A Happy (retro) New Year to you all!!
I opened up my blog and I knew it had been a while, but I couldn't believe that I hadn't posted anything since last May! But then, last May was about the time that most of life became focused on the WEDDING that happened in August and since then, well, I've been recovering and doing other things. ha.
So just to fill in the gaps from the last 7 months or so, here is what has been happening:
Last MAY we went to a lot of High School Graduations:
And we celebrated Jessica's graduation from Troy University with a dinner out at P.F. Changs with all the girls! :)
Last JUNE we were finalizing a lot of wedding details, like the dress!
And our dining room looked like this:
And then we had an unexpected event - our van died... on Jack's birthday, no less. I was driving to work and the transmission just gave out. I managed to limp it along and roll it into a parking space before we had to have it towed home, never to be revived. :( But that led to this...
Last JULY, we bought a new car: (a really pretty Subaru Forrester which I just LOVE!!!!!)
And then Anna attended a 2 week art camp at the Memphis College of Art that helped her decide that she definitely wants to pursue a BFA in Art in college! And we got to feel what it was going to be like to drop her off at college in the fall... :`(
Then last AUGUST, we had this little event:
Andrew and Mackenzie's wedding!
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It was a truly spectacular day for a wedding! You gamble a lot with what kind of weather you will get on August 2nd in Tennessee. The day had been a bit overcast and we even heard some thunder off in the distance about 15 minutes before the ceremony started. But then the clouds parted and the sun came out for a while - a breeze was blowing and well, I just felt like we were being very blessed with the best that could have happened. :)
A special thank-you to all the family you see here that lent their help and support in so many ways. I know my mom and dad took good care of people who came to the wedding that I just didn't have time to see like I would have wanted to. I think there are probably some stories that my sister still hasn't told me about things that she just took care of without me knowing - like parking cars! (ha) Not to mention pulling off all the details for a fantastic bridal luncheon! My Aunt Carolyn who drove up from Pensacola with a car full of special decorations and treasures to make sure that the bridesmaids luncheon was extra-special for Mackenzie. Then there was Adeline who saved the day by reviving and replanting all of my 15 reception table centerpieces that had wilted or completely died. And if it hadn't been for Jack's mom, sister, and aunt I might STILL be setting up the barn for the reception. Also a big thanks to the Burgess family for the awesome photos (thanks Jenna!!!) and much needed friendship, encouragement, and behind-the-scenes support along the way. (Who else besides Jeff goes into a full on sprint across a field in search of the missing wedding rings only to save the day at the very last minute?!?)
One story that has to be told... you know, the THING that has to go wrong at every wedding so that you have a crazy story to tell? Well, besides having that moment 5 minutes before the wedding where we really didn't know where the rings were, THIS was the big story: On Friday, the day before the wedding, while all the ladies were at a bridal lunch in Shelbyville, Jack decided to pass the time by going for a run. Now, he runs all the time so this was a perfectly reasonable thing for him to do. When I got back from a really fun time with the girls, I opened the door to our hotel room to find him with his foot propped up on a coffee table and ice wrapped around it! I truly thought, for a moment, that it was a joke! But then I took the ice pack off and saw this:
He had gotten about a mile out and stepped wrong off a curb and rolled his ankle. My nephew Nathan had gone with him, so they managed to limp the mile back to the hotel. At this point, we were just a hour or so away from the rehearsal dinner and he said, "It'll be fine. I just rolled my ankle. No need to go to the ER." So off we went where he had to walk (hobble) around for the rest of the evening. I wish I had a picture of how purple it was when we got in later that night -- ewww. Anyways, he assured me he was fine and there was nothing that could be done about it anyway, so he went the rest of the weekend like that, including walking Mackenzie down the isle and the father/daughter dance at the reception. He was a trooper, that's for sure. When we got back to Huntsville on Sunday afternoon, we finally went to the ER. Upon telling the triage nurse our story, she just looked at his ankle, shook her head at him, looked at it again, grimaced and said, "Yeah, that's probably broken." It was. Sooooo.....
Last SEPTEMBER, we recovered from a wedding AND a broken ankle. :) We also changed gears and Anna started visiting and applying to colleges. We took a long weekend and traveled to Augusta, GA to visit Georgia Regents University to talk about their Medical Illustration program - very cool! We went from there to Boone, NC to visit Jessica at Appalachian State and fell in love with the geography of that place! We went back through Nashville to attend an Art Portfolio Day at Watkins College of Art and Design where Anna got to talk to colleges from all over the place. Of all of that, App State certainly won favorite status just because of all the fun things you could do outdoors if you went to school there! BUT, given that getting an education is a little higher up on the priority list, not to mention one that is affordable (if that is even possible when talking about college these days!)...Last OCTOBER, we also did a couple of trips back and forth to Birmingham to Montevallo, Birmingham Southern, and UAB.
Here we are with Jessica at App State:
We took bikes and did a great ride along the Augusta Canal - beautiful!:
And Anna was thoroughly embarrassed by this sign at Montevallo, but I took a picture anyway. :)
Last NOVEMBER, Jack and I took a weekend trip to the beach in Destin and counted that as my birthday celebration. :) This was the view at lunch:
And we are just terrible at selfies...
We were also fortunate to take our traditional Thanksgiving trip to Callaway Gardens for the Fantasy in Lights with Jack's family. We got to have Andrew and Mackenzie with us and my nephew Taylor had his long-time girlfriend along, so our little family is growing!
Finally, last DECEMBER, I did something totally new for me. I went with Lisa to an Advent Retreat at the Sacred Heart Monastery in Cullman. It was very refreshing and was a great start to the Christmas season. (Well, at least until we both suffered from some food poisoning later that night! Maybe we shouldn't have told them that we weren't Catholic? hahaha... )
Then on this auspicious date, 12.13.14, we were thrilled to see Andrew and Mackenzie graduate from Lipscomb! They both now have their Bachelor of Arts degrees in Ministry. Mackenzie's concentration ended up being in theology and Andrew's is in preaching. They are going to continue to live and work in Nashville for now and are considering graduate school at Lipscomb for next fall. But it was great to celebrate this day and this milestone with them. It's been a big year for the two of them. :)
We may have to take these gifts back - they didn't work. :( (But we still love our team. RTR!)
And as we finished out last year and are rounding into the New Year, Anna has decided that she is going to UAB in the fall and is really excited about that! Well, except that their mascot is a dragon and their school colors are really ugly. haha. I told her if she's going to be an art major, perhaps she could start a campaign to change that. ;-)
So Happy New Year to all - and now that I am caught back up, I do have some plans for blogging more consistently. More on that later because right now I am worn out from all this catching up!
A final salute from our two who will be graduating in May!
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