Happy Birthday Brian!

Today is Brian's birthday. We had a pretty great day- we spent the night at Ross Bridge last night, so to wake up in that HUGE comfy bed was pretty wonderful. We slept a little later than we had planned but still headed to church. The service was ROCKING AWESOME. Today was the baptism service from the people who committed their life to Christ or needed to get their baptism in order from camp. 22 people were baptized this morning and the front of the church was full all the way across from people coming forward to respond. That's a pretty big thing at my pretty large church. God is big, so I shouldn't be surprised. After church we headed to Mama G's with Kevin (Bri's brother) for Brian's birthday lunch. YUM LOVE THEIR NACHOS AND CHIK BREAST SANDWICH. We ended our outings at my parents house where they presented him with his bday gift. After working all afternoon on school work, we went to a Sunday School party, now we are back home again doing school work (or blogging- depends on which one of us you are talking about).

To comemorate his birthday I am making a list of the top 10 things I love about Brian Johnson- including pictures. Enjoy! :)

1. He loves the Lord and desires to be more like Him.

2. He is stunningly handsome.

3. He is ridiculously organized.

4. He is willing to go see Harry Potter with me at 10:30 pm after I got home at 9:00 pm and have been out of town all week. He also went to get the book at midnight the night we got back from our honeymoon.

5. Two words- WAR EAGLE. Couldn't have it any other way.

6. He loves his family dearly and is willing to do anything for them. (Including Bodie :)

7. He is hilarious. He always makes me laugh and smile.

8. He's a great cook. His quesadillas on the grill are the best things you have ever eaten.

9. His job. He never fails to mention some sort of power something or truck type. Even when you don't care. Even when your happy. Even when your sad. Even when you are flying over something on your way home from Costa Rica.

10. He is patient and kind and wonderful and supportive.

And did I mention, completely hot?

Happy birthday to the love of my life!!!

Have a blessed day!

CAMP 2009

For the last 5 days I have been with the jr. and sr. high of our church in Horn's Creek, TN having camp. God worked in magnificent ways throughout the youth group and I am so excited to see what's to come.

Let's be honest. I am not an outdoors, um, woman. I like shopping. I like painting and scrapbooking. I like sitting in the air conditioning with a good book, so this was not my comfort zone. But it was fun! I didn't have a recreation group this year so I was able to stay in the game room and craft room a nice portion of the week. At first I was kind of bummed, not because I wasn't going through the mud pit (good grief) or on the high ropes course (which of course I wouldn't have done anyway), but because I wasn't getting to hang out with any girls. But of course as all bad attitudes develop, God shows you the good- I got to hang out with girls of all ages because I was in one room the whole time, which was awesome. I roomed with an awesome new married adult, Marchele in the sr. girls cabin and we quickly became friends. I was expecting to build new relationships with students this week, but never an adult! I was so thankful for it. I also lead a group of 10th and 11th graders (co-ed) in Bible study. It started out very quiet, but in the end, you could see God working through the conversations we were having. It was also encouraging being able to talk to a couple of them one on one and discuss God's truths.

I don't have any pictures of camp, so know through my words know that it was incredible. God is so good.

The downer of camp was July 14th- Brian and I's two year anniversary. Brian was at home and I was at camp. He was so precious to get Rob (one of his good friends) to deliver a note to me and I was able to talk to him, but there was no celebration, so we are headed out for a night of romantic bliss at Ross Bridge in Birmingham. I can't wait to have a romantic "get away."

I hope ya'll have a blessed weekend!!!

My Best Friend's Wedding

Long time, no post! The past week has been CRAZY! Last week Rebecca, my best friend, FINALLY got married after 5 years of dating. Brian and I were both in the wedding, so we headed down on Friday morning for a weekend of wedding celebration. It was SO much fun and the wedding was beautiful.

Here are several pictures from the rehearsal dinner. It was AUBURN themed and so much fun. You can see from several of the pictures- there was toilet paper on the ceiling like Toomer's Corner and the band CD playing in the background. Nothing like the Auburn Marching Band.

Rebecca and Wesley- the bride and groom

Brian and I. He makes that face on the half the pictures we take. It is pretty funny.

This is Cohort C from Elem. Ed. at Auburn. From left to right is me, Jessica, Rebecca, Brittany, and Allison. All of these girls were in my wedding. They are the best!

Finally, here's a quick pic of Rebecca and I. LOVE HER!

On to the wedding day!

Saturday morning was the Bridemaids and Groomsmen's Breakfasts. I obviously wasn't at the Groomsmen's Bfast, but here was a pic of the bridemaids from our DELICOUS breakfast. Cheese grits and white chocolate covered strawberries- YUM!

Next, we were on to the church.

Isn't this pictures great!?

She looks BEAUTIFUL!

Presenting, Mr. and Mrs. Taff! :)

The reception was SOOO much fun! We danced- a lot.

Here is the traditional mmmbop dance. Those Hanson boys know how to rock.

Stunningly handsome boys :)

The Taffs and the Johnsons!

The Taffs heading off for their honeymoon pleasure- in an AWESOME Auburn car. Complete with Auburn hubcaps. And they were off!

Praise the Lord!!!

Hi friends! I am so excited to let you know that today the Lord answered a major prayer- I got a job!!!! I am officially (as of Monday when the board votes) a 2nd grade teacher at a school about 10 minutes from my house. The principal called me yesterday to be sure I had not accepeted another job offer, then asked if she could call my references. She did that first thing this morning and then called me at about 11:00 to let me know my references were great and that she wanted me to join the team! This is the same school I interviewed for the 6th grade reading position- they said they had me in mind for the 2nd grade position the whole time! I am so grateful for the job and this opportunity. God has taught me so much over the past 3 months about trusting Him and looking to glorify Him in everything, whether it be with me as a teacher or not. He has just proved one more time that He is faithful, no matter the state of my heart or my mind. He is SO good!

Here are a random selection of pictures from my classroom. I obviously haven't brought any of my classroom materials there yet, but I plan to start that tomorrow. If you have any suggestions for the very tall window, leave a comment- I am kind of puzzled on that one :)

To celebrate, Brian, Mom, Daddy and I went to La Fiesta. La Fiesta is very important to my history- I eat there most birthdays, including other people's, and that is where I found out I made 8th grade dance team. You can tell it has a lot of significance to me. When I heard I got the job, I was torn on where to have my celebration dinner, but in the end La Fiesta won out, because I hate to tarnish it's name in my big event list!

Here are some pictures of us from the evening!

Finally, I went to Hobby Lobby's clearance rack today and found some AWESOME deals!

Lamp- $10

Don't love the shade, so I bought this adhesive lamp shade for $2.50. I am going to adhere cute fabric the match the room the lamp is going in. Bodie obviously wanted you to notice her, too :)

Wire baskets- $1 (I bought 3) I am going to spray paint these black and put them.... somewhere. Who can pass up a $1 deal?

Once again, thank you for your prayers on the job search. Have a blessed evening!!!

God Bless the USA

Today, my focus was on all things American. With our holiday plans pretty busy, I wanted to focus on our country and the huge blessing it is to live here. How incredible is it that we are free to worship our Lord, free to state our opinion, free to walk down the street, free to listen to the music of our choice, and free to be ourselves. I am so thankful for our military that risks their lives to keep us safe. I am thankful for a democratic government that allows us to choose . I am thankful for the freedom to walk into church any day I please and praise Jesus for His sacrifice for us. I am thankful for the country in which we live.

To commemorate our country, here are pictures of some of myAmerican day :)

(Gotta love it!)

Cherry Coke- my favorite!

My husband mowing the lawn- can't get more American than that!

Mom, Brian, and I went to Full Moon for BBQ- delicious!

We OBVIOUSLY drank sweet tea. It could be more Southern than American, but it was sooo good.

The wonderful world of baseball!

And fireworks!

Happy 4th of July my friends! Have a safe and wonderful holiday :)

Show Us Where You Live FRIDAY!

Again, I am joining Kelly at Kelly's Korner for Show Us Where You Live Friday. This week is the garage and yard.

Before I begin, I must explain that the yard is ALLLLL Brian. He loves it. Bodie is my baby and the yard is his. He wakes up early on Saturdays to mow and chop and trim. He comes home from work to mow and chop and trim. He really loves it. I, on the other hand, am not a yard girl. Give me an indoor project, a decorating project, a craft project and I am all over it, but these pictures I am about to post are all Brian. He's amazing :)

These pictures are of our side yard. It is the prettiest part of the yard. The rose bush is beside our kitchen window and when we eat at the kitchen table, they are a GORGEOUS view.

This is my hydrangea bush... or plant... whatever you call them. It is the only thing I get credit for in our backyard. Isn't it pretty?

Here is a view of the backyard. We have a pretty large patch of grass in the middle. We also have 2 fig trees. I love to eat them, but I generally have to beat the birds to them, which is difficult.

Next is the garage. Had I taken pictures of it a month ago, you would have seen my entire classroom (in boxes), an old couch and loveseat, a whole lot of things that needed to be given to Good Will, and no cars. Brian and I FINALLY took a Saturday several weeks back to clean and organize. We managed to sell our 20 year old couch and loveseat for $50 to a couple who thought we were having a garage sale (yes, it was that bad.) My classroom went to the attic until I find a job and a lot of things went to Good Will. And here is the final product!

Brian bought these shelves from Target on sale for a decent price. They are perfect for all his man stuff he has to store. You know what's funny? Coolers. We own 4 coolers of various shapes and sizes. We have used them for tailgates, picnics, my trips to throw showers, and yet, Brian claims we need another cooler because those "don't work." I really don't get it, our food stays cold and they are plenty big, but we need a new cooler.

We also spent our first 9-months with bikes in our way. Before my classroom went to the garage (and now the attic) Brian couldn't park in the garage because of the bikes. Then, ONE DAY, I made a trip to Ross where I found these bike hangers for $9.99 a piece. Apparently they aren't cheap at athletic stores, so I swipped them up, and NOW we both fit in the garage!

Finally, here is my most recent craft project. I have been pretty busy with appointments and hanging out with friends this week and have been very confused with what time I was doing what. So, I created this calendar with things I had around the house.
The board was from my classroom. It is pretty battered in the back because kids beat it up, so it was time for retirement anyway.
I used ribbon I had around the house- I thought it was different from the usual calendar and it made it quirky.
Finally, I used paint pen to write the days and black paint around the edges and

da dadadaaaaa
Our family calendar!


I was pretty pleased and finally have a place to write things down!

PS- One day I am going to start making these posts on Friday, not Thursday :) I just get so excited about them!

Have a blessed evening!