Can we say busy!!!?

Ok, so this is backwards,but for some reason it always puts the pics before what I write, no matter where I put the cursur, so just read below first. LOL.


A pic taken by my Grandma Ballard. Mackenzie was covered in cake, but she was one happy girl!

My whole family that was there. From left to right, me, my cousin Olivia, Grandma Ballard (my dad's mom), Uncle Curtis, Aunt Donna (my dad's sister), Sarah (My new sis in law!), my Brother Tom, my mom, my uncle (mom's brother), my step-mom Rhonda, and my dad.

A pic of me and Timm and Sarah and Tom. Timm looks good in this pic (though that may be because he was actually just smiling and not making a funny face or doing something stupid, LOL, love you honey!). I on the otherhand look fat, I think I am slouching in the pic or something cause I swear I really did look a lot better that day. Plus, I started out the day in Stilleto heals that looked great, but they don't work too well in grass, so they were ditched....Anyway, enough complaining about myself.

Ok, so yes, I am still alive. We have just been incredibly busy I feel like I have been running ragged the last few weeks. We have been preparing our house and yard for my brother's wedding, which was on the 4th. We dug new flowerbeds, mulched our brains out, built a new deck after tearing the old one down, and weeded/mowed/and trimmed everything a million times. :-) But in the end it was all completely worth it. The ceremony was on saturday and it was beautiful. I was blessed enough that my brother asked me to officiate the wedding, why you ask?? Well, I think it started as a joke "hey, YOU could so the wedding!" Ha ha, laughs all around. Well then it got me thinking, I wonder if I could? So I went online, and within a few short minutes I was ordained and sent all my paperwork into the State of West Virginia with $25, and a week later I had a license to perform marriages in WV!! So, I ended up doing it. It really was fantastic, everyone had a great time. We got to see family we haven't seen in a long time, hang out with old friends, had a ton of great food, and set off fireworks.

I think what was the most wonderful part for me though was that my brother is one of the most important people in my life. It almost chokes me up thinking about how much he really means to me. Since I was a little kid he has been my best friend, and besides my husband, he is my best friend. He is the kindest, sweetest, most loyal man, with a crazy sense of humor and a dork after my own heart. So, to see him so truely happy made me so happy I almost started crying during the ceremony. All I can say is that I wish him all the luck in the world, a marriage is a difficult thing and the road can be bumpy, but if you keep your partner close to your heart and in your mind at all times and you work through it together, it can be the most life altering thing (other than having children). I love you Bro!!