10 Years

Wow, 10 years! Definitely has gone by REAL fast! I wanted to reflect on what I remembered from my wedding weekend.
I remember showing up at rehearsal and seeing Dennis sitting at the VERY top of the balcony all by himself. I went up there to see what was wrong and I remember that he was either crying or almost crying. I don't remember exactly why, but I do remember that it had something to do with family. Still dealing with those issues to this day.
I remember having a lot of fun at our rehearsal. I remember almost putting some exes together (bridesmaids and groomsmen) walking down the aisle as a pair and having to make some last minute changes to avoid that! This also resulted in Cayce and Bryan walking down the aisle together, which years later turned into them getting married!
I remember sweet little Chance, who was not even 2 years old, running down the aisle to me! I also remember realizing at that moment, he probably wasn't going to cooperate the following night at the actual wedding!!! HA
I remember loving every minute of the rehearsal dinner. Just hearing story after story after story and doing lots of laughing! I remember going back up to Dennis' grandaddy and Joann's hotel room after the dinner and they gave us the most beautiful vase as a wedding gift that we still have to this day.
I remember telling Dennis goodbye.
I remember going back to my mom and Butch's apartment in Rivergate to spend the night. Rachel stayed with me. I remember us sitting out on the back patio and chatting until it was time to go to bed.
I remember waking up that Saturday morning and being REAL excited for what the day had in store. I remember that it was supposed to be a beautiful day, but it was extremely cloudy and humid and I was real afraid it was going to rain...it didn't.
I remember going to get a massage and I specifically remember laying there and I was actually able to relax! I remember going to get my hair done and making sure that Angie did it VERY simple.
I remember going to the church to get ready and ALL of my sweet friends and family being there to get ready with me.
I remember Rachel putting my make up on.
I remember telling lots of stories. I remember Dad and Cathy bringing tons of food and snacks up to the church for everyone.
I remember getting nervous as guests started to arrive.
I remember my dad telling me right before the doors opened for us to walk down the aisle "this church is SO big, so it doesn't look like there are a lot of people here, but there are!" At that very moment, I didn't care if those doors opened and Dennis was the only person standing there. That's all that mattered to me.
I remember the very second the doors opened after the bell chimed 6 times, I looked at my dad and asked him if he was ok. He didn't answer. Then, he started to cry. Then, I started to cry. We both cried the whole entire way down the aisle. I loved every minute of it because it was so real.
I remember trying not to laugh during our vows. I didn't think it was funny or anything, but I think I was just nervous and wasn't used to being so "serious" with Dennis.
I remember when all was said and done, I have never been more happy walking back down that aisle with my "husband". I also remember when we got into the foyer, giving Dennis a big hug and realizing that he was crying happy tears. Precious!
I remember wanting to get those pictures over with quickly so we could get to the reception!
I remember having the time of my life at the reception, but its still a blur. There were so many people to talk to, so many things to do. Even though I was having so much fun, I was ready to start the honeymoon right away!
I remember leaving the country club and driving to Opryland Hotel. I remember lots of people staring at us as we got out of the Prowler in our wedding attire and checked into the hotel.
The rest...I defintely remember...but it is not for me to share!!!!!!!!
So, happiest anniversary to my love! I cannot wait for these next 10 years!!!!

Last Minute Girls Trip

Tuesday night, my sis called me to see if me and Sadie wanted to go to Atlanta to the American Girl Doll store w/ her, mom, and Emma on Thursday for Emma's birthday! I was so excited. Sadie didn't really know what to be excited about, but she was real excited about another road trip!
So, we headed off (much later than expected) on Thursday night! We didn't get to our hotel until 1:00 in the morning! My precious, 4 year old trooper, never skipped a beat! Never dozed off, never whined, never complained! She just went with the flow and had a blast just being up late and hanging with the older girls. I was so proud of her and a little bit shocked that she can go off of so little sleep! We got to the hotel and pretty much went straight to bed.

We all slept in Friday morning and after we were ready, we went straight to the mall to hit the American Girl Doll store.


Sadie LOVED it! She didn't even know what it was up until this point, but she became hooked very quickly...as did I! She picked out "Rebecca" and mom was very excited b/c that's mom's name. I thought it was real sweet.



We had lunch at the American Girl Doll Bistro. They had the BEST food! I was pleasantly surprised at how delicious ALL of the food was. They do it right! The girls got to eat lunch with their new dolls. Sadie thought it was so cool b/c they serve little plates and cups for the dolls to pretend eating out of.



We headed BACK into the store after lunch to do a little MORE shopping! It was so much fun!!!
We did even more shopping throughout most of the day. I have never had so much fun with Sadie in my life. She was so much fun and so super sweet and she made me so proud because of what a trooper she was. She had NO nap again on Friday while we shopped all day long and she was as happy as a lark! We headed back home Friday late afternoon.



We made such great memories and I cannot thank my mom enough for taking us and for maxing out her credit card (see picture below) so that the girls could get so many nice things!

I know that Sadie will treasure her little Rebecca doll for years and years! But, even more than that, I think she will treasure those memories that we made even more!

I hope and pray that we will get to do things like that more often!!!

WONDERFUL 4th of July Weekend!

We headed to Ross Bridge Resort on Friday for our long 4th of July weekend! We were sooooooo excited! We were meeting Grammy, Daren, Rachel and Mc there!
The kids and I picked up Dennis from work on Friday afternoon and off we went! We were running a little late in getting there, so we detoured and got the kids some dessert at Sonic and went by the Cheesecake Factory to get us a little treat as well.
When we got to the resort, Mc came running! It was so cute to see how excited all of the kids were to see each other. Precious!
The others went on to bed, but once we got unpacked, we wanted to show the kids the resort property. So, we took them down to the pool and they were blown away! It was so cute!





It was late, so we headed up to bed, but had to have dessert first!!!!! My baby girl KNOWS what is good! Sharing chocolate cake with her momma!


Saturday morning, we all got up and went and had the DELICIOUS breakfast buffet. YUM! They seriously have the best french toast in the world. They make it out of crossiants and it is wonderful!! Of course, we headed straight to the pool after that and played ALL day!!




I bet the kids went down the waterslide no less than a hundred times a day! They loved it! We did too! We know how important it is to do these fun things with our kids, so we tried to cherish every second of the day. We want them to remember these fun times forever!




I took the kids up for naptime and Dennis went and played golf with Daren. Well, I think Daren just rode in the cart...but, Dennis played an AWESOME round of golf and they got some well deserved time together! All the girls, plus Sawdawg, headed back down to the pool after naptime for a few more hours of fun!!! Dennis and Daren joined us after they finished up on the golf course. We adopted a little girl, Charlotte, for the afternoon playtime! She was precious. Deda (aka Daren) ran himself ragged with these 3 girls!


We decided to stay on the property for dinner and we ate at the Clubhouse Grill, which is my favorite. They have delicious food! We got to go out and see the bagpipe player at 7:00 while we were eating dinner. The kids thought it was so neat!



After dinner, we walked over to the golf course and we let the kids play on the hills. They loved it. Sadie was playing like she was an "animal searcher" and she was searching for animals. McHaney was pretending she was an "explorer". Love it! We ended up staying on the course until after dark and walking around some different holes. Wonderful memories made. So glad that Grammy was with us all so that she could be a part of the memories. When we headed up to the room, we gave the kids their baths and then they went on our balcony and had Oreos and milk together. So freaking precious!! I think they were even having an adult conversation. Too sweet!
I can't forget to share about what happened around 11:30 that night as we were all just about asleep. The fire alarm started going off! Sawyer was basically having a panic attack, Sadie was really confused, and Dennis and I were running around like crazy people trying to get clothes on, etc. so that we could go outside! Of course we can laugh about it now, but at the time, it was a little scary. We were only outside for a minute before they told us we could come back in, but it was hard to get the kids settled back down to go to sleep because they were so afraid the "fire engine" was going to go back off again.
Anyways, Sunday morning, we ate breakfast and headed back to the pool again for more fun!





The kids had snow cones right before lunch and they were a hit!


Rach and I got in the on the fun and had a little fun of our own with the water guns!

We took the kids up for naps and Dennis tried to take Sawyer to play golf with him afterwards, but as soon as they got down there, they pulled everyone off the course due to lightening. Bummer! They sure looked cute though!

For dinner, we all went out to Cocina Superior. We knew nothing about it, but we pulled in and went for it. Turns out, it was delicious and a wonderful, fun atmosphere. We had the best time! I had the best mini-chimichangas I've ever had. Yum!!! We got lots of cute pics of our crazy kiddos!



Aunt Rachie and I had a lot of..ahem...fun too!!!!!


We took a few pics outside by the fountain and then went across the street to a cute dessert shop called "YoLo". It was kind of a combination of a Sweet CeCe's, GiGi's cupcakes, and lots of other desserts too. My kind of place!!! Lots to choose from! The kids were in heaven! We had a hard time getting a picture of Grammy with the kids b/c Sawyer wouldn't stop eating long enough!!! LOL



We headed back to the hotel and decided to do a little night swimming. Well, we let the boys do the swimming with the kids b/c it was lightening and we thought they were only going to get to swim for about 5 minutes. Well, 5 minutes turned into over an hour! Rachel had bought all of the kids glowsticks, glow wands, glow masks, etc. so she brought those out and let the kids swim in them. The kids thought this was the cooloest thing! Good idea, Rach! Sadie is STILL talking about this night swim. I think it was the highlight of her trip!





The picture that looks like Sawyer is falling over the side of the slide is actually Dennis sliding down with him and then THROWING him up in the air as they hit the bottom. Sawyer loved it!



We all headed to bed and I started to pack things up. Boo! We all got up and yes, once again, ate the breakfast buffet, and then headed BACK to the pool to finish up our weekend of fun! Grammy got us all late check-out so that we could stay and swim for a little while. We played for a while, had some more snow cones and decided to call it a day!




We had an amazing, amazing time and made tons of wonderful memories! Thank you Grammy (and Grandma) for allowing us to go on this fabulous weekend getaway. It is definitely a weekend that we will never forget! The kids will remember it forever!