Pics from '08

The Crew in Cancun...Our last night there!! June '08
Happily Engaged...My beautiful Ring

The family in Daytona Beach...July '08

The Inn we stayed at on our Honeymoon...Looking over the vineyard!!

THE MOST WONDERFUL DAY OF OUR LIVES...AUG 2nd 2008! Husband and Wife!!!!!

Goodbye to 2008

As we prepare to bring in a new year, its always good to look back at the year that we are leaving behind and reflect on everything...The good and the Bad. I have to say that 2008 has been an amazing year for me and Jeremy. We have sooo much to look back on and its even funnier to look back at 2007 and think about how much things have changed since then. Just thinking about how much things will continue to change and all the things we have to come in our life. This past year has consisted of so many wonderful experiences. We have enjoyed some GREAT times with some wonderful Friends, have traveled to some wonderful places,I got a new job, got engaged and GOT MARRIED!! We have started our lives together as a family in 2008 and will ALWAYS cherish this year as the start of soooo much to come.
It was February 14th when we got engaged. He did such a wonderful job keeping a secret...until that day. It was sooo cute. He had Deana Jo on board for months to get me away everytime he needed to make a run to BG to work out all the details. I over heard a phone call on that day and began to figure things out. Deana Jo went to BG and got the ring, since he couldn't get away from me and he made a run to town to pick it up. Long story short...It was WONDERFUL...A beautiful ring from my Soul Mate and the first step to the rest of our lives together.
In June we embarked on an adventurous and eventful vacation to Cancun with a wonderful group of friends. The Tucks, The Gents and The soon to be Overtons enjoyed a great week and fun and interesting times at Temptation resort in Cancun Mexico. Needless to say, its a different world down there and you would be suprised at the things you may see. One way or another...It brought us all together and the best thing we took from the trip were some great memories and some Amazing Friends who we hadn't spent much time with.
I cant forget to mention the new addition to the family, Miss Addison Baylee Johnson who was born one day after her big sister, Madison's bday and one day before mine. Yep, we share a sequence of Bdays starting with May 19th and ending on May 21st. She is a bundle of JOy...Literally. The happiest little baby EVER!! She is a doll and it was yet another blessing to be an aunt to 3 beautiful lil girls.
In July we took a trip to Daytona with my family for our annual family Vacation. It is always an experience but we have sooo much fun. If you know my family at all, you know that chaos is never far behind when we all get together. Its just what we do...We fuss and bicker and be a bit hateful to one another...NO BIG DEAL...REALLY. Its soo true. It means absolutely nothing and not a soul in the family gets his or her feelings hurt when someone tells them to just be quiet. Its crazy I know...But for us, its just a way of life. We really do love each other. That trip was a good one and once again...Good memories and closer relationships.
AUG 2nd 2008...The Happiest day of my life. The day I would marry my soul mate...My best friend. It was an amazing day and everything I could want. We were able to share our very special day with those who mean the most to us and were officially on the way to our Happily Ever After. The honeymoon was wonderful. We went to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC and stayed in the Biltmore Inn...AMAZING!! Let me just say, we were in awww of the elegance and serenity of the entire atmosphere. There couldn't be a better place for a honeymoon. A place to just get away and relax with one another.
Shortly after our wedding, one of the not so great times of 2008 occured. My Grandmother who was 91 yrs old passed away in her home in Owensboro. My Grandmother was an amazing woman who inspired sooo many people with her activeness at the age of 90 and her amazing commitment to God and her church. Grandmother was ready to go home...She was tired and ready to go be with her 3 children she had said good bye to along with two husbands and some of her closest friends. Goodbyes are never easy but we had to let her go...Go be with her Lord and now she can be our Angel.
The holidays have been great this year and throughout the year I have continued to be blessed...Over and Over again. We got much more involved in our church and found where we want to be in life. I have gotten back in touch and "re" found some amazing friends.(Bridgette n Racheal) I have continued to be blessed with the Best Friend I could ask for, Deana Jo, who has never let me down and is always there for me. And have not lost touch with my long time friend Jonnica, who for years has been a part of my life. It fun to look back, to reflect and even more fun to look forward. I hope that everyone has a Blessed NEW YEAR and that 2009 will hold plenty of happiness and Joy. I am very excited about what is to come in our lives!!!

Amazing Christmas

It was an amazing Christmas and we are still celebrating. Currently we are in Vanceburg, KY with Jeremy's parents and Sunday we will be having Christmas with my mom, brother, sis and the girls. Along with my bro and sis n law. I am thrilled that we still have some more Family get togethers because I always Hate when Christmas is over and we have to put up the tree and all the decor. I especially hate to put up the Christmas CDs and the Hallmark Christmas movies stop airing everyday. Like I have said a ton of times before...Its just such a Happy time of the year. I hate to see it go. I was truly blessed and a little spoiled by my Husband for Christmas but I guess thats okay. We have fun and just love to see eachother happy. I have to say, he didn't get too bad of a deal himself and he was more than pleased with his gifts. God is Good and we have to not forget that if he had not chosen to give us the Ultimate gift of all all those many years ago, we would have nothing to celebrate and would not be able to give the gifts to our loved ones now. I just hope that everyone had a very joyous and Merry Christmas!!
The kitchen cabinets are up and it looks great. Countertops and tile on the floor is all we have left. Its soo exciting to see it all coming together. We have worked very hard this week to get it done and Jeremy has worked hard for the last 3 weeks. We will both be very happy to see it complete.
The New Year is nearing...Time to reflect and remember all the blessings and happenings of the past year and to plan and set goals for the year to come.

Another great Weekend

It was another Wonderful weekend. Friday night we went to Bowling Green and got our cabinets picked out and went to Lowes to get the paint. It is getting sooo close now. Today the kitchen is being painted and Jeremy is going to start putting in the cabinets. Atleast at that point I can start to put somethings up. Then we will have countertops and the tile to put down on the floor. We are making progress!! We picked up lil Raigan while in BG and brought her home to stay all night with us. It was a little bit of a chore, keeping her out of the kitchen and dining room but we put up barricades and it worked. On Saturday we took her to Nannies to play for a while so we could get somethings done on the house. We cleaned up and hauled some things off and actually did get a lot done. That night we went to BG to go to the movies with Bridgette, Josh and Brooke. Bridgette and I made plans weeks ago for us to get together and go watch Four Christmas's. It was a VERY FUNNY and good movie. We went to O'Charleys after the movie so I could watch some of the Dallas game and we could grab a bite to eat. We had a great time getting to catch up with the GENTS! We always have lots of fun when we're together but it had been a while since we were able to get together. Even despite the Cowboys loss, it was a good day.
Sunday we spent most of the day at church and it was another good time. We had done an Angel Tree and had an afternoon Christmas service for the kids mainly but the adults had a good time too. We sang Christmas Carols, read the Christmas story and Santa and Mrs Clause came to visit and the kids got to get their gifts. It was great to see them all so happy and excited to see Santa. The gifts from the Angel Tree they didn't open. I would rather them have them on Christmas morning to open. It may be all they will get. It was a very humbling experience along with very rewarding. It was yet another reminder of what the holidays are really about. Christmas started with God giving us the greatest gift ever and when we have the oppurtunity it should be a priority of ours to give to others. I have realized that the joy I get from it is probably almost as great as the joy they get when recieving the gifts.
Today is my last day at work for a while and I am looking forward to some time off. I cant wait for Christmas! Only 3 more days!! Oh yeah and I didnt' mention that, yes, Jeremy n I have already been exchanging gifts. One Saturday night and one Sunday night. I told you...We never can wait til Christmas. The best ones are still to come though and those will not be opened til Christmas Eve atleast!!!

Happy Friday

Well there hasn't really been anything out of the ordinary or exciting going on in our lives this week. Therefore, I haven't attempted to write anything and even try to make it remotely interesting. I did make it home safely on Tuesday. Deana Jo rode home with me and the roads were actually cleared off pretty good, minus the cut through road we take to get to 70 from the plant. Good job to those guys who worked around the clock to get the roads in a safe condition. I have to add that our crew that works in Butler Co does a MUCH better job than the one in Muhlenberg. It is a distinct change in road conditions when you cross the county line. Kudos to our road crew!! We have still been renovating and working on the house. Well Jeremy is actually doing most of the work. I have done very little. It is coming along, it just takes so much time and its difficult for me to be patient. I would love to have the house in a little bit of order by Christmas. I am sure we wont be completely done but if we could just walk through the house I would be pleased =) Wednesday night we went to church and to Walmart to get a few things and do just a little bit of Christmas shopping. We didn't have much time but were able to grab a few things. Hopefully next week when I get some time off I can fit Christmas shopping in with the painting that will need to be done. Its hard to believe that Christmas is only 6 days away. I am sooo excited. I love to give the gifts I have bought. Especially to Jeremy. I dont tell him what he is getting and I dont like to know what I am getting. That is the most fun, suprising him with things that I know he will LOVE and doing it all by myself. Usually I get excited and give them to him a little early. I am trying not to. Christmas Eve maybe but no sooner than that! The girls will be precious and I always love when the family can get together. Christmas is just a Happy time and I absolutely Love It. I always hate to see it go.
I have to add also that I am not very happy with this weather we are having. Yes, its a pretty day but ITS DECEMBER!!! It isn't supposed to be 60 degrees a week before Christmas. It should be in the 30's and we should be getting snow, not rain!! I am sure several of you are loving this pretty weather but I just think its supposed to be cold in December. If it were April, yes, I would say its a Beautiful day and I would be loving it but how can you really be ready for Christmas when you can walk around outside with a Tshirt on?? I am just thankful I dont live down south and am looking forward to the cold weather returning. Sorry.

Hope everyone is having a HAPPY FRIDAY!! Enjoy the weekend.

Braving the Weather

Well we got some snow and ice last night as I am sure all of you all know. I told Jeremy last night that I really needed to come in to work today since it is part of my job to get the guys in the gate. I figured if they got here and the gate was locked they would be lost as to what to do to get in. I also have some other things that have to be done today. I really wasn't sure about driving in it considering I really never have had to drive in much ice or snow for that matter but I was gonna give it a shot. Thankfully, Jeremy offered to drive me to work and we made it safely with very little trouble. Sure it was slick but not too bad and I was in good hands. I was just glad I didn't have to drive. I would probably be fine but its always better to have someone with you. I do have to say the white blanket of snow over the parking lot is beautiful. I LOVE THE SNOW!! Its an icy snow and not one to be out playing in but it still looks pretty. Brandon brought Deana Jo to work too so Jeremy got in with him and they have gone duck hunting. I cant say whether they were just being good husbands or if they really just wanted to go hunting but either way, we got here safely and they are on their way to doing what they love so it worked out for us all. I know they would have been worried to death had they not brought us though and they could have gone hunting anywheres so I am thankful they care enough to alter there hunting arrangements to compensate us =) I am driving home though so maybe the roads will clear up a little. If not, I am sure I will make it just fine. Hope everyone else makes it safely to their destinations or just stays home which, of course, is always the better option.

Catching up on the Weekend

Well I had every intention to post a blog first thing this morning when I got to work but things have been crazy and the weekend was another busy one so, yeah, I have gotten a few days behind. I had a good weekend but, like I said, it was pretty busy. Run, Run, Run is pretty much what it consisted of and before I knew it it was Monday morning all over again.
Friday afternoon when I got home from work I helped Jeremy and we did DEMO on some more of the kitchen. He had gotten the floor and wall replaced that he had taken up so we emptied out the cabinets and started tearing them out. We were busy for a while and got a lot done. It really wasn't too bad to get that done but now all that stuff is piled in our house since it has been rainy outside and we dont want to let all the cabinets ruin just incase we find someone who needs some or if we decide to use them sometime somewhere. Maybe in the Garage or something. Anyhow, When we got that done we went over to Deana Jo n Brandons so that I could "borrow" her kitchen to fix some things I needed to get done by Saturday night. Well...Change of plans...We got over there and of course had to play with Blake for a while. Barry n Sandy were there too with the girls so every one was having a big time. I went up stairs to catch up on Greys Anatomy and got to feeling bad so when it was over I decided I was ready to go home and go to bed. Didn't even attempt to make a single thing.
Saturday morning Deana Jo n I got up early to head to BG and do some Christmas shopping While the guys went Duck Hunting. We had a good day and enjoyed ourselves so much. We got some Christmas shopping done and got some shopping done for ourselves too. =) We went to Flea Land, Shoe Carnival, Gander Mtn, the mall and Walmart. BG was a mad house but that was okay. What would you expect 2 weeks before Christmas? We met up with Kristin(my sis n law) and Raigan in the mall and we took Raigan with us for a lil while so Kristin could shop. We went to Fazoli's and met up with Jill, Blake, Tyler n Richelle for lunch. We then took the kids to Gander Mtn for what we thought was going to be a picture with Santa...WRONG!! Blake wasn't in the mood to mess with Santa and Raigan didn't want any part of sitting on his lap. She wanted to walk up to him and look at him but not to be held by him. So we wrapped up the day at Walmart and headed back to M-town just in time for me to make it to Alicia's for our "2001 girls Christmas Party" We had such a good time!!! Me, Racheal Tuck, AmberLe, Jaclyn, Lauren Hampton, Alicia McKinney and Tiffany Camplin all attended and it was a GREAT Time!!!
Sunday consisted of more running with a little down time. We got up and got ready for church, had lunch afterwards and then headed home for a little rest and relaxation. We laid on the couch and caught up on some TV for a while before getting ready again and heading back to Beaver Dam for a church Christmas party. We had a good time visiting, Singing Christmas Carols and playing Taboo. It was relatively late when we got home...Close to 10 but I had to finish the Sunday night football game (Dallas VS New York Giants) Dallas WON!!! YAYYYY!! Finally I got to sleep around 11 and really couldn't believe the weekend was over.
It was A WONDERFUL weekend with Friends, Jeremy and our Church Family. Just another reminder of the many blessings in my life.

Late night

Okay so at times yesterday I really wondered if I was going to get through the day. Not that I was sick or anything or that the day was a real bad one. It was just one of the days when I was just wishing the day would end and I could go home. It seemed to take FOREVER!! I am sure u have all had days like that. Anyways, I did make it and actually did get out of work a little early. Once I got home Jeremy had been working on the house and is starting to get things put back together. We still have quite a bit to do and more to tear apart before it will be completely finished but the walls are going back in anyways. I am really thankful that Jeremy is able to do the work and we aren't having to pay someone to do it. I probably dont show him nearly enough how appreciative I am for everything he does. I tend to be the type of person who always expects more and I know I really have to work on that because I know its not an easy job and he's doing it all by himself. By the time we are done we will have new walls, floors and cabinets in our kitchen. It will be GREAT!!! We got ready and went to eat at Garcias before we headed on to church. After church we had praise n worship practice so it was a late night for us last night. Jeremy plays the guitar and I sing (with a group) at church. We enjoy it and we have a lot of fun. Its actually very rewarding and something that we do together. It was close to 10 by the time we got home and I headed straight to bed. Considering I am usually in bed by 830, 10 is late for me. I managed to make it out of bed this morning though and here I am back for another day at work.

It is a blessing...

In a time when so many people are struggling and just trying to get through I thank God for the life that we are able to live. It is such a blessing to be able to buy Christmas presents for the girls, the family, and each other and not have to worry about whether or not we are going to be able to pay our bills. It is a blessing that we are able to make our payments each month without worry and that we have a savings account that still has money in it. In these trying times that our country, state and community are in, I think it is very important to remember what a blessing it is to be able to do the things that have always been taken for granted. I give God the credit for allowing us to be able to live the life that we are able to live. It is not by chance that we are able to put the amount of money that we put in the offering plate each week without ever really even noticing that it is gone. God will give back if you give to him. It wasn't too long ago that our lives were not exactly what they needed to be and that we were wondering around lost. Not literally but our lives were lost. At the time we may have not realized it but now, looking back I realize that in that time I had no real meaning. Of course, Jeremy n I have always had a pretty good relationship and life together but it wasn't until fairly recently when we decided exactly what kind of life we wanted that everything really came together. We had a choice to make and I thank God that together we made the decision that we did. We decided that we wanted to get our lives right and start the kind of life that we could actually be proud of. The kind of life that our children could be brought up in that we could be the role models that we both wanted to be. We gave up a few things, made a few changes and GAINED sooo much more!! I know that without doubt God has allowed us to get to where we are and the things that have happened to us in the last little bit have been souly because God has given back to us. You can call it chance or good luck, good fortune, whatever you want to call it but I call it a BLESSING! A blessing that God has given to us.
This time of the year I often find myself thinking about how hard it has to be for those who cant buy gifts for their children or even give them a warm meal on Christmas day. I think about how terrible and embarrased those parents must feel and can't help but to feel so grateful for all that I have. I will do what I can for others in this time but I will never again take for granted what I have and will never give myself credit for the things I am able to do.

The Christmas Spirit

Okay so yesterday was a day filled with Christmas festivities and has really gotten me in the Christmas spirit. Not that it really takes much because I LOVE CHRISTMAS TIME but it was a good day. I got up a little before 8 and headed to my moms for a while. She and my sister are huge RADIO AUCTION fans and they make it a tradition every year to listen to the radio auction and spend the day together. I wrapped presents for a while and listened for anything that might interest me but I am not the bidder that they are, thats for sure. I got Jeremy's presents wrapped and now we actually have presents under the tree. I have sooo many more presents to wrap though. Right now, if you looked in my car, you would think I was Santa Clause with all the presents that are in there. After I left moms I went to the parade with Deana Jo and Blake Jordon. We had a good time and Blake really enjoyed it. He was sooo excited to see Santa and I think he liked the fact that everyone threw candy at him. Afterwards we got in the car and he looked at me and said " We had a great time...We had a great time watching those trucks throw candy at us" LOL!! For those of you who know Blake, you know that there is never any telling what he might say. Last night Jeremy and I went to BG to do some Christmas shopping and we had a good time as well. We bought Blakes' Christmas present and then we bought our Angel from the Angel tree at church's gifts. Both little boys so we loved that...Especially Jeremy since all we have are nieces, He loved shopping for a little boy for once. I think he would like to have had some of those toys himself...LOL!!

It was a good day and while at Walmart we bought the Martina McBride White Christmas CD and listened to it on the way home! I am sooo excited about Christmas. I cant wait to give everyone their gifts. It truly is the HAPPIEST time of the year. Have a great Sunday. Its time to get ready for church! Hope everyone's weekend has been a good one.

Grandmothers Christmas Village

Well there isn't really too much for me to say. Nothing extremely exciting has happened or anything out of the ordinary at all really. I do have to say though, that I left out of my last blog about us getting our Christmas tree and everything out and got the house all ready for Christmas. We did that on Friday afternoon after we got in from shopping and lunch with his parents. I always love to put the tree up and have been waiting patiently for the time to come. I was thrilled that we got to do this together. Last yr I put it up by myself because Jeremy had to work and this year I was really hoping it would work out to where we could do it together. Turns out..it did and we got it up and decorated just perfectly. Well we think so anyways...LOL. A few other things I got out and sat up around the house. The most cherished is definately the little village houses I got from my Grandmothers apartment. She passed away in September and I now everytime I see those villages along with the china, the cabinet and the curio, I think of Grandmother and picture all of these things in her apartment. The village houses she never put up. All year round she kept them sitting out in her living room. She just loved those little houses and now I can love them too. Grandmother was definately as close to an angel on earth as you can get. Never saying a cross word to or about anyone and even at 91 yrs old, she read her Bible everyday. A bible that I now have and when I look through the pages and see all her notes and marked verses, I am careful to read. I know that anything that touched her life and inspired her could be an inspiration to me as well and I only hope that through Grandmothers inspiration I can live half the life that she did. She was an amazing lady and everyone that knew her would tell you that...We love you and Miss you Grandmother!

I also have to mention that fact that my kitchen is a total disaster!! We are doing some home repairs and remodeling so wish us luck. At this point it looks like just a big mess but I know things have to get worse before they can get better. Lucky for me, Jeremy has it all under control and I dont have to worry about how it is all going to come back together. It will and I will very happy with the outcome but for now...KITCHEN IS OFF LIMITS!!!

Thanksgiving, Shopping and everything in between

So its been a few days since I have posted anything but that is because like most of you probably, I have been busy, busy. On Thursday we started our day at my Mamaw Daugherty's house for Thanksgiving lunch. My job was to bring the rolls. I dont guess they quite trust my cooking yet...LOL. Lunch was great with all the fixings and I ate plenty. From there we headed to Beaver Dam to visit with Jeremy's family. They had already eaten by the time we got there and even though I was completely stuffed I could not resist the Pecan Pie and Coconut Cream pie so once again...I was eating!! When we left there we went to visit with his mom n dad for a bit and then I headed to Bowling Green to meet my sis to start our Shopping adventure! We headed to Gander Mtn for their Thanksgiving day sale and we shopped and shopped. Needless to say by the end of our visit, we earned plenty of Gander bucks with the $20 they were giving with every hundred. Our husbands will be happy. From there we headed back to her house to map out our BLACK FRIDAY shopping route!!! We were up til 130 shopping the ads and giving Brad his TO BUY list at the stores we weren't going to hit. Even though we were up til 130 we got up only 2 hrs later at 330 to hit the early opening stores...Kohls being our first stop. We had a blast and didn't see anyone do any punching, slapping, or hair pulling. Toys R Us, KMart and the mall wrapped up our shopping trip and 7 hrs later...We had done all the damage to the bank account we could stand. Most likely some of you reading this are thinking...DIDDO! So from there I had to go to Crackel Barrell to meet Jeremy n his Parents for our Thanksgiving dinner with them, the non traditional way. Friday night we went over to Deana Jo n Brandons so the guys could go hunt and I borrowed DJ's kitchen to fix my desserts for Saturdays' Thanksgiving at my sisters. Home at 1230 and in the bed finally...Just to get up on Saturday and start another non stop day of cooking, eating, game playing and babysitting. We brought little Raigan home with us for the night and we took her to church with us on Sunday. She did pretty good actually. When we made it home from church we laid her down for a while and finally I could relax for a few minutes. We spent the afternoon playing and Josh n Kristin came to get her around 630. It was a long and like I said, busy weekend/holiday but it was GREAT!! I had a wonderful time and cant wait til Christmas.
I am back to work now and getting things back to normal. Glad to have Jeremy home in the evenings when I get there.