fall flood

jay and i have always wanted to live near a lake... we just never thought that our river would turn into one. although, it's not surprising with all the rain we've had. (and i am sure most of you lurkers readers are as tired of rain as we are.) we live about 1/4-1/2 mile from the french broad river and it has definitely breached its banks. we walked down yesterday and took some pictures. obviously, they have closed the road so it's about the only time walking down butler bridge road with the dogs has been safe. i know that most of you don't know what the fields look like without water, but for those of you who have visited and seen them... yeah, here's our lake! (and if you haven't seen them in person, come on over for a visit!)

looking downstream...

the water has actually started to recede some, too

no body loves me, everyone hates me, guess i'll just go eat some worms... there were plenty of worms to be found, that's for sure. jay said they were good fishing worms.

looking upstream...

a big, swiftly floating branch really caught cotton's attention

and, just because i know you have missed him... here's dave, in one of his favorite places... the arm of the couch.

land cruisers and labradors

last saturday was the annual meeting of the upstate cruisers, which is an association of land cruiser/toyota owners who love, well, you guessed it, land cruisers. we went to the meeting last year and had a great time and were looking forward to this year's meeting. the meeting is held at aunt sue's in south carolina, and each tasty calorie i/we consumed was worth every pound we didn't lose last week. (and, if we are being honest, jay stayed even with his weight and i lost 0.2 lbs, which is pretty much staying even, so it wasn't a total wash.) definitely check out their website... and if you come visit and don't mind a little drive, we'll be happy to take you there. :)

we took the dogs with us this year, too, and their lab friend, ramsey, was there as well, and they kept themselves busy sniffing everything, playing with sticks, running from here to there, and begging for love. oh, and did i mention the creek they found? (thanks, dad, again, for the rubber mat in the back of the cruiser... it comes in handy with wet dogs.)

the cruiser on the far right is a recently "renovated" fj55, aka "iron pig"

an old, beautifully redone fj45

oh, our fj80.... the blue beast

cotton enjoying the creek, after obtaining what appeared to be my permission to get in (she wouldn't get in until i walked her over and told her she could. barley, on the other hand, had already been in twice with ramsey)

ramsey... who really wanted that branch

weight watchers... lose for good

hey friends!

weight watchers has a new campaign, read about it here: www.loseforgood.com. it is part of a campaign to stop childhood hunger. just by jay and i using ww online, money is donated for every pound we lose to help feed children in america. click on the link and check it out. (and, if you leave a comment on this post, ww will donate $1 for every comment.)

speaking of weight watchers, it is a successful venture for us this time around. we are about 2 weeks into it and are both losing weight and gaining new, healthy habits. life is good as we lose for good.

3 years ago today...

... i/we was/were a bit busy.









it was a lovely day. filled with getting ready...

thanks, julie, for the hair and make-up!

we did see each other before the ceremony so we could do pictures and not make our guests wait after it was over... jay patiently waited and i was surprised to see his clean-shaven face.

the day flew by and soon it was time to get lined up for the ceremony.

yeah! we're married!
the receiving line seemed to last forever, but it was a great time to make sure we saw and spoke to everyone who came.


first (and only, ha!) dance.
i know dad was excited for his dance, and to wear his blue tie.


i loved my cake. publix made it. the flowers on top doubled as my throw-away bouquet. too bad the only taste of it i got was a smear of icing that just happened to make it into my mouth. jay's cake was from publix, too, fashioned off a dora the explorer cake, it was made into a mountain with our hikers cake topper, who, truth be told, were just too big for "my" cake. :) (proceed to scroll...)








my uncle steve is the best cake cutter ever. my aunt regina helped with the plates! :) love you guys.

and now it's time for the portraits... i am not going to put them all on here, but here are some favorites from the day. (our photographer, matt mcbride sold us our pictures and the rights to them, so that is why you are getting to see all of these lovely pictures.)



i loved, still love, my dress. it was the only one like it at the time and i am so glad i found it. i thought i would like what i had originally picked out for the girls, but when they tried them on, they were not very cute and/or flattering. so they found these blue ones, which the color i love, and this is the end result.



we were grateful to Fr. Chris for coming from VA to perform our ceremony. our current priest moved to FL about 6 weeks before the wedding.





i loved everything about that day. it has certainly been fun to relive it in pictures today.