Thanksgiving....in April?

A little over 7 months ago, I married my best friend. We have only known each other for a year and 7 months but I knew very soon after our first meeting that he was who I was going to spend my forever with. When Zach came into my life, he introduced a part of life that I had never experienced before. Our love, our bond, our friendship, is like nothing I have ever felt or knew I could feel. He is my soul, my life, my strength, my one true love.

I love to look at our wedding pictures and remember all of the events leading up to that day. It was a somewhat bitter sweet day. Our engagement was pretty rough. About 2 weeks after we got engaged, Zach moved to Kansas City, Kansas for his new job and was there during our entire engagement. We sometimes went just weeks without seeing each other and once or twice, we went multiple months without seeing each other. Four months before our wedding day, I lost one of my sweet, sweet bridesmaids, Katie Elizabeth Hill. Then, less than 1 week before our wedding day, my sweet PawPaw went to be with the Lord. Our wedding day itself didn't go so smoothly either. I got my hair done in Hoover that morning and the appointment ran later than expected. I still had to go home and finish packing my stuff to send to Kansas City so I had to leave Mom and let Dad come pick her up. Once we got to Rosewood, pictures went smoothly but shortly before the wedding was to begin, a downpour ascended. The power went out for about an hour. I had a surprise solo planned but was to play with an electric keyboard. Acapella may not have sounded so nice ;) The power outage knocked out that A/C so everyone was either drenched in rain or sweat. Somehow with all of that craziness, I remained calm during the whole thing. August 28, 2010 I was marrying my best friend and I didn't care if the whole place blew away, as long as we had "our papers".

I don't want people to think that I am saying all of this to make people feel sorry for us. That's not it AT ALL. I just wanted to give those of you who don't know our story a little background on us. Everything that has happened to us and/or the people around us has made our relationship so much stronger. The motto that got me thru those times was "The Lord wouldn't put us thru it if he didn't know we could handle it." Another similar saying I love is "The Lord won't bring you to it if he doesn't intend on bringing you through it."

After Zach living in Kansas City for a year and me living there for about 5 months, we are so happy and blessed to back with family. Here are just a few pictures from our wedding that always make me smile and remember just how magical that day was.

One of my favs.

So handsome.

Another favorite.

Two amazing families come together as one.

Like kissing an angel.

All my girls...well almost.

Zach and his boys.

Our PERFECT ceremony.

Joined together forever in LOVE.

A day off...

Today is my second day off of work after 8 straight days of a crazy beginning of the month at good ol' Walgreens. For those of you who don't know, the very end and the very beginning of the month is usually much busier in the world of pharmacy. I guess it is due to people getting their paychecks and that a lot of people prefer to begin their newest "fill" at the beginning of every month. This month was no different except that I was scheduled to work my "every third weekend". I worked 8 straight days without a break and by Monday evening, I was exhausted. Tuesday consisted of sleeping until almost 11 ;) It was grand! I ate a somewhat early lunch at about 11:30am then quickly got ready. This "getting ready" consisted of putting my hair up into a ponytail, applying a minimal amount of makeup, and throwing on a pair of holy jeans and a t-shirt - and when I say "holy" I don't mean that there are bible verses written on the pockets. I went out and rounded up our 2 dogs, BooBoo and Chief, loaded them into the car-windows down, and drove to a nearby park. This park consists of a walking track, 2 somewhat neglected softball fields, a playground, and a creek. BooBoo isn't always friendly to other canines so we usually keep her on a leash while Chief chases his beloved tennis ball all over field. After chasing it a while, Chief decided he was ready to go swimming whether BooBoo and I were or not. Next thing I know, he is high-tailing it -literally- out the opened gate to the creek. Good thing no one was around because that boy isn't afraid of knocking people over to go swimming. BooBoo and I slowly made our way over there to find him running around in the higher than usual water with his tennis ball in his mouth. There was very few people at the park in the middle of the day so I figured Morgyn would be okay off leash. They romped and wrestled in the water for what seemed like hours. It is always so funny to watch them. I love having labs because of their love for the water and to play. BooBoo isn't much of a retriever :) but if you put water in front of her, she loses her cool and dives right in...sometimes literally. And thrown a water-logged stick in the water to Chief and he will literally scoobadive for it. He has gone under water for 5-10 seconds at a time before looking for a stick. They are crazy! And good training for children I might add. 

Here's a shot of Chief and Morgyn swimming at the park.

BooBoo doesn't see the point in chasing that stupid green ball.

I didn't have a picture of him with his ball at the park but this is his chewed-in-half tennis ball that he carries around the yard all day long.

All this park talk is making me want to go today. Guess I better get ready so I can go. Hopefully no one is there again today.