Remembering Dustan... :)

This past Sunday was the One Year Anniversary of my sweet cousin Dustan passing away. Its so hard to believe that he is really not here and that he has been gone for a year. I know its probably not healthy, but I tend to trick myself into thinking that he is just away for college or something. The memories are still so fresh in my mind the day that he passed, but instead of dwelling on those I try to think of all the positive things that we were able to share together the 18 years that he was here. My uncle and aunt put together a beautiful ceremony on Sunday for him, tons of people came out to show their support! We were all given red balloons and we attached a special note to him on our balloon. After that a guy from UT played Dustan's trumpet, it was given to him from my uncle after Dustan passed. Dustan always wanted to play in the marching band there and his friend was there on scholarship playing for the band, so they gave the trumpet to him! :) He played How Great Thou Art and it was so beautiful! After that we had someone sing Our Hero, it was also one of his friends and he had sung this to Dustan when they graduated High School. My uncle Kenny read Dustans last journal entry, which was the hardest part for me and my cousin read a poem that he wrote and my aunt gave a little speech! It was a very nice day and I wouldn't have missed it for the world! :)

Pictures...

Sorry that all these are mixed up but they are of the rehearsal for the ceremony and then a few shots of what we did during the day. Cedarvine was having another wedding on Friday night so we had to rehearse in a different spot then were they got married... its on the same grounds but in a different spot if that makes sense... lol.

The baby is Maritza's sisters and he was sooo good the whole day!! He is so precious, I wanted to hold him all day! :)

Australian Visitor...

My friend Amanda went to Australia to student teach her last semester of school and while she was there she found herself a man!! Luckily we were finally able to meet him this past week and I must say he has my approval! :) On Wednesday night Kyle and I met up with them and another couple at Cock of the Walk. We wanted to take him there because of the wide variety of country food!! He seemed to really like everything which is GREAT!! After we left there we gave him a quick tour of Opryland, our trip was cut short because we needed to be at our movie. What he saw of Opryland he did like and I'm sure they will go back for a date later on! We went to go see Transformers for the second time with them just so we could see how Matt like American theaters!

Later that week was two of my friends wedding!!! Justin and Maritza are so great for each other and I am so so happy for them! Friday night was Rehearsal and rehearsal dinner at a steak house in Lebanon and Saturday was the wedding! We all stayed the night at Cedarvine Manor on Friday and woke up on Saturday to breakfast. We got our hair and makeup done and stayed really relaxed all day, right up until it was our turn to walk down the aisle... I was so nervous! The wedding was beautiful and I cant wait to see pictures!!! They stayed at Opryland Hotel for two nights and yesterday they headed to Maui Hawaii for ten days.... they are going to have so much fun!!

Babysitting Sweet Kids!

Tuesday I kept my regular kiddos and it was so hot outside!! Instead of going to the pool we stayed home and set up some water activities outside. I put the slip and slide out and let them have free reign over the hose pipe! They are all so creative... they pretended to be at a water park and set up mini rides. It was fun watching them use their imagination!! :)

That night Kyle, Mattie, and I babysat for Michael and Adrian. We played outside until our dinner arrived and had so much fun! Madeline was there and she had just as much fun as he did... as a matter of fact before we went outside she disappeared for a while and it wasn't until I heard the train did I know where she was, lol! :) We ate some pizza and made some pretty pictures for Mike and Adrian, we thought it would be a nice anniversary gift. I must say I cant wait till one day Kyle and I have our own family and get to share all these little moments together!

Fathers Day!

I love my dad and mom!! :)

**Showing Cole how to catch the ball!

Yesterday morning I woke up extra early to make my dad some breakfast, it was supposed to be a surprise but he was already downstairs sleeping on the couch!! He has been sick lately and he didn't want to wake mom up ,so he went downstairs to watch some television. I made biscuits, bacon and eggs it was very yummy and a great way to start a Sunday morning!! I love being able to sit down with the family and eat together... we usually eat dinner together, but we are rarely all at the house the same time in the mornings. We gave dad our gifts which was a card with some money in it from Nick, Kyle, and I... my sister says we always leave her out, lol! My sister gave dad a super sweet card and $1.00 from a lemonade stand that she just had. My mom took dad shopping for some new clothes which are much needed!!

After church we went to my grandparents for lunch, some of my family were out of town but we still had fun! My grandfather got a new garmen since he is always on the rode! After we left there we went to Kyles house to spend time with his dad. We ate a great dinner and then went outside to play cornhole. Kyle and I got his dad a pocket knife and some extra cash... we also gave Michael and picture from the other night at the park and a little frame. Later that night Kyles parents, Kyle and I watched Twilight... their first time and my third... lol! :) We had a great day celebrating the many dads I have in my life!!