The storm

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

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!

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

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

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!

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!

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,