammed on my brakes when I saw his car (thankfully nobody was behind me) and did a U-turn. I drove around the neighborhood and called him and acted as though I was just about to get off work. He said he was about to START working out and then Jimmy needed him to go print some stuff off. START working out??? He was already putting me behind, but just now Starting to work out?? His workouts aren't really that long, but longer than I was willing to wait. At this point it became a will to wait. I could have busted up in there and ruined the whole surprise, but instead I parked at a little parking lot down the road where I could see the house and waited...and waited...and waited for about 40 minutes!!! I called and texted everyone who knew about the surprise and they all just laughed.

So, finally at about 4:40 he walked outside and then he walked back in...Then he finally left for good. When I got in the house I was hoping all of the dishes and livingroom were clean, but alas they were not. I'm not much of the multi-tasker when it comes to cooking so I had to rush around and I was sweating like CRAZY!!!!

So, he ended up finishing the printing and his friend Lee was home at that point. Lee intercepted him and he didn't even have to go to Laura's. He went to Lee's and hung out for a while and by the time he got home I had all the curtains pulled (since it was still very sunny out) with candles lit and his dinner sitting on the table! He was completely surprised.

He told me later that he thought there was going to be a party at Lee and Rachel's and once he left there he didn't think anything was going on. I love surprising him!! I took some pictures of our food, but I couldn't upload them today. Sorry! Just know that it was good!!!!!!!!!!!! And actually it looked A LOT like the pictures above!!!!

I got him a pink bow tie and it is soo cute and I can't wait until he wears it. Later on he had to clean the fish he and his Pop had caught. That's always a fun time in our house!

All in all I think it was a pretty good birthday/first date anniversary!!!

Happy Birthday (it's always someones birthday right?),

Kimberly

P.S. I love surprises and this is the only one I have had recently ;).

A look back...

2011-06-28T08:59:00.000-05:00

5 YEARS AGO...(yesterday)

Gary and I went on our very first date!!! We went to Famous Daves to eat and later went to Steak and Shake for some milkshakes. He actually asked me to give him a kiss and I turned him down, but then he came back and said, "It's my birthday! Now give me some sugar!" Yes, he stole his first kiss! So, by now you have noticed that this day is not only special because of our first date, but also because it's GARY'S BIRTHDAY!!!! Let's step back in time and look at us over the years...

While we were dating and I lived at Freed. He came to visit.

We have been to Gatlinburg 3 times...

We always go right around Christmas (hence the xmas trees)

Our First Christmas together

Man we look so young...and skinny!!!

Our first V-day together

Gary's first (and last) Makin' Music

Gary's first (and last) Riverboat

We've been to a few Titans games...

This one was on Christmas day!

I love this picture from Mr. and Miss FHU

I graduated college

We got engaged!

We got married!

Gary went to Costa Rica

We went to Malaysia,

Malacca,

Langkawi,

India,

Singapore

and many other places.

Gary graduated college.

These past 5 years have been amazing and I'm thankful that I have Gary in my life. Happy 5 year first day anniversary...oh...and Happy Birthday (yesterday).

Love,

Kimberly

P.S. in case you are confused I started this post yesterday and just finished it today. Sorry for the delay and confusion :).

The Woman and the Fork

2011-06-27T06:45:00.000-05:00

There are so many activities going on at our congregation I sometimes get a little lost. One of those activities is Secret Sisters. This is my first year to do Secret Sisters and to be honest I'm not the best at it. I have sent my secret sister a few cards and a little gift, but whoever my sister is has ROCKED!!! I think I have an idea who it is and if I'm right I know why she is so good! Anyway, I guess protocal is that we have a devo emailed to us once a month (I like that). Below is this months thought and I really liked it so I thought I would share it with my readers. Enjoy!!

The Woman and the Fork

There was a young woman who had been diagnosed with a terminal illness and had been given three months to live. So as she was getting her things 'in order,' she contacted her Pastor and had him come to her house to discuss certain aspects of her final wishes.
She told him which songs she wanted sung at the service, what scriptures she would like read, and what outfit she wanted to be buried in.
Everything was in order and the Pastor was preparing to leave when the young woman suddenly remembered something very important to her. 'There's one more thing,' she said excitedly.
'What's that?' came the Pastor's reply.
'This is very important,' the young woman continued. 'I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand.'
The Pastor stood looking at the young woman, not knowing quite what to say.
'That surprises you, doesn't it?' the young woman asked.
'Well, to be honest, I'm puzzled by the request,' said the Pastor.
The young woman explained..... 'My grandmother once told me this story, and from that time on I have always tried to pass along its message to those I love and those who are in need of encouragement. In all my years of attending socials and dinners, I always remember that when the dishes of the main course were being cleared, someone would inevitably lean over and say, 'Keep your fork.' It was my favorite part because I knew that something better was coming......like velvety chocolate cake or deep-dish apple pie. Something wonderful, and with substance!'
So, I just want people to see me there in that casket with a fork in my hand and I want them to wonder 'What's with the fork?' Then I want you to tell them: 'Keep your fork ..the best is yet to come.'
The Pastor's eyes welled up with tears of joy as he hugged the young woman good-bye. He knew this would be one of the last times he would see her before her death. But he also knew that the young woman had a better grasp of heaven than he did. She had a better grasp of what heaven would be like, than many people twice her age, with twice as much experience and knowledge. She KNEW that something better was coming.
At the funeral people were walking by the young woman's casket and ! they saw the cloak she was wearing and the fork placed in her right hand. Over and over, the Pastor heard the question, 'What's with the fork?' And over and over he smiled.
During his message, the Pastor told the people of the conversation he had with the young woman shortly before she died. He also told them about the fork and about what it symbolized to her. He told the people how he could not stop thinking about the fork and told them that they probably would not be able to stop thinking about it either.
I felt like this story had two main points. First, we have so much to look forward to as Christian women. Sometimes we get so caught up in things going on in this world that we forget about the treasures Heaven holds for us. Remember to keep your eyes on the prize; don't let the worries of today weigh you down. That's what this group is all about. We are sisters, we are a support team.
The second point is this: Tell everyone the good news! Even in death this woman helps share her faith with everyone she encounters. We are a people set apart, and we act differently. This is how we share Jesus without even speaking a word. Remember the fruits of the Spirit.
Matthew 6:19-20

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Kimberly

Speaking of Bunco

2011-06-23T10:47:00.000-05:00

Well, I really only spoke of it in this post, but I started thinking about it and thought I should go into more detail about why I love Bunco (I had no idea there was a World Bunco Association)! First and foremost, it gives us ladies an opportunity to get together and just enjoy each other. I honestly wish that while you were reading this post I could have background noise playing from a Bunco night. Just imagine the sounds of rolling dice, simultanious AWWWWWWW's (due to a wipeout) or AHHHHHHHH's (due to a bunco), random chatter about their lives, laughing, and maybe an occasional FANG FINGERS (EH EH EH EH - the noise I make when I do them)

Thank you Taylor for that nice visual.

I like to do Fang Fingers as much as possible when I'm around Gary because he HATES them!!!!!!!!

Anyway, Bunco makes me happy!! We play once a month at a different bunco girls home. She decides on what time of food she wants and then we all just fill in the gaps. This past week was baked potato bar...YUMMY!!! We also bring $5 to go towards the gifts the hostess buys for the most of all the catergories. We only do 5 gifts (most wipeouts, most buncos, most wins, most losses, and most travelers). The hostess if only suppossed to spend $5 per gift. Therefore, if we have 16 people playing and 5 x 16 = 80 (yes, I had to use a calculator), then what do we do with the rest of the money?? Why we give it to a charity of course. We can decide on whatever charity we want and this month we bought a bike for a preacher in India!!!! Bunco night is a great way to relieve stress and give back. In July, Bunco will be at my house. I'll be sure to report back!!!

Oh and might I add that I love when I get a gift that is just perfect!! Thank you Terry Lea and Shelby for the beach tote, towel, chapstick, and nail file. The last two have already come in major handy!!! Oh and thanks to Target too!!

Happy rolling,
Kimberly

P.S.

2011-06-23T10:25:00.000-05:00

I found a set of Safari animal stickers at the dollar store, so I'll add them to my diaper cake when I get home. I'll be sure to take an updated picture...If I like it, of course :).

Kimberly

New Diaper Cake

2011-06-23T07:59:00.000-05:00

For my nephew I have done a lot of firsts. My first diaper cake. My first announcement canvas and I knew that once I started doing these crafty things that I would fall in love and people would start asking me to do some for them. I really enjoy doing it, but its finding the time. My mom called me on Monday and asked if I could have a diaper cake done by Thursday. She has a church shower on Sunday and the theme is Safari. At first I thought there was no way I would have time. Monday night was Bunco, Tuesday night I had a softball game and Wednesday night is church. However, before Bunco I had to run to the store anyway to get the things I needed to take and just decided to get all of my diaper cake ingredients at the same time. The boys were getting together at our house while we were at bunco so Sara and I were riding together. I made sure the house was in order and then started rolling some diapers before Jimmy and Sara got there. Then Tuesday night after my game I pretty much finished the entire thing. Once I get started it's really hard for me to stop :). This one seemed to be a little bit more difficult because I used 3 seperate ribbons around each layer and my husband isn't as helpful as my sister and grandmother. I started out hot glueing, but then found some sticky tabs that I used for the top three layers. Much easier than hot glue and less dangerous. Yes, I burnt myself a couple of times...it reminded me of college when my roommates banned me from the hot glue gun because I always got injured. Anyway, I had grabbed a few decorations at the store to throw on the cake and some stickers. I seemed to have mis-placed the stickers so I might have to run and get some more because I honestly think it will look better with them...

The stickers will go around the 'Safari.'

Ingredients:

1 pack of size 2 LUVS diapers

1 roll of giraffe print ribbon (used all)

1 roll of orange shiney ribbon

1 roll of brown shiney ribbon

hot glue gun OR sticky tabs

RUBBERBANDS (LOTS AND LOTS)

1 stuffed giraffe that says the ABC's

2 animal finger puppets (sticks they are on courtesy of Starbucks)

2 rubber animal toys

Directions:

Roll each diaper individually and wrap a rubberband around it. You can spread the whole diaper out and wrap that way or just start at the fold and wrap up. I can do it either way, but the second option is quicker when you don't have any helpers :).

Once all of the diapers are rolled start making the layers. I usually start with 8 and then add a layer around. This cake is actually one layer higher than my last cake, but the top layer only has 4 or 5 diapers. I just kind of play it by ear as to how I want to do the layers. The last cake was done with size 1 diapers and there were 100 of them (very different). Anyway, once you get the layers done you start adding your embellishments. I'm going to tell my mom that she can add more stuff to it if she wants because I think it does need more. Also, this one is just sitting on a glass cake plate. It's actually a giraffe type print on it, but you can't tell :).

I really enjoy making them and actually another girl at church just told us she is pregnant and guess when she's due!!!!!!!! JANUARY 7th...one day before my birthday. Even though she isn't showing and the baby probably doesn't even have ears yet, I definitly hunched down and told him/her to wait one more day so that we could share a birthday :). Congrats Mark and Amy!! I also told her that she had to use regular diapers and not clothe diapers so I could try out this whole diaper wreath thing. My next project is another announcement canvas for a shower at the end of July and then Rachel and I are doing a towel cake for a wedding shower!!! Lots of fun!!!!!

Happy crafting,
Kimberly

Flash Mob in Nashville

2011-06-20T14:06:00.000-05:00

It's happened again!!! This time it was downtown Nashville.

I didn't realize that anybody could do a flash mab. DUH!!!! It makes sense. All you have to do is record a dance and get random people in on it.

Please oh please can me and my friends and whoever else do a flash mob together??? Have you seen this one?

This one is easy...I think the next time I see frozen people I'll just freeze myself and say I was in a flash mob!!!

Happy Freezing or Dancing or Flashing,
Kimberly

CHICAGO!!!!!!!

2011-06-20T07:46:00.000-05:00

Sorry it's taken me so long to post about out anniversary trip to Chicago. If you remember I planned this surprise trip for Gary and gave him clues everyday starting the week before we left. I put this little video together and there are some mess-ups, but don't judge me by them. I tried to go back and fix them and obviously it didn't work. There's a random title in there and when the silver guy is dancing I missed the word 'him.' The video parts were captured with my mother-in-laws little digital camera so that's why the quality isn't all that great. We were going to take the new video camera, but decided against it.

Oh and remember when I posted the weather? Well, let me be the first to tell you that it was not the same 60 + degrees I know. I had to buy a scarf and if they would have still had winter coats out I probably would have bought one of those as well. The scarf didn't really help much the first day because with the windchill it felt like 40...BRRRR!!! We still had lots of fun though and didn't really let the weather slow us down.

One thing I wasn't able to take pictures during was the Peter Pan 360 show we went to. That was something I really bought for myself. We really enjoyed, but I've come to the conclusion that I'm much more of a musical girl. Here's a little short video of what it was like.

Of course this is from the one they had in San Francisco, but you get the idea.

Now it's time to enjoy our little video!!

2nd Anniversary trip to Chicago from Kimberly Washer on Vimeo.