Deck Party

Kelly and Rick have also been working hard on their deck for almost a year. They originally contracted this 2000 square foot deck out to a independent contractor but he was unable to hold up his end of the deal so Rick and Kelly decided to do it themselves. They are both very capable builders and craftspeople and it is finally finished. They had a big part a few weekends ago to thank all of us that helped with the project and to enjoy the deck. There are 3 levels total and a really nice stone and granite outdoor kitchen. Hopefully they'll still get use out of it once the baby comes :)

2nd level

1st level & outdoor kitchen

Me slaving away

Baby Showers

I co-hosted a shower for my friend Kelly on June 8th. It was a beautiful shower. I'd say it was a success. Kelly and Rick had a cool idea to let other people know the sex of their baby but they didn't find out themselves. They had their friend send out announcements in a "top secret" themed stationary. It is the job of everyone to keep the gender a secret until "it" is born. So, we kept the shower to that top secret theme.

The mom to be at 9 months: (in red)

Some of the games:

The Activity Bags w/ games, goodies, etc:

Framed gifts of the invites and fingerprints of everyone present:

The Decor:

I made a "diaper cake" for Kelly that we used as a centerpiece for the gift table.

The Food:

In the Midst of Finals

I know I haven't blogged in a month and I have TONS to catch you up on. But, I'm smack dab in the middle of finals and have been swamped with the class schedule from H-E-double-hockeysticks :) So, I'll post on Friday...I swear :)

Here are two funny pics to tide you over

Sunday Fun

Our friends got a huge 16 foot waterslide for their Son's birthday. But, of course, the grown-ups took over the slide once all the kids were gone and had a blast as well. We should have know it was a bad omen when the whole thing collapsed the first time. There is a 300 pound weight limit for this inflatable slide but there were 4 kids and 5 adults already on there when I stepped on. As soon as I did we had too much weight on one side and it detached from the air fan and fell over. The kids were all the way at the top but they weren't hurt at all because there was still a ton of air in it.

Erin

Head First!

So, of course we blew it back up and kept sliding making sure there were only 3 adults at a time :) But Erin and Will decided to double-bounce each other and they had a collision resulting in a deep cut on the elbow for Erin and a trip to the emergency room for shin stitches for Will. But, they're all fine. Of course it is always the grown-ups that hurt themselves! Erin asked me if we could buy one!

Michelle's Wedding

We had a great Memorial Day weekend...very busy but fun.

Saturday was my good friend Michelle McNatt's wedding. It was in Knoxville so Erin and I drove out for it. She asked me to be a part of the wedding by praying over her and James during a portion of the ceremony and I was so honored to do it. They are going to be a great couple that God is going to use in awesome ways. They had the wedding and reception at a family friend's house on the lake. It was so beautiful. Here are a few pics for you Lindsey :)

Check out this playhouse. It even had a loft! Probably cost as much as our a few of our house payments.. ha! Erin thought it was funny that I was so obsessed with the playhouse, but I had always wanted a liliput playhouse (http://www.lilliputplayhomes.com/) as a kid and this reminded me of one. I told Erin he would be building one for our kids one day :)

SYTYCD

It has just been the best day.

1. I passed my Chem test today.
2. Erin got me sushi so I didn't have to cook (he ate Chic-fil-a).
3. The season premiere of So You Think You Can Dance is on tonight. I LOVE THIS SHOW!!We watched some of the auditions tonight and you have to see this kid. Erin and I watched in disbelief... I mean Danny from last year is the most beautiful trained dancer. But, this kid can move his body in unbelievable ways....incredible.

Study + Prayers + Tutor = CHEM CLEP PASSED!!!!!

I did it!! I'm so excited I can't even stand it. I finally passed the dreaded Chemistry CLEP exam and am so thankful for it. It wasn't even as bad as I thought it was going to be. I can actually feel the weight off my shoulders. I'm trying to decided if I passed because I studied for about 3 months or because I met with an awesome tutor 3 times or because EVERYONE was praying so hard for me. But who cares why???? I PASSED!!

Me before test -pulled an all-nighter studying

(caught an hour and half of sleep on the floor in the office)

Me after test

(Still looking rough...but excited!)

Clapping

Been a busy weekend. Brittany's b-day was this past week so we all went to Outback last night to celebrate. Today we went to see Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. It was good. Not as good as the first, but good.

Today when we were in the movie theater I experienced 2 of my pet peeves.
1. Lots of noise in the theater. I understand that we were in a "kids" movie, so a little noise isn't so bad. The occasional shake of the candy box, slurp of the drink, or in todays case a loud burp by a little boy :) .... all that I can handle. In fact I expect and to be honest my Hot Tamale candy can rattle a bit in the box at times. But this CONSTANT crinkling of the popcorn bag I CAN'T STAND. Ok Mom's and Dad's out there...if your kid isn't quite old enough to sit still through the whole movie then don't bring them. And please, only allow them to reach into the popcorn bag every few minutes or so...not every second.

2. But my #1 movie theater pet peeve of all time is ....drumroll... when people clap at the end of the movie. I mean, seriously, what is that??? Who are you clapping for??? The producers, photographers, directors, writers, actors? Well guess what? THEY CAN'T HEAR YOU!! I (a co-audience member) am the only one that can hear you and your clapping isn't doing anything for me. I didn't help make the movie, I only paid $8 to go see it. So please, if you really really appreciated a movie don't clap. Instead, write a letter to the editor, or maybe focus on the family, or Pixar, Disney, whoever, to tell them how much you liked it.

Click on image to enlarge

Ok. I'm off my soapbox. :) I'll do a more positive post next time, I promise.

Bethany's Plans

Here are my plans for the near future

1. Study like crazy and pass my Chemistry test on May 21. (please pray hard...really need to make this happen)

2. Start eating healthy again, exercise daily (I'm at about 3-4 times a week now), and lose 10 pounds.

3. I really want to do an in-depth Bible study of some sort. I may just do a read through the bible plan with my friend, or I might look at doing some David Jeremiah stuff. Either way, I don't feel like my Bible Study time right now is cutting it. I'm craving more. Erin does a Bible Study every week with some friends and gets a lot out of it. What do I do during that time? Get together with Pabst, go to the gym, and watch American Idol... :)

4. Start a cleaning business while I'm in school. Erin and I made this door hangers (below) which I will deliver to the nicer neighborhoods in Murfreesboro. I plan on under-cutting the competition as far as prices are concerned. This is a much better alternative than waiting tables in my estimation. I obviously blacked out my phone number and email address in case there are any pervs or weirdos that visit the blog.