Woodring's World

A Little Bit of Life....

2011-11-01T06:25:00.001-07:00

So I had intended on waiting for my wedding pictures to blog about the wedding then just start going forward with everything since but I just can't wait any longer or I will never catch up! So here goes nothing!

HONEYMOON

All of my pictures uploaded backwards of course and I am NOT going to go back and rearrange all of them....we will call this the blog o pictures :)

Below is us waiting for our plane to come home....boy was this a vacation for the record books! By far the absolute best vacation I had ever had!! We had so much fun and it was so nice it just being us....don't get me wrong I love my family oh so much and I love his family oh so much but it was a much needed break away from everyone! :)

My good sport hubby was selected to be in the Carnival Legends show that is done on the last night of the cruise....we went kareoking(if that is a word) one night and the woman in charge heard him and asked him to be in it.....yes my friends he was Elton John singing "Crockadile Rock". Have I mentioned he was such a good sport and did a FANTASTIC JOB?!?! Just one of the many things I absolutely love about him....he has an amazing voice! :)

Another shot of the hideous outfit he had to wear but hey he makes it look good right?!? :)

Here are the girls waiting for all their men to perform....all were in the show! :) These girls and their repsective significant others were hilarious! they definitely made the trip a little more interesting!

Last night at dinner.....getting sad we are about to end our honeymoon!

Watching one of the shows :) Wish I had gotten a full body shot in this shirt.....I really liked it!

Dressy night #2! So much fun! This is at dinner!

Full body shot before dinner!

out on our balcony.....we tried to take pictures out there as much as we possible could!

This is Grand Turk!!!! People this is the most beautiful place I have ever seen!!! We walked out waste deep and still see clear to our toes!! We bought a cheap underwater camera (that we still haven't developed...that's for another blog) so I will have to put those up of us snorkling here! This is Governors Beach! (Oh to have those tan legs back!)

This is Me and Misty at Margaritaville! Her and her husband were married on the same day we were and they were our dinner mates? (Is that the right word??)

and this is Nate and Nate.....weird right? His name was Nate too....it was funny how many similarities we had with them! :)

This is Nate and I on Governors Beach!!! It was so pretty and all my bathing suits are strapless so it looks like I am naked in a lot of these pictures! :)

Us on our way to Governor's Beach!

Our wrist bands! :)

First getting on the island! Ya'll it's absolutely beautiful there....for real! If you get a chance to go you definitely should!!!

Right when we stepped off the boat!

Hadn't even changed into my swimsuit yet....just crawled out of bed to see the beginning of the island!

To waste some time we went up to the top deck and played some putt putt golf! Nate was the winner.....

Woo that hair was all over the place up there.....you talk about a tangled mess! It was crazy!

This is Nate and I at San Juan! It was a very touristy town....this was the only "beach" there was and it wasn't very beachy!

Another picture of us in San Juan! :)

Another shot of us in San Juan! It was definitely pretty there!

Our table's group picture....can you tell we really liked our table mates? :)

On the tour bus to see the old city of San Juan! :)

Our little group that went on the sight seeing tour together :)

Nate and I in front of the capital building in San Juan!

This was another night at dinner.....it was so good until a woman walked by and dropped a whole tray of food and me and Nate.....if you were wondering the glass stuff they use is heavy....but we laughed and the woman felt so bad....but they dry cleaned our clothes so it was nice! :)

This is St. Thomas......boy it was so pretty!

I mean seriously Nate and I both decided we wanted to take a full vacation at St. Thomas! Definitely recommend it!

Did I mention St. Thomas was absolutely beautiful??!?

I mean seriously beautiful!

This is right before we went parasailing.......

First view of St. Thomas!

Nate singing at kareoke! :)

Dressy night number 1!! So much fun!!!

Close up shot of me and Nate! :)

Stair view of us! :)

One night on our balcony!! :)

Our only shot we didn't get professionally done! (And yes I am still mad that I let my loving hubby talk me out of buying it! :))

This is me in front of the Disney Dream!!! Michelle, Louise Laurie.....are ya'll ready to go yet?!!? Because after looking at this ship I CAN NOT WAIT!!! :)

We just got off the boat in the Bahamas! :) We were so excited!!!

First night on the boat!! So excited about dinner!

Me balancing the checkbook :) Fun start to our honeymoon right?!?

Nate enjoying the scenary in Miami :)

Waiting in line to get on the boat :)

On the plane headed to Miami!! :0

first picture after the wedding! :)

My Sweet Niece is ONE!!!

2011-09-16T07:35:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday Sweet Ellie! I can't believe you are ONE today!!! I remember how your momma and daddy told us we were going to Aunt's! Your mom got all creative on us and made this cute home made card and I can remember thinking I am so excited and how i have prayed for this day and maybe even got the prison ministry people to pray for you too! :) But skip ahead 9 LONG months to the day you were born.

Oh how I remember sitting in the waiting room with all your grandparents and your aunt! Boy LaLa and I were so excited we could hardly stand it! Your mom gave us STRICT instructions to NOT wait outside the door so your LoLo made sure we didn't.....but LoLo couldn't stop us from "accidentally" walking by your momma's door and listening in. :) (Your mom may not even know that :)) But boy how happy we were when we got the news from your daddy with a picture text of your cute little self! Oh we were all filled with tears of joy!! We were so happy you were here safe and sound and your mommy did so good! Sooo many prayers were said that day by me, LaLa, LoLo, Mudge, MawMaw, Pawpaw and sooo many more! And still to this day you are always in my prayers and I am sure everyone else's too!

Ellie Jones you have brought more happiness to our family and to everyone you come in contact with! Your happiness radiates and I can't wait to continue to watch you grow up.

You have the most awesome mommy ever. Seriously. You will not find a better person than her. I know you won't figure this out for a long time but seriously she is the most wonderful mother/sister/wife I know. :) And your daddy well he is quite the mess :) He was my first brother and has been absolutely wonderful! He loves you to death little miss and let me tell you....I dread the first time you bring a boy to meet them! Oh my it's going to be a day you need to call your Leigh Leigh and she will come help! :) But your mommy and daddy have given your Uncle Nate and I a great example to follow as Christians and as husband and wife and maybe one day mother and father! ! :)

These are just a few pictures from the past year that I absolutely love and of people who absolutely love you! :) Happy Birthday sweet girl! You are loved more than you know!

(Excuse the pictures they are terribly out of order! :)

Michelle or Shell as you will probably call her thought you were the PERFECT little sister for Morgan! :)

Morgan thought so too! :)

Lolo and Ellie swimming! She loves the pool!

Your Leigh Leigh and LaLa love you so much!!!

You are the sweetest most precious thing!

I love this picture! :)

Your Uncle Nate loves you and Morgan so much! :) You gave him baby fever! :)

Ellie you were so precious at my wedding! I was so happy to have you in it!!

You weren't really stoked about sitting upfront with your daddy though :) So MawMaw to the rescue! :)

Oh your LaLa loves you so much! She swears her heart has grown 3 sizes bigger since you came along! :)

Your first beach trip! You loved the pool and didn't hate the ocean but I think you will love it more next year! :)

All the girls of the Walker side of the family! :)

You are mommy rotten to the core!! But sweet as sugar!

And oooh girl I just love that sweet little chubby face!

Again your La thinks you're the greatest thing since sliced bread!

You are so silly sometimes! I love it when you play back with us! :)

This look I just love so so much!!! I mean seriously you couldn't be any cuter!

You were quite the little model for us that weekend!

I love that innocent smile! :)

This was a photo shoot your mommy and I did for your daddy's first fathers day! :) Titus loves you....a lot! :)

Still this might be my all time favorite picture of you!!! Pure happiness!

Dr. Price took this picture of us at the Relay for Life in May! Just a few short months ago you didn't have that much hair! Now it's in your eyes!! :)

That's it I'm texting grandma! :)

MawMaw and PawPaw love you so much too! :) They have been down quite a bit since you were born! :)

Oh your Gin Gin can't get enough of you! I got your some cabbage patch kids :) QVC special :)

Your Nana and Papa love you too!

Oh and your Mudge just thinks you are the greatest!

Sweet girl :)

Your Mudge and LoLo

Your LoLo loves you so much!

You were so little!

We were so excited.....your momma on the other hand....she was worn out!

This was right before your momma was admitted! Oh we were so excited!

Full Wedding Swing.....

2011-08-15T07:00:00.001-07:00

Sorry these 2 pictures were a late addition! :) So excuse the order of the blog!

Here is Morgan and I at my birthday dinner! :)

Here are the 4 soon to be newly weds at Laurie's birthday dinner! :)

Well here we are....

12 days til I put my wedding dress on.....

12 days til my daddy walks me down the aisle.......

12 days til my momma cried like she is at a funeral (well she did at Louise's:))

12 days til I get to walk down the aisle to my best friend and love of my life

12 days til I get to live in my house and stay there all night long....not just there to do laundry and keep the kitchen clean!

11 days til my bridal tea and all my closest friends are all in the same place and with me!

11 days til our rehearsal dinner

10 days til decorating all of the church and fellowship hall

9 days til I am done with work for 2 WHOLE WEEKS!

4 days til I am at the beach with the nearest and dearest to me relaxing before wedding week starts! :)

4 days til my last shower....my work shower. I am so extremely blessed!

2 days til classes start and I am done with my last class as a single lady! :)

Down below are some of the pictures of things that have been going on over the past couple weeks!

This is from my University Shower! The ladies group gift was a Keurig!!! I was so excited and my most wonderful friend Kristen got me this handy thing to go under my Keurig and stores my K-Cups!! :) I was SO EXCITED!!!

Here are the wonderful hostess!!! They were absolutely wonderful and I am so thankful to be surrounded by such wonderful women! I am so blessed to be part of such an amazing church family who has blessed mine and my family's lives so much!
Me in front of some of the gifts! :)

This is from my Shower in Trion, GA with all of Mrs. Jacki's (my mother in law's) family!!! They absolutely spoiled us so rotten! It may have been one of my smallest showers but I got the absolute best stuff at that shower! Laurie was my gift carrier to the table person :) As you can tell I was excited about this trashcan!

Here is the family minus daddy.....

Me and the sisters! Have I mentioned that I really do have 2 of the BEST sisters around??? Because I really do!

Here is Jess! She definitely wins bridesmaid of the year! She has been absolutely amazing and I am so grateful to have such a best friend who will literally drop everything for me and make sure my wedding and everything leading up is absolutely perfect! She even lets me vent and cry and doesn't call me bridzilla! I love her.

Here are a few of my favorite shower present from the Trion, GA shower!

One of Mrs. Jacki's best friends got Nate and I 6 place settings of fiesta ware!!! I was SO SO EXCITED!!!! I absolutely love them!!! I have some white dishes already so when football season comes around these orange and white dishes will be set out on the dining room table! :)

This is Nate and I at our couple shower!

This is me at our Holiday Shower and this is the trial run cake Rayla did to see if we like the colors on the cake for the wedding.....we decided we were just going to traditional white on white with flower adding the color. And this cake was so divine!!!!

Here are a couple sneak peeks from my bridal shots.....Jay did absolutely amazing!

We had so much fun and having Jessica and Melissa there made it that much more memorable! :) Daddy loves these that were taken in Steak-N-Shake :)

This is one of Jessica & Laurie's favorite shots.

Well I guess that about sums it up.....in 2 weeks I will be married and living it up with my hubby on a cruise ship! It is going to be so very nice!

2011-07-28T14:05:00.000-07:00

This is what I was welcomed with when I got on our cruise website! :) Oh 30 days has never felt so close but oh so far away!!! :)

This is our ship :) Our suite will be on one of the upper decks :) That's where you will find us for 7 days STRAIGHT! :)

These next few pictures are of all the places we will stop, Half Moon Cay, Bahamas; St. Thomas, USVI; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Grand Turk :)

I can't wait to get out on these beaches!! Oh I can't wait!

Doesn't this look so amazing? :)

And I just am so excited about seeing this!!! :)

Can you tell I am really REALLY ready for the honeymoon?!?!

I absolutely can't wait!!!! :) 29 days! :)

1 month from today.....

2011-07-27T07:44:00.001-07:00

Yep you guessed it....I get to marry by best friend....I get to wake up and go to bed every night with my love....I absolutely cannot wait for this next month! I am so excited!

As I was getting my bussell put in my dress yesterday standing there with my dress on and all the fixings made me realize just how wonderful and exciting this all really is! I get to marry the man of dreams then take a 7 day long cruise to the "exotic eastern Caribbean" (yes I stole that off the website :)) and we are staying in a ocean view suite....if you don't think I am excited you are so wrong! I have been restless at night....which could be due to the amount of stuff left I need to already have done or the fact that I need to get the rest of the thank you notes out before my next shower this weekend! But regardless we will say it's restlessness caused by excitement. :)

I was talking to some of my co-workers yesterday as I was visiting with my sweet little niece and they were asking how little miss Ellie was going to be getting down the aisle....well I will be honest, I really want her to crawl down it....she has the fastest little crawl and I think she would be absolutely precious crawling down the aisle....thoughts? (She would be the first one down the aisle....so her dress wouldn't get dirty.....there would be an aisle runner down....those are things others had asked about :)) I just am so stinking excited.

I started getting all my bridesmaids presents together and I feel like I have been buying alot throughout the past 10 months but it really doesn't look that way. So with some help of some good friends I was able to find a "filler" per say that will make it look bigger and more full :)

Hotel reservations are being made, bridal tea invitations are going out and lingerie shower invites are going out! My best friend will be flying in August 11th, in time for my bachelorette weekend and some showers. All is right in my world. I get to marry the man of dreams and spend the rest of my life with him....excited just doesn't do it justice. :) Thanks for all the kindness and prayers that have been offered. :) We are truly blessed with the best friends and family 2 people can ask for!

Showers, Houses, and Wedding Bells

2011-07-07T07:10:00.000-07:00

Well let's go back to June 18th-Father's Day weekend.....we had my shower in Valdosta and i was truly showered! They were all so wonderful and got Nate and I such wonderful gifts! We had so much fun and it was so nice to get to see all my family and Nate's family got to come down for it and meet my extended family so that was very nice! Gin-Gin, Kaka, Nana, Audrey, and Bev did such a great job with the shower and it was just wonderful to see all our friends from Valdosta!
Father's day was great it was so nice to be able to spend it with all the "fathers" in my life!

The next week started a TON of traveling for me.....left on the 23rd to go to Church of Christ day at Six Flags....was in Atlanta til midday of the 24th then booked it to Birmingham for my co-workers wedding....we had his rehearsal dinner that night so Jessica and I were booking it back so I could meet Nate to go to that. (Nate lived with Chad, my co-worker so we were invited to the rehearsal) Well on our way to Birmingham Nate called and said he was swamped and that he would not be able to make it to the rehearsal and that the wedding would be iffy....so I call chad and make sure he still wants me to come even though Nate wouldn't be with me and he said yes and just to bring Jessica as my date instead! :) So we went to the rehearsal and it was so fun and we had so much fun with Barry and Tiffany! We stayed and visited with everyone for a good while then headed back to Jessica's aunt and uncle's house to stay for the night! We got up Saturday morning back the car back and headed to get our nails and toes done for my bridal pictures in Albany on Sunday.....(yes it's a roller coaster so just hold on!) After the toes and nails we change into our wedding clothes and head to the wedding! It was beautiful and I am so happy for Chad and Pam.....sitting in that wedding with Nate right beside....well to say the least that I am so excited about our wedding day is a total understatement! :)

After the wedding Jessica and I left and headed BACK to Atlanta to pick up my hair and make up girl and her daughter to go with us down to stay in Perry Saturday night and then go to my bridals with me on Sunday afternoon! I need to stop here and insert a side note....I ordered real flowers from a florist down in Perry so that Jessica's mom could pick them up on Saturday and I could have real flowers for my bridals! When we got to perry I was so excited because they were EXACTLY what I wanted for my pictures and for my actual wedding day! I was beyond happy! So back to the story....we get to Perry and Jessica's mom had went out and bought a steamer so we could steam my dress that night so it wouldn't be all wrinkled from the ride....I am beyond blessed with the most amazing friends!! We stayed up and sat in the hot tub that night for a little bit and talked and visited and it was just so nice....then we went and steamed my dress....I was totally prepared for it to take a good minute to get all the wrinkles out but that steamer was the best! It took us about 45 minutes and we were in bed and asleep! Church and lunch were great and then we were back at Jessica's house loading the car to head for Albany! I was so nervous....(I have been so nervous about everything....showers, hair, makeup, pictures, I MEAN EVERYTHING!) but we got going and I was excited.....we made it over half way there when it hit me, as it started raining, that I forgot my flowers!!! I was so upset....so I was driving so I took a few minutes and vented and then decided that plenty of people don't have flowers in their bridals and that if this was the worst thing that happened it would be just fine! So I get to my photographers house and she suggest we go to publix and just get some....at this point I am stressed over the possibility of rain so I am just ready to get dressed and started. So Jessica being the amazing friend she is runs to publix and comes back with seriously like 6 different bouquets of flowers with my colors in it! Have I mentioned that she is like bridesmaid of the year??? Because she is!!! She has just been amazing! So my bridals went absolutely great and I wish I could show you all some but there needs to be some mystery :) But I can tell you I am oh so happy about 2 things....1 that I have my braces....man I am so much happier with a straight smile.....2 that my pictures turned out so good!

So we get back to Montgomery finally about 11 pm! Jessica drops me off and she heads to Auburn....I head to bed.....get up early Monday morning and pack again for a week of working and helping a friend move in VA.....get to work and my friend I had asked to go with me to help said that she really could go so about noon we head to VA.....and after a LONG 13 hour drive there we make it and visit for a couple minutes then get in bed! It was such a fun week of visiting and I got to see Washington, DC! I also got to visit with a couple recruits and visit some of my churches up there! It was a great week!

I get home Saturday night and go to Louise's and crash! While I was gone mom and dad and some friends from Church had come to help Laurie get her moved out of the apartment and get some of my stuff out....so Sunday we went and got everything out of the apartment and moved everything of mine into Nate and my house! I was so EXCITED!!! Laurie and I will be staying in Laurie's fiance's (Yep you read it right....LAURIE IS ENGAGED!!! YAY!!! Couldn't be any happier and couldn't have prayed for a better man than Matt! He is exactly what she has always wanted and I couldn't have hand picked a better man for her. And he fits in perfectly in the family! :)) back to the story....we will be staying in his old house since he just bought a new house. So we got everything out of the apartment and cleaned it spotless on Monday.

Then Jessica, Nate and I got everything in the house put away...all the boxes and bags out of the house and everything washed! I was SO EXCITED!!! My house was put together and I just couldn't be any happier that it was put together in time for my people to come over for our 4th of July party! It was so fun and so so nice! We had a good time and that is when Laurie and Matt got engaged! Matt took her on the riverboat to watch the fireworks! :) He is very thoughtful!

So that has been the past 3 weeks for me!! And have I mentioned that I can't wait for August 27th?!?! It excites me to think about walking down the aisle to marry the man of my dreams and my best friend who really loves me.....flaws and all! He is a good man! And have I mentioned I absolutely love my house?!?! I will try to post pictures of it finished and I will try to post some pictures from Washington, DC later!!

Showers, Showers, and more Showers :)

2011-06-15T08:11:00.001-07:00

So I know these pictures are going in reverse order of which all my showers came but just bear with me and read along! :)

June 12th- Adairsville Church of Christ Shower

Before the shower Nate, Patrick (Nate's best man), and Jessica all came home and took some pictures dressed up. Patrick has been a constant in Nate and I's relationship! Everyone loves him and thinks he is so fun and so sweet. I couldn't ask for Nate to have a better friend than him. He keeps us laughing and always makes going to Adairsville so fun!

Me and Jess. I was so EXTREMELY glad she came!! She has been there through it all and I couldn't be more blessed for a best friend.

Nate and I.....I know it's a weird angle but in all the other one's Nate is sucking in and he looks awkward and I thought this one was the best one :) I love this man!

Mrs. Jacki and Ellie playing at the church shower....at this point we were just trying to keep her from crying....look at how she crosses her little legs and feet....I mean seriously she is a lady! :)

Me and Jess at the shower :)

Momma, Me and Mrs. Jacki :)

Louise, Ellie, Me and Mom.....so thankful they got to come over...that little girl makes my day!

Me and the hostesses

Now starts the Woodring Family Couple Shower June 11th

How cute is she?!?! I mean seriously!! :)

Louise, Me and Ellie. Boy I love them both. Lots. Even serious face she is the cutest thing! :)

Dad, Me, Nate, and Mom at the couple shower :) So glad they were all able to come for this shower too! :)

All the fam jam that was at the shower (Laurie and Matt were in TN visiting grandma)

Me and Jess at the couple shower....have I mentioned that I couldn't have been happier she came?!?! I mean really it was the best!

Me, Nate and the hostesses! They did such a good job and it was so good and so fun! We got lots of goodies! :)

Trenton Church of Christ Shower- June 5th

Me and Momma....favorite picture to date that we have ever taken together!

Me and the sisters. So glad they were both at my first shower! :)

This is my mom's side of the family that was able to come to my Trenton shower! They drove down from Jackson, TN and I was so grateful to see all of them! It meant so much to have them there! :)

Me and Mo :) This girl makes my life so much more fun! She is so much fun and I am so glad that her and her momma were able to come with us :)

This was just ONE of my cakes at the shower....I love cupcakes and really Mrs. Karen Gerber outdid herself on this! She did such a good job and the whole shower was absolutely beautiful!

Me and Michelle.....I love her and she has been amazing! I mean amazing! She has been there through everything and she truly is just part of our family. We are blessed with great friends who have become family :)

Well as you can tell I have had 3 showers already and I am leaving Friday to go down to Valdosta to have my fourth! I am so blessed and I couldn't be enjoying this time in our lives any more than I am! I have wonderful people surrounding me and I just CANNOT wait to spend the rest of my life with the most wonderful man!

If you would like to see all the pictures of all my gifts and such you can go here :http://http//www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.526370199070.2022301.132900211&l=32eddaf5c4

and look at all of them on facebook :) I just highlighted the pictures of people :)

THE HOUSE

2011-05-27T07:23:00.001-07:00

Welcome to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Woodring :)

1818 St. Charles Avenue

Montgomery, AL 36107

(Yes I am a nerd I know :))

I am going to take you through a walk through of the house!

These are all the pictures before we painted :) When we get done I will update with painted pictures!
Below is the living room.....through those doors on the right is where our sun room is....I absolutely love that there is a sun room! I can just see the Christmas tree there!!! The floors are all original hard wood with the exception of the bathroom and part of the kitchen. :)

This is another view of the living room!! I absolutely LOVE those built in shelves!!! They are a nicknack heaven!! My mom would die to have those shelves in her house! :)

And for my absolute favorite part of the house.......The dining room and kitchen.....ok seriously I gave up an extra bathroom because I LOVE this kitchen and dining room so much! We I absolutely love entertaining and this dining and kitchen area will allow me to and I am really so excited!!!

Look at the gorgeous china cabinet! The guy that remodeled it took 2 china cabinets and cut them in half and put one half on the floor with the draws and one half he hung on the ceiling with built in lights.....I just absolutely ABSOLUTELY am in love with it!!!

Then this is the first view of the kitchen from the living/dining room. :) I am such a nerd I absolutely am getting excited like it's the first time as I write this!! :) Y'all I LOVE this kitchen! Love it!! It is big enough that we can have family get togethers and there is enough counter space that mom doesn't get crowded...because let's be honest she still likes to be the main cook at family affairs and well I am completely fine with it! :) I love the tall cabinets!!! I need that storage space! :)

This is the back view of the kitchen, I am standing in the back door taking this picture.....look at the pantry at the end with a counter in between the 2 tall cabinets! Isn't that great?!?!

And this is the last view of the kitchen....if you haven't picked up on it yet I love this kitchen! LOVE IT! Look at the extra counter space there on the end with all of those outlets!! Is that sad that I get excited about outlets?!?! I hate searching for outlets and having to move when you are doing stuff!

Right beside the kitchen is our room.....these rooms are nice and big which I absolutely love!! :) The closets are a little small but I thinking an amoire would be great in this room! :)

Right beside our room is the bathroom. I love love love the granite/slate tile work in the bathroom! Absolutely love it!

This is the extra bedroom! They previous owners had it as their baby's room but we will not be having one of those right now so we are definitely going to have to paint this a more neutral color! :) But again it's so big and so nice!!

And here is my other favorite part! The back yard!! It already has a swing up for Ellie to come over and play with and I already have in the works that we are going to get a swing for out here!! I just think it will be the perfect place for a back yard bbq~ And it has a fire pit and a little fountain back there! Oh I just love it!!! And I have a great friend from work who is going to help me get my yard in tip top shape!! Oh I am so excited!!!

Ok so the only thing I forgot to take pictures of is our sun room and the front of the house.....so I will do that this weekend and report back! :)

There have been so many people that have helped, prayed, painted, and a little bit of all of the above over the past few weeks and I could not have done it with out them....and most of all I couldn't have done it with out my absolutely wonderful fiance' making sure we got this house....if this is how the next forever years go I can already tell, you will not find a happier woman! I am a a lucky girl I tell ya!

So whenever you are in Montgomery come on by and see our perfect first home!

I think it's finally hitting me....

2011-05-24T09:39:00.000-07:00

Well up until now i have felt relatively cool, calm, and collected.....then suddenly yesterday right after we signed the lease on the house (YAY WE HAVE A HOUSE.....SUPER EXCITED)....it hit like a TON of bricks! These are a few of the things that ran through my mind.....

Oh crap! Nate's parents are coming in this weekend bringing furniture and I want the house painted before they get here! (Yes all but 1 room I want to paint.....the paint in the rooms aren't bad just don't go with any of my stuff.... :))

We are supposed to go camping with our group this weekend..... :( That will be cut short to just one night camping for Nate and I.

We have to have the first months rent plus half the deposit and all of the honeymoon paid off by June 4th.....and you do not know want to know how much that is trust me!

Nate has to move out of his house and into our house this weekend.....

I have to have our storage unit cleaned out by June 1st! (Which if you are wondering there is a TON of stuff in it considering everything from our 4 bedroom house is in it since we are currently living in a one bedroom apt.)

We (as in Laurie and I) could possibly be moving out of our apt, which we are showing on Thursday which means a I have to go home and clean clean clean!!!

My work is busier than ever. And I mean busier than ever before! Of course it would be that way the summer I am getting married!

So if ya'll are keeping count that means in the next six days I must have all that done.....overwhelmed a bit?? I KNOW I AM!

Not to mention out of the 13 "summer weekends" I have 11 of them booked for either showers or weddings......it's when I think about that and think about everyone wanting to have me a shower that I feel more blessed than ever and am so thankful for all the wonderful friends and family that want to have us showers. We are definitely loved!

But in that same breath I just ask for ya'lls prayers that we can get all of this worked out and for by the time my first shower gets here it is calmer around our house and everything is paid for. :) I will post house pics soon!

116 Days and counting!

2011-05-02T12:24:00.000-07:00

Yes ma'am! It's getting down to the nitty gritty! And now I am starting to stress a little bit.....until now I have been laid back and ready for August to get here and now that it is approaching faster and faster, I am thinking....I HAVE SO MUCH TO DO! (Ok maybe I am exaggerating a little bit but I feel like the whole stinkin world is one my shoulders!)

So in the next few minutes and I am going to let you into a little bit of my world for the next 3 1/2 months!

Invitations-Yep still haven't ordered them....oh wait I still haven't even picked them out! I am just at such a crossroad about them.....I don't want to spend a fortune on them but I don't want to look back and regret not getting the ones I want.....dilemma #1.

Reception ideas- I HAVE NO CLUE WHAT I WANT TO DO......I have order most of the linens and such, I think. I am still up in the air at whether or not I have enough just plain white table clothes ordered. And I have absolutely no clue how I want to decorate....I don't want it to be tooo simple but I don't want it to be overwhelming either....dilemma #2

Shoes- I have bought 3 pair of wedding day shoes.....Now obviously I have a TINY addiction to shoes but none the less, I still have to make a decision.....Dilemma #3

Finishing up my bridesmaid gifts- I have 9 bridesmaid and all of them mean so much to me and have done so much for me over the past few months and I feel like they deserve the best....dilemma #4

Groomsmen gifts- We need to figure out what color the guys ties will be....I have absolutely no clue at all! Dilemma #5

Honeymoon stuff- Some would say we should probably buy our airplane tickets for the honeymoon but evidently that just hasn't been the top priority! Dilemma #6

Nate's wedding gift- I HAVE NO CLUE WHAT TO GET HIM!!! I have had some good/ some a little out there ideas but none that have just jumped out at me that said "THIS IS IT!" dilemma #7

My hair-I have no clue what I am going to have done to it....not a stinkin clue! Ideas are welcomed!

On another note, more exciting note.....I think Nate and I have found our first house! I am so excited and I just think it's perfect! Absolutely perfect! I couldn't be happier and he is a good man for making it happen! I will post pictures after I get to really go and take good pictures of the inside. And we are going to do a little painting too. I am so excited! the kitchen is to absolutely die for! I can see holiday dinners happening already! Oh and it has a sun room!!! RIGHT IN THE FRONT OF THE HOUSE!!!! Can't you just see a big pretty Christmas tree in the middle of the window come November 26th-ish?? :) I CAN! :)

Also I have my bridals coming up in June....I am so excited and I just know Jay is going to do a great job of making me look all dolled up and pretty! :)

And even more exciting is my first shower is June 4th in Valdosta! I can't wait! I am just so excited to get to see everyone and that means that after that shower things are going to start flying by thank goodness! So I request your prayers for me over the next 3 1/2 months that I keep my sanity and that I can just make it through work and wedding festivities with as little stress as possible! :) Thanks for listening to me vent! :)

Nothing really that new.....

2011-02-24T07:20:00.001-08:00

I was trying to think of a really good story to tell but to be honest, I just don't have a ton going on in my life that is interesting! So I will just give you the run down of how life is going in the Walker/Jones world! :)

My sweet little Ellie is getting so stinkin big!!! She is much more attentive now and doesn't like to be left to entertain herself while we do other stuff around the house. She is just the most incredible thing that has ever happened to out family and I do believe that is true. Mom and Dad both think they were "born to be grandparents" :) We get to see them this weekend and I am excited about that! Below are just some of the most recent pictures I have taken on my phone! :) She isn't loved at all if you can't tell :)

She is such a big girl sitting in her big girl chair in Bible class!

And mommy couldn't have been any prouder when she put this bow in her hair and didn't have to clip it on a headband. I honestly for the first time saw my sisters "proud moment" as a mommy. It made me smile. We really are growing up....a little bittersweet for me.

2. Meet Matt. This is Laurie's boyfriend. We love him. Couldn't be a nicer guy and really couldn't get along with the family any better. So super nice and he always gets the comments "Wow you are so nice....." or "You are too nice for her :)" Obviously we are kidding and I wouldn't want anything but the best for Laurie and I can honestly say I have NEVER seen her this happy. I think that makes everyone in my family happy. :)

3. It's 6 months from today that I will officially be off work for 2 WHOLE WEEKS and getting ready for my wedding. Hopefully at this point we will be getting everything set up for the reception and buying last minute stuff. Also let me put in right here that I really am blessed with the best friends who are more like family ever. This particular friend is going through major struggles in her life and all she can do is ask what she can help with for my wedding, and what she can buy. Have I mentioned that I really have the best friends ever? Because I do. I also covet your prayers for her and her family. I am afraid big changes are about to happen with them and I know she needs all the prayers she can get.

4. Almost 3 months from today my best friend will have her little boy. That is weird for me to say out loud....or type :) It seems like just yesterday we were going through all the motions of planning her wedding and getting everything ready...hard to believe I am helping host her baby shower on Saturday.

5. I think it's funny how when I was 15 it was hard for me to imagine being 25 and how I would be so OLD then.....boy how wrong I was.....now being 25 (not too far from being 26) I feel like I shouldn't be 25....not sure if that makes sense or not. But it's hard for me to believe that I am actually 25, and that Louise has a baby, and that I am getting married, and that Laurie has a boyfriend that we all love and haven't known but for a couple months....and that mom and dad are grandparents......funny how life happens when you aren't looking.

Well I guess that is all I have to say today.....I am about to walk into an hour and a half meeting about financial aid....yes I know I love my job :) Hope everyone has a happy Thursday!

I am soooo looking forward to this weekend!

2011-02-02T07:12:00.000-08:00

I FINALLY get to see this lady......

my BEST FRIEND in the whole wide world Friday!

And I get to meet (well kinda in her belly...) this little man.....

Cale Mason Allen.....can't you see the cuteness already?!?!? That little nose just warms my heart. Have I mentioned I am so excited he will be here for the wedding?!?!? :)

***Also speaking of wedding....I think I have figured out some fun things for the reception! But they will be a surprise! So you will just have to come to find out or wait til I get back from the honeymoon to blog about it! :)***

As I approach a busy weekend....

2011-01-28T07:51:00.000-08:00

I am getting so extremely excited about my cousin Jordan's wedding tonight!! I am excited to see what his wifey-to-be has done with their wedding and maybe it will give me some inspiration!

Can you tell I am not very creative......let me ask you all my blogger friends...what would you do for your wedding? How would you decorate? For those of you married what have you done or what would you do different? :) Interested to hear what you all say!

I hope everyone has a GREAT weekend!! I will be back on Monday to report how everything was and with pictures hopefully!

Does it ever slow down??

2011-01-24T07:38:00.000-08:00

That is definitely a NO in my little world! This past weekend we had Jewels and Jocks. (Which for those of you that don't know it's a youth rally put on by Faulkner or AKA me and Erin my co worker! :) And this year we opened it up to guys and girls where in the past it's just been open to girls.) So needless to say my week last week was HECTIC! With late registrations, trying to get more t-shirts ordered and trying to keep my sanity, it was a very long weekend. Great weekend but long non the less! :)

Now I get to start on to camp counselors. YAY...not. I need a break, a long long vacation! Is there one in my near future, well not the near but there is in my future! :) Praise for 2 whole weeks off in August. I feel they are well deserved! :)

I am pretty stinkin excited about my next 2 weekends. This weekend I am traveling to Nashville, TN to see my cousin get married. He got engaged a few weeks before me and is getting married 7 months before me.....he and his fiance' had the right idea! :) Then next weekend I am headed up to St. Louis, MO for the weekend to see my pregnant, beautiful, bestest friend in the whole wide world! She is flying in from Germany this weekend to stay at her in-laws for a week then her parents and I will meet her up there and go to a baby shower for her and then bring her back to good ole Alabama for a whole month! Man I have missed her and oh how I am so excited for baby Cale to get here! He is going to be so spoiled! Aunt Leigh Leigh already has bags full of goodies for this little boy. Already he has my little heart. So needless to say I am pretty excited.

But for now I must concentrate on getting all these kids accepted and getting camp counselors up and rolling. Oh and somewhere in all this mess I must get on with planning my wedding, but I guess hey I work the best under pressure so it looks like I still have a couple of months to put that to the back burner! HA! :) Hope everyone has a good week!

Have I mentioned lately......

2011-01-12T07:22:00.001-08:00

How incredibly excited I am to be marrying this man???

He really is so super good to me. And I just love his face and cannot wait to be his wife....after listening to some of our wedding music our friends are recording for us this morning, it just ignited that excited once more about marrying my best friend. :) I just love him. That is all.

Introducing......

2011-01-07T07:29:00.000-08:00

My Videographer........

MRS. KIMBERLY ROWE WASHER! :)

I think this picture is precious and I was there for it so I thought it was fitting!

Kimberly has just recently picked up videography and man is she just amazing. I met her through my sister. And I just thought she was the absolute sweetest person ever. And on her wedding day, that I need to add was outside, it started pouring down raining and she kept a smile the entire time....I don't know if I could've been that strong but she did and she made the whole day fun regardless of the rain! She is an amazing woman and I am so excited that she will be doing my video. A wise woman once told me that the one thing she regretted not having at her wedding was a professional videographer, so I took her advice and Kimberly was just the girl I wanted. I couldn't be more excited that Kimberly will be at my wedding much less that she will be there to document each moment. :)

Have I mentioned that I am so excited about marrying my man? :)

Welcome 2011....Goodbye 2010

2011-01-05T07:49:00.000-08:00

Well it's hard for me to believe that 2011 is here....but before I get into my 2011 I would like to reflect on what a great year 2010 was!

My sweet Ellie was born. I knew that she would hold a special place in my heart but I had no clue how that one little precious girl would change my whole life! They say children change your whole outlook on life and I am sure all parents feel that way but nieces definitely made me think a whole lot differently! And I think my heart grew 2 sizes bigger September 16! :)
I got engaged! My sweet Nate purposed to me on 10-10-10....I will never forget that! And I stare at my ring everyday! He picked it out all by himself and I honestly couldn't be any happier! It is absolutely perfect. I cannot wait to spend the rest of my life with him and August 27th can't get here quick enough!
I bought my wedding dress. AND picked out bridesmaid dresses.....they weren't picked out til December 27th but hey better late then never! :)
Laurie made one of the best decisions of her life! She donated her kidney to our friend and now family, Janet. I can't tell you how many people have told her what a good deed that was but said that they would have never done it. After seeing all the love and outpouring of thankfulness I can't imagine Laurie not have doing. Seeing Janet everyday makes me so very thankful for such an amazing, inspiring, big hearted, and loving big sister I have. She really is the best!
I found out that Laurie, Louise, and myself have the BEST church family around....between the surgery and Ellie being born....they stepped up BIG time. We are closer with a lot of people that we would've never gotten the opportunity to be close with provided Laurie didn't have the surgery and Louise had Ellie! :)
I did the thing that I have been wanting to do and dreading doing all in the same.....I got braces. I couldn't be any happier about it and I can honestly see the changes happening and so can everyone else. I am so happy and I can't say enough words about how happy I am that Nate pushed me to do just buckle down and do it. He knew I wanted to get them done but I had my reservations....money, vanity, etc. :) But he was behind me all the way and made some major sacrifices to help me get them done. He really does love me lots :)
I moved out of the last room I will ever have to myself. I will never be able to shut the door to my own room again....which in a way I can't wait for the next time I do I will be living with MY HUSBAND!! :) (That sound weird to anyone else?? :))
MY BEST FRIEND FOUND OUT SHE IS PREGNANT AND I AM SO EXCITED!!! SHE ALSO FOUND OUT IT'S A LITTLE BOY!!! I know this little boy will have Aunt Leigh-Leigh wrapped around his fingers. :)
I am much more thankful for my family and friends than I ever have been! They are truly amazing!
I honestly couldn't be happier with my job at the present moment....I know that hasn't been the tune I have been singing in the past but since I have gotten my new area I honestly can say I have renewed my love for this job. It really isn't as bad as I thought. :)

Now on to 2011.....

This year didn't exactly start out like I wanted it to.....car blowing up on the side of the road on our way back from GA new years day after my lovely fiance' begged me not to take it, work stress, and wedding stress....well let's just say the first 5 days of this year haven't been spectacular by any stretch! But it can only go up from here! So here are come things that I am REALLY looking forward too!

I AM GETTING MARRIED THIS YEAR!!! WOO HOO!! AUGUST 27TH CAN'T GET HERE SOON ENOUGH!
I will get a 2 week vacation for the wedding and honeymoon and honestly that WHOLE week with just me and Nate is what gets me through a lot of the long days! I can't wait to turn off all phones and have no communication for a WHOLE 7 DAYS!!!! :)
My sweet Ellie will be turning 1 September 16th, 2011. That is hard for me to believe!!!
My little Morgan is growing like a weed....every time I see her she says something new and she is at least an inch taller. I love how she will run up and without being prompted will say she has missed me....and she says I love you so good now. :(/:) It's bittersweet for me. I just love her. I tell her she is what helped prepare me for my sweet Ellie. And she LOVES Ellie and is so sweet with her.
Laurie is heading into her 3rd month of day shift working....can I tell you what an answered prayer it was for her to get her job at Wilson & Wilson?? She absolutely loves it and she is happier than she has been in years. It is crazy how a job really affects your life and everyone else's around you also. I couldn't be happier for her!
Louise is a stay-at-home-mom/nanny :) Have I mentioned what a good mommy she is? She has the patience of Job and really is such a great example for me and really soo many around her. Ellie is one lucky lucky girl! (Besides the fact that she has the best Aunts in the whole wide world! :))
My best friend will have her baby this year....sweet Cale Mason Allen will make his arrival, hopefully, in May and I cannot wait to be able to hold and kiss his sweet face come August. :)
One of my very best friends is moving back to the states after being in England for 3 years!!! I absolutely can't wait to have Ashley, Daniel, Charley, and Colin back in the states where I can drive to see them anytime I want!! :)

Ok so now that you have a total recap of my 2010....or well the most exciting parts, and my excitement of 2011 I will leave you with it! Sorry for boring you! But maybe you got a little insight to my crazy, exciting, stressful, and fun life! :)

The house that built me...well maybe helped me grow up :)

2010-12-06T07:01:00.000-08:00

So as I sit here and type this I am filled with a lot of different emotions about what the next 9 months will hold. Here are all the different thoughts running through my head at the moment...

Am I really old enough now to be getting married and starting a life of my own....getting married and starting my own life is something I have always wanted but ALWAYS felt like it was so far away....now it's less than 9 months....
I am sad about moving out of our house on hill hedge....I had a lot of good memories there and I honestly don't know if I am ready to get rid of all of them yet...I know I will always have the memories but oh if I would've known that was our last year in that house...our last Christmas tree, last birthday's celebrated, last new years, etc.
This will be the first year in 25 years that I have not and will not have a Christmas tree in my house....I made the executive not too since we have soo much stuff in the little apartment and we still have boxes everywhere....this year I will be living through Louise's Christmas tree....nevertheless i will still be sad not to be able to watch TV through the glow of our real Christmas tree...
have I mentioned being a grown up isn't all it's cracked up to be? I mean don't get me wrong, I like making my own decisions and for the most part I am pretty smart with them but I miss the simple times of living with mom and dad and having them take care of everything. I have a deeper appreciation for them and everything they sacrificed for me and both my sisters. Hands down I have the best parents around. Couldn't be any more thankful :)
With all of this wedding stuff and moving I have really been reminded of what great friends I have....I am really trying NOT to be bridezilla but I have some oh so friendly reminders that sometimes I am and it brings me back to my mindset that I do not want to be like that. I want to enjoy this time and really have fun with the wedding and living in a one bedroom apartment with Laurie for the next 6-8 months :) Best days of my life! But seriously I really have the best friends around! :)
My Ellie is growing up way too fast! She is getting so big and doing new things everyday! I can't imagine not seeing her everyday and when I can't it makes me so sad because I know I am missing something! I feel that same way with Morgan....I feel like it was just yesterday when we were trying to get her to crawl and we thought she never would....and now it's hard to even remember what she looked like then....she is such a little diva girl now and carries her purse around and is just the cutest thing! She is talking so good now and really picking up on things!

Well I know this blog has no rhyme or reason to it but it's just things that are going through my head right now and honestly I just needed to say it out loud....or well type it out loud! :)

Engagement Pictures

2010-11-10T08:36:00.001-08:00

Here are Nate and I engagement photos that were taken over this past weekend!! She did such a fantastic job! I couldn't be any happier with how they turned out and I REALLY can't wait to get the CD of them! :) So here is some of the ones I liked....and you will see there are quite a bit because for once in my life I liked a lot of the pictures she took! :) Enjoy!

I love this one....he did this all on his own! :)

This is probably my favorite one....I love it!
And I was glad I had this with me so we could take some pictures with it!!

Yes....I did climb this tree in heels!! :)

I absolutely LOVE Nate's face in this one!! It is priceless! I really can't wait to marry this man!

I think this one is artsy and I like that!

This will probably be a newspaper picture :)

I love silhouette pictures!

This could be a newspaper picture too! :)

I was getting really cold in this one!

I love the dip pictures! :)

This one I think is cool with the trees blurred in the background!

She had these hearts for us to fill out about each other.....I really like the concept and the pictures turned out pretty cute too!

I love the ones of me and him in the blue and the green!! Love them!

And this of course is one of my absolute favorites because it reminds me of that special day....10.10.10 :) I love him!

A holiday card and STD all in one :) (That is a Save The Date, if you didn't know ;))

2010-11-08T12:25:00.000-08:00

So as I am approaching the holidays this year.... I have been thinking a lot about Christmas cards and Save The Date cards....at first I was not going to do either...too expensive and I just didn't want to invest the time in them. Then I ran across my friends' blog that talked about Shutterfly giving away 50 free**** holiday cards and so I signed up for it!! I was so excited from then on out....and Nate and I had our engagement pictures shot this past weekend so I figured why not go ahead and make our holiday cards our "Save The Dates" :) So below are the cards that I have chosen to use....now I am not set on each one yet especially pending the picture or pictures I want to use. :) But I would appreciate your thoughts!

Here is where all of the following cards can be found:

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/thank-you-cards/wedding-thank-you-cards?viewAll=true&sortType=1&DCL=true

I was thinking this would be a GREAT idea for thank you cards after the wedding....or maybe even before using engagement pictures maybe!!! :)

This one I love too....I love the simplicity and just plain jane of it but classy....right up my alley! :)

Now here are all the Christmas/New Years/ Happy Holiday Cards that I love....they can be found here: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery

I love this one....I like it because you can write a little bit about yourself on it...and in my case about our wedding date! :)

I think this one is adorable too!!

I think this is one I would get after I have kids....I think it's the perfect opportunity to share with all your family and friends about what all is going on with your kiddos! :)

Here are the actual cards that have places where you can write on the inside....these may be more practical for my use of the Save the Date card :)

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/folded-greeting-cards

I love this one!! I just think it is adorable....I think I love the picture already on it though.... :)

I love LOVE LOVE this one....I think I will have a hard time deciding which pictures to use so maybe this will help if I can use more than one!!

I also love this one....looks like the people in the picture had the same idea :)

I also think this is just adorable! I love the colors and I love all the picture spaces! I will definitely be looking into this one!

Here are all the just regular photo cards that most people send out:

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/flat-photo-cards

I love this one! I think if I have one specific picture that just pops out at me I may have to go with this one! It is just perfect and I love it!

I love the simplicity of this one! One picture says it all!

This one I really like too! I think it would be a great 1st Christmas after being married card....just simply and classic!

And this one I love because you can write a little more on it and it could work for my purpose! :)

Well I hope you all can help me chose and I hope you all will use http://www.shutterfly.com for all of your holiday needs! I have made photo books with them also and really those are GREAT presents to give that truly are priceless! I look forward to hearing all of your thoughts on the cards I picked out!!

My photographer :)

2010-10-19T09:21:00.000-07:00

After much deliberation and crunching of the numbers I have picked my photographer.... :)

Meet Jay Houston and her hubby George! :) They are the people behind the lens for my wedding, engagements, bridals and anything else I can imagine!! I am so excited about working with Click Photography! Go here: http://www.theclickphotogblog.com/ to see all her work and read up about her!! I am so excited to be working with her and I just know that its going to be great! :)

Dress shopping starts today!!! :)

2010-10-18T07:38:00.000-07:00

Well today is a big day.....this afternoon me, Laurie, Louise, and Michelle will all venture to David's to start trying on some dresses. :) I am pretty excited about it and I hope it helps me to decide on a color....I will have Laurie and Michelle trying on bridesmaids dresses and hopefully that will help me to settle on a color!!! Wish me luck!!! :)

(And Saturday we will be going back with Momma and Mrs. Jacki! :) Maybe to buy the dress!! )

The1st Step.....The Date

2010-10-12T08:09:00.000-07:00

We have finally decided on a date.....we have been back and forth several times and talked to several of the people that will be in the wedding and we decided that the date will be.....

(No the wedding colors are NOT pink and black!)
After a lot of talking and weighing out the pro's and con's we decided August 27th, 2011 would be great! We will also share this special date with some of the closest people in our lives.....

Justin & Michelle

Married August 27th, 2005

It will be their 6th Wedding Anniversary!

(And yes I asked before we decided on this date to make sure she didn't mind sharing! :))

We are SO exciting about this time in our lives and we are excited about the wedding.....ok I think Nate is just ready for the wedding to be here and be done so we can start the honeymoon but either way it's going to be an exciting next 10 months!! :)

Pumpkin Patch and The Proposal

2010-10-11T13:52:00.000-07:00

Here we are just starting another trip with the group! :)

We're at the Dreamfield Farms Pumpkin Patch.

The sisters and Ellie taking a picture in the corn box....we may be grown but we will still sit in a corn box....and still be finding corn from it! :)
And the sisters again :) Morgan has grown out of the stage of cooperating in these pictures! :)

And little did I know that hayride up to the pumpkin patch would change my life forever! So here is where I tell our story! :) I didn't think anything of it.....I was going along taking my pictures of Ellie and of Morgan and I asked Nate to just go ahead and pick us out a pumpkin that we were going to get left if we didn't. So he walks about 15 feet from and bends down....he says "Hey Babe I think I found ours" so I walked over there and started to bend down when he pivoted around and was on ONE KNEE!!! :) He had a pumpkin (which will be in pictures further down) that said "Marry Me Leigh" and my absolutely STUNNING ring on the stem. I couldn't have been more surprised. Now here is the truth.....I knew he had the ring but only did I find that out that day. I walked in his room to put his jacket up from in the car so it didn't wrinkle and there sitting on his side table was the ring boxes, so in my defense I wasn't snooping! But I certainly didn't think he was going to do it at the pumpkin patch, I won't lie it crossed my mind but I didn't think he would do it in front of everyone. But I was so wrong. Everyone in my group knew about it. Laurie, Louise, Dustin, Ellie, Michelle, Morgan, and Justin were all in on it. He had been showing the ring to everyone. He was so excited and happy. I cannot be happier than I am now....He really is the best thing and I love him to death....obviously or I wouldn't be marrying him! :) I have to admit I know I said I didn't want it to be in front of people but I couldn't have been happier to share it with my closest circle! My family is the best and I am super excited Nate will be a part of it....it's been a long road but so worth every minute. Blessed is all I can say.

I think it was at this point I was asking, " Are you serious???"

And his reply, " Yes I am serious.....Are you going to say YES???"

Well OF COURSE!!!! :)

The most beautiful ring I have ever had on my hand. By far.

Ohhhh I love you so much!!! :)

"Hey guys.....ya'll knew about this?!??!"

I really couldn't be any happier.....I hate that cheesie grin but I love it when I can't help but to smile that big. :)

THE PUMPKIN! :)

Us walking back after having a few moments to ourselves. :)

On the hayride back.....we were celebrities it felt like! Everyone was congratulating us and asking if it was for real! LOL

Overall it was just the best day. I love this man oh so much and I can NOT wait to start my life with him. He is wonderful and I know deciding to marry him, aside from becoming a Christian, will be the best decision I have ever made. He makes me laugh like none other and can cheer me up in no time! He can soothe me when no one else can and he is truly my best friend and teammate. :) I can honestly say he is the one my parents have prayed for.

My Sweet Little Ellie Is FINALLY HERE!!! :)

2010-09-18T09:18:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures from our past 4 days!! She is the most beautiful little girl in the whole world!! I love her so so much and I cannot imagine loving anything more than her!!! So here are all the pictures! Sorry for not a lot of words but let's be honest, you would rather see the pictures anyways!!! And they aren't in order!! Sorry!

Here is little Miss Ellie this morning when I got to the hospital! She has had a hard day of feeding :)

Mommy and Ellie :)

I LOVE MY MOMMY OH SO MUCH!!

Doesn't she look rockin?!?!?

She is really liking her paci :)

Seth and Miss Ellie :)

Morgan meeting Ellie and holding her :)

Michelle and Ellie :)

She is my little Princess!!! :) Can you guess who bought that hat for her??

Look at those whopper feet!!!! She gets those from her Aunt La!

Is she not the most precious thing we have ever seen?!?!?

Her Aunt Leigh Leigh loves her so so much!!! :)

Lindsey is getting ready! This will be her in the hospital before too long!

The proud grandparents!!! :)

Aunt La and Ellie :)

Right after she was born!! 8lbs. 11 oz. 20 1/2 inches long!

RIGHT after she was born!!

The boys came to see Louise!! :) They have Ellie's "It's a Girl" gum cigars in their mouths!

Sweet daddy and Ellie :) Already wrapped around his fingers!

Right when she came out.....I was glad my camera was in there with them!!

Right before she started pushing!

Me and Michelle waiting!

Ellie's dress she is going to come home in! :) Isn't it precious?!?!

This is at lunch right before Louise went to the Dr to be admitted into the hospital. Doesn't she look great?!?!

Dirt and Louise before the appointment :)

Dirt and Louise's hand's making a heart on Ellie :)

Morgan kissing Louise before leaving for the night!

The sisters before this precious little Ellie maked her appearance!

Well I hope you all enjoyed the pics! I am going to upload all of them on Facebook but these are a few of my favorites!!! :) Thanks for all the prayers!!

So Much Going On.......

2010-09-13T07:55:00.000-07:00

So let me just say that there has been oh so much going on over the past couple of weeks! So here is a good update for all who are interested!

Laurie is doing GREAT! Momma was here for her hardest week and got her through it and then Nana came and stayed for almost 3 weeks helping take care of her and keeping up the housework! Man it was so good to have her here for so long, I didn't ever have dirty clothes and it was just nice getting to spend some time with her. We don't get time like that very often! :) Laurie is now phasing back into 911 work and she has completed her 1st Faulkner Football Radio program this year!! Woo Hoo!! :) She is really doing great and I am so proud of her and all her hard work of getting back into the swing of working. It has not been an easy road for her but I knew if anyone could do this it would be here. She is truly the best and I love her lots!

Janet is doing amazing!! I mean REALLY AMAZING!! Since I last updated about the surgery she is actually out of UAB housing and back in her own house! She is so extremely happy to be home and I think Chuck and Rachel are too! (Her husband and daughter) She looks so so good! I am just so excited for her! We met her and Chuck when we went to UAB for Laurie's 2 week check up. We met at Cheesecake Factory and it was so good! It was good to be able to sit and visit with them. After we ate we all loaded up and went to Laurie's appointment! It was so fun! I just love Chuck and Janet and Rachel so much!! They really are such a blessing to have as part of our family now. Crazy how some people can come into your life and change it forever.

I have a new "area" at work! I am not the GA/SC/NC/VA/Part of TN recruiter for Faulkner. I am super excited seeing as most of my family lives in GA and I will be able to go and see them while I work at the same time! It is so extremely exciting for me and I really look forward to it! I think it will be just what I needed to give me the extra "pep in my step" this year. :)

AND THE BIGGEST NEWS IS THAT I AM GOING TO OFFICIALLY BECOME AN AUNT THIS WEEK!! I AM SO EXCITED I CAN HARDLY STAND IT!! DON'T WORRY!! I WILL POST PICTURES AS SOON AS I AM ALLOWED TO TAKE SOME!!! PLEASE PLEASE KEEP LOUISE AND DUSTIN AND PRECIOUS BABY ELLIE IN YOUR PRAYERS!!! THANKS SO MUCH!!

Surgery Day.....I think I have lost count now!

2010-08-18T06:58:00.000-07:00

Well we have officially had 2 nights at home. And the days (and nights) have held both ups and downs! But that is part of it! Laurie is being a trooper about it! She is in a good amount of pain and we are still having problems getting her nausea and pain medicines worked out. But hopefully we will get that figured out soon. Please continue to pray for her and her healing. She is a strong woman I know she will get through this but it is really hard on her right now.

Janet is doing good. I talked to her yesterday and she said she had felt bad yesterday but she figured out she has to ask for the pain medicine since they won't just bring it to her every 4 hours. But she is being so strong and pushing through it. Her and Chuck are so thankful every time we talk to them. And I really think they have changed our family's life. It will be a long road for all that have been involved in this and I still ask for your prayers!!

Also, this is a selfish request but I covet everyones prayers for me as I am making some big changes...possibly in the next few weeks! Thanks so much! !

Janet and Laurie's Surgery Day 5: We're Heading Home! (well half of us:()

2010-08-16T19:42:00.001-07:00

Well Day 5 held some ups and downs for us! Laurie and I were awaken by 3 Dr's and a nurse at 5:40 AM for them to talk to her and tell her they were going to discharge her today. I was so excited for Laurie until about 7:00 AM when she told me she was really feeling bad. She had gone all night without any pain medicine or nausea medicine. Well that proved to not work very well for us. So after they left we called the nurse in there and boy she was amazing!! She immediately brought Laurie some nausea medicine and pain medicine. Laurie had to wait for a little bit to take the pain medicine til she could eat but ultimately she got the pain medicine through the IV and got a good nap til about noon. After that things seemed to pick up for us. Laurie started feeling better and ate something and took her pain medicine and before long she was up and walking around and talking to Janet again :) So about 4:00 PM we finally got everything together and got to walk, or roll out for Laurie, of the hospital! We were stoked! So the caravan loaded everything up...the caravan being Laurie and I in her car, Louise and mom in Louise's car, and Seth in his truck! :) We got home about 6:45 PM. Laurie is now in bed and settled. She did so good today even though she felt so bad and I couldn't be any prouder of her and everything she has done and given through all this. So bring on the visitors! :)

Janet woke up this morning in some pain also. She was having some cramps so I told her to buzz that nurse button and get some pain medicine....so she did! :) She got to feeling better a little bit but it's been a rough day for Janet. But she is strong and pushes through it! Janet and Chuck both have been amazing to us and I still covet your prayers for her and the next couple weeks as she will have to stay in Birmingham for the next couple of weeks!

Here is Laurie and Janet visiting today :)

Look at her go!!! She is gettin it! :)
Louise and Dad were helping her on her walk....or supporting her :)

Louise and I got a little bored while Laurie was napping.....I can't imagine why they were probably ready for us to leave! (Side story to the wheel chair....this is what we pushed mom around in since UAB is so so big and well you had to hold a bar down to push it....and well this was Louise trying to let go of the bar and the brakes catching and throwing me out! :) Isn't she so loving!)

And again.....I was very nervous!!! Look at my face! :)

This is one of our favorite Dr.'s!! She was so nice!! Only 26 years old but oh so nice! She really made us feel good!

This was our nurse Bert....she was absolutely GREAT today!! She was so super nice to Laurie and that made all the difference in the world!! :)

Well it's hard to believe that it's over. Well at least the surgery part....feels like we have been trying to schedule this for FOREVER! :) And now it's here and gone and we are at home. I get to sleep in my own bed! I go back to work tomorrow. Mom is here for the week to take care of Laurie. Tomorrow is going to be a long day. Please continue to pray for Laurie and Janet and both of their recoveries! :) They have both been so strong and amazing! I am so proud to know each one of them and I love them oh so much! :)

Janet and Laurie's Surgery Day 4: Progress, Progress, and MORE PROGRESS!

2010-08-15T18:34:00.000-07:00

Well Day 4 held much better results for us than Day 3! :) Laurie woke up and stayed up most of the day. We got up and walked around a couple of times and had a ton of surprise visitors! :) She is feeling a lot better now with just alittle bit of pain. She is still getting worn out easy but that is to be expected. Dr. Hannaway came in this morning and said that today would be better, they would be taking her off her pump, and she would probably be able to go home tomorrow! :) Which is great news!! Laurie has really pushed herself and I couldn't be prouder of her and how much she has endured and just been such a trooper. And after all of this still says even knowing all of this she would do it again in a heartbeat! What a heart of a servant right?!? I am so glad Laurie is pushing through the pain and making all the progress she is making!

Janet's Day 4 started out a little rougher than Laurie's but she has really pushed through and done such a good job today! Janet has been up and walking a little bit more than Laurie but it is to be expected since it is harder on the donor than it is on the recipient. But I couldn't be happier for Janet and I am so proud of her progress!

I got to take more pictures today even though I didn't get pictures of everyone that visited I tried to get a lot. So enjoy the pictures!

Here is Laurie breathing on her little breathing tube thingy. She has to do this breathing exercise 10 times an hour.

Janet and Laurie walking the halls together!
Laurie and some of her co-workers! (Kelsey, Cassandra, Ariel, Laurie, and Natasha :)) They surprised her first thing this morning and really helped to start her day off right! It was so nice of them to drive and come see her!

Surprise! Bambi came to visit! Bambi is one of Laurie's best friends! She loved having her here!

Mrs. Jo Ann and Mr. Phil came to visit too! They have been such an answered prayer in so many ways!! Those Norton's are good people! And we love their whole family! :)

Dad brought Laurie, Janet and Chuck new Tennessee shirts! Chuck and Janet both said that after the surgery they would both wear Tennessee shirts! :)

Janet really liked hers!! She kept saying "It's so soft!! :)"

Chuck went and put his shirt on right then! That is Laurie's nurse Alan in the back ground! :)

Chuck, Dad, Louise, and Ellie :)

Seth has been amazing! He has ran all our errands for us so we wouldn't have to leave Laurie, not to mention he has stayed up with Laurie for the past 2 nights. :) This picture is of him picking up supper for us....And Milo's gave him this box to carry all this food in!!

Janet was walking all around!!!! :)

Janet getting her FIRST french fry in over a year!! :)

Seth and Janet carried on for a long time out in the hallway! They know we are loud and like to party down at our end of the hall! Janet was pushing Seth in this picture! Well acting like she is pushing him! :)

This is Janet actually pulling Seth in the hallway!! It was hilarious! :)

And here is Laurie after her shower!! Doesn't she look rocking?!?! I mean seriously! This is Laurie and her nurse Seth! :)

Seth, Laurie and Janet! :)

Chuck, Laurie and Janet! :)

And here is the GREAT picture! Laurie holding 1 finger for her one kidney she has left and Janet with 3 fingers up for her 3 kidneys she has now!! :)

Here is Dad, Laurie and Mom! :)

So over all you can tell it's been a pretty good day! Hopefully we will be going home tomorrow and again I say we still covet your prayers! It will still be a long road ahead for Laurie and Janet but I appreciate all the flowers, thoughts, prayers, goody bags, visits, calls, text and cards! They mean so much to not only Laurie but to all of us too!

Janet and Laurie's Surgery Day 3: Let the Healing Begin

2010-08-14T20:28:00.000-07:00

Well day 3 has been a bit of a doozie for Laurie...But let's start with Janet. :) Janet was taken straight out of the operating room to a step down room where they have a nurse on duty 24-7. And boy are they sticklers! They do not let people come in unless it's visiting hours! Not even Chuck! But luckily today they moved Janet down to the room right beside Laurie. Good thing because as you can see from yesterday's blog, well we like to party in our rooms! :) But Janet actually WALKED THE WHOLE WAY TO THE ROOM! She looks so GREAT and is doing so incredibly good! I am so proud of her and she totally deserves to have a light pain load after the last year she has endured! So now Janet is resting in her room after staying awake all day and visiting with everyone! I am just so happy for her. She has really been such a trooper and she makes my faith stronger ever day.

Now on to Laurie....I cannot tell you how much I look up to Laurie and admire her tender and selfless attitude. We are family so of course we see each others faults but man it's hard to think of them when I see her in here enduring this. She has been so incredibly strong and positive through all this. Let me go back to last night.....everyone was very worried about me getting sleep but I was NOT going to let anyone else stay in this room with out me in here too! So about 9:30 mom, dad, and Louise headed back to the hotel and left Seth and I in the room with Laurie. Well Seth kept telling me to tell him when I was ready to leave, and finally I said to him "Seth I don't care if you leave at all...you can stay the whole night if you want too!". And he did just that. He let me sleep most the night and he stayed up with Laurie feeding her ice chips and reminding her about her medicine. It was GREAT to get some sleep and I cannot express my gratitude for him doing that. It is hard to find good friends like that who would stay up with your sister so you can sleep. He is probably the closest thing we have ever had to a brother (besides having Dirt now of course!). He is just great! But anyways, about 5 AM Seth and Laurie started talking about Laurie getting up and walking. The dr's told us that the sooner she felt like walking the better off she would be. Well the first walk was very hard. And on top of that they took her off her medicine pump and didn't have the other medicine for pain in her system. So immediately she was nauseated and in a lot of pain. To shorten this....we got put back on the pump. :) About 9:30 AM Dr. Hannaway, who preformed her surgery, came by to check on her and broke this news to her.....That today would inevitably be her worst day. It would hurt more to do anything today but that by tomorrow it would be a faint memory. Well so far he has proved right but Laurie being the trooper she is has pushed through and gotten up and walked 5 TIMES!! Which is great, and by the 4th time she was saying it was getting easier to get in and out of bed and it wasn't hurting as bad!!! That is such a blessing!!

As you can tell I didn't have the chance to take lots of pictures below but I wanted everyone to be able to see some pictures! :) And I think for the most part they are in order too!

This is the 2nd time Laurie got up to walk....on her way to have her and Janet's first time seeing and talking since pre-op the morning before the surgery.

Rachel and Julianna watching Laurie and Janet as they talk.

Janet and Laurie talking :) It was a GREAT moment and I was so glad they got to visit.

This is Nana, Papa, and Aunt Betty. They found out tonight that they might be related somewhere down the line....crazy how things happen. :)

Below are the pictures of all of Laurie's flowers.....

These are from Janet and Chuck and man they are absolutely beautiful!!!

These Orange Roses are from Janet's brother, David. He got orange roses for Tennessee :)

These are from the Young Professionals Class. :) They came yesterday and they were a sweet surprise! Have I mentioned that we have the best church family?!?! :)

These gorgeous Gerber daisies are from Aunt Betty. She has really gone above and beyond for all of us during this surgery.

These are from Mom, Dad, Louise, Dirt, Me, and Nate :)

Leslie and James came by for a visit and it was so nice to get to visit with them. It is nice to have good friends. :)

This is Janet and some of the youth group from University....they are in Birmingham for SEC church thing at Decatur Highway Church of Christ and they decided to stop by and see Laurie and Janet and Rachel, since she is in the youth group at University. It was so sweet of all of them!

Rachel came in later tonight and gave Laurie a present....she had told Louise and I what she was getting Laurie and we were so excited! I love Laurie's face right here. She is genuinely so excited about her orange watch! :)

As you can tell this made her "down" day a TON better. I love that really happy smile. That's my sister. :) I love her.

Well it's now later than last night's post, but it has been a bit busier tonight with the walking. But all in all I am glad it's about to be the start of a new day. Seth and Louise are still in the room with me for now and I am again so thankful for all the calls, text, emails, cards, and messages! We are so blessed with the best friends, family and church in the world!! Hopefully tomorrow's post will be all good news and exciting! Continue to pray for Janet and Laurie's recovery! Goodnight all! :)

Janet and Laurie's Surgery Day 2: Going from 2 kidneys to 1 and 2 kidneys to 3!

2010-08-13T16:28:00.000-07:00

Well here we are at the close of day 2: Surgery Day, Friday the 13th. I don't think any of us would have ever said it but I think we were all a little nervous today. I didn't sleep a wink last night and i know Laurie was tossing and turning too. Luckily she has exhaustion on her side so even though she may have been nervous she couldn't hold her eyes open. The nurses came in about every 3 hours to take her vitals and the last time at 3:30 am they took blood. I cannot explain what a trooper Laurie has been through all of this. She has been strong when all the rest of us could do was cry. i was beginning to worry about her. :) But about 4:30 am my alarm clock went off and Laurie and I called Mom, Dad, and Louise so we could all go over together. Louise, Mom and Dad were all dressed and in a hurry I just ran out the room without even changing....or putting on things that are necessary when going out in public if you get my drift. :) So after we saw where we were going to be Dad and I came back and let me change and get fresh for the day. Boy I wasn't prepared for the emotional roller coaster that we were all about to experience.

Before we left the room Janet came down to tell Laurie bye....there are pictures below to show the beginning of our emotional day. Laurie got back into surgery about 8:00 am....and was back there for about 3 hours. Dr. Hannaway came out about 11:00 am and told us she was in recovery now and doing great. She has done great through the surgery and now they wanted to get her pain level down so they could get her medicines regulated. About 1:00 pm Janet's Dr. came out and told Chuck that Janet had done great through the surgery and the kidney was actually already working. So as Janet was heading into recovery, Laurie was heading to her room. We got back and Laurie was in a good amount of pain but that was to be expected. So after a couple of hours they got Laurie's pain level regulated and she has been in and out of sleep and visiting with all of the visitors. I know there are alot of pictures but just bear with me. :)

This is the signature pose for them! Both still have 2 kidneys!! This the beginning of an emotional day!

Me, Laurie and Louise before surgery!
All the family before surgery!

All the family plus part of our new addition! The Roberts! Janet! :)

It was an emotional goodbye! Janet has such an amazing heart!

Laurie's last picture with both kidneys!!! :)

Janet was so grateful to Laurie....what an amazing story for all of us to tell! :) They both are amazing people!!

Laurie getting ready to head back! :)

Laurie and Joanna fist-bumping! Joanna is GREAT!! We have loved her! Really all the staff here at UAB has been amazing!

And here is the parade to to the pre-op waiting area! :)

This was an emotional mother/daughter goodbye!! :) Mom has been a little on edge about everything and well we had to say goodbye!

Laurie looks great here!! This is where they are in the holding area before surgery and we got to go back and see her til they took her back....and well when they took her back I just broke down...as did everyone else in my family. This is the perfect picture of an amazing strong beautiful Christian woman!

What faith and courage this woman has had over the past year!! She has been amazingly strong and boy how she has changed our lives forever!

Laurie saying bye to Ellie before they took her back!

This was part of our "little" waiting room group! We are so blessed with such an amazing support group! (From Left to right: Andrea Best, David Alvarez, and
Tiffany Johnson)

More waiting room friends..... Jamie Horn, Chuck Roberts, and Aunt Betty Jones.

Susanne Pope, Betty (Chuck's mom), and Adrienne Bell.

They were all so great!!! :)

Michelle and Morgan showed up and surprised us!!! We absolutely love them! They have been amazing to us and we are so grateful for such amazing friends!!

Morgan was learning the "good stuff" at an early age. Aurie's morphine pump!! (Aurie is what Morgan calls Laurie :))

This girl absolutely makes my heart smile. She makes me happy and is just great!! She really makes my whole family so happy. She is like one of our own!

Michelle, Morgan and Laurie. Have I mentioned what great friends we have?!?!?

Brint and Shanon also showed up and Laurie was moved to tears by them showing up! They have been such good friends to Laurie and just such a blessing!! They came bearing lots of goodies for us to snack on! :) We love them!

Gracie Kate, Karen and Laurie. Gracie Kate and Karen Clifton showed up to see us too! They are such amazing people! We are so incredibly blessed with an amazing church family and people that love us so much! And this family is one of them! And we love them to pieces!

Gracie Kate giving Laurie some loving! :)

Seth came with Michelle and Morgan!! We love him too lots! Seth, Louise and I decided to walk Michelle and Morgan down to their car because well UAB is pretty big and trying to navigate with an 18 month old is pretty hard! Se we went along to help! :)

Seth having fun while pushing Louise and Morgan is just a sipping away on her ice water! :)

Me and Little Mo before they left. I. Love. This. Child. She. Makes. My. Heart. Happy. :)

Well Laurie is sleeping and finally getting settled down. Janet is doing great and the kidney is still working amazingly!!! What a testament of faith this whole process has been and I know it has changed the lives of so many people! Please keep Janet and Laurie in your prayers still and pray for their rest and re cooperation! We are so thankful for all the prayers, thoughts, text, cards, food, and just caring! We are so thankful for all the kind words and encouragement. What an amazing story this and I want to personally thank everyone for their kindness. God is so good! Thanks again! And I will report again tomorrow!!

Janet and Laurie's Surgery Day One: Check-in and Check-ups

2010-08-12T19:17:00.000-07:00

Well today started out amazing! I got up and started getting ready about 5:15 am, Laurie had just walked in and we started getting ready for the day ahead. Our first part of the day was getting breakfast, and Laurie wanted to go eat at the Farmer's Market downtown. So we met Louise and Nathan there for breakfast at 7:00 am. It was soooo good and Phil and JoAnn Norton, who own it, also go to church with us and have been so good to us throughout this whole process, sat down at the table with us and just talked. It was a nice relaxing way to start the day!! They are some of the nicest people I know. I am so thankful for people like them. Down home just all around nice caring Christian people. We are blessed.

Leaving from a high of being there Laurie and I get on the road, Nate went to work and Louise was heading to Birmingham after work. I get about 2 miles out of Montgomery and blue lights come flashing behind me....in the midst of Laurie and I talking I had missed that the speed dropped from 70 mph to 50 mph.....needless to say I was speeding. The state trooper was a complete JERK....let me insert here that I don't like to give cops a hard time, I was speeding and I know that but you do NOT have to show your tail just because you are a trooper. So after about a 15 minute cry session we decided that wasn't going to start our day off bad. So we kept on trucking it to Birmingham.

We got here and checked in and got Laurie and Janet both admitted and settled into rooms. To our surprise we already had one visitor waiting on us. Brother Barry Buford was here ready to pray with Laurie and Janet and it was so very nice. That was just the beginning. From then on out we had people in Laurie's room checking all of Laurie's vitals and taking blood and giving IV's. Laurie was a champ she did amazing through all of it and all the nurses and Dr.s just love her and think she is amazing....just like the rest of us. I know tomorrow is going to be great. Laurie and Janet both have already impacted this hospital and I know it's just the start of whats going to happen. God is so good and he has blessed us so much with this surgery.

Below are some snapshots I took of Laurie and Janet...since I got my new camera I VOWED I would definitely be documenting everything from here on out! So far I have stayed true to that. Hope you all enjoy! Sorry they all aren't in order! (Also Louise got here later and we didn't get one picture with her or Ellie :) But we will get many more tomorrow!)

Chuck, Janet and Rachel before going to bed :)

Janet and Rachel :) How cute are they??
Me and Laurie looking at the afghan that Aunt Shirley sent and made for Laurie :)

Me and Laurie enjoying our show....didn't work out so well for us...we will be re-watching Rookie Blue on Monday :)

Janet and all her visitors...from Left to right: Aunt Betty, David, her brother, Janet, Chuck, and Chuck's mom.

Mom and Dad got here about 6:45 pm and this is her and mom enjoying her down time. :)

Laurie and her music therapist.....Laurie REALLY enjoyed her!!!! :) She sang us some Beatles songs and she was REALLY good!!

Laurie and Cora....Cora.....she is a character. She sang and danced around and said the Holy Spirit was moving her and she was praying for Laurie! :) It brought tears to Laurie's eyes when she started singing to her.

Laurie and Janet first thing this morning!! :)

Chuck trying to help out a friend! :) He is a great supporter!

Janet resting right after she got to her room!! It is FREEZING in this hospital....but don't worry I can prepared! Blankets and sweatshirts :)

Laurie and MaryAnn....she is amazing and I am so glad we got her for Laurie's transplant coordinator! I am going to send her a card with this picture in it! :)

Well that is all for tonight. I will update more tomorrow night! :) Goodnight blog world!! Keep Laurie and Janet in your prayers!

Update on my life.....

2010-08-11T07:20:00.000-07:00

SO I know it's been almost a month since I blogged so I am just going to give a brief summary of everything that has been going on in my life over the past month!

Well my last post was about braces.....I have officially had them now for almost a month and I have already made my first payment.....I have a LONG 23 more months a head of me with those payments! The following 2 pictures have been my lifesaver over the past 2 weeks. I absolutely love them!!!

Phillips Sonicare Toothbrush.......LOVE IT!

The Water Pik :) It is like the "water flosser" and I love it!

We have had 4 Showers for Louise and Baby Ellie and boy she is spoiled rotten already! I am so excited about her coming and it's hard to believe that it is almost JUST ONE MONTH AWAY!!!! I just can't wait to hold her and love on her! But the showers aren't done yet....we still have 3 more!
I celebrated my birthday :) Got the most amazing gifts this year.....A Nikon D3000 camera (from Mom and Dad, Laurie, Nate, and Nate's parents), my very own pair of Costa's (From Nate :)), a trip to Atlanta (Louise and Dirt, Justin and Michelle), and a Coach purse (Taylor and Blake :)! Talk about doing it BIG for my 25th! I have the best family and friends ever! I really do! They outdid themselves this year!
We have also celebrated Laurie's birthday too! We all went to Atlanta and had the best time, with the exception of Louise getting a little over heated....but it was so good and so much fun!
I got a new boss at work! Keith, my old boss had been Director of Admissions for 17 years and got a promotion so we got Mr. Tim Stickel from Fairbanks, AK.....You read that right......ALASKA! :) He has been great so far kinda excited to see what the future holds with him.
All of my freshman have moved in for the year.....THANK GOODNESS! This has been one of the roughest years yet....I think for the whole office....the economy has taken a toll on us this year.
We, (me, Laurie, and Louise) got to take Morgan on her first pedicure!!! It was so much fun! We got to witness all her expressive faces and I just love it! She is absolutely one of the funniest children I have ever been around! And I think she actually liked getting it done! I will post pictures of that later!
The biggest news is that Laurie and Janet have a set surgery date! It is this Friday, the 13th. I know Friday the 13th....But I am just positive that it is going to be great! I know that the surgery will be successful and Laurie and Janet both will do great! (For those of you that may not know, Laurie is donating her Kidney to Janet, a woman that works with Louise. It has been a long hard road to get to this surgery date but we are so thankful it is finally here! :)) Laurie and Janet both check in Thursday at 10:00 AM. Janet will have to stay at UAB for 3 weeks but hopefully Laurie should be able to come home on Monday. I covet your prayers during this time as we all are travelling and just for everything to go smooth. Laurie would never admit it but I think she is getting nervous and I know Janet is nervous and anxious all in one! So please please remember Laurie and my family, and Janet and her family in your prayers!!

Well I guess that pretty much sums it up! I hope everyone has a great rest of the week and I will post updates from the hospital on Laurie and Janet. I will staying in the hospital room with Laurie so I will probably have some time on my hands to update! :)

Today is the day....

2010-07-14T08:48:00.001-07:00

Yep, today is the actual day I get my braces finally. After having 4 teeth pulled, and well 2 of them being the most unpleasant experience of my life to date, I am getting my braces put on today. Please do not expect before and after pictures right now. I have no desire to take a picture of what my teeth look like, for those of you that don't know me very well, I will admit I am a little vain and I VERY self conscious of my teeth. But I am working on that because whether people are just being nice and lying most people say they have never noticed my teeth. But I on the other hand have and have for the longest time. Now, I guess being an adult and being able to provide for myself I am taking the plunge for braces! So wish me good luck and I REALLY hope I don't look all crazy with braces, even though I just know I am going too! Thanks in advance!

July 4th and Such!

2010-07-07T09:09:00.000-07:00

Well July is here....all 4 of the teeth that had to be pulled in my mouth are pulled and I am happy to report I am feeling good! :) July 14th I have my braces put on and I am nervous (I know Louise what am I not nervous about these days!?! :)) about that! That weekend is not only my quarter of a century birthday but it's Laurie's 10 year anniversary of her 20th Birthday and Louise, Michelle and I have planned a weekend of fun for her!! SO I can not let my teeth get in the way of all that fun! :) So that is the latest on the teeth situation!

This past weekend was 4th of July and I can honestly say it was the best 4th of July ever! We had so much food and so much fun!!! The party consisted of the following people: Laurie, Nathan, Mr. Terry, Mrs. Jacki, Taylor Lane, Justin, Michelle, Morgan, Kristen McCants, Louise (And Baby Ellie :)), Dustin, Kesia, Steve, and Devin. We had a full house and we loved every minute of it! Laurie and I, or should I say Laurie woke up first and quietly came in and woke me up saying this was going to be the best day of the year....and SHE WAS RIGHT!! We both got up and got ready and she started cooking while i was in the shower and after that we loaded up and headed to get Morgan so she could run some last minute errands with us and let Michelle clean, cook and get ready. So we went to Old Navy and bought the party favors for the girls :), and then to winn dixie to get a few things we had forgotten!

After running our errands we got back to the house and my friend April was waiting at the house to visit with me for a couple hours and eat! It was so nice to be able to visit with her and catch up! She is a really great friend and she always brings back good memories and I love her life stories! :) Then Nate came over with his parents and brought the grill and they got everything set up and ready. It was the beginning of a great day! We proceeded to make most of the following stuff in the picture! It was so so so good and so much fun!! Again like I stated before it was the best 4th I can remember! :) Even if we did miss the fireworks bc the waitress at O'Charley's was SLOW AS MOLASSES! But we proceeded to have our own fireworks with some sparklers! :)

This next weekend will be fun too! It is Louise's 1st baby shower! We are excited and look forward to her having MANY MANY MORE! :)

Family Reunion 2010

2010-06-22T08:42:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we had our annual Palmer Family Reunion! This is all of my Nana's side of the family and it is always something I look forward to!! It is so fun to see all of my cousins and catch up on what is going on in their lives!

We left out on Friday afternoon/night to head to Lake Guntersville, near Huntsville, to meet up with Mom and Dad, who had been there already for a day! Dirt, my brother in law, was so excited about taking the Jeep, which is his pride and joy and it is so very nice and so fun, with top down all the way up there! And me and Louise, knowing what submissive women we are agreed happily! :) (LOL) We loaded up our jackets and headed north! About when we got to Clanton we started smelling rain, you know the smell rain has! Me and Louise just looked at each other....little further down the road we started seeing lightning! I could see the boys snickering in the front seats and me and Louise just kept on smiling....little bit longer and my brother in law turns around and ask if we want to wait it out...well in true Walker fashion, Louise shoots back with " Well no, it could rain all night!" So we stopped to get gas and while there the boys pulled the soft top over, so we were a little sheltered but still had no windows or doors :) But Louise and I just smiled and scooted close to each other and sang our little hearts out to Cornerstone! :)

It only rained for about 20 minutes maybe and then is was smooth sailing from there! Made it to the Chalae about 10:15pm and the boys were headed out to bow fish. From what I hear Dad was pretty stinkin excited about going fishing and Dirt bringing the boat! :) They had a pretty exciting night too...maybe one day we can blog about that but I just feel like that is a story that Dirt and Nathan must tell in person...wouldn't do it justice to blog it! :) But Saturday it rained and we got some good visiting time with the cousins and Mom. :) These are a few of my pics from the family reunion! The little girl is Hollie, my little cousin! She is so fun and I REALLY hope Louise post the videos of her talking about Ellie! :) TOO CUTE! :)

This is me and Brice! He is absolutely precious!! I just love his little face!

Me and Nate....It was absolutely beautiful up there!
I just thought this was a precious picture. Like father like son...with balding anyways! :)

Shannon and Darl! Darl is out cousin who was diagnosed with lymphoma and has recently had a stem cell transplnat and he looked amazing! It was so wonderful to see him!

This is generation #4 of the Palmers! (Missing a couple of course!)

Oldest and Youngest....taken every year!

Nana and her 2 sisters. Papa is the only spouse still alive.

Our "Copeland" side of the family

Me and Hollie :) Love this girl!

Me, Aunt Harriet, and my dad :)

Hollie saying "CHEEEEESSSSEEE" :)

The Situation.....

2010-06-14T09:46:00.000-07:00

Well I have officially started my braces process! And boy has it been a heck of a week! Last Wednesday I went for my appt to have 2 (of the 4 TEETH I HAVE TO HAVE REMOVED) teeth pulled. I was very VERY nervous about all of this. I went to the Dr. with Michelle, who bless her heart didn't know what she was getting her self into with me...I wasn't really sure how long it would take but when I asked the dental hygienist that was helping she said, "oh, maybe 10-15 minutes max!", which I was glad of bc Michelle had taken off to take me. (Laurie and Louise both offered but Louise was leaving to go out of town this week and Laurie had a Dr. appt in Anniston and she needed to rest so Michelle was more than willing to help!) Well 2 hours after she had told me that I was done. He told me I would be sore because my teeth were in there good....(I must insert that it was here that I said....well you idiot teeth that have been in my bone for 25 YEARS ARE NOT MEANT TO COME OUT!! I think that was part of God's plan right?!?) But anyways, I bit my numb tongue and just smiled, as much as I could since I was numb to my ear on my left side.

SO Michelle stopped and filled my pain medication and then took me to the house. I was a little emotional and just cried when I talked to Nate on the phone after I left. I was in NO pain at that point because I was still so numb which was great but I guess I just dreaded the numbness wearing off! And boy was I right!! I was absolutely miserable! And Have been up until last night when I finally found some good stuff to make the pain go away and BOY DID IT WORK! I will be doing that little diddy from now on! :)

So next appt is on the 24th of this month....hopefully it wont be as bad but I am so dreading not being able to chew on either side...I know I will be happy with the end result but man I am so not happy with it right now. So I guess as I continue to update "the situation" I just ask for your prayers during all of this....I am very nervous and to be honest probably more vain than anything else.

But hopefully within the next month my mouth will look like this:

Things that annoy me....

2010-06-03T08:07:00.000-07:00

I can not stand for people to beat around the bush about things....especially when it comes to my love life or work life....when I ask your opinion please tell me the truth and do not use examples of other people to try to subtly get the point across...THAT DRIVES ME CRAZY!
IF you hired me to do my job, please do not try to do it for me...That is what you pay me for....also if you are not in my job PLEASE DO NOT TRY TO TELL ME HOW TO DO IT! You do not know because you have never done it!

Is it possible to just fast forward through the next 2-3 years and not have to deal with all this crap anymore?!?!

Happy Anniversary!!!!

2010-06-02T11:42:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe it's been 3 years that I have had a brother! :) And a wonderful example of a Christian marriage and how a marriage should be. It has been nice having a sister that is such a great example of what a Christian wife and woman should be. We had a great example growing up! And on top of that she is going to be an AMAZING MOTHER! Ellie is in for treat with Louise and Dirt! (And of course getting me and Laurie as Aunts makes YOU EXTRA SPECIAL!!) And well Dirt is a good man....especially dealing with Laurie and I. :) We aren't the easiest people to always get along with and he has done well! He is a good man to Louise and is going to be an amazing Daddy to baby Ellie :) These are a few pictures that I love from the wedding!

This was one of my favorites!

And I just don't think these next 2 could've turned out any cuter! I LOVE THEM!

That smile I just love....pure innocent love.... :)

Happy Anniversary Louise and Dirt!!! I wish you many more!!! Love you!

Welcome to Chick fil A World!

2010-05-28T11:48:00.000-07:00

For those of you who do not know me all that well.....

I LOVE CHICK FIL A!!! Love it!! I have for as long as I remember....

(well except for the brief moment when I was a child and Laurie told me where chicken fingers come from....needless to say if you know me now that hasn't stopped me! :)) I just love everything about Chick fil A! They are always so friendly and they always at least ACT like they are happy to be there! SO I am just always impressed with that!

So today was no different from any other day....Louise asked me if i wanted to go to lunch with her and Michelle and that they were going to chick fil a....well even though I had chick fil a yesterday, I was still down for lunch! (AND not to mention I had a TON of free coupons!!) So we load up and head out! Little did we know the journey we were about to embark on! :)

We get to chick fil a and all go and place our orders, well their new thing is that they will bring your food out to you instead of having to stand there and wait on it to come up! It is so nice! So Louise is placing her order at a different register and me and Michelle are at the same one....so we order our food and go sit down. Well not 3 minutes later they bring our food right out to our seats! So we sit down and eat. Well Louise looks at Michelle (she and Louise had gotten kids meals and if you turn the toy back in you can get a FREE icedream cone) and tells her to save her toy so we can get icedream cones after we are done. You would've thought Michelle just won the lottery! She was so excited!! it was so funny! So after that we just started people watching....and boy did that get interesting!

There was this middle aged gentleman, who to me looked nice but to the other 2 did not..., who was in deep conversation with a young lady that worked there, who was a very sweet, special girl, and was just so very nice to her....I was just so shocked....went as far as when she finished talking to him she told him she loved him....AND HE SAID IT BACK!!! It was so nice!! I was shocked!!

Then next instance happened when a Asian man and his family came in and they needed to sit by a plug so he could plug in his computer to charge his phone...this nice gentleman already sitting down and eating offered to get up and move so he could share the plug with the other man charging his phone! HOW NICE IS THAT??! Who gives up there table at lunch to convenience someone else?!? No one sadly in this day in time!

And last but not least there was this elderly couple sitting and having a sweet lunch and i just think it was so sweet...they were just sitting staring into each others eyes...SO SWEET! :) (Maybe that will be Me and Nate one day! Ha! :))

But I just feel like chick fil a is its own little world! And it is how people acted in the 50's and 60's when there were still people who respected each other, and cared, genuinely cared about other people. Made me wish I lived then but happy to have a place to go to get that feel! So this is my plug......EAT MORE CHICKEN!!!! It really will make your day better!

Blessed beyond BELIEF!

2010-05-24T11:48:00.001-07:00

So today started out pretty normal, with the exception of a meeting, and I got a phone call from Laurie saying......SHE IS A MATCH FOR JANET!!! SHE CAN GIVE JANET ONE OF HER KIDNEYS!!! Go here to read the whole story. I do not know how people don't believe in God after seeing something like this. God is so good! :)

Also another side note is Laurie leaves today to go on a mission trip to the Philippines....PLEASE PLEASE keep her, my dad, and my grandparents in your prayers over the next few weeks! Laurie has a lot to do when she gets back! So with all that said please just Keep and Laurie and Janet and her family in your prayers.

The blog I have been dreading to write....

2010-05-19T08:06:00.000-07:00

Well today is my Friday.....I am taking off Thursday and Friday to spend time with my best friend, Taylor, who will be leaving to go back to Washington to get things prepared for her husband to come home from fighting for our freedom in Afghanistan. Don't get me wrong I know how much she has missed him and she absolutely can NOT WAIT for him to be home. It's funny though how attached you become to someone who you spend every waking moment with!! From the time she got here I decided that I was going to do everything possible to have her included in everything and make sure she felt wanted and needed. I knew it was going to be a hard transition and I wanted to help make it as easy as possible! So from day 1 I was stuck to her side. I didn't give her a choice. I just called and said I was coming over. I told Nathan that he needed to know going into this that she would be attached to my side and he has been ABSOLUTELY great about it!! Just another reason I love him! :) But I am just glad that we have got to spend the past year together! She is the best friend I have ever had and I am so happy that I got to have this year with her! Over the course of this year we have done and had some crazy times! Some of which include: Disney World, the beach, the pool, the many many shopping trips, getting our hair done together, getting mani & pedi's, Lads-to-Leaders, the long talks, wedding planning, vacation planning, football games, baseball games, philly cheesesteak sandwiches, planning how to talk down the crazy guy on the monorail at Disney, oh and how can I forget the SCHOOL WORK! :) Sometimes that school work was very easy though! :) But there are so many memories that I will never forget and she has been such a HUGE help to me here.

I know I am blessed with friends here and 2 sisters that are amazing but there is something about a best friend, her knowing everything about you, and still loving me unconditionally, or loving me because I know too much on her too! :) She has taught me many a thing or 2 about marriage, being away from your family all the time and how to be a true friend. I am truly blessed to have had her in my life. And I know she isn't dead and that she is just leaving but when you are with someone day-in, day-out, when they leave and you don't see them for 4 months it feels like a death in someways. I remember her saying that in her deployment meeting before Blake left that they said it would feel like you are grieving for the actual loss of that person because of the absence of them, and well I feel like that is how I will feel. I know it's no where near the pain of missing her husband but she is truly my best friend....and for those of you that know me, well I have gone through my fair share of best friends. She is just the one person I know that I can tell anything to and she won't judge me or tell anything I say to her. And well there aren't a lot of friends I have that are like that....in fact I have learned that i do not say stuff to anyone about anything because most people just don't know how to keep their mouth shut...but she can. And I love and appreciate her for that. She is generous and willing to help me in any way possible. She would bring me anything I needed and was always up for a lunch date! She lets me vents and just listens. I am just so very grateful!! So below are some pictures from our year. We have alot together but i just didn't want to bore everyone else with them. :)

This is from our trip to Disney! We had so much fun!!!

Again from Disney....that trip was the BEST!!

This is from Halloween, which was also her birthday! :) We took Morgan out to pick out a pumpkin!

This is from Halloween too! I was a cowgirl (I know how original :)) And she was an Army Wife....fitting right?? :)

This is from Disney too, this is where we almost forgot our tickets and had to run back to the car to get them, then we RAN back to catch the shuttle! :)

This is from when we went to Adairsville to see Nate's family and get our hair done :) This is one of my favorite pictures of us!

This is from the Rodeo....that was a fun night! :)

This was right after she got home....she went with Laurie, Louise, Dirt, and I to have family pictures done! :)

Well that is a good wrap of the year....So Taylor I hope you know how much you mean to me and I am so blessed to have you in my life! I am excited for you that you get to see Blake in a month and I know that I will be seeing you in Germany. You are the best friend I could've ever asked for!! Thank you so much for making this year so so great!! Love you so so much!! And I will miss you more than you know!

Change

2010-05-18T07:14:00.000-07:00

That is something I typically do not like! I do not like having to get away from my everyday normal life and CHANGE what I do. I like for things to be the same. I do not live on the edge. And I am happy that way. I do not feel like I have to risk my life to feel like I am living. However, its getting to the time in my life when everything is starting to change. Family is growing....everyday....brother-in-law, FIRST NIECE, and so on. Those are exciting things but still force change. Changes in family holidays, changes in traditions.

I am trying to learn to accept change more and try to be more positive about the changes that are happening in my life and that will be happening in my life really soon. I am nervous and excited all in one about everything going on but I know it is all in God's hand. There are very few in my family that adapt to change well and I hope for them they can strive to accept change better also. But one thing I am currently changing is my workout habit.....yes you heard that right. I do not like to workout/run/get my heart rate up at all!! I like to walk and well that is about it! But recently I went to the Dr. and they ran all the fun physical test on me and they determined my cholesterol was a little bit higher than it should've been. Not anywhere near a dangerous level but I am only 24 years old....if I don't stop it now it will be out of control by the time I am 40!!! So I have started to do kick boxing and step aerobics on Monday and Tuesdays, and walking with Louise every other day that I can. :) So lets just hope I can keep this up! :)

I hope everyone has a GREAT day!

Happiness......

2010-05-14T09:11:00.000-07:00

I have really been thinking a lot about happiness recently....what determines my happiness and how I am the only one who can control my happiness. So I have found some quotes that I hope all of you can relate to!

The constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.

~ Benjamin Franklin

Even if happiness forgets about you a little bit, never completely forget about it.

~Jacques Prevert

The best way to cheer yourself up is to try and cheer someone else up.

~Mark Twain

Nobody really cares if you are miserable, so you might as well be happy.

~Cynthia Nelms

The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise grows it under his feet.

~James Openheim

This is my "depressed stance". When you're depressed, it makes a lot of difference how you stand. The worst thing you can do is straighten up and hold your head high because then you'll start to feel better. If you're going to get any joy out of being depressed, you've got to stand like this!

~Charlie Brown

Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.

~Oscar Wilde

When I was in grade school, they told me to write down what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down happy. They told me I didn't understand the assignment, I told them they didn't understand life.

~unknown

Being happy doesn't mean you're perfect. It just means you've decided to look beyond the imperfections.

~K.B. Indiana

If you think sunshine brings you happiness, you haven't danced in the rain.

~ Unknown

Well there are just a few quotes that I found that I love!! I hope they encourage you and I hope you have a GREAT day!

The Important Things:

2010-05-10T09:40:00.000-07:00

Ever really wondered what those really are? I have and well this weekend opened my eyes to some really important things! As I was sitting and listening to my daddy's lessons on Sunday morning I sat thinking of all the trivial things that I worry and stress over. You know that book "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff....It's all Small Stuff" well I feel like I could write the book "I sweat over all stuff!" And it just really hit me that I really need to increase my true TRUST IN GOD!! It really made me think about how much trust with God really is a huge deal. I do trust in God with alot of stuff but I need to put all my trust in Him. And that will be hard for me. I do not like to have to depend on someone for stuff. I know I do depend on people for things but for the most part I like to have complete control of what i do and how it is done. I am at a HUGE turning point in my life when I will be making some BIG decisions and I will need God's guidance more than ever. So this is me asking for your prayers to help me TRUST God more and that I make the right decisions.

I just official had one of those moments....

2010-05-05T07:32:00.000-07:00

I am in complete shock! It was one of those moments that you are just going along with life and then it just hits you....and you are completely taken off guard. Well that is how I am right now. Oh my the things people do. I am just shocked. The end.

The BIGGEST thing that happened....

2010-05-03T12:55:00.000-07:00

I GOT TO FEEL BABY ELLIE KICK FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!! OH MY IT WAS SO NEAT!!!

Things happening....

2010-05-03T07:02:00.000-07:00

So this is just going to be one of those random blogs to update about everything that is going on in my life....it's been busy around here for the past couple weeks so it has been hard to blog alot! Let's see where to start.....

2 Sunday's ago I went to the zoo with Morgan, Michelle, and Justin! It was so much fun! Morgan really had a good time I think! She was alert and loved looking at all the animals! And I had never been through the whole zoo before so it was my first time really ever going through the whole zoo! I am pretty proud of the Montgomery Zoo! Never knew they had that many animals!
We are working on nailing down dates for Louise's baby showers! I know I say this alot but I am so excited about Baby Ellie! I sometimes just imagine what she will really look like...I feel like she is going to come out with this dark brown ringlet hair....ok I know she wont come out with it but I can imagine her at a year old with that hair! She has already made such an impact on our family! I just can't wait till I can actually hold her!
I am working on a secret project for Louise and Baby Ellie! I just know they will both love it! :)
I am thinking alot about my life and making decisions that will change my life in every way. I covet your prayers on those. I know to most people my decisions don't affect them and really never will but for me these are HUGE deals in my life and I just pray I make the right decisions and am able to glorify God with everyone.
It was graduation this past weekend and all of my dad's side of the family was in town! It was so great to spend time with them! I really miss them. Crazy how after you grow up and move away how much you grow to miss the little things like seeing them everyday or GCS ball games....it's funny how much I miss Dasher sometimes.

Well I think that really sums it up. the next 4 months are going to be crazy and I feel like alot is going to be happening! I will keep you updated!

One of those days....

2010-04-13T13:30:00.001-07:00

...so as I sit here and think about everything I have on my plate, it is hard for me to think about work. I will go ahead and forewarn you that this is my avenue to vent today so if you don't want to hear please quit reading.

It's Tuesday which means our Tuesday morning meeting was today. Wasn't bad but the meetings are NEVER good.
I had an orthodontist appointment today. (Will add to that in a minute)
Right before my appointment I get a call from one of my RBI's (which in laments term is one of the kids that was DEFINITELY coming to school) decided she wanted to go to school somewhere else! REALLY after I have fought for you to get an $8,000 scholarship?!?!? REALLY?!?!?
Then I get into my appointment and might I add my orthodontist is so very nice. i am very happy with him. But I wasn't expecting him to tell me I had really 2 options of fixing my teeth. 1. JAW SURGERY....and not even lower jaw surgery, which they say is easier but really IS ANY SURGERY EASY?!? But it's UPPER MAXILLA SURGERY WHICH IS WORSE! Then he say that my teeth really aren't that bad....but if I need jaw surgery something is BAD! Option 2. HAVE 4 TEETH EXTRACTED!! Does that not sound awful to anyone else? I feel like my mouth will be full of gaps then and space....I am so worried about this. I know I am very vain and that my Dr. knows what he is doing but I won't lie I am very nervous about all of this. I am worried about money, pain, and least of all looks.
I am just very stressed and worried. I know I shouldn't worry I am just ready to be to "THAT POINT" in my life....and No I am not really sure what "THAT POINT" is. I am just worried. Period.

It's a GIRL!!!!

2010-04-12T08:23:00.001-07:00

Yep you guessed it! LOUISE IS HAVING A BABY GIRL!!! AND WE COULD NOT BE ANY MORE EXCITED!!

We went on Thursday with Louise and Dustin to find out if we were going to be having a little niece or nephew! Me, Laurie, Michelle, and Morgan were beyond ELATED about being able to see the baby on the screen and watch the baby move. After Louise and Dustin found out that brought us in and let us go through the whole process again to see what it is! AND I WAS RIGHT....IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL LITTLE BABY GIRL!! I cannot tell anyone the amazing feeling I got when I saw her little cha! (I just love that I know it's a HER NOW!!)

So after we got the news, it was time for Louise's regular appointment and so that meant me, Laurie, Michelle, and Morgan had to occupy ourselves til they got done and we could go eat! We decided we would go look for gender specific stuff since we were throwing her a "sex party, gender specific party" :) on Friday at lunch! Michelle wrote all about that with pictures so click here if you would like to read about our party :) We went to children's place and got Ellie her first dress.

Needless to say that this precious baby girl has 2 Aunts that are so ready to meet her, a plethora of Great Aunts, Uncle's, and Grandparents, and GREAT grandparents that are ready to meet her!!

Ellie we are so excited about you and your arrival!! You enjoy your bonding time with mommy when you get out because when you get here there will be endless lines wanting to hold you and love you. You are already loved more than you can imagine! I love you little Lizzie Lou and I pray for you and your mommy daily! :)

TODAY....

2010-04-07T08:30:00.000-07:00

.....WE FIND OUT IF LOUISE IS HAVING A LITTLE BOY OR A LITTLE GIRL!!! (i GUESS DUSTIN WILL FIND OUT TOO :)) WE ARE SO EXCITED AND THIS LITTLE ONE WILL BLESS US ALL SO MUCH MORE THAN WE CAN IMAGINE!! i JUST CAN NOT WAIT!

My playdate with Morgan and Nate :)

2010-04-06T07:46:00.000-07:00

So yesterday Nate and I got to watch Morgan while Michelle was working and Justin was doing school work! I was so excited! I hadn't seen her in a couple of days so I needed my Mo fix! :) I went with Michelle to pick her up, went to my house to pick up her Easter basket, or as I would like to call it her "14th Month Birthday Basket", then to drop off Michelle back at work. She wasn't really sure about leaving mommy at first but I turned on some music and we started dancing and all was good in the world of Mo again! :) 1st thing we did was go get some McDonald's. WE picked up dinner and headed to Nate's so we could "help" him wash the cars! Needless to say me and Morgan ate and watched Nate wash the cars! It was fun! Louise and Dirt stopped by on their way home to see her too! The photos below were captured throughout the night....I will narrate where needed :)

She loves helping drive Nate's truck!

Next step was to help wash it! She wasn't a big fan at first but she warmed up to it. But she kept getting distracted by Charlie, Taylor's dog. (Who is quite a bit bigger than Sadie and Splatt so she REALLY wasn't sure about him :))

She was fascinated with the suds in the water....I think she thought they were pretty.

Next we took a field trip to see Laurie and take her some food while she was in class. Morgan liked being able to get out and she knew who was supposed to be in that building...DADDY!

So to entertain Laurie and Morgan played chase around the columns :)

She liked playing with Laurie. Burned some energy.

Riding on Laurie's shoulders are always fun!

Michelle called called back as soon as we were heading over there so we need to pacify little Mo a little longer so we let her drive us around campus! She loved it!!

She was so proud of herself!

That is the little cup I brought her back from Disney World! She loved it! The little part in the middle turns and she really likes the straw!

She was beginning to wear down....

But she was so happy to see mommy!! :)

Thanks for letting us watch her Michelle!! She is so much fun!! I just love her to pieces and so does Nate. :)

I have decided to.....

2010-03-24T08:08:00.001-07:00

...start a new hobby. Or just have a hobby period! :) I have always loved taking pictures and I have honestly thought before that I would LOVE to learn how to use a good camera and REALLY KNOW HOW TO USE IT, like with the lighting and settings and all that jazz! And so this weekend I had an epiphany, well Me, Michelle, and Louise all had an epiphany :), that I should look into photography classes. Michelle said that she would let me use her camera so I didn't have to buy one right out of the gate. I am so excited about it! There are a couple different classes I am looking at but I think right now, for finances and since I have ANOTHER huge chunk of money that is about to start being used (I will blog about that more in detail after I find out more details :)), I will just take the least expensive classes to just learn how to get the most use out of the Nikon D40 I will be using. :) So anyways I am very excited and I just know it will be so fun!! :) I have a feeling my portfolio will be full of a little girl named Morgan and maybe just maybe some cute pregnancy shots :)

Special people Part 4 :)

2010-03-15T06:22:00.001-07:00

So in the midst of a busy week and heart wrenching week I forgot to update about my special people!

1. Michelle Bond: She is amazing. A wonderful addition to our family here in Montgomery! She is happy, fun, and always positive! It is nice to be around people that make you want to be a better person and she is one of those. She is a excellent mommie and a loving and caring wife! I am so glad that we are friends and that she lets me vent whenever I need to :)

2. Blake Allen: He is strong, brave, and courageous! He puts his life on the line so that I can sit here and write this blog...and live in the best country in the world. He loves his wife more than words can say and would do anything for anyone. He has the biggest heart and is a family man! I could not have chosen a better guy for my best friend to marry. They just fit, like they were meant to be together. I admire Blake for all he does and how selfless he is. Thank you Blake for everything you do and putting your life on the line so that I can live in the USA.

3. Taylor Allen: She is my best friend. Period. She is amazingly strong and is one of the happiest people I know. She loves me warts and all. She is always there no matter what. She has seen the good, bad and ugly of me and still wants to be my friend...and well that speaks volumes!! She is the best wife and she will be an amazing mommie one day! I am getting kinda sad that I really only have her here for 2 more months. I am excited that she will be able to be back with Blake and have a normal family life again but I am so sad that she will be leaving me. In October they are being stationed to Germany. I am so excited for her. I know she is super excited and I am just happy and nervous for her all at the same time! I will not be excited that she will be so far away but we've made it this long something tells me distance wont be an issue for us! :) And the bright side is we will have a free place to stay when we want to go over seas!! :) Love you Tay. You are the best. Thanks for ALWAYS being there no matter what. (And thanks for washing my clothes when my dryer broke...that is really the true definition of a best friend :))

My heart is hurting...

2010-03-11T07:16:00.000-08:00

I have some friends I would really like all of you to remember in your prayers. They are going through some REALLY hard times right now and it just breaks my heart.

Also please remember me. I am having to make some big decisions and my heart is very heavy. I am trying to remember Romans 8:28 but it is difficult at times.

Have you ever wondered.....

2010-03-08T10:10:00.000-08:00

If people just settled with who they are married to or are planning to marry? I can't seem to wrap my mind around that. Who would want to just play it safe instead of risking it and having something completely wonderful?!?! I feel like I have seen a lot of people who have just settled with that "safe" girl who does love them completely and fully but the feelings aren't exactly the same "over the fence- homerun feeling". They are just those "I should love her because she loves me so much...and I know she will take care of me." men and I just hate that. Do you know anyone like that?

THIS IS MY PERSONAL OPINION WITH MY LIFE AND SOME OF MY FRIENDS FROM THE PAST...NOT ANYONE HERE AND NOW.
THANKS!

Today is a BIG day for me....

2010-03-08T07:47:00.000-08:00

I have a really important appointment today and I am just asking everyone to pray for me. I am very nervous and I know I shouldn't be but I am. I will update after I get back from my appointment but hopefully my fun lunch should help calm my nerves a little bit.

Thanks!

3rd Edition of Special People

2010-03-04T08:54:00.000-08:00

So here goes the 3rd Edition!

1. Gin-Gin :0) She is amazing! There is not many other words that fit her as perfectly as that does. She loves all her nieces and nephew so much and she has been an amazing aunt throughout the years. She is an amazing mother, wife, sister, daughter, aunt, and soon to be GREAT AUNT! She will be just as excited for Louise when she has her baby as Laurie and I are! :) (There will be a post to come about Jessica :) She needs her own post!) I am so blessed to have such an amazing family!

2. Weeze: the glue that holds us together. She is great. In every aspect of her life. She is preggers with my first niece....or nephew :) I look up to her so much. She is an inspiration. She is loving, patient, kind, gentle, peaceful, full of joy, faithfulness, goodness, and self control. She truly is a great example for me and everyone around her. A real life example of the virtuous woman.

Oh and she IS the funny sister :) (Just kidding Laurie :))

3. Brookers: She is beautiful. She has a heart of gold and big enough to love anyone and everyone :) She is funny. She makes me laugh when I need it. She doesn't know how important she is to so many people, including myself. She inspires me. She is creative and I am so jealous of that. (In a good way of course :)) She has endured a lot and in the end come out a better and stronger person for it. She is going to be the best older cousin to her new cousin on the way...for kicks we will call him William :) Just another amazing woman God has blessed my life with.

Again stay tuned...I have honestly had more than 3 this week but I don't want them to be super long so I will write again on Monday! :)

2nd Edition of Special People Post

2010-03-01T13:38:00.000-08:00

So this weeks special people post will actually have 2 parts~One today and one at the end of the week!

Katie Beth McCarthy! She has become one of my very best friends! She is so positive and always so uplifting! It is nice to be able to have a friend to vent to and share exciting news and her be just as excited as you are! She is amazing and I am so very blessed to have her in my life! Not to mention she has 3 of the cutest kids ever! :)

3. My Oldest Sister Laurie :) She is amazing. She absolutely amazes me by everything that she does. She always makes sure I am ok and if I am sick she always takes care of me. She lets me yell at her when I need to and lets me vent about stuff that just doesn't need to be venting to anyone other than family. I know whatever I say she is going to listen and that when I am in the wrong and need to be corrected she will correct me. It's hard to believe we have lived together for almost 5 years now. Crazy how time flies! It is nice to have someone that I can fight with and 5 minutes later be laughing and cutting up with. I am blessed beyond belief with the best BIGGEST sister ever :) Love you Laurie and thank you for everything!

Stay tuned for the next edition!!! :)

Some Special People (part 1)

2010-02-25T07:25:00.001-08:00

So last night after I was woke up at 2 A.M., I couldn't go right back to sleep so I started thinking about a good new blog that would be positive instead of negative, which at the time I was SOOO thinking negative! :) I decided that I was going to write a series of blogs about special people in my life that really just make my life better because they are in it. I am going to do one of these each week to reflect who has really impacted my life that week. :) So here are this weeks!

Kinsley Fipps (And Jenn :)) She is so so so funny and so happy!! She is content to just be passed around because everyone wants to hold her and she just makes me smile! I am so glad I have been able to get to know Jenn and Corey and little Miss Kinsley :) And look at that cute face...how can you not love her?!?!

2. Morgan Ann :) This little girl makes me smile like none other! I can be having an awful day and just seeing that sweet little smile she gets when she sees someone she recognizes just makes my day! She is so happy and so fun! I hope I have a little girl that is as out going as her at 1! :) And that smile makes my heart melt! And if you ask her momma or really anyone that has been around us...she knows she can come to Aunt Leigh Leigh and get what she wants :)

3. Seth Jones I could write a novel about this guy...He came to Faulkner the year after I did and we became friends...the friendship grew and grew and before long we were best friends. He became the person I talked to about everything because I knew he wasn't judging me. Well 2 years later he left and I was so sad. Well we kept in touch and he has come back to Faulkner this past fall so he could finish up. I was so excited. He is just one of those people that it is hard to be in a bad mood around. And he will do everything in his will to try and make me feel better and laugh! And most of the time he succeeds!

4. My Nate :) Last but certainly not least is Nathan :) He has been great this week. He has just listened to me vent and that is so nice. Sometimes I don't want advice on how to handle things I just want to vent! A lot of people don't understand that and so it's a little frustrating at times but I know that sometimes that is why people vent. But I love him for putting up with my moods and mean words sometimes and still loving me back :) I am a pretty lucky girl.

So stay tuned for next week special people :)

(And please don't be offended if you didnt make this weeks post! I just don't want to have a NOVEL for everyone to have to read...and they won't come back for more. :))

SICKNESS!

2010-02-16T08:42:00.000-08:00

I absolutely HATE being sick! I hate it hate it hate hate it!!! But last Tuesday I woke up with the worse feeling throat and I thought...oh it will be fine..I have a little cold and in a couple of days I will kick it! Nothing too serious that would keep me down and out! Little did I know then....

So Tuesday about 10 I came on in to work because it was coming up on one of our biggest scholarship days and there was stuff that needed to be done....well after being here for just a short while and talking to Keith we decided I would just take the rest of the day. So I took the rest of the day and Nana and Papa were in town so I spent the afternoon with them and Louise, she took off also! :) It was fun and I didn't feel all that bad by this time....that soon would pass.

Wednesday I woke up and it wasn't really any better so I decided just to stay in bed and get better.

Thursday I woke up and decided I would try to make it at least half a day and so I came in work at about 11. That day was pretty productive getting everything ready for Scholars Day.

We had a snow day on Friday so I was taking that day to my advantage and getting some extra rest. And I did just that...I stayed in bed a majority of the day and still felt horrible.

Well Saturday morning rolled around and I got up to get a shower and got that "feeling". That feeling I know oh too well from before of the "I'm about to pass out in the shower" feeling and just wishing I had brought my phone in the bathroom with me...you would think that I would have learned my lesson the last time but NO! So I sit down and open the shower curtain to get some fresh air...and well lets just say that passing out didn't happen but I would've rathered that then throw up...which happened next. That was it for me...my stubbornness had subsided and I was ready to go to the dr. So as soon as Laurie got home I got ready and we went to try to go to the dr. Well NONE of them opened before 9. So we went back home and I crawled back in bed til 8:45. We got there right as it opened and well IT WAS PACKED and HOT in the waiting room. I was in 3 layers and before long I got "that feeling" again and started striping off layers in the waiting room. At first I thought I was going to pass out and all I wanted to do was lay on the floor and well Laurie was NOT going to let me lay on that nasty floor. And besides if I passed out maybe that would move me ahead in the line right?!?! Sometimes you just gotta take one for the team!! After the pass out phase passed, I knew what was coming next. I was trying to scan the room for a bathroom and the only one was OUT OF ORDER! GREAT! Just my luck! So then Laurie gets up and and starts yelling at the ladies to get her a blue bag...I was about to throw up and I needed it. So finally I got my blue bag and luckily...if that works here...I just had dry heaves...which well still hurts just as bad and is still just as embarrassing!

Finally we got called back and the woman was so nice. The temperature difference was about 20 degrees cooler in the back than in the front. It was a nice change of pace except I was having chills now. So we get back to the "symptoms room" as I like to call it. She ask me when my last cycle was and on my birth control I have very light to none every month. (In case you are wondering...No it never worries me because I know that is what it's supposed to do AND I'M NOT HAVING SEX...That is a key point here...but I guess most single 24 yr olds are :)) And I go over all my symptoms; sore throat, a little nauseated from the drainage, headache, and a very low temperature for a day. She looks at me kinda funny and ask, "Are you pregnant?" Well me and Laurie both laugh. I look at her and say, "If I am I know a couple people that are going to be pretty ticked! My boyfriend for starters!! And NOT because its his!!" She laughs and we go on talking about my symptoms...and she looks at me again and says, "ARE YOU SURE YOU AREN'T PREGNANT??" By this point I am like YES I AM SURE I AM NOT PREGNANT!....and Laurie is sitting there saying, "Leigh if you are this is a VERY BAD way and weekend to tell me!! :)".

So finally after I get that through her head we get to go to a room. She comes in the room and says someone will be with us shortly to take blood. My face went white...I was a little panicked since the last time we were at pri-med and had to have blood taken the guy that TRIED to get it, TRIED 6 TIMES AND STILL COULDN'T!! I was in so much pain and miserable! But this time I was just hoping it was a girl...and about that time she walked back in and said it would be her that was going to be taking the blood. I was still nervous but I just looked the other way and she got it on the first try. :) I was REALLY happy about that! A few minutes passed and the Dr. came in and told me that the blood samples came back fine and it looked and sounded like I had an upper respiratory infection....(side note here is that this SAME TIME LAST YEAR-Valentines day-I had this SAME THING!!)...and that I needed to get my prescription and be in bed for the next 48 hrs. So that is exactly what I did. :)

So fast forward to say that I am finally back among the land of the living and feeling ok today. ;)
Just thought some of you might enjoy that little story :)

The Blog I've Wanted to Write for a LONG Time! :)

2010-02-03T07:37:00.000-08:00

Well it's been a long time coming for this blog! I am so excited I just can't hardly stand it! So let me just start from the beginning!

This past month has been crazy for me! I have been getting over Christmas, and preparing for Jewels. It's an all girls youth rally that Faulkner hosts, that I have to plan every detail with the tremendous help of my co workers Erin and Molly! It was the weekend of the 22nd. That took every bit of my focus! In the midst of that, my best friend Taylor's husband came home from Afghanistan. Saturday the 30th was spent cleaning to get my house back to where I could live in it! So on Sunday the 31st it was going to be just as busy! Nathan and I left right after church Sunday morning and went to Newnan to meet his parents and sister for his sisters birthday lunch! We got there and ate at Ruby Tuesday then walked around and shopped for alittle bit with them, then it was back to Montgomery. :) We got back just in time to make it for church.

Mom and Dad had come in to spend a few days with us and celebrate Louise's birthday! Dad and Dirt walked into church and mom, Laurie, and Louise were all trying to finish up a 31 party that Laurie had that Sunday afternoon. (They all walked in a few minutes later! :)) So after church we decided that we would go to Jason's Deli (Louise's favorite restaurant) to eat. It was fun and Seth, Kesha, and Devin joined us for dinner! After dinner we went to Louise's house and just hung out for a little bit. After everyone left, the family was just sitting there and Laurie and I were about to leave. Louise got up and said she had been working on a new project and she wanted us to look at them. At that point I wasn't thinking anything was up because Louise is crafty and creative and always trying new things. So we all get our card (attached below!) and all start reading it....I look around and see Mom and Laurie's faces and I just scream at Louise.... "ARE YOU KIDDING ME????" And at that point I knew she wasn't! I was so excited....I started crying, of course, and just hugged her and Dirt! She was very creative with the way she told us!

So now is part to gush about how spoiled this precious child is going to be and where I ask you all to keep Louise, Dirt and our precious new baby in your prayers! Our parents have told us from the beginning that they were praying for us before we were ever thought of and I know that is true. And i know Louise and Dirt have been praying for this little one! Louise is going to be the BEST mommy and we have all known it since she was about 12 and babysitting. She was meant to be a mom! :) If there were ever 2 people that were made to be parents, they are it. they are precious with Morgan and I know that no matter what sex, they will be so excited!! (Even though I selfishly REALLY want a little girl!! :))

These are just a few pictures that I think are appropriate!

This is totally Louise's child!

And I just thought this was too cute :)

This is where he is his father's child! LOL

And well this is fitting because this will be the closest holiday to his/her birthday!! :)

SO there is my BIG news!!! I AM GOING TO BE AN AUNT!!! YAY!!

New Year....and beyond!

2010-01-19T07:33:00.000-08:00

So it's a new year and a new beginning in a way. I love the beginning of a new year...I feel like I can start over in a sense. It is crazy that it is 2010! I still can't believe it and its been 19 days into already!!! A lot has already happened in 2010! Here is a recap of some things!

I celebrated New Years Day with Laurie and Nate...the same way I have for the past 3 years!

Louise has had her birthday!! YAY! :)

I FINALLY HAVE A NEPHEW!! Lisa had Braden on Saturday the 17th! He weighed 7lbs 7 oz! He is precious!!

Lisa had her first birthday as a momma!!

Jessica is 9!! WOW I can not believe how fast time flies!! I remember Gin-Gin being pregnant with Jess and her being born! Crazy how 9 years flies! People always told me growing up that time would fly by the older I got and well now that I am approaching my 25th birthday this year...well lets just say boy I believe them now!

I am approaching my first REALLY big Faulkner event that I planned! JEWELS!!! (With the help of Erin of course! :)) I am really nervous and I hope we have a great turn out!!

I have new friendships and rekindled old ones :)

I have realized how lucky I am to be living in the United States of America! My best friend's husband got home from Afghanistan on Saturday...and well I consider Blake and Taylor part of my family. I am so glad he made it home and I know Taylor is loving him being here....even if it is only for 2 weeks then he will go back to Afghanistan til July! Please keep him and all the troops in your prayers!!

And last but certainly not least...I have remember just how truly blessed I am! I am so thankful for everything I have and I want to make 2010 the best year yet!!

Hope this is a good enough update!! JEWELS is this weekend so I will post more next week to tell all about it! And I will post about my weekend at the Lake! :)

It's been a while I know....

2009-12-08T10:04:00.001-08:00

...so I decided I should probably get back into this whole blogging thing! I know I have been out of the swing of things but I think it will be a good thing for me to get back in the habit of doing! So I am going to start out by blogging about CHRISTMAS!!!!!! (For those of you that do not know me very well....well Christmas is my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE time of the year!) I am happier this time of year than I am most of the year....and yes Louise I know I should be happy all the time :P. But there is just something about getting a REAL tree and digging out all, and when I say all I mean all, of our Christmas stuff!! One thing my mom handed down to all three of us is our ability to collect more Christmas stuff than anything else! I mean seriously it took me and Laurie a FULL week of decorating with some help from Louise, Dirt, and Nathan on occasion! :) But even though I do not love devoting a whole week to it, after its done I am so excited and happy its out I find myself going to bed smiling and even getting up smiling when I walk by the living room and see the lights are on from the tree! I JUST LOVE IT!!!

And I love, LOVE buying gifts for Christmas! I always try to see if I can get the best presents....especially for Laurie and Louise! It is so fun to listen actively from about July on (the reason for July is bc honestly we start shopping off QVC in July because of the Christmas in July special they run...and well we got it honest from my dad's side of the family...its only right! :)). SO needless to say I am always so excited about getting their presents! But this year I am most excited about Dad's present from Me and Nate :) I can't write it on here like I did last year because Dad has a blog now but I am super excited about opening gifts there this year!

I also love going to look at all the Christmas lights! They are so much fun and I just love it! I like to take a cup of hot chocolate and bundle up and go look at all of them! Don't worry after I look at them I will blog more and with pictures! :)

Well I guess that is it for today! I am really excited about Girls' Night tonight at Kim's house for our ornament swap! It is so fun! :) I promise I will be better about blogging! :)

****16 days til CHRISTMAS!!!!****

My New Thing....

2009-07-08T07:53:00.000-07:00

...is working with the prison ministry! I had been thinking about it for a while and decided that the next training class I would go to it...so i did. I was a bit nervous but Louise, Dirt, Nathan and Kristen all were going too so it made me feel a little bit better! The training class was interesting to say the least!

After about 3 weeks Mrs. Karen got in touch with Louise and told her that I was good to go and I could start going with Louise when I wanted to. So I told Louise I would go with her the next time she went...well she had to fill in for someone that next week so I was on my way to my 1st trip to Tutwiler!

Well June 30th came and I was SUPER nervous! Oh man was I nervous!!! But I loaded up with Louise and Michelle Latham and we headed to Wetumpka! I was getting an ulcer I was getting so nervous! So we got there and it all started and it was GREAT (even though one woman walked up to me at the end of class and told me I looked SUPER nervous...and well I had to admit I was!!!!)!!! I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Louise's lesson and putting my 2 cents in where I felt it was needed. it was wonderful! All the ladies just love all of the New Life Behavior women that come and especially "Black Molly" AKA Mrs. Elizabeth! :)

It was an amazing experience for me and I really think this is going to help me to grow stronger and delve deeper into the Bible...because those women READ THEIR BIBLE and will challenge you to everything and want to know your opinion of a verse and I don't like to be unprepared which I know sometimes you will be but I want to have some kind of knowledge! I am very encouraged by these women and please keep all of them in your prayers! Some of them have families that wont speak to them and that never have visitors so we really are all they have and we are responsible for teaching them about the Bible. So please just keep this ministry in your prayers. I am sure I will have some good stories for you later!

Things I am Thankful for...

2009-06-17T07:23:00.000-07:00

My dad wrote a blog similar to this last week sometime and I was reading it and it struck a cord with me...and boy have I needed a little wake up call to really how truly blessed I am....so in an attempt to be like my daddy I am going to list somethings I am so very thankful for.

First and foremost I am thankful for God and Jesus. I am so very thankful for my loving and forgiving Father. And our Savior that went to the cross for all of our sins. I would be nothing without Him.
I am so extremely thankful for my family. I have been so blessed to have the most amazing parents that have taught me so many lessons and that with God ANYTHING truly is possible. I have the most amazing sisters anyone could ever ask for! They will support any kind of party I have and normally have a party themselves!! (Premiere, Thirty One, Partylite, etc. :)) All in all they are pretty amazing!!!I am thankful for Laurie and the fact that she is always there no matter what! I am thankful for Louise and her kind nature and always being calm even when she is aggravated with me! I also have the best brother!!! (In law :)) he is great and will always come to my defense no matter what!! It is nice to have a brother finally! I am so thankful for my relationships I have with my Aunts and Uncles! I don't know if my childhood could have been any better living so close to both sides of my family...GinGin, Kaka, and Aunt Beth are the best!!! (And all the uncles are too...just alot more of them to name!) I also have the most amazing sets of grandparents! Grandma is such an example of a strong Christian woman and I could not be any more thankful that she is in my life! Nana and Papa are so devoted to the Philippine missions and so generous!
I am so thankful for Nathan. He puts up with alot from me and I know I am not the easiest person to date, but he still sticks by...even when its really hard too. I am glad he is in my life and very thankful for his patience.
I am so thankful for Mrs. Strange. She was my kindergarten teacher and she is one of the most positive people I know. She is always there to listen and give GREAT advice. And she also taught me about "Germs" :)
I am thankful for the struggles that I have went through in the past 5 years. Some life changing some not so much but struggles none the less. They have taught me patience and what unconditional love really is. I hope if anything ever happens to me that I have a devoted spouse and children that no matter will be at my side and be my cheerleaders. I am so very thankful for those struggles I truly wouldn't be the person I am today provided I wouldn't have gone through those tough times.
I am thankful for my disappointments, they have taught me not to always rely on other people to do things...sometimes you must do things yourself.
I am thankful for Blake and Adam for not being afraid to stand up and fight for our country and our freedom. Even if it means dying.
I am thankful for those Army wives, Tay, for being strong and knowing the risk and consequences of marrying a military man.
I am so very thankful for my true friends. Few and far between but mean more than anything to me! Thanks for always being there and just listening! Sometimes that is all I need!
Those are just a few things right of the cuff! I am sure i have left something out because the blog that had everything in it would be FOREVER long! I hope that everyone is alittle uplifted today and I hope that even if you don't blog about it you can take sometime to think about all the blessings you have and be thankful for them! We are all truly blessed!

It's officially been a YEAR!!!

2009-05-21T09:51:00.000-07:00

Well today officially makes it a year that Nathan and I have been together. I know kinda crazy! It has been quite a year....full of many ups and downs but all that have made us closer and better! He is my heart and I love him oh so much! Its not easy dating me or trying to date me...trust me Laurie can attest to that...she tells me sometimes that I need to ease up...so I know it hasn't always been easy for him! But he has taught me alot of the past year some of these things include: Patience, loving unconditionally no matter what, anything worth having takes work, that dating a Christian man is amazing...its nice to have someone who is active in church and isn't afraid of leading a prayer! It is amazing. I just love him and I am so glad he is in my life! Here are just a few pictures from the past year! One day I am going to get around to scrapbooking these! :)

This is our very 1st picture together!

This the weekend I met his parents, we went to the rodeo!

This is at the festival there in Adairsville!

This is at Taylor's surprise party we planned for him! :)

Overall this year has been amazing! I am so thankful for Nate and I can't wait to see what the future holds! Love you Nate!

Another week has passed....

2009-05-12T07:41:00.001-07:00

...so its time for another blog! Life has seemed to be so busy recently! this past weekend for Mother's day Louise, Dirt, Nathan and I got to go up and see Mom for mother's day! It was great to get to just be up there with no plans and just to hang out with her and play games. Nathan and I got there Saturday afternoon and met up with mom, dad, Dirt and Louise for Supper at Lalito's and it was delicious! Then we went home and sat for a few minutes then it was time for games...so while daddy worked on the last minute stuff for church we played Dominos and when dad got ready he came in and we started playing Hand and Foot partners! It was so much fun! (Dad and I were partners and of course we won!! =)) I really think it made mom's whole weekend us playing both games that she loves! And i wont lie it made mine and Louise's weekend pretty good too!! Sunday we got up and gave mom her Mother's day stuff and got ready for church. She looked so pretty! And you could tell she was so happy! We got to church and Nathan led singing and Dad delivered an AMAZING mothers day lesson! During the singing it was hard for Louise and I to sing because one of the ladies whose husband is in the hospital just cried through the whole thing...which you would've thought it was my husband the way I was crying! I finally had to have a heart to heart with myself and pull it together! It was ridiculous! After church we went and ate at Ichiban's which is comparable to Shogun and it was GREAT!!! Mom thoroughly enjoyed herself I think!

After that we did some visiting to the hospital and to one of mom and dads dear friends that is dying with Breast cancer. It was so sad to see how the disease has really taken a toll on her and her body. Made me that much more grateful to have my momma and that she is healthy and alive. Then we left her house to come back to the house long enough to change kiss mom and dad bye and get on the road to Nathan's house so he could see his momma.

We got to Adairsville in time to meet his family at church. I think his momma was so happy to see him she just about cried. She loves her baby boy that's for sure! They are always so excited when we come to town! After church was over we went and ate at El Napol (my FAVORITE Mexican place ever!!!) and it was GREAT!! (It was Mrs. Jacki's choice to go there by the way!) And I also got a free t shirt :) I was excited! We then went to their house and visited with them for a couple hours and gave Mrs. Jacki her mother's day present. Nathan and Emily got her a new cartridge for her Cricut machine and she loved it! We left there about 10:30 and headed home!

All in all it was a GREAT weekend!! I love getting to have stress-free weekends with my momma. She is amazing and I am so blessed to have her in my life! I love her so so so much and I hope her mother's day was the best ever!

A Little Bit of Life...

2009-05-04T10:57:00.000-07:00

...man oh man does it seem like months since I have been on here...not just 2 weeks! It is crazy the amount of stuff that has gone on over the past 2 weeks! So here is a recap of my life and all the chaos over the last 2 weeks!

LAURIE GOT TELECOMMUNICATOR OF THE YEAR!!!! YAYAYAYAYAY!!!! Louise and I went and you would've thought we were her proud parents the way we were snapping pictures! We were so excited for her!! I made her come in my office and show everyone! I was so pumped and proud!! LOVE YOU LAURIE~YOU ALWAYS MAKE US PROUD!!!! :) Louise and I are blessed to have you for our sister!!!
We had to bury 2 of our Faulkner Football players....obviously I don't need to elaborate on this one...if you want the whole scoop visit http://laurierwalker.blogspot.com/ and that will explain everything...but needless to say its been pretty sad around here.
I had my Thirty One party...and I am not bragging by any means but I sold $800 worth and got $250 in free product!!! I WAS STOKED!!! But I couldn't have done it without the help of all my friends!! THANKS GUYS!!! Ya'll are the best!
I have started my own FarmTown! (For all of you that laugh its addicting....I have never had an addiction before so this is kinda I guess what it feels like or so Nate says its like...its sick but Louise, Michelle, and Molly can all vouch! Its crazy!!!) And I will have to say my farm is stinking amazing!! (GinGin I am glad you have gotten into it!! :))
I have had so much work with camps this year!! Its ridiculous the amount of camps and weeks I have had to re-work this year.
We had Cornerstone tryouts....let me preface this by saying its my least favorite day of the year!! Especially when all of the old ones are trying out again!! It was rough...one of the returning members wasn't selected to come back.
BROOKERS GRADUATED!!! YAY!! CONGRATS BROOKERS! I AM PROUD OF YOU! WELCOME TO THE GROWN UP WORLD! SO GLAD YOU ARE STAYING HERE! LOVE YOU GIRLIE!!

Well I guess that sums it up!! I will post more often now hopefully!!! :)

Reflecting

2009-04-22T09:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we found out that 2 of our Faulkner football players were killed in an accident coming back to school yesterday early morning. As I sit here and think about that I just can not imagine the pain and agony that their families are suffering. I walk around campus and all I see is all these boys so sad and distraught. I see friends of theirs just looking pitiful and I think about how lucky I am.

I had a HUGE project for work that I was working on all day yesterday (Literally from 8 am to 7 pm). And even though my mind had to be focused on it, I found myself drifting back to thinking about it and how bad those families must be hurting. After my project was done I went and sat in the Grill with some friends. We reflected on it all 4 of us but it was when 2 of them left that really opened my eyes. Brooke Bailey I think is truly a God sent angel into my life. We sat there after the boys had left and we talked about everything that had gone on. And she let me into some parts of her life about how she lost one of her best friends last year and how hard it was for her. It just breaks my heart and got me thinking. I have never really experienced death with close friends and family. My granddaddy dying in June of 99 was the only close relative that really affected me. (Don't get me wrong I have been to a TON of funerals and probably will go to alot more if I live long enough but none have been within my immediately family) I can not imagine losing anyone really close to me. I am blessed beyond belief and I can not say enough how thankful I am. I know this blog kinda is random and all over the place but its just somethings that I have been thinking about. Please please please keep these families in your thoughts and prayers as the next couple of days and weeks are going to be so extremely tough.

Also, with all the activities of yesterday I didn't get to get on here but it was daddy's 53rd birthday!!! Happy Birthday Daddy!! And don't worry your 53 things is coming!!! :)

Yes I am a nerd and a PROUD Republican!!

2009-04-15T07:50:00.000-07:00

So I know I am officially nerd status....and really I found that out when I said something that Bill O'Riley always says and my sisters called me out about it....but today I am so excited about going to the Tea Party in downtown Montgomery!!! Laurie, Louise, Dustin and I are going to participate in our (I think) 1st ever Tea Party for all of us!! I have been watching Fox News all week...I mean granted I do anyways but especially paying attention this week! I so wish I was in Atlanta and I could go see Sean Hannity and Rick and Bubba!!! That is where the real republican party will be!!! :) Ok and I think my nerd status my be upped a little when I tell you that I wore a red sweater with a white undershirt and navy blue pants today!! Hey I am proud to be an American!!! Just remember freedom isn't free and we wouldn't be where we are without all those who have fought for our freedom!! Hope everyone has a happy Tax Day/Tea Party!! (Also notice my new background!!)

Watch this!~ If it doesn't make you proud I don't know what will!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q65KZIqay4E

Sorry if this offends any crazy dems but its my blog! :) Don't read it if you don't like it! :)

It's just one of those days and I was thinking...

2009-04-14T08:48:00.000-07:00

Will I ever be to the point that I don't have to work?

Will I ever really truly learn patience?????

Will I ever feel like I am at least ok and paid up on bills and still have some money left over?

Why does one little thing determine my day sometimes??

Will I ever learn how to diffuse my stress?

How come does it rain when it pours?

Why won't these kids call me back that I am calling?

Will I ever be as patient and kind hearted as Louise is with her Prison Ministry??? She writes them cards every week!!

Will I ever be as tender hearted and thoughtful as Laurie is in the Philippine mission field? I have never seen someone who has so much love for something and how happy it makes her!

Will I ever be as good as my mom has always been? She has given us the world even if it took her giving everything she had. She is amazing and I just hope one day when I have kids I can do as good of a job as she did with us...well with Louise at least :^) (Just kidding Laurie :))

I absolutely love spring weather!!

how I wish I was at the beach this week instead of sitting in my office!!

Will I ever feel like I am successful??

What is on your mind today??

Prayers

2009-04-06T11:54:00.000-07:00

Well its that time that Laurie, Daddy, Nana and Papa are all traveling home! Please please please keep them continually in your prayers for a safe journey! Lord willing they should arrive all safely to their respective destinations by 9:30 pm tomorrow night! They touched so many lives while over there and I know it is going to be especially hard for Laurie coming back. She really does love everything about being over there! And it just makes my heart so sad that she is so sad leaving them. But I know she has done such good work there and I know the people over there are so grateful for her!! =) Thanks for all the prayers so far!

23 Things About Nate

2009-03-30T19:38:00.000-07:00

Well as I sit here and I am watching Kristen and 2 of her friends play Rock Band on Nate's wii, I think that Nate's 23rd birthday has come and gone and I didn't even blog about it!!! So here goes nothing!!!

23 Things About My Nate:

He is from Adairsville, GA. Born and raised there.
All of his family lives within 45 minutes of their house. (Both sides of his family)
He has 2 best friends that he grew up with and still are his best friends.
His Nannie Margaret thinks he hung the moon.
He wants to work with computers after school.
He loves to read.
He loves to give to other people.
He will stand up for himself.
He is starting to see that he should've listened to his momma growing up and now he is trying to tell his sister too and gets frustrated when she doesn't.
He loves playing rock band!!
He will sit and watch all my shows with me and doesn't complain.
He is the only boy that has ever hand made me a card and set a whole day of surprises up for me on a day I needed it most!
He enjoy finding out everything about me...my deepest darkest secrets.
He is a pretty good house keeper....(as good a guy can be living in a house full of boys!)
He is his momma's pride and joy....she loved him first.
He has a loud obnoxious truck that I absolutely can not wait til he gets it quieted. But really I always know when he is coming.
He reads the Bible with me and prays with me every night before bed.
He absolutely loves to sing...and does it ALL THE TIME!!! But if he's not singing then I know he is not in a good mood.
He is finally starting to enjoy being a big brother to Emily.
He is a Georgia fan but I am slowly turning him a little bit on to Tennessee :)
He loves little kids....and doesn't get scared when I say I want kids. (obviously not any time soon =))
He loves going home and being able to talk to his Dad and play with and teach him about new electronics!
And last but not least he will order me an extra cheese with my nachos without me having to ask him =)

Well those are just a few things about Nate for all of you that don't know him. He is a keeper. I love him. And I am happy with where my life is and it just keeps getting better!

Continued Prayers!

2009-03-25T07:11:00.000-07:00

Well Laurie and Dad made it to the Philippines and successfully met up with Nana and Papa. =) Me and Louise talked to them yesterday morning about 11 from Manila and we called mom and put her on speaker phone so we could all talk...it was a little loud for my office but luckily all the visitors were out on tour! But last night while we were bowling with the young professionals from church she sent me and email telling me to get on Skype but me and Louise couldn't manage to get it to come up on the wireless. So last night I kept my work phone on so when she sent me an email it would wake me up and I could just roll over and flip open the computer and talk to her and dad. Well at about 3:55 this morning it went off and I rolled over and I think dad was shocked that I was awake and calling but I just wanted to make sure I got to talk to them! It was so good to be able to talk to Daddy, Nana and Papa. Laurie was in the shower so I will be talking to her later this afternoon. And I think Daddy and Nana and Papa were hungry and wanted to go eat so they didn't stay on the phone or Skype long with me. :) But I am glad everything is going so well for them!! Please continue to keep them in your prayers!!

SNOW DAY!!!! =)

2009-03-04T08:49:00.000-08:00

YAY for the *SNOW DAY* !! Sunday was probably one of the most fun days I have had in a long time!! It was wrapping up a jamboree weekend at Faulkner and one of my very best friends, Seth had been in town all weekend!! (Even though I am just now realizing I didn't even get a picture with him!!!! I am such a bad friend sometimes!! But he knows I love him!!) But Laurie woke me up Sunday morning so we could play in the snow...well 1st thing in the morning I was less than enthusiastic and I apologize 15 million times over for not getting out there and playing with you Laurie...but we would not have taken pictures...too early for that!! =) But you know I love you! And I really am sorry...but moving on.

So after she woke me up and I crawled back in bed after seeing it, I called Nathan to wake him up to look at it...he was like me less than enthusiastic but I couldn't blame him...so he went back to sleep too. After I called him I called Seth and told him to look out his hotel door and this was his exact expression "OH MY ITS SNOWING IN MONTGOMERY!!!". It was great! I loved it!! After I was done making the phone calls I went ahead and got up and got dressed for church. I went and got Nathan and the whole way to his house I just enjoyed viewing all the snow everywhere!! It was crazy to be driving down I-85 and see snow covering everything! It was GREAT!!

After church got out Me, Laurie, Louise, Dirt, Nathan, Rachael, Seth, and Kristen all went to Louise and Dirt's to hang out until Walker, Kristen and Samantha got out of late service. Which meant photo session with everyone at Louise's house!! =) Below are some of the pics I snapped! I wish I had gotten one of Louise and Seth having a snowball fight running around Dirt's truck! It was hilarious!!

Louise, Kristen, and Me =)

The Sisters =)

Kristen peeking from inside...she wasn't so much into the playing in the snow like we were...but we finally got her out after some coaxing! =)

Me and Nate take 1

Me and Nate take 2 =)

Snow doesn't stop Titus from getting busy...and by the way he loved the snow! Check Louise's blog for pictures of him!! (Hopefully she's posted them by now! =))
All in all it was a fun day!! =) Sorry Seth and Rachael I didn't get any pics with ya'll!! Next time =)

Laurie's Day =)

2009-03-03T09:12:00.000-08:00

Well yesterday was Laurie's big day! But lets back track to Sunday...It Snowed YAY!! It was exciting! And Laurie was so so excited!! She came home, woke me up and I walked outside and then went right back inside and got back in bed...that was NOT how she had envisioned the morning going at all!! In fact she envisioned it going she would pick me up and we would go over to Louise's and we would all play in it together...No didn't happen! 1st thing that started the day off way wrong...I know I really should've given her more but I really was exhausted from working all weekend and not getting a lot of sleep...I know still not a good excuse!

Well all last week she was avoiding having to drink the "throw up mix" as she would call it. Well Sunday afternoon came and it was time for her to start drinking it. She was ill and irritated bc she had not been able to eat since midnight the night before she started the liquid grossness and couldn't eat again until Tuesday afternoon/night...so yes that is 3 whole days on a clear liquid diet...which if you know Laurie...well if yo know any of the 3 of the Walker girls we can hold our own on food! :) (Ask Dirt...I think he really got a wake up marrying into our family!) So needless to say she was miserable! Well after church we all went and took pictures in the snow and then Laurie went home when we left to go eat. After lunch Nathan and I went to his house, got his Wii and went to the house. I walked back to Laurie's room and she was already in tears and she hadn't even started drinking the liquid! I was so sad for her...but I let her cry for a few minutes and she was upset bc her universal remote wasn't working. So I sent Nathan to the store to get a new remote. He came back and set it up for us so we could watch all the movies we wanted in her room. ***Side note here...Nathan was such a trooper! He stayed in the other room the whole day and played wii and took a nap so that I could stay back there with Laurie and help her!**

Well the time finally came at 3:30 for her to start drinking the throw up mix....and well she did GREAT!! I was pleasantly surprised that she took it so quickly and without a lot of hesitation! (I mean granted she fought me for a little bit about it but we compromised at 3:30 that she would start drinking it! She did really good and drank about 3/4 of all the liquid! (Which was a lot better than last time...and she didn't throw up this time or as much this time as she did the last!)

Monday morning finally got here and I got up and went in her room to check on her and she was so cheerful and in such a good mood, I was shock....Last time I had to take her she cried the whole way to the hospital! So this was a pleasant surprise! (Which in her defense..last time the whole appointment was just kinda thrown on her with no time to really prepare! So this time she had a good week to ponder on it!) We got to the hospital at 8 so she could do some extra test before the colonoscopy. Ended up that they could do the test when she went back for the procedure so we just waited an extra hour for her thing...which was pretty fun. Mom and Dad got there about 9 and her appt was at 9:30. About 9:45 she went back!

As soon as she went back mom and I left to go run all of her money errands that had to be done that day! And by the time we went to the school to pick up her paycheck and to all 3 banks when we got back to the hospital she had just went to recovery. Also while we were gone, Keisha, Laurie's best friend from work, showed up to sit and wait. (She was the one that went with me last time when I had to take her.) She was great! I was so glad she was there...and Laurie doesn't even hardly remember her being there...and she was there all day long...from the hospital and then came to the house for about 4 hours after the hospital!

When she got out of the procedure and went into recovery she was a bit emotional! Which is nothing new but this time she was jerking alot and that was not normal. I look at the nurse and I could tell by their look of surprise this was not supposed to be happening. So they asked us to please go back out into the waiting room while they worked on her. She was back there for about 2 hours and finally we got to go back to see her and get her ready for discharging. So we finally got her out about 1:30 pm. (Yes we were there at 8am :))

We got home and put her in the bed and had some fun conversations that she does not remember and gave her some Gatorade and some chicken broth and she was out til the Bachelor last night and I woke her up to come in the living room to watch with me, Leslie and Nathan...and well see my 1st blog today to see how I felt about the Bachelor!!!

I am so glad Laurie is feeling better and we are celebrating eating at Jason's deli as soon as she gets done with the dr. this afternoon at 3:30. :) Thanks for all the prayers and everyone that has checked on her!! Its greatly appreciated!!

THE BACHELOR!!!

2009-03-03T08:58:00.000-08:00

So I am officially over stinkin Jason Meznick...I just am so mad that he did that to Melissa and in front of the WHOLE STINKIN WORLD!!! And then his reasoning for doing that was because he had agreed that his relationship would be in front of the camera so he had to do that in front of the camera!! WELL WHY THE CRAP DID ALL THE OTHER FAILED BACHELOR COUPLES BREAK UP OFF CAMERA?!?!? AND REALLY MELISSA WAS SO RIGHT THAT HE DIDNT WANT TO MAKE IT WORK WITH HER...AND I WAS GLAD SHE LEFT WITH CLASS!! (If you can't tell it really made me mad!!!) And molly, well she is an idiot and should have left him on his butt with no one...she is just a poor man's Melissa!!! (That is a direct quote from Wedding Planner except its a poor man's mary in the movie!! =) I am a nerd I know!!) Well I just needed to vent about that for a minute and I can not wait to see what tonight's After the Rose Part 2 is about! I am sure its about stupid little Molly and Jason's relationship!! Ridiculous!!!