Gotta love "turkey day!"

Well lets see where to start this one. It has been a very busy week! Even though there were only two days of school with the kids they were definitely very packed full of activity. Yesterday we had a work day at school and were both able to get a lot done on our rooms which was nice. After that we had a little mishap when we went out to Five Guys for lunch and I went in the bathroom to wash my hands and when I was coming out I hit my ring on the door and bent the band so my diamond was now sitting on its side instead up standing upright. So we then had to make a quick trip out to southpark where we got the band and to make along story short I am ringless for the next week. Along with the topics of rings and the wedding we got a LOT done the other weekend when we went to Jekyll and are excited about the plans for the wedding. James will be updating soon with the pics and to tell you more about our trip!

Today is good ole Thanksgiving and we are going to spend the day at Shelly and Gary's house hanging out with them and eating some turkey of course! This is our 2nd Thanksgiving together and we definitey have had a lot to be thankful for in the last year. I am VERY thankful for the fact that James was able to move out here and that we have learned so many new things about each other after living together. I look forward to seeing where we will be at as man and wife by our 3rd Thanksgiving next year! I'm also very thankful for our health and the fact that (besides a few colds here and there) we have been lucky enough to stay away from any sickness. Last but of course not least I am thankful for my family and the way that they have been there for me in everything that I do in my life...many of you have heard me say how truly lucky I think I am for the family that I have and how wonderful they are. I have to admit that part of me is sad that I don't get to see Mom and Dad and Eric this year but I know it's hard with them all so far away! Which by the way if you haven't checked out Mom's blog of the trip you definitely should at clute.blogspot.com because it is very neat!

Well I guess I will close this out so that we can get ready to head out for the day. I hope that everyone has a truly blessed and wonderful Thanksgivng and that you all find some great deals shopping tomorrow (yes, James and I are heading out at 1am for his first "black Friday" experience)! We will update later with some pictures from today as we seem to have lost the cord to our camera when AJ decided to eat it for dinner the other night! Ahhh the joys of puppies!

Yes we are still "Bloggers"...

James did a great job getting this shot just at the right moment...pretty cool, huh?

OK so I do realize that it has been quite some time since our last post and I do apologize for that. A lot has been going on in the last few weeks so I'm not quite sure where to begin. I guess I will start off with some promised pictures from Michigan! We went up for Kelly & Justin's wedding and had a great time hanging out with them and enjoying the unseasonably warm weather...poor Kelly was hoping for a cool fall wedding day...whoops! Here are a few pictures from their wedding that James took:

Justin getting ready to sweep Kelly off her feet!

James and I stopped to take our picture by the lake as well!

We also spent some time up in Muskegon visiting some friends and had a little free time while they were at work to introduce A.J. to the Lake Michigan Beaches! We had a great time there and he actually went in the lake some too! After that we took a long drive to go over to the East side of the state where I grew up and I got to show James my old house and we visited a Cider mill and also got to have lunch with my brother. It was such a short but fun trip, I really miss everyone up there but can't wait to see them all down in our neck of the woods for the wedding!

Our family picture by Lake Michigan!

Man he is like a little fish!

One last picture on our trip at the historic Parshalville Cider Mill!

The Bless Back Project

Well James and I have had a very busy weekend so far. Yesterday we spent the day taking care of our "car issue" that we have had for the last few months. It was something that had put a lot of stress on both of us and we are very happy that we finally got things figured out. We had been praying about what to do and it was all taken care of yesterday. We ended up turning in all THREE of the cars to the Hyundai dealer and were given a horse and buggy to ride home on (haha James wanted me to put that)...no but we did turn in all three cars and ended up with a new Hyundai Sonata that is basically like the one we had but has more options on it...you must come try it out and we will even turn on your "Butt Warmer!" It was a hard choice for us to get rid of the other cars but we are very happy with our decision!

Ok now about the title of this post. Our friend Debbie has been asking us for months to go to church with her. We finally went with her today to Elevation church here in Charlotte. We have both commented that it was a VERY different experience then we were used to at church. It was pretty much like a rock concert first thing on a Sunday morning. It was definitely different but a very powerful church to say the least. We were extra blessed by having gone on this particular Sunday. The pastor decided rather then to do a collection he would give out a collection for the people to go do God's work with and to give to help someone in our community. James and I each got an envelope to open and have decided to pray about what God wants us to do with the money. We are VERY excited about the whole idea of the project and look forward to seeing what everyone does with the money. The church has asked us all to post on a website what we do with the money so if you want to check that out then the website address is www.blessbackproject.com . I have always heard about things like this happening on Oprah and stuff but never thought I would get to be a part of it!

Hope everyone has a blessed rest of the weekend and we will be posting soon with pics of the new car and from our trip to Michigan...back to school tomorrow, oh boy!

Hometown Hero Update!

The hometown heros, "nominators", and the Keffer Hyundai staff

The winners and manager at the Hyundai dealer.

James and I are working on figuring out our car "situation" as many of you know and today he was looking at Keffer Hyundai's website and found out that they FINALLY update it with stuff from the hometown hero contest so check it out and see a video from the awards ceremony and some pictures! The link is http://www.kefferhyundai.com/ there is a video clip when you get on the webpage and you can also click on the red and white hometown hero link on the bottom of the page!

We will try to update again in the next few days to add some pics from our Michigan trip!

Cane Creek

OK so I guess we will oficially do one more post before we leave for our trip! Yesterday James and I went to Cane Creek with Brian, Melissa, Tara, and Matt where we were able to enjoy a beautiful fall day full of hiking, friendship, and even a little swimming for the pups! After spending a few hours there, Matt and Tara invited us all over for a good ole southern BBQ where Tara even made sure to get some "slaw" for the burgers...funny how soon you learn the southern lingo! We also got to break in their new fire pit and roast some marshmallows...the campfire was accompanied by lots of laughs and even a few camp songs, yep some of us never grow up!



Today James and I also got to go to church and see Matt and Tara become members of our church, what a great day for them! After that we came back home and did some cleaning and packing, oh boy! AJ kept himself busy with one of the pumpkins that Mom bought for my class last time I was in Tennessee...gonna be hard to pry him away from that thing so I can give it to the kids!



Well I must run and finish up the packing for our trip but just thought this weekend was worthy of one more post before we go! Well the pictures wouldn't upload that I wanted to put on so i'll have to try and add them later!

A.J.'s First Grooming!

Well today was a big milestone in AJ's life...we took him to Petsmart for his first official grooming visit. He didn't need to get a hair cut but he got a bath and his ears checked and his toe nails clipped. While going in we made some new friends with a couple that were fans of the Jacksonville Jaguars...always great to meet strangers in Petsmart and invite them over to watch football...haha! Anyways we dropped AJ off and went for a walk to grab dinner while he got worked on. When we picked him up he got a great report and looked like a star! James picked out a nice orange bandanna for him to wear so he could support the UT Vols! Here are a couple pics of his new do and also so pics from him getting his first treat tonight...it was really very entertaining!

AJ taking his first treat!

Trying to dig a hole under the kitchen table and hide it!

Couldn't get it under the table to why not bury it next to the TV?

Well he wasn't successful with digging a hold for the treat so he decided to eat it under the coffee table instead...yum yum!

I also thought that I would include a picture of the flowers that I came home to last weekend. I went with Shelly over to see our family in TN and when I came back it seems that James had gone to Costco and picked me up some purple daisies! Shelly and I had been talking most of the trip back about the wedding and ideas for colors and when I saw the flowers I thought it might be neat to do the colors purple, green, and yellow...what do you think?!?! Oh yeah and as far as the wedding goes it might be a bit of a delay in getting out the save the date cards. We have hit a small bump in the road and are trying to decide what to do about it, to make a long story short we may be switching our date to July 3rd or switching the place we have the reception so just keep both days open for us!

A good inspiration for wedding colors?

Well I hope everyone has a great weekend and James and I are taking off for TN and Michigan on Monday to go visit family and friends and also to go to Kelly's wedding so it may be a bit before we post again but I promise lots of great pics on the next post! Keep in touch and ya'll better start leaving us some comments or we are going to think no one loves us anymore!

A Quick Update

Well looking at everyones blog right now I realize that it has been a while since we have updated ours! Things have been so crazy these past few weeks with James' new job and trying to keep on top of grad school that I guess we have just let the blog slip! Sorry about that! Let's see I am in Tennessee right now visiting family with my cousin Shelly and we have had a nice relaxing time. I got to go yesterday to David's Bridal and try some gowns on for Mom which was a lot of fun. Last night we all ordered pizza for dinner and took it out on a long boat ride with the family which is always interesting! It was great to be able to catch up with everyone again though.

James has been working hard around the house trying to get us caught back up there. He has also been learning as he goes about the joys of report cards and PEPs because we have parent teacher conferences coming up this week. I know it has been stressful for him and a lot to learn but not a day goes by where someone doesn't come up to me at school and tell me how great he is with the kids and what a wonderful fiance I have...and I have to agree that I"m a pretty lucky lady!

We also worked a little on wedding plans this weekend when I was here with my Mom and Shelly. We are going to be getting our save the date cards out soon so keep your eye out for those! I have been so relaxed about the wedding plans but I think it is time to try to get a few things done...maybe I will be inspired after going to Kelly's wedding next month and hopefully will get a few things decided.

Well I guess I will close this off so that I can go get things packed up for Shelly and I to get on the road. I hope everyone is doing well and has a great week! Leave us some comments to let us know how you all are doing!