Monday, July 20, 2009

Exciting News...

Ryan and I are getting a puppy this fall! A beautiful silver lab to be exact. We're so excited! There is a litter of puppies being born next month near Birmingham, so cross your fingers for a silver female!! We put a deposit down months ago and will have first choice. Ryan even started building her kennel-- out of a dresser. Trust me, it's going to look good. Ryan's been so creative and has been working so hard on it. Since our home is quite small we wanted her house to blend in with the decor... you'll just have to see it. (And you can... once we get our new camera!)

I can already picture this little thing running around our house! Puppy time is almost here!

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Lions, Tigers, and BEARS...

Oh My!
For the forth of July, 4 couples headed to the Smokies for a mountain weekend! Jeff so kindly invited us up to his mountain house in Townshed, TN. Looking back on the weekend two things come to mind - guns and beer pong. But not at the same time, of course! The boys and girls shot rifles, shotguns, hand guns, bow and arrow, even Aaron's grandfather's old revolver! The boys had skeet shooting competitions and showed off their skills, and let us girls shoot around in between. Shooting guns was actually pretty fun! Even the girls hit some clays! You can't tell me that's not impressive! When it turned dark, the group was usually surrounding the beer pong table (yes, of course Ryan brought the table). We learned a new game at Bev and Christian's the night before called Baseball and it's really fun!

Oh, and how could I forget Meg and Aaron's hike... Saturday morning they decided to hike up the mountain on a trail by the house. On their way down they saw a bear cub!!! It was so close to them, and you know what that means.... so was the mom!!! They booked it back down the mountain and safely back into the house, but for the rest of the weekend we were a little more cautious. It was so close to the house! But don't worry, Jeff told us how handle a bear attack. You have one of two options... play dead or do the "bear scare" which consists of flailing arms and growling (we did a lot of humorous practicing throughout the rest of the weekend). Oh yeah and stay calm.

Well, Saturday night some of us decided to drive up to the top of the mountain trail. We put out some chairs and listened to music for a bit. Then when we got back in the car to head back down, the car battery was DEAD! Are you kidding me!? We won't go into details about how that happened :). We had to walk all the way back down the same trail where the bear was earlier, and it was almost dark! It was scary!

Besides that, we cooked out, made s'mores each night, played Catch Phrase around the fire (which by the way the girls ROCK at!), and just hung out and enjoy the company! Thank you Jeff for having us all up! It was so fun!

Oh, and bad news, my trusty camera finally died... for good. So I only have pictures from the first afternoon! But don't worry, I'll be getting a new one soon!

Bev and me in Knoxville eating lunch

Eating at Jacob's - best burgers in town!
All packed up ready to go

We brought so much stuff - gotta make room for the beverages!

Arriving at the house!

So rustic and neat inside!

Love these girls!

Learning how to shoot a hand gun

First time! Look at the smoke!

Bow time

Look at that determination!

Aaron and I lost a bet

So hardcore

An old revolver! You can even spin the bullets like you see in movies!
First time shooting a handgun

BULL MOOSED!

Aaron and Meg

my hillbilly husband! haha

Jeff and Natasha

love Christian's face

the girls - relaxing on the swing

the boys (minus Jeff)

me and my mountain man!

close up!

Skeet shoot

Natasha throwing clays for the boys

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Busy Bee

I know I haven't posted in a while, but you have to cut me some slack. This is our busiest time of the year at work. It's almost over though! I promise to post this weekend or a night when things slow down.

Hope everyone is doing great!

Rachel

Monday, June 29, 2009

The Tomahawk Chop

Ryan and I headed in different directions this weekend. He went to Clay's bachelor party in New Orleans and it sounds like they had an absolute blast! I don't have any pictures from the trip, because as Clay would say "no evidence". :)

I spent the weekend with my bestests in Atlanta! Parker and I road tripped it down after work on Friday and made it just in time to head to Peachtree Tavern to see TROTLINE and reminisce of college days! We had sooo much fun!! Oh, and how could I forget the late late night at Hole in the Wall.

After sleeping in Saturday morning we finally got dressed and ready to go the the Braves vs. Red Sox game! Braves weekend in Atlanta is an annual event and one of my favorites! But first we went to Kristin, Allie, and Lucy's house for a little pre-game BBQ! And as I have mentioned in my posts before, we had hotdog's from the Hill's! Their house is SOO CUTE and it was nice to sit around and catch up with everyone before the game.

Then it was off to Turner Field! Like usual, we spent the majority of the game at the Chop House and then moved to our seats to watch the last inning. We waved our Braves flags are hard as we could but the Braves just couldn't prevail. The Red Sox won 1-0. But that did not take away from the fun we had all day!

Afterward, half the group hopped into cabs, but as the crowds got heavier and heavier we decided to give up on the cabs and take the Marta. When we got to the corner where Marta shuttles pick up fans we decided it was waaay too crowded to wait, so we got the bright idea to WALK to the next Marta station. That's right, we walked from Turner Field to The Underground. Although I really enjoyed the walking tour of ATL, after a long day at the baseball field I could have done without the walking part... it was about 2 miles! Why that was a good idea at the time, I will never know! Then we got off at the Lindbergh stop it was POURING down rain! We tried to wait it out, but then went for it and ran a few more blocks to arrive at Taco Mac soaking wet! At least it cooled us off after our long walk !

All in all I had such a blast this weekend and I miss all my girls soo much! Thank you SB and Peacock for letting me crash all weekend! Can't wait until our next reunion!

Peachtree Tavern singing along with Trotline
Together Again!!
Bestest
Miss you ladies!
Best Friends!
Bella!! I can't believe she is 6 years old! I knew her as a pup :)
Chop House
Waiting for everyone to get to the Chop House
Rivers and our twin sunglasses
William Harp came!
Yuum, margaritas!
LOVE LOVE these girls!

Brooke and Taylor

Just like old times
Me and Sarah Beth

Having so much fun with our flags!

The "walking" group
See the Capitol building with the gold top? That's where we're headed!
Still walking...
Still walking...
At the Capitol!
Finally at the Capitol... then decide to walk to The Underground...Tay is excited to get to the subway!

After our 2 mile tour of ATL
When we arrive at Lindbergh it was POURING down rain.
Rain rain go away!Waiting for the rain to stop.

Soaked because we didn't want to wait any longer.
Peacock is mad because we're all wet!