David & Jana's Wedding!!!

Saturday was the big day for my little brother. My cousin Rebekah did my hair and makeup, that was fun to not have to do it myself. We got to the church just in time to take pictures.

dad, me, David and mom

It worked out that Ashley and Scott were able to be here for the wedding. I was so glad! Even if it was short, I always enjoy getting to spend some time with Ash.

2:00pm came quickly and it was time to start the ceremony. My cousin Stephen sang an original song that he and David wrote just for the wedding. Then they seated the mothers. And then it was my turn to stand in the doorway. I had to wait until the precher, groom and groomsmen came out. And as David walked out there, I instantly got teary. There he stood. No longer the little brother that was 11 years younger than me, that I've watched grow up his whole life, he now stood there a man. He has grown into a wonderful man, and he'll be a wonderful husband. I cried all the way down the aisle. But I quickly regained composure as the georgeous flower girl (aka Saraya) dramatically threw the last handfull of rose petals up and over her shoulder as she walked down the aisle.

The ceremony was beautiful. It was fun to have all the family together. And the reception was nice. David's always been a big UNC Tarheels fan, so his groom's cake was their logo. It was hard for him to choose between the foot and the Apple logo.

The Liles cousins!! Scott, James, Stephen, Andrew

Ashley, Saraya, me, Jana, David, Brent and Rebekah

Three Years...

...have passed since my grandpa left this earth.

For twelve years I saw or talked to my grandpa every day during the week at the parts store. I took those moments for granted. I've found myself hearing his voice in my head as I answer the phone or seeing him walk in the door as I've reflected on it this past week. With every tear, I'm grateful for the time I did have with him, especially those last twelve years. I wouldn't trade them for anything.It was far from perfect when he was with us. There were plenty of disappointments and hurts but there were also hugs, smiles and joy. Regrets will always exsist and I can't undo the past. But the bottom line will forever be, that I love him. And I miss him.

Halloween Festivities!!

Last Saturday we went to a halloween party at Chris and Karman's house. It was cold but it was fun! The kids loved the hair color, tattoos, bonfire, and most loved the hayride. That would be everyone but Saraya. She's not much for scary stuff. And as they came around the corner and I heard the chainsaw with a guy running towards the trailer I knew she was going to loose it. And I was right. She got off bawling her little eyes out. Took a little while but she finally got over it! She had fun anyway. She insisted on wearing her WonderWoman costume from last year. It was a little small but oh well. She's with her dear friend Elijah who so wonderfully taught her this mouth noise that they both repeat ALL THE TIME! :-)

Thursday at PreK they were able to dress up. So for this party Saraya decided she wanted to be Cinderella. Which was fine with me cause we already had the dress in her dress up stuff! Parents were able to go to school during lunch so James snapped some pictures.

And finally, tonight we went trick-or-treating! For the last month at least Saraya's said she wanted to be a bat. I have no idea where this came from, but she kept saying it, so I got creative with black clothes, a trash bag, face paint and hair spray color!! It actually turned out pretty cute!!

It started as our cell group, then it grew last minute!! We had a ton of people at our house. I think I counted 35. We ate pizza and then hit the streets. Most people probably didn't like seeing our big herd coming cause we made a big dent in the candy bowl!!!

Little Big Town & Carrie Underwood

I've been looking forward to last night for over four months! I've been to many concerts in my short life, but this was only my second time to be on the front row. They're especially good for us short people!!! I love music, I love concerts, and I will start my story with a fact that I'm sure you know if you know me..... I can't sit and be still... I must stand and dance!!!!

Little Big Town opened up the show, and they were great. I think they were even better this time that when I saw them last time! They have great songs and great harmonies.... I really enjoy them and all their music. (And the girls fashion! I loved these boots! Even though I could never pull them off.)

I made eye contact with Philip a few times and he nodded his head at me cause I was singing all the words (we were friends way back in the day when he went to ASU). I was secretly hoping that he recognized me.... but no go. About halfway through their set, two older gentlemen came in and sat on the other side of me. I would never think of these two as Carrie Underwood fans. But I didn't give them another thought. I continued to enjoy LBT, dancin' and singin' my heart out. Almost as soon as the lights came up after LBT was done, one of the men sitting next to me got my attention and said, "I like watching you and all, but if you never sit down, I won't get to see any of the show." I didn't really know what to say. Standing kind'f comes with the territory when you're at a concert, especially when you have floor seats. Plus, all the people around us that weren't standing during LBT were for sure going to be standing when Carrie came out. So I just smiled and said that I'd try.


Carrie came out and rocked! It's no secret that she could sing, I mean, you sing live on American Idol, you can't fake it on that show. But to hear her live and in person....... man, she can WAIL! She did not disappoint and she sang all my favorites.

She had several costume changes. And I got a play by play commentary about it from the two men. Her first outfit was a short black dress, and I guess they thought she was dressed for halloween. Then she put on a big full floor length blue dress for a few ballads. One man said, "that dress is twice as big as the last one". Then she went into an uptempo song and they ripped the long part of her skirt off and she had a short one on underneath it. Lesley happened to look over right when it happened and apparently their eyes bugged out. I'm glad they didn't have a heart attack. That would've been very distracting. :-) I'm all heart, I know. Just kidding!!!


Then came the odd moment of the night. Carrie picked up the guitar. I was impressed at first... but then she started strumming. Well, lets just say it looked very awkward. She was strumming way faster than the song and, well, you couldn't actually hear the strums..... so I'm thinking she was muted. I think it's great that she's learning how to play. I would love to play guitar. But I won't be learning four chords anytime soon just so I can hold a guitar while I'm on stage! No worries Jon and Charleton!!!!! I was quite jealous of her pink sparkly mic though!!! I would love to have one of those!

It was a great concert, with my great friends Kara and Lesley!!!!!

people.com

Usually everyday, or at least every other day, I look around on people.com. I like to see what the hot topic is, or see the newest pictures. So tonight I was looking around on there and noticed that Taylor Swift had made a video of random things. It said there was some backstage footage of the new Crossroads they're about to show on CMT. So I watched it. And I watched it again. And again. I think I'm up to seven times. Why you ask? I am a Taylor Swift fan, but I'm an even bigger fan of my cousin Stephen!!! He's in a band called Love and Theft and they've been opening a lot of Taylor's shows. And for a few short seconds, Love and Theft are in the video with Taylor. They show up around the 4:22 mark. And Stephen's the one on the right side of Taylor!! Gotta say, seeing family on people.com made my night! :-) Love you Stephen!!! You can check out the video here.

Crossroads Fall Festival

I've been working on stuff for the Fall Festival all week long! It was a lot of fun organizing the Chili Cookoff. We had six entries, and four willing judges. We played all kinds of games after we ate. There was bowling, football toss, paintball target range, and even face painting and hair color along with many others. We had a guy come out with his train. The kids love the train! But after all that came one of my favorite things..... flag football!!! I didn't do too good at taking pictures today.

SCORE!

It's not corduroy, but I'm happy with it!!!!! I went into the Gap on a whim tonight... the best part is that it was regular $44 and it was on sale for $10!!! Woo hoo!!

Festival of Lights and Harvest or something like that...

Wednesday night after we ate and had our lesson, we worked on one of our games for the fall festival this Saturday. We're doing bowling... and these are our pins! We painted them black and each of us decorated one. Some of us are overachievers. Some of us did our best. Some of us drank too much caffiene or something. And it wasn't me!!!! We had lots of laughs during this project.....

We had a ton of fun... of course, we always have fun when we're together. These girls are so great. Each one of them mean a ton to me personally. What a wonderful group to be able to count on!!

46,000 Women..... 92,000 Boobs!!!!

Yesterday we left Jonesboro at 3:30ish and headed to Little Rock for the Race for the Cure. We got to our hotel after many, and I seriously mean MANY trips around the block. Dang those one way streets! Then after we were settled, we headed out to dinner at Cajun's Wharf. Oh wow. The best food ever!!!! My great friend Charity lives in Little Rock, so she met us for dinner. It was so great to spend some time with her. We talk on the phone every week just about, but we don't get to see each other much!!!

We went back to our hotel, with much more ease than the first time. Everyone was getting ready for bed, getting settled, I asked what time it was and they said, "10:00". No wonder I wasn't tired!!!! So I somehow managed to keep Chassidy and Julie up talking and playing with my iPod. I had the late night giggles and they kept me laughing. Julie was my bed partner, and as the clock struck midnight, we turned into pumpkins and finally went to sleep. I woke up a few times in the middle of the night...... with Julie's feet on me (her nightly habit) and once even butt to butt. Good thing I love her! ;-) But as all of you know, when the alarm went off at 6am, I thought I was going to die. I squeezed every bit of bed time I could... rolling out at the last possible minute.... 6:30. It was still dark..... so I actually got to see the sun rise!!!

The walk was great. Amazing stories. Amazing women. Amazing lives. Survivors with their daughters, and granddaughters. People walking in memory or in honor of friends. One of the neatest things though, were the men on the sidelines cheering us on. (I bought pink sunglasses just for the walk!!! And yes I know, Elton's already called... he can't have them back)

I was in the car with Holly, Angie, Cristi and Marinda. And if I learned one this on this trip..... it's that Holly and I are truly kindred driving spirits!! Everyone else in our car made comments all weekend about how she drives, a little fast.... never easing on the brakes.... but for me.......... it was like coming home. hehehehe!!!

These girls are so great, and I love spending time with them. Each time I do, our friendships deepen and our bonds grow tighter.

My new obsession...

...the color ORANGE! At first I didn't know where it was coming from. I was drawn to the orange nailpolish, and I've been wearing it for a couple weeks. I really want a new ipod.... and of course, I want the orange one. I've really been wanting a corduroy skirt for the fall.... and I specifically want an orange one. This all seemed a little out of the blue, but then I realized last week that I'm surrounded by orange every day at work! Tangelo Pearl to be exact. (And yes, that's a custom color!)

I have inherited many things from my dad. Many parts of my personality are just like his. I can't count how many times I've said something to my mom and she follows it up with, "you sound just like your dad!" I have his common sense (which I'm very proud of). I also got his lead foot... and a love for old cars. He's restoring a '68 Camaro and it's coming together quite nicely. Pieces of it are scattered throughout the store, but he's getting more and more of it put together. It's such a slow process, but a fun one to watch. Well, at least it is for me.

Tagged by Holly!

Seven random and/or weird facts about myself:

1. I am completely aware that I drink way too much soda..... but I just can't stop.
2. I love those ups white board commercials.
3. I would love to be a professional party planner.
4. I love watching "Cover Tune Grab Bag" on Mercyme's blog. They're hilarious!
5. I'm obsessed with finding an orange cord skirt.
6. I think I could eat at Taco Bell every day.
7. I'm way too excited that Brothers and Sisters is back on tv. I have to remind myself that they're not real people. ha!

This was hard to come up with 7 things that I didn't already list on here a couple months ago!!

Wednesday

We got up and around Wednesday morning and headed home. We did it all in one day.... and it was a lot of driving! We rolled in at midnight, which wasn't too bad. We were more than ready to be home. It was a fun trip though!!!

Tuesday: part three

As I was walking around taking pictures on Main Street, an employee came up to me and started asking me questions and asked if we were interested in any character sightings. I said yes, and he said, "How about Cinderella?". I knew that she wasn't spotted out very much at all outside of the parade, so I of course was interested. I thought it wasn't that big of a deal, we'd get there and have to stand in line for an hour. Much to my surprise, we got there and the time they told me was our appointment time. There was no one else even there. The Disney employee made a huge deal talking it up to Saraya. They took us behind the curtain and she made a big announcement, "I introduce to you, Princess Cinderella!" as she pulled the curtain back. It was so incredible. I teared up. Cinderella was instantly in character, talking to Saraya about her braids and asked if her mice or her birds braided them for her. Saraya was speechless. When we finally left, she looked up at me with her eyes so big and said, "mommy! she didn't have a mask on, it was really really her!!!!!"