Best week of the year

Sorry for the hiatus from blogging last week...I was too busy having fun at Fripp Island. 

I'm pretty sure that Fripp week is my favorite week of the year. I always look forward to it, and every year I say that I wish we could stay for another week or two. Fripp Island is not your typical beach vacation. It's like a secret getaway that not very many people know about (and I'm letting the secret out!). It's not usually very crowded, you don't have to sit in traffic, and you have to drive for 30 or 40 minutes to get to the nearest grocery store. You get to see deer, alligators, dolphins, crabs, and all sorts of other wildlife while you're there. It's not unusual for a deer to eat a carrot straight out of your hand. Riding around the island on a golf cart is pretty much protocol. THE BEST seafood restaurant ever is only a short drive away. It's just a special week with an awesome family. Maybe one day we can retire there...that would be amazing!

Here are some pictures from the week:

I have the best dad ever!

Father's Day 2011

Before kayaking on Monday

Mom lost her favorite hat during the adventure :(

The girls with Aunt Gale

About to begin!

Out in the water

Travis relaxing by the pool

love this house!

Travis and Rob feeding deer

Out on the golf cart

Pretty sunset

Daddy "deer-est" ---he was secretly eating the carrots we were supposed to be feeding to the deer...haha

The deer feeding crew on Friday night

Love me some Frogmore Stew!!!!!

playing a fun game of Balderdash

dinner at Dockside

supper at the house one night

beach!

feeding the deer

sisters :)

Mom wanted to pose with the menu :)

before dinner at Dockside

I'm already ready to go back!!!

This weekend we are going to the lake house for the 4th of July with my parents. Travis has Friday and Monday off, and I have Monday off, so we'll go Friday night and stay through Monday. Should be a fun weekend! 

Yesterday marked ONE month to go until Alisha and Tyler get married. I can't believe it's gotten here so fast!!! I'm pretty sure the month of July is about to go by in a blur, but it should be a lot of fun :)

Next up on the list of house projects is getting the garage organized and cleaned out so we can both park inside. Travis has been parking in it most of the time since his A/C went out, but it'll be nice for both of our cars to fit. After that, we need to finish hanging pictures on the walls, and after that...who knows! There's always something to do around here! :)

Hope you are having a fantastic week! 

Ready for a vacation!

We are leaving this weekend for Fripp Island, and I absolutely cannot wait. It will be so nice to have a break from work, house projects, and other commitments for a week! 

I was hoping after I made it through the weekend of the lingerie shower, bridal tea, and Travis's birthday that things would slow down a little bit, but they really didn't too much. Friday night, we had a get-together at Gena's to help Alisha get some wedding-related stuff done. It was a lot of fun! We ate some yummy food and got a lot of programs (mostly) finished! 

Hard at work but having fun :)

One end of the table

Me

Katie "fanning" herself with a program..haha

Saturday, we spent most of the day working on installing our new garage door opener. I was pretty nervous about it because (a) neither of us had done that before and (b) the instruction manual was like 40 or 50 pages long. Never good. We made some good progress on Saturday, but didn't get finished. We finished the night by eating supper at Outback (sort of a late birthday celebration for Travis) and then (*old married couple alert*) going grocery shopping at Publix. It was almost like old times back in Tuscaloosa when Travis used to go to the store with me and push the buggy while I picked out items and handed him the coupons...haha :)

Sunday was a busy day with church, lunch at Baugay's, and helping various family members (we got a lot of wedding invitations addressed!) :)

On Monday, I worked 12 hours, which I usually never do anymore. I am usually an 8 hour girl, but I volunteered to come in early because we were going to be short staffed in the morning. Remind me never to do that again..haha. I was SO TIRED by the time I got home. Then we worked on the garage door opener that night and finally got it finished Tuesday night after I got home from work. It was a great feeling to push the button on the wall and watch it open the door :) I have to say I was a little nervous before we tested it out that the whole thing would either crash to the ground or blow up in smoke. Luckily, neither of those things happened!

Good thing he got a ladder for his birthday, or we would have been in trouble :)

My very own handyman!

Today flew by in a whirlwind. I had to get some bloodwork drawn this morning, so I went to do that first thing since I couldn't eat before I went. Then I had to drink this nasty sugary Gatorade stuff and come back in 2 hours for more bloodwork. Bleh. In between vampire blood-sucking sessions, I went to CVS where I got a razor and a 12 pack of Pepsis for 32 cents...whoop whoop! I also got deodorant and eye liner for $2.36 in my second transaction. I was pretty happy! I also fed Toby and watered the plants at Cheryl's since she, Emily, and Melissa are camp, went shopping at Kohl's and Target, worked out at the gym, and went to the Republican Women's lunch with Baugay to hear my uncle Gary speak. He did a great job! He talked about what's been happening in the state legislature recently, and it made me realize that I really am not very informed about politics and current events at all. I need to do better at keeping up in the future. 

Tomorrow I have another doctor's appointment in the morning followed by (hopefully) cleaning the whole house and making cookies to take to Fripp. Then, Friday I'm working and we've got a graduation party to go to that night. We'll probably be packing at midnight Friday night, but oh well! It's fun to be busy, but it'll also be a nice change to be a bum for a few days. Hope you're having a great evening!

The busiest, craziest, most jam-packed, fun, and exhausting weekend ever

I am still recovering from this past weekend. I have slept 9 or 10 hours every night since Sunday night, and I am still tired. Who knew that you could pack that much fun into one weekend?? 

I'll recap in words and then pictures. It's probably going to be a ton of pictures, so if your computer crashes, I apologize in advance :)

Thursday: Thursday was cleaning day at the Grant house. I cleaned all day to get ready for the lingerie shower Saturday night since I wouldn't have time Friday to do it. Then, Thursday night, Travis and I went to the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner for Matt and Maggie's wedding. It was fun but hot outside! The dinner was at Luvici's in Athens, and the food was awesome! I'd never eaten there before, but we'll definitely have to go back. 

Friday: Woke up at 4:30 AM for work (not so much fun after being out after 10 PM the night before), and worked until 2 PM. I raced home and we got ready to leave for the wedding. I ended up being ready before Travis because he underestimated how long it would take to put on his fancy tux (it had suspenders and a handkerchief and everything!)...haha. We got to Founder's Hall where the wedding was only a few minutes after 4 PM when we were supposed to be there. The wedding was beautiful, and of course, Maggie was too! It was hot when they were out taking pictures, but by 7 PM, it had cooled off a good bit. The reception was fun, and we had a great time. I'd say it was one of the most fun weddings I've been to. 

Saturday: Got up early to start getting ready for Alisha's lingerie shower at our house. Emily Smith and Emily Grant came over to help, and we spent the day cooking, organizing, decorating, and having fun. We got it all done just in time for the guests to arrive at 6:30 PM. Even though we'd never made most of the recipes, they all turned out good! We had fun playing games and watching Alisha open her gifts, and we took a ton of pictures. I finally let Travis come home around midnight when the last of the girls left, and we were up til after 1 PM cleaning and getting the house back to normal. Whew!

Sunday: Sunday we went to church, and then it was time to celebrate Travis's 25th birthday. It was a rushed birthday lunch, though, because we had to get to Mrs. Bev's for Alisha's bridal tea by 1 PM. I feel bad that Travis's birthday got overshadowed, so I think we'll have to celebrate this weekend or something :) Your 25th birthday is a big one, and it deserves some attention! Alisha's bridal tea was fun, and she got a ton of stuff. I think she must have gotten at least 10 sets of her dishes, and a lot of other stuff too. By the time Sunday night rolled around, I pretty much was ready to collapse though. Maybe one of these days I'll recover from all of that fun!

Ok, whew. Now I'll post some pictures. If I posted every picture from the weekend, it would be almost 200, so I won't do that to you. But here are some of the best :)

Some of the guys at the rehearsal for Matt and Maggie's wedding

Maggie and Mrs. Angela observing :)

Matt and his stand-in bride for the night

Matt and Travis at Luvici's

Collier, Matt, and Travis

The wedding party...I loved the bridesmaids dresses!

Apparently, something was funny :)

Close-up of the guys

Tried to catch them all jumping, but I didn't do so good. Check out Travis with his hands in the air though! :)

Matt Watson being goofy

Collier and Travis

We've missed you, Matt Watson!

Me and my handsome groomsman

Matt with his sister, Amanda -- she looked beautiful!

Travis and Matt

Groom's cake

Loved these napkins!

Bride's cake

The bell ringers were the cutest things ever! They walked up the aisle ringing their bells and saying, "The bride is coming! The bride is coming!"

Here comes the bride!

Saying their vows

Travis and Jonathan Caldwell

Matt and Travis again

Us with the bride and groom....I'm sad this one's a little blurry

The get-away car

Little did they know Colby was hiding the backseat under a bunch of balloons!!!!

 

Found this sign at Party City...I thought it turned out really cute!

Emily cutting a watermelon for our watermelon bowl

The cake!!!

Cake and punch table

The lingerie banner that Emily made---turned out great!

Decorations

More decorations

Food!

Lots of food!

The bride-to-be! :)

Emily serving punch

All of Alisha's gifts

Time to open gifts!

Alisha with her cake

One of my favorite pictures from the night!

This is why Travis is the best husband ever. He came home after the shower and helped load up Alisha's and Emily's cars, and then he helped me wash dishes! I am so lucky :)

Before Travis's birthday lunch

Sad that this one turned out blurry too! :(

Alisha and all of her bridesmaids at the tea on Sunday

Alisha!

Opening lots of gifts

Cousin love - Emily and Aubrey

Some of the gifts

More gifts

Alisha and her cousin Reagan --so sweet

Baugay gave Alisha a quilt that Grandmother Smith made :)

Pretty girls :)

Ok, that is not nearly all of the pictures, but I think it's enough to show how much fun we had this weekend. The rest of this summer is going to fly by I'm sure, but maybe we'll catch our breath by the time August gets here :)

This weekend, Alisha has another party Friday night that I'm going to, and then Saturday Travis and I are going to hopefully install our new garage door opener. Looking forward to parking in the garage again...especially since it's getting so hot outside. 

Oh and by the way, you can refer to me now as the "Coupon Kid." I got that nickname at Publix yesterday when an older man passed me in the aisle and saw my big pink coupon binder. Haha :)

Fripp Island is in less than 2 weeks...can't wait for a little R&R :)

Hope you're having a fabulous week and enjoying the sunshine!!