Show Us Your Life-Wedding Party and Flowers

Randall and I were married on August 17, 2002 at West Race Baptist Church. Our ceremony was performed by Bro. Bill Lyons. After the parents/grandparents were seated, Matt Stewart sang "The Biggest Fan" by the Backstreet Boys...it was a good tribute to our moms. The bridal party entered the sanctuary to the "Forrest Gump Suite." I know, I know, it sounds corny, but the instrumental song is beautiful. It's the song played in the movie where the feather is floating away. I heard it and fell in love with it. The song we had played during the unity candle was also sung by Matt Stewart. It was "Cross My Heart" by George Strait. Below are some pics of our wedding...

My bouquet was cascading with lilies and ivy...very simple.

Jennifer Bates, me, and Belinda Anderson. They handed out programs and attended the gust book.

Our rings with my bouquet.

Lighting the unity candle. The candle was created especially for us at Silver Dollar City. It was white with blue running throughout it.
Randall with all the groomsmen and ushers outside the church...Steven Goff, Danny Hopkins, Joey Martin, Mike King, Randall, Tyrel Pace, Randy Summerhill, David Miller, Phil Lassiter.

Me and the bridesmaids...Stephanie Harrison Truitt (high school basketball buddy), Stephanie Mann Martin (best friend in high school and my matron of honor), me, Kristie Lederman Swenson (my cousin and maid of honor...I missed her wedding because I had just had Emma), and Kim Carter Walker (high school friend and college roommate).
Randall and the ushers...Tyrel Pace (Randall's cousin), David Miller (college friend of mine), Randall, Randy Summerhill (my brother), and Phil Lassiter (friend of Randall).

Randall and the groomsmen...Danny Hopkins (friend of Randall) , Joey Martin (Randall's cousin and best man), Randall, Steven Goff (friend of Randall), and Mike King (friend of Randall).

The girls bouquets with mine...they carried yellow lilies with Bells of Ireland and white stephanovis.

The entire wedding party (groomsmen, bridesmaids, ushers, and flower girl Kendall...no ring bearer!!). You can see the columns decorated with greenery and the arrangement behind the bride and groom...it was full of yellow and white lilies and assorted blue flowers.

Next week...wedding reception and honeymoon!!

Monsters

For the first two nights of sleeping in his "toddler" bed, Mac did a great job. Then last night got here. I put him to bed, then jumped in the tub for a nice, hot bath. I heard him crying when I turned the water off, and Emma said Randall had gone to check on him. Randall gave in and let him have his "4 more minutes" that he always asks for. I went to put him back in the bed, and once I laid him down, he started crying and told me there were "monsters" in his room.

Ok, so we've never had a problem with him going to bed. I finally checked his room (no monsters!!) and covered him up. I did leave his lamp on, but he still cried for a while. I think finally he just cried himself to sleep, which I hate. However, he did stay in his bed all night, and he is still there...my plan if this happens again? Put some water in a spray bottle and make "Monster Away Spray" to spray in his room!!

Cheap Meal on a Budget

Ok, for those of you who know me, you know I can't stand to cook. However, we've been trying to cut down on our eating out lately, so I've been trying to do a little more. I am also trying to use what we already have at our house with a couple of small purchases. Yesterday, I made what I call "Weeknight Cheese Quiche." It was simple, and you can change it up easily with the different ingredients you already have at home.

Weeknight Cheese Quiche

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup sliced freshed mushrooms

1 package frozen chopped spinach (thawed and drained)

4 eggs

1/3 cup milk

1/3 cub miracle whip (I used regular mayo)

1 cup shredded mozerella cheese

1 frozen pie crust- thawed (I left this out because I don't like pie crust)

1/4 cup bacon bits (I used the microwave bacon I already had in the fridge

As you notice, most of these are things you probably already have on hand. I spent $4.38 buying the mushrooms and spinach. I had everything else. Pretty cheap, huh?

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. Cook mushrooms in skillet sprayed with cooking spray on med/high heat for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add in spinach.

3. Beat eggs, milk, and dressing in medium bowl with whisk until well blended. Add spinach mixture and cheese. Pour into crust (or baking dish, as I did) and top with bacon.

4. Bake for 50 minutes until center is set and top is golden brown.

**I added more cheese to the top with about 5 minutes left to cook (just long enough for it to melt).

From Baby Bed to Toddler Bed

I decided today that I wanted to go ahead and change Mac's baby bed into the toddler bed. I wanted to give him a couple of weeks to get used to it before we start back in school mode. After we took the side off, he jumped right in. He loved it, but he still seemed so little. I made a short trip to Wal-Mart (a place I despise!!) to get a rail for the side. At bedtime tonight, I laid him in the bed, we said his prayers, then I turned out the light. I never heard a peep out of the room. I walked in to check on him a few minutes ago, and he was out!! I had to take a few pics the first night he sleeps in his "big boy bed!!"

I took this picture with the nightshot on.

He looks so peaceful! He went right to sleep! Now let's see how naptime goes tomorrow!!

Not So Lazy Sunday

I am taking a break from what I have been doing today to blog about what I've been doing today!! Mac and I got up early this morning...Emma spent the night at Grandma's. We picked Emma and Grandma up about 7:40 and headed to early church and Sunday School. I subbed in Emma's Sunday School class this morning. This was the earliest we've been up in probably a month!!



I have been trying to gather, tag, and enter items in the computer for the Rhea Lana sale which is coming up the first week of August. I have discovered that this is a great way to get rid of the clothes and shoes the kids have outgrown, and I don't have to have a garage sale to do it. It's very simple...I have already entered 125 items in the computer, and I'm not finished yet. If you haven't used this, check out their website and see if they have a sale near you...it's also a great way to get decent kids clothes without paying the high prices!



These are the pictures of the mess I've made since working on the sale items...I am so ready for my house to be back in order!!

I think I've created a MONSTER!!! I walked into the living room while Mac was watching Little Bill, and this is what I found...He had found my Route 44 Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper from Sonic and was treating himself to some!!

Well, guess it's back to the grindstone. Hope everyone had a great weekend!!

Show Us Your Life- Wedding Dress

Today http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/ is hosting Show Us Your Life- Wedding Dress. Randall and I were married on August 17, 2002 in a beautiful ceremony at West Race Baptist Church. I loved my wedding, although most of what I remember was that I felt like my slip was falling down during the entire ceremony. Today is just about the dress...next week I will be posting about flower and wedding party. I still love my dress to this day...and it is preserved in a box at my parents' house. It was heavy!! It had exquisite detail, and I wouldn't trade it for anything! I wanted ivory, but the only detail my dad mentioned about the wedding was that he wanted me in a white dress, so that's what I went with. Randall was in the Army National Guard at the time, so he wore his dress blues...I loved it!

This is my wedding dress hanging in the bride's room (aka the nursery) before I put it on. The picture isn't great but you can get an idea of the detail on the back.

This is my mom zipping the back of my dress. It's a closer shot of the back so you can really see the detail!

This is a picture of me with my flower girl, Kendall.

Tune in next week to catch Show Us Your Life- Wedding Party and Flowers.

Potty Training Update

Today was a great day in the potty training world!! We started right off when Mac got up this morning. He pottied 7 times today with only 1 accident (it was only a little and he still made it to the potty that time, too!). He wore a diaper at naptime, but it was dry when he woke up. He even went to Grandma's this afternoon in his big boy underwears (I love how he adds the "s" to the end) and didn't have an accident. Maybe this is catching on!!

He FINALLY Did It!! (this may be TMI!!)

Ok, I am so excited because Mac finally just peed in the potty!! He had a slight accident as he was coming to me to tell me he needed to pee (he tells me he needs to poo-poo). I still had him sit on the potty while I went and got clean underwears (as he calls them). He came up to me as I was walking back to the bathroom and told me, "More poo-poo, Momma!" I walked in and looked, and there was more pee in the potty!! I guess bribing him with money (as I did this morning) worked. He also got a sticker on his chart!! For his first sticker, he chose (of course) Boots the Monkey!! Way to go, Mac!

Weekend Trip to Nashville

On Friday morning, we loaded up and left town heading to Nashville, AR. We were going to watch Hunter Wood, the son of our friends Kevin and Amy, play in the Dixie Youth State Tournament. We had a wonderful time all weekend. We stopped at Brown's on the way down to eat, then didn't stop again until we got to our hotel, Southern Belle Inn. We checked in about 2:00. The boys didn't play ball until 7:30, so we let the kids go swimming for a little while before heading to the ball park. The boys beat Ashdown Friday night, so they were scheduled to play at noon on Saturday. They had the most amazing time Friday night. After the ball game (about 10:00) we finally headed to McDonald's for supper. The weather was perfect so we sat outside and ate.
Mac and Emma outside our hotel room.

Mr. Gary at the ballpark. This is Hunter's Papaw.

Mac talking to Hunter and Kevin through the fence of the dugout. By the end of the weekend, anytime Mac saw a man leaning against the fence who had on khaki pants, he would say, "There Kevin!" It was so cute!!

Cara and Emma. This is Hunter's girlfriend.

The Searcy All-Stars before the game.

Mac, McKenna, Emma, and Braxton playing in the water.

Hunter getting his home run ball. He hit the ball over the fence his first time at bat!

Saturday morning was pretty tough on us. Mac didn't sleep well at all Friday night. I felt like I was up most of the night. Randall got up about 4:30 and headed with Mr. Gary to deer camp to look around. Mac finally fell asleep, so I moved to the other bed and caught a little shut-eye. Yes, I was in the bed with BOTH kids after Mac started fussing! The boys played Dierks at noon on Saturday. We headed to Taco Bell on the way to the ballpark and took our food with us. The weather was still pretty nice. The kids enjoyed running around and playing while Randall and I enjoyed the game. Searcy beat Dierks and were scheduled to play again at 7:30. We had plenty of time, so we headed back to the hotel planning to swim. Mac fell asleep on the way back, so he and Randall took a nap while Emma and I went swimming. We swam, cleaned up, then went across the parking lot to Western Sizzlin for dinner. We then headed back out the the ballpark where the Searcy boys won AGAIN!! At this point, they were 3-0 in the tournament. We headed back to the hotel and watch the baseball team swim for a little while before hitting the sack.

Emma asleep on Saturday morning. She had switched beds at this point, so you can see Mac's get-it in the bed with her. That is Mater by her face!!

Mac and Emma sitting on the bleachers getting ready for the game.

Randall and Mr. Gary standing at the outfield fence watching the game. Randall took Mr. Gary a coke after he ran to get a homerun ball.

We passed this house heading back to the hotel, and I made Randall back up so I could take a picture...I just loved the house with the wrap-around porch. It was very exquisite.

Mac and Randall taking a nap. The ball under Mac's arm is one Hunter won for him at a pizza restaurant where he went to eat. He won an elephant for Emma. Wasn't that sweet?!

Emma eating her blue bubble gum shaved ice. We took our own snacks, but we did buy these at the concession stand.

Mac and Daddy sharing a Watermelon shaved ice.

Emma and Mac playing on the pitcher's mound of an empty baseball field.

Mac giving Hunter "knuckles" before the game on Saturday night.

Hunter trying to pull Mac's arm through the fence. Mac just loves him some Hunter!!

Emma sitting in Momma's lap waiting for the game to start.

Mac playing with Tom-Tom on the way back to the hotel.

Hunter batting.

Hunter pitching.

Mac giving Luke Dixon some knuckles.

On Sunday, we headed to Murfreesboro to a great little restaurant Mr. Gary had told us about. It had great burgers, and the Razorback decor was very cute. They also had sharpies so you could sign your name to the wall. There was writing everywhere. It was a very quaint little place to eat.

A good little restaurant!

Razorback decor...if you look at the paneling, you can see where people have written on the walls.

This is where I wrote our names!!

More decor and writing.

Braxton, Carson, Hannah, Mac, and Emma calling balls and strikes for some boys who were just playing around on the field.

Hunter practicing at shortstop.

The boys played Dierks again on Sunday afternoon at 3:30. We stayed and watched them win again before heading home. We left about 6:00. We stopped in Prescott to eat, then headed to Searcy. When we got to Beebe, Mac said, "Almost there...faster, Daddy, faster!" The boys play for the state championship tonight against the Nashville Scrappers...Good luck boys!! Wish we could be there!!