The Stang!

Jason rented a Mustang convertible for our time in Florida. Boy did we have fun with it! The second picture was taken while we were driving on the BEACH. There are a few places where you can pay $5 and drive your vehicle just a few hundred feet from the water. It was a blast and something that I will remember for a while!

Bristol Speedway - Wednesday

A New Name

WOW! That is all I can say about my Dream Day. It was definitely all I had ever dreamed of as I grew up. All those fun ideas and plans were finally put to use on My Day, well, Our Day. Jason had a lot of input in the actual ceremony, but he left the decorating up to my mother and I. Actually all the flowers and decorations were done almost entirely by my mother. Also, her pastor's wife and a friend pitched in on Friday and helped us to decorate. We could not have done it without them.

You are probably wondering where I am writing this from. Tri-Cities Regional Airport in Tennessee. The smallest airport I've ever flown in or out from. Wow! They moved our flight from the original 4 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. So we are hanging out right now!

The honeymoon was a surprise to me, planned totally by Jason. Night 1: Corbin, KY Nights 2-4: Gatlinburg, TN Nights 5-9: Cocoa Beach, FL

You think he might be over-reacting just slightly?

This blog is going to be slightly different. There are so many cool pictures I want to put on here that I think I will put pictures and maybe a few little blurps. There are so many neat little shots that I am going to attemp to place on this site. I am having some difficutly getting them to line up correctly.

Believe it or not, the cake is from Walmart! I picked it up the morning of and my mom and I put it together. Decorated around it with candles, tulle, silver cake jewelry and some other neat knick knacks and it ended up looking very nice. So many people pitched in and helped to decorate. I had a small melt down when I called the church to see if we could get into the church and reception/gym area early. They informed me that they were going to have a funeral there on Friday and we would not be able to get into the church until Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. Yikes! I was pretty stressed but we were able to get into the church at 12:30 on Friday and that really helped us out.

The church ended up looking so beautiful. The columns really added an elegance and almost Grecian effect to the whole atmosphere but I thought it was definitely romantic.

Not too bad for a couple sisters, huh? Yellow was the color that I picked to be the main color for our wedding. Two reasons: yellow is my favorite color and my mother also did her wedding in yellow so that was kinda neat for both of us. I thought the girls really looked like princesses.

Our Honeymooner's Joy Cabin in Gatlinburg TN was pretty neat.

Veils & Jitters

Wow! It's getting closer and closer!! I can hardly believe in a few more days I won't have the same last name anymore. I've even started writing my new name on scribble paper to try to get it to flow as well as what I've been writing for 20 years, give or take a couple months. For some reason, "Baker" doesn't seem to flow as well yet, but I am sure it will. I wonder how many times I will write it incorrectly. Sarah B, a good friend of mine, asked me if I was getting excited. I would have to say I am definitely starting to get some tingles, of course that could be because I've been sitting in the same position for the last couple hours, but nonetheless....

This beautiful waterfall was right beside our cabin in the Smoky Mountains. You can just barely see the side of the cabin in the right top hand corner. This was the site of my last TRUE family vacation. Not that I won't ever go on vacation with my family again, just that it was last .....well I think you know what I mean. Jason did go with us of course and it made things so much fun. I believe my Dad enjoyed having another man around. He and Brent had another partner on the go-kart tracks!

One of the things each of us did on vacation was lead the morning family devotions. We each had our own idea and we had so much fun doing it. Here we are concentrating on a "boggle" type of game during our family devotions on the top porch of our cabin. I believe this particular photo was taken during Mom's devotions.
Dani's idea was about teamwork I believe. I teamed up with Dad. The guys were stuck out in the parking lot with blindfolds and we "instructors" were on the porch. At Dani's cue, Mom, Ally and I had to instruct our "blind" partners how to walk towards a can lying on the ground and pick it up. The only problem: Dad had to pick out my voice in all the mayhem and follow my instructions. And with Mom and Ally yelling right beside me to their partners, Jason and Brent, it was quite hilarious. I am sure our still-sleeping neighbors didn't quite get the kick out of it that we did since the sun was barely out of its bed. Despite us kids always yelling at my dad for not cleaning out his ears, he somehow managed to hear just my voice and find the can. Turning around and coming back towards my voice proved to be a little more difficult especially since he thought he had won when he picked up the can.

Interesting analogy - The world and daily stuff gets us so bogged down that sometimes we really have to listen up to hear God speaking to us. We might have to set aside a station on our personal radio and make sure we take some time to listen for what He might be saying to us on any given day. Even though sometimes it might just be static, like during a thunderstorm. That's not to say that God stops speaking, only that we sometimes stop listening or we let things get between us and Him. But being dialed in, not giving up and waiting for the storm to pass is what counts. And with all the wedding details, plans, questions, and options crashing in around me, its pretty awesome to know that God cares, even about the little stuff.

Early Rain

Well, someone hinted that I hadn't updated my blog in a while and they were tired of hitting the link and getting the same ole un-updated blog. This is my attempt to fix that problem.

Why is it that being a bride-to-be means you get picked on so much? I must say I do look rather ridiculous but the laughs from friends and family was enough to allow me to endure the embarrassment for a season. That one sock was pretty warm but who wants to be warm in August? Don't ask what is on my head!!

So many things still to be done but I am enjoying these last few days as much as possible. Our new apartment is taking some shape or at least you can find the rooms behind all the boxes now.

We sat down for a Sunday dinner with my sister in the new apartment. How I forgot that we had no silverware is beyond me. I did find three forks and three spoons which was exactly what we needed. Sometimes you take those things for granted because they've always been there. Oops!

Well it is raining here in Kentucky shortly before 7 a.m. I was hoping for some wonderful sunshine because I will be running the office alone and sometimes it gets a little overwhelming jumping around answering phones, listening for radio traffic, counting money and just doing my general jail chores.

Well, Aaron, I hope you haven't gotten too bored. Feel free to comment. Why did I say that? I know you and Jason don't need an invitation to talk.

Speaking of talking......Here I am hugging the family "secretary." If you don't know what is happening with the family on a particular weekend, call this lady. She has a way of finding out everything. Of course, it wouldn't have anything whatsoever to do with how much she talks! But we still love her !