WOW!

Eating a Grilled Cheese Sandwich before the parade started!

Mom and Dad waiting for it to start!

Some COOL Cars!

We Loved this Float.... It felt like it was really snowing! To bad you cant see the "snow" in the picture of Kyle and I... lol!

Madeline's Team....

I can not believe how long it has been since I have blogged... so many fun activities have come and gone! This past Saturday Kyle, my family, and I braved the cold weather and headed out for the Gallatin Christmas Parade. My sister was in the parade representing the Bison Cheerleaders so of course we had to go and watch! :) I hadn't been to a parade in ages so I was really excited about going, sadly I was not very impressed with it. Next year I would like to go to the one in Nashville and Hendersonville.. I hear they are much better. We had a great time just being with each other and we got quite a few laughs out of the things we saw!! :)

Saturday = Wedding Planning!

Saturday my mom, sister, cousin, and friend Amanda went downtown to look at flowers with the lady that will be doing my flowers for the wedding. We went to Smith and Rogers then to Import Flowers, which is a wholesaler and decided we liked them best! They had such a WIDE variety of things to choose from and in the summer months the choices will be endless. I had pictures of exactly how I would like the flowers to look and I am super excited! After we chose out the flowers and went over some details of the wedding day Amanda and I headed to Bella Bridesmaid to look at dresses. I wanted more girls to come, but everyone either had to work or had other plans, but it ended up being okay because that meant less opinions...lol. Bella Bridesmaids was a boutique just for bridesmaid dresses and it was adorable... we picked out tons of dresses to try on and the very first one we both saw and liked was the one I believe we will go with. The dress go perfectly with the theme, color scheme, it is very breezy, and most defiantly something they can wear again.

When we left there we ate lunch at Bread and Company and we both had a chicken salad sandwich on cranberry bread... so good! Then we went down a neat strip of stores, although we didn't buy anything it was still nice to look! When we got home mom had planned for us to stay and hang out by the fire pit.... so we did and it was such a nice evening! I am loving this weather! We had a wonderful day... so much was accomplished and checked of the LONG list of things to do! :)

Pumpkin Carving!

Sunday Kyle and I keep the tradition going and went to get a pumpkin so we could carve it! We bought a pumpkin carving kit and picked out our favorite design and then Kyle made the outline on the pumpkin. We wanted to roast the seeds so we separated the goo from the seeds then put them in a cast iron skillet to be roasted. Both of us were very happy with our design when we finished. It is now sitting on the front porch making it look very festive! I just love this time of the year! :)

Beth Moore!

This past weekend I had the privilege along with many of my girl family members to go see Beth Moore speak at a conference in Memphis, Tn. We left on Friday morning around 11:00 and arrived in Memphis around 2:30. The weather driving up there was not the best, the rain and wind was awful but we made it safely! When we got to the hotel we started getting ready to go down town so we could grab some dinner before going to the FedEx Forum. We met up with some of my family and ate at a place called Wet Willy's the food was really good, but the wait was forever long! Travis Cottrell did praise and Worship and then Beth Moore came out to speak, they both were AMAZING and by the end of the night we did not want to leave! Our theme or topic for the weekend was "Going on a Wild God Chase", we learned so much and by Saturday I felt like I had learned so much and it needed time to process. I realized through sitting under her teaching this past weekend that NO Christian is perfect and that no matter how deep in the Word of God we get we must always remember the simple phrase we learned as a child, Jesus Loves me for THIS I know! :) I had a wonderful experience and I pray that I can gain a deeper understanding of the Bible as my relationship with the Lord grows. I feel so blessed to have a family and fiance' that are continually uplifting me and speak the Word over me daily.

Light The Night!

My Uncle, Aunt, and Cousin signing the banner!

Kyle and I about to walk!

I was able to head up a team for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's yearly Light The Night fundraiser. Since my cousin was diagnosed with Leukemia my ears are more open to fundraisers and any other ways I can make a difference. Last year I participated in the walk and this year I decided to be Team Captain and help raise money for the Society. Our Team name was Forever 31 in honor of Dustan, his number in basketball was 31 and we will remember him forever. :) Fundraising was a success and we still have some money flowing in from different people, that is why I do not have the amount that we have raised yet. The Society helps in a variety of ways such as families that are having trouble paying bills, medicine, and they also fund cancer research so there will be a cure.

Thursday night was wonderful and such a blessing to take part in. Seeing all of our family and friends gather in honor of Dustan was amazing! He had a different relationship with each person there and it is so cool how we can all come together as one and remember him. It was also very touching to see all the other families that have been hit with cancer. As I looked around at the survivors, patients, and the families that have lost someone I couldn't help but realize how blessed I am. My minor aches and pains are NOTHING compared to what these people have had to fight for. There are no words to describe some of the things I saw except for the fact that I am truly blessed. Next year I can only hope to raise more money and watch the Forever 31 team grow! Thank You to everyone that came out to support or gave a donation! :)