Trip To Colorado & Oklahoma

I had a wonderful visit to Colorado recently. My best friend since 3rd grade was getting married, and I was in the wedding. I flew out to Denver on the 16th of July. Unfortunately Andrew had to stay behind and work. :( My family also came out to the wedding and then we drove down to our cabins in Cuchara, Colorado. It was so nice to be out there. The mountains are just gorgeous, and it is so nice to sit back and enjoy God's beautiful creation. My other best friend and college roommate, Sarah, lives near Denver so she came down to the cabin with us for a few days. We enjoyed going to Taos, New Mexico for a day trip with my mom and sister-in-law Michelle. My mom and I went horseback riding one day. We saw 5 bears during this trip!! I usually don't see any or if I do, they're from a distance. But we were pretty up close and personal with these bears. It was very exciting. I rode with my parents to Oklahoma on the 26th of July and we got to see my grandparents and some more of my family. My parents dropped me off in Little Rock on the 28th and I flew back to Louisville. I'd been gone for almost two weeks, so it was nice to get back home to Andrew. Here are some pics from the wedding and our time at the cabin.

At the hotel in Denver ready for Robin's wedding (Robin is in middle)

Me, Robin & Jensey. I've known Jensey since 1st grade and she is such a dear friend. Her and her husband Nate are wedding photographers in Orlando, FL, and they did the pictures for Robin's wedding. Jensey and Nate are very talented and if you get a chance, check out their website at www.rootography.com.

Robin and Brian

Me and my brother

Enjoying brunch after the wedding

Me, Michelle & Sarah at the cabin

Riding horses with my mom

Enjoying Bear Lake (where we really did see lots of bears)

A giant bench in Taos, New Mexico

One of the many bears

Another bear wreaking havoc on someone's campsite. Felt bad for them but it was good entertainment for us.

Michelle with her little baby pooch. It's a boy...due Dec. 16.

My Aunt Sarah, me, Uncle Tad, Karson, Michelle

Me, my Aunt Cathy, my grandmother (Gramouse), my mom, Michelle

Karson, my other grandmother (Momo) and me

Me, my grandfather and mom at the new Oklahoma State football training facility

Me and my cousins on my dad's side

A few pics from June & July

I recently returned from a great trip to Colorado with my family. And Andrew and I are currently in Florida right now enjoying the beach with his family. I'll put pictures of those trips in a different post, but here are a few pictures from before I left.

Playing putt-putt with our friend Matt who just moved back to Florida to work with a church. We miss you Matt!

Andrew holding Baby Jack Moore.

Brandon, Ashley (Aven in the belly) & Andrew

Kevin and Ginny over for dinner

Bryan and Holly (Ginny's sister)

Me holding Jack at our 4th of July party with church.

Me with baby Grant Pellowe, Ginny & Jack, Leigh & Greta

Loving holding baby Grant. He's so precious!

Playing some cornhole

Caitlin, Judith & me

It's been a year already????

Our first visit to the seminary last April!

Leaving our apartment in Murfreesboro last year!

Our new little home in Louisville!

Wow.... it's hard to believe that one year ago today, we were signing our mortgage papers and unloading our UHAUL into our new little condo. This year has really flown by! Andrew has finished his first year of seminary and I've spent another year with The Busy Bee magazine. I've really enjoyed Louisville and all the wonderful people we've met. We still miss all our Murfreesboro friends!

We had a great trip to Memphis for BBQ Fest in May. It's always nice to see my family. We found out that my brother Karson and his wife Michelle are expecting their first child!!! So Andrew and I will have a new niece or nephew in December. Can't wait to find out what it's going to be! On the way back to the Ville, we stopped in Murfreesboro briefly and went to FSM for the senior send-off night.

Andrew took a summer class the first week of June and was consumed with reading thousands of pages, writing book reports, writing a big paper and studying for a test in addition to working at Chickfila all the time. I was buried in my deadline time for my magazine.

We finally got to hang out together a little bit last night. We enjoyed yummy ice cream from Brusters and went to visit one of our friends who just had a little baby boy. We had to head to bed early since Andrew had to be up at 4 am to go to work. I couldn't go back to sleep after he left so I got up at 5 am!!! If you know me, you know I am NOT a morning person. I couldnt think of anything to do so I figured I'd write another blog post. I think it's too early for my brain to be functioning properly, so I'll just post some pictures of what we've been up to!

Good times with great friends at Memphis BBQ fest in May!

Andrew and our niece, Emmye, on their back porch.

Karson and Micelle, the parents to be! Due in December.


My sister-in-law, Karey, and nephew Wilson. He's getting so big!

At a Louisville Bats baseball game with our small group.

Visiting our friends at the hospital after they just had TWINS!!

Andrew holding baby Nathan, born June 1.
This is Jacob & Rebekah's son.
Andrew works with Jacob at Chickfila

Strawberry picking at Huber's Farm with our friends

Josh, Joanna, and their kiddos, Hannah and Drew

Great strawberries! We've only got a couple left!

Unloading Kevin and Virginia's truck after Kevin made the long treck from California!

What we've been up to . . .

It has been quite a while since we've updated our blog!! Maybe when we have children, I'll have more fun things to write about. :) We've stayed busy with school, work, and church. In March, we traveled to Atlanta for some time with Andrew's family. His little brother drove up from college to see us. It was such a nice trip and it's always great to be with family. We even got to have lunch with my mom in Nashville on our way back. She was there visiting a friend.

We have really been enjoying the wonderful friends that God has placed in our lives. We've had lots of get-togethers and baby showers to go to. It seems that so many couples in our church are pregnant. For Easter Sunday, we had 30 people over for lunch. I couldn't believe everyone fit in our condo, but somehow it worked.

Andrew has been enjoying working at Chick-fil-a, and the Lord is really using Andrew here. He has been able to reach out to several of his co-workers. It is truly amazing to see how the Lord is working.

Andrew finished up his first year of seminary last Thursday...woohoo!!! He's been studying and reading non-stop. Even though he's finished with school, I still see him with a book in his hand. He's happily admitted that he is an official "geek." :) The Friday after he finished his finals, we took a quick get-away to Cincinnati. We were taking our friend Andy to the airport anyway, so we thought we would make a day of it. We went to the IKEA store, which I loved. This place was huge. I had so much fun browsing around. Andrew, of course, found a comfy couch and read. We were able to catch a Reds vs. Cardinals game as well. It was fun. We had to come back early Saturday morning for him to go to work and I had a baby shower to attend.

We're heading to Memphis this weekend for the annual BBQ fest. We've had to miss it the past two years, so we are super excited about delicious ribs and pulled pork sandwiches. My mouth is watering!!! We also found out that our dear friends from Murfreesboro, Kevin and Virginia, will be moving to Louisville in just a few weeks. What fun to have them here!! Virginia is the one who initially brought me to Fellowship in Murfreesboro. She came into my life at just the right time.

Andrew is planning on taking some classes this summer, and we'll both just continue working. I have a wedding to attend in July. My best friend since 3rd grade is getting married out in Colorado. Unfortunatley Andrew can't attend, but I know I'll have a good time.

Well I guess that's about it. I'll try not to wait too long before the next post!

A visit to Atlanta to see Andrew's Family

A "luau" party for our friend Ashley

Just a sampling of the 30 people over for Easter lunch

Our friends Dave and Leigh's precious daughter Greta in her "Derby Hat" at their Derby party.

A surprise "welcome back" party for our friend Tricia. Tricia is in our small group and had spent three months in Africa. Our other friend Nicole will be in Africa for another 3 months.At Tricia's welcome back party

Our trip to Cincinnati . . . at Reds vs. Cardinals game

A baby shower for Ashley.

February re-cap!

Watching Gator basketball

Getting baptized

My parents attempting to play "rock band"

Our new light fixture and framed in mirror!

After we thawed out from the ice storm, we were able to enjoy the rest of February. On the 10th, we drove to Lexington for the Florida vs. KY basketball game. We were a little bit outnumbered in the Rupp arena. There might have been 10 other Gator fans besides us. :)

On February 20, I turned 25!! I'm now officially a quarter of a century old. I hung out with some women from our church, and Andrew and I enjoyed a nice dinner out at Bonefish Grill.....one of my favorite restaurants. I spent the rest of the weekend re-caulking our bathtub and painting a table. I really know how to have a good time. :)

Our church was having a baptism service on the Sunday following my birthday. When I was 17, I wanted to be baptized and was sprinkled. But since we've moved to Louisville, I've just felt God working on my heart to be immersed. I wanted to experience that symbolic picture of being buried and raised with Christ. Our church meets at a Holiday Inn, and we were able to use their pool for this special service. It was such a neat experience and we had about 200 people in attendance that morning. As 10 of us were in the pool, it was really awesome to look around and be surrounded by our church body.

The weekend after my birthday, my parents came in town for a visit. They are always pretty handy for projects. My sweet dad installed a storm door for us, and it really helps keep the draft out of our living room. We also hung a new light fixture in our bathroom and added a frame to our giant mirror in our bathroom. We used some molding and painted it brown. It made a huge improvement in our bathroom!! We got to introduce them to lots of our friends in Louisville, and they got to experience playing "Rock Band" at our friend's house.

Andrew is really enjoying working at Chick-fil-a, and we both love eating there!!! He is staying busy with school and playing in the worship band at church. Greek is his most challenging class this semester. Fortunately, he is only taking 9 hours, but it's still a full load for him. I'm really enjoying my seminary wives classes that meet on Thursday nights. I'm learning a lot. And it has finally warmed up here in the 'ville. We enjoyed beautiful 70 degree weather yesterday. I sure hope it lasts!