Vacation 2011: K&M Wedding- Reception

Since Donald and I were both a part of the wedding we couldn't exactly take pictures during the ceremony and we didn't grab my camera during the first dance since we both had to be introduced with the wedding party.  But I did manage to grab my camera in time for the Father/Daughter dance and then all events following!

Kari and Matt were introduced as Mr. and Mrs. and then shared their first dance as husband and wife to "Smother Me" by The Used.  They were adorable and it is a sweet song. 
After the first dance we had lunch from Q's BBQ- BBQ sandwiches, potato salad, coleslaw, and baked beans! Yum!

After lunch Kari and Matt wanted to take some pictures with family members, I missed the first few because I was decorating their getaway car! But here are a few that our camera caught:

After all the pictures were taken we went back inside to watch the Father/Daughter dance.  Kari and Sean danced to "Ready, Set, Don't Go" by Billy Ray Cyrus.  It was a sweet moment.

After Kari and Sean danced, Matt and Kari had a Money Dance (where you pay to dance with the Bride and Groom).  This a small handful of those pictures.

After the Money Dance we did the toasts and cut the cake.  We didn't get any pictures of the toasts because, well I had the camera and I was giving one of the toasts.  They cut the cake and to my delight, they smashed it in each others faces! (I love when people do that!)

The Happy Couple after cleaning off all the cake!

Then they did the bouquet and garter toss.  Tobi caught the bouquet and Nathan caught the garter!

Then it was finally time to say goodbye to the newlyweds. We sent them off in a sea of bubbles!

It was such a GREAT day! The ceremony was beautiful and the reception was perfect! There is one funny story that I have to tell! During the Father/Daughter and Money Dances we had a real wedding CRASHER enter the reception.  She came in and got a drink and then asked the caters for a plate of food and they gave it to her! She watched a few of the dances and even danced and clapped herself.  Donald saw her come in and he kept an eye on her. Ha! It was too funny!

P.S. Sorry this was such a long post, but there were too many pictures that I wanted to share!

Vacation 2011: K&M Wedding- Rehearsal & Rehearsal Dinner

After our bellies were full and our nails were pretty we headed down to Maymont for the rehearsal!

There is only a few things you can say about a rehearsal for a wedding- we just rehearsed! Here are some pictures:

For the rehearsal dinner we went to Roma Italian Restaurant. It was very good! Here are some pictures:

Vacation 2011: K&M Wedding- Lunch and Nails

The first offical event for the wedding was a Bridal Party lunch and getting our nails done!

For lunch, the Bride picked Applebee's! We had a really good time eating and talking! The resturant was not too busy, so we could just hang out in the booth without feeling rushed!

After lunch we went over to a nail place and got our toes and fingernails painted!

We had a great time hanging out with Kari one last time before she became a Mrs!

Vacation 2011: Airports and Airplanes

The first leg of our vacation was, well, getting there! Our flight was set to leave at 3:15pm from DFW and arrive in RIC at 10:50, but when you are dealing with planes and airports that doesn't always happen! 

We get there and find that our first flight was delayed an hour because of storms on the East coast (we had a layover in Newark).  We were a little nervous because of flight leaving Newark was set to leave at 9:30 and if we were arriving an hour later than planned, we wouldn't have much time at Newark- we had to change terminals and that's not simple in Newark.  But "thankfully" we were delayed leaving Newark (I say that we were "thankful" because we had PLENTY of time, but that meant that we would be arriving in Richmond later than planned and it was already too late for my taste!) But we did have plenty of time to eat $10 airport pizza!

Now for all you people that live in New Jersey, please don't be offended by what I am about to say!  Newark Airport is a terrible airport and I don't ever want to fly through there again! We arrived in terminal C, but needed to be in terminal A.  Now terminal C wasn't so bad, it was terminal A that I have issues with!

First, because there were so many delayed flights departing, the terminal was way over crowded.  Second, our ticket said we would be flying out of one gate and once we got there we were told it was leaving from another gate.  And about 45 minutes into waiting we were told, once again, that our gate had changed! At that point, we told ourselves that were was a good chance they would lose our luggage, but thankfully they did not! Third, it smelt terrible- like throw up! We changed seats a few times trying to avoid the smell, but we had no such luck! Even the plane had a bad smell! I was never so happy to feel us land than at that time!

The flight home was much better! We left Richmond at 7am and had a small layover in Charlotte and were back in DFW by 11! We did have to sit at the airport for about 2 hours because we didn't drive and someone had to pick us up and everyone that we knew that could have picked us up was in church and we didn't feel comfortable asking someone to miss church for us! So we just hung out and shared a $7 sandwich and a $2 bag of chips! Ha!

There were a few pros and cons to flying.  While we loved that we got 2 extra days in VA, it was a bummer have to be at the mercy of the plane and airports.  Had we driven we would not have had such long layovers on the way there- just a long drive!  But had both flights been as good as the one coming home, then it would have been great! Also, I hated having to spend $50 to check luggage! It such a waste of money, but we really didn't have a choice since we were going to be gone for so long!

Overall, we were glad that we got to fly- it was way cheaper and A LOT faster! We probably won't get to fly for Christmas because flights are a lot more expensive during that time.

P.S. Sorry there are no pictures for this post- we didn't take any of us sitting in the airport- ha!

Vacation 2011: Prologue

So it could possibly take me until August to blog about everything that happened during our vacation! We had a busy, busy week and a half! We had great time visiting family and friends and we were sad to leave! We got home and totally crashed from sheer exhaustion!

As a teaser to the upcoming blogs, here is our vacation in numbers:

• States visited (or drove through): 5- Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania
• Hours in the car: over 20
• Nights away from TX: 11
• People on the beach trip: 9
• Little people we loved on: 6
• Sermons preached by Donald: 2
• Guests at the wedding: over 90
• Pictures taken: at least 500
• Nights at a hotel: 1
• Newlyweds: 2
• Days in Lynchburg: 2
• Hours at the Airports: 10
• Hours on the plane: 8.5
• Temperature when we returned to TX: 103

Lots more pictures and blogging to come! 

Jury Duty, Running, and other happenings

Jury Duty

So, I survived my first experience with jury duty.  Honestly, it wasn't all that bad, but of course I couldn't go through the day without some type of DRAMA.


First, I was a little nervous because we had to park in a parking lot, then take a city bus to the courthouse.  I've never really ridden a bus like that, so I was just a little unsure of what I was suppose to do.  Thankfully there were other people there who seemed to know what was going on, so I just followed them.  Literally, I followed this one lady all the way to the courthouse. 

Second, you had to go through a security check point (like at the airport) to get in.  So, I put my shoes and purse in the little plastic bin and made my way through the medal detector.  I went to go get my stuff and the lady tells me that she needed to put my purse through the scanner again.  After it goes through the second time, there is now a man looking at the screen and he tells me that there something weird in my purse and then dumps everything out.  There was an Alan wrench in the bottom of my purse.  Donald put it in there the day before and I forgot.  So, now everything is out of my purse and they have to run it through the scanner AGAIN.  By now everyone is looking at me because I am holding the line up. 

So, I find my assigned courtroom and there are a bunch of people, like maybe 30 or so.  The cop comes out and collects our paperwork and tells us what is going to happen.  Then we sat there for an hour and a half, in the hallway.  Finally, they call us into the courtroom and the judge tells us that the lawyers on the case came to a plea agreement and they didn't need a juror.  So, I didn't even go through the process of being selected.  I just went and sat in the hallway and then collected my 6 bucks!

Running

In the early part of May I went to a fitness boot camp with my neighbor and I loved it.  However, one of the things we had to do was run around this field and I didn't like that nor could I run the whole thing.  And after I finished, I couldn't breathe.  I was a little frustrated because I am an active person and I go to the gym 3-4 days a week but I couldn't run a short distance.  So, after that I decided I was going to start running on the treadmill rather than on the elliptical.  (The elliptical is more like a bike motion and therefore a lot easier.)

So, I set a goal for myself for the summer- to run 3 miles on the treadmill by the end of the summer.  Once it cools down, I am going to start running outside and start working on my time.  My ultimate goal is to run a 5k sometime in October or November.  Well, I more than halfway there!!  I had been doing about 1.5 miles, but on Monday I ran 2 miles.  I was so proud of myself. I was very tired that night; not sore, just tired!  Yesterday when I went I just ran 1.6 miles because my legs were still a little tired for the day before.  I am so excited that I have been able to run this much.  It really is addicting.  I am actually looking forward to my next run on Saturday.  My goal on Saturday is to run 2 miles again.  The only problem is I have had my gym shoes for a long time (like several years) and I have started to feel how old they are when I run.  So if I am going to keep this up, I am going to have to invest in a new pair of running shoes. 

Other Happenings

The bug situation has gotten a lot better.  Donald saw one on Monday morning.  But on Monday, the people from SWBTS came out and fixed our door (there was a gap between the door and the frame along the bottom).  We haven't seen any since then, so we are hoping that was how they were making there way in.  We are still a little paranoid and get a little nervous at night and first thing in the morning when we walk into the kitchen.

A few months ago I broke my camera and so we have been taking pictures on our phones! But yesterday my wonderful sister in law gave me (us) an early birthday/Christmas present- a new camera!! It is SO nice.  Its a Nikon COOLPIX L120 and it's pretty much the nicest camera I have ever owned! I am looking forward to really learning how to use it and taking pictures (especailly taking pictures of all those little people that I love and miss so much!)  Donald and I took a few cool shots last night and the pictures look great!

Update

It's been a while since I blogged, so I thought I've give an "update" blog.

Donald is working 3 days a week and the other two he is doing stuff with our church. Even though school is out, he has been super busy!  He has been sub-teaching for various Sunday School classes the last few weeks and for the next two weeks.  He has also been teaching a series on "How we got the Bible" for the Wednesday night Bible Study.  I've really enjoyed getting to hear him teach and seeing how passionate he is about the Word.  Also a few Sunday's ago he preached a message on Sunday night.  I love watching this man preach.  I am looking forward to him being my pastor one day!! When we go home in a few weeks he will be preaching at my sisters wedding (a mini sermon) and then preaching at NCBC on Sunday morning. 

I am still working and trying to find a teaching job.  Unfortunately, is does not look good at all! But I will keep putting myself out there and trying to find something!! On Monday I have been summoned to jury duty! Donald is a little jealous because he would love to serve on a jury, but I am not as excited! Knowing my luck I'll be picked to actually serve! We'll see! I'll keep you informed!

We have had a slightly "rough" week! Last Friday we had the pest control people come because we have seen a "Texas Bug" (aka Waterbug) and so we thought we would call before we saw more.  Well, they seem to have made the problem worse.  This week we had seen 4! Yesterday morning Donald found one (bug #3) sitting in our cup cabinet when he went to get a coffee mug and that was the final straw for him!  So yesterday afternoon he clean under the stink, like scrubbed it down and  filled in any holes, we think that's how they are getting in.  BUT we were wrong and I found another one last night.  We are mortified.  We are scared to go into our kitchen in fear of being attacked by bugs.  I want to move, but I think they are everywhere.  We are hoping that the last one was already in the house before we filled in the holes and we will not see anymore.  And the worst part, we ran out of bug spray with number 2, so the last two we have been dealing with without any defense mechanism.  I will be getting more when I go to Wal-mart, even if it causes me to go over my grocery budget, yes its THAT bad!

We are so looking forward to our "vacation" in a week and a half! (I say "vacation" because I am not too sure how much of a vacation it will be!)  Kari and Matt are getting married and we will also be going to Philadelphia with Jackie and Jared and then to the beach, and then to Lynchburg.  I will have to say that I am excited that we do not have to drive.  We decided it was actually going to be cheaper for us to fly because after the rental car, gas, food, and a hotel each way we were going to spend close to $800 and we were able to find tickets for around $580.  Woohoo!  And we will be able to spend more time there cause we will not be in the car for 4 days of our 12 day vacation!

Whelp, I guess that's all.  I leave you with some pictures from our last little adventure!