Monday, September 27, 2010

Going to the Chapel

My best friend is getting married!! On May 14th, 2011, my best friend Courtney Spears will become Mrs. Courtney Reedy!

I could not be more excited for Brandon and Courtney and we are looking forward to this amazing year leading up to their wedding! Courtney was my Maid of Honor this summer and I am so honored to be her Matron of Honor next summer!

Courtney and Brandon live in Memphis where they are finishing their last year of law school. So we could not be farther away from eachother in the state of TN if we tried!! We are really trying to work on this distance thing for the next stage in our lives. But this weekend I was able to travel to Memphis where we went to Arkansas to Low's Bridal!! Talk about serious wedding wonderland! It is this goregous old, huge house that is full of wedding dresses!! We had the best time and she found the MOST gorgeous dress!!! Brandon isn't going to know what to do with himself!! We had the best time catching up like old times! I truly cherish our friendship and I am so glad that Brandon is going to be part of our family!!

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Good Ole Rocky Top!

Football season is officially here! The weekend of the Tennessee vs. Florida game we had the wonderful privilege of continuing our tradition with my sister-in-law Lauren, her husband Neal, and the Rodgers! Everyone arrived Friday afternoon to kick-off a fun filled weekend! We enjoyed a delicious dinner with great company at Chesapeake's with Neal's parents. It was so good and the key lime pie...amazing!! As always game day mornings come early! We loaded up the cars and coolers and headed to campus for a day full of good food, corn hole, and seeing friends that we haven't seen in a while!! We set up our tailgate in front of the Sigma Chi house with our neighbors Kyle & Kristyn and Christina & Adam. Oh how we miss that house!


Even though the game was well, not that good and it might have quite possibly been the hottest day of my life we had the best time!! I just love how Saturdays in Knoxville bring everyone together!! It's just something about the sea of orange and Rocky Top being sung all day that makes you smile!!

Friday, September 10, 2010

Lake Living

After a wonderful weekend in Louisville, KY, we ventured back home to East TN to spend a relaxing Labor Day on the lake with our good friends Tyler & Whitney and their girls, Kyle & Kristyn, and Jad & Jenn and their kids. And you know Nathan just the mention of going on the lake is like offering to take a kid to Disney! Tyler and Whitney invited us up to their "House Boat" on Norris to spend the day with their precious girls wake surfing and playing in the water! If you are like me though you imagine a house boat being this huge boat with a motor that people take out on the lake for the weekend. However that is not the type of house boats unique to Norris in East TN. They are literally houses on docks that are tethered in place with electricity and city water!! If you ask me this is the perfect lake living!!!

We played in the water with the kids jumping off the deck, flipping over the noodles, and laughing as all we heard was "do it again Nate!!" from the kids!! It was so cute!! We then went out for some wake surfing! This was so fun to watch as you are literally surfing the wake behind the boat without a rope! I was quite impressed with Whitney's skills as she can also get up with her little girl on the board too! I was the last to go but managed to get up and on the wake but a little hesitant to let go of the rope. I'll get 'em next year!



We had such a wonderful time and we are so thankful for these awesome relationships we have created here in Knoxville!! I know there will be many more memories to come!!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

The Big Day

Well I think that Nathan may have discovered a new hobby... TRIATHLONS!! This weekend was the Tri for Sight Triathlon in Lexington, KY. After the wedding, Nathan and Andy Wicke decided that this was something they wanted to accomplish. Therefore training began! Nathan has been working so hard running, biking, and swimming along with making sure he had all of the right triathlon toys such as goggles, swim cap, the right jersey, gel packs, and the list continues!! However the big weekend had finally arrived. We headed out of town Friday afternoon to meet Andy and Emily in Louisville. The boys rode their bikes and made a last minute run to the triathlon store while the girls shopped, which is what we train for! Ha! Emily and I laughed that we are so thankful that we didn't have to train everyday to come see each other!! Maybe one day! We met one of Andy's friends from dental school named Aaron and loaded up the cars with the bikes, transition bags, and water bottles at 4:30 am!! Yes 4:30 am!! I think the boys were nervous yet excited about what they were about to conquer!


As we arrived at the site it was still dark but they could tell it was going to be a gorgeous day! They took their bikes to the transition site which is where everyone lines their bikes and gear up based upon their race number. The first event is the swim which is an 800 meter swim. The pool was across the street and all they could take with them was their swim cap and goggles. Therefore they had to run back to the transition site to prepare for the bike ride barefoot!! How manly!! We were able to watch them swim and then we headed to the transition site to watch as they took off on their bikes for 18.5 miles! During their bike ride we were able to see that Emily and I were clearly amateur triathlon wives! There were women with chairs, books and coolers as we sat on the pavement starving! We will be better prepared next time for sure!


After the bike ride they came back through the transition site to drop their bikes off and start their 4 mile run to the finish line. We anxiously waited at the line for them and before we knew it we spotted Nathan coming around the corner to finish at 1:53:00 which put him at 8th in his age division!! His goal was to finish under 2 hours and he did it!! Shortly after Emily said "oh here comes Andy but he has his shirt off" so I started taking pictures of who we thought was Andy only to find out that I took some great pictures of some complete stranger! But luckily I was at the finish line because we looked up and the real Andy was coming through the line!! We were so proud of them!! They really accomplished something great and I know it is only the first of many more to come!!