Memorial Day 2008

Such a great weekend..... we didn't want it to end! David, the girls, and I drove up to Crossville, TN this past weekend to meet his parents at their timeshare in FairField Glade and spend some relaxing time enjoying nature and spending time together. I don't think we could've done much more in the 3 days we were there.... we swam in the lake, played on the playground, rode horses on a trail for 1 1/2 hours (heaven to me) took naps on the porch in a princess tent, played putt-putt, rode golf carts, fished a little, hung out on a pontoon boat, swam in the pool, roasted hotdogs and made smores .... and had an all-around fantastic time.... except I am paying for all the fun in the sun with a nice rosy back and chest....and a lovely Kameryn handprint on my shoulder where she didn't quite rub the sunscreen in all the way.... ;)

What we've been up to... in no particular order.. :)

playing soccer.....















Flying a kite.....

























Celebrating Kameryn's 9th Birthday...













Getting dressed up for Harding's annual gala dinner...


And now it's crunch time for me..... 1 week left of classes and then the finals....and then....it's over.

To Go Private or Do Away With Completely?

So I've noticed and then someone else brought to my attention the random comments I've been getting from people that have a link that says to "click on." First, DON'T click on them, and second, know that I have no clue who these people are. I don't want to do the whole private blog. I don't think many people read my blog, or if they do they just don't comment, but I the whole private thing just doesn't appeal to me. So do I just quit blogging all together? Or just diligently check the comments and delete the nutty ones? Inquiring minds would like to know. Thanks!

SO sad......

GO TIGERS!!!

Nuff said.....

My New Baby and everything else we've been up to!

Here it is!!! The newest addition to our family! We had just gone a lookin' and they gave us a super deal we couldn't pass up, so on Sunday.....I said goodbye to my gas-guzzling, but very loved Jeep and came home with Sydney Jo the Civic. Yes, that is the name my girls came up with! I absolutely love it. We had read reviews/reports
and had been looking for a while for just the right one, and we really felt that this was what we needed to do.Although a lot smaller in size, the safety features are outstanding and hopefully will never have to be used! The girls love it and hopefully this will save a little bit for our budget here and there.


We've been super busy since the wedding...... we took a weekend trip to New Orleans, had planned a trip to Hot Springs and then had to cancel it, so David took me to Colorado for the weekend!
Just kidding.....we didn't go anywhere, which I was sad about at first, but we had enough snow here in Memphis that was so pretty and SO much fun being goofy in. I didn't have the girls this weekend, but we still got out there and played in the snow like we were little kids!
Here's some of the pics from New Orleans..we are hopefully getting away for the weekend sometime soon!






Hilarious pic of Kameryn during the tornadoes!



At dinner at Emeril's






In front of our Hotel in New Orleans. I can't wait to go back!

Trips and such

Hi! So I really stink at updating this thing. Here's why..... all my wedding pictures are at home on discs. I tried the other morning to hurriedly pull some off onto my zip drive and for some reason it said the zip drive was full. I haven't had time to do a post at home, because I've had 2 major tests, and I start studying as soon as the girlies go to bed. So I have more time at work (horrible...I know) to post new blogs. I'm working on it I promise! We've got pics from New Orleans and hopefully Hot Springs which I will add soon- until then....

My Fairytale

There are 200+ more pictures that we have on CD's, but these are some of the really good ones. It was a day filled with more love, laughter, family and friends than I could have imagined. The ones of you who weren't there, you were missed. Truly. We are so happy as our new little family! David is an incredible husband, and a wonderful "father" to those girls. Thank you for everyone who helped make this day possible and for the prayers, the wonderful unexpected gifts, and friendship we have with you.I will write more later. Love you all!

Stories and more stories

I know it's been forever and I'm so sorry! I don't have pics or anything from the wedding to post yet, I haven't gotten in touch with people and thanked them for the wonderful gifts they have given David and I (Les and Deeder to name 2!) but I'm working on it I promise! All I can say about this past weekend was that it was amazing and wonderful and far exceeded my expectations. It was a day I will never forget. Can't wait to share some pictures when I get them. You guys are the best!

Merry Christmas from the Johnson/Joachim family

I know it's been forever and I'm sorry for that! We've done so many fun things, Thanksgiving in Nashville with my aunt and uncle, my 30th birthday!,christmas programs, visit to see baby Caleb and Jen and Eric and so much more along with planning our wedding which will be in 5 weeks and 7 hours!! I promise to post more but wanted to say Merry Christmas from all of us and we love you all!

Am I Crazy?

Ok, so I've been getting these really weird surprised looks from people when they find out how soon David and I are getting married. Seriously? January 19th is over 3 months from the time we got engaged. That just doesn't seem so short to me. I've heard of a lot shorter that's for sure. And it's not like David and I just met either. Secondly, are we crazy for not just going off somewhere and getting married by ourselves? Am I crazy for thinking that our close friends and possibly some family might ACTUALLY come to this? Am I crazy for booking a chapel and having a reception instead of doing it in someone's home or backyard? Am I crazy?? Because I feel like some people think I am. For planning all this and wanting to do this. But is it wrong? Should we just elope and be done with it? Sometimes I just just wish people could be happy for you..... ya know? But am I crazy?

Engagement Pictures

So David and I both agreed to the fact that one thing we really want during the whole engagement/wedding process is good pictures that we both love. SO, with that being said, we hired a photographer to do the wedding, then come to find out that she wants to do engagement and bridal pictures too, at no extra price! Well, that works perfectly because we were wanting a really good shot of both of us to put on our save the date cards, which we are doing in place of invitations. I know, probably not the proper way, but neither one of us wanted a formal wedding, so why do formal invites ya know? These are more fun anyways! Plus, with no more people than we are having.... these are just a fun way of getting our lovely faces out there (yeah right)! So anyways, we had our engagement pictures done last Friday and couldn't be happier! So here are a few of our favorites. We haven't picked out the one for the Save The Date card yet.....





Here's a picture of Chloe that the photographer took. Since she'd come home early with the tooth fiasco,she got to come with us! I thought it was pretty cute!

919th Way To Get Out Of School

Here she is..... my little snaggle-tooth!!!! Her first tooth to come out.... and all the drama that went with it.....earned her a get-out-of-school-early-pass!

All of the blood and excitement made her sick. LITERALLY. So she got to come home at lunch and couldn't be happier! Oh the drama...:)

The Story You've All Been Waiting For....

Well,as of right now... David and I have been together for 15 months and 12 days-- and time has flown, yet I feel like we've known each other for decades. Which, technically, we have! Here's one of the first pics David and I had taken together...back in 1995. We've got pics back from '93, but they are group shots, and he was always sitting beside his girlfriend! ;)
I have one framed at my house from that summer ('95) that I just love! So anyways.... you might be wondering WHY I have these pics.....Well, I've known David since 1989,but it wasn't until he started working with the youth group at church did he and I start to be friends. We always had fun together, and even though he doesn't believe me.... I always had a slight crush.... :)
But the years took us down our own separate roads and our own experiences until 2006. With God's hand and a little dream.... our paths crossed once again and ever since then....we've been inseparable. He's my best friend. He makes me laugh. He loves God. He makes me feel more special than I ever have, and we have so much fun together. And another plus that melts my heart each time I think about it and see it.... he loves my girls like his own. And that is the most precious thing I have gotten to watch grow. I have watched them slowly fall in love with each other, to trust each other, and to laugh together. We have learned to be like and to love like family, and soon, it will be official. We WILL be a family.

He is an amazing man and I don't feel like I deserve him at all, but I'll take him! Ok, so back to Disney.....you already have the timeline of everything we did and on what days....so back to Saturday...we had gone back to Epcot, visited all the countries... rode some rides.... and then decided to go visit some Disney Resorts.
Us in Epcot

Neither of us had ever stayed in one, but had friends that had, and had told us to go by and walk through one of them. They are incredible. They are over-the-top in true Disney fashion.... and they come with the true Disney pricetag!!! But we wanted to see what we one day hope to be able to do when we vacation, so we headed to the Wilderness Lodge. After hanging out in the lobby for a while and walking around the resort, we decided to head over to the Grand Floridian Resort...the one you pass as you take the boat over to Magic Kingdom... Well, so right beside that resort is the Disney Wedding Chapel. We jokingly pulled into that parking lot and got out and walked up to it, just to see the spectacular-disney-ness of the chapel, but there was a wedding going on soon. So I wanted to stand around and wait for the bride- (I swear I should be a wedding planner-I'm such a sucker for this kind of thing!)so we walked down to the beach and took some pics. Not long after a Cinderella carriage pulled by 5 little white horses and driven by little men all dressed up, pulls up with the bride and her mother!!!
Well, so me being the goofy girl that I am, get all giddy and jump up and down, like it's MY carriage and MY wedding day. So he laughs at me and we head next door to the Floridian Resort.... gorgeous by the way! We eat lunch at the outdoor cafe and talk about our week. And at some point I ask him if we're gonna make it. He gave me a funny look and asked what I meant. I told him that I'd always heard one way to tell if you're cut out for each other is to go on vacation with the whole family.Well, that included MY 2 children this time around. He smiled and asked what I thought. I had already thought about it and figured that if he had survived a week with me and my girls, AND my parents on vacation, and still loved me, then we'd be fine! So we get up and go over to a little alcove off the beach and sit down at that table to chat some more I'm assuming ( now I know why!). We'd been sitting there for a few minutes... and he starts talking about how we'd all survived a week together, he'd taken me around the world (Epcot) and loved me more than ever. Then he pulled out the ring, got down on one knee, and asked me to marry him. My reponse..."Are you serious?" Followed by squeals and yes's!! Me shortly after getting my ring!

He had the ring all week and had about a dozen ways he was going to do it! But that at that moment, he said he didn't want to wait anymore!! Fast forward to a few hours later...
David wanted to get my mom and the girls rings so he could could "ask" them too! So we went back to Epcot and got them little mickey mouse shaped rings. He asked them that night and everyone was super excited! The only person that knew before me was my daddy, who had graciously given David the OK that morning by telling David he'd never be on time again in his life! :)
So here we are today.... planning a wedding, planning a new life together, and I couldn't be happier!
Me with my Mickey-Bride ears on!!!!!!!!!

Wedding details to be posted soon! Thank you to everyone who has sent e-cards, and best wishes, and everything else. You are wonderful and I love you all!

Disney

So it's been almost 3 weeks and I haven't even blogged about Disney. I think it's taken me that long to re-coup, and get back on track. First of all, our trip was Incredible! We had a blast! We were there Monday thru Sunday. And the next time I go to Disney, it will be for at least 10 days. That way you can hit the parks one day, and then rest the next and get ready for the day after. There is just too much stuff to do in a week's time.


It was super hot- Memphis weather with double the humidity, and I think that had a lot to do with our energy levels. BUT we made the best of it and hit the ground running every chance we got!!


We did Animal Kingdom the first day. Magic Kingdom the second(still my favorite), MGM the third day,with naps in the middle of that day so we could head BACK to Magic Kingdom that night for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, which was my favorite part- AND we shut down the park around 12:15 in the morning. We didn't get back to the place until after 1am, and weren't asleep until almost 2! We did sleep in a little and then went to Epcot that day (Friday).

Dancing on Main Street before the parade!


Us with Snow White and the Dwarfs during Mickey's Halloween Party

Me and David at Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party...

Girls with Cinderella's Mice!


Chloe and I on her favorite ride...SPLASH MOUNTAIN!!!!!

Mom and Kam

Girls with Belle...

Chloe's favorite princess she met.... Ariel!

Like mother...Like daughter...

Saturday was our last official full day there, and Mom and Dad took the girls to SeaWorld. David and I went back to Epcot and looked in some stores and rode some stuff we didn't get to do before then. We met back up with everyone later that night and went and played minature golf. Then back to the condo to pack up. We went swimming at the pool the next morning before we left and then off to the airport! I could've stayed at least 3 or 4 more days!

Girls playing at the pool...see the water slide in the background...SO FUN! Even for the grown-ups! :)

Love this pic of my parents... they are so cute!

It's coming!!!

It's coming ya'll. I promise!!! I will post the whole engagement story, with pics and everything soon!

If I Make It.....

So David and I are having to fly down 10 hours later to Orlando, not because of work, but because of my classes! I have a test in one of my classes that if I survive,will put me on that plane in a complete vegetative state. As if getting ready for a trip isn't enough.... but I am done complaining b/c I'm so so excited about Disney! It's just the past 2 nights.... I have dreamed about this test. Yes, I have actually had nightmares about not getting there in time, not knowing it, or knowing and forgetting, and it's not boding well for my fingernails, or my attitude.As stated in the previous post....I'm a last minute girl. I was late to my own wedding.... which might have been a sign, but that's a totally different post! But that's the way I am with studying. I am a crammer. But with this test....I just don't think that's possible.So....that means I have to prepare to study. Prepare my notes to prepare to study.Prepare myself to study my prepared notes, so I can study.....and that's something I'm just not used to preparing for!

In the Pink....

Yep, this is the luggage me and the girls will be sporting to Disney! And can I say that I'm loving the color, simply b/c it totally suits us,PLUS, how easy is it gonna be to spot these suckers on the luggage carousel??? That is....if the airline doesn't lose them, in which case I think I would cry. But anyways, the girls are packed, much to my dismay. There is something about packing last minute,in a hurry that I absolutely love. Maybe it goes along with the fact that I HATE being early. Being on-time.... isn't my forte either. I just love the drama of rushing around...throwing it all together in a frenzy. I know, I'm weird. But parents are going to, and my MOTHER insists on going through the girl's things and making sure I haven't over-packed, which i always do, but hey, I've never run out of anything! So the girls are packed.Ugh. Where's the fun in that? I on the other hand, am NOT packed and will not do so until probably Sunday evening. Even that's early for me.Am I weird?

We had a great Labor Day weekend! We didn't do as much stuff as we thought we might, but that was ok.Sometimes it's just nice to hang out at home and play games!We did hit a RedBird's game on Sunday night though. Chloe's first baseball game! She had a blast! Kameryn did for a while, and then she was done and ready to leave.I think
Chloe would've stayed the whole time. Maybe next time we'll stick it out till the end. I had forgotten how much I love going to baseball games!







Chloe chowing down on a hotdog at the RedBirds Game!









GO RedBirds!










What do you think is going through Chloe's head?!?!





Kam was so DONE with the baseball game!

Back to School Take 2

Ok, so here's the official 1st day of school pic, with backpacks, lunch boxes and all!! The girls were so ready to go! They have survived their first week and I even let them both out at car line yesterday morning b/c they wanted to walk to their classrooms ALL by themselves. They are growing up so fast!


Ok, so they weren't the only ones heading back to school this past week. I too started my classes! Yes, I know this will be my 12TH year in college, and that's so sad to me, but I'm so close. This semester is gonna be my hardest yet. And then I'll wrap everything up in the spring and finally be done!! I'm not gonna know what it's like to NOT be in school. I will get there though. I have to do this.This picture is of my sweet Louie.... supporting me during my study time.He just couldn't take the pressure anymore!! Pretty sad huh?


I just threw this pic in because I love it. My boys. Aren't they the cutest?!?!
37 days...... that's how long before we board a plane and head to DisneyWorld!!!! WHOOO HOOO!! I can't wait! Haven't been there since my senior trip in High School. Les, remember that one?!??! Hope everyone has a great Labor Day! We've got a busy weekend ahead... I'll post pics soon!