Roommate Reunion....or Stacey's wedding!

I just returned from Salado, TX....know where that is? My roommate from college, Stacey, got married yesterday there. Oh, it was such a sweet time!!! One of the good things about being in a wedding when your 35 is that you can truly appreciate all the joy that a wedding brings. Really!! My other roommates, Sarah and Missy, were in the wedding too and we had a mini reunion. I LOVED it!! I picked Missy(who lives in Michigan now) up in Arlington on Thursday and we drove down to Salado just chatting the whole way. As if no time had passed at all. And then on Friday, Sarah(who lives in Nashville now) got to town. We went to Stacey's bridesmaid brunch and then off to get our toe nails done! We laughed and cried and had such a good time! Stacey was absolutely stunning!!! She is such a mighty woman of God and you could tell that through ALL of the people who's lives she had touched that showed up to the wedding. We did sort of laugh because my back is out, Missy was hacking up a lung, and Sarah had hurt her tail bone. All of that and we got to walk down the aisle in hot pink dresses. Seriously, that's what she gets for having such old bridesmaids!! But really, I loved every minute of it and can't wait to get the 4 of us back together again soon. I love you girls!!!

Here is Stacey getting her gown on. She was a little concerned that it wouldn't zip thus the face!

Missy and Sarah...haven't changed a bit!!!

The roommates! Such a fun time!!

Stacey and Sheri- Sheri went to college with us too and is Stacey's dear friend

Stacey (who is the ultimate goof ball) will always strike a pose if she thinks the camera is on her. She loves her some attention!!!

Vow Renewal!!

First of all, let me apologize for the amount of pictures on this post. I was trying to narrow them down and had a hard time. I wanted to truly capture everything about the night. Second, I tried to figure out how to post these in order. I could probably go to edit html and move them around but I can't do that today. Too much sitting involved with that!!! My back is doing better everyday, however, I do have constant pain and that bites!! I'm leaving today for a wedding that I am in on Sat. so I need to limit the amount of sitting I do today.

August 15th was a glorious day! The ceremony was so sweet and so beautiful. Almost (but not quite) better than our first wedding day! I was very much in the moment and can recall almost every detail of the night. Brian really went out of his way to make this night special. And it was!! We had a small gathering of family and friends who are very dear to us join us for the night. I'll try and explain below each picture so you can get an idea. Thanks to my sister who took pictures for us with my camera that night. She didn't get to sit down too much! And another special thanks to my sweet friends Britney and Lorisa who took the time to do some decorations and flowers for the night. It was just the right touch!!! And ANOTHER special thanks to Jaron who did the video for our ceremony. It was truly moving to see. You did a great job!! And thank you to all who joined us. Your presence made it unforgettable! The Lord showed up that night! His presence was thick in that room!! And I couldn't quit smiling for days afterwards!

My sweet boy who insisted he wear a suit. We found one at JcPenney and he was smashing!!! He said ring "bears" wear suits...so be it!!

Lorisa and Brad(Britney's husband) tweaking the decorations....and playing with Adiah.

Britney trying to put a flower on Ridgedon's lapel. He also said ring "bears" wear flowers on their suits...so be it.

Ridge took a picture of me before we left for the church. This is the linen dress I wore...to bad it wrinkles so easily! Oh well!!

This was on the screen when I walked in the church. He thought of everything!

Our very dear friends, Michael and Lorisa, gave us a blessing during the ceremony. Thank you guys!!

These are some of our friends that came as well. Sarah, Liz, Lo, Brad, and Brit.

I believe we were all watching the video that Jaron made. We smiled alot...we cried alot...we remembered alot....and we thanked God alot for bringing us through all He has to get to this point. I'm so thankful! And I look forward to seeing what He has for us for the future. Its a journey!!

Our friend, Chris, did the ceremony for us. He was full of good words for us! Thank you Chris!!

Sweet ring "bear"!!

Everyone had gathered around us at the end to pray over us...Then with everyone watching VERY closely on we got to seal it with a kiss!!

The praying...

This is where we were saying new vows to each other and exchanging new rings. I was telling Brian later that this was so different from our wedding. Because when you are as young as we were when we first got married you say those vows different. Don't get me wrong I meant them then...but you say them from a different place in life. I just had no clue what I was really saying then. I remember when Brian was saying his vows to me this time I wanted to say "I KNOW! I believe you!! I hear every word you are saying! I love you too!!". Its like Chris said that night. What we were saying by doing this is...if I had known all we would go through I would do it again in a heart beat!! Sweet times!

Saying the vows...

Have no clue what we were grinning at so cheesily. But it was a good example of how relaxed the evening was...and I was too!!

After the ceremony most of us went to Macaroni Grill for dinner. This is my beautiful daughter enjoying the evening. Emily couldn't quit crying for joy that night. It was sweet!

Some of our friends enjoying each other's company.

Brian and I FINALLY sitting next to each other at dinner. He was busy mingling and visiting with everyone!!

Some of our family....Gina, the one in the black and her husband, Jason, sitting next to her took the kids home to our house for the weekend before handing them off to my parents. We couldn't have enjoyed our vacation with out you guys!! Thank you!!!

Mr. Michael with Adiah. She loves him!! I think he loves her more!!!

Natiebug extremely tired and ready to go!

At the dinner, some people stood up and gave a blessing or a memory or words of encouragement. This is Brian's dad saying some sweet words to us!

Sneaking a kiss during dinner...I love this man!

Adiah stuffed her face with everyones food plus hers. She was loving it!!

Friends!

It was such a special night! Thank you, Brian, for planning this and loving me the way you do! Happy Anniversary!!!

I will do a different post with pictures from the 2nd honeymoon! But it will probably be next week since this took me a year and a half to do.

First day of school 2008

Hey everyone!! We are back from our vacation but unfortunately on the last day of our trip I injured my back terribly!! I'm getting better slowly but surely! But its taken away my desire to sit for any amount of time to blog! I have fun updates about our vow renewal ceremony and our trip but first I wanted to post about the first day of school. Yesterday summer officially ended for my kids as they headed back to school. I now have a MIDDLE schooler!! And a 4th and 2nd grader too. They were all starting new schools so this mommy was very anxious for them to get home! They ALL loved their teachers which is HUGE and had great days!!! I'm so thankful for that! They had started their days a little nervous (especially Natalie) so it was good to see them with smiles on their faces. I missed meet the teacher last week because of the cruise so I got to meet Natalie and Ridge's teachers yesterday. And it was all too weird to send my first baby girl off to jr. high. Good...but sad! We've always lived right around the corner from school and got to walk but now we drive. And with Natalie's gymnastics being right after school and Emily getting out 30 minutes later than the others she got to ride the bus home. Another first!! She did well. Actually, her words were "It was interesting." Don't really know how to take that.
Anyway, here are the traditional first day of school pics. We are definitely feeling the back to school craziness. Especially with my back being so sore...but we'll manage! Just like every other family in America does! Hopefully I'll be back soon with pictures from last week. Everything from the vow ceremony to the cruise was(as my sweet friend put it) *supernaturally beautiful*!!!

The gang....

My handsome 2nd grader!

My sweet 4th grader!

My beautiful 6th grader!

She looks so thrilled, doesn't she? She was very nervous! You know....new school and all!

Ridge was a little more happy! Actually, he was all..."go Mom. I have coloring to do."

She wouldn't let me walk her in!! Go figure!! But I was able to snap a shot of her out the window without her knowledge of her first steps on to the middle school campus. Sweet girl........

*PS...I've been trying to do this post all afternoon!!! Blogger has been giving me serious trouble. Must be too many moms doing first day of school blogs or something!

Okay, I lied...one more post!

I just got home from picking up the rings!!! They are so beautiful and can't wait until tomorrow night when I can wear mine. It was hard to put it back in the little box and walk out with it! But wanted you all to see them. Great job, Pratts!!





The kids had to go with me and they were so good that I took them for a little treat afterwards. Sprinkles cupcakes!! Yummy!! Now we're off to get ready for orientation tonight.

Friends!

Monday we had some friends come visit us. We used to live across the street from the Pierce family and through the walking of our kids to school everyday for 3 years became good friends! It was so good to see them again but unfortunately our time was cut short yesterday morning when Cullen, their 2nd grader, woke up in the night with high fever and throwing up. And due to the fact that Brian and I are renewing our vows Friday and taking off on a 2nd honeymoon on Saturday Ms. Amy P. took them home to hopefully keep the germs away. We all hope you feel better soon, Cullen!!! Please pray that we stay healthy because of our big week ahead of us!

Tomorrow night we have Emily's middle school orientation! Is that crazy or what? This is where the principal will come out and talk about the rules and what not to wear. And then we'll get her schedule, buy her athletics uniform, and walk to all her classes to get a lay of the land. I can't believe my baby is in middle school!! On a side note...why isn't it called Jr. High anymore? Just wondering.

And speaking of our vows and trip...that's like the day after tomorrow! We're really excited and I'm almost done packing. Now if I can just get it through Brian's head that he needs to do the same. I'll bet he thinks I'm going to do it but I've been on one too many trips with this boy where he asks why I didn't pack this or that. I've stopped doing it. He has to lay everything out that he wants to take and I'll put it in the suitcase. You all wanted to know that didn't you?
So I probably won't post until we get back from our trip. Can't wait to share all the wonderfulness that it will be! And to show you pictures of the new ring!!! How fun is that?

And I'll leave you with some pictures .....Y'all have a great weekend!!


Natalie and Kenna decided to swim with t-shirts on to see if they could make a big bubble over their heads when they went under water. I remember doing that when I was a kid too!

Not working out so great, Natalie.....

Camden P.

I didn't get to many pictures of the kids together because I thought we'd have more time. Next time!!

This is what happens to baby dolls in our house. Poor baby. Its just weird to walk in a room and see this on the floor.
Miss Priss loves to wear other peoples shoes. If you happen to come to our house and you happen to take off your shoes they will be shoe-napped by this one. Here she is with Emily's cowboy boots on. (Speaking of shoes she now has a favorite pair of shoes that she likes to wear with everything. They are her pink tennis shoes and I tell you even if we hide them she goes to her closet and cries until we open up the door and she can pull them out. Sheesh, its already starting!)
In my slippers. Amy P. brought these to me. They are slippers that have little duster things on them so you can not only keep your feet warm you can also dust your hard wood floors! Genius!!

In Ridgedon's crocs...

And this is one of mine and my sister's kids last week. We surprised them with a trip to Build A Bear. It was supposed to be the water park but we got rained out. Hollyn started school yesterday so we had to get that trip in quick!

Cleaning Day F-I-A-S-C-O!!

How does one set the stage for a story like this? I don't know so I'll just start telling it. Its funny...trust me! So today was the day that the lady(Maria-you'll need to know this for the rest of the story) who helps me clean my house was to come. She comes at 8 am on the day she comes. She arrives and what usually happens is I take the kids out until she is done. She happens to have a crew of ladies who works for her so it goes faster. I like that! The rest of the ladies don't speak English and you'll need to know that for the rest of the story too! So the kids and I load up and head to the donut shop and Target. We were going to go to my parents house afterwards until time to leave. So I'm checking out at Target and my cell phone rings. I see it is Allison Allison(the one we bought the house from who has now become my good friend). I decide not to answer and call her when finished checking out. By the time I get to the car she has texted me. It says something like...."Hey call me. The cleaning ladies have found a large snake in your living room!" Panic!! However, I try not to look like I've just read what I did because the kids are with me and I'm thinking that they might really be afraid of our house if they knew....LIKE THEIR MOTHER NOW WAS!!! So I call her. I said "you're kidding, right?" She unfortunately said no. Maria had called Stephen Allison (Allison's husband) because she didn't have my cell phone # and said they found a large snake in my living room. They were freaking out. Stephen told them to keep an eye on it until I got home(thanks so much) so I would know where it went. Maria said..."oh no! They're all out in the front yard." Great. Allison tries to reassure me that she's sure its not a bad one and that normally what Stephen does is chop their heads off with a hoe. She then added "But none have ever gotten IN the house before". Still panicking and trying not to let my kids know what I'm talking about I ask her to call Maria and tell her I'm on my way. I then hang up and called my dad. He lives 3 miles down the road, Praise the Lord. I tell him that I can't really talk about it but that he needed to meet me at my house PRONTO!! The whole time I'm just praying asking the Lord how it is the snake got in my house? How did He want me to kill it? Was it slithering around my feet this morning and I didn't even know it? Did it have little babies? Amy! Focus!! So I pull up at the same time my dad does. Maria's truck is gone but the other ladies cars are still there. My dad has an extreme look of concern on his face. I tell the kids to stay in the car and watch the Veggie Tale video for the nine hundredth time. I tell my dad what Allison told me and man he starts running around!! He's looking for a hoe or something to bludgeon the nasty thing with and I go in to face the snake that dared make it into my house. I open the door and one of the non English speaking ladies meets me. I say "where's Maria?". She shakes her head and proceeds to tell me something in Spanish. I say "do you speak English?" Duh, Amy! No! So I say "snake?" while making hand gestures in the form of a S. She summons me to follow her into the kitchen......she reaches for something on the counter top.....I'm panicking thinking she is about to throw it on me.....and this is what I saw..........................







I start laughing uncontrollably! I said "this is what you thought was a snake?" Remember...she doesn't speak English! I hug her and off I run to call off the dogs...I mean my dad. Let me explain what this is. A couple of weeks ago when we had our little Stay-cation one of the lovely ladies who was here (Tara) showed us how to make hair extensions for much cheaper than other ones. This is one of my hair pieces that fell behind the couch. I understand maybe seeing this from a far and for a second thinking it was a rat. But COME ON!! How did this turn into a LARGE snake? I tried putting it in different places to see if I could make it look like a snake.
Up close curled up...

From afar....

On the hard wood kind of more straightened out...

On the carpet where they saw it in the first place....

Well, I'll say I was very relieved that I could actually live in my house again. Because I tell you I was already running down a list of things I would need to pack for the hotel that I was checking me and my children into.

And my dad looked at this whole experience as a practice run in case anything really DID happen and he needed to get to me quickly. I KNEW I could count on you, Dad!!!!

I think I'll call David Letterman and see if I can enter my "snake" on Hair Piece/Not A Hair Piece.