USC vs. BAMA

We got to go to at least one game this year at USC and it just happened to be when they played the then #1 University of Alabama. We went with our great friends Carleigh (my maid of honor) and her boyfriend Kevin. We stayed at Kyle’s moms house. She was so brave to take us all on. We got there on Friday night and Kyle had be up at 6:30 for a 12:30 game. We made some tailgating foods and packed a cooler and met Neal at our site. We played some great games and even better music. We were able to run into Kris again. Thank God he still thinks we are semi cool that he likes to hang out.

We walked into a packed stadium and got to witness USC beat Alabama. Although Carleigh and Kevin were upset, they couldn’t stay that mad because of how unbelievable happy Kyle was. He was dancing and yelling. It was so fun for him and us to watch. After the game we were lucky enough to catch up to our great friends Jayson and Lindsay for dinner and then crashed at about 10 after such a long day. What a great game to pick to go to!

Small Group

Vertical Reality

Kyle and I lead small groups through North Point Community Church. I have sophomore girls and he has sophomore boys. We lead with our good friends Jacob and Jessica Willis who we went to the beach with. This fall we were able to go to Sharp Top Cove in Jasper GA for Vertical Reality. It was a high school retreat, where we got to share our faith and our lives with some amazing girls. We hope that they had as much fun as we did. Jessica has been such a great leader to work with. With my schedule it is hard for me to get off on weekends and for events so she has done so much and I can’t tell you how thankful I am for that.

Slumber Party

We also had an awesome slumber party this year where we got to be real girly girls.  We painted nails watched some great movies, and pigged out. It was so fun to act like we were in high school again and get to hang out with these girls. They are each so unique and beautiful and they sure do know how to have a great time!

Operation Christmas Child.

This is our second year as a small group and also our second year doing Operation Christmas Child from Samaritan’s Purse.. We had such a blast meeting at Target with our shoeboxes and filling them for a child. We spent about 2 hours there shopping and decorating. Thank you Target for letting us invade your store for a couple of hours. This year we send out around 14 boxes between us all. It makes you really love the Christmas Season!

Chis Visited

Our amazingly talented friend and tour guide from NY came to visit us as he was driving around the area. He was able to catch my Dad and Kyle in one of there tennis matches, come to church with us, listen to me chat his ear off and go out for some food. He is probably one of the most creative guys I have ever met. It was nice to get some time with him to just to catch up on his cool city life and what he has been up to. It was also nice to have a little house guest. I hope that people feel cozy at the house. Hopefully he had as good of time as we did. Thanks Chris for the visit!

Fripp Island

Yes another trip. We have been extremely fortunate this year and I didn’t even realize how many little get away’s we had. So lucky! We were able to go with Kyle’s Mom and Jim to Fripp Island.  This is the second time I have been able to go to this magical place. Family friends the Seymour’s joined us along with another one of Kris’s friends. I love this place because we get to ride bikes or drive golf carts everywhere. There are also tons of DEER. Yes, DEER. They come right up to you and you can feed them and it is one of the coolest things I have ever done.

I love that here you can completely detach yourself from the world. We didn’t use cell phones or computers really. We just talked and laughed and really were able to relax. Company was great food was great and I got to take a nap everyday. Again the trip was too short. But how amazing it was to be with Kyle’s family. I am truly blessed with having them in my life.

Murels Inlet

For the past 3 years one of our best friends Neal has invited us to his family’s home in Murrels Inlet in South Carolina. It is just south of Myrtle Beach and full of charm. We got to go again this year with some old faces and some new faces. Some of the new faces just happened to be one of my best girlfriends from highschool named Elizabeth. How fun that we can all get along and hang out?

We went there after Kris’ graduation. It was fun because we also got to see him a bit since he was on Senior week at Myrtle Beach. We went to a lot of Coastal Carolina baseball games, played on the beach and almost got tattoos until the guy at the shop talked us out of them. We were so fortunate with the weather and seeing Neal’s family is always a blast they are such nice people.

It was so nice to all be together especially since most of them met at our wedding. Wish we could do that party all over again still.

Seaside

We had a great experience to go with some amazing friends to Seaside Florida over Labor Day Weekend. We are so thankful to have friends that we all get along with and share the same interests. We got down there on a Thursday night and came home Sunday. We get some good sun and some GREAT food!

We were in such a great spot that we were able to ride bikes to breakfast and for shopping. We got to go dancing to a killer live band at Bud and Alleys. I ate grits at The Great Southern Cafe that I LOVED for the first time. I actually finished them off of Kyle’s plate. And then got them again for a breakfast another morning.  Also, got my yearly supply of key lime pie! Can you say my favorite?

We also found out that Tally and Jake were having a baby GIRL! We were so thrilled for them that I started yelling to tell everyone. I also got to have my first Low Country Boil cooked by Josh and his gorgeous wife. I think helped by the Willis’. Yes we are not that good at cooking. We ate with our hands and clean up was a breeze. We were able to go to a concert in the park which was so much fun with homemade pizzas. Yum. What an amazing get away! I sure did not want to come home. Thanks Willis’ for inviting us!

You May Be Right

I may be Crazy, but it just may be a lunatic you’re looking for!

That’s right call me crazy, but we got another dog. Now we all know that Kyle was not the one to initiate us getting another dog. I mean I was lucky to get one out of him and now he is in LOVE with her (Lucy). And I have had many many many talks about getting a second dog. Just because we work full time and I want Lucy to be able to have a friend and get some energy out. However, we (Kyle) decided against it. That is until I saw this picture on a wondeful woman’s facebook page who I had worked with. Her daughters had adopted this bundle of joy and were unable to care for her.

YUP you guessed it. I FELL IN LOVE! For anyone that knows me I get attached to a pig in those sad trucks if they even make eye contact with me. I can’t allow myself to walk into PetsMart because I cry for 3 days wanting those dogs. I mean why do they let you walk them around? Anyway, different blog discussion.  So I texted her, then started bombarding poor Kyle with pictures, texts, and my emotions and then I went and got her!! She is so smart… almost too smart. And I am not going to lie it has been harder than I thought to have two dogs, but it is soooo worth it. They play, they are happy; and thats all I care about. Don’t worry I ABSOLUTELY CAN NOT get another dog, but if I could I would have my own no kill shelter for sure. These mutts are the best thing since sliced bread, and if you follow me on twitter or facebook you know how obsessed I am. Again I am in love and I know I am crazy!

Meghann’s Wedding and Chicago

We were so excited that we got to go to my cousin Meghann’s wedding in Toledo OH this summer on July 3rd. We drove up half way on that Thursday before and finished up on Friday. We had such a blast getting to see the O’Mara side of the family. We were only missing a few, but catching up is so much fun. I think it’s more the stories and everything involved that keeps you laughing. The wedding was absolutely beautiful and Meg took my breath away walking into the most gorgeous Catholic Church I have ever seen. The reception was just as fun dancing and singing. We sure do know how to get down. I can’t wait to see everyone again soon!

 

So then Kyle had a great idea. He really wants to see all of the baseball stadiums and since we were already so far north we looked for the closest or on our way ball game. Which just happened to be at Wrigley Field on July 4th! What fun that was. We got there about an hour before game time and then headed into the coolest ballpark ever. We were lucky to get some good seat, the Cubs weren’t so lucky with the outcome of the game. Thankfully I was born and have close friends and family in Barrington not far outside the city. Our amazing family friend who is like my 4th sister Julie has a unbelievable house and was kind enough to take us in show us the town, take us to fire works, and grab some good deep dish pizza at Giordano’s. Delicious. We got to see here mom Helen and dad Harry too. It was so much fun to be able to hangout with them. It had been WAY too long! It was also great to just see her adorable kiddos and husband. We couldn’t have been so lucky or thankful for how that weekend turned out.  What a great surprise! Thank you everyone for some good family and friend time! 

 

Rafting Trip

The Adventurous Parker’s did it again. We took a rafting trip. Michael (Kyle’s Dad) and step mom Tonya purchased a gorgeous cabin in Blue Ridge Georgia last year and so we went up to spend some time with them on Memorial Day weekend. We had such a blast playing games and eating and going shopping! Tonya was decorating and making the cabin look beautiful so I got to run to places with her to look at cute things. Then we went up to the Ocoee River for a rafting trip. I knew we were in trouble when he explained “Summer Teeth: Some are here, some are there, some are in the river” ewww! I did not want anything to happen to my teeth. Tonya and I took our positions at the back of the boat. The least dangerous. We went through our first rapid fine and on the second rapid the boat behind us flipped and I pulled into our boat a girl that had “Summer Teeth” I kept my cool as I inwardly flipped out thinking we still have 2 hours of this left. Miraculously though we ended up having a great time! That is until the last rapid. Our guide asked us if we wanted the Hero or Chicken Route. Tonya and I being the only girls were over ruled by the boys decisions to be Heros! Great! I swear the guy was jumping out of the boat as he told us to “LEAN LEFT” The boat flipped so fast I ended up underneath it only to catch a breath and hear Colton (Kyle’s Step-brother)  saying “Save Yourselves”  we all made it back into the raft slowing. Tonya had a rough tumble and we were all a little shakin’. But I would do it again for sure. Didn’t that make you want to go?

Anyway I will say that it was worth it and I felt accomplished afterwards. I actually can’t wait to go again. Seriously!

New York, New York

Sooooo….. I have never been to the Big Apple and have wanted to go for sometime, so we decided to take a weekend trip up there. Our weekend is a bit different than most we have Sundays and Mondays to do our trips. So we took a flight Saturday night and headed home on Tuesday morning. It was such an amazing experience. How Blessed are we? We went to Times Square after a terrifying cab ride. Elf was right when he said “the yellow ones don’t stop”. We were driving in the middle of lasts for goodness sake. We stayed in Park Central by Carnegie Hall. In Times square we got a huge peice of cheesecake that we couldn’t finish because it was so rich that a friend had recommended. Then walked around and watched some amazing artists and went into some shops. We ended up at a little Mexican bar and it was so cool to just be in the City.  We walked back to our hotel to get some shut eye for the rest of the weekend.

The next morning was June 20th Kyle’s  birthday! I went to go get him his favorite. Some Starbuck’s coffee. I didn’t have to walk to far thankfully because there were about 18 right by our hotel. Then our good friend Chris Williams met us and walked us all around what I think was the upper side of the city? I am not sure my directions were all distorted. We walked by Central Park and some Trump Tower and then grabbed a bite to eat at Lola’s where You’ve Got Mail was filmed! SO COOL! I guess when you live there things like that rub off but man it was hard to soak it all in. After a fun afternoon catching up with Chris, and his being the best tour guide (THANKS CHRIS!) we headed to YANKEE STADIUM! That’s right we went to a Yankee game Kyle’s most despised team since he is a Boston fan, but it was awesome and such a Big stadium. People were friendly, and we got on the JumboTRON!  Yes, yes we did.  Oddly enough though I thought the subway was so cool. Besides being ripped off by a guy selling fake tickets. I felt like I could be on a show riding on that thing.

We left a little early and went to Grand Central Station. I loved the super market in there. No wonder people are so skinny up there with all fresh healthy stuff! I was a little jealous. Then headed over to Canal Street and Little Italy. We enjoyed some shopping along with a nice bottle of wine and pizza with some great friends who are now engaged as of last month. Amanda Abbott and Bryan Lassiter. It was so great to be able to see them too. They walked us to another resturant and we had a great evening.

The next day took a train to Ground Zero. Amazing how emotional it feels to be there. The church was gorgeous and they’re now working on building on the other side which was kind of cool to see. We then walked towards the Statue of Liberty. It was so nice to be able to walk and tour. We didn’t get to go up close because it would have taken too long, but maybe when we have more time we will. Then we jumped on a Red Bus tour that took us so many places I can’t even describe. I think that was  the way to go for my first time. We got some shopping in at SoHo and then headed out to dinner for Pizza AGAIN! YUMM! Then we went to Serendipity for dessert talk about delicious! I thinking I would have bled Chocolate for a week after eating there.We topped off our last night with a visit to the M&M Factory and a drink on the spinning room on top of the Mariott Marquis. Delightful!

We also found this cool place called Dylan’s Candy Store and thought it was cool because of my nephew Dylan so we bought some stuff and then forgot it.. we were so sad! But that was the only downer of the whole trip so I really can’t complain!  What an awesome trip! So nice to be able to experience NY for my first time. Now I just want to go around Christmas time to see the decorations!