Love And Baked Spaghetti

Fish, Fun, and Friends!

2012-02-12T15:46:00.000-05:00

We had another fun filled weekend, and it's not over yet! Caleb and I decided last minute to go to the lake Friday night. He was able to do some fishing with my dad and John on Saturday while Mom and I went shopping. He sent me this sweet picture during the day:

Then our friends Brittany and Matt came over Saturday night. We went to a cocktail engagement party for Meredith Waldrep and her fiance Jamie. It was lots of fun to celebrate them! Unfortunately, I forgot my camera at the actual party, but we had a great time. We came home and hung out for a little while afterwards. It was great catching up with the newlywed Reese couple!

Brittany and Matt were so sweet to cook breakfast for us this morning. Banana pancakes! Yum!

Caleb's buddy Jeff came over this afternoon to hang out and play playstation (because that's what 26 year old guys do?).

Later tonight, we're going to my old church in Union to watch Courageous. I've been wanting to see that movie, and I'm so excited! Fun, COLD weekend : )

our weekend

2012-02-06T12:57:00.000-05:00

We were at home all weekend, and it was so nice! I feel like we got lots of little projects done and had plenty of time to rest and relax.

We went out to dinner with mom, Jeanie, and Anna Friday night and bought our bridesmaid shoes for John and Brittnee's wedding. It's getting so close!

Saturday was Operation Clean Out Gregory Attic Day. We spent 4-5 hours at my parent's house cleaning out one of the attics. We found tons of awesome stuff and relived our childhood a bit. There's still another entire attic to do one day. Oh, the anticipation...

We had dinner with some friends Saturday night and got to celebrate Ruthie's 1st birthday a little late. She is adorable, and she loves green beans!

On Sunday, our friendly neighbor came over after church and a run to help us prune some shrubs in our yard. I feel like we should pay her for our yard lesson. She taught us so much! Hopefully our yard will look okay this spring!

And we ended the week at a fun Superbowl party last night! The boys watched the game, and the girls pretty much just talked and ate. Fun times!

Sorry for the lack of pictures, but the camera took a weekend off! Hope everyone else had a great weekend, too!

More b-day fun and the Dentist!

2012-02-01T09:26:00.000-05:00

Caleb's birthday celebrations continued into Sunday night with a steak dinner in Buffalo. Yum! We ate very good all weekend long!

My mom baked him his second birthday cake. Red velvet, of course! She deemed it a "flop," but I've learned that the "flops" taste the best.

It may look ugly, but it sure tasted good!

We had a wonderful time celebrating Caleb's birthday all weekend long!

Today we had our bi-annual date to the dentist. What fun! Luckily, we both passed the test and walked out the door with new toothbrushes and floss! How exciting! It's the simple things in life ; )

Happy Birthday, Caleb!

2012-01-31T09:36:00.000-05:00

We celebrated Caleb's 26th birthday with a fun trip to Watkinsville this weekend!

His mom made a new drink...a birthday martini! Anything is yummy when it has icing and sprinkles on the rim!

We were able to spend some QT with our nephews. Our secret to keeping them in our laps and still...the iPad. They are mesmorized by its games.

They helped Caleb blow out the candles on his Publix birthday cake...his fave!

Ben taught Caleb some workout moves to get some 26 year old abs. He's hilarious. Ben, not Caleb. Well, Caleb is funny, but not as hilarious as Ben. Sorry ; )

We took some more pictures after church on Sunday to document the big b-day weekend!

Mabry & Ben...so sweet!

Happy Birthday, Caleb!

Brittnee's Monogram Shower

2012-01-24T10:55:00.001-05:00

Anna and I hosted a Monogram shower for Brittnee on Sunday. Monogram showers are probably one of my all time favorites. The gifts are all so cute and personal, and I just love that!

Here's the best part...food! We had lots of fruit, 2 kinds of sandwiches, cheese wafers, nuts, cake squares, and punch.

My personal favorite...the cake squares.

Here's Brittnee chattin' it up with a few of the guests.

We can always count on Jeanie to pin on the corsage.

She got so many neat gifts, and these tiered trays are gonna be adorable once they get put together.

We played the infamous TP dress game.

My mom was the judge so guess what?! They tied. The Gregory family is all about fairness.

Britt with her mom and aunts

The Gregory & Blackwood women at the shower

Brittnee and a few of her friends

Again, Brittnee was showered by lots of loving friends and family. We all had a great time and are getting SO excited about the wedding!!!!

John & Brittnee - Couples Shower

2012-01-22T19:18:00.000-05:00

We spent our weekend celebrating John and Brittnee with fun wedding showers! I can't believe their wedding day is getting so close. It's kinda crazy! It always makes the engagement and upcoming marriage more real when there are fun events to celebrate it!

Their first official shower was a couples shower on Saturday night. It monsooned all day Saturday so I was a little worried about the weather, but it ended up being nice!

2 of John's friends hosted it, and they always have a good time. They made good use of the kiddy decorations on the fridge.

The bride, her mom, Ashley me, Morgan, and Anna

Waiting on our yummy dinner!

The guests of honor fixing their plates - grilled chicken, baked beans, corn on the cob, and pasta salad. Yum!

These 2 crack me up!

Watching them open presents! I'm pretty sure Curt was singing about his "red solo cup" during this picture. He said he was going to wear a shower cap, a robe, and bring his sponge if he was going to a shower. Luckily, we talked him out of that plan.

The hosts and guests of honor!

The family pic!

A blender!

They got tons of awesome presents, and we had so much fun! John and Britt had so many special friends and family there, and they are so blessed!

Stay tuned for pictures from her Monogram shower today!

Mountain Weekend

2012-01-17T10:53:00.000-05:00

When I was in high school and college, my family would always go to the mountains for MLK weekend because we all had that Monday off. We stopped going over the past few years to go to the debutante ball, but we decided to re-start the tradition this year.

It was a very relaxing weekend, filled with card-playing, good eating, shopping, Miss America watching, and mountain fun!

My dad's friends, The Freeman's, came up for the day on Saturday to hang out. We ate dinner at Calhoun's and watched the end of that exciting football game.

Anna, me, & Britt...trying to stay warm!

The Love Birds - Jordan & Kayla. They brought the beloved pooch, Izzy, too, but she didn't make the pic.

Caleb, me, John, & Brittnee

Hope everyone else enjoyed the nice, long weekend!

Hola!

2012-01-12T09:21:00.000-05:00

Caleb and I just spent a week at Playa del Carmen where it was 80 degrees and sunny every day. Ahhhh to come home to the rainy day yesterday after leaving this view on Tuesday.

It wasn't as glamorous as it may sound though. It was for Caleb's work so it was some business, not all pleasure.

Caleb played golf on Friday with some of the guys. I love taking dorky pictures of him ; )

He almost convinced me to let him sky dive like these crazy people we watched on the beach all day.

We spent a lot of time by the pool.

I even won a trivia contest one day, and I never win anything! Woo Hoo!

I did water aerobics with some of the girls one day.

We enjoyed breakfast in bed a time or two.

Caleb won a couple beach volleyball games.

And we hung out some of his clients, especially this guy. Paul is a 77 year old gentleman who kept us all entertained last week.

And here we are at dinner the last night!

It was a fun trip! We're slowly adjusting to having to make our own breakfast and fix our own drinks. I am glad to be able to speak English again though. Buenos Dias!

Happy New Year & Duke game

2012-01-03T18:19:00.000-05:00

I really can't believe it's already 2012. 2011 was a wonderful year for so many reasons (most of which are re-capped here on the blog), but it also had its challenges. Losing Mama was a big challenge, but it made us grow as a family. I am excited for a new year and had a fun time ringing it in!

We went to New China for dinner with the family on New Years Eve. I felt like that was appropriate...New China...New Years. Maybe it's a stretch, but we had a good time.

Caleb and I went to Durham, NC for the Duke basketball game on New Years day with his buddy, AJ. Caleb's grandpa and mom are HUGE Duke fans, and they definitely passed that gene on to Caleb. We were so excited to attend our first game together at Cameron Indoor.

I couldn't believe that building is a gym. It's so pretty.

Yes, we bought matching t-shirts.

Coach K! I realized I'm kinda obsessed with him.

Caleb was pretty proud of this dunk picture.

Duke won by 30 points, a most relaxing game to enjoy. I tend to get a little worked up when the games are close so it was nice to just watch some dunks and enjoy it.

I don't do resolutions, but I would like to be more purposeful with my quiet time this year. Sometimes it gets put aside when I'm tired, rushed, or anything else. I have now switched to doing it in the morning, rather than at night, and I think that's gonna work a lot better.

I hope everyone had a Happy New Year and ate lots of collard greens and black eyed peas. Thanks for ours, Bev : )

Christmas Decorations 2011

2011-12-30T17:59:00.001-05:00

I loved decorating a new house for Christmas this year! I didn't get as much done as I would have liked due to time and cost (good decorations are expensive), but I loved what we did do! Luckily, I've already bought some new big garland to go around the front door and 2 big outdoor trees for the porch entrance next year. They were on sale this week : )

Our tree was enormous this year. Caleb insisted we get the huge one since it was the same price as the others. Obviously, we need a new bow for next year. This bow looks like it's for a midget tree. I'd also like some gold deco-mesh stuff to wrap around the tree.

Our village is growing exponentially. It's one of my favorite parts of our Christmas decorations because each piece has a special meaning. I bought the new gold wreath and the garland with gold balls this year for the mantle. I like using gold in the living room with real tree.

Here's my early Christmas present from Mom this year...the Willow Tree nativity! I've been wanting it for so long, and I love it! It's the first thing you see when walking in the front door, and it helps us remember the real meaning of Christmas! I can't wait to get all the other pieces for it.

In the front bedroom, I put our new white tree with bright colored and silver decorations. It's so happy!

I didn't do much in the dining room, just the silver and gold balls on the table. You can see my dying anniversary roses. Poor things. They were beautiful 2 weeks ago : )

And here's the front of the house. Simple lighted garland around the columns (we may skip it next year) and 2 large wreaths with glittery bows on the 2 big windows. We also put lights in one of the trees.

And that's pretty much it for the Christmas 2011 posts! It's all coming down tomorrow. We left it up through tonight because Ashley & Nicole (2 of my best friends, since I was 2 years old) are coming over for dinner tonight. I can't believe it's almost 2012.

Christmas Day 2011

2011-12-29T09:43:00.000-05:00

We went to my parent's house late Christmas Eve night to open a few gifts from them and wait on Santa to arrive the next morning.

Mom gave Brittnee and I these pajamas. They look like they came right out of her closet. We had a hard time figuring out if they were pants or capris. Love it! Thanks, Bev.

Santa brought John this REALLY pretty sweater Christmas morning. My, what great taste you have Santa! Especially if John were a 60 year old man.

There were some really awesome presents in the mix, too, but I prefer to blog about the silly ones.

After breakfast in Buffalo, we went to the Malone's for more Christmas celebrations!

The Gregory's + significant others : )

When Jeanie & Anna asked me what Caleb needed/wanted for Christmas, I said any outdoorsy stuff. Ladders, wheel barrels, etc. Well, he got a wheel barrel. (no clue if I'm spelling that right). The best part is...it's Mama's!

We ended the night taking a picture of the 4 kids and their spouses. After a few normal pics, we told them to kiss each other. I did NOT expect this reaction. Yes, those are my parents in the back. I think I just threw up in my mouth.

It was a very Merry Christmas! There was one special part missing...our Mama. Jeanie made an awesome slide show that we watched all together on Sunday. I laughed, cried, and remembered so many fun things. We made sure to honor her and let her know we truly miss her. I have to keep reminding myself that she and Papa are having a blast in Heaven watching us.

Hope ya'll had a wonderful Christmas, too!

Christmas Adam & Eve in Georgia

2011-12-28T09:13:00.000-05:00

Our family calls the day before Christmas Eve, Christmas Adam. Adam did come before Eve. So on Christmas Adam this year, we were in Georgia for a delicious dinner and Christmas celebration!

Jimbob & Garrison brought Christmas flowers to Erin that afternoon. So sweet!

Garrison cracked me up when he opened his presents. He opened his shirt from us first. Kids just don't get excited about clothes, but moms do. And I love buying kids clothes. He was still sweet and said thank you, but his face lit up totally differently when he opened his toy. He knew exactly what the game was as soon as he got the paper off of it! He is one smart boy!

Us, the McElroys, and the Blevins got Marcia a Kindle Fire for Christmas, and she LOVED it! It really bothered Caleb having a new electronic device in our house for 4 weeks that he couldn't open so he was eager to help his mom get it set up!

I can't believe I'm putting these pictures on here, but it's real life Christmas Eve morning so what the heck. We pretended it was Christmas morning and did the whole Massengill routine. The music starts, you run out and stand at the top of the stairs...

Then you go into the present room to see what Santa brought! We then carried the presents into the living room and open!

I was just a little bit excited about my new Uggs! They are the most comfortable things in the world I wore them all morning while we cooked breakfast!

Caleb got all sorts of goodies, including this book.

We just hung out and relaxed all day, celebrated with the Roberts, and then went to the candlelight service. Marcia sings in it, and it was my first time to attend. I loved it and had so much fun! That's what Christmas is all about.

We then loaded the car again and headed to Buffalo!

Christmas Celebrations

2011-12-27T13:00:00.000-05:00

I feel like Christmas came and went so fast this year! We did lots of fun things to celebrate, and I want to remember it all. It started last Thursday night with the Players. My dad's sister and her family came to Buffalo for dinner, hanging out, and playing games.

The girls won an intense game of Partini.

Jordan and Kayla have a tiny puppy named Izzy. She has painted toe nails. I am not ok with it. The dog or the painted nails.

Caleb and I exchanged presents on Friday, Christmas Adam. He got a stocking full of goodies and a Nerf gun, which he played with all weekend.

He exceeded our price limit of $10 and bought me the "Homestead House" for my Dept. 56 Christmas village. He always gives me the most thoughtful piece for the village, and I just loved it!

We then loaded the car and headed to Georgia for Christmas with the Massengill's.

NYC Day 3

2011-12-22T09:43:00.000-05:00

I went to my conference for a while on Saturday morning while the 3 amigos went to the ginormous Toys R Us at Times Square. It has a Ferris Wheel inside! I'm sad I missed it, but I had to try to learn something, haha. They also rode the bus (I'm telling you, we got our money's worth out of the bus tour) to Uptown where they saw the Soup Nazi restaurant. Remember the Seinfield episode, "no soup for you!"

Later that afternoon, we went to the Natural History Museum where Night at the Museum is filmed. Here's John and me in front of the Buffalo, staying loyal to our hometown.

Caleb is fascinated by dinosaurs. I'm talking like 5 year old fascinated. The ONLY souvenir he wanted was this dinosaur mug. Do you see how tightly he's holding onto it?

Unfortunately, it was in about 12 pieces when we made it back to the hotel from our 2 mile walk home. A sweet little elf may or may not have ordered him another one which is currently being shipped to our home...

Here's one of the giant dinosaurs. It really would have been crazy to have lived with these big animals!

It was then time for my favorite activity of the whole trip... ice skating in Rockefeller Center! I have always wanted to be an olympic ice skater (or a gymnast, I'd take either). I am NOT good, but I have fun doing it. Especially in New York City!

We stood in line for about 2 hours in the freezing cold, but I didn't mind at all. We had an amazing view, and I was so excited! Here's the 4 of us on the ice! It was so magical just being there!!!

So much fun!!! Caleb was actually like a pro skater. I tried to keep up, but I wasn't quite as fast.

Me and Britt! She was pretty good, too. Miraculously, none of us fell down the whole time. We did see tons of wipeouts though. There are 2 restaurants surrounding the rink, and those people had wonderful entertainment while eating dinner.

A few minutes later, I saw a some people standing around looking inside this little private area at the rink. I walked over to it and saw Tom Cruise inside!!! I yelled for Caleb to bring the camera, did the universal "let's take a pic" sign to Tommy (short for Tom Cruise), and he came out for a picture!!! Ahhh!! I even let him know that Jesus loves him, even though he's a scientologist or whatever. He actually said Merry Christmas! Katie Holmes and their cute little girl Suri were there, too. She's adorable!

Then it got even better! The entire cast of Saturday Night Live came out onto the ice with us to film the closing scene of that night's show. Jimmy Fallon, Michael Buble, and so many more!!!

If we had gone ice skating at any other time, we may not have seen any of these celebrities. Talk about awesome timing! It was a wonderful trip, and we were all totally in the Christmas spirit by the time it was over!!!

NYC was amazing, but there really is no place like home for the holidays. We made it home in time for lunch in Putman on Sunday and are still trying to recover from the whirlwind of a trip. Merry Christmas!!!

New York on Friday

2011-12-21T09:50:00.000-05:00

Our 2nd day in New York City was even more jam-packed. Being on the TODAY show has been on my bucket list for years now. I don't watch a TON of TV, but the TODAY show is one show I watch almost every morning before I go to work. It's just such a happy, laid back, entertaining news show, and I enjoy it. So we were up bright and early Friday morning to go check it out. We walked over to Rockefeller Center and joined the tons of people packed in around the plaza.

We snapped a few paparazzi style pics of Al and Kathie Lee with the zoom lens, thinking they would be the best pictures we'd get.

But then my friend Ashley showed up. She and I were ZTAs at PC together, and she now has an amazing job at NBC in NYC. She took the 4 of us (all VIP style) right into the middle of the plaza, basically beside Matt Lauer, Natalie Morales, Ann Curry, all of 'em.

If you watch the show, you know Lenny. He's there every.single.morning. and is kind of a celebrity himself.

We had a brief convo with Matt ("hey, how are you?"), and then Ann came over for a chat. She was so sweet and laid back. She even played with/poofed my hair while we were taking our picture.

We got our 5 seconds of fame on national television while waving frantically into the camera beside Claire Danes. It was an awesome experience.

I then went back to the hotel to learn some gynecology at the conference while the other 3 (Caleb, John, and Britt) took another round on the bus tour.

During my lunch break, we went to China Town for some shopping and of course to eat Chinese food! Yummy egg rolls!

We then took the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty. It was freeeezing cold but so awesome to see it together!

On our way home, we stopped by Grand Central Station. It was pure chaos in there. Caleb was able to go in the 2nd Apple store in NYC during this trip. Apple is everywhere!

We also stopped by Ground Zero and saw where the Twin Towers stood. For some reason though, I can't find those pictures right now.

Here's the view out of the lounge at our hotel.

We went out for pizza Friday night and played a game of Setback when we got back to the room. It was a full, fun day!

New York Trip

2011-12-20T12:05:00.000-05:00

Caleb and I went to New York City last weekend with John and Brittnee. I found a Gynecology conference there and decided to plan a trip around it a few months ago. I went to NYC when I was 16 on a school field trip. Caleb went with his dad several years ago. Neither of us had been at Christmas, and I've always wanted to go. John & Britt had never been before at all. Heck, Brittnee had never even been on an airplane. So it was quite the experience for us all!

We flew out Thursday morning and were at our hotel by noon. We immediately started touring the city and ended up at the Plaza Hotel (where Kevin McAlister stays in Home Alone 2).

After shopping in FAO Schwartz, we wandered into Central Park (which is HUGE!)

It was so neat to see such a big, pretty park with an ice skating rink right in the middle of such a large city.

The Christmas decorations were awesome! And all over the city!

Now that's a big plug-in.

We then ventured into Times Square. What trip is complete without a $1 ice cream cone at McDonald's?

Have you heard of the Naked Cowboy? We saw him as soon as we started our bus tour (which was a great way to see the city, over and over!). Apparently, he makes TONS of money walking around like this all the time.

We took a carriage ride around Central Park on Thursday night. Our driver was a little sketchy and spoke little to no English, but it was nice and relaxing!

Our hotel was right in the middle of everything which was super convenient for getting around to all of these places. And I think that pretty much sums up our first day in the Big Apple!

Our 3rd Anniversary

2011-12-14T09:43:00.000-05:00

Caleb and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary yesterday! It feels like we were JUST saying "I Do!" I am so lucky to have a wonderful husband like Caleb to share each and every day with. He is my best friend, and our marriage has been so blessed. We are so lucky to have such wonderful family and friends who continually bless our marriage.

Our gift of choice for our anniversary is usually a trip. After purchasing a new home this year, we agreed on no anniversary trip or Christmas gifts for each other. But then we planned a trip. And then Caleb sent me a dozen pink roses to work yesterday. Somebody can't follow the rules. I was upset for about 0.2 seconds about him still sending roses after our conversation, but I quickly got over it when I saw how pretty they were. Thanks, Caweb ; )

We went to a precious cabin in Tennessee for our 1st anniversary, and it snowed while we were there!

And a cruise to the Bahamas last year for Anniversary #2. Such an awesome trip!!!

This year's trip is very exciting, and I can't wait!

We celebrated with a delicious dinner at American Grocery in downtown Greenville last night. I had an awesome steak (already cut up for me!), spinach, and potatoes. Caleb's duck was pretty tasty, too. It was so fun seeing downtown Greenville all lit up for Christmas. Such a great date night!

Happy 3 years, Caleb! I love you to pieces!

Here Comes Santa Clause!

2011-12-07T10:02:00.000-05:00

Caleb and I spent a lot of time this weekend working on Christmas decorations. It's kinda tough to get everything worked out just right, especially for the outside stuff, in a new house. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE decorating, but if I have to go back to Walmart for another extension cord, I think I might scream.

The garland I bought to go around the front door looked too small so we moved it to the columns, and we're still waiting to get our bows up on our wreaths. So it's not quite a finished product.

However, in the midst of my decorating frustration on Sunday, we heard a fire truck. It kept sounding like it was getting closer and closer. We really thought it was in the neighborhood. Then I saw it! Going super slow. I told Caleb I hope our house never catches on fire because the local fire station sure didn't seem to get in a hurry. Then finally the fire truck was right in front of our house.

There was no fire. But there was... SANTA! Just cruisin' through the hood in his fire truck.

Ho, Ho, Ho!!! Santa came by, and my sweet little elf Caleb was hard at work with the garland. No more decorating frustration for me : )

Jordan spent the night with us Monday night because he's doing some training in Greenville so we put him to work, too. We knew he was just ~~stupid~~ brave enough to climb our trees to hang lights.

Thanks, little brudder! You're so brave : )

I'll add some pictures of the decorations once I'm completely satisfied with it all. Santa seemed to like 'em during his drive-by!

9 Ladies Dancing

2011-12-06T10:41:00.000-05:00

And my brother trying, too!

In my 26 years of life, I have NEVER seen my brother John dance. Aside from maybe one attempt at the Blind Horse on Brittnee's 21st birthday. (we won't go there)

Until this weekend. He was in the church's Christmas play, and our whole family went to see it on Friday night. I would say it was the best $10 I ever spent, but my parents bought my ticket. So I guess it's the best $10 they ever spent.

Not only because of the wonderful Christmas message and getting us in the spirit, but for the opportunity to see John do multiple choreographed dances on stage.

He finally cracked a smile.

Look at that focus.

It was priceless. The play was called "For Unto Ya'll, A Country Christmas." It was perfect. I had a great time and am glad for the reminder of the true meaning of Christmas.

John might get some dancin' shoes from Santa this year...

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2011-12-05T09:17:00.000-05:00

It's Christmas month!!! I love all the special Christmas celebrations that happen during December. I would go to every festive event in the Upstate if we had time. But since we don't, we just choose a few to check out.

Dickens of a Christmas is held in downtown Spartanburg each year, and we've never been able to make it before. Despite being in running clothes after a cold jog, we made it to Morgan Square to be a part of that event this year. I'm not gonna lie, the lighting of the tree was a little anti-climatic, but at least it can be checked off my bucket list. There was great Christmas music and tons of people all bundled up. It was neat seeing the people dressed in Dickens-like costumes, but it was absolutely FREEZING.

Here are the 2 trees - one in the Denny's building, and the other one is the one in Morgan Square downtown.

We also had our work Christmas party on Friday at the Piedmont Club. Here's Meredith, me, and Dr. Fowler. I always seem to forget my camera at our party so the phone had to do.

It was a yummy meal followed by our annual Chinese auction gift exchange. I came home with a Christmas centerpiece, and it's already on the table. I just love Christmas parties : )

Blinds and Door Stops

2011-12-01T13:11:00.001-05:00

A title like that sounds like the most exciting blog post ever, huh? I bet you could hardly wait to read this one. Well, it's exciting stuff to us. We really do feel like adults now with a REAL house that needs REAL stuff done to it. I want to try and remember all the little things we do to make this house ours.

The lady who lived here before had mini blinds up on several of the windows, but she had taken some down at random. We decided to just remove them all and replace them with the 2 inch faux wood blinds. I got a coupon in the mail from Lowe's for blind installation for $118. What?? Caleb the Blind Installer did it for FREE!

Here he is getting started in our bedroom (which now has SOME furniture...we're still waiting on our doggone bed. Thank God for a mattress, box springs, and a bed frame). I didn't take an after picture of the blinds, but they look great! We got quicker by the time he made it to the guest bedroom. We worked as a pretty good team during the installation process. I was a little bored with it by the last window and may have started whining like a 2 year old then.

We also installed door stops on all the interior doors. A simple, yet necessary, step. Caleb is turning into quite the handyman. Is it weird that I'm starting to enjoy trips to Lowe's? It's becoming my second home.

Thanksgiving and Garrison is 4

2011-11-30T13:05:00.000-05:00

Caleb and I went to Georgia Friday afternoon for more Thanksgiving celebrations. Of course, we had another delicious meal and gained probably 10 more pounds. But it's the holidays so it's fine : )

Garrison's birthday party is usually Thanksgiving weekend, adding extra excitement. I cannot believe he is FOUR years old. That sounds so OLD. He's not a baby anymore.

He's a little bit obsessed with fire trucks so his party was at the fire station this year.

He had a fire truck cake, and we even got a tour of the fire station!

We gave Garrison a Fire Chief beanie and Mater Golf before his party. He kinda looks like a thug in the beanie.

He was able to spray the hose and drive a fire truck at his party on Saturday! We had a blast hanging out with our 2 favorite nephews.

That's a good thing because there's another one on the way!!! Well, we don't know if it's a NIECE or a NEPHEW, but there's one a-coming : ) Garrison is going to be a BIG BROTHER.

He shared the news with us when he came to visit a week ago, and we are SO excited for him! I think he's gonna be a great big brother!

We ended Thanksgiving weekend by taking pictures for the Massengill Christmas card.

It was a great weekend, and Christmas will be here before we know it : )

Thanksgiving Day!

2011-11-29T13:15:00.000-05:00

Caleb and I hosted Thanksgiving dinner at our house this year, and it was so fun! We really got into making the dining room look special. My favorite part was the turkey napkins. Thank you YouTube for showing us how to fold them. Simple things like turkey napkins make me happy : )

Here's part of the spread. We still have a few leftovers in the fridge. I'm just waiting on one of us to start gobbling as we slowly become turkeys. It was delicious. All I had to make was the sweet tea ; ) I'd be happy to supply the house every year if that's all it takes.

This picture is my most favorite timer picture. Caleb set up the tripod in the back yard, and he had to sprint up the stairs onto the deck to make it in the pic. I hadn't seem him truly use his athletic ability of sprinting in a while until Thursday.

Anna and me with our too cool for school little cousins.

Love ya'll!

The Blackwood Girls. It sure was tough this year without Mama there at Thanksgiving. I miss her every day, and especially at the holidays. Luckily, my mom and aunts learned a lot about her cooking skills over the years. We will always remember Mama's delicious meals and her sweet smile on Thanksgiving day.

Caleb and I started the tradition of going to pick out our Christmas tree on Thanksgiving day the year we got married. It's one of my favorite parts of the day. We got it from a family owned tree farm a mile from our house this year, and we bought the biggest tree they had. It is MASSIVE.

We got a good bit of decorating done Thursday night. Our house smells so good and looks so pretty with Christmas decorations. There's still a ton to do, but I'm loving every second of it.

And just to remind myself for next year, I will not go shopping at midnight before Black Friday ever again. It was pure chaos. Maybe we could go later on Friday morning, but the midnight idea, not a good one. We made some fun memories though.

All in all, it was a wonderful Thanksgiving day! Stay tuned for Round 2 in Georgia.

Thankful

2011-11-23T10:02:00.000-05:00

I can hardly believe tomorrow is THANKSGIVING. The fact that it's nearly 80 degrees outside doesn't help, but it really is nice weather, just weird to have it in November. Anyway, I just wanted to take a minute to remember a few of the things we are thankful for.

1. Our church. Caleb and I visited umpteen churches when we settled in Spartanburg 3 years ago, and we finally joined First Baptist a while back. It was one of the best decisions we ever made. We have made so many true friendships through that church, and I truly believe we are growing spiritually each and every day. I am challenged and encouraged by our sermons each week, and I pray that we continue to grow in our faith through FBS (that's First Baptist Spartanburg for you non-locals).

2. Our marriage. It has been almost 3 years! I canNOT believe that. It feels like just yesterday we were saying "I Do," but also like maybe 100 years ago at the same time, if that makes sense. We have been through so much together already. I don't know where I would be without Caleb by my side each and every day. He drives me crazy, makes me laugh, lets me cry, and does the dishes. What more can a girl ask for? We have a very exciting trip planned for next month to celebrate our 3 fun years, and I can't wait to travel and spend more QT with my awesome husband who I don't deserve. (Cheesy, soooo NOT me, but it's Thanksgiving)

3. Our family. What would we do without our awesome families? The countless meals, the never ending advice, the ridiculous stories, the ever present dysfunction which exists in all families...I love it all! We are so incredibly blessed to have such wonderful parents, siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, nephews, and everything in between.

4. Our health. Caleb has always been a healthy one (knock on wood), with the exception of his 3 spontaneous PTX. I, on the other hand, have been fighting with migraines and some weird heart issue for years now. However, I went 3 whole months without a migraine earlier this year (PRAISE THE LORD!). Now they have started back a little bit with the change of season, but in the grand scheme of things, we're pretty healthy folks.

5. Our home. In case you haven't noticed from my obnoxious mention of it on here, I absolutely love our new place we call home. We are in constant prayer to sell the townhouse ASAP so we will feel a bit more settled, but for now, we'll enjoy having 2 homes and look at it as a blessing.

6. Our friends. I feel so thankful to have so many friends to call, email, text, or visit whenever we want fun friend time. As I get a little older (I am closer to 30 than 20 now), I realize how much I should truly cherish a real friendship.

7. And most importantly, our Savior. It is from Him that all blessings come. We are thankful that He gave His Son to die for us.

Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy this exciting holiday!

Fun weekend!

2011-11-22T10:26:00.000-05:00

We had a full house this past weekend! Caleb's parents, sisters, our brother-in-laws, and our 2 awesome nephews came to visit and see our house! There were 10 people total, and I loved having the house full.

We went to the PC game on Saturday to watch Caleb do his thing one last time.

We bundled up and watched the Blue Hose beat Charleston Southern!

Ben & Garrison got to ride on the Choo Choo!

Only after a little convincing of the conductor, Mr. Joe.

We posed for a quick pic after the game.

Maybe Ben & Garrison wanna be sideline reporters one day, too...?

We hung out around the house on Sunday and got a lot of stuff done. It feels more like home every day.

Fall at the new house

2011-11-20T21:26:00.000-05:00

As I've mentioned before, Fall is my favorite season for SO many reasons. The weather, the holidays, the fun decorations! I didn't have a ton of time to get fall decorations up in the new house since we didn't move in until mid October, but I finally got around to doing a few things. I wanted to remember where I put things so here's another boring blog post.

I've had the fall garland on the mantle for a while, and it was finally revealed today when we mounted the TV. The TV was basically holding it up for the past month.

My mom gave us some mums when we moved in! They aren't doing too good right now in this cold weather, but they looked great for a little while. Jeanie and Anna gave us a fall wreath, but I don't have a picture of it. I don't think I'll forget where it goes though ; )

I bought this fun little thing at Santa's Shoppe. I still haven't decided where I want it for sure.

I love having a formal dining room. We've actually used it a couple times already, and we're having Thanksgiving dinner here on Thursday for another use.

I had so much fun picking out table decorations, even the little bit we do have. I know the pink candles look kinda silly with all the fall colors, but they came from my Mama. I love pink, and it's one way for us to remember to be thankful for her precious life this time of year.

So excited for Thanksgiving! It'll be time to switch out the fall decorations for Christmas ones so soon : )

Happy Anniversary!

2011-11-14T14:29:00.000-05:00

Our parents just celebrated their 32nd (mine) and 35th (Caleb's) wedding anniversaries! Wow! Caleb and I are so blessed to have such awesome examples of marriage in our 2 sets of parents. They both went on romantic getaways, and our invitations must have gotten lost in the mail somehow?

My mom also just celebrated a birthday with lunch at John's house.

My dad is clever to have her birthday and anniversary within 3 days of each other. Or maybe not so clever, because odds are, if he forgets one, he'll forget the other, HA.

Anyway, Happy Anniversary, ya'll! Thanks for showing us what it takes to make a marriage last many, many years.

Brittany & Matt

2011-11-08T13:47:00.000-05:00

After 5 years of dating, law school, engagement, and being deployed, Brittany and Matt tied the knot on Saturday. Their wedding weekend was PERFECT.

We arrived on Friday afternoon to check out the bride's goodies at Mr. and Mrs. Flowe's. She has 5 sets of china. A little ridic, but I do love them all! Then she treated us all to a mini massage and manicure at the spa. It was a very fun, relaxing afternoon.

After the rehearsal Friday night, we had a delicious dinner at the Greenwood Country Club. Here's the bride and groom to be after sweet toasts for them!

Brittany's new sister in laws sang her a marvelous song as their toast, and her real life sister was as sweet as she could be ; )

Some of the PC girls celebrating Brittany!

The ceremony on Saturday was so nice! My favorite part was the choir who came in singing "Oh, Happy Day!" as the recessional.

We all walked to the reception and had a blast! Here's Anna and me watching the first dance. I felt like I was at Dancing with the Stars.

They did a perfect, choreographed dance. So sweet.

PC girls at the reception. It was so fun seeing all of ya'll!

Brittany has the coolest Nana ever! She is a dancing machine! AND she reads blogs. How much cooler can you get?

We've been able to spend lots of time with these 2 throughout this whole wedding process, and I have loved it! We may have to make trips to York to keep hanging out with ya'll!

I hope Brittany and Matt are having a wonderful time in Mexico right now! I loved being a part of their wedding celebrations, and I can't wait to see what God has planned for their marriage!

the Ponderosa

2011-11-02T09:55:00.001-04:00

Thanks to our awesome family & friends, we have successfully completed the move without spending a dime on a moving truck or help. Thank you, thank you, thank you, to everybody who has helped out!

We went for one last round of big furniture last weekend in Myrtle Beach. My aunt and uncle have 4 storage units full of furniture since they recently downsized, and we were happy to take some of it off their hands. I called around about renting a Uhaul, and it was gonna be kinda expensive. So my daddy pulled through with a free option...his covered horse trailer, aka the Ponderosa. He got it all spiffed up and ready to go for us last week.

Caleb and I pulled this jewel to Myrtle Beach last Friday night, getting there around midnight. It was an experience to say the least.

We filled that beauty up with awesome furniture, rugs, and decor and headed back to Spartanburg Sunday afternoon.

I'm so thankful for family & friends who share trailers and furniture with us. It makes moving a lot more fun : ) I'm thinking we should start a business... The Redneck Moving Company.

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-01T11:03:00.000-04:00

For the past 2-3 years, we have had very few Trick-or-Treaters at the townhouse. When I heard about the bus loads of candy hungry kids at our new neighborhood, I was pumped. I thought the "bus loads" thing was an exaggeration, but nope. True story.

Sara Margaret and Matthew came over for dinner and to help hand out candy. This time next year, SM will have a little Baby West to dress up! Can you see her tiny little baby bump I'm trying to point out??

These 2 losers sat on the couch eating candy all night, while criticizing the kids who were way too old to be asking for candy at our front door.

Jordan & Kayla stopped by for some candy, too!

I'm gonna love all the Halloween's we're gonna have at the new house! Yay for more than 3 trick or treaters : )

Caleb's 1st Deer

2011-10-24T13:36:00.001-04:00

This story may not seem like much to anybody else reading it, but Caleb's desire to shoot a deer goes back a little bit.

I've picked on Caleb for being a city boy since I've known him. I feel like I have the right to do that since I grew up way out in the sticks surrounded by woods. His comeback was always that he has horses in his back yard in Watkinsville. It's still a neighborhood, and we don't have neighborhoods where I come from. Just woods. Lots of trees and woods.

My dad is an avid hunter in those woods. He loves it. It really is a pretty relaxing activity and one that would probably be good for me if I had an ounce of patience and the ability to be quiet. He's killed several deer, and Caleb has been wanting to do the same since he started hanging out with the Gregory's. Last Christmas, Caleb saw his first deer while he was in the tree stand. I've been blamed for 10 months now for his missing that deer because I just happened to send him a text message while he was looking at the deer. That's what you get for being a high-tech hunter.

So, last night, mom and I were cooking supper while Caleb was out in the woods trying to kill a deer. Jordan and Kayla were out riding 4-wheelers and possibly hunting, too. Caleb called me to see if dinner was ready. I guess he was getting bored and hungry by this point. Mom said it'd be another 20 minutes or so, so he decided to stay out there.

2 minutes later, we hear a big BOOM.

Bev: I just heard a shot!

Curt: Ah, it doesn't mean anything. Look who we got out there huntin'.

(a little crack at the city boy I do believe)

2 seconds later, my phone rings.

Caleb: I think I got me a deer!!!

I could hardly understand him. He sounded like a kid on Christmas morning. Daddy and I hopped on the 4-wheeler and went out to find him. He didn't stop cheesin' for an hour.

We didn't have our good camera, but the iPhone did the job. I have a couple of videos of the attempt to get Bambi out of the woods, too. I guess we'll be enjoying some deer meat in a few weeks. Ewww.

Anyway, I'm so proud of Caleb, and I know he feels like a true country boy now!

The House (Before)

2011-10-21T14:21:00.000-04:00

I stole all these pictures off the real estate website because I forgot to take empty pictures of the house when we started moving. I guess I got so excited I was just ready to be in there, haha!

Here's the view as soon as you walk in the front door. The great room is HUGE which I love!

I'm not sure why, but I am obsessed with built-ins. The previous owners were a bit more formal than our taste, but you get the idea.

Here's the foyer. I love the columns!

Formal dining room

The kitchen! I really wanted granite countertops and light colored cabinets. I was so glad when we found it! It's just so bright and happy for cooking time : )

Eat in kitchen with an awesome view!

Master bedroom which is currently empty. We're supposed to have new furniture in a week or 2!

Here's my favorite room in the whole house, the master bathroom.

The front bedroom

And back bedroom. We're living in this one right now, and we LOVE it.

Nothing special about the basement, but I do love having one!

We are SO excited about this deck. This picture doesn't do justice for the view, but we'll take some better ones sometime.

And here's the back of the house.

I've got a lot to learn to maintain this big ole yard.

We have our work cut out for us this weekend, with finishing cleaning out the townhouse and furniture shopping. Can't wait to get settled in the new house!

PC Homecoming!

2011-10-19T09:35:00.001-04:00

Caleb and I spent last Saturday in Clinton for PC's Homecoming. I told somebody I had NEVER missed a PC Homecoming. I then remembered I've only been out of college for 4 years, making it a little less impressive, haha. Anyway, I love going back for Homecoming and seeing lots of friends, especially when they surprise you with hall t-shirts from sophomore year when I was the super cool RA. We were the VIP's, or so we thought. Man, we were cool... : )

We hosted tailgate shower for Brittany & Matt before the game. Lizann is the best MOH ever. She brought Lattimore, one of her sweet little pups to the game Saturday. He was presh.

Meredith made lots of cute decorations for the shower!

Hostess pic! I had so much fun doing this shower with all of you. And a huge thanks to Lizann's mom for making all of the yummy food!

A few of the ZTA's at the shower!

You know you're kinda a big deal with the president of the college comes to your wedding shower. He even enjoyed one of our beers.

They got tons of cute gifts. I can't believe the wedding is less than 3 weeks away!

John & Britt came to the game, too! It was Brittnee's first PC game. Go HOSE!

I finally got to hang out with my little reporter after the game.

It was a very fun Homecoming!

The Move

2011-10-18T16:13:00.000-04:00

I wrote that title as if it had already happened. I mean, I guess, officially, it has. But "The Move" is a work in progress. I feel like we've gotten a lot done already, and I'm SO glad. But we still have a LONG way to go.

I'm so glad my dad, 2 brothers, mom, and our friend Kyle came to help us move last Wednesday. In less than 3 hours, all of our furniture was out of the townhouse and in the new house. I'm pretty sure our townhouse neighbors were a little confused when 3 big ole pick up trucks, one pulling a huge trailer, pulled up.

Bev (my momma) is known for feeding everybody well. She got us tons of pizza for dinner to pep us back up to finish the move.

We let John put his big muscles to good use.

By Sunday night, I felt like I had run a marathon. I was so sore from lifting heavy boxes and moving furniture (i did help a little bit!). Now it's time to make it feel like home : )

The Closing!

2011-10-17T10:35:00.000-04:00

We are saying goodbye to our sweet townhouse after 3 fun years there. Caleb bought it in July of 2008, and we have absolutely loved it. There was no maintenance, and it was so easy to keep clean. We decided to start looking for houses about a year ago (because somebody wants a yard), and we never really found anything we loved. We tried to sell the townhouse for about 6 months and then took it off the market. Then we found a house we just LOVED and had to buy. Of course it happens when you aren't really looking. After lots of talking, praying, and even a little crying, we decided to buy it! I am gonna miss our first place together, but I think I'll quickly get over it in the new house. But...if anybody is looking for a great 3 bedroom townhouse, it's FOR SALE : )

We closed on the new house last Tuesday, and here's a few pics of the day. It was my first closing!

I signed my name approximately 3,479 times.

Here's our realtor, Darrelene, but we like to call her D-Dog. I'm not sure she knows that...? She has been SO good to us, and we are thankful to have someone guide us through the whole process.

And here we are with the attorney. His dad is a physician (actually the doctor who delivered me), and he just recently retired from the practice where I work. Such a small world!

D Dog brought us Carolina BBQ for dinner our first night in the new house!

She even put our name on the mailbox for us! It was not a pretty day outside. We'll get a better picture sometime : )

Yay! We never would have been able to get through the whole buying a house process without all of the advice from our awesome family. So thank ya'll SOOOO much! We feel so blessed to have a new place to call home!

B Flowe's Bachelorette

2011-10-12T09:58:00.000-04:00

We celebrated Brittany in Tybee Island last weekend at her Bachelorette Party! She's marrying Matt in just a few short weeks, and I know she enjoyed one last single weekend with all the girls.

Here's the pretty bride on Sunday morning after a weekend full of fun.

Her mom made her army man veil, and Lizann made us all these awesome t-shirts.

I loved catching up with Meredith. She's got a wedding planned for May so she has tons of fun parties to be looking forward to.

I had a touch of gastroenteritis (I'll spare you the details) so I spent lots of time sipping on Sprite and Gatorade. I'm so thankful Anna & Ashley were there to take care of me. What great doctors : ) Sike.

We had lunch at Paula Deen's restaurant in Savannah on Sunday. Aside from the smell of grease as soon as you open the doors, it was yummy. That woman loves some butter.

Even battling a bit of food poisoning (or something) from Olive Garden (I won't be going back there for a while), I had a great time with these fun girls. Brittany, your big day will be here SO soon, you belle of the ball!

Georgia

2011-10-03T09:03:00.000-04:00

We spent the weekend in Watkinsville hanging out with the Massengill fam.

Ben is a full blown 2 year old now, full of energy and with LOTS to say. He practiced his football moves for us Saturday.

And that's his tough football/dinosaur face. So cute!!!

The weather was great for sitting outside. We actually got a little chilly after a while. I love this time of year!

Garrison was just as sweet and entertaining as ever! I can't believe he will be 4 in November. He's really growing up and making big decisions. He has always said he was gonna drive the trash truck when he grows up, but he has now added on an extra job of being a fireman. He's gonna be one busy little man one day ; )

It was a fun weekend getting to see everybody and enjoying this new cooler weather!

at least our friends were there...

2011-09-26T13:19:00.000-04:00

I try to be a pretty positive person, but I had to search long and hard for some positives from the PC football game against Furman Saturday. With a score of 62-21 (we're the losers) and a blazing hot day, it was a bit tough. But luckily, I got to spend some quality time with Megan and McNeil. Please note the huge crowd at halftime. Plus, Megan and I had some delicious snow cones during the 2nd quarter. They helped us forget about the terrible score.

There's my cute little reporter ; )

And to add to the positive excitement, Jeff & Morgan just moved to Greenville from DC. We are SO excited to be able to see them more often and hang out. Here's Jeff & Caleb at halftime.

PC has an off week this weekend...Woo Hoo! They're gonna need some time to get over this defeat, ha. At least Carolina and Clemson are kickin' bootie.

San Francisco

2011-09-20T10:34:00.000-04:00

Caleb went to San Francisco last weekend for the PC football game against Cal, and I'm a tad bit jealous. I went on a trip 10 years ago out west, and San Francisco was one of our stops. Unfortunately, that was before the time of digital cameras, and all of my pictures were on a Jazz disposable. So I'm now living vicariously through Caleb's awesome pics of the city.

Here he is at AT&T park, home of the world series champion San Francisco Giants. I'm pretty sure seeing the stadium was his favorite part.

He got a tour of the whole place, including the manager's office. (Caleb had to relate this guy to Bobby Cox of the Braves so I would understand.)

The Giants dugout

Have you heard of the TV show Chips? I haven't. But Caleb says it's a real show. And these guys who resembled Chips escorted them around all weekend.

Here's a famous street in San Francisco and a trolley. Maybe the Full House house is right down there...?

Golden Gate Bridge!

Caleb says the Bay Bridge actually had a prettier view than the Golden Gate.

Alcatraz. I got pooped on by a bird when I was there 10 years ago.

And one whole picture of the actual game for ya. The score wasn't pretty, but it was a great opportunity for all the guys.

Caleb loved the trip. We may just have to go back sometime : )

Labor Day & Cuisinart

2011-09-13T13:25:00.000-04:00

I realized I never even mentioned Labor Day on the blog. I tend to forget what we do for holidays so this is my attempt to remember that we celebrated it at the lake. Caleb and I got there Saturday night after the PC game and stayed till Monday. I loveeeee having a 3-day weekend. I could totally get used to that. The weather was really nice, and we ate really good (low country boil, hash and BBQ to be exact). My uncle Sonny and his whole crew came down after church Sunday to spend the afternoon. Somehow I didn't take a single picture while they were there. Oops. I did get a good one of Jordan though, and it just happens to be proof of what a bully he is.

Sprayin' the little kid.

We love being at the lake or anywhere on the water! It makes for a great weekend.

And I may be the last to know, but I was so excited to figure it out. Cuisinart is the best company ever for kitchen appliances. We've had 2 different things break recently. All we have to do is call their customer service number, tell them what's happening, and a few days later - a new one is on our doorstep. Free of charge. It may cost a little more up front for those products, but it's worth it for the replacements.

September 11

2011-09-11T21:36:00.000-04:00

I can hardly believe it's been 10 years since 9-11. I can vividly remember sitting in Mr. Lawson's Drama class when the news came on TV. I did not realize what a tragedy it was until later. Now I try to see the positive in what happened that day. Our country was united, flags were flying, and so many people came to Jesus. Today I am reminded of the need to pray for those families affected by 9-11, for our country as a whole, and for our leaders.

God Bless America.

really?

2011-09-08T10:49:00.000-04:00

As important as good toilet paper is, this product may be one of the most impractical things I've ever heard of.

Go Blue Hose!

2011-09-07T12:59:00.001-04:00

Maybe it's just because I love fall and everything that goes along with it, but football season is my favorite time of year! Seeing friends at football games, dusting off the crockpot, wearing jeans, new TV shows...it's just great!

We went to PC's first game on Saturday. It was Caleb's debut as the sideline reporter. I still haven't been able to hear him (we're suppose to be getting a copy of the show to hear), but he sure did look cute doing it ; )

I found him at halftime to say a quick hello. The biggest downside to this gig is that I don't get to sit with Caleb at the games. Luckily, Leanne, Megan, McNeil, and Courtney were there to keep me company. Thanks, friends!

It ended up being a very close game with Wofford. It was tied with 50 seconds left, and Wofford scored. Or so the referees say. I disagree, but I'm proud of PC for keeping it so close!

We hung out with Caleb's friends after the game at Fox's tailgate. He was so proud of all of his technology. What a geek!

PC plays North Greenville at home this Saturday so we'll be back at it again. Go Blue Hose!

Happy 30th!

2011-08-29T13:24:00.000-04:00

Our friend Sara Margaret celebrated her 30th birthday this weekend with a party at her parent's house in Cowpens.

Here's the birthday girl with her cupcake! Made at the cupcake bar - so fun!

We loved celebrating Sara Margaret and hanging out with friends!

Laminin

2011-08-28T22:01:00.000-04:00

We watched a Louie Giglio video at church this morning instead of doing our regular lesson. I had seen bits and pieces of it before, but it was neat to see the full version today. I knew I was gonna love it when he started talking about nucleotides and chromosomes. (I'm a sucker for some biology.) He related the size of the earth to a golf ball and totally opened my eyes to how BIG our God is and how small we are.

Sometimes I think I am able to come up with the best plans for my day, my weekend, and essentially my life. I will stress, worry, and totally think things through, completely neglecting the fact God is soooooo stinkin' smart, and His plan is way better than mine ever could be. He created the whole world for crying out loud, including the humongous star Beetlejuice (you'll have to watch the whole video). It gave me such a peace to know someone so amazing cares about little ole me and my life.

At the end of the video, Louie talks about laminin, a cell adhesion molecule. It's what literally holds us all together. Not our planning, stress, worry, hard work, organization, or anything else. But laminin. And what else would it look like but this?

I am thankful and feel truly blessed to know that the molecule holding me together is in the shape of the cross. I don't think that's a coincidence.

RIP Teddy

2011-08-25T21:56:00.000-04:00

So, remember Jordan's hamster, Theodore? Well, apparently PetCo gives you a 14 day return policy on all animals. Dead or Alive. Ole Teddy lived a short life of only 13.5 days. He was returned to the store today. In a box. Dead. Just in time for the refund.

I had no idea that was an option for pets, and I was excited to learn it. I don't have the best track record with animals so PetCo may be my go-to now.

Sink-Dasher Wedding

2011-08-22T09:08:00.000-04:00

My sweet friend Lindsey Sink married Caleb's friend Ron Dasher (aka Ronnie D) on Saturday at a beautiful wedding in Fort Mill. Aside from getting a tad bit lost on the way, we had a wonderful time celebrating their marriage! The wedding was in a pretty church, and the reception was at a really neat house just down the street.

Lindsey looked like a Barbie. Like wedding princess Barbie. So pretty! They are such a fun couple, and I know the Lord is going to truly bless their marriage.

Caleb and I saw lots of PC friends, and it's always fun to catch up with them. I hadn't seen Amy in forever, and I was so excited to find her! She was my ZTA little sister and is one of the most fun people I know!

It's always fun to hang out with the Martins. We worked on convincing them to move to the Upstate, but I'm not so sure it worked.

Snakes, me, and Mandizzle. My sweet little friends who make me feel SO tall. Love ya'll! And not just for that reason ; )

I'm so excited for Lindsey and Ron. I hope they're having a blast in the Dominican Republic right now!

Bikes & Hamsters

2011-08-17T09:20:00.000-04:00

This old jewel showed up at Lake Murray last weekend.

It's my trusty bike from PC. My dad and brothers cleaned out some storage units and found her. Man, I've missed this thing! She's missing the awesome sparkly streamers and annoying horn, but the license plate survived!

My dad's sister Margie and her husband Irv came up for the day Saturday. We taught Margie how to play Setback. She's a natural. It must be in the Gregory blood.

Caleb is brave (or stupid) for letting me play with his new lens while riding in the boat!

And the grand finale for the weekend... Theodore! Jordan and Kayla showed up with a new pet hamster. My mom hates anything with fur, and I'm not exactly an animal lover. Jordan was advised to leave ole Teddy at home next time.

New Job!

2011-08-11T21:55:00.002-04:00

Well, sort of. Caleb still has his real full time at the TV station, but he has agreed to be the sideline reporter for the PC football team this year. Yea, just like Erin Andrews with ESPN. Except 2 people listening vs. the 2 million people, HA.

I'm SO proud of him, and I know he's gonna do great (and hopefully have lots of fun!). He's kinda nervous about it, but I just had to remind him of the small following PC football has. His parents may very well be the only ones listening on the radio, ha!

So, if you're looking for us this fall, that's where we'll be. At every PC football game. Go Blue Hose!

And just for fun, here's Caleb in action back in the day.

ESPN is gonna be callin' soon : )

Gregory Beach Trip 2k11

2011-08-05T15:16:00.000-04:00

I love our annual trip to Myrtle Beach, not for the relaxation, but for the excitement. My brothers know nothing about vacation to relax. It's always a jam packed few days. We had dinner our first night at Bubba's Fish Shack in Surfside. It's a good thing it was called a shack because we did not get all gussied up.

the 3 sisters.

We entertained ourselves with crayons while waiting on our food in the heat.

Caleb took engagement pictures for John and Britt at Huntington Beach one day. There's an old castle there and lots of fun sites. He took about 700 pics of them. Jordan and I went along for entertainment, and I think we did a good job of that : )

We played putt-putt twice while we were there. I came in LAST both times. We all had fun playin' though. It was Anna's first time playing since she got knocked in the head with a golf club in high school. Yay for conquering the fear!

We've been talking about a family beach pic for several years now, and we finally did it on our way out Wednesday morning. We were hot and sweaty, which made for a quick chance at a picture. Caleb worked his timer magic, and here we are. One happy Gregory family!

It was a fun beach vacation. Can't wait till next year's : )

Trip to Turbeville

2011-08-03T20:40:00.000-04:00

Caleb and I headed to the big city of Turbeville after work on Friday to see Abbie and Allen. Abbie is one of my best friends from PA school, and we absolutely love hanging out with them. They're just good people. Abbie's entire family lives within a 5 mile radius, and they are the definition of a small town fam. We were greeted with a yummy steak dinner and had a great time with them Friday night catching up and laughing a lot.

We had breakfast at Chat-n-Chew Saturday morning, one of about 3 restaurants in the entire city. It was delicious, of course. Afterwards, Abbie and Allen took us on a tour of the city, which took all of 10 minutes, followed by a new favorite...Grape Icee from Bojangle's. Random, but oh so refreshing.

We were sad to leave them Saturday morning, but we were headed to Myrtle Beach with my family so that made it a little better. We met up with the Gregory's in Turbeville, and we were on our way!

pictures!

2011-07-25T15:56:00.000-04:00

Caleb and Kyle (a friend from church) did a photography class in downtown Greenville Saturday. I think they had fun and learned a lot. Kyle's wife, Julia, and I were at the church helping with the Back to School bash and health fair. Now that was an experience, but unfortunately I don't have any pictures. We saw TONS of precious kids there getting school supplies and having health screenings.

Here's Kyle working hard at class.

Caleb took pictures of all sorts of random things on Main Street Greenville. I don't really understand what he learned, but he sounds smart saying it ; )

We went to the lake Saturday night, and Caleb was able to practice his action photography skills a little bit. Here's Jordan on the kneeboard.

And John on the wakeboard.

Aren't they sweet?

Unfortunately I was the one taking pictures of Caleb so they aren't nearly as cool. I have some pretty cool videos of him doing tricks though : )

We spent most of the day yesterday at my parent's house cleaning out my old bedroom...again. It has taken me about 3 years to get it done, haha, and it's still not completely empty, just slightly more organized. I'm still coughing like a maniac from being around so much dust. Dear Allergies, I hate you. But I love that room being a bit more organized. It's being painted this week sometime... bye bye pepto bismol walls!

Whitley Grace

2011-07-23T13:58:00.000-04:00

One of my friends from PA school, Rebecca, had a baby just 2 weeks ago. Another PA friend Courtney and I took her dinner one night last week. We all know the real reason behind that whole "taking dinner to the girl who just had a baby" thing. We wanted to meet sweet Whitley Grace. We loved seeing you too, Rebecca! The baby is adorable, and she was a perfect little angel while we were there!

Here's Mommy and Baby. Aren't they precious?

I had to leave a little earlier than I had planned because my athletic, yet carefree, husband went for a run and locked himself out of the house. We joke that I'm OCD and have to be there to prevent this kind of stuff by triple checking for keys and locked doors. Maybe it's true. At least he went runnin'. He was sweating bullets and nearly dying of thirst by the time I made it home to find him out back on the patio. This 100 degree weather didn't help either. Maybe it will cool off soon : )

Jordan's 21st!!!!

2011-07-21T08:45:00.001-04:00

My "baby" brother is now a legal adult. Jordan turned 21 yesterday, and I feel so old. Here he is having his first legal drink.

We had dinner at Outback with the whole fam, and he brought his new GF Kayla.

Ever since my parents bought the lake house, our birthday and Christmas gifts have somehow been related to the water.

We dared Jordan to go put his wet suit on in the bathroom, but he was too chicken.

Happy 21st Jordan! We love you : )

Now if only you'd ACT like an adult... ; )

Ben is 2

2011-07-19T09:08:00.000-04:00

Caleb and I went to Georgia this weekend to celebrate Ben's 2nd birthday! I really feel like he was just born. It's so crazy to me that he's already 2 years old.

He has grown up so much, and he is hilarious! He talks all the time, and he has so many words. Not to mention I can actually understand what he's saying now, ha! My favorite thing he does is when he wants you to come play with him, he comes to you, grabs your hand with his, and pulls you along asking you politely to come play. He has such great manners. Who could say no to chasing him around with Mater? (He is fascinated with Cars and Toy Story, and it's adorable.)

Grammie and Papa gave Ben a new basketball goal for his birthday, and he LOVES it. He's going to be a little all-star athlete.

We also got to see Caleb's cousin, Tristan, this weekend and celebrate his high school graduation. He's mighty tall to be just graduating high school! I hate we don't get to see Tristan more often than we do, but we really enjoyed spending time with him and catching up this weekend.

Size 0 and 7 months

2011-07-13T15:07:00.002-04:00

No, not me. I have never been and never will be a size zero. But I know somebody who is...in wedding dresses! John's fiance, Brittnee. I went with her and a few others to watch her try on wedding dresses the other day, and we joked that she would probably need a zero. I've always known she was skinny and ate like a bird, but she is literally a size zero. And looks awesome in every dress! I better start dieting now if I'm worthy of wearing a bridesmaid dress next to her in May.

And 7 months is how long it's been since I had a hair cut. I went yesterday for a trim, and the girl who cuts my hair was giving me a hard time for not coming for a while. I seriously I thought I went around April or May, but it was January. No wonder my hair was super stringy! I gotta do better than that.

Somebody turned 2 this week, and I can't wait to celebrate with the birthday boy!!!

I really can't believe he's already TWO, and I know Mabry and Chad can't either. It's almost party time!

Chimney Rock

2011-07-10T21:56:00.000-04:00

I have been such a sucker lately for Groupon and Living Social Deals, but they really do make for fun dates. Caleb and I had a half price at The Peddler earlier this week, and he's doing a photography class in a few weeks that I bought for a great deal. A month or so ago, I bought 2 passes to Chimney Rock for half price, and we finally had a day to go on Saturday. It's only about an hour from our house, and it was a fun half day trip.

Here's the "chimney" from just below it. It really does kinda look a chimney.

We aren't exactly avid hikers, so it's a Kodak moment any time it happens.

When we made it to the top, we were pouring with sweat (as you can see in this picture).

There were plenty of people around us, much older and a bit heavier, who weren't sweating or out of breath at all. We were SO confused! Until we figured out you could ride a doggone bus up the mountain that drops you off right at the chimney. Caleb and I hiked the Four Seasons Trail listed as "a great workout" on the website. That's what you get for not really looking at the map. We thought it was the only way up.

Oh, well. It was worth it for the awesome view, and we got in some great exercise!

And because I have way too much of my mom in me, I have to buy some sort of souvenir everywhere I go. I wasn't exactly dying to have a Chimney Rock t-shirt so good ole rock candy won. I used to love buying this stuff on field trips. Yum!

We had lunch at an Italian restaurant across from Lake Lure, and here's our view from lunch.

It was such a fun date! Next time, though, we'll ride the bus up the mountain so we have time to check out the waterfall!

4th of July

2011-07-05T09:45:00.002-04:00

What better place to spend the 4th of July than at Lake Murray?! It was a HOT weekend, and I don't know what I would have done without being on the water!

Dusty and Nicole picked us up bright and early Saturday morning to try and beat the water traffic. They have an awesome wakeboarding boat and are always so gracious to let us play!

Jordan tried surfing for the first time, and he sorta got the hang of it.

I get so excited once I actually get up, and I usually end up back down within a few seconds.

We even got to hang out with Lacey a little bit! Her family has had a house at Lake Murray for as long as I can remember, and it's always good to see them. Lacey just feels like part of the Gregory family sometimes. I think it's because of our Union/Newberry roots. Those 2 towns have a lot in common, HA.

We rode on the boat to watch the fireworks show Saturday night. My daddy's pontoon isn't exactly the fastest thing in the world, but it's perfect for a little night ride. I'm pretty sure we could have all fallen asleep.

My parent's friends David and Melissa came up for the day on Sunday with Kacie and her sweet baby Lydia. She's only 1 month old, and my dad kept wanting her to go for a ride on the tube. We compromised with a leisurely pontoon ride.

Isn't she so sweet in her little bikini?!

As much as we love hanging out with Dusty and Nicole, Dusty tends to get these crazy ideas in Caleb's head about trying new tricks on the wakeboard. It makes me so nervous when he tries new things. I snapped a few pics, and then just had to turn my head.

On Monday, the Blackwoods came for a visit. They just got a new bass boat, and they tried to catch some fish. Not much luck, but they had fun tryin'.

Here's our first attempt at 2-at-a-time behind John & Jordan's boat.

Lacey and I wanted to try it together, but they decided it would be better to have one "stable" person back who has "control." HA!

That was probably a good idea. Thanks, Caleb.

It was so much fun having different friends and family come visit over the weekend. We had a wonderful time celebrating America and enjoying a day off work!

America Embarrassment

2011-07-01T13:59:00.000-04:00

A little American humor...

Somebody at work asked Caleb if I could come over to be in a quick commercial a week ago. He loves helping people out, even if it's at my embarrassment, so he agreed. I was assured that it may not ever even air, especially with me in.

Well, it did. And I've had several people tell me they saw it. So laugh it up this 4th of July! God Bless America!

(I've never even heard of Mutual Home Stores, and I still don't know what kind of company it is, HA!) I just showed up and said my line in front of a camera and Caleb's co-workers.

Have a fun weekend!

Brittnee's Bridesmaids!

2011-06-28T16:56:00.000-04:00

John's fiance, Brittnee, decided she wanted to have a little dinner/get together with all of her bridesmaids, and we decided to do it at my house last night. It was so.much.fun. hanging out with all of them. The only one missing is Anna (she's at the beach).

I'm so glad everybody was able to meet and hang out. It's so neat meeting Brittnee's friends from school and work. I can already tell it's gonna be lots of fun at wedding showers and parties with this group! Can't wait : )

our weekend

2011-06-26T19:23:00.000-04:00

Caleb and I enjoyed a few lazy days at home this weekend. We went to the dollar theater Friday night to see Something Borrowed. For $9, we each saw a movie and had popcorn. Can't beat a good cheap date : ) The movie was cute, too!

We got a few things done around the house Saturday morning which was nice. It was just simple stuff like cleaning out cabinets, but I feel like we're never home with nothing to do. So it was nice to get that sort of stuff done.

We had lunch at Larkin's in downtown Greenville Saturday. I had always wanted to eat there, and it did not disappoint.

We classified it as my birthday lunch because Caleb and I never went out for a birthday dinner just us. We love having excuses for things like that...

I can't remember the last time I had a shaved ice...until now! We are both so boring though and just get strawberry, HA. Ice cold deliciousness for only $1.

We had some friends over Saturday night to grill out. Brittnee brought this Mexican Train game that her grandma told her about. It was a big hit with us and our friends!

It has been a great, relaxing weekend!

An Apple A Day...

2011-06-24T08:57:00.000-04:00

...keeps nerds busy at play!

Caleb's buddy AJ came through Spartanburg last night on his way home from West Virginia. He stopped by our house for dinner, a jog, and a place to sleep. He and Caleb have been good friends for a long time, and they always catch up right where they left off. They are such nerds, and they are hilarious together. We were talking about how dorky they were with all of their Apple products

After taking this picture, we remembered each of our iPods plus some silly Apple mouse Caleb has. Obsessed? I think so.

Daddy's Day

2011-06-22T19:28:00.000-04:00

We celebrated Father's Day at the lake this year! (The lake seems to be a recurring theme for summer celebrations.) My dad is one of my most loyal blog followers, surprisingly. I didn't know a country boy like him knew how to turn on a computer, much less follow a blog, HA. I'm impressed, Pops.

We went to the early church service via boat Sunday morning. That's a pretty awesome start to any day. Only at the lake can Jordan kneeboard on the way home from church.

Anyway, it was fun to celebrate my dad on Father's Day. He does so much for all of us, from cooking us meals once or twice a week, to teaching us life lessons, like making us do chores when we were little kids and would rather be doing anything else.

We cooked him his favorite meal on Sunday for lunch: country friend steak, rice and gravy, macaroni and cheese, corn, and squash & zucchini. With homemade Butterfinger ice cream for dessert! Yum : )

Caleb's dad is also special to us, but I don't have any weekend pics. Craig is our phone-a-friend for anything that ~~Caleb~~ breaks or just for advice. Caleb says and does so many things just like Cautious Craig, and it cracks me up! We love you lots. Thanks for everything!

We're so blessed to have both of you. Thanks for all you do for us! Ya'll are such great daddy's!

Ann Leighton's Wedding

2011-06-21T10:13:00.000-04:00

I met Ann Leighton at PC and always thought she was so sweet. I loved getting to know her better in ZTA stuff, and she lives near us now in Greenville. She married a PC boy, Patrick, Saturday night in Greenville. It was a beautiful wedding, and tons of people were there! It was great to catch up with lots of fun friends and celebrate the new couple!

It was a tad bit difficult to get a pic of the couple b/c there were SO many people, but here they are cutting the cake.

I was so glad to catch up with Gail. She's been married for 3 months now, and she's loving married life!

Brittany has been the 3rd wheel for lots of date over the past year while her fiance Matt is serving our country overseas. But...he comes home TODAY!!! And they're getting married in November! Can't wait!

Caleb and me at the reception

Here's Ann Leighton dancing with her daddy. So sweet!

It was such a pretty wedding, and we loved seeing lots of PC friends!

Lake Day with the Cousins!

2011-06-16T13:39:00.000-04:00

We had a busy but fun weekend last weekend, including a quick trip to Charleston Friday night and Saturday for a wedding and shopping. We came back to the lake Saturday night to hang out and prepare for our cousins coming over to play after church on Sunday!

One of my first cousins, Leigh, married Andy, and he is a Chaplain for the Air Force. They have always had to move around, and they are currently living in Texas. We don't get to see them very often so we were very excited when they came into town for the week. Leigh & Andy have three daughters, Sarah, Abigail, and Rachel, and they were thrilled to spend a day at the lake.

They had never been on a jet ski, a boat, or an innertube, and it was a real treat to watch them have fun!

My mom just bought this giant island, or play pen as my Daddy calls it, and it's awesome!

Anna and Jordan on a boat ride!

I think that's Anna and Rachel. Rachel squealed the whole time!

I helped Leigh check one thing off her bucket list...jet ski ride. And add to it, with a terrible driver : )

Here's Mom with her brother, Sonny.

Aunt Jeanie and Cousin Leigh

Little Caleb kneeboarding!

Abby and I on the tube!

And here's Sarah with screamin' Rachel.

They really had a great time, and so did I!

Ocean Isle

2011-06-14T14:02:00.000-04:00

We spent the week at Ocean Isle Beach 2 weeks ago with Caleb's dad's extended family, and it was so much fun. It was super HOT and sunny all day every day which was perfect for the beach! We usually only stay half the week, but we both had enough vacation days for the whole time this year.

Our nephews were not crazy about the water at first, but they learned to love it (after much convincing from their mommas).

They were so cute playing together. Garrison called their swim jackets their "Buzz Lightyear shirts."

We had appetizer night and dance party one night. Here's a few of the girls.

We ran into some of my friends at church on Sunday, and they asked us to go on a boat ride Monday. Of course, we said yes! Brian and Patricia are a super sweet couple. I went to high school with Brian, and he met Patricia at Wofford. They live in Charleston now so we don't see them that often. They got married 2 weeks after us so that's kinda neat!

Thanks for taking us out on the ocean!

Our brother-in-law Jimbob is ridiculously creative, and here's his masterpiece for shade this year.

Ben is sleeping like a champ in the front, and Garrison is napping hard cord in the back. You can't really see him in the pic.

Go, G-Mac, Go!

We had dinner in Calabash one night and took the annual family pic. It's so pretty out there!

Erin and Ben

We spent lots of time laying and playing on the beach. Garrison wanted to stick his tongue out for a pic.

We had dinner at Provisions on Holden Beach one night. Here's Caleb's Uncle Cliff with his twin daughters.

We did a group pic our last night there. I felt so patriotic.

It was kinda difficult to hold the squinty eyes open in the bright sun, but Caleb's parents like sunglasses-free pics : )

Here's Grammie and Papa with the boys

Such a pretty sunset!

It was a wonderful vacation!

my 26th

2011-06-13T13:45:00.000-04:00

My dad pointed out to my yesterday that I never did a blog about my 26th birthday. Well, 26 isn't THAT big of a deal to me. I mean, 25 was kinda cool, but the next big one is gonna be 30. And that one will hit me hard, I'm sure, HA. However, I had an awesome 26th birthday with lots of friends and family, and I decided to do a little recap.

2 days before my b-day, our supper club went out to dinner and a movie. Megan surprised me with this incredibly yummy cookie cake.

It was a fun night with good friends!

The boys weren't in the picture-taking mood.

John proposed on my birthday eve, allowing me to see lots of fun people that night at their engagement celebration. You can see that post below. It was so special spending that night with Mama. She was told she was coming to a surprise b-day party for me at the lake, and she found out the real reason for the family get-together on the way! So exciting!

On my actual birthday, we had b-day breakfast at the lake house, and I opened lots of fun gifts. I am so spoiled by my family, and I loved my thoughtful presents! My sweet little brother Jordan brought me this birthday cake.

He told me it was banana (random) and that I needed to smell it to believe it. He then smashed my face into the cake covering me in icing. He turned out to be a not-so-sweet little brother, HA. Oh, the life I live with 2 brothers...

We went for a little boat ride on my b-day, too! Here's mom with her new soon-to-be daughter in law : )

Finally, we drove to Ocean Isle on my birthday for a week long beach vacay with Caleb's fam. Garrison helped me blow out my candles on my delicious strawberry b-day cake made by Caleb's mom.

My 26th birthday was a very fun-filled day! Thanks for making it so special : )

Precious Mama Deanie

2011-06-08T20:45:00.000-04:00

My sweet grandmother, "Mama," went to Heaven on Sunday morning. It was a complete surprise to all of us left here on earth, but we know she is cooking with Jesus and dancing with Papa right now. Mama is an amazing Godly woman with a heart of gold. She has the most contagious laugh, and her smile makes me so so happy! Mama lived a full life in her 83 years, and most importantly, she lived those 83 years for Jesus.

One of the first things I said when I heard about her passing away was, "I wanna be just like her." She is such a role model and my hero. I have learned so much from her about being a wife, a sister, a friend, and a mother. She loved each and every one of her children, grandchildren, and great-grans so much. Honestly, I don't know how to put into words how much she means to me.

My Papa died when I was 4 years old, and she has been so strong over the past 22 years without him on earth. I know he's so happy to have her up there with him now, and that's what I'm clinging to as I miss hearing her voice and seeing her smile. I used to love going over to her house to spend the night as a child, watch her cook green beans with sugar, make homemade milkshakes, and eat more cake with her than a girl ever should. The first birthday card Caleb and I got each year came from Mama. I will forever cherish my 26th b-day card she sent just 12 days ago. The conversation Anna and I had with her on the phone Saturday night will never be forgotten. We were able to tell her we love her, and she was able to call us "Kat-Anna" one more time with that sweet voice.

Mama gave me a Holiday Barbie for Christmas each year, and those plastic dolls in boxes are one of my most prized possessions. But more than giving me material possessions, Mama gave me life lessons. She taught me how to love, how to cook, how to walk with the Lord and be a woman of grace and dignity.

My uncle Sonny, her son, did the service yesterday, and I am amazed by his strength. He told stories of Mama nodding off in the choir loft, winning the SetBack card tournament at Lake Murray, and teaching kindergarten at the church. We have received so much yummy food, so many beautiful flowers, and such thoughtful prayers from those who loved Mama. She had so many amazing friends, and it has been such a blessing spending time with them.

It's gonna be tough. Every Christmas. Every Thanksgiving. Every Mother's Day. Every August 14, her birthday. Every second of every day is gonna be tough. But through faith in Christ, I know we can all get through it.

I love you so incredibly much, Mama. Thanks for all you are for us! We are so blessed to have you as our Mama!

John & Britt are ENGAGED!

2011-06-01T07:51:00.000-04:00

There are very few things that make my brother John nervous. Planning a proposal was one of those! He and Brittnee have been dating for a little over 2 years, and we all knew it was time (for a while now) for him to pop the question. I found out on Mother's Day that he was in the process of buying the ring, and I've been so excited ever since.

John is all about the shock factor so I knew he would want to catch Brittnee off guard. He would not let anybody know when/how it was happening. He casually told a few friends to stop by the lake house Friday night but never said why. He's lucky everything worked out with timing of people coming over and the weather. There had been thunderstorms all day Friday, but it cleared up perfectly for his boat ride proposal.

He took Britt out on the boat around 6:30, and we were told to arrive around 7. While they were gone, we fixed food and put up some fun decorations. They came back up to the dock around 7:10. She said YES!

Brittnee was giving hugs, telling the story, and on her phone all night long. They both seemed so happy, and I'm so excited to have a new sister!

Here's part of Brittnee's family.

The cousins with the decorations!

Any special event ends with fireworks, especially when you have a pyromaniac little brother to shoot 'em.

It was lots of fun having family all together for such a special occasion!

It was an awesome night celebrating John and Brittnee. They haven't officially set a wedding date yet, but it's going to be so much fun! We are so happy for ya'll! Welcome to the fam!

Floss Fight

2011-05-26T14:32:00.002-04:00

Remember our bi-annual date to the dentist? Well, we had another one today. I say the hygienists do it to us, but Caleb and I have become super competitive with these appointments. I know it's hard to believe me being competitive, ha, but this is a bit ridiculous. Once Caleb catches me flossing, he knows it's getting close to appointment time. And since I'm the only one with a calender at home, that's his only way of knowing. So what does Caleb do? Start flossing like a maniac, too, of course. Whoever has blood in their spit after flossing loses. TMI, I know.

Yea, we're losers.

But we both got excellent reports today. They said our teeth looked "beautiful" and "good as always." Our floss fights must be worth it ; )

In other news, how about little Scotty the Hottie winning American Idol? We didn't watch it much this year, but we'd tune in on occasion. He seems like a good guy. I heard he's dating the Lauren chick. Idol love?!

Lindsey's Shower

2011-05-24T08:31:00.000-04:00

We celebrated Lindsey Sink in Columbia this weekend! A few of her cute friends hosted a Monogram shower, and I've decided that is my all time favorite kind of wedding shower. The gifts are all so cute and personalized, obviously.

We played the toilet paper wedding dress game. There were so many brides-to-be there to participate. Lindsey's mom joined in on the fun, too!

It was mostly girls from ZTA at PC, and they are so much fun to catch up with!

Lindsey got lots of cute things, and I was so happy to be there! She has had so much going on with finishing up law school, studying for the bar, and planning a wedding, and she handles it all so well. She is marrying Ron in August, and I can't wait! She's gonna be such a precious little bride!

Visiting, Hernias, and a Pushover

2011-05-19T19:17:00.000-04:00

Our small group has been trying to come up with some sort of way to give back to the community, and we've had several ideas. Our first one was to visit other young couples who have "visited" our church. It sounded like a great idea - just stop by after dinner, say hello, and drop off a little goodie bag with First Baptist info.

It ended up being kinda funny. Our first stop was at a girl's house who I'm pretty sure was about 15 years old. She fibbed a little bit on her info sheet. We also went by the home of church members, not visitors, and a church employee. Good times. We've got to do a little better screening next time, HA.

I went to my old stomping grounds, Union High School, Tuesday and Wednesday to do sports physicals for the athletes. It was quite an experience, and I was glad to help out. However, it was a bit awkward doing the "hernia check" for all the little boy athletes. Bless 'em. We all just got past our giggles and carried on.

And finally, I'm such a pushover. Caleb is an Apple fanatic, and I thought he was going to be satisfied for a while once I got the iPhone. He gets to play with it all the time, but apparently, his real desire was for an iPad. He's been calling Best Buy daily to see if they've gotten any in because we want to use our Reward Zone points and buy one from there. Well, today was his lucky day. I felt like we won a game by catching Best Buy on the day they actually had an iPad in so I caved. Merry Christmas in May! I'll have to remind him of this new toy in December...

Best Friends

2011-05-17T21:13:00.000-04:00

I always laugh till my cheeks hurt when our group of college friends gets together, and this weekend was no exception. We spent the weekend at the "cottage," and it was so much fun!

The boys decided that it would be a good idea to go for a swim at 1 AM our first night there.

We spent Saturday just hanging out, eating, playing games, and getting some sun.

Spot It is one of my new faves.

I have so much fun when we're together! Love ya'll!

I don't stay up till 1 AM twice in a row to talk to just anybody, but for these girls...it's so worth it!

It was such a fun weekend! I hope we can always get together like this : )

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-09T09:42:00.000-04:00

Caleb and I are so blessed to have such wonderful mothers in our lives! We have learned so much from them! So Happy Mother's Day to ya'll!

We spent the weekend at the lake house. My parents have been doing lots of yard work, and it looks great! My mom has some sort of turtle obsession, and here's her "turtle garden." Ha.

Here's Mama Deanie with her 4 kiddos. Love it!

We ate yummy food, went on a few boat rides, and played a Setback tournament. Guess who won- Mama! Go girl!

It was a fun weekend of celebrating moms. We love ya'll! Thanks for all you do for us!!!

Found it!

2011-05-06T08:55:00.001-04:00

Caleb and I decided not to really look at other houses until our current house sells, but I made an exception for this one...

Our Dream House

What a classic movie and home! I want it!!! Too bad it's out of our price range. And it would be an awfully long commute for work.

Black Swan...

2011-05-05T09:50:00.000-04:00

...is one DISTURBING movie.

It won all those awards. Everybody was talking about it. Natalie Portman was the star. It HAD to be good.

We used our free Monday night Redbox for Black Swan, and I was a bit disappointed. The actors were great, but I was terrified by the end of it. I had to go outside and water our plants after we finished watching it, and I was looking behind my back the whole time for some giant black swan ballerina to be coming after me.

It made me feel sorry for all ballerina's toes and the torture those skinny girls go through. I'm gonna stick with romantic comedies from now on.

Jeff & Morgan's Wedding

2011-05-03T21:54:00.001-04:00

Jeff & Morgan got married at a beautiful church in downtown Charlotte, and they had their reception at a barn! It was all SO Morgan - hot pink and orange! Just so fun! Here's the happy couple doing their first dance.

I saw several of the younger PC girls there which is always fun!

Aren't these M&M's precious?

Dancin'

This picture was quite possibly my favorite from the whole weekend. Fox and Laura have been dating for, um, well, a while. And it's about time he catches a garter ; )

We had a blast celebrating Jeff & Morgan, and we know the Lord is going to truly bless their marriage. Jeff is surprising Morgan with a honeymoon to Hawaii right now! So jealous!

Jeff & Morgan

2011-05-02T09:14:00.000-04:00

I decided NOT to wake up at 4 am to watch the Royal Wedding, but I did see bits and pieces of it throughout the day. I thought Kate and Pippa looked gorgeous. William and Harry weren't too shabby either.

But...we got to celebrate another special couple on Royal Wedding weekend! Jeff & Morgan had a wonderful weekend in Charlotte to celebrate their marriage! Jeff and Caleb were roommates at PC and really good friends all 4 years. Morgan and I ran cross country and were ZTA's together. We loved being there to celebrate with them. Here's the happy couple at the rehearsal Friday night.

Apparently, Jeff has some obsession with hippos. Several of Caleb's friends have favorite animals. Who knew? Kinda weird, but whatever, HA. So in honor of Jeff's fave animal, here's his groom's cake.

These guys don't get together very often, but when they do... Well, it's special. They always seem to have the best time, and they never want the night to end!

Jeff's dad, George, is a hoot. Here he is giving his toast before the slide show.

It was lots of fun catching up with all of these girls!

We drove home late Friday night to get a little sleep before March of Dimes the next morning. Here'a a picture of a few of us from work.

Our office always gets a group together to walk/run at the event each year. It was extra special this year because we walked in honor of Sawyer. One of our nurses, Donna, had a grandson born 5 months ago at only 23 weeks and 5 days. It is an absolute miracle that he is alive today. He went home 2 weeks ago, and he is doing awesome! He has doctor's appointments daily, requires lots of medications, and was still using oxygen as of last week. His mom and dad are being so strong, and we keep them in our prayers. Sawyer was the perfect name for him - sounds so strong and powerful! So we walked for Sawyer!

It was such a pretty day for March of Dimes, and Caleb and I loved being able to run for such a great reason.

Happy Easter!

2011-04-27T20:47:00.000-04:00

We spent our Easter weekend with family, and it was so much fun! I had Good Friday off, and it was so nice to sleep in and just relax all day. Caleb got to leave work a little early Friday afternoon, and we went straight to Georgia to meet his family for dinner. We usually get stuck in 5:00 Greenville traffic on our way, but we beat it this time! We need to always leave a little early...I'll get his bosses to understand, HA.

We were able to spend lots of time with our 2 favorite nephews! They are so funny and so cute together, even when they are "learning to share." It's adorable. Here they are playing airplane!

Dying eggs with them Saturday night was lots of fun! Very few messes were made, and I think they enjoyed it! It may have taken 8 adults supervising the process to make it go smoothly, but hey - whatever it takes : )

We drove to Union Sunday morning for church at Tabernacle and lunch at Mama's. John and Brittnee always color coordinate, especially for Easter. Aren't they cute?

I realized how badly I'm in need of a tan while taking Easter pics. This fair skinned girl can't wait to see the sun soon!

Caleb and I went to the dollar theater Sunday afternoon to see Unknown. It was a great movie, filled with excitement. It made me so thankful for my simple life though, Ha!

Hope everybody had a wonderful weekend celebrating our risen Lord!

I've already switched over to my white pocketbook and wearing linen. Woo Hoo for Spring! Now if I could just get a tan...

The Witness

2011-04-19T13:24:00.000-04:00

After keeping the nursery at church for the first time on Sunday (oh, my the experience...), we went to Buffalo for lunch and to hang out for the afternoon. My brothers made their acting debut at the church's Easter play, The Witness, and we watched it Sunday night.

The Witness is an account of Jesus's life through the eyes of Peter. It shows His birth, miracles He performed, His crucifixion, and most importantly, His resurrection! It was an amazing story, and everybody did a great job!

Unfortunately, my brothers were the "bad guys," aka the soldiers who helped put Jesus on the cross. They think they look so tough.

The portrayal of Jesus on the cross was very graphic and eye opening. He truly suffered, and it served as a great reminder of His sacrifice.

Here's Jesus after His resurrection! Such a happy time!

We really enjoyed the play and are so happy to celebrate Palm Sunday remembering the true meaning of Easter!

My grandma hosted the after party - we had yummy dinner and dessert at her house after the play. She made this chocolate pound cake which was yummy. It's extra special because the cake recipe came from my other grandma, my dad's mom, and the icing recipe is Mama's, my mom's mom. Isn't that so neat?!

My g'ma and her friends were still going strong after 9 PM when most of the family was ready to head home for the night. They had a great time, and it makes me so happy seeing her with her friends.

I hope I have such great friends when I'm her age : )

Darius

2011-04-17T22:26:00.000-04:00

Some of the best friends we've made in Spartanburg are the couples in our small group. We love spending time with them each week, and it's even better when we find a chance to get together on the weekends. We were so excited when one of those couples, Kyle and Julia, asked us to go to dinner and a concert last night. Kyle and Julia are such a precious couple, and we have loved getting to know them. We always have so much fun when we get together.

Converse College hosts an outdoor concert every April, and we had a great time when we went to it 2 years ago. That's when Caleb discovered Matt Nathanson, and we enjoyed some hits from the Zac Brown Band. Darius Rucker was the star of the show this year!

His voice is so unique, and he's extra cool since he's from SC. He sang several new songs, a few Hootie hits, and a couple of classics - Purple Rain and Family Tradition.

We saw some other friends there, too! Ellice went to PC with us, and Abby married a PC guy. They all live about 5 miles from us now. It's a small world!

Even though it got a little chilly when the sun went down, we had a great time!

Big Curt the Superstar

2011-04-13T21:19:00.000-04:00

I just about peed my pants today when I received this picture message from Jordan. It was taken in the Food Lion parking lot where Jordan works. The man in the overalls there, my daddy, was just doing some midday grocery shopping. He hears that News Channel 7, the station Caleb works for, has a reporter outside. So, Big Curt makes his way out to his car and just happens to get selected for the interview.

I don't even wanna know what he did to get the reporter's attention. We all know that TV stations choose the most entertaining people to actually show during the story. Guess who won?! Oh yea, Big Curt!

I wish I had a way to upload the footage, but I'm not that high-tech. It was only a few seconds, and Jordan was in the background. So 2 Gregory men were represented on WSPA today.

PC football news

2011-04-13T13:04:00.002-04:00

At least we're #1 in something...

http://collegefootball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1211005

Maybe it will be the biggest upset ever! Go Hose : )