A New Low...

Ok, so a couple of weeks ago, we reached an all new redneck low! One thing I've found is that we all have a little redneck in us somewhere and no matter how hard you try to cover it up...well, it comes out every once in a while. So we went to eat dinner with Chris's parents and then after dinner we went back to their house and did redneck thing #1 - we pulled out lawn chairs and sat in the driveway. Next, we rolled the big garbage can down to the end of the driveway and put a NASCAR tire on top.
***Sidenote: how many people have a used NASCAR tire on hand?***
And then, for the next hour, Chris, his dad, and his brother proceeded to TRY throwing the football through the tire.
Nate succeeded - Chris did not.
This whole ordeal was so funny and about half way through it I remembered my camera in the car! This could not go undocumented! Here are a few pics:





Happy Saturday!

Thankful Thursday

Hey everyone! Elyse over at Following HIM is doing Thankful Thursday! So I thought it might make my day a little brighter if I thought about all the blessings I really have. So.....
Today I am thankful for so much!
**my sweet hubby
**a wonderful family
**fabulous friends
**the opportunity to finish my degree
**venting lunch breaks with the girls!
**a heart for God
**the biggness of God!
**that God is my father. He stepped in where earthly so-called fathers have failed me and He has made me a better person because of it.
**the 22 years I was allowed to spend with my angel of a mother
**the fact that my mom showed me more love than humanly possible
**so thankful that I will see her and my granddaddy again one day :)

What are you thankful for today?

What I Learned This Week

Over at Musings of a Housewife she has a carnival going on called "What I Learned This Week". And I am excited to say that I HAVE learned something this week!

I learned all about your credit score and the ins and outs of what makes it so valuable. Now I know that makes me sound a little on the dumb side, so let me explain. I've always known the importance of a credit score and what it is. But, my friend over at The Accountess really broke it down into every day language! Her site offers a lot of financial advice which we all could use these days. I guess what stuck out the most is the percentage breakdown of decisions based on your credit history.
So you'll definitely want to check out her site.

Let The Games Begin

Well hello again blogworld!!! So sorry I haven't posted lately! I just got back on Saturday from a week at the beach! It was so weird to not have a schedule! Took a little adjusting to be able to do nothing! But it was definitely fabulous and much needed! Today school starts back for me. I work full time and do school full time so it's about to be a little stressful. However, I'm really excited about my classes. I'm taking one on the history of language, one on teaching middle schoolers to read and the other is a diversity in the classroom class.
And then next week our life groups at church start up, so I'm pumped about that too!

But, with all the busyness comes time for a budget makeover! Oh yes, somehow in the midst of all the "going" we have to be saving money! Why?
Well, not only is it practical....but in one short year I will have to take about a year off from work to finish up school. And....since I make most of the money in our household (which is not a lot) we've got some major saving to do!

So what I'm really hoping is that I can start getting a few steady photo gigs and just throw that money into savings. And would you believe that, me of all people, didn't take a single photo on vacation! What is wrong with me????

So anyways, I'm psyched and ready for this semester to get off and running.
Maybe you should ask me again in a couple of weeks! ;)

Happy Monday!

Show Us Your Wedding Reception and Honeymoon

Well, this week finishes up the "Show Us Your Wedding" series over at Kelly's Korner.
So, our reception was held in the fellowship hall of the church we were married in. We had a noon wedding, so the food was mostly just little finger foods. I ordered a plain cake and then we decorated it ourselves with flowers. Actually, we made all of our own flower arrangements - you can get 2 dozen roses at Costco for $13.99 so this was a much cheaper alternative. And, if I might add, I thought they turned out beautifully!
For our groom's cake, Chris wanted cheesecake! Yum! So, that's exactly what we had. Our first drink was a yummy wedding punch. Here are a few photos of that:






As for our honeymoon - well, we were extremely broke! So, my dear sweet friends all chipped in and got us a cabin at Banning Mills for the night of our wedding. We are so eternally grateful for that! For some reason, I have no pictures! But you can check out their website! It's an old mill that has been turned into cabins, a lodge, inn, and events facility. It was beautiful! And 5 years later, we've yet to take that honeymoon. We've actually never been on a real vacation with just the two of us. We typically only take weekend trips and stay extremely cheap. So, we're trying to plan for something nice in the near future!
I would love to do one of the "honeymoon" packages at a Sandals resort. Those are very enticing!

Anyway, I hope you all have a fabulous Friday!

Possibly My New Most Favorite Piece of Work...

It's Hump Day!!!!

We have finally reached the middle of the week! We're in the home stretch now!!!

Oh my goodness, we have been so incredibly busy! I'm talking something going on for 7 days straight and I am exhausted!
However, we are having a lot of fun and I've been taking lots of pictures. I did another baby photo shoot last night. She's so cute! I'll have some pics up by the end of the week.

Next week is vacation - did I tell you how happy that makes me??? 3 & 1/2 days at the beach. Oh, so excited! I'm in desperate need of a little R&R before school starts back on the 17th. Then it's pedal to the metal for me. I'm taking 3 classes but just going to school on Mondays and Wednesdays. I decided to drop my Tues/Thurs class. I think only going two days a week is going to keep me sane!

I'm really super excited about getting a new website for my photo business!!! That should be up and running by the end of the month or middle of September at the latest!
I desperately need to get this photo business booming since it will be my only job in a year while I finish up student teaching. So, tell everyone you know!!!! I'll cut a great deal!
And the great thing is that I have been really busy with photo shoots lately. So keem them coming!

Well that's all for now. Have a fabulous Hump Day bloggers!

A Perfect Day for Photos!

Well today was awesome! I had a busy morning of photo shoots taking maternity pictures of Melissa and baby photos for Diana! LOVED it! You can look at them here or click on Lauren Thomas Photography on my sidebar. It was so much fun and I am sooo pleased with the results! Enjoy!

here are just a few: