80th Birthday

We helped throw a surprise party for Brent's Pawpaw's 80th Birthday last Saturday. He was actually surprised! I've heard that Brent's MeMaw usually spills the beans but she did good this time and kept it a secret. It was nice to see how many people turned out to help celebrate and visit with the Birthday boy.

Brent's Grandparent's arriving at the party

Brent's mom LOVES to decorate for parties. I thought her centerpiece (if that's what you call it) was so cute.

The Birthday Boy

Mr. & Mrs. Jenkins

blowing out his candles

Us at the party

What the...

My sister stopped by on her way home from Auburn and we decided to go grab Zaxby's for dinner. We got in my car and as I looked into my rearview window to make sure it was safe to back out into the street this is what I saw...

Minus all the blue tape. My window was shattered. We have no idea how it happened. My car stays in our driveway so the only options are (a) Heat or (b) Vandalized. I don't really believe either. I mean why would it crack/shatter/fall out on the ground in heat? It's a 2006 4Runner. It's seen 4 summers including the start of this one. But who really comes on someone's driveway in a townhouse subdivision and says "Hey let's bust that window..." . Regardless it's complete crap and I'm upset about it. Luckily my sweet husband went out and taped it up. He's also volunteered to drive it to work tomorrow and contact a glass company about coming out to fix it. Hopefully they have access to this specific window and can work their magic. It burns me up when stuff like this happens to the most expensive thing I pay for each month. If you know of any window fixer suggestions please comment below. I can use all the help I can get!

Memorial Day

We were busy. By the time we finished all the wedding activities all we wanted to do was make it to the lake. That's where I'll start...

We went to Lake Guntersville to visit my family. We were all excited to go out on my dad's boat. It's the first time this year that we've been up and there's been enough of us on deck to take it out for a spin/   float and soak up some rays.

Here's my family is when Brent and I arrived...

You'll notice my dad and Lori have their small furry friend "Ace" with them. Ace hates being boarded so they thought why not bring him along. He did great. He sat up in the boat and watched everyone. He kept an eye out for whoever's lap he could lay in. He's a sweet but very smelly little pup.

Everything was rosy until I started smelling smoke. I kept telling my dad and sure enough we hadn't made it out of the channel before the blowers started streaming out smoke. Something overheated. I don't know anything about boats so I won't speculate. All I know is that a pontoon boat had to pull us out of some shallow icky seaweed water back into the channel because our anchor never took hold. The marina man then came and towed us back to the harbor. What fun... It's the first time in the 4 summers since my dad bought his boat that he's had any issues with it. It made me sad because I know how much he loves taking it out on the water. Hopefully the problem is minor and the marina will have it back up and running in no time.

Yes, Ace has different colored eyes. He was born that way. We think he can see just fine, people just like to say "that's strange..." when they look at him. He's a sweet boy though. My dad calls him "Thing 3" now since he got his summer shave down. 

This is the view from my dad's boat slip. I shot this on manuel mode. Go Me! I've gotten pretty rusty on my light metering knowledge that I learned in photography class last winter. Hopefully the new camera strap will inspire me to get out there and start shooting.

So needless to say we made it back to the marina before the monsoon rolled in. We sat my dads tv out on deck and all watched the Braves beat up on the Phillies. It was nice to just relax and be with my family for a little bit before heading back to pick up Charlie from his Memaw's and make the long drive home.

You know we couldn't just stay home on Monday so we decided to head to Atlanta to watch the Braves beat the Phillies in person. We got great tickets Sunday night for $20 bucks a piece and made it over without any issues... well unless you count Brent getting really made at the ATL's finest for blocking off the Green lot (where our parking pass just happened to be).

I was really impressed with the way the Braves organization embraced Memorial Day. They had tons of past and present service men and woman on hand and honored them in different types of special ways. It was especially moving when they honored a "Hometown Hero" who was wounded in Afghanistan and spent two years rehabbing just to go back and defend out country a little longer. It really makes you stop and think about the sacrifices strangers make for each and every one of us each day.

Here we are celebrating the win right before we browsed and suprisingly didn't buy anything in the clubhouse store

I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day

Thank's Mr. Mailman

I may have a mini addiction to online shopping. I think it's something about browsing the internet before going to bed and finding things that you "just can't live without". My latest obsession/ search was for a cute camera strap. I never really noticed camera straps online or in person until I started looking for one. Once I started looking I saw them everywhere. I finally made my decision late Sunday night and purchased a lovely strap titled "Lauren" from Capturing Couture. It's part of their "Boho" collection.

Today I came home from work and saw this....

Little did I know the box would contain a CD

The fabulous strap

It's already on my Nikon and I love it!

Pardon my clothing attire- I'm waiting on Hubs to get home and head to the gym. I am glad I purchased this strap from this specific online retailer. They really exceeded my expectations with the fabric and detail. The strap is a velvet texture and was really easy to put on my camera. It also has a soft padding on the inside to help keep it comfortable on my neck. Now maybe Brent won't steal the camera since it's a bit "girly". By the way, I'm listening to the cd as I'm writing this and it's pretty catchy- very singer, songwriter-ish. I searched Etsy and a few other online retailers and the price of this specific strap was competitive with all the others I found. They accept paypal which made the transaction super easy as welll. If you're looking for a new strap you should check them out. 

Family Night

Tonight we celebrated Brent's youngest brother's birthday with a family meal. No family get together is complete without a little board game action. Tonight, they chose to play Blurt!

Good for me because I'm on the Blurt! all-star team. I'm currently on a 2 game winning streak (sidenote: 50 game LOSING streak on W.W.F.) I'd never seen or heard of it until Moriah drug it out last game night. The link up top gives great instructions on how to play. Including a head to head matchup for when two pegs land on the same block, never knew that! Happy Early Birthday Justin- Next time we will let you win on your birthday!

Brent all disguised up... Got to love embarrassing photos!

New Flickr Album

To see all the pictures from Justin & Jennifer's wedding please visit our flickr account. This blog will one day be more than a photo album, I promise! Pictures make me happy though. If I could quit my job and roam around taking pictures of interesting places & people I'd be thrilled. But hey, a 8-4:30 isn't too bad either. Hope everyone has a great Tuesday night. I'm a little lost without LOST. I guess that's just one less thing holding me back from hitting the gym with Brent. Got to love couples gym night followed by a Subway dinner.

Mexican Fiesta Rehearsal Dinner

Part 3 of the wedding weekend blog: The Rehearsal & Rehearsal Dinner. I loved taking pictures at Moriah & Michael's rehearsal but being in this wedding left me unable to take any pictures of this rehearsal. Kelsey (a groomsman's wife) took a few of Justin & Jennifer with my camera while we were all learning how the ceremony would go down.

The Happy Bride & her Itinerary 

"Is this over yet?"

After the rehearsal we went to the Thomas's church for a Mexican Fiesta. 

  

I think everyone had a great time eating and wearing sombreros. Justin did not want to put one on so Jennifer arranged a sneak attack and threw it on his head. It was pretty funny when it all went down.

Jenn's Bridal Luncheon

Jennifer had her Bridal Luncheon at Bernie's on Main Street. It was a huge success. Luncheons usually have dainty girly foods that are pretty but not filling. Not Jenn's, she let us order whatever we'd like and IT WAS GOOD. I think half the party had a grilled chicken sandwich with half fries/ half onion rings. How dainty is that? Regardless it was delicious and a good time was had by all. Here are a few pictures:

Moriah, Becky, Jennifer, Myself, Amy & Kate 

Mrs. Melinda & Her 3 New Daughter-in-laws

Jennifer had each bridesmaid pull a charm from the cake. Of course I ended up with "The old lady who had so many kids she didn't know what to do..but didn't live in a shoe" something along those lines. Brent was thrilled...

Thank You Michael & Justin for picking amazing sister-in-laws for me!

Justin & Jennifer -Sneak Peak-

I do not have time to upload and edit all the pictures from the "Justin & Jennifer Wedding Weekend". We are about to head to North Alabama to celebrate the rest of our Memorial Day Weekend with my side of the family. I couldn't leave home without posting a couple of images from this beautiful day. More to come, I promise. Enjoy!

The chapel at American Village

The Bridesmaid Bouquets

Beautiful Bride

Rockstars about to leave for their honeymoon 

9 Months Ago today it was OUR turn

Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Justin Lane Thomas. You were a beautiful couple and I can't wait to post more pictures from your entire weekend. Thank you for including this old married couple in your festivities. Have a wonderful time in Seaside!

I hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend. Maybe if we all do a "go away" rain dance we will see some sun on the lake tomorrow. 

A Cookin' Husband

That's what I had last night. He found a recipe in the Birmingham News last weekend and got to it. He purchased all his ingredients on his own at the grocery store last Sunday and treated me to mashed potato heaven. Yes, I'm too lazy to type the recipe out so here it is:

They were really good. It was a different flavor due to the pepper, onion and celery being mixed in.

Finished Product

There are only two of us here so we definitely had leftovers. I think it'd be a great dish to take to a family get-together. I'll make sure to let Brent cook they are sure to be delicious.

My handsome chef.. refusing the photo-op

chef's little helper...aka vacuum cleaner

Now to tonight, is anyone else bummed about how boring this American Idol finale is? I think the show has lived past it's prime. I have enjoyed all the Simon flashbacks but I wish they'd focused a bit more on Lee & Crystal. The winner hasn't been announced yet and I honestly don't mind who wins. Both appear to be stand-up honest people who deserve a shot at a career. Lee is my favorite though. I know they can both make it with or without wining the "Idol" crown. Who'd a thought they both auditioned 2 days after our wedding? They've been doing this since then? That is a long time. 

Just think, since then we've visited where it's all going down tonight

and while we were there we saw a really awesome sign...

Just announced: Lee Dewyze!!!! Hip Hip Hooray!!!!

my husband called that one too... Goodnight all.