Tennessee vs. Alabama

{Emily, Jennifer & her baby bump, me, Katie, and Cameron}

The girls and I showing off our festive Tennessee gear at the tailgate on Saturday.  Coach Dooley was meeting Coach Saban on the field and we were there to celebrate.

So was Baby Liam:

{wearing his Dad's shades}

My man is both an Alabama and Tennessee fan, so for this game, he went neutral in the shirt department.  Between the two teams, he's an Alabama lover {gasp!} but the UT loving company that he works for gave him the tickets.  Since we were going to their company tailgate first, he didn't want to be a controversy.  That's respectable of him.

I, however, did not go neutral.

{Back with the party crowd our friends}

We love this tailgate and the wonderful people who hang out there!

{Pic from the game}

I love the beginnings of games!  They are so full of energy and excitement.  You can tell from this picture just how crowded it was.  Just imagine you are sitting overlapping shoulders with people and had a man with horrible posture leaning back on your legs... 

Oh, for the love of the orange and white!

Side note:  the leaning back man turned around and went to high-five Chris after UT scored.  He didn't know he was, shhh!, an Alabama fan because of his neutral shirt color.  It was a bit awkward, but Chris high-fived him anyway.  The guy didn't offer up his hand again though - I think it had to do with the pause and look Chris had on his face.

Earlier in the week, Emily and I decided to leave at half time and head home.  Our husbands stayed - Emily took me home and Chris took Hunter home.

This is our picture from our adventure that night:

I was taking it as proof that we had made it to the car and were still alive.  Even after we made $40 from hauling people in the back of Hunter's pick-up to their car.

It's true.  We did.

Emily was the brave one who said yes when these "classy" looking people asked us  {I added the classy part because you know classy doesn't kill}.  I was the one wondering if we could have them sign liability releases just in case they fell out of the back of the truck.

After our first $20 (which we tried to return), the two couples asked if we'd go after their friends.  They were all from Chattanooga and had no idea where they were parked on campus {the shuttle had picked them up and dropped them off at the stadium}.  We agreed to do it.  One man from the next set of people asked how much they would owe us and, after a little protest, Emily said the best line of the night:  "weeelll, if you have a little cash on you!"  Next thing we knew, we were dropping them off and the same man was throwing a $20 in our window.

Profit $40.

Now, I know some of you are thinking we were crazy.  {Hope you're not reading this, Mom!}  But we kept our doors locked the entire time.  No one was allowed in the cab, only in the back - ride at your own risk kinda thing.  Only a girl, who had been drinking too much, tried to get in the back seat.  Plus, I had mace with me {thanks to the brother}, so we both felt safe(r).  We're thinking of making it our part time job.  What do you think??

GO VOLS!

Curtains and mirrors

Before we hung these curtains, I consulted my interior designer, Cousin Jenny.

(Jenny's pictured in the last post with her daughter, Addalee.  And yes, she's gorgeous.)

Once she approved the curtains, she mentioned that I could turn my mirror from horizontal to vertical and stack a frame in front of it.

So, this weekend that's just what I, I mean, Chris did.

It practically added 10 feet to our room!  I wish I could have shown you the difference it made.  maybe you can kind of tell by these pictures...

You should go home and move all of your horizontal frames to vertical right now.

Anyone notice the picture in the stacked frame?  It's the one that came in and Chris asked if I was going to leave it.  With the barcode.

Obviously not, but it might be that way for a little while.  :)

These are our curtains.  You can find them here.  They really are beautiful.

While we're speaking of coverings, our friend, Joseph, is taking up blankets for a troop overseas in Afghanistan.  {You can imagine why this is so important to our family...}  It's hot during the day, but freezing at night.  Some of the men and women don't have all the warm sleep stuff they need, so Joseph is mailing all fleece blankets he can get to them!  Chris dropped off blankets from us and my sister & her new hubby yesterday.  If you're interested, let his wife, Lindsey, know!  She can tell you where to drop them off.  But do it quickly, I think they'll need them by Friday!  These efforts really do matter.

Happy Wednesday!

Addalee's 2nd birthday

Our family celebration of the sweetest little girl, cousin Addalee, at my parents' house!

Part of the family - the other part was there, just out of the picture.

Please notice the princess crown she was wearing.  She is definitely the princess of our family.  We cannot get enough of this little girl!

Showing off her card

Big brother J. helping with opening presents  

{and yes, football was on tv, so we had to leave the game on.  Story of my life in the fall.  Love you, hubby!}

Please know that our family lavishes the small children with love and attention.  J. is used to it being on him {first born great grandchild and all}, but he was a great big helper for Addalee!  It might have helped that he had a little present there for him {thanks, Sonya!}!

She loved her new backpack from Aunt Sonya!  She wore it around {+ the new house slippers} the rest of the time she was there.

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY, ADDALEE!

Smores

Your mission, if you choose to accept it:

1.  Find the largest marshmallows this side of the Mississippi.  {AKA:  Campfire marshmallows}

2.  Turn on your oven - broil setting.

3.  Put them in "belly up" with your chocolate on one graham cracker square and your ginormous marshmallow on the other.

4.  Place inside the oven.

5.  Keep both eyes on your open smores.  {Only about 3 minutes.}

6.  Once the tops of the marshmallows are golden brown, remove from the broiler.

7.  Make sure graham crackers are cool to the touch.

8.  Smoosh together and eat!

My man and his big hand

Chris was stung by an undetermined flying bug on Saturday.

He was doing his husband-ly duty of mowing (husband-ly because I don't have the first clue of how to mow and plus, he does it so wonderfully, I couldn't bare to take that away from him).

Anyway, while mowing the little devil flew right on his finger and stung him.  Point of contact - on his middle finger (the middle one you're not supposed to hold up by itself - like the old man did to me on my drive home today after he came over into my lane...  He almost hit me and then gave me the finger?  I couldn't get over the fact that he was old enough to know better than to do that, so as he held up his finger, I just told him he was an old man.  There.  Showed him.  back to the point at hand...), middle finger between palm knuckle and middle knuckle.

Do you remember this story?  Then you can imagine how this one ended.

On Saturday, the swelling was visable, but manageable.  Sunday, however, was a different story.  It was large when he woke up, so we decided to go to a minute clinic after church.  Our routine continued as normal and we proceeded to head to church.  It was on our way that we determined things were getting worse.  As in, visable increased swelling an hour after the morning dose of Benadryl and the swelling was passing his wrist (which meant it had passed two joints = not good).  After a visit to Walgreen's Minute Clinic where they determined they couldn't help him, we ended up in the exam room at an urgent care clinic.

Minutes before the steroid injection, this is what Chris' hand had become:

Doesn't look so bad?  Let's compare:

"Oh my gosh!"

That's the way every professional reacted when Chris showed them his blow up hand.

Luckily, thanks to the steroid shot and continuous doses of Benadryl, his hand is slowly going down.  Now it's itching like crazy for him...

Off to go offer him my scratching abilities!  

Watch out for those stinging bugs!  (and mean old driving men!)

Uncle Garrett's Wedding

Garrett and Annie couldn't have picked a more perfect wedding day!

The sun was shining these yummy golden beams down and the temperature was just right for their outdoor wedding ceremony.

{My Daddy}

Garrett is my Dad's younger brother.

Dad was so proud to be there...  (it's easy to tell - that's his proud smile!)

Our family was the first to arrive so we got to pick our seats.  I found mine on the end and settled down to take as many pictures as I could.  (As a photographer, weddings are like drugs for me.)

And plus, Annie took so many pictures at our wedding that our photographer asked if I had hired a second "shooter" for the day.  I was glad to return the favor.  :)

{Sweet Mamaw being escorted to her seat for the ceremony.}

All the ladies walked in from the back.  What you can't see is that Annie was hiding back there!

{Mariah - Annie's daughter, Alexis - our cousin = bridesmaids!}

Loved their blue dresses...

Hello Alexis!

This one is my girl...  She has great camera radar and always knew when I was taking her picture...

{Hannah - our cousin and Alexis' sister, Corrine (closer) - Annie's daughter = beautiful flower girls!}

{Father of the bride and the pretty bride}

Such a special moment...

{Annie and Garrett saying their vows}

Loved Annie's light and flowy wedding dress...

It's official!  The new Mr. and Mrs. Garrett Turner!

Sooo sweet!  The little girls held hands as they left...

My mother even gave me the heads up for this picture.  Glad she did!

Roses adorning their two-tiered wedding cake with the T topper.

Pretty Hannah girl.



Sisters!

Sweet Corrine...

Don't you love the little girl pearls?!

After the toast...

Annie, Mamaw, and Garrett!

Congrats to Garrett and Annie!

and welcome to the family!!!  :)

Loving October...

{From a large bush/tree in our yard}

All the leaves are starting to change and I love it! 

Chris has already agreed to go driving with me this weekend.  We'll be on the lookout for some yellow, orange, and red.  One of my favorite things to do in the fall is to check out the changing colors...  and the weather...  it's just perfect!

{Macy and her pumpkin}

Macy will definitely have to come along for the ride.

Chris has been wanting her to sneeze all over his car anyway...  :)  and that's exactly what she does!

Two more things:

1.  I just signed up for Lindsay Jane's photography workshop in December.  So excited!  It would make me more excited if some of you would do it with me... 

2.  You've gotta listen to three life-changing things.  Go here and check out the ones on GOSPEL BASICS.  You'll be so glad you did.  I can't stop thinking about all of it...

Beth's shower at my house...

Before my sister got married, I wanted to throw her a lingerie shower.

Well... WANT to get my "angel face, sister face" sexy nighties stretches it a little far, but I definitely wanted to throw her a shower.  It just so happens, as the matron of honor, undies came with it.

So a week before her happy wedding, the cousins {Anna, Abby, and Jenny} and I teamed up for her shower.  It was at 11am on Saturday, so we made it a brunch.

Beth LOVES cinnamon rolls!  Being the wonderful bridesmaids that they are, Abby and Anna were up at the mall when it opened to buy the yummy Cinnabon Cinnamon rolls.

Only the best of course!

When the guests arrived, the tables were set and the love music was playing.  We wanted the shower to be special and girly.  Anna created a playlist of every fun love song she could think of, which we all enjoyed listening to.

The flowers were a mix that we put together and the green vases are in fact green tumblers from Pottery Barn.  I found them on sale earlier that week...  They are chunky and now Chris loves drinking from them. 

{Love buying stuff for parties that you can use after!}

Because the occassion called for it, we broke out the good china!  It was about time that it made it's debut at a party.  The girly brunch was the perfect place for it.

Side note - when purchasing china, you'll use it more if it's dishwasher friendly.  I love mine!  It's Waterford's Padova.

{Just another shot to help you set the scene...}

{Cousin Abby, Kiffiny, Macy, Bethie (bride to be!), and Katherine}

Macy looks a little crazy, because, let's face it - a crowd of people does that to her.  But Bethie is one of her favorite people ever in the whole wide world, so she hung around.

I'm thinking I could refer to Beth as Bethie for this entire post...  Or maybe I'll just call her my angel face.

In real life, that's what I do anyway.

Beth in the food line...  we had all kinds of little goodies.  Fresh fruit, pigs in a blanket, egg casserole, sausage balls... and almond tea to drink.  Angel face is a sucker for all things breakfast.  It's actually the meal she's most likely to eat everything being offered.  Otherwise, she's a little picky a lot picky.

But not about cinnamon rolls.  Tell me though, who would be picky about that cinnamon goodness?

Now, on to the party guests...

{Emily, Olivia, and Katherine = friends of the Angel Face}

{Cousins Jenny and Anna}

{Cousins River and Yegi}

River was the only male at the party.  He held is own quite well though.

{Cousin Abby}

{Friend Kiffiny}

The Friday night before the party, Abby and Anna spent the night with us.  It was crazy.  Ironing table cloths at 8pm, target at 9pm, and grocery shopping at 10pm.

It was at 11pm when we had a good party idea.

We wanted to ask Will a bunch of questions and get his answers.  In turn, at the party we would ask Beth the questions and see how many she got right.

And yes, we called Will at 11:15pm.  Bachelors never sleep anyway, so we figured it would be okay.

{Angel face, looking at me for confirmation that we actually called Will and asked him a bunch of questions}

"Yes, we did, Angel Face."

Anna and Abby asked her the questions.  After Bethie would answer, they would tell what Will answered.

She got most of the questions right.  The few she didn't get correct, Will had even prefaced with "Beth's going to say this, but it's really this..."

Okay, no hanky panky stuff shown on this little blog...

Well....  maybe just one because Emily's face is too classic not to show...

{the goods}

{Angel Face and Kiffiny}

Sweet Kiff has always been an animal lover...

and Macy zoned right in on her.

She can always tell the ones that are good chin scratchers!

{the after party}

Happy panties party, Angel Face!

We hope you loved it.

And the fact that I called you Angel Face through out most of this post...  :)