Some Highlights

This past weekend was wonderful because for the first time in a long time I was in Lexington (at least for the majority of the weekend) and I didn't have a whole heck of a lot to do. So here are some highlights:

1. Of course, another wedding. This weekend was Brent and Karin's reception (they had the gorgeous wedding in Florida), and although it was out of town, because Derek had to work all weekend we were only out of town for Saturday evening. I love seeing our northern kentucky friends - so fun!

2. I saw someone steal gas! I was waiting for the person in front of me to finish and the guy at the pump next to me finished pumping his gas, laid the nozzle on the ground and drove away without paying. The attendant said she got his license plate number and was calling the police. What I don't understand is why he chose to steal gas from the pump closest to the attendant. It was at Kroger and the attendant is in the middle and he was at the pump closest to the middle. You would think if you were going to steal gas you would at least do it at the pump furthest away where the attendant can't see your license plate.

3. I finished reading Harry Potter. I had lots of free time so I lounged around and read ALOT. The last Harry Potter book was sooooo good. I LOVE Harry Potter.

4. I met Jules Camara, kind of. Remember Jules, he played for UK a few years back? Well he and his girlfriend were at the dog park this weekend when I took Moose. Well Moose loves the dog park more than anything. He loves all of the people and dogs and will make friends with anyone who will throw a ball with him. Well Jules' girlfriend had 3 bright new tennis balls and there is nothing Moose loves more than a bright new tennis ball. She also happened to be in the shade, which Moose, being a black dog likes to hang out in the shade. So he wouldn't leave them alone. They threw the ball for him once and he was their best friend. So I figured since my dog would not leave them alone I should go over and be friendly. And they were really nice. Jules even said he thought my engagement ring was pretty! I just hope they weren't too annoyed that Moose had decided they were his new best friends :)

Just Dance

Disclaimer: Sometimes I feel wierd writing about stuff going on with young life and our high school friends becuase I feel like it may come off as me trying to make Derek and I sound like we're really good young life leaders or good people or whatever. So please know that when I share these things with you it is only out of the joy I have in my heart for what I get to see God do, and not at all for tryiing to make anyone think myself or Derek are great. We understand that without Jesus we have nothing to offer our high school friends, so if any of my posts make you think good things about either of us, please redirect those good thoughts to God.

Ok, so that was a long disclaimer, but last night I came home from Bible Study and Derek had his LCA boys Bible Study earlier in the evening. I asked him how it went and he told me a few of the things they talked about. They are reading through John and last night they were talking about what it looks like to step out in your faith. One of the guys made the analogy that its like homecoming. They had homecoming a couple weeks ago and not many people were dancing. And he said that when you aren't dancing, the people who are look foolish, but when you get up the courage to go out there and dance, the people who aren't dancing are the ones who look foolish. Basically, it may seem foolish to step out in faith and do something, but once you do, you realize the foolish people are the ones who aren't stepping out in their faith. I thought that was a great analogy and I love hearing some of their insights because I am so impressed by their 16 year old faith. But then....

Derek proceeded to tell me about what they did after Bible study. In honor of the dancing analogy, they had a dance party! That's right, 5 juniors, 1 senior in high school and my husband had an all guy dance party for the rest of the night. Y'all, it cracked me up. I know that girls love to have dance parties with each other, but I never imagined a 7 person boys only dance party. Derek got out the i-pod player and they just danced like crazy. It makes me smile just thinking about it - how funny!

Anyways, this story brings joy to my heart, it may not be funny to anyone else, but I love it, and so I had to share. Happy Friday everyone!

Another Pumpkin Patch....

I told you - this is all my fall consists of - weddings and pumpkin patches. And this past weekend did not disappoint. On Saturday Derek and I invited some of our LCA friends over to go pumpkin picking at Boyd's Orchard, and to come back to our house to carve pumpkins and eat Chili. Here are some photos from yet another trip to the pumpkin patch:

This is everyone on the big chair:


They had a DJ there, and someone requested the electric slide. So here we are, the only ones doing the electric slide while everyone else watches.


This is Nate carrying all the pumpkins in his wagon. This is one of my favorites.


And here is Neil carrying around Myranda and Lauren in one of the Wagons.


This is Maddie holding Dereka, the pumpkin. Derek always jokes with people about naming a future daughter Dereka. He does it to get a rise out of me. So in his honor, Maddie and Joe named their pumpkin Dereka.


Back at the house we had a few different things going on. We had some folks carving pumpkins:

And some just hanging out.

I got some Martha Stewart glitter and some of the girls and I glittered pumpkins! I got the idea from my friend Rachel's blog. Here we are glittering.

And here is the finished product. So pretty. (Although it looks like I may have missed a few spots!)


All in all it was another great fall weekend! And don't worry - I have another wedding to go to next weekend, so the pumpkin patches and weddings theme will continue...

A Snuggie Birthday

This past Thursday was my friend Sarah's birthday. If anyone knows Sarah, they know that she is always cold. So I figured, what better gift to get her than a snuggie! I know the commercials are ridiculous, but let's be honest - it's a great idea! Some might say "it's just a backwards robe" which is true, but the snuggie is much longer so it keeps your feet warm too. I knew it was perfect for Sarah. At first I think she was a bit unsure, but once she put it on she was in love. Here are a few shots of her enjoying her birthday gift.


See, she can even use her phone and keep warm. I accidentally got the camera string in the picture and then the battery died :( But you get the idea of her being able to use the phone with the snuggie. I feel like the gift was a winner! Happy snuggie birthday Sarah!

Fall Colors

One of my favorite things about fall is the changing colors of the trees. I don't know if its because we have had so much rain or what, but this fall there seem to be a lot of really pretty trees. My favorites are the ones that are bright red and orange. The other day I was taking Moose for a walk through the neighborhood and found a tree so pretty I had to take a picture of it and share it with you all. The sun was pretty much down when I took it, so it doesn't look as bright in the picture as it did when I first saw it, but it still makes me smile :)


Also, while I was on a walk with Moose, we passed the best Halloween decorated house in the country. It's true. Last year on one of the national morning shows (like Today or Good Morning America, I'm not sure which one) they had a contest for the best decorated house for Halloween and this one won, and it is right in my neighborhood. Have you all seen it?



It's crazy. When we first approached it Moose, slowed down. I think he was a little scared. Then as we were walking by he was mesmorized by all the stuff. Once it gets dark out you can hardly get down the street there are so many people that come to see it. Its on Tanbark, I think the address is 1144 (at least that's what it looks like in the picture, so if you get a chance you should go check it out. It looks much cooler at night!

Weddings and Pumpkin Patches

I think I should rename my blog Weddings and Pumpkin Patches because it seems that is all I do these days. This weekend included both. And don't worry next weekend, there is another pumpkin patch planned, and the following weekend holds another wedding.

This weekend my good friend Kari got married. It was an all-weekend affair and it was so fun. It started at 10 am on Friday (it's always good when you only have to work 2 hours on Friday!) when Kelly Fox and I headed over to Louisville for the bridal luncheon. I don't get to see Kelly much these days and it was so fun to get to spend the car ride with her catching up. The bridal luncheon was at Austin's. Here we all are (the bridesmaids plus me and Mimi):


Next it was off to get our nails done. I didn't really have a reason to have mine done, but I decided to get a manicure because I NEVER paint my nails and I love having pretty fingernails. The reason I never do my nails is because they always chip and here it is Monday and my nails are badly chipped - but they looked pretty on Friday and Saturday :) Here are some of the girls enjoying the massaging chairs while they get their pedicures:


Friday evening was the rehearsal dinner. I think everyone's favorite part of the rehearsal dinner was the different kinds of pies and cakes on every table - they all looked amazing. Our table got peanut butter cheesecake, which Kyle was content to stick with:


However, most people decided to go from table to table and sample all the different types:


It was a very delicious and fun evening.

The wedding was on Saturday, at Locust Grove, which was absolutely beautiful. My friend Jen has a post with some beautiful pictures from the wedding and here are a few of my own:


Beautiful girls:


Derek and I reading:


Kari and Stephen (isn't Kari gorgeous?):


LCA team + Kari and Stephen:


It was such a beautiful wedding and we had soooo much fun. I danced the entire night. I was wearing boots with heels, but I couldn't really dance in them, so I took them off, but it was real cold, so I couldn't stop dancing or I would freeze. This was the first wedding that I danced to EVERY song. So fun.

Then on Sunday a bunch of us went to the pumpkin patch! Here is a picture of us girls:


For some reason I wasn't really into the perfect pretty round pumpkins, maybe because I already have one, so I was trying to talk Derek into letting me get one of the orange and green ones with all the bumps, but he said they were ugly so we came home with no pumpkins. Here is a picture of the one that got away:

A Beautiful Wedding

So I promised that I would post twice this week, and it almost got away from me, but this wedding was too beautiful not to share with you. They say a picture is worth a thousand words so I'll just let the pictures do the talking.

Some pictures of the ceremony:




She came in on a carriage!!!!


This is right before Wes (one of the groomsmen) passed out (which was really hilarious - happened right in the middle of them praying together - I think he overheated and had low blood sugar - not a good combination!)



Me and the good looking best man:





Some good looking groomsmen (Derek, Jeff and Wes, who was fully recovered at this point):


Everything was so fancy:


Most beautiful wedding cake ever:


A creative groom's cake for two soon to be doctors:


And here's the happy couple:




The wedding was beautiful, not just visually but spiritually. They both love the Lord and vowed to make Him the center of their marriage. I can't wait to see how God will use their marriage. Their friendship has been such a blessing to us and getting to be a part of their wedding day was such an incredible blessing.

Puttin on the Ritz

When I last left you all I was at our friend Brent's condo down in sunny Orlando, Florida, getting ready to head over to the Ritz Carlton where the wedding festivities would take place. I don't know about you, but I've never stayed at a Ritz Carlton hotel before, so I decided that in addition to sharing with you about Brent and Karin's beautiful wedding, I also need to share the Ritz Carlton experience. And, rather than having one extremely long post, I'll break it into two and get more than one post in this week. So first, let me share with you my weekend at the Ritz Carlton.

Around noon on Friday, Derek, Jeff (another groomsman), his wife Stephanie and I packed up from Brent's condo and headed off to the hotel. As we were driving up the long driveway to the hotel, Jeff said, "We do not belong here." Even just driving up the driveway everything was so perfect and fancy we felt like we were crashing some real fancy party we weren't invited to.

* On a side note, later that night Derek said when Jeff said that as we were driving in, he thought that this is what it will feel like when we get to heaven - everything will be so beautiful and perfect and we will feel like we don't belong there, that God's perfectness and holiness and beauty will be so much more than we deserve or ever could have imagined. I kept this thought with me throughout the weekend, reminded that as beautiful as this place is, it will pale in comparison to heaven one day. Derek also made the point that the only reason we did belong there was because of our relationship with Brent, and the only reason we will belong in Heaven is because of our relationship with Christ. Anyways, I thought that was also cool to think about.

So, continuing, we pulled up to the hotel and apparently at the Ritz, parking your own car isn't even an option. Nor is unloading your own luggage, taking it up to the room yourself or unloading it from the luggage rack into your room. Needless to say it is important to have plenty of cash on you when you arrive. We checked into our room, even though it was only about 1:00, apparently it is never too early to check in there. Our room had a balcony overlooking the pool, the lake and the golf course. Below are a few pictures. They don't do it justice. Also, the weather was in the mid 80's, sunny with low humidity, which made everything even more perfect. I will just let the pictures do the rest of the talking here.

View from our window:



The Ritz pool:




A few of the lazy river (my favorite!)























More beautiful scenery:


I didn't take any pictures of the room and I should have because it was gorgeous, especially the bathroom. I love fancy bathrooms, that may be weird. But here I am lounging in the robe and slippers they provide you. Getting ready in that robe on Friday and Saturday nights was a treat, I would have been happy to just hang out in my room in the robe all evening.


So I think I will finish the post here. Stay tuned for even more beautiful pictures of the wedding. It was such a beautiful wedding I can't wait to share it with you all!

Florida!!!

I'm in Florida!!!! One of Derek's best friends Brent is getting married here tomorrow!!! So naturally we took a few days off of work and came down early to hang out with him and enjoy sunny Florida. This is also why I have been absent from blogging for a while. (I forgot the cord to transfer pictures from my camera to the computer so I don't have any photos, but I will post some when I return. The one below is stolen from flickr here.)

Derek and I arrived here Tuesday and mostly helped Brent run some wedding errands and hung out at the pool a little bit. Wednesday we went to Cocoa Beach and enjoyed the sun, sand and waves, and Derek's friends from high school Wes and Jeff (and Jeff's wife Stephanie) got in late Wednesday evening. We all headed to the Universal Studios theme parks yesterday and rode lots of roller coasters, and today we are heading to the Ritz Carlton Grande Lakes (which is where the wedding is) to hang out and relax for the day. They have a lazy river which I am super pumped about - so once everyone is packed up and ready to go we will be heading over there and hopefully I will be on an inner tube enjoying the lazy river for much of the afternoon! Then, let the wedding festivities begin! I'm so excited! I will post fun pictures when I get back and of course wedding details. Hope everyone is having a wonderful Friday!!!