Thank You

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!His faithful love endures forever." -Ps 118:1

This verse has been running through my mind all day. I have so much to worry about. So much to think really hard over. Even more to fear, but for each of those thoughts, worries, & fears are blessings that outnumber them all. I am so thankful for so much! For starters, I have a God who sent His ONE AND ONLY son to die a horrible death just to allow me to spend eternity with Him. WOW. He takes on every one of those nasty things so that I can go through my days without them. Jesus is truly my best friend and I am so incredibly thankful for Him each and every day. Other things I'm thankful for? Well, I have a job that I absolutely adore. I experience new brides, families, firstborns, all of it! AND I get paid to do it. I'm sorry, but that makes my job something to be thankful for I'd say. I only have it b/c the Lord allows it. And I hope to glorify Him every step of the way. We are commanded to use whatever gifts He's given us to better His Kingdom and I should remember - that means picture too

Over the last year, I've also been blessed to be a part of these girls' lives. Pursuit 31 is a group by Karen Stott (amazing photog btw) who felt that the Lord wanted her to bless other photographers starting out as well. She is more than a mentor, business owner, or entrenpreneur.....she is a wife, mother, follower of Christ, & friend.

Ah, the most unexpected of all .... my neighbors! We moved in to our first home last year this time and now I can't remember not knowing the three of them. God really went the extra mile there. I mean, who vacations with their neighbors? WE DO

Another thing I'm thankful for today? My sister. How does someone love me so much? How did I end up with someone like her when I know I could never have been that for a younger sister myself. She may not ever have kids (darn NYker) but she has me and she's been a pretty incredibly mother figure if you ask me - the kind that lets you have wine when you're 19 and takes you to rated R movies at 15.

Amanda comes with 2 parents. Oh my mom and dad. Could I ever find anything to be more thankful about? So many people have so many struggles within their immediate families, and Joey and I were both blessed enough to not only grow up in un-broken homes, but to see our parents just as in love today as they were when they were our age. Just bliss!

MY PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!! I'm SO thankful for my people. My Mr (you've seen him a lot) & Aspyn (i KNOW you recognize her). They both are responsible for a bit of the stress mentioned in the beginning, but they are also responsible for a HUGE part of the blessings in my life too. They will both quickly point out that that makes the bad totally excuseable. And well, I agree.

BLAKE!!!!!!! My neighbors' son Blake is my little nephew in love. We moved in when he was almost one month old and he has our entire hearts. It's fun loving on a baby like he's your own, then handing him back to his parents when he gets fussy. Just splendid

2 5 p a r t 2

Well, my birthday ended on a wonderful note. Dinner @ Superior Grill was yummy as usual, only we picked a bad night for it since there was a High School Reunion taking up most of the space.

These two came to town to help me celebrate, and it meant the world that they would make the drive just to spend some time with little ole me :)

Meagan (aka the rain maker) came along too....and in being true to her curse, it rained as we left dinner.

Mr. Jones went almost 2 hours early to make sure we'd have seats! I'm glad since we still waited an hour after getting there. Darn reunions! Thanks baby :)

Good friends make for fun times!

However, this might be a bit more accurate for the people we really are. Who says long hair doesn't serve you well? Carter's phone helped us capture this special moment.

This was the only good part to the "courtesy" dessert. Sorry Superior Grill, but the pancake/syrup mountain/cookie/sugar overload did not wish my stomach happy birthday.

Thanks to all of you for making it such a fun dinner! I had a great time getting to hang out with every one. It meant the world to me!

Carter can't let all that Splenda go to waste. She was resourceful (as resourceful as Sofia Patrillo from Golden Girls is) & took off with her artificial sweetener. It was the least they could do.

Thanks guys for spending my bday celebration with me! The quarter of a century has been quite a fun one if I may say so myself

xxx

* T W E N T Y F I V E * * a quarter of a life passed

Well, birthday part one was a special day! We are having dinner with some friends friday to celebrate since we were busy with wedding festivities, but it turned out to make the day even better! I woke up to waffles in bed, when Joey told me he'd rather me have them in the living room. hmmmmmmmm. I headed to the other room only to find a hand written card and a saks box all inside of 25 tea candles from the wedding in a square. If I got all of them blown in one breath, I got my gift. WELL OF COURSE I DID!
I opened the box to a gorgeous diamond bracelet that he picked out all by himself (w a little help from a lady named Denise Sheppard who works upstairs ;) ...)After a very big kiss he had to head off to work and I (having taken the day off work) took a bubble bath and headed to get a pedicure @ the spa (courtesy Mr. Jones). Lunch with my fabulous mother was followed by a trip to saks to buy a birthday dress! (yay). 2 new pairs of shoes later, we headed to my parent's house for birthday cakes one and two (they never know if I'll eat the real stuff or not since I try and stray from dessert)- angel food cake or birthday classic....yum to both!

After a 5 minute nap (not enough) we headed to the rehearsal & dinner for Shelley and Willy's wedding. The decorations @ Zapatas were adorable! The Wall's did a fabulous job with everything!

Then we went to Cafe Firenze with a few folks to hang out after the dinner. These girls are pretty awesome! It's nice that my hubs' friends picked such sweet girls to date

& I was more than thrilled to play with these 2 of my favorites @ the wedding. I love them a little more than a lot

Girlfriends/fiances/wife of the groomsmen
& this guy? Well he was just about the most HANDSOME groomsmen in that church! He is my trophy wife ;)

& last but not least, the bride. Mrs Wall was STUNNING ( & I was slightly jealous that she was able to attend her own reception ... ha)

Thank you to my sweet husband, family, and friends for making my birthday such a special one! I love you all very much.

Now for part two with Carter, Kristen, Jamie, 2 little babies, and a few others @ Superior Grill Friday. YUM

xxx

19 Days Left!

Well, this past week/end I pretty much lived in Montgomery. I feel as though I never want to return after so much driving!
Wednesday through Friday I worked @ our location there to let Sharon have a few days off with her son.Saturday, I woke up and returned to celebrate Carter's upcoming nuptuals by hostessing @ her lingerie shower & then servicing a car of ladies as D.D. for the night before heading back to Birmingham at 1:30am(red bull does NOT keep one awake for these things btw....)

Lindsay & her mom had the table looking great, and the food was amazing (I can say this bc I had myself a plate (or two) just to sample everything and see it wasn't poisenous of course)

the cake was from my mom from Edgars. They've always baked delicious cakes :)

Lindsay & Carter soaking up the gorgeous weather! It was a perfect Sunset for opening fun gifts :)

Her & her momma....both gorgeous ladies

The best gift shes got! Panties from Dad...imagine that?

Our hostess shot of the night
& no bachelorette party is complete without my serenade of Wagon Wheel taking over for the band.....your welcome Carter ;)


xxx
Happy Monday...
mine started bad, but won't end that way as I plan to go to bed the second I get off work....
I'm still pooped from so much traveling

My bestie's getting married!

After Harry Connick, Jr. we headed to the plains to celebrate the upcoming wedding of my Dearest Carter. We had such a great time together, and everything looked beautiful!
i Love this picture of those two!

The food was barbeque sandwiches, a yummy soup, potato salad, & yummy baked beans....(thanks Lauren for prepping my body properly)

I loved the flowers....the girls did a great job with everything!

Carter and her new brother-in-law...plus his girlfriend
I was so glad we were able to be there

and this pretty much explains our relationship to a T

& this face? well, this is the one Joey gets when he isn't cooperating...I found it hilarious that he captured it so well

Happy Wedding Carter! Not too long from now you'll be a "Mrs." yourself

xxx

Introducing my friend, CATTA

Allow me to introduce you to my buddy Carter ...

She has been my good friend since the 5th grade & somehow has always managed to stick around and make my life a little more meaningful....

this is us about to go to our "millennium party"....i honestly am not sure what either of us were thinking, but I believe we thought we were hot stuff that night

her heart is the kind that fights hard and forgives even harder. I have never had more intense fights with anyone in my life, but I've also never had someone more honest and meaningful in my life than her. Only true friends can act like sisters....and trust me, we do!
she always tagged along with me on those trips that I insisted on taking ..... you know, the ones in her mothers car across town making us late for curfew, knowing she'd be dead meat.....

hey carter: It sucks to be yooouuuuuuuuuu.......
wow! we were soooooo sexy! Homecoming! haha......where did chokers run off to?
Science class with Mr. Eubanks....remember him?
thanks for being by my side through everything, and especially on my wedding day. Even though I felt sick as a dog, you took care of me and helped me get through the important moments of the day. Not to mention you took SOOO many pics for me to have to remember that day by! I love you!
you will always be a goofball and remind me how to let my guard down......thank you for always helping me create lifelong memories and reminding me of the important things in life.
our dogs are even the same!

This one cracks me up every time! Aspyn was Mary and George was E.T

Now you've found a man who treasures the same things about you that I do & I couldn't have hand picked a better one to spend his life with you. He's a lucky guy! I heard this song the other day and thought of my marriage. This is my prayer for yours!

I LOVE YOU ~