Ben and Emily's Wedding Events

As many of you know, my best friend in the world, my little brother Ben, got married this summer to the most awesome chica I know. Cher and I decided that we wanted to throw a Bridal Shower for Ben and Emily. Cher graciously opened her house to all of Ben's family and friends and we had a great time. We made a special drink, called a Bemily, for Ben and Emily and we just gathered around and enjoyed the evening. Ben came home the weekend before the wedding to spend some time with us. We surprised Dad. CJ and I had gone shoppping for some last minute stuff for the wedding. We preteneded that I had bought some shoes for Belle and needed CJ to check them out, so we came over to the house around 9. Having picked Ben up from the airport about thirty minutes before. He sat in the car while Belle and I went in the house and showed Dad the shoes we had picked up. About five minutes later, Ben walks in the door and taps Dad on the shoulder and said "Hey, you guys got plans for the weekend?" Dad was so surprised he couldn't get up off the couch fast enough. It was awesome seeing Dad be so happy. It was a terrific weekend. We just hung out and had a cookout the next day. It was a wonderful time to spend with Ben just before he was a married man. Ben and Emily had a wonderful wedding and it was a great and special weekend. I cannot express how terrific her family is and it was such a great meshing of the two families. The rehearsal dinner was so much fun and I am so honored to have been granted the responsibilty of getting everything together, with the help of my wonderful step-mother, Carolyn. Brad, Emily's brother, nad I had been e-mailing bac and forth for months and decided that we wanted to do something for Ben and Emily from thier brother and sister, so we wrote a song, to the tun of Tupelo Honey by Van Morrison. Great song by the way, one of my faves. But, I digress, We wrote this great song, about them and the things they did as kids and do now. It was hilarious. Then I had made a slide show, with lots of editing help and donations of photos from Emily's family and friends and Ben's friends. It was great. Everyone enjoyed it. The wedding itself was held at a beautiful place called Congress Lake. It was set overlooking a lake and it was bright and sunny and serene. You could feel all of God's love and the love from those who were not able to be there with us shining down among us. The service was beautiful, and I must admit, I cried. even Ben's best man said he couldn't look at me because he was afraid that I would make him cry. Ben and Emily were surrounded by all those that love them and we had such a great time. I am so thankful that Emily is part of our life and she has become one of my best friends. The little sister that I always wanted. Belle was the flower girl and it was just a splendid weekend. I cannot descrive it any other way.

Orlando, Fl and Walt Disney World

We were able to go to Disney World with PawPaw, CJ, Cher and Hudson in October. It was Hudson's first plane ride. Uncle Chris wasn't able to make it because he had to work, but we took TONS of pictures for him. We had a great flight and Hudson was so awesome. Belle sat on the plane by the window and she loves watching the ground dissappear through the clouds. We stayed at the Orange Lake Resort and Country Club. It was gorgeous. Beautiful pools and grounds. Lots of things to do there. We spent the first night just getting settled in. The next day PawPaw, CJ, Belle and I headed out to the best place in the world, DISNEY WORLD. We went to Epcot. We made sure that we ate a little something in every country and walked the whole time. Well, Belle didn't walk the whole time, which caused some confusion when we would forget that she was in the stroller. Not used to that ya know. PawPaw and CJ had a great time and Belle and I loved spending this time with them at Disney. We went back to the hotel and we had dinner with Cher and Hudson. The next day Belle and I went back to Disney and spent the day at Magic Kingdom. We had do much fun, there are a million pictures, but I won't bore you with all of them, just the highpoints. We spent Friday swimming in the pool with Hudson and Belle. They had a slide which Belle loved going down and Hudson loved watching her go down. We surprised Belle with a trip to a horse ranch outside or Orlando. The trip to the ranch took a little longer than we thought it would and Belle actually fell sleep in the back seat. She was so excited she wore herself out before we got there. We rode horses for an hour on a beautiful trail that was set back in the woods. There were brilliant flowers and nasty little spiders. I about fell off my horse making sure that this one spider didn't fall on my head. That would have been the end of me. My horse's name as Belle and Belle's horses name was TJ. How appropriate. We did have a great time and went to lunch at Macaroni Grill afterwards. It was a wonderful trip and we had lots and lots of fun with our family.

Beale Street

One of the best adventures that we had in 2007 was when we all stayed downtown and spent the weekend together. Belle, Hudson, Aunt Cher, Uncle Chris, Aunt Emily, Uncle Ben, PawPaw and CJ. Uh, and me of course...

We stayed on Beale Street and we went to Jillian's for dinner and later went to the Grizzlies game. We had a photo shoot for some family photos on Saturday. We had those taken at The Peabody. That was so much fun. When we were done, we sat in the lobby of the Peabody and had some drinks. That night we had dinner at Capricio's at the Peabody. It was wonderful and as you can see from the photos, we had a good time.

Nashville, TN

Belle went to Nashville in July 2007 to spend the week of the Fourth of July with her cousin Spencer. They attented a horse camp for the week and rode horses everyday and spent time with the family. They had a blast and lots of fun together. Belle, of course, missed me something fierce but she had a good time nonetheless. Here are some pictures of Belle riding and swimming in the lake at Aunt Peggy and Uncle Ronnie's house. Uncle Garrett is the one throwing her in the water, although all you can see is his hand. :)

Washington, DC

In August of 2006 I went to visit Ben and Emily in DC. It was a great trip and a fun time. We did all sorts of things. Emily picked me up from the airport and we went and had lunch with Ben at this awesome little deli down the street from his office. Emily and I walked around a little park and then we went and met her friend Maria at the National History Museum. My favorite place in the world. We walked around in the museum and saw all sorts of interesting things. Maria and Emily were GREAT tour guides. We walked across the Mall and went to this little cafe outside the Met and had a drink and then we parted ways and headed back to Ben and Emily's house where we chilled out and waited for my little brother to get off work. We had a WONDERFUL dinner of salmon that Ben and Emily cooked on the grill. Absolutely FAB-U-LOUS!!!. The next day we went to Mount Vernon. What a beautiful place. I absolutely loved Goerge Washinton's home on the Potomac. We visited his house, which they wouldn't let us take pictures of and the Gristmill and the Distillery that Washington had on his property.

We went back home and had dinner and got ready for the next day which we spent in Baltimore, Maryland. We met my friend Tom at the Aquarium in Baltimore. We had a great time. We had lunch at a Hard Rock Cafe and then mosied on over to the aquarium. We saw sharks and rays, which are Emily's favorite. We saw a dolphin show which was awesome. There was a momma and baby dolphin, but they didn't want to preform for the crowd. We then saw the most adorable animal in the world. A little Puffin. he was just too cute, and if there were not a glass partition between us, I would have stuck him in my purse and taken him home with me. He was just too too cute. He was shy and didn't want to swim in the cold water. He would stick his little fooot in the water and take it out and shake it and think, " Sheesh, this water is too cold for me, these other little puffins are insane." We also went to the rain forrest and saw some beautiful birds. We had a great time together and went back to the house for dinner. We had a wonderful time and I cannot wait to take Belle up to visit Uncle Bubba and Aunt Emily.