It’s been our yearly girl’s tradition to participate in Southwood’s Brest Cancer Walk.
This year was no different! It was a glorious walk and the weather was absolutely beautiful.
Me, Mrs. Sissy, Brody, Savannah & Renee.
And we’re off!
That’s a lot of people!
Brody appears to be saying, “Faster Aunt Tam!”
Love it. Can’t wait til next year ladies!
Just a little bit of spooky décor to get into the Holiday spirit!
Still love my Ikea frame turned chalkboard! And I tried a white pumpkin this year.
I bought 6 $0.99 Ikea Tolsby frames on our last trip. I intended to chalk board them and use them to write the names of food for get togethers.
Well, I finally put the chalkboard vinyl on them that I bought months ago.
That stuff is awesome by the way!
PS - the tip to getting smooth and vibrant chalk writing is to wet the chalk first. It’ll go on hardly there but when it dries it’s stark white and smooth!
They turned out SO cute! I decided they’d serve several purposes as well as holiday decoration pieces.
And I can always turn them around and use the blank side to slip cute papers in.
Like these! They can be spray painted too. I want at least a hundred more!
Anywho, that’s it. Not going too far out on the décor this year. But I absolutely can’t wait until Holiday decorating at the new house!
Well, I did it. It’s over, and I survived. I was not nearly as prepared as I’d have hoped to be. But I made it through!
Renee, Brittney and I ran the Trick or Trot 5k this past Friday. It was Renee and I’s first!
I was third place out of my group of three, but I did much better than I thought. I never did finish Couch to 5K. Only made it through week 7 of 9. And I haven’t run in several weeks.
So when I finished up the 3.1 miles in exactly 37 minutes, I was thrilled! Renee and Brittney came in at 34 mins + some seconds so to be only three minutes behind when these girls have been kicking that 3.1 miles butt in practice before hand, I was ecstatic!
Before.
And we’re off!!
Yay I did it!!
It.was.tough.
I ran 1.5 miles without stopping and then had to walk for a minute. From there I still mostly ran but had to stop for a few walk breaks. I know. I’m disappointed too.
We rocked it!
Renee, Erin, Me, Caitlin.
I hope to do another one in the near future. I just have to stick to that training schedule and maybe I’ll be able to run the whole time!
I got to finally go to a Halloween Party this year! I searched high and low for the perfect outfit and seriously loved dressing up.
I was far from one of the sexy costumes, but that’s just not me.
Nope.
This is totally me.
I was trying to be the Wicked Witch of the West/Elphaba.
I don’t quite look like her and my green color was way off, but I was still witchin’.
And Mom, you’re right. She did wear her hair in a bun. I’m sorry I thought you were wrong. 
The transformation.
The witch and her football player.
David.
Yes, I actually shaved my brother’s hair like that for his detective costume!
Applying my Dad’s “burns”.
Ouch!
The Firewoman and her Burn Victim.
My Dad is the real firefighter in the family!
The Gray family.
Witch shoes.
And now for some blurry pictures stolen from Mom’s Facebook.
Hubba hubba <3
I’ll be wearing the costume to pass out candy on Wednesday sans the green paint. That stuff was not fun getting off but it was so worth it!
Happy (almost) Halloween!
…and we got married! Tuesday!
Although it wasn’t in a chapel. Just a little badly lit room at the Clerk of Courts surrounded by our parents and our photographer.
Short and sweet.
And very fast. Talk about wham, bam thank you ma’am! That lady has done a weddin’ or two before.
We’d been going back and forth for a while now on when we wanted to get married. Since we got engaged, we thought we’d wait until we bought a house to make it official. Well, since we are building a house and it will be ready in a few months, we decided to go ahead and do it! We bought our rings a few weeks ago and got our marriage license. Then we randomly decided on a date when my Dad would be off work so the parental sets could attend, and that was it!
October 23, 2012. 3:00 on a Tuesday at the Clerk of Courts. Done.
We decided that even though it’s our second wedding (to each other mind you) we didn’t want to spend any more money than we had to. At first I simply ruled out the “frills” but once it started becoming real that we really would be getting married soon, I decided our second wedding still deserved professional pictures and a pretty new dress for me. It’s not like this is any less special than our last, just that the frills were not needed. Been there, done that. I searched high and low for a white dress just like the one I wore, but I had no luck with “the one”. So red it was! I figured I didn’t have to stick to tradition the second time around ;-).
These were delivered to my house early in the day. My parents are the best 
So my good friend Brett Svenson who shot our first wedding, was able to take pictures of the ceremony and after shots for us. We did a few downtown but I really wanted to get most of them at the place I do a lot of client shoots at. For the “Fall Feel”. I just love love love them! Brett did a fabulous job, as always! Oh and I’m pretty spoiled too for next day turnaround on the pics! Which is good for my impatient self!
Our parents <3
Take two!
Always carry chalk. You never know when you’ll want to use it on a random brick wall!
Poor guy. I’m not exactly what you’d call frail/lightweight (obviously, look at the donk…yikes). I’m sure his back is hurting today! But those two shots are some of my favorites.
We tied the knot!
LOVE this one.
And this one.
via Brett Svenson/Svenson Images
(I made some black and white. Love love love B&W!)
After the ceremony and pictures we went to a relaxing casual dinner with our parents and my Grandma at the Salty Dawg. One of our favorites. My brother was working or else he’d have been there and my SIL and her hubby live too far away to attend.
Mr. & Mrs. James <3
Official in-laws again! Yay!
Momma love!
Daddy love!
When we got home, this balloon, flowers and card was waiting for us from my sweet neighbors. So nice of them!
It was a perfect day for us and we couldn’t be happier. We are so very blessed. Thank you to everyone SO much who has been there for us for the ups and downs!
Here’s to lots of happiness (and babies
