Happy Anniversary!

Happy anniversary to my parents who are celebrating 33 years of marriage today! I can truly say that my parents are a shining example of what love is and what a healthy, Godly marriage looks like. Thank you guys for loving each other through the good and bad times and for showing me what the institution of marriage is in a culture that forgets so easily! I love you both!!!

Heading to the Lake

I'm heading to the lake today with my mom (the boys are following after tomorrow after their softball game tonight and work tomorrow)! I'm so excited! This is my favorite time of the year. I plan on catching up on lots of reading and spending plenty of time on the water!

See ya in a week!

Mr. and Mrs. Hurst- June 5, 2009

Oh my gosh, the highlight of my summer was Em and Chris' wedding! As I've stated before, Chris is Mark's best friend and obviously E is mine. This wedding was a dream come true for Mark and I because we know how happy our friends are and as we joke, we always have a built-in double date.

I was a little too busy the day before and the day of to take pictures, but I am including some of the pictures from the rehearsal and wedding taken by the photographer, Mary Lashbrook. You can look at her other photos here.

The rehearsal was at Talon and the dinner was supposed to be at Jacobson Park where we'd eat Fazoli's and play wiffle ball. It poured that day, so we moved it all to church and it turned out great! Here's some pics of all of us playing ball.

Glen was the champ when he slid into home!

I was speechless!


The wedding was at Talon and it was the most beautiful day! The clouds looked like cotton candy and there was a cool breeze throughout the ceremony. At one point, this flock of geese flew in V formation over the ceremony and it was just breathtaking looking over the lake. The wedding was so personal and so unique and it's just so obvious how much they love one another! I just absolutely loved it and cried through the entire thing! It was so great to look over and see my amazing husband on the other side and it reminded me what a lucky woman I am to have married such a wonderful man 5 years ago.

I will say that it was unfortunate for Jen as she stood in an ant hill for the entire 40 min ceremony. At one point, I looked over and she had approximately 15 red ants crawling all over her legs and through her toes. Yikes!

Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Hurst

I'm also including a couple videos from the wedding that my brother filmed and edited as the videographer. I'm telling you, he has a gift! So great!

This first video is the beginning of the wedding.

This second video is during the song and the unity art done by Amy Cranfill. You can see the geese about 35 seconds into this video.

Women's Weekend Pt. 3- "I'm on a boat!"

This year, we had to go see the S.S. Paradise before E got married so we loaded up all of our gear the weekend before the wedding and headed out to see our true love. This year, we had Erica join in as the 4th in our Trio (it works) as we took to the open waters!

We did however make a tiny pit stop at the original KFC's Sander's Cafe. We grabbed a full bucket of chicken with all the sides to take onto our vessel. It was delicious, the water was cold but great, and the sun was shining without a cloud in the sky (which means we all lathered on the sunscreen to prevent sunburns or tan lines right before the wedding!).

The Colonel and I spending some quality time together

Me and Erica at the historic landmark sign.

NOTE: Check out how sneaky that little step is that I'm on.

It may or may not have resulted in me falling into the sign.

My favorite girls

Graduation #2

Towards the end of May, Mark and I also planned a trip to see Chris (Mark's best friend and E's now husband) graduate from West Point Academy as a 2nd Lieutenant. The thing is, he had no idea that we were coming to see him. The funny thing is that I can't imagine how we wouldn't know we were coming. We wouldn't have missed it for the world!

The other thing is that we couldn't leave until around 2 PM on Friday because Mark had to work. Keep in mind that the graduation was Saturday morning. If you're not aware of the location of West Point, it's in New York. It's over a 12 hour drive. We got into our hotel between 2 and 3 AM, slept for literally 4 hours, then woke up to drive to the graduation.

After the graduation, which went from about 9 AM-2 PM, we got right back on the road and followed behind Em and Chris all the way home. We got home Sunday morning at 5 AM. If you're keeping track, that's 52 hours with only 9 of which we weren't driving. I can honestly say that I have never been more tired in my entire life.

Was it worth it? ABSOLUTELY!

Would we do it again? IN A HEARTBEAT!

But let's just pray that we NEVER have to do that again!

E and I in the stands-we're such schemers!

(By the way, I cut all my hair off to donate it!)

Chris on the Jumbotron receiving his diploma
(He still doesn't know we're there!)

Mark and I on West Point's campus overlooking the Hudson River.

Absolutely beautiful campus!

Chris and Mark. Best buds!

Me and my 2nd husband

We are so proud of Chris! Congrats 2Lt. Hurst!

The Month of Daniel

So, the month of May was packed with stuff to do and most of the things centered around my brother's accomplisments. This blog does not have the space to express how proud I am of Daniel and how much I love him! He won an award at his Communications banquet at NKU, ran the Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati (unbelievable!), graduated college, and hiked through the state of Connecticut with Mark on the Appalachian Trail.

Truly incredible!

Daniel and I at his awards banquet.

Daniel and Ben at mile marker 14.

The family (minus Mark) with Daniel at the finish line.

Daniel and Mark at graduation

Grandma got to come see Daniel graduate.
I love this picture!

Daniel filmed and edited a trailer of the boys' time on the AT.

I'm not sure why, but my computer cuts part of it off and makes it hard to see all of the words. You can watch it here in full format.

April-Bachelorette Party

No excuse for how lazy I've been, just haven't had time to blog. But I thought I'd highlight the last few months since SO MUCH has happened!

I'll start with E's bachelorette party. I planned a trip to Cincy because it's her favorite city and I centered our trip around a Reds game (because my girl loves her Redlegs). We enjoyed a Reds-Braves game (even though they lost) and a night at Hofbrauhaus and Jefferson Hall for some fine dancing. Here's just a few pics from the night.

Our bride-to-be.

I made the shirt and Erica made the hat.

Allie, Erica, and Em

Jen, Diva B, MJ, and me
taking the bus over to the game

All of us with Mr. Redlegs

Em brought us all gift bags and in them, we each got a gorgeous ring!

Here they are in all their glory. Note that E's shines the brightest!

Grammar PostSecret

Source

I COMPLETELY understand this. Mark calls me a grammar nazi. I believe that I am.

OK, if you know me, you know I have a thing for clocks. I LOVE this clock! You write your appointments down and it erases them throughout the day. Found here.

Happy 4th of July!