Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Wedding

(all photos are mine, with the exception of one, which is marked)

My cousin's wedding was beautiful. 

It had it's little "uh oh" moments, but those just make memories funny and to me, you gotta have funny memories from your wedding. 

Like when the candle lighting thingy gives out of gas just as the groom's parents are trying to light their candle for the unity candle...

or when one of the groomsmen forgets to come back and escort the mother of the groom after the ceremony....



 I must admit...  I watched Luke while she walked down the aisle.  Can you tell he loves her?



 Luke's Dad (my Uncle) was his best man.  I thought that was pretty awesome




I love.love.love. Brianne's dress.



the reception was awesome...  it was held at the Crescent House in Valdosta, GA. I wish I would have gotten a picture of the outside of this place.  But the one below will work: 









I was racking my brain trying to figure out what the "4" meant... 
I should have known though!  The Fantastic 4! 


I did not eat any of the wedding cake...  I'm still kicking myself...  one layer of chocolate, one layer of key lime and one layer of yellow cake w/ strawberry filling...  yummmm.... 


Post-Its.  That was a first for me see!  Love the idea...  Luke would just swipe them all off at once. 
Brianne would take them off one at a time...  loved it!



so..  great day... wonderful wedding...  two people joined by God....  can't wait to see what all God has in store for them, especially once Luke is done w/ seminary.   

God's blessing to Luke & Brianne.  Can't wait until the babies come so I can play with them...  then give them back.  ;o)


Friday, May 27, 2011

Another Random Friday

Haven't felt my best the past few days...  sinus infection.. yuck!   but the weekend is soooo close I can smell it!  (well.. I really can't smell anything, but you know what I mean)


I get to watch these two get married tomorrow...

(picture from Luke's FB page)


Hard to believe my little "big" cousin is old enough to get married.  I remember when he was born!  He was such a cute little baby w/ the curliest blonde hair. 




Oh how time flies!




Not much else scheduled for this weekend, which is nice. 


Thank goodness it's a 3 day weekend for us too. 


Jon has been working hard getting the pool ready.  We had to drain all the water out and basically start from scratch.  Fingers crossed we'll be able to start putting water back in tomorrow. 


 Beckham and Christen reminiscing of all the fun times they've had swimming in the pool.

Hide and go-seek...


Summer should be all about being laid back....   taking breaks...  vacations...  Not us!  :o)

I think we are (read: Christen is) busier during the summer than any other time.  Or may be it just seems like it. 

Thankfully, some of the "busy stuff" will be taken off my shoulders since Christen can drive now.  Next week, she starts softball conditioning.  Then it's off to go on a Mission trip (for her, not me), then it's off for family time at the beach (I really can't believe it...  I almost don't want to believe it for fear of jinxing it, we never get a true vacation, it's always a "soccer vacation"), then a youth trip, then VBS, then SC, then NC, then FL.... then back to GA for more softball....   

sheesh...  Christen's gonna need a long nap after this summer...  I need a nap just thinking about it all!!

Friday, May 20, 2011

How to Annoy Your Teenager Daughter 101

First, you wake her up 10 minutes earlier than she wanted to. 

(Hey, it's the last day of school.  At 11:30am, she will officially be a Senior in High School.  I'm just a tad bit excited)

Then, you remain cheery and in a great mood as she is getting up and ready for the day.  Don't forget to ask questions she believes you should already know the answer to.  You've GOT to do that. 

Me - "What are you looking for?"
Christen - "The STRAIGHTENER!  Gah!!"

THEN, and this is key, you follow her outside, with camera in hand, in your P.J's and WET hair, and make her pose for a "last day of school" picture.  Or two...  or three....





And finally, for good measure, you keep snapping pictures as she's driving away... 







and when she's out of sight, you try to hold back the tears. 

Friday, May 13, 2011

Random Friday

I've been editing, and editing, and editing pictures of that cute, cute baby from my last post




Baby Sophie and her Daddy's cowboy hat.






Their's is a house divided...  can you tell?





And while editing, I found pictures I haven't even posted to FB yet. 

Weird..

We had some friends over a few weekends ago to play the Wii.  They have two boys, one is in the same grade as Christen and the other is just a couple years younger.  Their youngest came over and he and Christen went.to.town! on the Wii!!  They played "Just Dance". 




Matthew is an awesome kid.  He loves to dance, sing and entertain.  And he's an awesome baseball player. 


Oh.....  Christen's an honor student.  :o)   the first time in two years...  She's ALWAYS been an honor student, until Honors Lit came along....  what's crazy is she places in honors/advance lit in every test, yet the actually class is such a struggle for her.  I try to never blame the teacher, but her first teacher wasn't very helpful.  She would give feedback like: Great job, looks good, awesome work...  but when it came time to grade, she would give her 70's.   The second teacher, she was better, but Christen was just totally over it. 

So, no honor's lit... just regular lit, and she's back on the honor roll.  :o)


This is Christen's favorite teacher @ the HS.  And she's retiring this year!  She gave Christen a glowing recommendation letter for her Sweden trip last year. 

And... a picture from a soccer game this season...  I didn't take this, but the guy was nice enough to give us a CD. 


So...  what are you doing this weekend???

My Sunday is JAM-PACKED!  And really, tomorrow is too, but Sunday, barely time to breathe...  certainly no time for my Sunday nap...  But that's okay. 

We've got more storms coming in...  praying for all of you in the path of those storms

Monday, May 9, 2011

Baby Pictures!

I was able to take pictures of that cute baby that kept me company while Christen got ready for prom

I've been editing those pictures and still have a ways to go, but wanted to share what I've got so far. 

I hope her Mom and Dad are happy with these!










I've always LOVED taking pictures and had always dreamed of being a professional photographer.  Unfortunately, everybody and their brother are "professional photogaphers" in my town.  But it's something I've always loved and have always enjoyed.  If I get clients, great, if I don't, that's okay too.     

I'm just so happy Emily and Hunter let me take these pictures and I really hope they love them.....

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

You win some...

and you lose some.

the afternoon wasn't looking promising from the get-go



it rained poured stormed for about 30min before the game and again during the second half...




the girls held their own in the first half...  even getting in the first goal

but it didn't last

and emotions ran high




believe it or not, but East Coweta Co. fans are really rude

I mean, really.really.rude.




so that didn't help matters either....




one of things I pray about is for God to take control of my big ol', don't-know-when-to-shut-it, mouth....



when it came down to it, our girls just didn't work as a team, they started blaming each other and well...  nothing gets done when that happens. 




Christen had a melt down afterwards....  she wasn't alone...



She takes things personally and is very hard on herself....  and when my child is upset...  I take it personally...

not my finest hour.  insert *please Lord, continue to control my big ol', don't-know-how-to-shut-it, mouth*




But today is a new day. 




Yesterday stings, but it was yesterday...  it's done and over with.




"But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him." Jeremiah 17:7