Updates

Since I have been a bad blogger, I thought I would post an entry with some updates:

11/26/08 - 11/27/08 - Thanksgiving, Hamilton

11/28/08 - 11/29/08 - Thanksgiving, Louisville

12/1/08 - 12/4/08 - Kris & Stacey's visit, Nashville

Kris & Stacey Layton came to town and we met them for dinner 2 nights - Wildhorse Saloon in downtown Nashville and Mellow Mushroom in Franklin. I got to hold Briley!

12/5/08 - E&Y Holiday Party, Sommet Center - Downtown Nashville

12/6/08 - Crowe Holiday Party, The Factory - Franklin

http://www.factoryatfranklin.com/

12/7/08 - Carrie Underwood Concert, Sommet Center - Downtown Nashville

Pat, Tom & Erin came in town (along with Erin's friend, Blair) and we all hit up Wildhorse Saloon (yes, again! - we love it :-)) and then walked over to the Carrie concert. Little Big Town opened for her and we loved them as well!

12/12/08 - 12/15/08 - Girls Weekend (& Chris & John), Nashville

Katie, Devon, Heidi & John came in town. We hit up Wild Ginger on Friday night . . .

. . . did a little bridesmaid dress shopping . . .

. . . and of course introduced them all to Tootsie's!

Bridesmaids (& man)

Well, we have finally picked our bridal party! Everyone has received their cards from me and replied yes, so I thought I would introduce my bridesmaids (& man). (I will let Chris blog about his.)

Bryce Williams - So I am switching it up a little bit and decided I wanted my brother as my "man" of honor. I still haven't decided on an official title, so if anyone has any fun suggestions let me know! I was blessed with a brother and I just didn't want him anywhere else besides standing right next to me. I mean he put up with me being the annoying sister that always wanted to play soccer and basketball with his friends growing up, so I figure he deserves some special recognition for all those years!



Erin Iglehart - Erin is my 17 year old cousin who lives in Louisville. She acts and looks much older than that. The workers in one of the stores we went in when we were wedding dress shopping thought she was the bride . . . I believe because they thought she looked older than me! Also, another store offered her a potential job helping out in the store. How cool would that be at 17!? She's already been a big help in dress shopping and getting all my papers neatly organized, but I know she will be a huge help up until the day of the wedding. I need her opinions, good and bad, and I know she will share them with me. ha



Katie Pierce - Katie and I met when we were 16 and working in Findlay at the movie theater. We became close over serving popcorn and cleaning the nacho machine. We ended up both going to Miami and rooming together Freshman year, and then again Senior year. She recently moved to San Francisco to follow her dream and I love that about her! She's fearless and fun and she helps bring that out of me - which is not easy. ha



Devon Hauck - Devon lived next door to Katie and I in our Freshman dorm and we all became close. She and I were complete opposites that year. I would pass her sitting on the front porch of the dorm having not been to sleep yet for the night/morning at 7:30am, as I was heading to my 8am Calculus class. I don't think she made many classes that year, and I don't think I missed one! We ended up living together Sophomore year and influenced each other in good ways. She helped bring me out of my shell, and I helped get her to class. ha She's now an official lawyer (having just passed the Bar exam on the 1st try I may add - YAY!) and working in Philadelphia!



Heidi Day - I worked with Heidi for 5 years at EY in Indy and we became close over busy season Iced Tea runs for lunch! I'm not sure if it was the tea that helped get us through the day, or the 20 minutes away from the office to vent to each other on work, life, and everything else. Chris refers to her as my twin, because we are so much alike. He and John (her husband) compare stories on having to put up with us - good and bad I guess. ha I waited to ask her until after her wedding so that the thought of more wedding talk wouldn't scare her away! I'm excited to have an experienced bride in my bridal party to help keep me on track!

Introducing our Flower Girls, Ring Bearer & Ushers!

Chris and I are blessed to have 5 adorable nieces and nephews and couldn't wait to ask them to be a part of our wedding day! We wanted to make it special and something fun for the kids, so we sent them puzzles that they had to put together in order to read what we asked them to do! Check them out . . . .

2nd Celebrity Sighting

Ok, so not quite Kenny . . . BUT I did see Keith! Yes, Keith Urban . . . at Publix grocery store this evening in Brentwood. :-)

Devon was my first phone call after I oh so nonchalantly pretended to be looking at the same organic vegetables he was. I came out of the grocery with organic vegetables and nothing for dinner because I was so flustered. So flustered, I forgot to ask for the "Mystery penny item" that Publix does on Mondays at the check out, which is the reason I went INTO the store tonight in the first place. And so flustered, that I didn't notice that the check out guy forgot to include my 75 cent coupon that was the reason I bought 3 things of pillsbury rolls instead of 1 which I so didn't need.

So, Keith ended up costing me about 8 bucks tonight. I left him alone, even though the only reason I even noticed him was because I heard a girl ask for his autograph. I figured I'd let him get home to Nicole.

Did I mention how good he smelled? Flustered. . . . . can you imagine if that had been Kenny!?

1st Celebrity Sighting

We were at one of our favorite places to eat (Wild Ginger) with Scott and Barbara a couple weeks ago and realized Sheryl Crow was sitting at the table right next to us! http://www.dinewildginger.com/

It is right down the street from our apartment. We decided not to be "those" people, so we didn't talk to her or get an autograph or picture or anything. Boy was she getting the star treatment though. The chef came out to talk to her, managers coming out left and right to check on her and all of her girlfriends. We were saying, hey we are paying the same as her why aren't we getting treated like that! :-)

Next is a Kenny sighting. . . . I can feel it . . .

Surprise Dad!

Some pictures from my Dad's surprise party in Louisville! This one wasn't so much of a surprise, as he figured it out with us all running around my aunt's house trying to get ready and cook food, etc. My mom surprised him in Findlay on his actual birthday though, and really got him.

Happy 60th Birthday, Dad! 11/12/08

Happy Birthday, Dad (aka Crazy Larry as Chris calls him)! Wish we could be there to celebrate!




Dad playing putt putt with Abby & Luke . . on their level




The card I gave my Dad to ask him to walk me down the aisle for the wedding!

Home Sweet "Home" 11/4/08

Everyone keeps saying how you will always remember where you were on election night this year. Well Chris and I will for sure! It was our first night in our new apartment . . . with NO furniture! :-)

I picked up carry out from McAlister's and Chris picked up . . . a FLAT SCREEN! ha We have wanted one for a while, but we figured this would help distract us from the shock of moving from our cute furnished apartment to our smaller, unfurnished apartment. :-) And it did! We had a picnic on the floor with our McAlister's and watched the election and laughed together.

I was pretty sad the night before thinking about our cute, decorated home sitting empty in Indy, and about leaving our cute apartment we had called home for 3 months since moving to TN and gotten engaged in! But as we had our picnic on the floor and laughed together it helped remind me of something I already know (just temporarily forgot in the whirlwind of switching apartments) . . . that home isn't a place, it's just where Chris and I are TOGETHER.

With that being said, this is our new HOME for the next 10 months, and I LOVE it! And we will be bringing SOME furniture down next weekend, so the floor is just temporary. :-)

I found my dress!

I planned a family outing on November 1st to go dress shopping in Louisville. Chris' parents decided to visit him in Nashville that weekend, so it worked out well that he had visitors while I was gone since he couldn't go along for dress shopping! He got to show them where we are getting married & around some of our favorite places in Nashville.

Louisville was a good meeting place for dress shopping since it is such a far drive for my parents to Nashville. Bryce and Toni even made the trip down with the kids with it being the day after Trick or Treat. :-)

I thought it would be a fun outing to take my aunt, cousin, mom, grandmother, Toni and Abby all with me. I was surprised Bryce, Dad and Luke even stuck around for a few dresses when they dropped Toni & Abby off at one place!

I honestly kind of went into it just for the experience, but ended up finding my dress in the 1st store we went to & the 3rd dress I tried on! We still went to the rest of the appointments we had the rest of the day, but I just knew I was going back to the 1st place.

The store was super cute and the 2 young women that own it just made it such a fun experience on top of finding the perfect dress. Check it out: http://www.coutureclosetboutique.com/



Me, Pat (aunt), Erin (cousin), Mom at our 10am appointment at Couture Closet
(I can't show the picture with my grandmother & Toni when we purchased the dress around 6pm, because I am in the dress in the picture!) :-)



Abby even wanted to try on some dresses!



Luke was at home having fun with the guys . . . I love his laugh here



Luke & Dad chillin'

World's Cutest & Most Tolerant Baby

Taylor was the only baby in our 8 bedroom cabin all weekend and we all fell in love with her! She is the little girl of Heidi's friends Kim & Todd. I think she fooled all of us childless couples into thinking parenthood is easy, because she was so good. Not to mention how cute she is! Had to share this picture . . . .

Mr. & Mrs. Roy!

We had a blast last weekend at Heidi & John's wedding! I think it was an amazing idea to have it in Gatlinburg. The setting was beautiful and we got to spend the weekend with some amazing people!

Both of their families stayed in 12 bedroom cabins right next to each other and then we were down a little bit staying in an 8 bedroom cabin with all of their friends/bridal party, etc. The families took turns cooking, so all we had to do was walk down to their cabin each day and decide how full we could get ourselves on everything from chili dogs, baked spaghetti, egg rolls, mashed potatoes, green beans, and on and on. Chris was still talking about John's dad's gravy yesterday from his biscuits and gravy on Saturday morning. :-)

Their families were so kind and welcoming, and we had so much fun with their friends we want to make them our own. :-) I think all the guys bonded over the big screen TVs, Foosball, air hockey and pool tables. However, I must say the women all held their own in their events! The guys weren't too happy when we had to turn the pool table into our ironing spot for bridesmaid's dresses on Friday night.

After torrential downpours on Friday, we were a little concerned about the weather on Saturday. However, it was gorgeous and perfect for their outdoor ceremony. There was a maze on the facilities made out of bushes for the kids that was awesome! I knew if I lost Chris I could just go check there. Then there was a wood burning fireplace right next to our table at the reception just creating an awesome atmosphere.

After seeing all the details Heidi planned I started to get nervous though and realized I better get started. ha

I was told one of the funniest parts of the weekend was due to a moment by yours truly. I had kind of a "blond" moment you could say (what's new). When we got back from getting our hair done on Saturday morning we were in a hurry and feeling rushed to try to get to the ceremony site, so Heidi's sister dropped me off by our cabin (or so I thought). It ended up she couldn't pull up any further and I was actually in front of the cabin right next to ours that looks IDENTICAL! (Yes, really - no differences at all I promise.)

So, I ran up the steps and was rushing inside to go get ready. I passed all these people in the kitchen as I ran through and waved and just thought "oh these must be new people I haven't met yet here for the wedding." Being the introvert I am, I waved and ran by focused on getting my bridesmaid's dress on since my hair was ready and in an up-do.

As I got to our door I didn't see the pretty sign Heidi had made for our room that said "Chris & Jill" and my mouth dropped wide open. I started cracking up and so did "my friends" in the kitchen. One guy closed the door and goes "get her!"

I apologized over and over and ran back out the door to go get ready. As I was running away a guy came out the door and said, "Wait, we want to get a picture with you!" I told them I didn't have time, but I also didn't want the evidence . . . . I'm sure they wondered who the crazy girl was in the zip up sweatshirt and up-do coming in their cabin.

Chris just rolled his eyes because he is used to me by now and quickly pointed out that they were all Alabama fans . . . he must have been checking out their license plates and sweatshirts earlier.

Some other highlights:

• Dixie Stampede & John & Heidi getting pulled as volunteers!
• Kelly doing karaoke
• John's Dad dancing to Baby Got Back
• Driving up the mountain for the first time and thinking we were going to fall off
• Burt's speech to John
• Enjoying our stocked kitchen with bagel bites and frozen pizzas
• Giving Heidi her scrapbook from the bridesmaids
• Dancing to every country song under the sun when Chris was playing DJ at the house and Erin saying "1968 called and wants Charlie Daniels back"

Additional Pictures: http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=1667d58eeea018e0&sid=8FbNGLVq4aOc