A little bit of Louisville during Kentucky Derby Festival!

So, In case you didn't know, Louisville is a CrAzY place during the Kentucky Derby Festival. With events, from Thunder over Louisville to the Chow Wagon to Festaville to Balloon glows and races, it's constantly hopping around here for 2 weeks. Also, gas prices of $3.20 are found throughout the city. We only went to a few of those events. Our good friends, Ashley and Ricky, came in town for Thunder - their trip had been planned for about a year since I called Ashley after Thunder last year to tell her she HAD to come in town for it! Even though they moved to MO in January, they still found time in their busy schedule to drive 8 hours for an air show and fancy firework show in a weekend. We are thankful for good friends! Seeing as though the Derby is tomorrow, I decided to drive on down to our local (or one of them) Kroger to see the "rose blanket" ( I don't know the correct word for it) that they put on the winner of the Derby. It was a beautiful thing to see, covered with hundreds of roses and greenery. I have some pictures of it but can't seem to get them to upload to Brandon's computer. I will have him help me upload them and then I will put them on here.

Have a great weekend and I hope you enjoy my pictures from the last 2 weeks!!




My "dirty" husband....he got a good suntan since he and Ricky left home around 9am that day just to save us seats!


One of my best friends, Leigh, and yes, we were wearing matching shirts - except at this point, mine had mustard on it! Arg!

Another friend, Cheryl - she is the one that has Abby, the golden retriever that Cooper used to play with alot. Cheryl is pregnant and due this summer!! Yay!!

I have a video of the firework finale, but I am not sure how to post it! Or even if I can!??!?

An update!

I find this blog very difficult to update since we don't have any children to talk about and everything I put on here is the same all the time. I will try to update you on things you may not know about.......

We are still doing well with work and school - the Lord has really blessed us with Brandon's job and his ability to do school and work at the same time. He is very busy all the time though, so we have to set aside special times to hang out just the 2 of us. We have made some very good friends at church and are starting to see those relationships really show some authenticity and commitment. (2 things I need in a friendship).

Fellowship Louisville is growing! We are seeing new faces every week. I have been given the opportunity to teach in the Children's Ministry(teaching the 2-4 year olds) and Brandon is helping with the sound ministry as well as childcare(helping with the infants). We are so thankful for the "family" we are surrounded by at Fellowship, it has been a blessing!

We are heading to Memphis for Easter for about 4 days(Fri-Tues). We are very excited to get back since we haven't been in town since Christmas! I can't believe it has been that long!

Two things I could use some prayer for:
1- I am having some issues with being really tired all the time, having some trouble concentrating, and just being irritable at times. This has been going on for about 4 weeks now. I went to the doc and he took alot of lab work and wrote me a letter saying there was an elevation in the calcium level which can indicate a problem with the parathyroid. He did some more tests and now I am just waiting on the results. I just want an answer so that I can feel like myself again. I hope the answer is not that I am just lazy. If so, I have started exercising so that should help a little bit atleast. :o)
2- I have sent off an application to take my COA exam(certified ophthalmic assistant). I will be taking the test fairly soon(I don't have a date yet) and I just want to pass it the first time!

Also, one last thing - please also pray for my husband as he IS very busy these days. Pray that he will be encouraged and stress-free!

SNOW!

So we FINALLY got a decent snow. It started yesterday morning and lasted all day, but only resulted in about 3 inches by today. We had fun in it though! We took Cooper to the field where we like to go occasionally and let him run around for awhile. He loves the snow! All he wanted to do was try to eat it. We took a few pictures, so I wanted to share them! It is supposed to be about 50 starting tomorrow, so the snow will be all gone by tomorrow morning probably. Anyway, onto the pictures..


The golf course at Hurstbourne Country Club
On the way out of Hurstbourne Country Club
He looks so irritated!

Burr!!!!!

This is actually where our Christmas party was. It a beautiful building. (Hurstbourne Country Club)

So....we went on a cruise!!

I have been harassed enough about posting pictures from the cruise. Our lives have been crazy busy since we got back - but we are finally slowing down, I think!

Just to update you on everything that has been going on lately with us:
We went on our cruise with KLOVE in Jan., got to visit with my parents, brother, sister, and nephew this past weekend, and we had our FIRST official church service with our new church today. I would say everything went on without a hitch. Brandon is in the full swing of things with school again, this semester may be a bit busier for us this time around. He has class on Monday nights, community group on Tues. nights(both of us), and bible study for me and basketball for him on Wed. night. And then, of course, we keep up with The Office and Grey's Anatomy on Thurs. night(HA!). Yes, Brandon is playing basketball with a bunch of guys from church in a league here in town. I believe that he is really enjoying that time with all the guys, getting sweaty, and getting some good exercise. I have yet to make it to a game, but hope to very soon. We just got home from helping some friends with their condo they just bought. They uncovered some nice hardwood floors in the main living area and decided to sand them down to start from scratch. We also painted the whole kitchen. It was a good time with good friends. I have a small case of the sniffles - I say small, but I am honestly miserable right now! It is going around the office and couldn't keep from getting it. Ok...enough jabber...I will post the pictures from our trip! They are not in order, sorry....

The beach in Miami
Us.....we......we love each other...
Formal Night!
Our table of friends on formal night. We got to eat with them every night!
Our boat is the one on the left
Before our last dinner on the boat..
For anyone that doesn't know - I accidentally booked our flight a day late, so we had to stay in Miami after we got back from the cruise. This is our hotel - called South Beach Hotel - in the Art Deco district of Miami - very nice!
The Port from the hotel room before we left on the cruise.
Lido Deck
The big blue wide ocean - How amazing is God?!?! is all I could think on the top deck of the boat.
Our room
Turn around and there is the rest of the room...

Brandon has alot of pictures of the island where we stopped. I wasn't too impressed by it so unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of it. But, have no fear, Brandon has over 700 pictures from the trip!

I hope everyone has enjoyed these pictures - my apologies for taking so long to get them up! I will try to be better in the future.

Have a wonderful week! I know I will!

Guess who's coming?!?!?!?

"One of our most amazing cousins is coming to visit the weekend after Christmas!" ---Katie Aven


I was told and forced to type the above sentence......I promise....BUT....we are very excited to have the honorable Katie Aven in our home for about 4 days over New Year's!!

We have been so very busy for the last 3 months(as I said in the previous post). We spent Thanksgiving in Memphis with the Smith/Aven clan - which is always a fun treat! The weekend after that we had the Christmas party for my work. It was really nice. We had lunch at a country club. Very different for an office party and compared to our party last year - but it was nice to have it early in the day. Then, the weekend after that we had another Christmas party with a group from church. This last weekend we were in Memphis to celebrate Christmas with the Gemeinhardt clan(photos will, of course, follow). It is always soooo good to be with my brothers, sisters(although we were lacking one this time), and baby nephews(singular for now). We always have such a good time together! Well, at least I have a good time with all of them. I came back yesterday....alone..... just in time for yet another Christmas party. I left Brandon in Memphis to have more time to visit with family, friends, and his dentist. I have to work this week, then I will leave again on Friday to spend Christmas in Memphis. Cooper and I are surviving and spending some good quality time together(although he will probably be sick of his kennel after spending hours in it during the day). It has been a fun, yet tiring, last few months. We are meeting alot of great people at church that really desire to have relationships with us! I still love my job! Everything is great!

Some things we are looking forward to in 2007:
1- Losing weight, looking great, and being healthy :o)
2- Our cruise to the Grand Turks from Jan 22-27
3 - The possibility of buying a house in the summer! More room for more people to come visit!
4 - Our nephews both turning 1!!!!
5 - Taking my certification test for work in the around March or April.
6 - Brandon being 2 semester closer to graduation! :o)
7 - Most likely a trip to St. Joseph, MO to visit 2 of our very best friends that are moving there at the beginning of January.
8 - Hopefully at trip to Tampa, FL to visit 2 of our other very best friends!

Now I am rambling about things that are getting me really excited!!

Anyway, just so all of you know, we didn't get around to sending out Christmas cards, so consider this update an update on our lives. ALERT: awful family photo below!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!! WE LOVE YOU ALL SOOOOO MUCH!!


MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
Thomas and his new Thomas the Train train set
courtesy of Cici and Papaw
The things adults do to defenseless babies....how cute though..
OUR TREE!!!

It's been awhile!

We have had a very busy month so far! I just got back from spending 4 days in Las Vegas - I am certain that 4 days was long enough and that I don't plan to go back anytime soon. Let me just say that my eyes have been opened to a whole new world! You know the term "Sin City" - yeah, I would say that's an understatement. Oh well, I did have a blast with the other 2 girls I went with - we never stopped laughing. (I will share some pictures from the trip at the bottom of this post). I came back with the worst nagging cough - I had assumed at first that it was from inhaling so much cigarette smoke, but now it has become more icky and productive.

We are heading to Memphis on Wed. night late late late - we won't be able to leave until I get off work at 7pm - for Thanksgiving! It will be a long day but we are looking forward to seeing everyone!

Well, I think that's all for now - enjoy the photos!!!




This is the hotel we stayed at. Let me just say that is was like the Budget Inn once you were inside the room - They are actually tearing it down really soon so they can rebuild it.

Our office mananger is obsessed with Elvis and she had told us to take pictures of all the famous people we saw. We just couldn't resist when we saw him. We framed this picture in a gaudy picture frame for her - she has it on her desk now!

A "live" monument. He was looking around at everyone and when he looked at me I told him to smile and he just raised his eyebrows at me - it was quite humorous!

Inside the Venetian Hotel! It was by far my favorite. Katie - you would have loved it in there!

The Eiffel Tower at Paris!

All dressed up for dinner with the Doc


The 3 girls waiting for the Deuce (aka the bus)

We went punkin pickin'!!

We had some lovely company this weekend - the Gregory Gemeinhardt's spent Friday night and most of the day Saturday with us, along with their lovely child - Thomas! We decided to go pick pumpkins on Sat. at Huber's Farm in Indiana. We had a blast! I'll cut to the chase since the main reason I am posting is to share some pictures from that event!

The Happy Family!
The Proud Aunt!
Proud Mama and her lil punkin!!
Proud Daddy and his MVP!
(I thought it was a good way for both dad and Thomas to stay warm but unfortunately it didn't last long.)