Happy 90th Birthday, Mamaw Ruth!!

We had a 90th Birthday party for my grandmother Ruth on September 26th at her church. (I hate that the post is so late, but Zach's been working on editing the photos. As wonderfully as they turned out, it was worth the wait!) I cannot tell you how happy I was about the turnout- there were so many family and friends there!! The decorations, food, attendance-- everything was perfect! Mom & I had only been planning this for about a month. We gathered all the decorations, pictures and most of the food ourselves in that short amount of time, but every bit of it was worth it.

My sweet husband was the photographer, and I am so proud of the great job he did. He shot so many unique angles and different takes on each detail. He truly has a gift for this sort of thing. He says his specialty is nature photographs, and that's what he loves most, but these are terrific! I'm hoping he'll want to practice more "people" photos on our little family soon. Christmas time is quickly approaching, you know, so I've had ideas for Christmas card pics on the brain!

We are planning on compiling an album of these to give to her for Christmas. I know she would much rather have that than something for her house or any other gift without meaning. Hope you enjoy the photos- I posted many, because it was too hard to choose my favorites!

Her beautiful (and yummy) cake. Below are shots of the cupcakes and the fruit. 

The fam :)

The beautiful arrangement Mrs. Carolyn did for Mamaw

Me, Mrs. Sue & Dr. Pat, my pastor- I just love them!

This is Mamaw Ruth's favorite picture of her & my granddad. It's my favorite too. It was taken not too long before he passed away.

The photo table, complete with both my & my mom's wedding albums

Close-up of the pictures of me & Jon... I love the one of us in our matching shirts when we were little. :)

  The sign at the entrance of her church

Blessed...All Year 'Round

There is no place I would rather be on Thanksgiving day than at home with our families. Every year I like to look back and think about all the blessings I have. Each year, without fail, I realize I have more than the last. Thank you, God, for your blessings on me!!

Thanksgiving Day- 2008

This was our first "married" Thanksgiving together, but definitely not our first. We have been together for 8 years now! Wow!!

Thanksgiving Day- 2009

The last picture is one of my favorite ones ever of me & Zach.

Hopefully, I will be posting new ones in a few days! I absolutely cannot believe that it's Thanksgiving week already. I think this is my second most favorite week of the year. Christmas week, of course, being first. I hope that everyone has a fun, safe, happy and thankful week!!

Baby Bailey

In October, we went to Chattanooga to see our new niece, Bailey Anne! She was born on the 14th to Zach's sister Marissa and her husband Ashley. I know these are a little late, seeing as how the baby was born over a month ago, but here they are!

 Sweet little close-up

 Uncle Zach & Bailey

Ella, Aunt Ashley & Bailey

(...and I've had my hair done since then! No more root rot) :)

I finally asked Zach to send me these photos that have been in his phone for over a month. It took him about a minute to send them to me, ha! He also uploaded some of Mamaw Ruth's photos, and we're going to get together soon and edit them. As they say, "Better late than never!"

Life is great lately!! I survived our trio on Sunday morning. I didn't just survive, I had a great time doing it! I knew everything was going to be ok when I started up the stage and felt happy. Not nervous, not like I was on the verge of throwing-up, but HAPPY. I even got to watch it, since my sweet Mom recorded it for me. I always say I don't want to watch the recording, but when it's all done, I'm dying to see how I sounded/looked. It's a girl thing, I guess.

Since my last post, Zach's Grandma had had a stroke this past week. She is still at UAB recovering, but I cannot believe how well she is doing under the circumstances. She's definitely a "scrapper," as Zach would say. I took off from work at noon on Friday and Zach & I headed to the hospital. When we walked into her room in NICU, she was talking and laughing. You wouldn't believe she had been through all that she had just a day before. We all hope that she will be back home and back to her old self by next week...which is Thanksgiving, and I CANNOT believe that!!

I am so ready to spend time with family, eat to my heart's content, get up super early and shop 'til I drop, get our Christmas tree, and decorate our house for the season! This is one of my favorite weeks of the year! It starts on Monday with our sanctuary choir's Thanksgiving dinner and early rehearsal for our Christmas program. I'm going to take half the day off from work that day, so that will be nice. We always have a "soup and fixins" dinner, so it's a nice change from turkey & dressing, which (don't get me wrong) I love! Then, we always have a full day on Thursday with about 3 stops. I love it! On Friday morning, I'll wake up at about 3:00 or so and hit the shops with Mom, Deb & I think we'll have a couple more join us this year. I'm also looking forward to the Iron Bowl. We may not win it, but it should be an exciting game.

Today after work, we're headed to a photographer's studio (Moments in Time by Amie Martin) for family portraits. Mom & Dad won a gift certificate for their anniversary last month, so we're taking advantage of it. This will be the first photo of ALL of us as a family, since Zach and I were married. We have plenty of portraits of just the four of us, but none with Zach. I'm looking forward to it...Zach may not be, but I am. :) I just love this time of year! It's busy, but it's always fun.

Youth choir is going very well! The kids are so excited about their Christmas program. We assigned speaking/solo parts this past Sunday, and they're all so excited. I wish that some adults would get as excited about being involved in church as those sweet kids are. We would announce who had a certain speaking part in the play, or who had the next solo in a song, and their little eyes would just light up. Most adults would just gripe and complain. It really makes you think, doesn't it?

Pics Coming SOON...

Quick, go to http://www.dekalbelection.com/. My husband created this!! How awesome is that??!! This isn't the first time he has created a site for real-time, live-feed election results, but it's the biggest one (with local, state and national levels) he's done so far. I posted a link to the site on election night on FB, and so many people posted compliments about it. He entered the results from his "post" at the Dekalb County Courthouse, where the results were also displayed on a big screen for all the candidates present to see. I'm a very proud wife, can you tell? :)

...As for this post title, I am getting tired of making blog posts without any current photos. I really haven't taken many photos with my camera in a while- especially not anything to post about. Zach still has photos on his camera and iPhone both, but we just haven't really found the time to pick out ones we want to post/look at. Laziness, I know. BUT, I have good news! We have scheduled an appointment with a local photographer to have a family portrait done. My mom & dad actually won a free sitting/one 8X10 with her for their recent anniversary, so we're having an entire family portrait done. I mean all of us...Mom, Dad, my brother Jonathan, me & Zach. It will be our first photo ever with ALL of us. I'm excited! And, I have also asked Zach about us taking an afternoon SOON (as in next Sunday, hopefully), and taking some of us. Well, us and our doggies. We have to have some for our Christmas cards, you know! (Zach can't wait!)

As you can see above, we have been busy lately. Him with work, and me with work & choirs. Our trio performance is coming up on the 14th, so my nerves have been a little more jittery lately. :) Just pray that my nerves don't get in the way of what is an absolutely beautiful song!! Our children's choirs have been working away at practicing for our Christmas program. It is so hard to believe that it's time to start on Christmas music now! I love it though! I also found out last night at rehearsal that I am going to get to be in yet another small group in our choir's Christmas chorale! I'm just so blessed to get to be a part of our awesome choir!!

Other than that, I've been having a little fun with shopping lately. See, I disguise a shopping trip as "going to look for Christmas gifts," then end up buying something for myself. Crafty, huh? In all seriousness, I have already bought a few Christmas gifts (thank goodness for an early start), but I have enjoyed snagging a few things for myself or for the house in the process. My newest purchase were some charger plates. This may seem really small, but I have actually been wanting some since last Christmas...ask Zach. I just love what they add to a table. I thought about taking & posting a pic of them and my table setting, but that's just boring.

Instead, I'll leave you with one of my favorite pictures from our wedding reception. I just can't get enough of our wedding pics. Look how stinkin' happy I am!! :)