best concert ever!

What feels like eons ago, the hubs told me he heard that tickets were going to go on sale for Garth Brooks in Atlanta so I told him to set a reminder in our calendar for the sale day. On August 8th at 10am our phones buzzed and by 10:25 we had a confirmation email. We were going to see Garth! 

The hubs was SO excited, and don't get me wrong, I was looking forward to it too, but I wasn't nearly as bouncy as he was haha. The concert was at Philips Arena at 6:30 so we followed the advise of my best friend and took the Marta into the city. 

Since my day started bright and early with a bouncy toddler, I knew I would need to refuel before the concert. I'm addicted to Dunkin Donuts pumpkin spice iced coffees. I don't care how cliche it is.

We stopped by the concert gear table before heading to our seats. There was a camo hat with the Garth logo in orange. It was meant to be. Somebody *ahem* was thrilled.

Our seats were pretty amazing. We weren't down on the floor but we definitely weren't in the nosebleeds either.

Hands down Garth Brooks was the BEST concert I've EVER been too. No contest. His energy, his singing, his interaction with the audience, just EVERYTHING.

He bounced around stage like my toddler, running around, climbing the set. It was amazing.

Add Trisha Yearwood to the mix and….sigh, just perfection. They sang, the embraced, they kissed. Adorable. Garth came back for 3 encores until, I imagine, Trisha held him hostage back stage and told the crew to turn on the house lights. He had another show starting only an hour after ours ended!

We were definitely on a high afterwards. I told the hubs whenever Garth is back in town, he doesn't even have to ask, just get the tickets. 

Since the concert was in Atlanta, we stayed with my best friend Shannon and her husband. It's also her birthday on the 25th so I brought her some goodies. While I completely forgot to take any pictures of the birthday girl, I did snap some of her presents. 

She's pregnant and just found out it's a girl! This hot pink tote was screaming her name and I thought it would make a fabulous baby bag. I embroidered an M on it (for her last name) since they aren't 100% official on the name just yet.

She also got a long sleeve tee with her monogram on the front and a big lab appliqué on the back. I just love how this one turned out. I'll be making one for myself very shortly. 

The last goodie was actually for her little fluff nugget, Tilly. They just got a standard poodle puppy the day before we came to visit. She's an absolute doll and so completely mellow. Her name, Tillman, is after one of the buildings on Clemson's campus. They are calling her Tilly for short.

We had the best weekend and you know what they say…time flies when you're having fun!

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Parker's 1st birthday

Another baby turning one and another shake of reality that I must be growing up ha! All of these milestones sure are flying by, weddings, pregnancy announcements, and now first birthdays.

Upon arrival Jessica greeted everyone with a smile as she chased around her little lady and Bryan was the proud papa offering the parents a cocktail of their choice {sure I'll have a glass of wine!}.

The decor made me think of the famous line from Steel Magnolias.
"My colors are blush and bashful."
"Her colors are pink and pink."
Haha! It was beautiful though!

Getting little miss to stand still for a picture was pretty impossible. She's had things to do and people to visit!

Opening presents became somewhat of a spectacle when Parker realized it was much more fun to climb up on the boxes than just tear the paper off.

Parker really enjoyed this hand made rocking horse she received. As soon as someone stopped helping her rock, she would sway back and forth on her own.

I did manager to get a quick picture with the birthday girl before it was time for cake!

Congratulations to Jessica and Bryan on their little princess turning one. We all know this is about celebrating survival so high five to y'all!


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homecoming

Whenever I think about Homecoming at Clemson, I picture a huge tailgate filled with friends, beers in hand, catching up, and playing corn hole. I think of all our babies running around together while hot dogs are cooking. Sadly that wasn't the case this year. We had a small tailgate with another couple, but it was still fun. Maybe next year we can plan for the big one.

This picture is actually from the day before. We always wear our orange to daycare on Fridays and he was just being so sweet that morning.

We had to be on campus a bit early to get Danny registered for alumni band. Right as we arrived at Brooks, I received this picture from Kathy. Somebody decided to help himself to her fruit loops!

Danny and Chris marched their trombones but I decided to skip it this year. I took pictures and video instead ha!

While we were off doing alumni band, Kathy had Quinn. She, Kevin, Ashley, and Eric took him to see the floats on Bowman Field.

Quinn loves his cousins so much. It so fun to watch him try to keep up. They are all so sweet together.

Another beautiful Saturday in the books and another Clemson win too!


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another happily ever after

Last night the hubs and I celebrated our friends Dana and Daniel as they tied the knot. Dana and the hubs have known each other since high school. They dated for a skinny minute and then realized they were better off as best friends.

I really should be ashamed of the picture quality below but I decided to just use my phone for the night. I recorded the entire ceremony instead of taking pictures because I wished someone had recorded my wedding for me. The "pictures" of the ceremony are actually screen shots from paused video on my phone (yay technology!).

Putting on the finishing touches

Spying on her groom

Pre-wedding snack of tequila and chocolate

The hubs was her man of honor

James (Dana's son from her previous marriage) was totally over the picture taking and it really had only begun...sorry bud!

James walked his mama down the aisle and gave her away

They did an Irish handfasting ceremony

There were tons of giggles when the best man handed the preacher Dana's ring still in the little clear baggie ha! Daniel called time-out while he fished out the ring

James' face is just priceless in the background

Happy family

First dance

The groom's cake was just too funny

And of course the bride and groom decided to smash the cake in James' face!

It was a wonderful night honoring their love and commitment to each other. We wish them many years of happiness together! Below is the video of the entire ceremony.

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neil pops the questions

I love love! I also love being a part of my friend's love story, so when Neil came to us with a plan I was so thrilled to be included.

Our friend Neil had decided it was time to pop the question to his girlfriend Megan. He had purchased the ring and decided the when and where. He wanted the hubs and I there, hiding in the bushes, to capture the moment.

It might have been a little weird creeping in the brush trying to find the best angle, but it sure makes for some great pictures and a fun story! Neil took Megan on a tour of Clemson's campus with the end goal being to end up walking down the President's walk. He would tell her the legend of how couples who strolled down the path holding hands were destined to become married and stay together forever.

At the end of the path, and the end of the story, he knelt down and asked her the famous question, "Will you marry me?"

Unfortunately I was positioned where a gazebo was in my way, but the hubs was on the other side. He was able to get some great shots of the actual down-on-one-knee-proposal.

So excited for these two! I can't wait to celebrate and take more pictures on their wedding day.

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happy new year indeed

This year my best friend Shannon and her boyfriend Brian came up from Atlanta to spend the long weekend with us and ring in the new year. I was especially excited for her visit, not just to spend time with her, but also because Brian had a surprise up his sleeve.

He had been calling and texting me the weeks before and he planned on proposing! With a little help from me and the hubs, this is how it all panned out.

I had Shannon help me give Quinn his bath as a distraction while the boys did the set up in the back yard. She thought they were just goofing off together in the garage, but really they were taking strings of Christmas lights and spelling out "will u marry me."

After Quinn was out for the night the boys said they wanted to go play with some fireworks outside before dinner. Totally normal for our two! She didn't suspect anything even when I busted out the video camera.

Brian told Shannon that she needed to set off a bottle rocket, so she complied and held it as it shot off it's 10 different rockets. He told her "ok, one more" and after some fussing, Shannon complied again, but this time as he handed her the lit rocket, he had also slipped her ring around the middle of it.

I wish I had the video edited so I could post it because he reaction was priceless. She started yelling "Oh my God! Oh my God! Brian what are you doing? Oh my God!" Of course the best part was that she had to continue to hold the bottle rocket until it was done shooting off. There were tears and hugs, kisses and smiles, and of course she said yes.

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