Broome Family Blog

Lily's Birth Day!

2011-12-05T16:13:00.007-05:00

So Andy and I went to bed the night before Lily was born with our heads swimming. We were so excited to meet her and a little scared about becomeing parents.

We woke up at 5:30 since we had to be at the hospital by 6:30. We both took showers and finished getting a few things together before we headed out the door one last time knowing that when we returned that we would be parents.

We arrived at the hospital and Andy dropped me off at the door and he went to park the car. I walked through the hospital towards labor and delivery and rang the bell to get into the L & D wing. I spoke to a nurse and she showed me to my room. Words cannot describe how surreal it was walking into the room where we were going to become parents. Andy found his way to the room and we just sat there for a little while not really knowing what to do.

The nurse came back in and told me to change into my hospital gown and started my IV and the medicine that would induce my labor. We got started at about 7:30 with the IV and meds. I was still only 2 cm dialated (and had been for 2 weeks) so we called our parents and told them that it would be sometime and that they could come on over once they got ready.

Around 9:30 my doctor arrived and checked me. I was at 3-4 cm and she decided to break my water. Once they did that they put a few monitors on me to check the baby's heartrate and monitor the strength of my contractions. My doctor told me that she would be back later to check on me. She asked one more time if I was going to get an epidural and I told her that Andy and I had discussed it and that since I was induced and I knew that my contractions would come fast and very strong that I would probably end up getting one. She was totally supportive.

Once everyone left the room Andy and I just hung out. As the contractions came they were much stronger since my water had been broken and they were coming pretty quickly. By about 10:00 am my contractions were about a minute and a half apart and they were strong. Since I was hooked up to all sorts of monitors around my stomach I was having a difficult time doing my breathing and I could not really change positions to get more comfortable. Andy just looked at me and said, "you know, they are only going to get worse." I agreed and we talked for a minute and then I called the nurse's station and requested an epidural.

The woman who came to administer the epidural was wonderful. She listened to all of my concerns and questions and told me that she was going to make a few adjustments to make sure that the epidural was succesful. Let me just tell you that getting and epidural is one of the most difficult things to sit still for. Not only do you need to stay perfectly still but you are still having contractions. It was not fun but I was so glad that I got it.

We were finished with the epidural and our parents came back into the room by about 11:00 am. We all hung out for about an hour and since it did not look like anything was going to happen anytime soon so everyone except my mom decided to head to lunch about 11:45. My epidural was amazing. I could still move my legs and feel all of my contractions they just didn't hurt. Andy was so funny. He kept poking my legs and asking if i could feel it, which I could.

Dr. Evitt arrived back to my room at about 12:30. She checked me and to my surprise I was at 9-9.5 cm. I was so shocked and texted Andy immediately and said, "I am at 9. You may want to come back to the hospital." He was with his mom at lunch and said we need to get back to the hospital, Cameron is at 9. His mom was like, no way, you are kidding right. Nope we were not kidding. Dr. Evitt said that she was going to come back in about a half and hour and check me again.

Andy was pretty close to the hospital so he arrived quickly and by that time Dr. Evitt was back to check on me. I was at 10 and ready to go but she said that she was going to let me labor a little longer because her other patient was also ready to go in the room next door. The nurses that came in were joking about who was going to have their baby first. Well the other woman won. Apparently in 4 pushes she had a baby. I later found out that it was her second baby and not a fair fight.

Dr. Evitt came back in about 1:30 and we were ready to go. We got my mom, Andy's mom and Emily in the room and I started to push. Andy was great. He has always said that he wanted to be up by my head, so he sandwiched himself between my bed and a cabnet to keep himself from passing out. He was so reassuring and sweet through all of it. I felt like I pushed for hours but it was really only about an hour. I had my mom holding one leg and Emily holding the other. I was so glad though when they started to break down my bed because I knew that she was going to arrive soon. A few more pushes later Lillian Hayes Broome was here. She was placed on my chest and started screaming immedately. It was the sweetest cry I have ever heard. It was so amazing and just like that Andy and I became parents to the sweetest little girl. She is the cutest baby I have ever seen.

I cannot say enough about my doctor, Dr. Evitt. Andy says that she is my favorite person in the world. I agree that I am in awe of her. She was amazing thoughout my entire pregnancy and so supportive. I felt so comfortable and at ease in the delivery room. She was so positive and encouraging throughout the delivery. I still feel so lucky and blessed to have had her as my doctor. It is amazing to me that I basically picked her out of the phone book and had never met her or known anyone that was a patient of hers. I now know a ton of people that go to her and they all speak just as highly of her as I do.

I delivered Lillian Hayes Broome at 2:34pm. She weighed 8lbs and was 19 3/4 in long. She was perfect in every way and Andy and I feel so lucky to be her parents.

love always,

Lillian Hayes Broome

2011-11-29T18:22:00.005-05:00

I wanted to sit down and write Lillian's birth story while it is still fresh in my mind. She is an amazing baby and I fall more in love with her each day. I know that people have said it before but my heart just explodes with love for her. She is the most amazing person on the planet. Here is the story on how she arrived.

My birth plan had always been that I wanted to go into labor on my own and that I wanted to have a natural birth, meaning I didn't want to have any pain medication. I had a couple of reasons, one I knew that it was safer for the baby and two because I had back surgery 9 years ago and was concerned with how the epidural would work. I discussed all of my concerns with my doctor and she was great. She told me that I should not worry about the epidural but was completely supportive of me wanting a natural childbirth.

About 2 weeks before my due date Lily was still sitting really high and had not dropped yet. This was a little concerning so Andy and I decided that we (well me really) were going to try walking every night to see if we could get her to drop. When we went back to the doctor the following week not only had she dropped I had started to dilate. It was such a dramatic change that my doctor thought that I might not make it to my due date or my next doctor's visit.

Andy and I left the appointment and started to get everything ready. We made sure that our bags were packed and started to time contractions every time that I felt them. The contractions would come and go. They were anything from 7 - 30 min apart. I about drove myself crazy. I was tired of being pregnant and the unknown factor of when she was going to come was so exciting and scary at the same time. My doctor's prediction was not correct and we made it to the next doctor's appointment that was the day before my due date. We had a very frank conversation about how she didn't really want me to go longer than 41 weeks. That would be the day after Thanksgiving. I really wanted to make sure that she was going to make it to my delivery and with the holiday the following week I was concerned that she would not be able to make it. After talking about what our options were we decided that if she did not come by the following Monday that we would be induced on that day.

I left the appointment praying that Lily would come over the weekend so that we would not have to worry about being induced. We also decided to go about our weekend like we normally would and even went to the last football game of the season! Yes at 40+ weeks pregnant I went to the UT vs. Vandy football game. Lucky for us my office gave us a parking pass just outside of the stadium so I didn't have to walk far and if I did go into labor we could get out pretty quickly. I made it through the whole game and even the overtime. It was so much fun and I am really glad that Andy and I got to go to the game together. Our last game as non-parents!!! On Sunday it did not look like the little one was going to make her appearance so we took the day to rest and get ready for our induction the following day. We were so sad that we missed our family Thanksgiving in the mountains but we wanted to be close to home just in case as well as get some rest before our lives were going to completely change the following day.

We ate our "last meal" because I was not going to be allowed to eat after 12pm and we had no idea what time she would arrive the following day. We were nervous, excited and a little scared about what was going to happen the following day.

I will finish the birth story in the next post since this one has been a novel!!!

love always,

being pregnant

2011-11-17T16:29:00.003-05:00

Today I am going to be thankful for being pregnant. I have had it pretty easy once we go past the terrible morning sickness (6 weeks to 14 weeks) that was pure misery. I have tried my best to stay active and all that jazz and have really had fun being pregnant. I think about a week or so ago I finally "felt pregnant" and for those of you that have been pregnant you know what I am talking about. It is the time where the baby squishes everything and you cannot get comfortable no matter how hard you try. Sleeping is pretty non-existant (I hear that is just prep for after the baby arrives!) and all you really want to do IS sleep. Luckily for me it has not lasted that long and before we know it our little one is going to be here and I will get to snuggle and kiss all over her face. I am so excited to see what she looks like. It is like the worlds greatest Christmas present and in less than a few days we will get to see her!! I wonder who she will look like, who she will act like and I cannot wait to see her with Andy for the fist time. It is going to be awesome! I will make sure to let you know as soon as she gets here!!!

love always,

Emerson Jane

2011-11-09T16:05:00.003-05:00

Today I am thankful for Emerson! Emerson made me an Aunt on September 28, 2011. She is so sweet, so snugglely (sp?) and I love her so much. She is really a doll baby. The day she was born I was not able to go and see her at the hospital and I cried. So sad I know. I wanted to be there, but I was trapped at work and then I had a soccer game. I got to go and visit her the next day it was wonderful. I walked into the room and Danielle handed her to me. When I looked down at her she smiled and I melted right there. This kid is amazing and I love her so, so much. I can't wait for Baby Lily to get her so she can hang out with such a cool kid.

love always,

ugh

2011-11-08T16:49:00.002-05:00

It is so hard when you don't feel well to feel thankful. I wish that I could have a better attitude today but I just feel yucky. I think I came down with a cold and I feel so pregnant and the two just don't go together. So for today, I am thankful that I get to go home tonight and rest. I can't wait to sit down on the couch and rest. I guess I am really thankful that I have a warm house to go home to with a couch that I can rest on and a coffee table that I can put my feet on. That is what I am thankful for today.

love always,

Fall

2011-11-04T15:43:00.004-04:00

photo found here

Today I am thankful for Fall. Normally I dread this time of year. I know that it is getting colder and I just think about how I am not sure I am going to make it through another winter. I am a summer girl through and through. I am trying to like Fall and today I am going to be thankful that I live in an area that has all 4 seasons. I love football time and going to tailgates and UT football games. I love that I get to see my best friend from college on TV because basketball season has started. I love the smells and the beautiful trees. I am going to focus on the great things about this season and not wish that we could just get through it and on to Spring.

love always,

BHS Soccer Team

2011-11-03T14:13:00.002-04:00

Ugh, day two and I have already missed a day. I have a good reason. I was down in Chattanooga with the BHS Girls Soccer Team. We made it to the State Tournament and our first game was yesterday. Unfortunately we did not win so our season is over but the girls had a great year and I am so proud of them.

Mostly, I am THANKFUL for those girls. I feel so lucky to get the opportunity to coach at Bearden. The girls teach me so much each year. I know I make them mad, heck, sometimes they make me mad :), but I would not trade it for the world. More often they make me laugh. They are all so silly and have great hearts. I am sad that this season is over, but I think that their season was amazing. We did not have the most skilled players in each position and yet we managed to play with enough heart to make it all the was to the State Tournament. I am so, so proud and thankful for them. Thanks girls and especially the seniors for a wonderful year. I am going to miss you guys!

love always,

A Month of Thanksgiving

2011-11-01T15:22:00.003-04:00

I am going to dust off the old blog today and start a November tradition on here. I hope that I will be able to do this everyday, but since Baby Lily will be here sometime this month I may miss a few days. *grin* I am going to do my best to post each day about something that I am thankful for. So for today here we go...

Today I am thankful for these sweet girls. Andy and I are so lucky to have 2 of the sweetest dogs on the planet. I caught them lying down together the other day (without being bribed) and I snapped this picture to send to Andy (sorry for the quality, my camera phone is terrible). Laney and Addie are just wonderful and I can't imagine my life without them. I know that their world is about to be turned upside-down but I hope they know how much we do love them.

love always,

10 years ago.

2011-09-09T10:37:00.002-04:00

Why hello there. I know it has been a long time. I have been super busy with work, soccer, being a wife and growing a HUMAN! Haha that is what I say to Andy when I want to get out of doing something these days.
As the days have ticked by I did not want the day to pass when I looked back at where I was 10 years ago. It is hard to turn on the TV without finding one channel or many channels dedicated to something about what happened on September 11, 2001. The day that our whole world changed. I can think of various generations and the dates that they have engraved in their minds on where were you when such-and-such happened. September 11, 2001 is that date for my generation.
Where was I. I remember it was a Tuesday and I just walked out of one of my Political Science classes and was on my way down the hall to my Western Civ. class. I remember hearing someone say something about a plane flying into the World Trade Center, but beyond that I didn't think much about it. Like maybe some small plane made a wrong turn or something totally accidental happened. That was about as much thought as I gave it until I left my class. I remember walking down the hall towards the entrance to the building and there was one TV in the lobby. Everyone was standing around it in shock as all eyes were on New York City. I immediately went home and turned on the TV there and sat for hours watching as the towers were on engulfed in flames and then as they fell. It was shocking, the whole day was shocking. I called a friend of mine that was going to school in Washington DC when I found out that a plane had flown into the Pentagon. She told me that the city was a mess but that she was fine. She had been on her way back from morning soccer practice and luckily was not near where everything happened. I was so relieved to hear her voice and know that she was safe.
I remember later that day, walking into soccer practice at the UT fields and just knowing that things were different. Knowing that life as we knew it would change. In the days following I remember the strangeness of silence outside as all planes across the country were grounded. I also remember hearing the a plane flying overhead for the first time after the attacks and being nervous. Was it going to come crashing down?
As the years have passes it is easy to move one. To accept the new security changes that have become part of our lives. The one thing that I hope to never move on from is how I felt that day. I don't want to forget all of the innocent people that were on their way to work for another ordinary day when the whole world changed at their expense. I don't want to forget all of the people who on that day not only risked their lives, but gave their life to help others. I don't want to forget how as a community and as a country we came together. I just don't want to forget...

love always,

The storm

2011-06-27T15:29:00.013-04:00

So last week Andy and I headed to the beach for a little R & R. I was planning on coming home on Wednesday and Andy was going to stay the full week and come home on Saturday. We heard that Knoxville was hit with a pretty bad thunder storm on Tuesday and we were both pretty happy that I was going to be coming home the following day to check on our sweet little pups that we left behind.

I got home late Wednesday evening and the dogs were so happy to see me. They were wired and ready to play. I was pretty tired from the drive home but glad to see that they were doing well. I went to bed that night and I don't think that either dog slept for more than 30 min at a time. When I woke up on Thursday morning I think I was more tired than when I went to bed the night before. I went off to work and told myself that when I got home that I could relax and get a good night sleep.

When I got home I fixed dinner and prepared to sit on the couch and did just that when I got home. The dogs had calmed down and we were enjoying our evening. I headed to bed at about 11:30 and immediately fell asleep. I woke up to my phone ringing at about 1:15am. It was my mom so I was immediately worried. When I answered she said that there was a tornado headed for us and that I needed to get the dogs and get in my bathtub. Once I realized she was serious and I was awake I went to the living room, got some pillows, my blanket and the dog bed and headed to the bathroom. I decided to check the weather on my phone and sure enough there was severe weather in the area. Since I still had power I decided to turn on the TV to listen to the news. I found out that my area was pretty safe from the worst of it so I sat on the couch and watched the news and would call my mom (who had not had power since Tuesday's storm) and update her on what was going on. A few minutes later I heard it start to rain really hard and the wind picked up. I peeked outside the window and was just in time to hear a loud crack and watch a huge limb fall down directly on Andy's truck sitting in the driveway. I was in shock and that was when I started to get really scared. Finally around 3am the rain stopped enough to where I felt safe going outside to check the damage. This is what I found.

Andy did not get good reception on his phone at the beach so I frantically emailed him hoping to get through at such a early hour. He was finally able to call me back and I told him what happened to his truck. Then I promptly started crying. Andy told me not to worry, that it was just a truck and everything was going to be okay. When I hung up with Andy I realized that I needed to get everything out of his truck. Luckily for me he had removed most everything from his truck knowing he would be out of town and it would just be sitting in our driveway. It took me a little while to get everything out and a little longer to calm down and get ready for bed.

This is what the truck looked like the next morning.

This next picture will show you how close it came to hitting my car. I was so glad that one limb did not take out both of our cars. Unfortunately, however, the limb did trap my car in the driveway and a co-worker had to come and pick me up for work on Friday.As you can see the limb crumpled the cab of the truck and shattered out the back window. My car barely made it out alive.The limb was huge. This shows you how far from Andy's truck it came into the yard.

Friday afternoon our dear friend and Andy's business partner came over and hauled the whole thing down to the street. I did not know that he was coming and I had left the house to go to the grocery store. I was shocked that in the short amount of time that I was gone that he was able to cut it to pieces. It was so nice and I was so thankful that the tree was gone. The best part was that Andy did not have to worry about it when he got home from his trip.

The funny part of the story is that when Andy and I were driving to the beach just days before this happened, we were discussing if he should get a new truck. I think that I pretty much had him convinced that he did not need a new truck and that the few things that were wrong with this truck we could just fix. Well, I guess God had other plans and he made the decision for us. Thankfully we were still in the talking phase and had not put any more money into the truck. I will say that Andy has had some fun picking out a new truck. I will let you know what he gets!!!

love always,

Baby Broome

2011-06-08T10:47:00.003-04:00

So I figured I would update you guys on how thing are going with the sweet little one that we are expecting in November, November 18th to be exact. I guess I will start off on how we found out we were pregnant.

Last year Andy and I decided that we were ready to start trying to have a baby. I went off of my medicine and we just waited to see what would happen. In February I went in for a routine physical and blood work. They noticed that I had a mild issue going on with my Thyroid so they started me on some medicine.

Fast forward 2 weeks. On a whim I decided to pick up a pregnancy test at lunch. We had taken a few over the last few months and I just assumed that this one would be negative like all of the other ones. I got home at lunch and took the test and left it in the bathroom. I went about my regular lunchtime routine of letting the dogs out and fixing myself something to eat. When I remembered about the test I went back to check it out. When I saw that it said PREGNANT, I think I went into shock. I just stood there and then started laughing. I really didn't quite believe what I was seeing.

I figured that this is not the kind of news that you tell someone over the phone and since Andy was still at work I decided to wait until we were both home that night to tell him. Do you know how hard that was. I had to go back to my office and pretend like everything was normal when the news I just found out at lunch was so exciting and going to change my life. I made it to the end of the day and quickly ran to Target to get some onesies and then to Hobby Lobby to get an iron on print that I had seen there a few weeks before. I rushed home and got them ironed on the onsies and then took another test to make sure that I had not dreamed the first one!

Andy was outside so I put both tests and the two onesies in the bag and went to find him. I handed him the bag and he pulled out the onesies and the tests and said, "What is this?" I said, "Surprise, we are pregnant!" He was so funny, since I put both tests in there and there were two onesies (Andy loves all things pirate, so one said, Pirate in Training, and the other said Ho Ho Ho and a bottle of milk) and two pregnancy test the first thing he said is, "Are there 2 babies!" I laughed and said no, well that I was not sure and then we panicked. I went the following Friday to the doctor who confirmed that we were indeed pregnant. We told our families that night by giving them a bag with a pacifier in it and they were all really excited.

By the time we got to the baby doctor we told her that we wanted to find out how far along we were and that there was only one baby! She was able to tell us that we were 7 weeks along and that yes, there was only one baby. We were both so excited and it was so neat to get the chance to see our little blob for the first time.

I was so sick from about 6 weeks to almost 14 weeks. It was terrible and I remember thinking at one point that I did not know how I was going to make it from 6 weeks all the way to 12 weeks when they told me I would start feeling better. I did eventually start to feel better and it has been such a blessing.

Andy and I are super excited and totally overwhelmed at the same time. It is crazy to think that we are going to be responsible for another person. I think that in the next few weeks we will get to find out of the little one is a boy or a girl. We are currently 16 weeks along and everything has been going well so far. I will be sure to keep you updated on what we are having in the next few weeks and let you know how we are preparing for our little one!!

At the top are some pictures from one of our ultrasounds. In the last one you can even see the baby's sweet little foot!!

love always,

Name Changes!

2011-05-20T11:43:00.006-04:00

I have been waiting for what seems like forever to write this blog post. I have some SUPER EXCITING news to share.

Andy and I are going to become and Uncle and and Aunt! We are so excited and cannot wait to meet the little GIRL!!! Yep, that is right, Danielle and Jeff (really more Danielle than Jeff) are going to have a baby girl and they are due at the end of September! I have always wanted to be an Aunt and considering I don't have brothers or sisters I have to rely on Andy's siblings to make my dreams come true! Here is a cute little picture of Danielle and her little girl. That bump is just so cute!!!

The second exciting news that I want to share is that Andy and I are going to have to change our names twice. First we will become Uncle and Aunt and then we will become DAD and MOM!

That is right people ANDY AND I ARE HAVING A BABY!!!! We are over the moon excited. Currently we are about 14 weeks along and I am feeling much better. I will do and entirely separate post on my first trimester, but I just wanted to put it out there that we are pregnant. Unlike Jeff and Danielle we do not know what we are having yet. Danielle is about 7 weeks ahead of me so that puts her at about 21 weeks. Our due date is November 18, 2011.

It has been so much fun sharing this experience with Danielle. I know that it is going to be some much more fun in the next few months as we both continue walk this path together and I stop being so sick!
I wanted to show a picture of the two of us together with our little ones! We are so cute, aren't we! haha, I sprung this picture on Danielle last time we were at the Broome's house. Neither of us were picture ready but Danielle always looks cute. Me I just look a mess!

So there we have it folks. Two little ones on the way and they will both be here before the end of the year. Yay for babies!!!

love always,

the storm

2011-05-09T12:21:00.002-04:00

Sorry I have been away for so long. I have so many stories to update you on but we will start with the night that Andy, Jeff, Emily and I almost died. It was crazy.

Some of you know that Andy, Jeff and Emily ran in the Louisville Marathon and I ran the MINI Marathon (half marathon) on April 30th. (I will save the details for another post!) Well as usual the week before your race you are tapering where you are running less and less and not quite as fast. This is to let your legs rest and be ready for your big race. Well the Monday before the race we decided to meet at the Boulevard and run a slow 3 miles. We decided when we got there that we were all going to run together and thank goodness we did.

On a side note, as Andy and I were pulling into the parking lot we heard on the radio that there was a storm coming but it was in the Greenback community. We even talked about for a minute that we are pretty far away from Greenback and were not worried at all. When we got out of the car we could see dark clouds across the river, but were still not worried. I have run on the Blvd plenty of times where it was raining and storming across the river and it would not rain where I was.

So the 4 of us started our run. We were running slow and chatting the whole time. One of the really great features of the Blvd is that they have every .25 mile marked. As the run progressed we made it to the .75 mile marker and it started to sprinkle, but it was huge rain drops. We kind of laughed to each other that we were going to get wet. We did pass a ton of people at this point that were running the other direction telling us that they decided to turn around, but we continued running. As we made it to the 1 mile marker the lightning across the river was getting really bad and it started pouring, and yet we kept running.

We did not even make it to the 1.25 mile marker when we realized we were in trouble. We ran to this one place on the trail that has some trees that create a canopy. Just about that time a huge bolt of lighting struck and it sounded like it was on top of us. I yelled (because it was raining so hard) at Andy and Emily to not stop under a tree! We decided to keep running away from our cars towards the baseball fields because the fields were closer to where we were and we figured that we could stay in on of the dugouts until the storm passed.

The next .25 miles were pretty scary. As we ran as fast as we could, as the wind pushed up to run faster, with trees and branches cracking and breaking all around us. We had to run from one side of the street to the other away from as many large trees as we could because we were afraid that they would fall on top of us. At one point I looked over at some huge trees and their branches were bent so far over that the top of the tree was almost touching the ground. There were small branches falling all around us and the streets were just one big puddle. As we turned into the baseball field parking lot it started to hail. Luckily for us it was just the size of marbles and not the baseball size stuff that we would see a few days later.

All four of us made it to the dugout that was made of concrete and wood so we felt pretty safe even though the entire field was surrounded by a chain link fence. With the lightning and thunder crashing all around us and the rain coming down in sheets the four of us were at a loss for words. We stayed in the dugout for about 20 minutes or so until the rain stopped and the sun came out.

When we walked towards the parking lot of the baseball fields it was then that we first saw the destruction. Two huge trees crashed down on one of the fences that separated the parking lot and the home next door. We looked over the fence and saw a few more huge trees down in the backyard. When we made it up to the street we were all in shock. One tree had pulled down the power lines and other trees covered driveways. It seemed like none of the trees that fell were small. It seemed like they were all huge 100+ year old trees, blown down like they were toothpicks. As we started back to our cars we got to the canopy where Andy and Emily had stopped and one of those trees had fallen across the path. I was so glad we decided to go on to the dugout.

When we made it to the 1 mile marker we saw one of the largest trees I have even seen on its side blocking the road. Andy walked over to the roots and it was probably about 2 feet taller than he is. It was another massive tree just toppled over.

We made it back to our cars, soaking wet and covered in leaves, but we were safe. We all talked about how lucky we were that none of us were hit by anything. Not one little branch hit a single one of us. Even the hail was not that bad. We were so lucky and were able to get in out cars and drive home with an amazing story to tell. It was a run that I don't think that any of us will ever forget!

love always,

we will always remember

2011-04-21T15:24:00.003-04:00

Our dear sweet Meme passed away on Monday. Our family is heartbroken but know that she is in Heaven and watching over all of us. We will forever miss our loving Meme. There are so many memories and stories that I could tell you about this amazing woman, but I don't know where to begin. Andy and I loved her more than words can ever express and we deeply miss her.

A celebration of life for Mrs. Jane Yancey will be held this Saturday, April 23rd, 2011 at Erin Presbyterian Church. The receiving of friends will be from 1pm to 3pm and the service will be held at 3:30.

Meme, we will forever love you and cherish the time we had with you.

love always,

Please Pray!

2011-03-07T12:19:00.002-05:00

I am so sorry that it has been such a long time. Thing have been all over the place these last few weeks. I am asking a HUGE favor from all of you who read this blog. I am asking you to pray for our sweet Meme. As I mentioned here that our sweet Meme (Jane) fell last August and broke her hip (and arm). The above picture was taken while she was recovering from that hip surgery. Well in early January she was not feeling well and became dizzy and fell again. This time breaking her other hip. This time things did not go as smoothly for her. There were some complications with blood work and they just left her not feeling well. She was able to have the surgery and transfer to a rehab facility and began to regain her strength. Last Monday she was released from the rehab facility to come home. This is where things seemed to fall apart. Without getting to into what is currently going on with her I will say that by Friday she was readmitted to the hospital. The doctors are uncertain about what is going on with her, but we are all in a state of shock and would really appreciate your prayers. Meme celebrated her 83rd birthday last Tuesday (the day after she came home.)
So, if you could, please pray for Meme to regain her strength and for her doctors to figure out what exactly is going on with her. We would love to have our Meme back at home soon.

Thank you all so much and Meme, we love you more than you will ever know.

love always,

Famous Mom!

2011-02-07T14:41:00.003-05:00

That's right, my mom is famous!

She is in the West Side Shopper-News today talking about what a GREAT job she has done over the years as the Greenway Coordinator for the City of Knoxville! I am so proud of my mom. She is so passionate about her work and has really done some amazing projects that have benefited the city. The city is going to lose a wonderful person when she retires later this fall. I love you mom and could not be more proud! You are amazing!!!

To read the article please go here.

love always,

a concert

2011-02-07T11:14:00.011-05:00

So back in December Jeff, Andy, Emily and myself took off on a Tuesday afternoon and headed on over to Nashville for a concert. Andy and I were both pretty exhausted and the long drive over for the concert and the long drive home did not sound like a great time. We were totally wrong. We had a great time on both the drive there and on the way home, but the concert was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!!!
This is where we were headed to the Bridgestone Arena. Please note Emily is on the phone WORKING!!!!! and please ignore that I look like a giant. Not really fair that Emily is a shorty!

Andy and I waiting for his sister outside the arena.

The whole crew in the arena. We did not have the best seats but really it did not matter because...

when this guy came out the whole thing changed. GARTH BROOKS!!! He was unbelievable. He did about a million concerts in like 9 days or something and we were going to one of the last ones and it was the first of two he was performing that day. We all agreed that we were not expecting much, but we were blown away. Garth knows how to put on a show and how to make everyone in the arena feel important. He sang a ton of his old songs and Emily, Jeff and I sang our little hearts out right along with him. (Andy does not sing.)

Here he is again. Sweating up a storm.

Then this little lady came on out to sing with Mr. Brooks aka her husband.

She was equally impressive and while Garth was playing the guitar for one of her songs she walked passed him and gave him a little love pat on the tush. It was so sweet. These two were so great!

I really cannot explain how awesome this concert was. I am so glad that I was able to witness it. I hope that once his children are older that he goes back on the road because everyone needs to see him live. There is just nothing like it. He was also able to raise a ton of money for the Nashville flood victims.

All in all it was a great trip and I am so glad I did not pass it up!

love always

Hippy

2011-01-21T12:00:00.004-05:00

This lovely little lady fell a couple of months ago and broke her hip and her arm. The following pictures were taken while she was recovering at a local rehab facility (that we L.O.V.E.D) when the whole family went to visit her for a family dinner. The good news is that she made a great recovery and was able to be home for both Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Shortly after the entire family was in town for Christmas she got pneumonia and then fell again. When she fell she broke her other hip and has been in the hospital since the fall. She has had some complecations but we hope that they have things figured out and she is on the mend. We would really appreciate prayers for her. She is one tough lady but this will be a long recovery.

We love you so much Meme and are so happy that you are doing better. We can't wait to see you back on your feet!!

love always,

Wedding Pictures

2010-12-28T14:55:00.002-05:00

So, my dear sweet bother-in-law and his super cute wife were married a million years ago! Well, not really a million, more like 4, but forever is forever, right! Ha!

Anyway, they got married 4 years ago and let's just say they were not totally happy with their wedding pictures. They looked so adorable on their wedding day and we were all so sad that they did not have all the sweetness, love, and bliss captured forever in pictures. Danielle was a great sport about the whole thing and has never really acted like it bothered her too much. Recently though, she had the chance to apply herself and Jeff to be models for a photography workshop and she WON! They got to get all dressed up, Danielle in a wedding dress (I kind of wish that she could have worn hers, but you can't have everything!) and Jeff in a tux. They got to go through the all of the traditional wedding pictures including feeding each other cake! The pictures turned out A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. and I am so happy that they finally get to have some pictures that they love!

So, hop on over to this website and check out Jeff and Danielle! They are so cute, adorable and such good models. If their current careers don't work out... they can always model!!! ;) Love you guys!

http://www.julierobertsphoto.com/jeff&danielle/

love always,

the culprit

2010-11-22T10:11:00.003-05:00

I was baking my sweet husband a cake the other night. Just as I was about to ice the cake we had a knock at the door. My friend Tori stopped by to pick something up. I was so excited to see her, as were the puppies, that I got distracted as I was talking to her. I totally forgot about the cake when all of a sudden we heard a noise that sounded like the glass pan ever so gently knocking on the concrete countertops that we have. Sure enough when Andy rounded the corner this is what he found...

I will give you two guess at who the culprit was, and as a hint one of them is still a little too short to reach inside something on the counter. The short one is also to clumsy and no way she could have been that discrete.

After all that, I just iced the cake, munched out piece and all... then gave Andy a piece...

love always,

finger

2010-11-19T10:29:00.000-05:00

Andy has been playing flag football for the past few years. Luckily for him, he has not really been hurt, until this year. I was not able to attend many of his games because of my soccer commitments but one Sunday night I got out of soccer practice and thought that I would surprise him and come to the end of his game. Well I got there just as the game was ending (they won!) but I didn't get to see them play. He walked over to me and said, "I think I did something to my finger." I didn't really think much of it because he never really complains about anything and he did not really look like he was in much pain, and he just played 2 games. Apparently the injury had occurred early on in the first game and he didn't want to sit out so he kept on playing.

When we got home he asked me to take another look at it. So with my medical degree in hand, ha, I gently squeezed it and he said that it really hurt. I told him that if he really thought it was bad that he would need to call his dad and go have it x-rayed. I said this knowing that there was no way he was going to do this, because he hates going to the doctor.

So I got a phone call the next day at work. It was Andy and he said that he was on his way to his dad's office for x-rays. I was shocked and asked him if he really thought it was that bad. He did, so he got the x-rays. As it turns out I am glad he went. Not only was it broken, but it was broken in 3 places and his dad thought that he might need surgery. So off to the orthopedic doctor we went. We saw a PA that night and he said that indeed we were probably going to need surgery and set us up with an surgeon for the next day.

The surgeon agreed with everyone else assessment and said that he would need surgery. So surgery was set for the following Monday afternoon. Now, I don't know if any of you have had surgery but if you don't have a morning surgery then the whole day stinks. The same rules apply that you cannot eat or drink after midnight, but instead of having the surgery at 8 am we had to wait to go to the hospital until 1:30! It was a long time.

Here is Andy's hand the morning of the surgery. It is his left ring finger. Luckily he does not wear his wedding ring when he plays flag football so we did not have to have it cut off. You can see his finger is pretty swollen.

Here is a close up of his finger. Pretty gross.

Once we got to the hospital at 1:30 they immediately took Andy back to be prepped for surgery and I thought, this is great we will be home before you know it. Well, not so much. We ended up having to wait and he did not go into surgery until 4:15. It seemed like forever and he was hungry. The only funny part was listening to all of the other people around us that were there. We heard some funny stories!!!

While we waited I took some pictures of Andy. I know you all love the hat in the picture above. The one below is covered in iodine for surgery, but you can kind of see how his finger was a bit rotated and if we had not had it fixed, his fingers would have crossed when he made a fist.

He made it though surgery with flying colors. The doctor came out and told me that the break was even worse than he originally though and instead of the normal 3 screws that he thought he would need, he ended up need to add an additional 4th screw. So Andy now has a lot of hardware in that finger all of which will stay in there forever. Here he is the night he got home. He was a little tired and Monday night football was on.

Here is a post surgery picture. You can see all the screws that the doctor put in. Amazing that they could fit all 4 screws in one joint of his finger.

When we went back to get his stitches out I made him take more pictures. He was excited to finally be out of his cast and knew that he would be able to start moving it.

Warning: the picture below is an up close of his finger once the stitches were removed. It is kind of gross, but not too bad.

Here is the final side-by-side comparison.

Not too bad. He has been working to get all of his movement back. We are hoping that the swelling keeps going down because as you can see from the picture below he has to wear his wedding ring on his right hand. We hope that we will not have to have it resized to fit his new and improved bionic finger!

Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers!!

love always,

tap-tap

2010-11-15T15:19:00.004-05:00

Is this thing on...

Probably no one reads this anymore since it has been so long since I posted. I have been so busy and I have a lot to bring you up to speed on. I finally downloaded all my pictures to my computer so I plan on doing that in the next few days. Why not today? Well, Andy and I had a super sick puppy last night. Sick from about 5:30ish (well when we realized it anyway) until late last night. We were so worried that we took turns sleeping on the couch with her to make sure she was okay. She looks like she is on the mend, and thank goodness because it was not a fun time in the Broome house. So while I gather myself I wanted to show you what I found in my backyard when I went home for lunch today. Here it is...

What is it you ask? A leg... a doll's leg. I would like to add that we have never bought anything that this might have been attached to and yet somehow it managed to get in the middle of our backyard. I laughed so hard when I found it. I really don't have any words...

love always,

Progress

2010-10-15T10:07:00.000-04:00

We are going to call the following photo PROGRESS!

As most of you know Laney can be... well lets call it... passionate.

It has been a hard adjustment for the Lovely Little Laney to have the new puppy around. She is making progress each day. She even lets the puppy lick her face sometimes. Really the only time that Laney hates to have Addie around is when she is tired. She does not want Addie in her sleeping area (read that the area right next to Andy's side of the bed.)

Addie, well, she just wants to be as close to Laney as possible. In the grainy, camera phone picture above they are both on one bed (see progress) chewing their own bones. It was too cute and I wish that I had captured it with our other camera.

One funny thing that they both do is stealing chew toys from each other. When Laney has something that Addie wants, Addie will get right in Laney's face. Laney will growl and snarl and Addie will act like she is Laney is not making a sound. Then when Laney turns her head at us, as if to say, "Mom and Dad will you please help me. She is in my personal space!" Addie moves in and snatches whatever it was Laney had and chews it herself.

Don't you think that Laney is so innocent. She plays on Addie's puppy qualities. If Addie has something she wants. Laney will go find another toy, any toy and take it near Addie. She will drop it so that it make some kind of a sound. This will totally distract Addie from whatever she had and she will jump up and go see what it was that made that sound. Then Laney will take the toy that Addie just left and usually run off.

It is total chaos in out house and at times, but we love it.

Now.. if only we could get one night of interuppted sleep.

love always,

Dreaming...

2010-10-06T12:26:00.002-04:00

of being back here, looking and laughing at this.

Please feel free to ask any questions about the above picture. It has a funny story.

love always,

sneak peak

2010-09-23T15:49:00.005-04:00

St. John was amazing! I was wonderful, hot, relaxing, tiring, exciting, beautiful and tons of fun!! Here is what we woke up to each day! The view is one that I could totally get used to!

We did some hiking and found ourselves here. Behind us is Africa (if you could see that far)!

Some of us did a little of this.... haha, this is one of my favorites from the week!

This is just a taste, I will be back with more. My schedule has been crazy between work, coaching high school soccer and I am about to start my commentating work again this Sunday! If you ever feel sorry for Andy that is wife is gone all the time and you want to fix him dinner I am sure that he will not turn you down. Haha, just kidding.... sort of...

love always,

baby Broome!

2010-09-08T09:08:00.011-04:00

Ha! I got you again! Seriously, I would like to introduce you to the newest member of the Broome Family!

ADDIE short for Addison

(here is the day we picked her up)

Addie is 7.5 week old Chocolate Lab, just like her big sister!
She is too cute for words, and loves to snuggle!

Those eyes just kill me everyday! She plays hard and then completely crashes!

For those of you that are wondering. Her big sister Laney is doing well. She is not too keen on the puppy but the other day at the lake another dog was picking on Addie and Laney growled at the dog. She is a protective big sister but not quite the lovey-dovey type.

As you can see, this is about as close as she lets the puppy get to her at home!

Addie is trying everyday to learn from Laney. Laney has already taught Addie some of her soccer skills. Addie is going to be a soccer star just like her big sister!

I leave you with this last one. Addie has been a wonderful addition to our family. We love her to pieces. She is getting better at sleeping at night and learning to potty outside. She is so full of energy one moment and the next she wants to be cuddled. The cuddles are so worth all the hard work. She is funny and clumsy. Every morning she jumps off the top step of our backyard stairs and face plants. She just gets right back up like nothing happened and does it again the next morning. She is keeping us laughing all the time. Andy is totally smitten with her. He is so patient and understanding and it has been so much fun to watch.

We love this little girl. I am not kidding that she is the cutest puppy around. Let me know if you want to set up a play date!!!!

love always,

A Nashville Wedding

2010-09-07T12:15:00.008-04:00

I didn't tell you this before but I flew out of Nashville on my trip to see Kara. So when I returned on that Wednesday from Nashville, I knew that on Saturday I was just going to be turning around and heading right back for an AMAZING wedding reception.

This buddy of mine, Sharon, joined me on the adventure to Nashville, TN to see our good friend and celebrate his wedding. He and his now wife got married the night before at a farm in TN with only their parents present. I really thought about crashing but instead I got all the details when I saw them at the reception.
Here is the OH-SO-HAPPY couple. Jamaal adores Brooke, and I don't blame him. She is so nice. The first time that I met her was at Andy and my wedding. I loved her then and I still love her. I really just love that J loves her so much and that makes me SO happy. Don't you just love his cheesy grin. He did this all night and almost ruined most of my pictures, love you J!

They held the reception behind this old car repair shop- turned blue jean maker. It was really cool. They had a RV pull in that makes the best chicken and fish tacos you have ever had. They were unbelievable.

Then they had another mini-RV that had old fashion popsicles and ice cream. So yummy!

I was so happy to get to see these two and especially Brooke. (When I flew out to CT I stayed the night with J, so we had all ready caught up on everything, but I was dying to see Brooke.) Does she look familiar, well she is a model and sometimes when I turn on my computer she pops up on my screen. She models clothes and it is so fun to play the I-Spot-Brooke-Game!

Here they are again. I just cannot get over how J looks at Brooke. It makes my heart melt!

Me and J! I miss him being in Knoxville!

The wedding reception was amazing and even a little rain could not damper things. They had all sorts of musician play the night away (although he said the marching band that Kelly requested cancelled on him the last min, I am not so sure about that one! Ha) and we laughed and blast. Sharon and I did not get home until about 4am but it was totally worth every min! Jamaal and Brooke, we wish you all the best and a lifetime of happiness! We love you so much and are so lucky to know you!

love always,

Mini-Vacation

2010-09-02T09:40:00.014-04:00

Oh my, I have so much to write about. This summer has really gotten away from me and so much is going on. I can't wait to fill you all in. I must start at the beginning and let you know of each little event.

First things first. At the end of July I had the opportunity to travel north a little. I flew in here... But my final destination was really to Connecticut and here...

The Mohegan Sun Area. You guess it, I was going to see this little lady....

I went up there to hang out with Kara and her husband Damien and watch 2 of Kara's games. It was so much fun and so relaxing. Here is a shot of her with her team before the game. Kara is all the way at the end standing next the mascot.

I just love the start of the games and all the hype that goes with them. Here she is running out as a starter!

I was also able to catch a practice. Kara is hates to loose, even when it comes to drills in practice. They did some shooting game and her team won all of them. Are you surprised, you shouldn't be.

One really neat thing we got to do was get to the games really early. They have an area where the family members of the players can go and eat before, during and after the games. Damien and I chose to go and sit on the bench before the games and watch the players warm up. I thought that was really neat and totally surprised that no one told me to move because I was not supposed to be there. I guess since I was with Damien (and everyone loves Damien - he is just so nice!) they just let me do whatever.

One creepy thing happened. The night of the second game (I had been in CT for 3 days) this guy I had never seen before (and neither had Damien) came up to me from behind. He said, "Are you enjoying your visit?" Since I could not see who it was, I just assumed that it was one of the people that work for the Sun, I just replied, "Yes, thanks!" As I turned to see who it was I realized I didn't know him, nor had met him. Damien looked at me and asked, "Who was that?" I said, "I have no idea, you tell me. I thought you knew everyone!" He said, "I have never seen him before in my life! Crazy, fans know everything!!!"

I was so creeped out that when I went to by a Sun shirt with Kara's name on it I immediately put it on so that I had on a different shirt and maybe, just maybe he would not see me. I never saw him again, but it was so creepy!
On another note, Damien got interviewed by a local TV station about how he and Kara moved to CT and what life is like for him and Kara. He is just the sweetest husband and does so much for Kara. He really is perfect for her and I love him for it!!!

One night while I was there we went this restaurant. The Watch Dog. It was so good. D and I got the tuna and it was to die for.

We were lucky enough to be joined by these two. Coach and Mrs. Thibault. It is Kara's coach and his wife. They are some of the nicest people and have really made Kara and Damien feel at home. It was so nice to get to know them better.

The view from the dock behind the restaurant was beautiful. CT is a really pretty place.

Please ignore my hair. It was so humid up there and this is what happens! Ha! I do love these two so much!

I love this girl. She has been an amazing friend for years. I am so glad that we have remained so close. She is so wonderful and an amazing basketball player. We are hoping that she makes the USA team this year so she can represent the US at the World Championships! She did score the most points in the gold medal game at the Olympics - so in my book that should count for something!!!

So the trip was amazing and I had so much fun with Kara! I can't wait to see her again soon!

love always,

It's a....

2010-08-04T10:47:00.002-04:00

BOY! Maxwell Thomas Greene arrived on Monday, August 2, 2010! He was 7lbs 14oz and 20.5 in long. He is such a cutie and I am so happy for Gail and Derek. It was not an easy day, but he arrived a perfect bundle of joy! So if you are friends of Derek on facebook, head on over there for more pictures and see the sweet baby! Yay for more babies!!!!

shower

2010-07-23T10:41:00.002-04:00

Last weekend I was invited to a baby shower. I was super excited to go because I had yet to meet the mama-to-be and I was dying to meet her. Some of you will recognize the guy in the picture below....

Yep, Derek Greene is not only a husband, but in a few days (yes, days- Gail was 12 days from her due date when this was taken!) he is going to be a very proud Daddy! I am so excited for these two! They have chosen to not find out if they are having a boy or a girl so we will have to wait and see what they are having. My vote is for a girl! Really I only say that because I want Derek to have a girl. Gail is AMAZING and perfect for Derek. She is so nice and I really enjoyed getting to talk with her and share some stories of when Derek was my soccer coach. I can't wait until I see them again and I get to snuggle the newest member of their family!

I will keep everyone posted on when "little Green" make his or her entrance into the world and will try to post some pictures! Yay for babies!!!

love always,

when bugs attack

2010-07-22T11:48:00.007-04:00

So a couple of weeks ago Andy and I took a trip up to Norris lake to hang out at his aunt and uncle's lake house. While we were up there Andy was walking down the steps of their dock he looked down and saw a wasp. He said that he was about to tell Uncle Ben that there was a nest when the wasp flew towards him and stung him on his foot. After he got stung he calmly told Uncle Ben about the nest and they sprayed it and that was it. By the time that Andy made it to the house (I was in the house while all of this was going on.) his foot was starting to swell. He didn't complain much at all and when we took another look at it after dinner it was so swollen that I said that it looked like a Fred Flintstones foot and you could see the indention from his flip flops. We gave him some benedryl and we went home. For the next few days when I would ask, Andy is not a complainer (I make up for all of his lack of complaining), he would say that his foot was still swollen and itched. It finally went away and we though that we were done with the wasp incidents. Well that was until Monday.

Andy went out to some job site to work on his bobcat. He called me and again calmly told me that he had gotten stung by another wasp, but this time in his arm. I asked if he was okay and he said yeah, but it is kind of swollen. When he got home, he was not kidding. His arm was swollen and red. Here are some of the pictures that I took on Tuesday night. Remember he was stung on Monday morning so this is well after the worst of it.

I love his face in this one. Not sure what he was looking at.

You can tell that the arm on the right (his left) is a bit bigger than the other one.

Finally got a smile out of him.
Now this one you can really tell how swollen it was.

This one you can kind of tell.

Now take a look at that lump on the outside of his arm.

It was scary, but he lived to tell about it.
I would like to report that he has healed and back to normal.

And thank goodness, I guess we just need to steer clear of a wasps for the rest of the summer. It is also a good thing that he was the one stung. I am not sure that I would have been as calm. I am such a baby about stuff like that.

love always,

happy

2010-07-16T09:55:00.003-04:00

I am so HAPPY for all of them.

Lots of exciting this have been announced with our friends lately. Mostly it has carried the theme of people having or adopting babies. What a wonderful thing it is to add a whole new, and tiny person to your family. I love watching people as new parents and the tenderness that fills their hearts for their child and children all around. I love watching them become more patient and less selfish. The transformation is amazing. The joy in their eyes of those that are recently pregnant. The excitement that they have in the waiting for months to meet their newest family member. It is all so sweet and fun to watch.

So to all of our friends, recently pregnant, those about to have their babies, those who have just had or adopted a baby and those that have children- we love you all, we love your children and are so happy to be a part of you life. We love watching you parent and seeing your heart and love for your children. Thanks for letting us love your children just as we love you.

love always,

PS: I have a post to go with the above picture but I have not gotten around to posting it. So there is your sneak peek!

I love these kids!

2010-07-09T10:09:00.005-04:00

Yesterday I got to babysit my favorite kiddos! I got to watch Reece and Hayden. They are so much fun and too cute. Both were dealing with battle wounds, but were just as precious as they could be.

This little guy had an ear infection and had just been to the doctor. He could not make up his mind about if he wanted me to hold him or put him on the floor to play. This was the face he gave me while he was deciding.

Then once he noticed the camera turned his innocent sweet face on. This is how earache free he normally is. Such a sweet sweet boy. This one got hit in the nose at school right before I was supposed to pick her up. You can notice the remnants of a bloody nose. She was such a trooper and never complained when it needed to be wiped and was so helpful and all smiles while I was with her. Love this girl.

I got her to sing for the camera. I love her little voice and accent. I try to get her to sing and talk all the time just to hear her adorable voice.

I will admit that I was exhausted but it was totally worth it. I would do it again tomorrow!

love always,

4th of July

2010-07-08T11:52:00.024-04:00

Every 4th of July we spend the weekend down at Meme's (Andy's grandmother) lake house with all of Andy's extended family. They all come into town from various cities and we hang out for a long weekend at the best lake house in town. This year we had the two newest members of the family join us. Most of us were meeting the darling babies for the first time. Nora and Alice were beyond awesome! They are such good babies that just loved every new person they met. They smiled almost the whole time and went to everyone that was willing to hold them. The fact that they are twins was awesome because everyone was able to get their baby fix in!

Here is the whole crew!
front row: Amy, Megan, Cally, Danielle, Jeff, Cameron
middle row: Alice, Jessica, Bartlette, Hayes, Meme, Donnie, Jenny, Bill
back row: Nora, Rhys, Scott, Todd, Andy

Here we are showing our true side! We can only be serious for so long!

Introducing Alice (left) and Nora (right)! They are so cute!

Here is the Yancey clan!

(L to R): Jenny, Meme, Bart, and Amy

While we were down there we celebrated Danielle turning 25! Happy Birthday Danielle! Cally made this awesome fruit pizza!

I love this next picture for so many reasons. Andy is great with kids (in this case Alice) and gosh he is so cute.

Amy got this picture because Danielle and I were both wearing brown swim suits and holding the babies! Danielle has Nora and I have Alice. Also Alice is teething and that was a frozen washcloth that she was chewing on.

Jeff and Danielle with Nora.

We were finally able to get these kids naked! Here they are on a towel on the dock. Alice is on the left and Nora on the right. Yes, they were this happy all weekend. Even when we had to keep them awake from 4-7 each night.

Here is Alice sitting up unassisted for the first time. Rhys is there to catch her just in case but she was amazing.

I think this is my favorite picture from the weekend. Just so sweet!! Here was Meme with Alice right after a bottle. I guess she just needs more time with Meme because they put her down for her nap just after this picture was taken and she slept for 2 hours. I think that is a record for little Alice.

We didn't just hang out with the twins! We did go out in the 3 boats we had at the house. Here are the girls on the boat: Meme, Cally, Megan, Hayes and Amy.

Boys on a boat: Andy, Todd, Scott and Rhys

Bill and Amy

Jenny and Donnie

Here is Bill surfing behind the boat! Check out his moves!

Cally getting a grab for the first time. She is an awesome wake boarder and getting better each year!

I love this picture. Andy is an unbelievable skier. Here is a shot Amy got from the weekend.

All photo credit goes to Amy and Bill.

The weekend was so much fun. I can't wait until next year when the babies will be skiing (haha just kidding) and we get together again. Thanks to everyone for making this weekend so much fun. Love you all so much and am so happy to be part of the family!!

love always,

Pirate Party!

2010-06-29T15:14:00.024-04:00

So this birthday was a big one for Andy. So only fitting that I have a HUGE post on this blog for him. Andy turned the big 3-0 this year and if you should know anything about my husband it is that he loves all things pirate. So obviously I would throw him a pirate party at the lake. Here are some of the decorations complete with eye patches and earrings. I thought everyone would love the eye patches. Nope, the earrings were the big hit!

To start this party off people jumped on in the lake. The day started out really hot and it was so nice to be able to float around in the water.

I love this picture of Sydney (love that tongue) and her Aunt Emily. Sydney was a trooper all day. She had no nap, never cried and probably would have stayed in the lake until she pruned. She is quite the little fish.

Then it was time to walk the plank. Here the guys are talking about jumping off the top of the dock.

It is scary up there. I refuse to jump off the top and I guess the guys (Chris, Seth and Andy) thought that some extra support from their friends would make the jump easier, so they held hands.

Here they go!

This picture below not only shows you how high it is, but my favorite part is near the bottom right side. That is little Reece. She wanted to jump off the dock too, only her parents had her jump off the lower one! Here she is after her first jump and heading back the edge of the dock to jump some more. She would have done this all day I think.

Then the guys did a long jump. Here is Andy (the winner as determined by his sweet wife!)

And H2, Jeff. He came a close second...

Then the guys decided to take to the water and go tubing. Here they are getting ready.

We made sure they were covered in sunscreen. (Seth)

Chris and Ben in action, sort of...

There were lots of people there all day. We tried to get everyone but some people were missed, so sorry. Here are a few...

Me and my Mama

Seth, Katie and beautiful baby doll Emery. She even let me hold her later in the day for like 10 whole minutes before she realized that mom and dad were not around. It was awesome!

The Connells: Chris and Julie

The Purnells: Hunter, Emily and Liam

The Clemmons #1: Michael and Emily

The Clemmons # 2: Drew, Allison and super swimmer Sydney

This little one has stolen my heart. She is such a happy baby and lets me hold her until my heart is full. This is little Hadley (Staci and Ben's daughter) and she is too cute for words. Her double dimples melt me.

Jeff and Danielle showed up and gave Andy this awesome shirt. Andy loves all things pirate but he also loves a well known coffee shop called Starbucks. This shirts combines the two. It is a play on the Starbucks logo and it says Arrbucks! Really funny and Andy loved it!

Here is part of the group. Some people (with little ones) had to scoot on out but here is most everyone that was there. Thanks so much to everyone from coming and making Andy's day so fun and wonderful.

A big shout out to Jeff and Emily. Emily didn't make many pictures because she was graciously taking them for me. She is awesome, I know. Thanks you two for helping out so much. I could not have done it without you. Your friendship means the world to Andy and I and I hope you know that. Jeff and Emily are all the way on the far left.

Finally, the reason that we were there. Andy, my pirate, I love you more than you know. I am so lucky to have you in my life. Thanks for being so wonderful and giving us a good reason to get together and hang out at the lake.

So I am totally up for doing this again (if Andy's grandmother will let us)! Who is in??

love always,

Guess who is 30!!!

2010-06-21T15:13:00.002-04:00

Andy is!Happy Birthday Babe!

I love you so much and hope that your birthday is wonderful!

For my birthday Andy helped my qualify for the Boston Marathon.

That is just how he is, always giving to other people. He is always willing to help out anyone that needs anything and never asks for anything in return. I am so lucky to have him as my husband. I know I drive him crazy, but I know that he loves me and loves my craziness!

So I ask that you picture me with my best singing voice!

Happy birthday to you!

Happy birthday dear Andy!

Happy birthday to you!

I love you!

love always,

the long road home

2010-06-18T16:49:00.007-04:00

Laney and I left HHI yesterday to make the long road home. We left our sweet Andy at the beach to enjoy one more day of fun in the sun. We headed back to our home sweet home in good ole K-town. Laney was, as usual, the perfect princess puppy on the way back. She was calm and slept most of the time. We did, however, get a bit bored... [please ignore the no make-up, stain on shirt and just look at how sweet that puppy is in the background]

Here she thinks that her mom has started to loose her mind.

Yep gone. But you have to love that sunlight.

She does not know what to do with me so she just stares at me.

The beautiful sunset. Almost home!!!!

love always,

SUN DOWN!

2010-06-07T10:31:00.015-04:00

So Jeffy emailed some friends last week to see if anyone was interested in heading down to Sun Down in the City. The only brave soles that went were Jeff, Em, Chris and myself. We did meet our dear friends Seth, Kate, and sweet, sweet Emery for dinner before we headed downtown. Dinner was great and as it turns out Seth, Kate and Emery were really glad that they did not go with us. It was crazy and there were tons and tons of people. It would have been tough with a babe. Here is the crew just after we got out of the car. Notice that everyone is *ahem* not sweaty!
This was the mood of the night. So excited to be going to Sun Down!!! Knoxville better watch out!

Me and my bestie!

Now Jeff specifically told us to use the restroom before we left the restaurant because we did not want to have to use the bathrooms downtown. This was minutes after we parked the car and Jeff and Chris are running to use the bathroom at the hotel.

This was when the crowd was not so crowed. It got a lot worse. Emily and I had lost Jeff and Chris at this point.

You can see the stage to the left. I made the executive decision to walk as close to the stage as we could get because I wanted to see the band. Looking back, not the best decision I have ever made. The crowd got so bad that there were times that all you were breathing in was hot air and bad body odor. It was hot, smelly and sweaty. Sound like fun yet???

Jeff was our photo creeper of the night! You can see half of Chris' face too! Haha

Creeping again.

This is my favorite picture of the night. I just think that it is soo funny. I need to get better at taking the self photos. To be honest (I know that she will not think so) I think this is a great picture of Emily. She looks so relaxed and pretty. Love you Em!

Here is one of 2 pictures I got of the stage. We made it halfway to the stage and decided to turn back. It got to crowded (read that as: you have never been closer to strangers in your life) and hot and apparently there was no exit on the other side. I think that Sun Down needs to rethink their layout.

Finally some group pictures! Chris was excited to be my date for the night, can't you tell!

Not sure what the guys were doing in this picture. Apparently Em and I did not get the sunglasses memo! PS doesn't Emily look so short. I laughed so hard at that.

Finally it was time to leave. We loaded the car and headed home.

A few notes on the night.

1. I will only go back to Sun Down while school is still in session. Way too many high school kids.
2. Only going to go back when Andy is with me, some guy tried to push his way through and I had to defend myself.

3. Probably a better idea to go when it is a less known band, Blues Traveler was a hot ticket apparently.

4. Bring more people and come early. This is something to be enjoyed by a large group in an area that you have roped off with chairs!

I did have a blast with Jeff, Em and Chris. I was a fun impromptu evening with lots of memories!

love always,

Babies

2010-05-28T09:24:00.002-04:00

Last night my mom and I, along with some of her friends, went to go see the movie Babies. I am not sure but I think that she is trying to tell me something, like she would like a grandchild and she would like one now! hahaha ;0)
The movie was wonderful. Is is a documentary and no one really talks during the whole movie. I don't think that many of my guy friends would like it, but it was really interesting and funny. I would totally see it again and it makes me want to adopt some day as well. There are so many darling babies all over the world. None of the ones in the movie needed adopting as they had great parents, but it just reminded me of all of the children in the world that are just as beautiful as the ones that I see everyday. The best part of the movie was seeing the various parenting styles. It was interesting to see that children that grow up in what we would see as less than perfect conditions can develop just the same as the ones that have everything sanitized and perfect. Did I mention that the kids in this movie were totally CUTE! I love the opening scene in the movie it is also the first one in the trailer.
Here is the trailer. See for yourself!

love always,

Grandmothers!

2010-05-20T15:34:00.013-04:00

Last week, we had the pleasure of going and watching our two favorite grandmothers do what they do best... CLOG! Gigi and Meme (from left to right) are so cute! It was amazing. I am always so proud of these two. They are amazingly active and we are so lucky to have them in our lives. We love you guys more than you know! Thank you for always making us feel special and loved. Here is the group in attendance. I think that our group alone made up half of the audience! Usually they clog for senior group and other church groups. On this day it was the Senior Group at a local church (Meme's church) and I am not sure what the other audience members thought when our group arrived. We loved being there!

Just so you will know that Megan was there too. Somehow she missed the group picture, but she was there with her cute hubs, Scotty!

Here is the whole group. I think they were missing one person on this day but it was still great. It is always a treat to watch the Goldencloggers! Plus I LOVE that Gigi and Meme are not only on the front row, but also that they are right beside each other!

This is one of their numbers. Yes, they have costume changes. This was one of 3 changes that day. They also had visors with "T" on them when they danced to Rocky Top and a red boa for another number!!!

Here is a close up of the cat costume!

Here is one last picture of the whole group for the grand finale! Going to watch them makes me think I need to take lessons and learn to clog!

I have been trying for days to get some of the other video's that I took to come up on blogger. Grrr, for whatever reason it will not let me. I was able to get their opening number to come up. Once I figure this whole thing out I will work on getting the others up. They are awesome!! So without further ado... Gigi, Meme and the Goldencloggers!!!

love always,

Toes!

2010-05-19T15:09:00.005-04:00

So when Andy and I were running in the marathon my feet were killing me. I think that this was partly due to my feet being soaking wet and partly to do with the fact that we were running 26 miles. Well the real pain did not start until after the race was over. After we showered and were headed back to Knoxville, I noticed that my toes were hurting. Not just a little but a lot. I had on my sandals and just though that they were tired. Well that night I could not stand to have anything touching them, even the weight of the sheet on our bed caused horrible pain. For days I could not touch them or let anything or anyone else touch them.

As a side note, one of the things that I have started doing since we started running is making sure that my toes are painted for our long runs. I make sure that they have plenty of coats of nail polish on them. I do this to keep them stronger. I have nails that tend to break and figure that a little extra help is not a bad idea.

Well, 2 days ago I finally took the polish off of my toes that I put on the day before the race. Boy was I shocked when I saw what they looked like. No wonder my toes hurt so much!!!

Warning: if you don't like feet or anything slightly gross, don't look. No blood or guts but I know people are squeamish around feet.

Here they are in all their glory!

For the most part the toes that got hurt the worst were my big toes and my second toes. Here is a close up!

Gross I know. Those are bruises! I couldn't believe it either! Haha, and my feet are really ugly!

love always,

Marathon Time!

2010-05-12T10:13:00.006-04:00

Not sure why it has taken me so long to tell you about the marathon. I think that really I needed to just recover from it both physically and mentally. It was really tough and quite possibly the hardest thing that I have ever done and I don't say that lightly. I cannot tell you how hard it was both physically and mentally. I was so lucky to have Andy with me almost every step of the way. I could not have finished without him.

So the story, here we (Jeffy, Emily, me and Andy) at an Italian restaurant in Cincinnati. We ate at this same place last year. I thought the food was good, but really it was just nice to go out for a nice dinner with friends and try not to be nervous. I would like to note that it is probably not the best idea to eat spicy sausage the night before you run a half marathon *ahem* Jeff.

The forecast for the weekend was not looking good and the news that was on the TV in the area that we were sitting was not helping the situation. If you will remember the race was the same day that Nashville was hit with all of the flooding and the day before the Kentucky Derby was rained on hard. We were hoping (read that praying really hard) that the weather would move to the south-east of us and we would maybe just get sprinkled on.
Dinner was wonderful and we headed back to our room. We paid $250 for our room and if you know Andy and I that was a lot of money for us to spend for one night. We split the room with Jeff and Emily and me being the nervous crazy woman that I become the night before a race told Jeff and Emily that we had to be in bed by 10pm. I did not expect them to go to sleep and they could watch TV but that I wanted to be moving towards falling asleep by then. I knew that I would not get much sleep that night because I usually don't before a race, but I at least wanted to be able to close my eyes and rest for a couple of hours. That is not exactly what happened.

Our hotel was downtown and in a perfect location for the race. We could walk to the start and walk back at the finish of the race. This meant we did not have to get in the car or wake up extra early to make sure that we would get there in time. The bad news, there was a Cinco de Mayo festival going on that day/night right in front of our hotel on the side of the hotel that we were on. Bummer. The music went on loudly until about 11pm. Oh, but don't worry that is when the fun started.

When the music finally stopped I guess our neighbors decided it was time to come home. They were staying in the room right next to us that had, if we wanted I guess, adjoining rooms. To say that these people were loud was an understatement. They entered the room slamming the door, and burping as loudly as they could. At some point they went to visit a friend down the hall because and alarm went off at about 12:30am with no one to turn it off. After what seemed like hours I finally called down to the front desk and asked them to send someone to turn it off. They didn't, they just called the room and no one answered. A few minutes later one of them came back to the room and turned it off. So we thought it would now be quiet. We were wrong. We could hear them take their shower (it really sounded like they were in our shower) and I guess they were getting ready for bed. We then heard more talking and more burping. Then out of nowhere they opened their adjoining door and started to pound on ours. I think that I almost jumped out of my skin. I know I jumped out of bed and so did Andy. We looked out the peep hole to see if they were in the hall because in the confusion we could not tell where the pounding was coming from. At this point it is probably 1:00 in the morning. We climbed back into bed thinking that this was the end. You guessed it, we were wrong. At about 1:30 they pounded on the door again and cursed as loud as they could. Andy and I were both fuming, but just stayed put in our bed. Our neighbors kindly quieted down at around 2am and we were able to sleep for a couple of hours because we had to be up at 4:45 because the race was at 6:30. I almost thought that I dreamed the whole thing. What a night to have the night before a big race!

As a side note, when I am tired I am not nice. I think that was louder at 5am then they ever were. I talked as loudly as I could and slammed our door a few times. I felt bad for other people down the hall, but I have never be so mad at them I could not give myself time to care . I just could not figure out who would act like that at such a nice hotel...

Anyway, when we did wake up it was to the saddest scene ever. Andy went to go check the weather outside and it was pouring. Not sprinkling or misting but pouring, and harder than I have ever seen. That is when I got nervous. I tried to stay calm and Jeff went downstairs to get us some trash bags. Unfortunately all they had were the small ones that go in your room trash can and we all know how flimsy those are.

By the time that we left the hotel I was a mental mess. As we stepped out onto the sidewalk Andy asked me if I was okay. Now, one of my goals for this race was to qualify for Boston, the other, not to cry before the race. I just looked up at Andy and said as the tears started, "I think this is going to be the worst birthday ever!" I said it because running a marathon in perfect conditions is really hard. I am super competitive and had set my goal to qualify for Boston, and under the circumstances we were facing I just thought it was impossible. I was miserable and we had not even made it to the start of the race. When we got to the start we elbowed our way to the spot that we wanted and had to wait. The rain was coming down in sheets and we were completely soaked and the gun had not gone off yet. With the thunder and lightning as our backdrop the woman on the microphone said for us not to worry. The worst of the storm was to our south and that we would be okay. With a lump in my throat I just hoped that she was right.

Well, the gun did finally go off. I don't think that Andy or I said much. I think that the first thing I said to Andy was when I had to tell him that my shoe came untied. I don't think I have ever had this happen to me and it happened in the 2nd mile. Arrrgh, so annoying. We made it though the climb and to the 9 mile mark when the half and the full split. Right after Andy and I split from the half marathoners, I thought that I had made a mistake. It was not until then 11 mile mark that I verbalized it. I told Andy that I just didn't want to run anymore. He got this look like, oh no we have a long way to go. I was mentally beat, soaking wet, and miserable, but my body kept moving for a little while at least. At the 13 mile mark I had to stop to use the bathroom which is like my nightmare. Andy was great and just waited for me. We were still on pace but I knew that we still had 13+ miles ahead of us. Things were okay, until we got to 20. By okay I mean that my body was still moving. At 20 my body was done. I hit the wall. People say that a marathon doesn't really start until the 20th mile and in this case they were spot on. Finally at 22 there was nothing more that could be done for me. Andy was not hurting the way I was and there was nothing else that he could say that would keep me moving. He was wonderful the whole way telling me that I was okay and just to relax, but I just wanted him to finish and not have to deal with me anymore or deal with the disappointment of running the whole way with me and me still not qualifying for Boston. I told him that he could go on. As I watched him run on I wanted nothing more than to walk off the course and disappear. I just thought that it would be a miracle if I could even finish this thing. I turned to look over my shoulder to see what was coming behind me and in the distance I saw the dreaded pink balloons.

The balloons that I was seeing were the pace balloons. They have people running that will stay close to the pace that you want to run and they will talk to you and encourage you the whole way if you stay with them. It is really awesome, but honestly the last thing that I wanted to see at that moment. I knew that I could not let them pass me. At that point I was having to stop and walk a little and then I would start running. When I made it to 24 miles they were right behind me. My body was telling me to quit that it could not take much more. My calves were on fire and my hips felt like they were going to detach from my body, but I told myself that I had to suck it up and just run. So I did, I don't know how I did it but I did not stop that entire 2.2 miles. When you get to the 25th mile there are people lining the streets, so you really can't stop there. I don't think that I have ever pushed myself harder. I remember hearing the announcer call out my name and say that I was a Boston qualifier and seeing the numbers of 3:40.30 on the clock, but something that I will never forget is seeing Andy. He was waiting for me just past the finish and he just walked to me in the middle of all of the madness. He said, "Babe you did it. I didn't think you were going to make it, but you did it, you qualified for Boston. I am so proud of you." We hugged and then tried to make our way though the finish area. There were people everywhere and I could hardly move. It is amazing that you can run 26.2 miles and then when you stop you feel like you cannot possibly take another step. I know that I looked like I was about 100 years old because my legs were not moving very well. I got my silver blanket, had the chip removed from my shoe, got some water and then headed towards the food. I wanted to get my picture taken at the end but the line was too long and I did not think that I could stand up that long. We would walk about 10-15 feet and I would have to sit down. Andy was wonderful, he got me chips and those Little Debbie rolls and then we looked for Jeff and Emily who had already finished the half marathon. We met up with them outside the finisher area. They had time to run or walk rather back to the hotel and get some dry clothes on as well as get some coffee. Here we all are after the race.

Andy and me. I honestly can say that I would not have made it without him. He was amazing and I am so lucky to have him as my husband.

After the above picture was taken I hobbled back to the hotel. My legs were tired, my hips hurt and my feet were pruned. I was so ready for a hot shower. We all took showers and packed out things and then went for lunch. Luckily for us there was a restaurant across from the hotel so we just walked or in my case limped over and ate. Here is Jeff and Emily at the restaurant. They both did awesome in their race as well. Emily was able to improve her time from her last race and if only Jeff had not made her stop because he needed a potty break - Emily tried to tell you not to eat those spicy sausages the night before- it would have been even better. Great job you two!!!

And here we are. You can tell Andy is not as tired as I am. I was exhausted! The best thing was that right after this we walked next door to Graters Ice Cream Shop (you HAVE to go there if you are ever in Cincinnati) for an after race birthday treat. It was so good!

Then we got in the car and Jeff drove us the 4 hours home. It was so good to be home, but I was so sore. The next 2 days were brutal. I am better now and have even run 3 times! Next up, Boston here I come!! My official time was 3:39.27. I cut it close and I can't believe I did it, but I did.

If you want to see some more pictures and see me having the time of my life (that is a joke and is to be read with total sarcasm) you can follow the link below to the marathon pictures. My bib was 519 and Andy was 518. Make sure that you have the selected race as: Flying Pig Marathon & Half 2010.

http://www.runphotos.com/

Love always,

last night and the night before...

2010-04-28T15:48:00.003-04:00

All this just had to happen the week of the marathon...

So on Monday night Laney woke up in the middle of the night and needed to go out. I think that it was about 2:15. Andy let her out which means that yours truly gets to be the one to let her in. So at about 3:30 she started barking so I woke up and went to go and get her. Well I walked outside and whispered, spoke in my normal voice and finally yelled at her. She would not come and I could not really see her since it was 3:30 and pitch black outside. I gave up and went back to bed. She stopped barking for a little while but at 4:00 she started again. This time I pretended to be asleep so Andy would go and get her. Sure enough he went. I heard him calling her and then put on his shoes. I must have fallen back asleep because I did not hear anything else. The next morning Andy called me at work and asked if I had tried to bring Laney in last night. I told him that I had but that I was too tired to chase her and gave up. He told me that when he went to go get her that he had to walk all the way to the back of the yard and grab her by the scruff of her neck. He looked to see if there was anything that she was chasing or barking at and sure enough there was a dead opossum. Once he brought Laney back into the house he smelled her to make sure that she did not roll in it. She did not smell so he went to bed. The next morning he went out to get rid of the opossum and it was gone. Now he thinks that he may have been so tired that he imagined the whole thing. I think that the opossum was just playing opossum. Ha!

Well after work Andy decided to take Laney for a run so that she would be really tired and we could get some sleep last night. Well, last night was worse. I fell asleep on the couch pretty early and found my way to bed at like 10:30. In the middle of the night I heard this strange noise. I knew that it was coming from outside but I could not tell you what it was. I remember thinking that I hope that Laney did not hear it. Well that hope did not last very long because she started barking in our bedroom. What did my sleep deprived husband do? He got up and LET HER OUTSIDE! Laney instantly started barking and I told Andy that he could not leave her out there because it was 4:00 in the morning and our neighbors were trying to sleep. He said to just leave her and that she would be okay. I just could not do that so I walked outside. Again I tried whispering, talking in my normal voice and finally yelling. None worked and I dressed in my belly shirt, underwear, and Andy’s flip-flops that are 4 sizes too big for me had to chase Laney around the backyard. It did not talk long before a string of expletives flowed from my mouth. I was so mad at her. Once I got her inside I had to wipe here feet. She just looked at me like, “What? I don’t know why you are so mad.” I made my way back to the bedroom where I said, “That is it! I am giving her Benadryl for the rest of the week! I HAVE to get some sleep!” Andy did not say anything at the time, but today he told me that he thought I was talking crazy and was not making any sense! Well he was in for it. All night long Laney would hear whatever was out there and start whining to go out or barking. I think that Andy woke up 3 times to loudly tell her to, “Lay down!” in his stern voice that she normally causes her to cower. She sleeps on his side of the bed so this is totally his responsibility.

Needless to say, neither of us have gotten much sleep the last couple of nights. We had a text conversation today that went like this:

Me: My eyes hurt because I am so tired.
Him: I know, & just think Laney is snoozin’ right now.
Me: I know, it makes me want to set traps at home that will keep her awake, like alarms or the air compressor!

Can you believe that I am so sleep deprived that I would be willing to set a trap to keep my dog from sleeping all day and keeping us up all night!!! Laney is totally scared of Andy’s air compressor that he uses for work. If he turns it on while I am home she will come and find me and try to hide. Even if I am blow drying my hair. She is more afraid of the air compressor than my hair dryer. One time she even tried to get in the shower with me. I know it sounds mean, but I am not sure I can take one more night of no sleep! I hope you guys out there are getting more sleep than we are!

love always,

Marriage

2010-04-27T15:46:00.001-04:00

Head on over to 503 Photography's blog to find out the secrets to a successful marriage. I could not agree more!!!

http://503galleries.com/blog/secrets-to-a-successful-marriage/

love always,

baby feaver...

2010-04-21T11:34:00.008-04:00

These two I have shown you before. This is Hayden (6 months, 22 lbs) and Reece (2.5 years). Andy and I just love these two to pieces. We had a Welcome Home party for Doc this weekend at the Cove. He was so surprised and the party was a success! Andy and I were put in charge of entertaining Reece, since her parents would be meeting and greeting and there is water close by. She is just getting so big. Andy commented after the party that he forgets that you can have a conversation with her. At one point we took Reece up to the playground to swing. Andy was pushing her and he said to her, "You are getting tired aren't you?" He pushed her and as she came back so turned to him and said, "No, I'm not!" It is easy to forget that she knows exactly what we are saying. Too cute and for the record, she was exhausted! What child will admit to being tired! Here is a cute picture that I got of the two kiddos while we were at the party. Reece is such a sweet big sister!

Doesn't this cutie have the best dimples ever? I hope that our kids get some dimples like this. She belongs to a sweet friend of mine from high school, Staci and her hubs Ben. This is Hadley Joy and there could not be a more fitting name. She is such a joy! Hardly cries and totally lets me hold her to my hearts content.

This little one is Emery. If you remember I posted on her a long time ago when she was born, eight weeks early to our dear friends Seth and Katie. She was so tiny and small, but look at her now. Those cheeks kill me. I am always telling her mama how they just make me want to smooch all over them. She is so sweet and has the tiniest little squeak of a voice. The dress, I have to mention, is one that her sweet mama wore when she was small. I love a babe is a smocked dress!!! Gotta love baby fever and for the record, we are NOT preggers!!!!!

love always,

Weekend!

2010-04-09T11:50:00.004-04:00

I am so happy that the weekend is upon us, well sort of. This week Andy and I officially signed up for the Cincinnati Marathon! Yay! Guess what? It is on my birthday! Ugh, I can't think of a worse birthday present that I could have given myself. I keep telling myself that I LOVED the last one and this one is just going to be better. Andy and I have been training, but this weekend is our longest run so far. I am not sure how far we are going to go, but I know it will be 20+. Eek.

For some reason I always get myself worked up for these long runs. I stress days leading to the run and wish my life away to the point as we round the corner and the run is over. Crazy I know. I am excited about the marathon, I really am and I love to run!

The thing I look forward to most about running is eating after, well if my tummy can handle eating after. We do get this at the end of the run. I like to think of it as my post-run vanilla shake. It look terrible, but it is really not that bad.

Andy and I will probably start running early (8-9 is early for us) to beat the heat that Knoxville has been experiencing lately. Hopefully yesterday's rain will keep it cooler for us! Keep your fingers crossed and think of us on Saturday morning.

love always,

Vacation!

2010-03-25T11:30:00.008-04:00

I am in serious need of a vacation. Knox Co. spring break is next week. I have a "real job" with "real work days." We don't get spring break. Boo! UT had their spring break a week or so ago. I didn't get a spring break then either. Boo!

The good news... in August we:

along with them:

Are going here:

To see this:

And do lots of this:

And I can't wait. Until then, I will just dream of St. John every night!

love always,

Someone is Eighty-one!

2010-03-16T13:53:00.002-04:00

That is GIGI! Today at 8pm our precious Gigi will turn 81! Here are 18 interesting facts about Miss Gigi since she says that she is not turning 81 but 18!!!

1. she still clogs weekly
2. she practices her clogging while Granddaddy hikes in the mountains
3. she has weekly lunch dates with her "boyfriends"
4. she has 10 biological grandchildren and 4 that are the lucky ones that married well and got Gigi as a grandmother
5. she LOVES the Braves
6. she is older than her hubby, but shhhh don't tell
7. she is the one who gave Amy her awesome sweet tea recipe
8. she will become a great-grandmother in August (nope not me Cousin Jenny is due August 25th)
9. she had 3 boys that kept her buys
10. she loves Dane Bradshaw
11. she is an amazing dancer
12. she has made each grandchild (married in too) an afghan
13. she loves to ride her bike at the beach
14. she loves to give cards and always picks the best ones
15. she makes the BEST brownies that Andy and I fight over
16. she is involved in the lives of all of her grandchildren and tries to come to all events that we are in
17. she splits meals with Granddaddy (especially the pizza at Sullivan's - with jalapenos on the side)
18. she is an AMAZING grandmother and we are so lucky to have her in our lives!!

Gigi,
I hope you know how much you mean to Andy and I. We love you so much and treasure the time that we get to spend with you. Your joy and laughter is infectious. We were so happy to come and have dinner with you and the family last night to celebrate you. Thank you for loving us all so well. You are so special to us!!!!

love always,

birthday party

2010-03-15T15:48:00.002-04:00

Tonight Andy and I have a birthday party to go to. Our family is meeting together to celebrate this wonderful and sweet woman, Gigi. Maybe I can get her to fill out a questionnaire for her real birthday tomorrow!

Gigi,

We love you more than you know. Check back tomorrow for your official birthday post!

love always,

um, why

2010-03-05T11:54:00.002-05:00

Can someone please tell my why these are in my house? Andy keeps threatening to pop them, and I continue to say no. Not sure why? Any advice or comments are welcome!

Note: Neither Andy nor I are 30...yet!

Have a great weekend!

love always,

Haiti Reflections

2010-03-01T11:02:00.012-05:00

HAITI REFLECTIONS

by Bill Broome

As I reflect on my trip to Haiti and re-enter the “real” world again, I am hearing myself and those at home asking: Was your trip successful? Did you make a difference? These are very difficult questions to answer, for I know that God measures success differently than the world measures success. “Did I touch some lives?” Yes, I know I touched many lives by giving a small measure of hope through physical touch, medication, encouraging words, prayers, or even a moment of shared laughter.

Compassion takes on a whole new meaning in Haiti. I was able to enter the darkness of others in pain and sadness; to be where people suffer. I saw people who lost their entire family and have nowhere to live. I talked to families who live in fear of the aftershock earthquakes (which currently measure more than 50 – several of which occurred were while my team was there). These families are afraid to re-enter their homes and therefore, are sleeping outdoors on the ground. I treated numerous patients suffering from diseases related to crowded conditions, malnutrition, and lack of clean water. Post-traumatic stress was a common thread with nearly everyone I spoke with. Basic medicines to help with sleep were a welcome relief from the constant reality of the tragic conditions.

I was asked to help at an “outdoor” hospital where patients were crowded together under tents in ninety degree temperatures to recover from broken bones and amputations.
Doctors, nurses, physical therapists and people from all walks of life were working together to provide care. I will never forget the sight of an American nurse trying to read from a
Creole Bible to a young Haitian university student. He had just learned that the surgeons would not be able to save his second leg and that he that would soon be a bilateral amputee. A dehydrated paramedic started an IV on himself in an attempt to continue to work with his patients. The stories of sacrifice and hardship are unending.

My contribution was like a drop of rain in a bucket . But with the accumulated effect of thousands of volunteers, a drop of a rain can become a shower of hope and love. That is what I see happening in Haiti.

Someone once said, “When God is going to do something wonderful, He starts with a hardship. When He is going to do something amazing, He starts with an impossibility.” I believe that God is using the impossible in Haiti to do amazing things for His kingdom. I experienced firsthand what it looks like to see a church swelling out its doors as people seek God. God is in this for the long haul.

Please continue to pray for the people of Haiti and that more will hear the call to go and serve.

Christ has no body on earth but ours,
Ours are the only hands with which He can do His work,
Ours are the only feet with which He can go about the world,
Ours are the only eyes through which His compassion can shine forth upon a troubled world.
Christ has no body on earth but ours.
Teresa of Avila

Bill and his team from East TN.

The destruction in Haiti. A hillside of fallen houses.

A woman in the "hospital" still smiling. Amazing.

An adorable child drinking water.

Transporting patients in the outdoor hospital.

A house falling down.

The outdoor hospital. Tents are filled with patients.

Dr. Bill working in one of the clinics.

This was the college age boy that Dr. Bill spoke if in his story.

This nurse is reading to him from the Bible for comfort.

As I have said in my previous post. We are so proud of our Dr. Bill/Dad. You are one of the most amazing men that we know and we are so honored to be a part of your family. Your generosity and kindness is a witness of Gods love for people everywhere. We love you more than you could ever know. Keep pushing us to be better people, keep showing us Gods love though your actions, keep loving us the way God loves us. Thank you for being you.

I will tell one story and it shows Bill's heart and understanding of the things that matter. I, Cameron, tend to put value in things. Not normal things like our nice TV (although I do love our TV) but in silly things like a shirt that holds memories or my favorite blanket. When we were over at the Amy and Bill's house on Sunday and we were able to see all of Bill's pictures from his week in Haiti he had one that showed where he and his team slept. When she pointed out his bed I said, "I knew that one was yours, I recognized that towel." Then Amy said, "that will be the last time you see that towel, he left it in Haiti." My mouth dropped open in shock. "You left it... in Haiti," I said. "And he left his Young Life shirt too," Amy said. I thought about it all night, not because this towel really meant anything to me. It was a towel that for as long as I can remember was with us at the lake or beach or any trip that we took where we would be near water. It was just a thing that reminded me of the Broome Family for some reason. The thing is I didn't go to Haiti. All I could see is a few pictures of what happened there. I didn't get to see first hand of people in pain, people crying and most of all people coming together to help other people. We have it so good here in Knoxville, a warm house that I feel comfortable will not fall down, running water to take a shower, doctors that are close and available to see me consistently with medicine to help me with whatever ailment I have, and family members that are close by. We are rich here, even those of us that struggle. The people of Haiti don't have any of this. They live in fear of another earthquake causing buildings to fall on them. They don't get to take a shower whenever they want. They have kind doctors coming by, but they don't have one doctor that is their doctor, with medicine that they so desperately need. Many of them lost family members and some lost everyone. It is hard to imagine what they are all going though.

I am so proud of Bill for leaving things behind. He told us that he is not sure what will happen to that towel or to his shirt, but I know that someone who needs it, will get it. Bill is a man that is always willing to give to others. Whether it be though his knowledge as a doctor, or a hug when someone needs it or the shirt off his back. He is a giver and we are lucky to know him, and if you are reading this, then you are probably one of the lucky ones that knows him too!

love always,

Hey Dog!

2010-02-24T12:53:00.005-05:00

I have not posted on the Lovely Little Laney in some time and thought that you guys might like an update. What a sweet, sweet girl she is most of the time. She still LOVES her daddy most, but I like to think that I come in a close second. We have been taking her running almost twice a week and then usually for a swim on the weekends. I know what you are thinking. Yes, it has been terribly cold in K-town, but this pup does not mind. She still loves to swim in the dead of winter and Andy even took her one day when there was ice near the shore. She did not even think twice before plunging her head and the rest of her body into the cold water.

One thing that she has been doing lately is pretty funny and only because Andy and I have a good sense of humor about it. The other morning I got up and Andy was still in bed. I went and took my shower and when I got out I noticed that Laney was not beside the bed on Andy's side. Not thinking too much about it I peeked my head in the office to see if she was on her bed there, but she wasn't. So I walked towards the living room noting that the door to the backyard was closed and locked so she was not out there and she was not on her bed in the living room. I started to think that I missed her so I went back to the bedroom, then the office, back to the living room and then I saw her. Laney is not allowed on the couch. She knows this, but we have noticed lately that she will try to get up on Andy's couch, but usually hops down when she can hear us walking towards the living room. So lately Andy has been putting all of the pillows he can on his couch so that she will not get up there and as you can tell, the pillows are doing there job! I would like to note that when this picture was taken there was not a single pillow or obstacle on my couch.

Busted! The best part is I got two pictures in before she moved. I took the camera into Andy and showed him where she was. His response, "She is a smart dog." What am I going to do with these two. So to show Laney who is boss, this is her punishment!

A couple of days later I took this picture...

Who is punishing who? I laughed so hard at this one. She is an awesome dog and we love her so much!

love always,

Leaving on a jet plane!

2010-02-18T12:23:00.002-05:00

No, not me silly. This guy...

He left today to got to Haiti! We are so proud of his selflessness to travel so far away on such short notice to help people that need him and all of his medical knowledge. Most of you know that Bill *ahem* Dr. Broome is a Family Doctor. What you may not know is that one time not too long ago he was listed in a local magazine as one of the top doctors in Knoxville!!!! Yea, he is that good! We are sending our best to Haiti!

Bill is not only a wonderful doctor but he is an amazing husband, father, friend and man. He is always there when any of his family needs him and is willing to watch TV standing up most of the time so that it does not take too much time away from his honey-do list. The rest of the time he watches TV lying down almost under the coffee table. Our theory on this is so that his Honey can't see him easily and send his attention back to his honey-do list! Ha ha, just kidding Amy!

Seriously, he is so giving of his time and I don't think that we tell him often enough for his kindness to his family and to others. He is going to be in Haiti for a week and I am sure that he will return with beautiful stories to tell. Please pray for him while he is gone. Pray that he will be safe, that he will be able to help others physically but also be able to show anyone that he comes in contact with God's love for them. We will miss him this week, but it is awesome to know that he is going to help those that are in need. We love you Billy-boy and can't wait for your stories and your safe return.

love always,

I am a Connecticut Fan.

2010-02-02T13:12:00.003-05:00

Well the Connecticut Sun (WNBA) that is. That is right. My dear friend and college roommate signed a 3 year contract with the Connecticut Sun after 7 years with the now folded Sacramento Monarchs. The exciting part is that she will be on the East Coast and I will now have more opportunities to watch her play. I wish that she could have been closer, but now I will have a good reason to head up North is summer and see her play. I could not be more proud of her! So without further ado the newest member of the Connecticut Sun.... KARA LAWSON!!!!!!

love always,

Oh Monday

2010-01-27T14:17:00.004-05:00

So on Monday I was in a big hurry. I was trying to leave work at 5pm, rush to the grocery store (right next door, thankfully), get all my groceries for the week (somewhat of a miracle if I pulled it off), rush home, put all groceries away, cook dinner, eat dinner, and go and meet Kara for coffee by 7:45. Wow, that just wore me out typing that.

Well everything was on schedule, I left work and headed to the store. It was not quite as busy as I thought it would be and I had a list so I wasn't wandering around the store. The last thing on the list was milk so I quickly grabbed it and was on my way to the check out line. Now, usually I am a buy-what-I-need-for-the-night-kind-of-girl. This works for me most of the time and I get to do my own checking out, which I love. On Monday, I had way to much stuff so I was stuck in a line with a cashier. Not too big of a deal until the kid who was bagging my groceries held up my jug of milk and asked me if I would like my milk in a bag. Just as the words left his mouth the gallon of milk slipped from his hands and came crashing down on the bag thingy. Milk went everywhere and we all just stood there looking at him. He said he was sorry and he quickly ran off to get me another jug. I finished checking out and waited for him to bring the milk to me. Once he returned he handed me the milk and said that he made sure to get me a good date and he apologized again. I told him not to worry and I rushed to get my groceries in the car. As I am packing the groceries into my car, I made sure that I put the milk next to heavy items so that it would not fall over and spill. I did not want milk all over my car.

I got home without and issues and walked around to the back of my car. I opened the tailgate and what fell out first, yep, the milk. It came crashing down on the driveway and milk went everywhere. I just stood there thinking, this did not just happen. 2 gallons of milk have not been wasted on my behalf today. If you know me, then you know that I drink about a gallon of milk on my own each week. It was so sad to see it all go to waste.

I called Andy to tell him not to worry about the big mess that was on our driveway, that it was just milk and the next rain would wash it away. This is what it looked like. So sad...

Another angle...

The good news is that I got dinner cooked and cleaned up and made it in time to see Kara. The day wasn't all THAT bad. I guess the moral of the story is, "don't cry over spilled milk" even if it is 2 gallons. Hee hee hee.

love always,

UTAH 2009

2010-01-25T10:14:00.012-05:00

Andy and I just got back from and awesome trip to Park City, Utah. The trip was so much fun and we got to go with some great friends and family Hayes (Andy's cousin) and Todd! If you can remember I took a trip out to Heber City, UT with Andy's family back in 2008 during the summer. This is what it looked like...

The top picture was from the house that we stayed in looking towards Park City. Now for a slightly different look...

The above picture is me standing almost at the top of the Park City Mountain Ski Resort looking down on Heber City, UT. It was so neat to see it from way up there and it look completely different. That little snowy valley is Heber City!
While we were in Park City we decided that we wanted to stay close to town or the Main Street area. We were not sure how this was going to work skiing wise but it ended up being perfect. The picture above is one that I took while Andy and I were riding the Town Ski Lift from the middle of town up to the top of the mountain. It was about a block and a half from our condo (the brick building that looks like it is at the base of the hill) and an easy walk to make to start out day. You also could ski down a slope called Quittin' Time and get back to town. You can kind of see the slop in the bottom right corner.

This is Hayes and me at the top of the mountain. I cannot explain to you the beautiful views that we had from up here. It was amazing and the pictures do not do it justice.

The above picture is one of my favorites and too bad it took it with my phone and it turned out so horrible. This is Andy looking out over a Double Black. I am sure he was thinking about going down it, but I just liked how small we all looked compared to what was all around us. It was amazing and we were all in awe of what we were seeing.

Here we are just taking a few shots before we skied down the mountain.

Hayes and Todd. We love these two and had so much fun. We are so ready for our next vacation with these two!!!

Two nights we got all cleaned up from skiing and went out on the town. Well, we went to dinner to some very nice and yummy restaurants. We did not stay out late because we were all so tired from skiing all day that after dinner we were all ready to head home to relax and get some sleep.

This last picture has a story with it. Todd and Hayes came in a bit earlier this day than Andy and I did. Andy and I wanted to make a few more runs before heading in. We did about 3 runs and then decided to head back to the condo. I let Andy be in charge of the route that we were going to take back. You have to connect a couple of runs and lifts to make sure that you get to the right place. You also have to do all of this before 4pm when all of the lifts shut down. Well we skied over to the beginning of the town runs to make it back. Andy decided to take a "short cut" and do one more black run. Before we started this "last" run, I said I don't think this is right. He assured me that it was so we headed down. It was all moguls so it took me a little longer than it took him. At the bottom I said, I don't think this is right. Then I noticed something. Not only were we on the wrong run, but all of the lifts were stopped. My mouth dropped because I thought that we were going to get stuck at the base of the mountain and it would take forever to get back. Luckily Park City has Night Skiing and had one lift open and it was the one lift we need to get back. We got on the lift and skied down to town and met Hayes and Todd at the bottom. I was so tired and glad to be back when this picture was taken.

We had so much fun on this trip. With Utah about 3 feet short of the normal snow that they have, we were still able to have great skiing and a wonderful time. Hayes and Todd, we can't wait to see you soon and for our warm weather adventure that we are planning for the near future!!!

love always,

Mr. and Mrs. Collier

2010-01-19T12:06:00.006-05:00

So, Andy and I have some really good friends named Jeff and Emily. We talk about them a lot to other people and often I find myself saying, "oh you know Emily/Jeff of Jeff and Emily!" We spend a lot of time with them and love them both to pieces. I won't even mention that Jeff was never officially invited to our wedding (a mistake that was completely and totally my fault and I take full responsibility) and Andy and I were both in their wedding. I in no way feel guilty about this. (Okay that was a total lie and I will probably feel guilty about not having Jeff at our wedding until the day I die! You always have that one big wedding mistake don't you!)

At any rate, we love the Colliers and truly treasure their friendship. They always talk about how they are never on the blog and I feel bad about that so I wanted to introduce our friends. So without further ado here are our friends, meet Jeff and Emily!

Andy and Jeff were in the finals of their Fantasy Football league and to make the finals more interesting they decided that the loser had to grow a mustache. Guess who lost!! This is my favorite picture of Jeff ever!

love always,

oh so cold

2010-01-08T12:48:00.002-05:00

So, we made it home from HHI at around 6pm. I don't think I have ever been so happy to see my home, but it did come with a warning. All day Andy had been warning me that the house was going to be cold. Before we left he shut our water off (thank goodness because I think that all of our pipes would have burst) and turned out heat way down, and possibly off, I am not sure. So, here I am so happy to be home. I rush into the house with some of the stuff from the car and when I get no further than the threshold of our door I am hit with an Arctic Blast. Um, yes, I dare say that it was colder inside our house than it was outside our house where it was a balmy 25 degrees. It was so cold in our house that the temperature setting on our thermostat stopped reading it and was stuck at 40 degrees.

Now, most of you that know me, know that at work when it is 90 degrees outside I will usually have my space heater running. You will hardly ever find me sitting on the couch without a blanket, even in the summer. In the winter at home I ALWAYS have 1-2 blankets and my space heater pointed directly at me at the highest setting it will go wherever I am in the house (usually my couch is where I can be found.) So when this Arctic Blast hit my I almost froze right there. I thought it was not really that big of a deal and Andy HAD warned me, but that was when I thought that it would warm up pretty quickly. We got the fan running at about 6:45 and I thought we were home free, but when 7:30 came around and the house was not getting any warmer and I could not possibly put on one more piece of clothing and still be mobile it was time to do something, anything. I calmly walked into the kitchen where Andy and I started discussing going to either his parents house (they were not home) or his grandmother's house (where his parents were and aunts and uncles and dogs). We knew that we could not leave Laney in the house because she would surely turn to and dog-sicle and since I had not shower that day, rode in a car for 8 hours and had more clothes on me to survive Antarctica (yes it was colder than our house than Antarctica!) it was pretty safe to say that I did not really want to run into anyone I knew, not even family. I was that bad. As the discussion went on, I lost it. I could not contain myself any longer. I turned to Andy and said. "I can't take it. I have been cold all weekend. I sucked it up while we were at HHI, but I just can't take it. I am tired of being COLD!" Then I started crying. Not the pretty cry, but the UGLY one. Do you know what Andy did, yep, he started laughing. You heard me right, laughing.

Now, before you get mad at him I have to admit had I not been so cold that it brought me to tears, I probably would have laughed at me too. I was a mess. He walked over to me and gave me a hug, still laughing, and said let's go to my parents house and warm up. I agreed and we left.

We stayed at Amy and Bill's for about an hour and both just longed to be home. We stopped by Starbucks to cheer me up and headed home. The cheering up lasted about 1 second after we walked in the door. The house, it was just as cold, if not colder than when we left. The hour of warming the house up had not worked and it was still so cold that it would not register on the thermostat. What did I do? I did not loose it again. I did, however, think about it. I just found every blanket in the house, left my new Uggs on, wore 2 pairs of gloves, Andy gave me his hat, got my space heater, and plopped down on the couch and was determined to stay there until the house was warm. Andy told me to go to my mom's house if he could not get the house to start heating up. Well, once he determined that we needed to turn the fan off (it was just blowing more cold air around the house, the house started heating up. By the time that we went to be it made it all the way to 48 degrees and might as well have been a heat wave. We went to bed, I turned on my heated mattress pad (a big shout out to Bill and Amy for giving that to us!) and went to bed. The house was finally warm when we woke up in the morning. I have never in my life been so thankful for heat and a husband that can fix everything, even when he laughs at me through the process.

So I don't leave you without a picture. Andy snapped this one on his phone of me sitting on the couch hoping that our house would one day be warm again.

love always,

home again, home again

2010-01-06T13:34:00.006-05:00

So Andy and I along with some dear friends Jeff and Emily and Chris and Julie went on an adventure to Hilton Head Island to celebrate the new year. We left on Thursday at 6:15 pm to make the trek over to HHI. Um, just so you know the normal 6 hours trip that Andy and I have commented on as being, "no big deal" is now an 8 hour trip that is, "the longest trip of your life!" I say this and I did not drive once on the way over or on the way back. The trip down there was especially hard because it started to sprinkle as we left Knoxville. That was not the bad part. It rained harder the closer that we got to NC and then when we hit Ashville the rain turned to sleet that turned to SNOW and caused Andy to drive slowly. Once the rain ended it rained the almost the entire way to the beach. It was crazy. All of us were exhausted when we pulled into the house at 3am. I am not sure that I have ever been happier to see a king bed in my life. If our car had not been so packed with stuff I probably would have smuggled it back to Knoxville with us. We spent 3 wonderful days at the beach. Andy and I were able to take the pup, Laney, with us and she had a great time fetching a stick in the water and being able to play in the dunes. The only bad part is I did not take one picture of us on the beach. Terrible I know, but we actually did make it down there, I promise. The drive home was not much better. There was barely any room for us to move in the car. Even Laney had a little room. I did think at one point I was going to loose it. I was so tired from being in the car, but I rested for a little while and calmed myself down. I was so happy to see our house when we got home, and then when I walked in the door I was in for one of the longest nights of my life. I will have to tell you about that tomorrow. Here are some pics from our car ride.

How do you know you have been in the car too long? When your dog has the glazed over look too!

This is the only picture of Andy and I from the weekend. On the way home, in the car, picture taken by me!

love always,

your long lost friend

2009-12-08T12:46:00.002-05:00

Where have I been? The truth is I am not really sure. Not much has gone on lately that I felt was truly blog worthy (although most of my previous post would tell otherwise since they were not exactly exciting news, but...) and we have just really been hanging out. We have some trips planned in the next month or so and hopefully I will have some good stories to share with you then.

One thing that I did do recently was finally get on the BONE MARROW DONOR LIST. This is something that I have been wanting to do since I can remember. I usually give blood when I can (some surgeries have prevented this in my life) and for some reason I always forget to tell them before I give the blood. Well I went online and found out that I could send off for a kit that would allow me to swab my mouth and send it back in and doing this would put me on the list. With minimal hesitation I signed up. I say minimal because this is a really big decision. Donating bone marrow is not pain free and without risk, but knowing that I could potentially save someone I think is worth the pain and risk. I talked to Andy about it (um, after the kit came in the mail, whoops) and he agreed that it was a good thing for me to do. So after swabbing my mouth I sealed up the envelope and sent it away. I am supposed to receive a receipt that they got my donation. I know that the chance of me matching someone out there is very slim considering I am an only child, but I wanted to give my best shot. Here is the picture that I took of the kit. I was so easy. Here is the website if you are interested: http://www.marrow.org/ Just click on the Join the Registry button to get started!

love always,

Little old man!

2009-11-04T15:39:00.002-05:00

This will be quick but I got to watch the sweetest little baby on Friday for a few hours, little Hayden Dean. He is just too cute, and in this picture he looks like a little old man. He did not like the flash of my camera very much, his eye's were open before I took this picture. He is so sweet and absolutely adorable. Hayden makes the sweetest noises and hardly ever cries. I love this baby and cannot wait until I get to watch him and his sister again!!!
love always,

Job #3

2009-10-21T09:20:00.003-04:00

I tease Andy all the time that I have 3 jobs. It is sort of true and sort of not true. I work my regular job everyday (the one that causes me to be in the office), then after that job I head on over to either soccer practice or a game (this job only lasts 3 months so is it really job #2, I'm not sure), then recently on the weekends I have been leaving my sweet, sweet husband and traveling all over the south to SEC Women's College Soccer Games. I get to commentate the games and it is so much fun. That is part of the reason that it does not really feel like a job, I love doing it and I get to watch really awesome soccer games. The travel can be tough and I don't really like being away from Andy, but it is only for 5 weekends and my last one is this weekend. I will be traveling to Alabama to watch Tennessee take on Alabama in Tuscaloosa. I am excited, relieved, happy and little bit sad. I am excited to go and do the job itself, did I tell you that it is so much fun! Relieved that it is almost over and I will get to spend some weekends at home. Happy that I can see Andy more on the weekends. Sad because it is almost over and I am not sure that I am ready for it to be almost over. At any rate, all things come to an end and I am not sure that I will be asked to do this again. If I don't, I am okay with that, it was so much fun and a wonderful experience. I was very lucky to get this job, even if it doesn't always feel like work...did I mention that I had SO MUCH FUN!!!

So that I don't have to send you away without a picture, this is what I look like at my job #3 if you have not seen me on TV.

The guy in the picture is Chris Stewart. He does all kinds of broadcasting work for Alabama and is really great at his job. He has helped me so much and is so nice and funny. I hope that if I do get to do this job again that I get to work with him. Since this weekends game is Tennessee at Alabama I am sure that it will be fun in the booth. We will just have to wait and see whose team comes up with the win!!! The game is on Sunday on CSS so you should check it out!!

love always,

you can stop counting

2009-10-16T10:20:00.008-04:00

the babe is here!! I would like to introduce you all to Hayden Dean Watson in all his cute glory. He joined us on 10/14/09 at 4:56pm, weighing 7 lbs and 12 ozs and was 21 in long. He is too cute and the apple of his sister's eye. Reece was awesome with him and I know that she is going to be an awesome big sister. The best part of all of this was that Doc made it back to Knoxville on 10/13/09 at 4pm and his baby boy waited just 24 hours later before he met his father. Hayden has perfect timing. Just so you all know, I love him already! Here are two pics from yesterday when Reece and I went to visit him.

Here is the sweet boy!

Here is Reece, Tori, Hayden and baby Ava (Reece's baby)!

What do you think? Do they look alike?

Reece

Hayden

love always,

the countdown is on...

2009-10-13T09:34:00.006-04:00

This picture was taken 23 months ago today. Can you believe how tiny she is?! Please ignore us we look terrible. Ha!

Reece Bennett Watson entered this world and captured our hearts. We love her more and more each day. She went from this: her bink looks bigger than her.

To this,

and now to this, she is such a big girl and soon to be a big sister.

Reece is ready to welcome her baby brother Hayden, any day now. She is going to be the best big sister and Andy and I cannot wait to snuggle and sniff (you all should no that I love to sniff a baby's head, there is really nothing sweeter and I know it is weird.) this sweet baby boy. Tori and Doc we love you and are so happy to welcome your new baby boy!!! I promise, tons of pictures when he gets here!!

love always,

i went missing, i know

2009-10-12T10:20:00.006-04:00

So sorry for the long delay in posting, and I hate to keep saying it but I have been B.U.S.Y! I am still working my normal 8-5 job, and then coaching in the afternoons. I thought that last year I was busy doing that and did not think that I could add anything to my plate, but I did.

I was called a few weeks ago to see if I would be interested in doing some broadcasting. Now, this is totally something that is Kara's department and not mine but I thought that it would be a great experience so I agreed to do it. It is 5 Sunday SEC Women's Soccer games so it is talking about something that I am totally passionate about. Soccer, women's soccer and the SEC. I have already done three games and have two left. I am tired, but it has been so much fun and I have learned so much. I have been busy prepping during the week for the upcoming game, and watching film of the teams, and learning on a smaller scale of what Kara does for her espn gig.

Here are some picture of where I have been. Can you figure out where? Think SEC!

Here is game 1:

I forgot to take a picture at game 2: it was Lexington, KY to watch Tennessee take on Kentucky!

Game 3:

love always,

So....

2009-09-25T09:50:00.002-04:00

where have I been you ask. Well, I have been busy and do I mean busy. Some new things have come my way that I just could not pass up. I don't want to talk about them here...yet, but hopefully after this weekend I will get my nerve up and let you know what is going on. And NO I am not pregnant. Ha.
Well, when I say busy let me tell you what has been going on with the Broome family. I feel like I have not seen my sweet husband all week. I have had a game or practice all week long and that has seemed a bit stressful. Hopefully next week is not quite as busy (all of our games this week have been away in Anderson Co. Yuck! So I have not gotten home before 10pm) and I can actually get home to hang out and eat with Andy. I also have done some prepping for the upcoming thing, that I promise not to bring back up in this post until I can tell you what it is, but that has taken up some of my usually hang out time with Andy and I don't like that one bit.
At any rate I hope to be back here next week with some fun news, (there I go again) and some new and exciting posts. I still need to show you some pictures from the wedding that Andy and I were in back in August!!!! We had so much fun!!!
So until next week...

love always,

EIGHTY

2009-09-15T15:16:00.002-04:00

Well, what we have today is another wonderful birthday post. I feel so lucky that when I married Andy I automatically adopted 3 grandparents. They are each so wonderful and so special and they treat me like I have been their granddaughter all along. I love them all so much and want them to know how much I treasure them and all the time that we get to spend together.

Andy's grandfather, Granddaddy, turned 80! Can you believe it? I can't. There is no way that he is 80 and I think that we need to check his birth certificate to make sure. He still hikes a couple of times a week and we are not talking a 2-3 mile hike. Granddaddy can take on 10+ in a day. Enough to leave me exhausted. Most of you know, but I love to talk about it, that Granddaddy walked me down the isle on our wedding day. It was so special for me and I will never forget it as long as I live. I could not have had a better person to be there for me on that day. I love you so much Granddaddy!!!!!!

I asked him some questions for his Special Birthday Blog Post so here you go!!!

What was your favorite birthday and why?

Marian and the boys gave me a big party at The Faculty Club for my 60th birthday. Had a big crowd of friends and family and my Mother was still living and lots of fun.

If you could be anywhere on your birthday where would you be?

I guess the 80th on Mt LeConte was about as neat a place as there could be. Boo, Andy and I missed being there, but we thought of you all day!!!

What is your favorite birthday cake?

Chocolate

What is your favorite color?

Blue

What is one thing that you can’t help but splurge on?

Ice cream

What is your favorite restaurant?

Mountain Lodge in Gatlinburg, for breakfast

What is your favorite word?

Whatever

What is your least favorite word?

Anything negative

What famous person do you most resemble?

I think I look like Rock Hudson, but probably more like Jimmy Durante

What is your biggest pet peeve?

People that are not on time So this is where Andy gets it from, hmmm.

What three possessions do you value most?

Mountain house, walnut dining room table and chairs, and my TV clicker ( things don't mean a lot to me any more )

What three non-material possessions do you value most?

Marian, kids, grandkids and friends

What is your favorite thing to do on the weekend?

Go to Gatlinburg and the Mt. House

Who is your favorite granddaughter-in-law? Ha! Just kidding you don’t have to answer that one!!!

I would be in big trouble if I answered this.

Thanks Granddaddy for answering my questions. We love you and will see you soon!!!!

love always,

POST 100 and a shower

2009-09-10T11:43:00.017-04:00

Wow, this is the official 100th post!! I can't believe it. Andy and I have had a lot going on but I just have not had a chance to sit down and tell you guys all about it. I also have been terrible at taking pictures and have relied on other people to take them. That means that I don't have them exactly when I want them. Totally my fault and I will work on taking more myself. Promise!

Well, hopefully all these pictures today will make up for it. Julie took this with some help from a few other people I think. Back in August Andy and I, Chris and Julie, and Sarah and Colin threw a wedding shower for our dear friends Jeff and Emily who got married at the end of August (a post for another day). I am not going to lie. I was a bit worried about how we were going to pull of having 30ish people at our house. I think that it turned out really beautiful and I stressed way to much. Here are some pictures from the day!

Julie made this sign. She is so creative and it was perfect because our tiny driveway could not have fit all of the cars!!

Here is the happy couple. I love them!!!!

The fab four! Ha, can you tell we do P90X!

This is Colin and Sarah, two of the hosts!

These guys should get host credit. This is Amy and Bill (aka Amy and Bob). They saved the day when I forgot to make the salad and ran home for more watermelon. I don't know how I would have made it without you. Amy was also so much help in the planning process. Maybe she should become a party planner!!!!

Here is the food. I was nervous that we would not have enough and it turned out we had tons of extra so some people got to go home with dinner for the next night!!!

People enjoying dinner!

Emily (bride-to-be), Me and Julie! I really like this one!

These two are too cute. Chris and Julie.

I just love this picture of Jeff.

The dessert. Sarah got the cake from Rita's and it looked just like the invitation. It was beautiful and so good! The thumbprint cookies are Emily's favorite and a must at the party. I think she at all of them. Just kidding, Em!

We made the practice for their wedding day. It did not help, on their wedding day they tried to cut through the one layer of their cake that was not real. More on that later...

Emily with her dessert!

The whole crew watching Jeff and Emily open presents!

The sweet couple. Thank you so much for allowing us to celebrate you. Andy and I treasure your friendship and love you guys!!! Hopefully we can have more parties in the future, now that I know that we will all fit! Ha!

love always,

Guess who came home...

2009-09-03T09:23:00.003-04:00

Baby EMERY and a little over 3 weeks before her actual due date! Love this family, especially its newest member! Way to go Emery!

love always,

Aunt Cameron and Uncle Andy!!!!

PS: if you want updates on the precious little one go to: http://kehne.blogspot.com/

where have I gone...

2009-08-26T09:50:00.002-04:00

Well, I have officially been the worst at blogging lately. Mostly I have been bad because I have been so busy. The season has started so that means that every afternoon of mine is spent at the soccer field or at a game. It makes the days long and I am usually exhausted when I get home, but I do have a blast with the girls. We had our first game last night. We played Powell and tied. The girls did not play very well last night so practice today should be interesting to say the least. I will try to post some more pictures up here. I still have to get the ones from the shower and the wedding is this weekend. Andy and I are really looking forward to it and have been getting ready for it for what seems like weeks now. It will be beautiful and so much fun. I promise to try and be better at blogging so you will know what in the world is going on with us! We love you all.

love always,

house party!!!

2009-08-19T09:40:00.002-04:00

So Andy and I threw a shower for some very dear friends, Jeff and Emily. I have not been able to get the pictures over to my computer yet, so I don't have all the ones that I want to show you from that night. Julie Connell was our fabulous photographer and helper extraordinaire. We managed to pull off a backyard shower with 26 people in our not-so-big house. I think that it went really well and everyone had a good time. I really can't wait to show you the pictures. But, until then I will leave you with this one.

love always,

2009-08-13T09:19:00.003-04:00

I have not posted in a while. I need to tell you about the shower we had at the house. It was totally cute. I will work on that tomorrow!! As for now... here you go...

1. What time did you get up this morning? 7:15-7:20ish
2. How do you like your steak? medium
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? The Hangover (not the funniest movie of all times, but still funny)
4. What is your favorite TV show? Where to start, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, Deadliest Catch, Ax Men, Real World/Road Rules anything, I am kind of a TV junkie
5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? ON THE LAKE that is our dream
6. What did you have for breakfast? cereal
7. What is your favorite cuisine? Italian and fruit
8. What foods do you dislike? coconut I tell people I am allergic so I don't have to eat it
9. Favorite Place to Eat?
10. Favorite dressing? red wine vinegar and olive oil
11.What kind of vehicle do you drive? Chevy Tahoe, white
12. What are your favorite clothes? jeans and a t-shirt
13. Where would you visit if you had the chance? st john
14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full? 1/2 full
15. Where would you want to retire? on the lake
16. Favorite time of day? evenings
17. Where were you born? Norman, OK
18. What is your favorite sport to watch? Tennessee football, soccer, and basketball
19. Bird watcher? nope
20. Are you a morning person or a night person? depends on how much sleep I have had
21. Do you have any pets?yep, Laney (chocolate lab) and Nelly (miniature-spotted boxer)
22. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? not really
23. What did you want to be when you were little? doctor or lawyer
24. What is your best childhood memory? our summer evening walks that sometimes took us down to the neighborhood ice cream shop.
25. Are you a cat or dog person? dog. the only cat that I have loved was Pasta.
26. Are you married? yep I am Mrs. Andrew Broome and LOVE it!
27. Always wear your seat belt? yep, always
28. Been in a car accident? yes, 2 totaled my mom's car, and someone hit me and totaled my Range Rover (I miss that car)
29. Any pet peeves? Tags sticking out of people's shirts
30. Favorite Pizza Toppings? half cheese and half jalapenos
31. Favorite Flower? daisy
32. Favorite ice cream? coffee
33. Favorite fast food restaurant? chick fil a
34. How many times did you fail your driver's test? none
35. From whom did you get your last email? my hubby, how nice
36. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? old navy and jcrew
37. Do anything spontaneous lately? had a party at my house
38. Like your job? love it!
39. Broccoli? yes, but the hubs does not so we don't eat it much
40. What was your favorite vacation? honeymoon in st. john
41. Last person you went out to dinner with? Andy and Jeff and Emily
42. What are you listening to right now? b97.5 at Connie's request-boo
43. What is your favorite color? green or yellow
44. How many tattoos do you have? none
45. Coffee Drinker? everyday- Andy and I love Starbucks

any further questions, feel free to ask :)

Emery is here!!!!

2009-08-04T11:07:00.003-04:00

The funny thing about Emery Kehne's arrival was that she was early, 9 weeks early!!!! Her father on the other hand not always so early! We love you Seth, lateness and all!!! Although I have not had the honor of meeting this sweet girl yet, she has captured Andy's and my heart. She is tiny, but oh so precious. I love babies, as most of you know and am aching to snuggle this little one. It may take some time (possibly a whole year) for Andy to feel up to holding her since she is so tiny, but he will come around I am sure.

I would love for you to visit Katie and Seth's blog for a recap of her birth, but you have to have the password. Bummer. I was crying at work as I read it. Seth wrote it, as Katie was still in the hospital being monitored and understandably not up to sending out emails. The email turned blog entry is so totally and completely Seth and I loved it. So I will just copy it here...

From her daddy:

Emery Katherine Kehne is here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Warning: This is written by Seth Kehne. This has not been proof-read by Kate Kehne. Expect spelling, grammar, general sentence flow and author attention span errors issues. My editor is currently on drugs and unable to use her English major skills.Warning: This is a long play by play. Cliff-notes are at the bottom of the page. I am giving an in depth story for people who want to know and in hopes I will get to make a guest appearance on Kate’s blog.

We will start from the beginning. Sunday July 19, Katie felt sick in the morning. She felt sick enough that she had to stay home from a volunteer project with our church. She started to feel much better Sunday afternoon. We thought it was not related to the pregnancy. Monday was a normal day. We went walking Monday night and Katie probably walked (with a little bit of jogging) 2-3 miles.

Tuesday morning Kate felt extremely sick. She was throwing up and not able to lie or sit down. For three hours she was laying in awkward positions on the bathroom floor. She felt sick the entire time, but did not think it had anything to do with labor. I came home from work around 2 to check on her. She had been getting progressively worse since 12 o’clock. We rushed over to meet with Dr. O’Kelley our OBGYN. They ran some tests and her liver blood enzymes were low. He immediately sent us over to the hospital across the street. In the hospital they ran more tests and we had an ultrasound on her gall bladder. She was showing possible symptoms of gall stones, which can be common in pregnancy. Dr. O’Kelley came over and checked over the tests and ultrasound. Her Gall Bladder was fine and so he was worried she might have Preeclampsia. He told us we were headed over to UT Hospital to be checked out by a high risk doctor that he highly recommended. He said we would be riding in an ambulance. I being my father’s son asked if I could drive us instead (obviously for convenience and who knows how much an ambulance costs). He smiled and said no.

During this time we were starting to get very scared. With a miscarriage before this and Kate’s blood clot history we were a little on edge. Doctor O’Kelley had a hint of urgency and concerned look about him. One that made us incredibly comfortable in his hands but incredibly uncomfortable with what could happen to Kate and Emery. As we were waiting on the ambulance to come, Kate and I sat scared and squished in her hospital bed. We were nervous and anxious. It is the anxious scared feeling you get when you feel like you have no clue what the outcome could be. We started to get more and more tense till we prayed together. We asked God to take care of Kate and our little girl. We then prayed to give over Emery to God. We prayed that he would give us the grace to truly believe and mean that prayer. The sight of seeing the love of your life being strapped down to a stretcher with the bump sticking up of your unborn 30 week and 5 day old unborn child is chilling. The ride went by fast. I was distracted by the driver telling me he was on hour 20 of his 24 hour shift while (not kidding) almost hitting 2 cars. We got to the hospital and met with the high risk doctor.

After another round of tests and a few hours later Doctor Howard told us that it was almost a certainty that Emery would have to be delivered soon. They immediately set forth a game plan. Kate’s blood pressure was rising with elevated liver enzymes. These are the big signs for Preeclampsia. There is no cure for it. If you do not birth the baby it will start having the mother go into seizures and eventually (what would be hours not days in Kate’s case) kill the mother and or child. The only option is to birth the baby. What!!??? This can’t be happening. Wasn’t it just a few days ago Kate and I were talking and discussing how 9 more weeks may not be enough time to have everything prepared?Dr. Howard gave Kate her first shot of Steroids. Our hope was to give 2 dosages 24 hours apart. The steroids would give Emery a jump start in her lungs forming correctly. Babies at 30-31 weeks lungs still are not fully formed and it is hard for them to breathe on their own when they are born. So we were focused on keeping her in there for another 48 hours. Kate was being tested every 3 hours. 12 o’clock came around and her tests were a little worse but okay. 3a.m., same story.

The next tests at 730a.m. took a while for the labs to get back. Dr. Howard and Doctor Hennessey came in to talk with us and explained possible scenarios. The said that we would watch the levels and as soon as the platelet level was much below 100 we would go into delivery. 5 minutes later they came quickly back in the room to tell us it was at 23!!!!! He said they were currently rushing another test of that sample to make sure but it was time.

So roughly around 830a.m. our room turns into a Chinese fire drill. 8 people came into the room which seemed like all at once and started telling us what was going to happen. Words like blood transfusions, vertical c sections with no more vaginal births possible, and general anestithia were flying around the room. If we thought we were overwhelmed before, then that was a puddle and this was the ocean. Scared, frightened, in the dark, nervous, happy, and even a little bit of excitement were all our emotions. We were scared to death, but we were going to be parents so that brought excitement and happiness. I didn’t know those type of emotions mixed. Honestly I thought Kate carried all the emotions in our marriage and I didn’t really have any. The 22nd of July put that to shame. Kate and I were trying to smile at each other and stay positive. Mostly just not have both of us loose it and ball our eyes out with all these people giving us instructions and asking Kate questions.

Since Kate’s blood levels were so bad they could not give her an epidural. She had to go under general anesthesia. This meant I could not go back with her. They wheeled her away and sent that beautiful little scared soon to be mom through the metal doors. They told me I could sit out in the hall and get a quick glimpse of Emery when they were transporting her from the OR to the neonatal intensive care unit. As I waited and worried about my two girls excitement came over me. I don’t remember ever having excitement, and happiness (that I would soon be a dad) mix with total terror and extreme worry (will anything be wrong with my wife or baby). 40 minutes go by with 3 people coming out to ensure me mom and baby are doing good. The door opens and an unfamiliar voice says “Dad, do you want to see her?” I get up and walk through the door to see my new daughter enclosed in an incubator surrounded by 4 people with medical apparatuses for her. They said she was breathing on her own when she was born and even peed on the doctor. That’s my girl! As I focused on her I was overwhelmed by what I saw. This little tiny, tiny thing wrapped in blankets and cloth. They had to pull things away just so I could sneak a 20 second view of her face. A man was using a manual breathing device that he squeezed with his hand. Just as I started to grasp her in my sight and heart they wheeled her off.

Now how was my Kate? They said she was doing fine but it would be another forty minutes till I could see her. I went out to see our familes and my friend. I had snuck a picture with my phone so Kate could see her when she woke up. I was starting to feel a little less freaked out and a little more excited. I got to show off the picture of her and distract myself for more waiting for Kate. Forty minutes went by and I went back to the recovery room. I sat down beside her and watched as she came into consciousness with an excrutiating amount of pain. It looked worse then when she would get terrible migraines. It took her another 45 minutes before she was close to her regular self. We still did not really feel like parents because all we had to show for it at the time was a small picture of our little girl on my phone.

They moved Kate back to our room and put her on some medicine that helped the pain quite a bit. We started taking visitors of family and friends which helped distract our thoughts from focusing on not being able to see our new baby girl. Six very long hours pass and they finally let me go see her. I will refrain from describing her and let the pictures do the talking. She is breathing totally on her own with a very small amount of oxygen going in through the nose. The mix of oxygen they are giving her is actually the same mixture of air we breathe. She is moving around and opening her eyes every so often. She even lets out little yelps of small short cries. When you hold put your finger in her hand most of the time she grabs it. Talk about being an ice cream cone in the dessert. The nurses say she is doing very well but babies born this early are day to day and have to be watched closely. I think we will expect her to be in the incubator for at least 2 weeks. They were saying she will stay in the hospital anywhere between 4 and 8 weeks. Kate is doing very well handling not being able to see her. They still haven’t let her see her because she has to stay put in her bed for monitoring.

When I go visit Emery you can stick your hand through two openings to touch and hold her. The glass box around her actually acts as a great place to rest your head while looking at her. Here are some pics of her and her 3lb 1 ounce body, 16.75 inches long. It is amazing that there would have to be 65 little Emerys to equal 1 of her father. I always saw parents just stare and stare at their child. I thought to myself “I guess it will be different when I have a child but sheesh how can they just sit there and stare? It must get boring.” It is very different. When I am with her I just lay my head against the shield and could stare for hours.

As of Thursday morning Emery is entirely breathing on her own. It is amazing to see her little lungs take such big puffs every once and awhile. The doctors are not specifically concerned about anything other than she is 3 lbs. Kate had a very hard night and is resting up. Hopefully she will be healthy enough today to go see Emery.

More updates to come!!Please feel free email this to anyone who is not on this list that would care to know.

Cliff Notes:Emery was born 9 weeks early. 3 lb 1 ounce. 16 inches tall. Currently no signs of anything wrong. Breathing on her own. Will be in hospital for at least 4-8 weeks. Kate is doing well. She is extremely tired and still in quite a bit of pain. As of right not I would say she is ready to see her daughter for the first time so we are hoping that is coming soon.

Now I am going to steal this from a post that was written by one of the best photographers that I have seen in a while. I went to high school with Jessica Cudzilo, and everyday that I see her pictures I am amazed even more. Her post for Emery's birth is beautiful and amazing and you should head on over to her site to read and see more awesome pictures. The post about Seth, Katie and Emery is called A Giant Small Surprise and was written 8/4/09.

http://503galleries.com/blog/

Here is your sneak peak of the beautiful family of three...

The pictures look better on her site, so hurry on over there...

love always,

Twins are all the rage

2009-08-03T14:44:00.003-04:00

So I guess the cat is out of the bag now. We got news the week following Megan and Scott's wedding that our extended family is going to be growing by 2 in late December or early January. No, again it is not us! Hee hee hee. Andy's cousin (his mother's, sister's son) is going to become a dad for the first and second time. He, Rhys, and his lovely wife Jessica are expecting twins!!!! I am so excited for them. They will not find out what they are having until the end of this month. There are guesses aplenty on what the twins will be so feel free to give it your best shot!

The other day I was walking out of the grocery store with Reece and we ran into Andy's parents. Not unusual since we live very close to each other. We started talking and I started noticing the choice of outfits that they had on. I would like to note that this was a Wednesday so these two had been together all day long. Here they are...

Do you notice anything? Well it took me a minute too, but if you look closely they are matching exactly or as I put it, THEY ARE TWINS!!! They are both wearing Country Music Half Marathon shirts, khaki shorts, and Chacos! It was too funny. The best part was that they did not even notice until I said something. I made them take this picture as proof. These two, you can't take them anywhere! Love you Amy and Bill (Mom and Dad)!!!!

love always,

Trains

2009-07-31T12:48:00.003-04:00

I just realized that I have some stuff to update you on, but I have just been too L.A.Z.Y. and I am sorry for that. Here is one from yesterday. Andy and I kept Reece again yesterday (I know you are starting to think that this blog is for her and that she is ours. We just love her and kids do the funniest things, so here she is again!)

When we were on our way back to her house we always cross a train track. We were lucky enough to be the first car waiting for it to pass. I love in this video how she keeps looking back and forth (like a tennis match) and she is so in awe that she doesn't say much. I love when she says whooo when I ask her what the train says. She says in really quietly so you will have to listen. Without further ado.....

love always,

2 years

2009-07-21T12:24:00.003-04:00

It has been exactly 2 years since this day!
It is hard to imagine that it has been that long. What a great day it was, great weather, amazing family and friends, wonderful food and fabulous entertainment. The best part of this day 2 years ago was that I got to marry my best friend. I love him more and more each day and am so excited for our lifetime together. He is more than I ever could have imagined and I am truly the luckiest girl in the world. I love you Andy!!!

Little bit country!

2009-07-17T16:19:00.004-04:00

I mean seriously!!! She is too cute for words. And sorry about me turning the video, I am an idiot. The first time she says it is the best anyway.

love always,

Birthdays, Father's Day and BEACH!!

2009-07-17T09:02:00.010-04:00

Here is the post you have been waiting for. We arrived at the beach on a Sunday and guess who had a birthday that day. This handsome young man. (He is getting ever so closer to an old man now that he is a year away from the BIG 3-0!)

Since we were driving to the beach that day I did not have time to get him a cake and all that jazz. So it was a somewhat "quiet"(the restaurant we ate in was no so quiet) celebration and we had brownies for his dessert celebration!
The funny thing was that I took the brownies almost straight out of the oven and put the candles in and did not think anything of it. As you can see in the picture the candles were falling over. Andy is holding them up in one hand for this picture. The bottoms of the candles started to melt and left wax deep into the brownies. I thought it was kind of funny. Here he is fixing (getting the wax out) of his own birthday cake. I am a terrible wife, I know!!!!
Well, this year Andy's birthday fell on Father's Day. So we celebrated it also. Here is Bill opening some of his presents. Can you guess who this one is from?
Here is Amy and Bill dancing the night away. Too cute!
This is the view off of our back porch. So pretty. Andy took this picture.
This is how we spent our beach trip. This is why we go to the beach. To sit and read and listen to the ocean. As soon as we got in the car to go home we were both wishing that we were back at the beach doing this.
I think that this is my new favorite picture. For today anyhow. Both of us sitting side-by-side in the sand. We were probably reading, but mostly relaxing. Just what we needed.

The last day at the beach. Andy's parents and sister had headed back to the house. Andy and I watched a wedding happen just down from us. It was so sweet. The same thing happened to Andy and I on our honeymoon at St. John. It was nice to be at the beach and thinking of memories from our honeymoon.Well, this was the beach trip. It was so much fun, so relaxing and just what Andy and I needed. It was great to spend time with his family as everyone came and went on different days. I hope that you all got some time away from your "normal" days to get to relax.

love always,

Happy Happy...

2009-07-14T12:43:00.004-04:00

this is usually followed by Birthday from our very special Gigi! Today however I am going to follow it up by ANNIVERSARY!!! Today is Gigi and Granddaddy's 58th wedding anniversary! Wow 58 years, that is amazing. We had dinner recently with them to celebrate Andy's birthday. Granddaddy said that he and Gigi agreed to be married 50 year and now they are just month to month. Andy and I just about died laughing. I guess that is how they do it. They keep on laughing.

Gigi and Granddaddy,

We love you so much and feel so lucky to have you in our lives. You are an inspiration to all of us and we want you to know how much we love you individually and together as our grandparents. We could not wish for anything better. We love our dinners at Sullivan's, our birthday poems, hikes in the mountains, family gatherings, watching you clog, and walking me down the isle. There are so many memories!!! We love you, thank you for being the wonderful grandparents to all 14 of us!!

love always,

Karma

2009-07-13T09:11:00.007-04:00

So I promise to put up some pictures from Andy's birthday at the beach. We had a wonderful trip and I just put the pictures on my computer and realized that there were some good ones. So that will be the next post.

Today's post is about karma and how it came back to bite me. So last Thursday Andy and I had Reece. She was wonderful and we had so much fun. Tori was at a dinner so when I took Reece home for a bath, Tori was not back yet. When we got to the house I waked to Reece's car door and got her out and then got her car seat out. (Here is a shout out. If anyone has a car seat that they are no longer using, please let me know. I would love to "borrow" it for the days that I keep Reece so we will not have to switch out the car seat anymore. It is a pain.) I had Reece in one arm and I was carrying the car seat with the other. Walking through Tori's yard I saw that someone had put a rubber snake in her yard. Funny joke, and I was not amused. I stepped over it and walked to the porch. Just as I set the car seat down I thought, was that really a rubber snake? Now do you remember this post:

http://twobroomes.blogspot.com/2008/05/bugs-bugs-everywhere-and-no-where-for.html

So I go back to the rubber snake and it looks like just that, a rubber snake. So I kicked it. Did you hear me? I KICKED IT! The darn thing turned around and looked at me. Yep, it was NOT a rubber snake but a real one!!!! I screamed the S-word (a couple of times) and took off running with Reece in my arms. We ran straight into the driveway only to run into a dead squirrel. (Thankfully Scott came over and took care of the squirrel for Tori! Thanks Scott!) Then I ran to my car. Not sure what I was going to do there but I had to collect myself. Once I calmed down, Reece and I ran back to the house and quickly closed the door.

Once inside I gave Reece a bath and put her to bed. When Tori got home I had to tell her that I cussed in front of Reece and that I felt bad. Reece did not repeat it, but I don't want to be a bad example for her. Tori said it was fine and was definitely more concerned about the fact that there was a snake in her yard. I was just glad that it was in her yard and not mine and in a few minutes I was going to head back to my house-a snake free zone!

I got home and told Andy the story. He laughed and told me that it is silly of me to be so scared. Blah, blah, blah. I am scared, still.

Well on Sunday morning, Andy and I got up to go to early church so that we could head on up to the Mountains to go tubing with his family. As I was getting dressed he called me to put something on and come outside. I quickly grabbed my robe and followed him out of the garage to the front of our house. He told me to walk up on the porch. I didn't, but said, "what is up there." I was thinking that there was a HUGE spider and we all know how I feel about spiders. This is what I saw.

Can you see it? Let me get you a little closer...

Sill can't see it? Hmm, what about now...?

I know, I know, can you believe it. A SNAKE AT MY HOUSE, the snake-free zone. A string of cuss words flew from my mouth because I was so scared and I was standing a good 40 feet away. Andy just laughed, but he walked out the front door moments before and when he was walking back in this is what he saw. He said that it surprised him and he jumped when he first saw it. I tried to get him to kill it but he went on and on about how it would kill mice and that was better. I don't want spiders, crickets, mice and especially SNAKES at my house. None, not one please. The snake was resting on the lip of our porch and coming down the brick of our house. I have chills just writing this.

I had to go back inside to get ready and when we left for church 20 min later this is what we saw. It was moving closer to our door. I just about had a heart attack. We just left it and I prayed that it would not get in our house. Andy said that he thinks that it was about 5 feet long stretched out. That is just a 1/2 a foot shorter than me. So gross!

A few weeks ago I mentioned on a post about nesting. Well, Andy and I have two ferns that hang on our porch. You can see them above. Well a Robin had made a nest and laid some eggs in the nest and we were checking them daily to see if they had hatched. Well one morning I got up and the eggs had fallen out of the nest and some were broken on the porch. I called Andy to tell him the bad news. I was so sad. I thought that maybe one of the storms that came threw tossed them out of the nest, although we did see some feathers scattered. Well, thanks to our little visitor we now think we know what happened. This guy got our eggs. The worst part about thinking that this snake got the eggs is that this means that he has been to our house before, AND IS BACK! Eek! I do not like the sound of that.

So if anyone knows of a good snake exterminator, let me know!!! I cannot live in fear of walking on my porch, like I have been for the last 24 hours. I made Andy check everywhere before I walked up there yesterday. I ran off of it this morning once I locked the door.

I hope you all have a great week and don't run into any snakes!!!

Love always,

Reece

2009-07-06T16:46:00.008-04:00

So, once a week Andy and I get to take care of this little doll...

Is she not the cutest thing you have EVER seen. She is so much fun and SO good. She hardly ever cries and is happy and smiles all the time for me. We pick her up for daycare and bring her to our house where we play, feed her (sometimes we let her feed herself),give her a bath, get her pj's on and then we take her home to mom. This is so she has a chance to have some Mom time during the week while Dad is overseas. We love doing it more than I think that Tori enjoys a few moments off. It is so precious to get to spend time with her and let her get to know us.

Check out those curls, so cute!!

This is one that I got of the two of us. Not the best picture and I will work on that, but I love it all the same.

promises of wedding day pictures

2009-07-02T13:11:00.015-04:00

I really should not make blog promises. Here the pictures are a day late. Their story begins here with a day that we will never forget. This is the beginning of a lifetime together... as one. To Scott and Megan!!!

The morning started off with everyone getting their make-up done. Here is Megan with Patty (I went to high school with Patty and it was nice to catch up with her for a bit. She was awesome!!!)

Here is Danielle putting on Cally's make-up. If you can't afford Patty call Danielle. She is equally as awesome!
Here is Amy getting ready! I think that she will go on record this day as taking the longest to get ready. She got her make-up done and then she was interrupted, got hair done followed by more interruptions, finally she was about to get dressed up and you guessed it, more interruptions! It was well worth the wait. She looked beautiful!!!
Here is a sneak peak of the dress. The sweet sisters!!

Hair time!!!!

Now that Meg is ready she was loaded up in the photographer's car and off to take some pictures. I will not lie. This made me so nervous, but make for a great picture. The day was beautiful as was Megan.
After pictures we went back to the cabin where Cally gave Megan a gift. Cally had collected letters from all of Megan's friends and made a book with tons of pictures. It was so thoughtful and sweet. Here she is checking out the book.
Pictures in the cabin!! Me, Hayes, Megan, Cally and Danielle.
Here is Megan with the ring bearers Hayden and Hunter. So cute!!
Mr. and Mrs. Broome also known as Amy and Bill. These are Meg's parents just getting the finishing touches on. I told you that Amy looked beautiful and Bill was so handsome! What a cute couple!!!Just about this time it got a little dark and windy outside. Just as we began praying it started to rain and rain hard. Here we all are gathered around Megan praying for the rain to stop but most importantly praying for Scott and Megan and their marriage. This day was not going to be dampened with a little rain. I am going to mention that once it was raining, we were told in a not so nice way that there was not going to be any way that Megan and Scott could get married outside even if the rain stopped. I wish that I could have video taped the events following this. Megan's family (brothers, sister, parents, uncles, aunts, grandparents, and even some vendors) all went to bat for Megan. They stood their ground and fought for Megan to have the day that she dreamed of. We did end up having it inside, but not before we all got to see how much everyone loved Scott and Megan. I will never forget seeing people running through the rain, without even thinking about it, to make sure that all was going to be done for Meg. Our family is fiercely loyal and protective of our own. :)

To brighten Megan's mood someone put on some music and all of the people in the cabin started to sing to Megan. It was sweet and funny and got her smiling again!!!
From here we went to the inside venue. Megan and Scott got married in a beautiful ceremony filled with a room full of people who love them so much. Andy said that he looked out and saw about 30 women crying. I was one. This last picture might be my favorite of the day. Here Scott and Megan are in their first dance. One that for a moment we did not think was going to happen because there was no power when we got to reception hall. It was a stressful moment, but eventually the power did come on and they were able to have their first dance as man and wife. I love how their heads are together. I can just feel the peace that they feel when they are in each other's arms. So happy, calm and secure. Every time I look at this picture I tear up.
I fell like I have said it a thousand times, but I will gladly say it a thousand more. We love you Scott and Megan and can't wait for the lifetime of memories that we will share in the future. We wish you a lifetime of happiness and love.

love always,

rehearsal and wedding

2009-06-30T15:09:00.024-04:00

So Megan and Scott did get married and we could not be happier to have a new member in our family. The rest of the rundown is as follows:

On Friday we had the bridesmaid luncheon. It was lovely and hosted by Aunt Jenny, Meme, Hayes and Beth. Such sweet members of our family and one that I feel like should be a member of our family. (I don't say that lightly!!!) The weather was beautiful and we took some pictures on on the patio overlooking the river. Stunning!

Here is the bride with her bridesmaids!!!

Here is one of the tables. Check out those flowers, Aunt Jan really outdid herself all weekend long!

Cally with the beautiful Beth Anderson!

Hayes, Meme and Aunt Jenny!

Cousins!!!!

Then it was off to get the programs ready for the next day and then it was off to the rehearsal. The weather remained perfect and the rehearsal went off without a hitch. Here are some pictures of it.

We started off with a quick prayer...

Then down to business. First Cally, she is just too cute!!!

Here are the ring bearers. These three were too funny all weekend long.

Then for the bride and her handsome father. He was happy, I think I caught the one moment where he was not smiling. (Oh, and that hat, it had various pictures of Megan on it all weekend, he is so thoughtful and sweet! Also check out that bow plate!!!!!)

Here is the whole wedding party making sure that they all are in the right place.

Here are Megan's handsome brothers. I am pretty fond of the one on the right. Here are Scott and Megan leaving as a pretend married couple. Just a little over 24 hours later they were really hitched!!!!

Here are Meme and Gigi, grandmother's extraordinaire!

Here is Hayden, one of the ring bearers. We asked to take his picture and say, "dead fish sandwich." This was what we got. Love those rosy cheeks!

Next it was off to the rehearsal dinner. It was at this really cool place and it was great to finally see all of Andy's extended family. I was so busy talking that I only got a few pictures, can you believe that!!! Shocking I know.

Here is Megan with Uncle Bartlette and Uncle Donnie.

Here is Todd about to give Megan the best foot massage that she has ever had. Let's just say she was glad that she was able to walk down the isle the next day with all the bruising he caused!!!

Here are the siblings making sure that Scott knows what he is getting into. It was funny to watch!

Here is the happy couple. Love them both so much!

Tomorrow I promise wedding pictures. I was an eventful day. One filled with tears, joy, laughter, sun and rain. It was amazing to I was honored to be there... stay tuned!!

Fiercely Loyal

2009-06-29T11:00:00.003-04:00

We went to the beach last week. I have much to post, the rest of the wedding, my dear sweet husband's birthday, father's day, and the beach. I will get to all of it, I promise.

While we were at the beach. Megan's photographer put up some pictures on her blog. Most of you have probably seen them. My favorite quote from the blog is, "Megan and Scott's wedding was such an amazing experience... they have this incredible support group including tons of fiercely loyal, protective and supportive friends and family surrounding them and you can tell how much they were and are so, so loved by every person at that wedding." I think that this was an understatement from this day. I will tell you all about it tomorrow, but for now here is the link to the pictures.

Megan was beautiful. I love the one with Scott and his groomsmen because my dear sweet husband looks so handsome, even blurry!!!

Enjoy!

http://jennieandrewsphoto.blogspot.com/2009/06/cantrell-story-megan-and-scott.html

love always,

interruption

2009-06-19T09:33:00.003-04:00

I would like to interrupt these wedding posts to wish the BEST MOTHER IN THE WORLD a happy birthday.

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday dear Mama,

Happy Birthday to YOU!!!

I love you so much.

I really do think that I have the BEST mom in the world and I know some GOOD mothers. My mom is special, she is the best. Here are a few reasons why:

1. My mom is always kind to everyone that crosses her path.

2. My mom loves with her whole heart, I don't think that she knows any other way.

3. My mom is beautiful, and gets more beautiful each year!!!

4. My mom is always there for me, even when I am a brat.

5. My mom is the most forgiving person I know. I am in awe.

6. My mom loves being a mother and loves all of my friends as if they were her own.

7. My mom has the greatest laugh. I love to hear her laugh especially when we laugh at inappropriate times. Mom, remember the "Nun in church."

8. My mom is the perfect combination of a southern belle and a modern woman.

9. My mom stands for what she believes in and will not back down, but she will love you through your differences.

10. My mom would go to the end of the earth for me, and I have never doubted it.

11. My mom takes great happiness in seeing other people happy.

12. My mom has made many sacrifices for me, I never wanted for anything, she has never complained.

13. My mom has great strength both physically (her tiny 5'3" frame will surprise you) and emotionally.

14. My mom can talk to anyone. She finds common ground (usually she knows someone you know) with every stranger she meets.

15. My mom has become passionate about sports that at one time she knew nothing about(soccer and basketball) just because I loved them.

16. My mom is very protective of those she loves. You better watch out and not make her mad! Hee hee!

17. My mom taught me that experiences, and adventures are much more important than material things and for that I am forever grateful.

18. My mom is loved by so many people because she takes time to get to know people and to love them. She touches lives everyday and doesn't even know it. I love you mom and so do so many.

19. My mom is awesome and when I find myself doing thing like she does, I love it and it make me so happy. example: When I was little she used to talk to strangers in the check out line at the grocery store. I would get so embarrassed. Now when I talk to someone in line, I just smile to myself because I know where I got it from and hope that it embarrasses my children someday!

Mama,

You are the best. You taught me well. I love you to the end of the earth and back! I hope that you have a wonderful birthday!

Hugs and kisses,

Cameron

Parties!!!

2009-06-18T09:35:00.010-04:00

Well most of you know that our sweet, sweet Megan got married this past weekend to the totally awesome Scott. We love both of these guys so dearly and it was so wonderful to be part of their big day as they became Man and Wife!!!

On Thursday Megan, Cally, Danielle and I along with some of Megan's friends got together to get out nails done. It was so much fun and so nice to be pampered even for just a little while. It made me realize that I need to get this done more often, right honey!!!

After we all got dolled up, well our hands and feet anyway, we were off to dinner! Where would a bunch of hungry girls go? Mexican of course! We had dinner at one of Meg's favorite Mexican restaurant, I think that Cally really likes it to, right Cal?! The food was great and it was really nice to see all of Megan's friends gather to celebrate her and be so excited for her!

Next it was off to one of the girls house for some more fun! We played games, laughed, danced and had an all around great time. Cally did the planning for this wonderful day and she did an awesome job. Cally was Megan's Maid of Honor and boy, we should hire her out!!! She was awesome the whole weekend making sure that everything got done, Megan had everything she needed, and was the best sister that a girl could as for.

Well, it would not be East Tennessee without a little air brush t-shirt action going on. Danielle and Cally got together on this one. Did you know that in Sevierville you can have an air brush t-shirt made at Wal-Mart? I didn't. The story went something like this, Danielle called the store to just tell them over the phone what we wanted and that it would be picked up later. I think that the woman was a little shocked that she wanted to order it and have it made without seeing it first. Danielle kept telling the woman that she trusted her judgement on the shirt and that there is no way that she could mess this up. I think that the woman was a little worried, but as you can see it turned out great. Megan will have to wear this in year to come when she walks around G-burg.

I will post more on the weekend later, it was beautiful and wonderful, even though it rained!

Love always,

Updates

2009-06-16T09:18:00.002-04:00

I have so many things to tell you all about, nesting, weddings, and parties. Andy has the camera today with all the fun pictures on them so you will have to wait until tomorrow when I can get them downloaded. I.AM.EXHAUSTED, but the weekend was totally worth every minute! See you tomorrow!!!

LIAM IS HERE!

2009-06-05T10:42:00.006-04:00

I would like to announce that our friends Emily and Hunter have had their baby boy, Liam. He was born on June 1, 2009 at around 7:40pm weighing 7lbs even. He is so cute. We had the chance of going to see him on Tuesday and getting to hold their darling bundle of joy. Yes, even Andy held him. Emily looked great and was in great spirits. Liam spent the whole time we were there sleeping and just being his cute little self. I can't wait to watch him grow. Here are some pictures that were sent to me. Not sure who took them, possible Hunter and Chris.

Liam,

Welcome to the world baby boy! Get ready to be surrounded by lots of love and attention. We wish you many blessings to you and your parents.

Love always,

Aunt Cameron and Uncle Andy
(yes, I just gave us those names, we will be honorary Aunt and Uncle even if Hunt and Em don't want us to be! hee hee hee!)

Answers!!

2009-06-04T09:16:00.002-04:00

Well, no guesses. Too bad for you all because I was going to give away a really awesome prize. Yep, too bad for you guys! Here are the answers to the questions.

This is a picture of Jeff, Jeff Collier. He is one of our two P90X partners along with Emily soon-to-be-a-Collier-but-for-now-still-a-Poe.

Jeff is doing a P90X move called "Frog." It is supposed to stretch your hips or something. None of us like this move but Jeff gets into every one of the P90X moves. He is so funny during the workouts because when he is not making fun of, well me, he is totally focused and usually ends up in me making fun of him. So we are even I guess. I really need to get some video of him. It is priceless.

Right after Andy took this picture Jeff tooted. I say tooted because we don't say "fart," right Jeff? That sent all the rest of us into a fit of laughter. We laugh a lot during P90X. It is fun or rather funny.

So that is what is happening in this picture. I have more wonderful news to share with all of you, but you will have to wait until later... don't you just love the suspense...

love always,

Can you guess?

2009-06-02T11:27:00.003-04:00

Yesterday Andy snapped this picture and I thought that it was so funny. What I want from all of you out there is to figure out a few things about the picture.

Who is this a picture of?

What in the world are they doing, specifically?

What happened right after this picture was taken?

I hope that you enjoy and are not offended. I can't stop laughing at the picture!!! I will give you the low down later on! Happy guessing!

Love always,

Happy Birthday...

2009-05-28T08:28:00.002-04:00

AMY!!!

Today, May 28th Amy (Andy's mother) is having a birthday. It is so much fun to get to celebrate with her. Tonight I think that we are going to try to go and have a picnic at the trial gardens down at UT. We will see if the weather permits. Amy does so much for all of us so it is nice to have a day to get to celebrate her. She loves us (all her kids, her husband, parents, extended family and friends) so well and we are so lucky to have her in our life.
Amy, I hope you know how much you mean to us. We are so proud of you for all of the accomplishments that you have made, including your loving and kind family. We appreciate all of your love and support, I know we don't tell you that enough. Your kind heart is felt by so many people and I hope that today you can feel that love surrounding you. We love you more than you know. Thank you for being you.

I asked Amy a few birthday questions so those of you who do not have the pleasure of knowing Amy as well as I do can have a little better idea of who Amy is. She is too cute!!! Here we go!
Where were you born? Ft. Sanders Hospital, the same hospital where 3 of our 4 children were born.. Andy is a Memphis baby - that explains his rhythm and love of the blues!!

What was your favorite birthday and why?
All of my birthdays are special because I get to be with family & friends, but my 40th was extra special because my girlfriends met at my Mom's house and did head stands, cartwheels, etc. Gigi and Meme threw a great party!!

If you could be anywhere on your birthday where would you be?
At the Trial Gardens (Univ. of Tenn.) having a picnic with my family or St. John

What is your favorite birthday cake?
Hard one to answer, as I love so many kinds of cake, but probably chocolate with white icing.

What is your favorite color?
Yellow

What is one thing that you can’t help but splurge on?
Pedicures!!

What is your favorite restaurant?
Tomato Head

What is your favorite word?
Joy

What is your least favorite word?
puke

What famous person do you most resemble?
Dolly Parton - Ha!!!

What is your biggest pet peeve?
Cans of soda , that have only been partially drunken(is that a word?!?)

What three possessions do you value most?
My wedding ring, my car, my camera

What three non-material possessions do you value most?
my family, my health, my friends

What is your favorite thing to do on the weekend?
Eat pancakes with Bill (He makes the best pancakes!!)

Who is your favorite daughter-in-law? Ha! Just kidding you don’t have to answer that one!!!
I love both of my daughter-in-laws and feel very blessed to have them in our family..Love you, Cameron and Danielle!!

We love you Amy and hope that you have a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

love always,
Cameron and Andy

Hint

2009-05-27T15:07:00.002-04:00

So no one could figure out who I was talking about yesterday. That or you don't know how to comment, hmmmm. So I will try one more hint before the BIG reveal tomorrow.

This person...used to drive a sweet suburban that even the kids at West High School were jealous of!!!!

Happy guessing!!!! See you tomorrow!

Love always,

Who's birthday is this week...?

2009-05-26T15:51:00.002-04:00

Someone has a birthday this week. I am not going to tell you who until the BIG day! I am excited about it though.

Tomorrow I will tell you about our fun and LONG weekend. It was fun and relaxing. I wish we could do it all over again tomorrow!!! Check back tomorrow for a weekend post.

One hint on who's birthday is this week. Feel free to guess in the comments.

This person runs in half-marathons. Who is it?

Good luck.

Love always,

going to the chapel

2009-05-22T09:49:00.002-04:00

Although it was not really a chapel but a HUGE and BEAUTIFUL church in Morristown.

On Friday evening, I got off work and rushed home to get ready for the rehearsal dinner at the Sunsphere to celebrate a very dear friend and his bride to be. Chris has been a friend of Andy's and mine since middle school, although Andy and Chris are much better friends since they went to the same high school. At our wedding Chris did so many memorable things: threw Andy's bachelor's party, helped make our rehearsal dinner video with his Pops, wrote a song just for us (made me cry), sang our first dance song, but the most important thing that he did at our wedding was standing beside us as we got married. Chris was a groomsmen in our wedding and it was so fitting as he is such good friends with Andy and he and I have become closer over the last few years.

In Jan of '08 Chris met Julie. Sometime in Feb he sent me an email telling me that he was going to marry Julie. In Nov he got down on one knee and asked her to be his wife. On May 16, 2009 Chris and Julie got married. The service was so sweet. My husband got to return the favor and stood beside Chris as he said "I do" to Julie. It was a beautiful day, with beautiful friends, celebrating beautiful people. Thank you Chris and Julie for letting us share in your life. I look forward to many dinners, many football games, tailgates, outings on the lake and time spent together with the both of you. We wish you all the blessings in the world and please don't hate us for the sardines.

Just so the rest of you know... the guys decorated Chris and Julie's get-a-way car. Over the many years Chris has come up with many catch phrases. These Chris-isms were written all over the car, cans tied to the back and the last and most disgusting thing was sardines were put on the engine block so it would stink up the car as they drove down the road. So gross, but funny. I would not have been happy if I had been Julie, but it is just the beginning of a lifetime of memories and love that we will share as friends. Congratulations Chris and Julie. We love you both very much!!!

A friend of mine from high school is a wedding photographer and a really good one. She took the pictures and posted some on her website. Jessica you are amazing!!!! Check out the ones that Andy is in. He cleans up well, if I do say so myself, and I do!!!!

http://503galleries.com/blog/life-in-all-its-busyfullness/

It's a cat?

2009-05-20T08:54:00.004-04:00

On Monday I left for work at my regular time. When I got about a mile or so from home I got a call from Andy. He said, "I just left the house, but I noticed that we have a dead cat in the yard. I didn't do anything about it since I was leaving and I wanted to let you know so it would not surprise you when you got home." I was thinking great. Now when I come home from lunch I get to be the lucky girl that gets to go over to it. Remove the collar and call the poor family that owns this cat and tell them that their cat is dead in our front yard. What a great way to start off the week. I told Andy, "Thanks for letting me know and I will check it out when I go home from lunch."

I head on to work. Well, about 10:30ish I get another call from Andy. He said that he was back at the house and the cat, well, the cat is not a cat. In fact he is not sure what it is. It looks like a cross between a raccoon and a opossum. I was totally surprised, but happy that I was no longer going to have to call some family, tell them about their dead cat and then nicely ask them to come and remove it from our yard. Andy thinks that it could have been an albino raccoon. Is there such a thing? I told him to take a picture and he said that he would. Sweet Scott, buried it in the front yard. Not sure why they picked the spot that they did, but it is gone and I am happy about that. Andy did better than take a picture. He video taped it. I will have to get the video off his phone and on here somehow to show you what that thing was. We still don't know.

Here is a picture that I just got off the internet. Pretty gross. After seeing this picture I think this is exactly what was in our yard... and albino raccoon!

These pictures were found at http://www.pbase.com/almatic/raccoon. Not sure who took them but thanks for clarifying what it was!

After the race!

2009-05-13T08:37:00.003-04:00

So after we finished running, everyone was ready to get back to the hotel. Andy, Bill and I were the last of our group to finish and everyone else had been finished from 30 min to 2 hours. Here is a breakdown of every one's times:

Scott 1:49.23

Cally 2:04.28

Amy 2:23.13

Danielle 2:26.32

Jeff 3:19.21

Andy 3:42.04

Cameron 3:42.04

Bill 3:52.04

Everyone did an awesome job!!! When we finished the race we all got to shake the Mayor's hand, yummy, especially with the Swine Flu running around. Then you headed over to get your medal, water and FOOD! Bill and I were so tired after running that Andy went around and got food for us. He was so sweet making sure that we had everything that we needed. Then he went and found the rest of our group. We finally made it back to the car and headed to the hotel. We showered and went to lunch. Most of us had to get home for work the next day so after lunch we loaded the car for the 3.5 hour ride home. Well, our 3.5 hour ride home turned into 5.5. We got stuck in Lake City and for a little while was unsure that we were all going to make it. 4 out of the 5 of us had just run and we were tired and sore. All we wanted to do was get home and sitting at an almost standstill in the middle of nowhere was not much fun. We made it home and I exited the car and waddled into the house with our stuff to unpack.

Well, the next day when I got up for work I could hardly move. Waddling was an understatement. It took all of my concentration and effort to stand and then start moving. That night, Monday, I was almost in tears because I was hurting so bad. At one point we, Andy and I, were in the kitchen and I was joking around with Andy. I said something smart to him and he gently tapped me on the shoulder. Well it was just enough to knock me off balance and I yelped in pain when I had to take a step back as to not fall over. One tiny step back almost brought me to tears. Later when I went to take a shower I was putting my towel down by the sink. I nudged Andy's deodorant just enough and it started to fall off of the sink. It was like slow motion and I knew that there was no way that I was going to be able to move fast enough to get out of the way. Sure enough it landed right on my foot. Another yelp ensued. Andy came to check on me and I don't even know if I was laughing or crying. Laughing at how silly it was that I let it fall on my foot and crying because my whole body hurt and there was nothing that I could do about it. Andy felt pretty good. So good in fact that I called Bill to make sure that he was in pain and I was not loosing my mind. He reassured me that he felt just as bad as I did and it would go away in a few days.

It was 3 whole days before I felt better. Read that as not waddling around at work. Each day got easier and by Saturday I was able to take my first post race run. By Monday, Andy and I went and ran 3 miles. We both felt great so I guess we are ready for our next adventure... He asked me last night if it was okay for him to sign us up for our second marathon. I told him, just wait, I am interested but I need some time to wrap my mind around Marathon #2.

So if anyone is up for a marathon in NYC! I think that is where we are headed next!

Love always,

When Pigs Fly!!!

2009-05-08T11:18:00.006-04:00

Well, that turned into a long minute... sorry.

So last Saturday Andy, and his whole family, and I drove on up to Cincinnati to run in the Flying Pig Marathon on Sunday. We arrived and went right to the Expo and got our bib numbers, t-shirt and all the free stuff that we could fit in our bags. Then we headed on over to the hotel. Well, I got to the room first and when I opened the door I headed right for my bed and plopped my stuff on the bed and immediately started going through all of the goodies that I got at the Expo. Andy followed behind and he said, "Wow, these are some pretty flowers!" I turned around to see a beautiful floral arrangement that he had sent to the hotel for my birthday. I had just walked right past them without even seeing them. Am I terrible or what? So funny, but he really is a sweet hubby and the flowers were/are beautiful.

We went to dinner that night at this really neat Italian restaurant in Cincy somewhere. The only bad part about it was we were put in this really big room that they use for big parties. Well we thought that our party of 25 was big, but there were 3 other parties just as big IN THE SAME ROOM! It was so loud the whole time that we could barely talk much less hear ourselves think. Andy's parents were so sweet and had two cakes (we had 25 people to feed) they brought with them to celebrate my birthday. The restaurant sang to me, I could not stop laughing and will have to show you pictures from that later, and I opened my presents. It was wonderful. One of the best presents that I got that night made me cry. I have been eyeing this picture that Bill took of Andy at the beach when Andy was about 3 years old. I actually have threatened to steal it off of the wall at both Amy and Gigi's houses. Well, Amy said that she was at Bill's office recently and saw another copy of the picture. She took it off the wall and gave it to me. I started crying when I saw it and am so happy. Now I just have to find the perfect place to hang it in our house. Thank you so much Bill and Amy for a wonderful birthday and a wonderful gift. After dinner we headed home and went right to bed, not that I slept but...

It is a good thing that I slept for 11 hours the night before because the night before the marathon I don't think that I slept longer than 2.5 hours. We had to wake up at 4:30 and be out the door at 5:00am to make sure that we got parked before they started closing down the roads. If I thought that my stomach was in knots before we ever left Knoxville, I was wrong. I have never felt more knots than I did that morning. When we got to the start of the race we headed into the football stadium for cover. It was sprinkling a little and I do not like to get wet. We waited in there for about an hour. Andy and Bill said that they were going to run to find a bathroom real quickly. The next thing that I realized was someone said that it was about 20 min til the start of the race and the group started to disburse. Did you hear me say I was nervous? The group was LEAVING, I had no idea where Bill and Andy were and I knew that if I left that spot that I would never find them. I also knew that I would not make the entire 26.2 miles without them. I started to cry. Yep right there in the middle of everything, tears were streaming down my face. Did you hear me, I STARTED TO CRY... BEFORE THE RACE! Luckily Amy turned around and saw how upset I was and told me that it would be okay and that she would wait until they came back. It seemed like forever, it was probably just a min, but Andy and Bill both showed up. Andy looked at me like I was nuts but told me that everything was going to be fine and we headed to the start line. We had to weave in and out of about a million people to get to the place where we thought that we needed to start. We got ready and before I knew it the lady on the microphone said, "10 seconds to the gun!" I turned to Bill and Andy and said, "I think that I want to throw up!" They just laughed and the gun went off and we were off and running.

The race was great and not half as bad as I thought. We started in Ohio, ran across to Kentucky and then back to Ohio all before the 5 mile mark. Here we are at 5 miles, thank you Bill for covering my face.

Andy was focused. This was right before we headed up the BIG HILLS. It was about 3 miles of gradual climbing. I had been nervous and this section of the course but once we reached the top, I still felt great and was ready for the rest. We left the half marathoners at the 9 mile mark and we were happy about that. Most of the people were running the half and as you can tell from the above picture it was pretty packed. When we split the running crowd was a lot smaller. Andy and Bill ran off to the bathroom at mile 13 and somehow in the mix Andy and I lost Bill. I was a bit nervous about losing him because Andy had mentioned that he may run off and leave me. He didn't. We stayed together for the whole race. Even our split times were exactly the same, pretty weird. I did hit the wall at mile 24 and did not think that I could run any further, but Andy was there to cheer me on and tell me that I was doing great. We made it to the Finish Swine with a time of 3:42.04. I was 65 second from qualifying for Boston. That was not my goal but gives me a reason to run another marathon. I know Andy is up for it, Bill what do you think? You want to do it again?

All in all we had a great time. I really want to say a BIG THANK YOU to a couple of people:

Megan,Granddaddy and Gigi: Thanks you so much for coming all the way to Ohio to cheer us on. It was so nice to have our personal cheering section and we love you all. Meg, can't wait to run with you in the next race.

Amy, Scott, Jeff, Danielle, and Cally- thanks for running. It was so much fun to do this as a FAMILY. I can't wait until the next race, whatever that may be. Now we just have to figure out what to talk about when we are together. :)

Bill: Thank you so much for going on all of the training runs with us. For keeping me positive and letting me know that it was okay to not always feel well. You were so nice to always stop for me and to listen and talk back even when I know you did not want to. I am not sure that I would have made it through all of those LONG runs without you. I really appreciate you and am so lucky to have you as a Dad! Thank you so much!

Andy: Not sure where to start. I have tears in my eyes. It is your fault that I ran this crazy thing and I love you for it. I love and thank you for pushing me further than I thought that I could push myself. Thank you for believing that I could run that far, that fast. Thank you for keeping me motivated and getting me out for each of those training runs. Thank you for never letting me back out of running (except that one time when I cried after 3 miles, but that was the only time), never letting me give up, and always giving your best and encouraging me to do the same. I love you more than you know. I love you! Thank you, thank you, thank you. I am so lucky to have you as my husband and can't wait for marathon number 2!!!!!

Here is our post-race picture, to show you that we did indeed survive. Next week I will tell you the post-race story, it is pretty funny!!! For more pictures of Andy and I during the race go here:

http://www.runphotos.com/browse.cfm?race_id=157&bib_number=4129

Love always,

Broome Family Blog

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