Howdy Bloggers!  I had a BLAST over the weekend!  However, I'm still suffering from it a little haha! 

I went on a girls day to Dollywood on Saturday with my Mom, Aunt Becky, Zoe (my 4 year old niece), and Rukia (my 2 1/2 year old cousin.)  It was so much fun and it lightened my spirits a lot.  It's always nice to hear lot's of "I love yous" from little ones.  I even got a nice compliment from Zoe... I was sitting behind her on the tram and she turned around to look at me and said to me, "You have pretty eyes!"  It was so sweet and it melted my heart!  I didn't even know 4 year olds payed attention to eyes, but I guess they do?!  I also got in A LOT of kid training.  I did tons of lifting, lots of soothing, chasing every where, and I pushed 2 girls in one stroller up many hills.  But it was worth it just to hear their sweet giggles and see those precious smiles.  The girls are such dolls. 

    

Sunday, I had a much needed date my Brad.  We went on a picnic to the VA campus in Johnson City.  It was so beautiful outside and it was a perfect day for time spent outdoors.  We laid out a blanket, ate our lunch, and just enjoyed talking to one another for hours.  It was niiiice and relaxing.  Macie enjoyed it too.

  After hours in the sun, we decided to take a drive up to Boone, NC.  It was a lovely drive.  We went to eat when we first got to Boone and then after dinner we spent a couple of hours just walking around the town.  Unfortunately all the stores were already closed, so we didn't get to go into any of them, but we plan on going back real soon.  It's a super cute town if you've never been there. 

I always love random dates with my hubs!   

All in all, it was a greeeat weekend!  I can't really say that this has been the best week tho.  My ankle has been HURTING all week from all the walking I did over the weekend... and to top it off, I've been sick today.  I woke up with a nice little stomach bug and I have no idea where it came from.  I hope it will be gone by tomorrow.  I already feel a ton better than I did this morning.

Okay, it's time for bed... G'night!

Random Fact:  I have every single movie stub and concert ticket to every movie and concert that I've ever been to.  Even to the movies I went to when I was just a kid.  I have collected them since I was in 5th grade.  It makes me very angry when the person taking the ticket, rips it! 

Hello fraaanz!  Here lately I've been wanting to plan a party or something, but today I've been REALLY wanting to plan a party!!  It doesn't even have to be my own party, I just want to plan something!  I love putting parties together... I love everything about it!  The researching where to have it, finding a theme, shopping for supplies, deciding what food to serve, ect.  Maybe that's what I should have done in college, gotten a degree in party planning!  Or interior design... I love that too!  If only I could go back and change my degree... But NO, I got a stupid degree in Criminal Justice.  What was I thinking?!  One of the biggest reasons I want my own wedding venue is so I can plan lots and lots of events there.  Anyway, if you are having a party soon and don't feel like planning it, then I'LL DO IT!  Or maybe I'll have to throw a "just because" party soon!  I found a TON of super cute luau party decorations that I'm dying to buy!  I've also been wanting to throw a party using lots and lots of bright color decor... like balloons and cupcakes and lollipops and table cloths and flowers.... oh the list goes on! 

If you know me, then you know that I LOVE bright-colorful things! 

Well, the hubs just walked in the door from work and we're gonna go on an afternoon walk. 

 I hope you all have an AMAZING day!

XOXO

Time’s...They Are A-Changin’

I'm going to start you off with a RANDOM FACT tonight...

When I was in high school, and McDonalds had their Big Macs 2 for $2, I stopped after school every day for a week and got myself 2 Big Macs and ate them both (one after another.) Some days I would splurg and get fries, too!  2 a day for a week, I would die if did that now!  I enjoyed them very much at the time, but oh my goodness it's nasty to think of now. 

Anywho, I have had the best weekend EVER in the longest time.  Friday was spent with some very special friends, Allie & Cliff.  I can't remember the last time I have laughed so hard.  We started the night off with some dinner at my fav Mexican restaurant... El Toritio's.  Then we headed off to Fun Expedition and played our hearts out!!!

                                                     We played some putt-putt...

Here was when I hit an ALMOST hole-in-one...

THEN we played a hard-core game of laser tag, but unfortantly we lost! 

 After that, Brad and Cliff decided to hit the batting cages...

I jumped in the cages for one round of slow-pitch softball, and I'm not going to lie I was pretty proud of myself and my batting skills considering my lack of athletic abilities.

After the cages, we played some games and it was a BLAST!

Allie even broke the steering wheel off of Mario Kart while she was trying to adjust her seat.

I couldn't even play the game because I was laughing so hard.

It was a great night with much needed laughter!  I love my friends and my Hubs!

Saturday, Brad and I went on a picnic at the park... Then he took me shopping!  I have the best husband EVER!  I don't know what I'd do without him.  Then we came home and relaxed and watched movies.  This is the first weekend we've spent at home in a while, so it was very nice to have that time together.

Today, Sunday, wasn't anything special except that Brad and I got to spend more time together.  We were supposed to go to church with Allie and Cliff, and I was SUPER excited about it, but Brad and I both woke up not feeling well.  Brad's been sick with a bad cold for a few days now, but this morning he woke up with a terrible ear-ache.  And I woke up with a headache... So unfortunately, we missed the church service.  Sadness! 

I'm so thankful for great friends and family.  I've been missing everyone so, so much lately.  Most of my friends from Johnson City have moved away and the others are still back home.  I've been really sad lately thinking about how much I miss everyone.  I think back on all the time we used to spend together and how much fun we used to have and it's sad to think that we probably won't ever have that anymore.  I mean don't get me wrong, I'm so happy for all of my friends and the lives they are making for themselves.  I just wish life would just slow down a little and I could spend more quality time with those I love.  I only see my family once or twice a month and I feel like life is just passing us by.  My niece,Zoe, is talking like an adult and she will be starting pre-school this year!  It seems like yesterday she was bald and jabbering.  And my nephews are growing like little weeds!  Peyton looks like a little man now, and Jonah just turned ONE!  Seriously, when did he grow up?!  And my little sister-in-law just had her ballet recital a couple of weeks ago... I was there when they brought her home from the hospital after she was born.  I just can't believe how time is flying by faster and faster each year.  It's depressing! 

This past week, I've been thinking a lot about things.  Mostly about my life... Where I've been, where I am now, and where I'm going.  When I was a teenager I wanted so badly to make a difference in someone's life.  I had big dreams of opening a homeless shelter or something amazing that would help people in need.  Then when I went to college, I still wanted to make a difference, but the dream of opening a homeless shelter felt too big of a dream (I mean, I wouldn't even know where to start!)  Then I went to Africa... Before I left for Kenya, I just knew I was gonna make a difference in someones life there.  But then I got there and the only difference that was made, was in me.  There were so many people in Kenya that made a difference in my life.  They opened my eyes and my heart.  It was very humbling.  Then I came home and felt like I was nothing.  Who am I to make a difference in someone else's life?  I am definately not perfect.  And I feel like I have nothing to offer anyone.  My heart still goes out to those without a home or food to eat or even a place to lay their head, and if I could help just one person I would in a heart beat.  I know God has me on earth for a reason, but I honestly have no idea what that reason is.  I am 25 years old and I have no idea where my life is heading.  I still don't even have a job (I applied to some jobs this week, so please pray I land one of them!)  I don't even know what kind of job I want.  I mean how pathetic is that?!  I'm a 25 year old, married, college graduate and I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.  It's sad really.  I do know that I still want to open a wedding venue SO BAD, but that will be years from now before that dream can come true.  So the question of what for now? is just lingering in my head.  It's definately depressing!  SO with all that said, I decided this week that I'm going to start praying with all that I have for God to show me what I'm "meant" to do and that those doors will open for me very soon.  For now I will just be patient!

Well, I know that this post was seriosly random, but I've had A LOT on my mind and you get to be the lucky ones to hear (or read) it! 

Goodnight Bloggers!  Much love!

XOXO

"Have you ever wondered what marks our time here? If one life can really make an impact on the world...or if the choices we make matter? I believe they do. And I believe that one man can change many lives. For better...or worse." -Lucas, One Tree Hill

Memories Are All I Need

Hello Blogger-Boos! I have been sitting in front of my computer literally ALL day long and I'm ready to rest my eyes. I did, however, take an hour break to watch a new episode of One Tree Hill and it was Grrrreat! I love that show. It's my FAV! I'm so sad there's only a few episodes left. What will I do without it?

Anyway, I've been working on a mother's day gift for my mom (of course) all day, hence the reason I've been in front of the computer all day. I'm making her a photo book from Shutterfly. Sooo I've been looking through ALL of our family photos that I took from my mommas house on sunday. I've been scanning them to my computer and it has been A LOT of work. But it will be so worth it. So tonight, I thought I would share some pics from my past with you all. It's been fun looking through them. Ahhh sweet memories...

My big bro (Phillip) and me Me, Phillip, and my dad at Stone Mtn. Park, GA Me, Phillip, and my mom on a camping trip Can someone please tell me why I'm sporting a GA Tech shirt? We are great friends at this age Loooved our ET pool... definitely grew up in the 80's Phillip putting sunscreen on my back. Takin care of his lil sis! Phil and I with our Nan... I miss her so much! Me with my beautiful mother! Me and my daddy taking a walk in the mountains

I hope you all have a wonderful and peaceful night!
Much Love,
Kel

Stormy Nights Keep Me A Fright

It's 1:15am and this storm is keeping me awake. Thunder scares me. That's a random fact I should probably mention. I don't know why, but I'm terrified of storms. I hate every single thing about them. Thunder, lightning, strong winds, dark clouds, and the mention of tornado's makes me shutter! And the fact that our house is completely covered in windows doesn't make me feel safe. There is not a single room in this house without a window in fact... even the basement has 3 windows. So we have to safe place to go in case there was a tornado. And tonight we are under a tornado watch until 3am. I can't stay up until 3am so I just hope those things sound like trains like people claim! ;-)

On a positive note though, I had an amazing day with my mom and my cute hubby. We went to the big CC last night to stay with my mom (my dad didn't get to come home until tonight so I didn't get to see him, so sad.) Brad went to take a Firefighter exam in Knoxville bright and early this morning so I had some quality time with my lovely mother. She made me her famous Chocolate Syrup and Buscuits for breakfast, YUUUUMMM!! This evening Brad, mom, and I watched at movie before Brad and I headed back to JC just in time to drive in the pouring rain. That's another thing I hate... driving in the rain! Now I'm sitting here watching Tori & Dean while my darling husband is snoozing next to me. He's so cute. I wonder how I got so lucky and how in the heck did I land someone so handsome?! And not only is he super good-looking, but he's seriously so nice and a gentleman. We've been together for almost 3 and a half years and he still opens my car door, even when I drive. Yeppers, I'm one lucky lady!

I went on my first run in seriously over a year yesterday and I can barely walk today. And now I remember exactly why it's been so long since I went on a run! My right hip bone hurts so bad!! Yikes! But I will not give up, nope, I won't! I will run again tomorrow!

Okay, my internet service is starting to go in and out (probably due to the storm) so I'm going to call it a night! Night!!

The Cheese Tastes Like Plastic

Wow, I'm really bad keeping up with blogging. And I try so hard to keep on it. The past two weeks have been eventful to say the least... mostly why I haven't blogged. There's so many things to tell, so I guess I'll just start with camps.

Spring Enrichment camp was a long, cry-baby, terrible week. In fact, I don't really have any funny stories to tell you like I thought I would (well except two that shouldn't be funny, but yet I laugh so hard... but I will tell you about that here in a bit.) The kids were little devils- not all of them, but most. We only had 8 kids at camp, but they were worse than the camps with 20 kids. We had 4 girls, and 4 boys. 3 of the girls cried about every single little thing. One girl would cry if somebody looked at her the wrong way or for no reason at all. I would look over at her and she would be crying so hard for nothing, and when you asked her what was wrong she would blubber something you couldn't even understand. And 3 of the boys were attitude city! The oldest boy, 12, comes to every single camp we have. I had to deal with him for 2 whole summers and I can't stand him. He is so mean. He argues with you about any and every thing and you just want to hit him (which of course I would never do.) I fought with him all week. Brad refuses to work camps anymore just because of this kid, if that tells you anything. Which leads me to my funny stories... Okay, well they aren't really funny but if you knew this kid you would truely understand... On Thursday of camp, the evil kid had been at his worst from all week. He was his meanest so far and I had enough of him. His sister was at camp too (the crier) and he was picking at her all day long, making her cry even more. Well, when it was time for them to get picked up, evil boy and cry baby got into their car. My back was turned to them and all of a sudden I heard a scream like no other. When I turned to see what was going on, evil boy was yelling "open the door!!" and I looked and all of his fingers were slammed in the car door. At first I was horrified, but then I think I smiled a little because he deserved it so much for all the days and years he terrorized everyone. He cried, his sister cried, I smiled to myself and laughed inside. His mom is a x-ray tech so she knew his fingers weren't broken. So on Friday, I expected him to show up to camp with a cast to his elbow, just because that's how he is... But nope, he was completely fine. Not even sore from it. I was a bit disappointed that he wasn't even sore. Friday he acted even worse than thursday. So my boss gave him time out at play time. So he thought he could teach karate to the other boys while he was in time out and he tried to do a hitch-kick and kick off the brick wall. Well when he kicked the wall he stubbed his foot really hard and he looked like he was about to cry and turned to the boys and said, "Okay I'm not doing that again, that hurt." And he turned and walked off by himself. LOL. That time I did laugh out loud. Little punk. But with all that said... I LOVED the field trips we went on!! We went to the Bristol Caverns, Toured Bristol Motor Speedway, Went to Rocky Mount (where John Sevier lived during his term as governor.), and went to Warriors Path State Park. I think I enjoyed the field trips more than the kids. My boss, Angela, and I played a game from the 1700's for about an hour while we were at Rocky Mount. That was one game I was actually good at! And I loved the crafts we did all week too. That's always my favorite part... You should see the amazing sock buddy I made! And my really cool sharpie tye-dyed shirt!

Sorry, I wrote more about camp than I had planned. But camp wasn't the only bad thing about last week. Brad's truck broke so we had to take it to the shop on Monday. So on Wednesday when he was on his way to pick his truck up from the shop, he was in my NEW car and stopped at the bank to get some cash. While he was PARKED in the parking lot, a woman in a big truck ran into the back of my car while Brad was sitting in it. Then the police officer said that they don't fault parking lot accidents so we are probably going to have to pay the deductable for getting my car fixed (insurance is working on fixing that), then I get a parking ticket at ETSU on Thursday (which I will not be paying, I already got my diploma stupid ETSU!), then this Monday Brad's truck broke again because Advanced auto parts gave him a junk part that had a crack in it so his truck is back in the shop, THEN I recieved a letter in the mail from my student loans informing me that my SSN, Name, DOB, and Address had been stolen from their system so they gave me a free year of identity protection. Let's just hope that next week is better!!!

On a better note... Last saturday, I had a much needed girls day out with my mom and sister-in-law Lydia. We went to see The Last Song, which I loved! And we went to the mall. I had so much fun with them! I can't wait to move back closer to them so I can spend more time with them both. That was the first girls day I've had in forever! I don't even remember the last girls day I had actually. So sad.

Sunday, Brad and I went to Roan Mountain. It was a perfect, beautiful day! But the top of the mountain was FREEZING!!! I wasn't prepared for that! But we had a blast and I can't wait to go back in warmer clothes (or warmer weather). I love hubby time!

Well, I'll leave you with a random fact and hopefully my next blog won't be so long! I've gotta stay on top of this thing!

~Random Fact About Me~
I went to Boston in July 2005, and while I was there we went to tour Fenway Park (Go Red Sox!) The Red Sox were playing the Yankee's that day. Well while on the tour, we were standing in a big crowd of people waiting to go into the park. There were big guys in nice outfits standing in the crowd with us, but I didn't really think anything of it. I mean, the guys were right next to us. Then after the guys walked on, the tour guide lady said to us, "Are you really going to stand here with the Yankee's and not 'boo' them?!" Yep, was standing with the Yankee's and didn't even know it. We ended up getting tickets to the game that night. It was AWESOME!!! Got to see the Red Sox play the Yankee's at Fenway Park... What could be better than that?! Yankee's won in case you were wondering.

Slacker is My Middle Name

It's been a while, AGAIN, but I have no excusses this time... only that I'm a slacker! I can't get motivated to do anything these days. This no job thing is killing me and making me lazy, and I don't like it. BUT thankfully I'm leading the ETSU Spring Enrichment camps next week, yay! I'm not going to lie though, I'm a bit nervous about it. I mean, I've be a counselor for the ETSU camps for 2 full summers, but I've never led the camps. I'm always up for an adventure though, so hopefully it will be a good one! I'm super excited about the fild trips we are taking with the camp kiddos, woo-hoo! The down-sider of the camp though is a certain kid that drove me nuts this past summer, haha! He attended every single camp that he could, and he's evil! The worst part is that he knows he drives me nuts. So this time next week, you may be reading about him A LOT! He actually gave me some pretty funny stories to tell friends though, so at least I can laugh about it.

Well, after living in Johnson City for 7 years... I'm finally moving back near Knoxville!!! YAY!! I am super duper excited about it!! It will be so nice to finally be back around family and friends. Sure, I'm gonna miss JC and my dear friends here, but it's time to move on. Brad and I have prayed for reasons to stay in JC, but God is telling us it's time to leave. We really have no reason to stay here anymore (other than a few friends) so it's time to move on and start some place new together. On the otherhand, I'm not so excited about finding a new place to live. We looooove the house we are in right now, so it's going to be hard to find a place even close to this one. We have a HUGE private yard, no close neighbors, freedom to paint, GREAT landlords (our friends), and it's our first home together. We don't own it, but it's the next best thing. But we can't stay here forever. I'm just going to pray that we find a place just as great until we can buy our first place. We actually want to build our first place... on the lake!! Dreaming BIG, I know!

Okay, so if you need a good book to read, I highly recommend Kirk Cameron's autobiography Still Growing. It's such a good book! It was fun reading about his life. I laughed a lot while reading it, which I didn't expect to do. But anyway, it's a good one!

I know I'm being completely random tonight, but things keep coming to mind. Well, right now it's more my body that's coming to mind. I'm getting old and my body HATES me right now. I played 2-hand touch football last night at the Holt Easter get-together. It was a BLAST, but I can barely walk today. My hips hurt. I mean seriously, I'm 25 and my hips hurt from running... I feel like I'm 75! It was my first game, and I of course sucked but I DID catch the football once and scored us some yards. I was proud. And my hubby was a football playin machine... who knew?! A funny story I shouldn't tell, but I'm going to because it's one of those stories you can't not tell... At the end of the yard we were playing in (the end zone) there was a sewage leak, so it had lots of poopy water built up LOL! So if you were running too hard to stop or just simply wasn't paying attention, right through the poop you went! It was hilarious to see people (mostly the boys) run into and yell "I ran through poop!" I haven't laughed that hard in sooo long! I was happy the poopy water was there, brightend my spirits. Brad's cousing Jordan ran into it and the poo water splashed on his leg and he threw up in the yard, bwahahaha! I'm laughing out loud just thinking about it right now. I really wish we would have video taped the game of football-poop dodge. I'm positive it would make you happy too! And of course I had to yell out the quote from Joe Dirt to Jordan "I've got the poo on me!" Oh happy Easter days! (I wish I had the pics to share with you, but no one has posted them to FB yet!)

I had a much cleaner Easter at my parents house with my sis-in-law Lydia and my darling niece and nephews. It was so much fun Easter Egg hunting with them! I love them to pieces! :-)

Well, my pretty pup Macie is staring at me... so I guess that means she needs to go outside. I hope you all had a great Easter!

Night Bloggers!

~RANDOM FACT ABOUT ME~
When I was between the ages of about 5-8, my FAVORITE band to listen to was Creedence Clearwater Revival. Favorite song they sang was 'Cotten Fields'. I seriously played the cassette over and over and over again on a daily basis. My brother makes fun of me til this day saying "You are probably the only kid in the world that grew up in the 90's, whose favorite band was CCR." Haha! What can I say, I have always had great taste in music. I NEVER listened to New Kids on the Block, but ALWAYS listed to CCR. :-)