May in Review

May started out busy right off the bat! 

Starting the first weekend of May, we were in Lville, for one reason or another, for 6 weekends straight!  (And this started the very next weekend after we traveled to Illinois for Brandon's marathon).  But, I can't complain - we're really getting to do a lot of fun things and see a lot of people in the process.

Weekend of May 4-6, 2012:

Friday May 4, we were those people who had bought tickets to opening night of the movie "The Avengers" in 3D....and it did not disappoint!

Saturday May 5, I drove in to Lville that morning to not only celebrate, but to help be a part of the Surprise for my sweet friend, Gina.  She turned the big 4-0!  (You may remember her from my wedding blogpost).  Gina met me, Jenn and Shannon at my parents place and, thinking it was just a foursome, we really surprised her when we showed up at Lynn's Paradise Cafe to a table full of Gina's friends and her Momma (her Momma even had to lie to her to avoid getting caught!)

 Lynn's is a fun little local place, but has been featured on The Food Network more than once.

Here's everybody at the table (it's a little back-lit)

From Left-Right:

Tiffany, Leslie, Sarah, Tammy, Me, Shannon, Jenn, Gina and Joyce (Gina's Mom)

Opening presents:

This was my meal and it was every bit as delicious as it looks.  My mouth is watering on my keyboard as I type just from thinking of how delicious it was.  I think it was called Bourbon French Toast.  I highly recommend it - but spring for the side of bacon, you'll need the savory to cut the sweet!

Gina, Shannon, Me and Jenn (we have so many of these self-portraits - I have Go-Go-Gadget arms!). Love these girls!!!

And the entire group again, this time outside Lynn's.  This picture is courtesy of Tammy (far right).

The other half of Gina's surprise was that we went to see The Avenger's in 3D!!  Yes, that's how much I love Gina (and The Avenger's) that I would see it twice in as many days!

I think Gina had a GREAT birthday....and although nobody likes turning the big 4-0, I think she did so in style, surrounded by those that love her.

After the surprise party, Brandon and I drove into C-ville to spend the night with his parents.

Sunday, May 6 - Brandon's paternal Mammaw turned 80!!  (and there were a few kiddos who had birthdays around the same time too, so we celebrated all of them!) 

We had a nice family picnic and talked and laughed.

Brandon and his Mammaw (Brandon can do *no* wrong in her eyes!).  And she asks *every* time we see her now if we have a baby on the way yet!  :)  (The answer is no, just for those wondering).  ;)

Weekend of May 11-13, 2012:

Friday May 9 - My cousin, Benjamin, was playing ball nearby again.  This time we didn't have to go to the next county over - this time he was playing right in Lex.

Saturday May 10 - We headed back to the Ville because my cousin, Jamie, was graduating from the Ville! 

L-R: Brandon, Me, My Momma, My Mamaw, My Daddy, Jamie and his parents Uncle Jeff and Aunt Paula

Unfortunately we didn't make it to the actual ceremony, but we go to say Congrats as he left for it.  Weeks before we knew this was Jamie's graduation day, we had bought tickets (with my parents) for the Reds baseball game in Cincy.  Well, then we found out it was Jamie's graduation day.  We came in town with all intentions of going to the ceremony, but due to several locations of closed roads/interstates from construction, it would have been almost impossible to see him actually graduate (walk across the stage) and then still get to Cincy in time for the game.  I was really disappointed that we didn't go.  Jamie has been like a little brother to me.  He's been at all my major life events and celebrated with me.  He's been a friend, not just a cousin.  So, the decision was really hard for me, but he was actually okay with it (he would have chosen baseball over a boring ceremony too he said!)

So after wishing him well, we went to my parents house to change into our Reds gear and then we hit the road, arriving in plenty of time for the game.

The main reason we had chosen this particular day to go, was because it was Joey Votto Bobblehead night!  And my Daddy (aka Pawpaw to his grandkids) was bound & determined to get two of those Bobbleheads - one for each Grandson.  We all got one, which totaled 4, and they were divied out accordingly.  Doesn't he look proud?  My nephew, The Tank, is a HUGE Reds fan and getting this made his day.

Since we were there well before the start of the game, we got to take in batting practice.  We were sitting in left field.  One ball came soaring into the stands a few rows behind us and hit a lady right in her forehead!  My mom is a nurse, so she leapt into action - literally!!  She jumped over chairs and railings to get to the lady.  Mom cared for the lady until the paramedics came.  All-in-all, the lady ended up okay.  She was bummed that she missed most of the game and that her nachos (which we were guarding) were cold when she came back to her seat.  Later, we saw this sign in front of us:

We had *great* seats and really enjoyed the game and being with my parents.

Dad and Brandon were very intent on the game (Brandon has discovered a new love for scoring baseball games and my Dad is a wealth of knowledge in this area), while Mom and I were content walking around and eating ice cream!

We had such a blast!!

Weekend of May 18-20, 2012:


Saturday, May 19:  Guess what?  We traveled back to the Ville!  This time, it was for my cousin Jamie's graduation party.  They did make sure to plan this when we could actually attend though, which I really appreciated.

The party was at the Activities Center of my home church.

I'm not really sure what's going on in this picture, but it makes me laugh.

L-R: Jamie, Mom, Dad, Hubby & Uncle Jeff

Me and Bud (that's what I call him)

These are my cousin Jen's two girls, M & A....they brought these fun racer things.

And they even pushed me and Jen around on them in the adjoining gym where the party was held (those things flew!)

Of course no party with my Dad's family is complete without a little Wiffle Ball action, so we played that in the gym too.

My team lost, but we tried hard

Weekend of May 25-27, 2012:

Friday, May 25:  One year from the Friday of our Rehearsal Dinner (which was May 27 last year - leap year!), we were, yet again, heading back to the Ville.....so we stopped in Sville on the way, where our wedding was!  We hadn't been there since the wedding and it was fun and nostalgic.  I even forcibly made coerced Brandon to dance with me to our wedding song (The Way You Look Tonight) that I played through my phone.  The barn sure looked different on the inside than it did the first time we danced there together, but still sweet and meaningful just the same.

Behind us in this shot is where our ceremony took place.

The reason we were heading to the Ville on this particular weekend was to catch a flight the next day to San Francisco for a week!  We decided to take a fun trip for our anniversary and we both had earned free Southwest flights, so San Fran it was (cause that's about the farthest place we could fly on our free tickets!).

This is us on our One Year anniversary in San Francisco - I even wore my yellow wedding shoes and the shirt I wore the morning of our wedding while I got ready.  Pardon the slight angle to the picture, the camera was propped up on the hotel bed and taken with a timer.

More about our trip to San Fran coming soon.  :)