Happy Halloween

                                Happy Halloween from my little witch, spiderman and Snake Eyes!

 I really enjoy halloween and try to get the kids to all the fall festivals and activities I can. Some of you may disagree but I don't teach them any of the "evil" that is associated with the holiday and allow them to just enjoy dressing up and getting candy (for me to end up consuming)!!

Ray's family is the greatest family in the whole world, they always plan large family events and Halloween always proves to be great! This year, they decided to set up a small carnival theme and let the kids play games along with our traditional chili dinner and pumpkin carving contest.

We also went to the fall festival at mamaw's church.

Then, we trick or treated on Halloween to wrap up a couple weekends of Halloween festivities.

Holy Geez Colton is 3!!!

I cannot believe that my BABY boy is 3!! Oh, how time flies!! Well, Colton and I decided to go and pick out his birthday decorations and he initially wanted a 'Team Umi Zoomy' birthday party and then he wanted a 'Harley' party but finally he choose 'Batman'. SO we bought everything he picked and prepared for a small family get together.
Colton is passionate about motorcycles! He loves real ones, toy ones any kind of motorcycle and Ray wanted to get him a motorcycle for his birthday. After realizing he couldn't have a 'razor' motorcycle because it wasn't age appropriate we opted for a four wheeler or as Colton says "fo-wheewher".

He loved his chainsaw

And goody bags to go

Colton is your typical little boy and strives to be just like Ray and is pretty much a mini-me of Ray! He got tools and trucks for his party and LOVED every second of it!!!

Its Fall Ya'll

Well its been a good fall already, good weather and mom has mended from being so sick for over a month! Fall is my favorite season by far and I love to do family activities during this time of the year! We are still going to Ray's games on weekends and with us working we decided to go have a family fun day at Maple Lane Farms in Greenback with the kids and it proved to be a fun time!

We got icees, went through the monkey maze, rode the train, played on the inflatables and of course got some punkins!

                                                   Yes, he is peeing in the maze

Semi Pro Football Season 2010

 Semi Pro Football Season, kicks off 9 years of Ray playing semi pro football (one year longer than anticipated) After, 2 Championships, 9 all-star teams, All-American linebacker and a ring, I presumed that we (Ray) would have hang it up!!

 However, I absolutely LOVE football and I am Ray's biggest fan! I have only missed 3 games in 9 years, and i was either sick dying or dead, if that tells you anything!? This season we have lost several of our starters from last year and this year has been a rebuilding year, thus making it a hard season to follow...
Moreover, we are in playoffs and of course I am hoping for another championship and a glorious retirement! We better not have a Bret Favre on our hands!!! HA!
                                                  this is one of the pics from back in the day

The coach made the choice to pull the team from the playoffs due to "lack of player commitment".

Moreover, Ray played in another All-Star game and his division won. The game was freezing and we took our kids to it to see daddy play and lets just say they had to leave at half time.

AND He has still yet to RETIRE!!

An August for the books!

Well, the month of August in year 2010 is one that I would rather not have in the history books because this month was a month for me!! I started feeling bad just a couple days into the month and next thing I know, I am at the doctor with a fever and chills to be diagnosed with a UTI and Strep. So they put me on antibiotics on that Wednesday then by Friday, I am not improving so Ray takes me back to the doctor and versus a shot they give me more and different antibiotics.

THEN, I still hadn't completely gotten better so they put me on a 3rd round of antibiotics and I was still running a fever, really lethargic and weak. They did tons of blood work trying to determine if it was mono (which I had in my early 20's) and treated it as it were in fact mono.

 Finally, after the 4th time to the Dr within 2 weeks they think I have an abscess in my throat and cart me over to Parkwest Hospital for a CT on my throat and had prepared for emergency surgery to drain the abscess and possibly pull my tonsils out as well. After, the scan Dr Seals had me go to his office, an ENT. He decided another round of antibiotics and steroids should solve the "big beefy tonsils" as he called it. Not to mention during all this Ray is playing football and I had a lapse in judgement and went with him to his game in Nashville the very next day after my hospital visit! What was I thinking!? I better get "wife of the year!!" Ha. Anyways, I didn't improve, wonder why? I didn't tell Dr. Seals about my trip so he put me on another round of antibiotics and steroids!
A couple weeks into September I finally start to recover and then realize from all the steroids and sleeping I had managed to gain 12pounds!

What a freaking month and a half! :(

The 4th of July

Happy Fourth of July!! We always enjoy the summer months with some of our closest friends and hanging out at Ray's moms. Cooking out and swimming is how we spend every weekend and this just proved to be another one of those fantastic weekends together!

Playing with sparklers with Ray supervising

                                                                    Happy 4th

                                                           watching the fireworks

For the 4th we have tradition with Ray's side of the family to go to his Aunt Wanda's and have a big cookout with about 30-40 family members and the kids absolutely love it! They have a great set up for the kids to play and swim and then of course the firework show is always fantastic!!

Brinley Rae is ONE

Brinley Rae is one!!! This little girl is a ham, to say the least. We had Brinley a water slide party and invited just a few family members and friends but you would've thought that the president himself had came to see her. She LOVES attention.

                               We grilled out and had Cupcakery Cupcakes and they were yummy!!

 She was sooo exhausted but still radiated energy as usual Brinley style.

We also had a mini photo session before by a friend of the family that is in photography. Not to mention that Carley helped wrestle the kids so that I could finish putting the final touches on everything right in time for everyone to arrive.

 We really enjoyed the party and we are so glad it wasn't any larger than it was because we (Ray) was busy the whole time trying to chef, host, and ref!

We are so thankful for this group of friends and family for making this day special for our little princess!All in all it was a great party.