Celebrating 6 Years!!

Marc and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary on March 8th. We decided to take a stroll through Memory Lane and celebrate it at the place where we spent the first day we met AND where Marc asked me to marry him. We weren't ready yet to leave Mason, so he took him along with us. Our first family mini-vacation. :) Lake Barkley is about an hour and 45 minutes away near Cadiz & Eddyville, KY. Marc's best friend, John Burgess, has taken our group of friends out on his boat there for many summers and his parents live in a beautiful house right on the lake. We have passed the Lake Barkley Lodge millions of times as we're out of the boat and the Summer of 2000 we had to dock our boat in front of it and I had to be carried up the steps and placed into an ambulance. Thank you. Patrick Sullivan & Marc carried me up those steps and became my heroes that 4th of July. :) LONG story, but I became dehydrated from drinking way too many Dr. Peppers and passed out while we were watching the fireworks on the boat that night. We all definitely learned our lesson that day and every boat trip since we have loaded up with PLENTY of bottled waters. :) There is also a historic restaurant there called Patti's 1880's Settlement House where I've always wanted to eat. So, I got to stay in the lodge AND eat at Patti's for my 6th anniversary! We had a wonderful weekend, just the 3 of us. Since it was cold, we didn't really walk around and do all the lake stuff, so we took advantage of the indoor pool and the yummy breakfast buffet. :) Mason LOVED the pool and we made up some new games to play with him since he didn't have his handy dandy float that we took with us to Destin last fall. His new favorite game "Go Mommy, Go Daddy" was the highlight of our trip. :)

We really didn't want to leave our little weekend retreat to come back to the real world, but I know we'll be blessed with MANY more wonderful anniversaries!! I wish I had our old-school pics dowloaded onto the computer, but since that was pre-technology age (ha ha!) I don't really have many to share with you. I do have some I scanned when I was making a slideshow for John & Jamie's wedding, so I'll add some of those. Marc and I have had 10 amazing years together full of sooooo many fun, crazy adventures and a million and one photographs. I love looking back at them to see how much we've changed and grown and how different things are today from those naive, stress-free days hanging out at the pool with all of our friends every single day at Gazebo Apartments. Of course, we wouldn't trade the lives we lead today for ANYTHING in the world!! We are right where we want to be with our beautiful Mason Thomas!

December 31, 1999 at my parents' house... Marc's & my first New Year's Eve together! Marc, me, John Burgess, Paula Meenen Huston (one of my best friends from jr. high), Andrea, Erin Staal, and Jonathan (Marc's brother)

July 4th, 2000, right before I was rushed to the ER.... our nice, relaxing boat ride out to where we dock to watch the fireworks... John Burgess, Johnathan Akin, Patrick Sullivan, and Marc

Just the guys and me in July 2001.... Jonathan (Marc's brother, me, Marc, & John Burgess)
The night we got engaged... Monday, September 4, 2002. The 3 Amigos contemplating what had just happened... Marc with his brother, Jonathan, and their lifelong friend who's like a brother, John Burgess
Our friends who celebrated with us that night... Jana Hargis, Jonathan (Marc's bro), Andrea, me, Marc, Jennifer Rogers Campbell, and John. Johnathan & Brooke Akin and Beth Herndon were there as well, but had to leave to head back to Nashville. Eatin' at Echo Charley's... Marc had planned it for my parents to come and surprise me and for his parents to be there as well. His parents didn't know we were getting engaged, though, so they were in complete shock. It's a funny and long story, but Connie thought Marc got her there so that we could have a surprise birthday party for her!
One of our many lake trips with the gang... This was taken the Summer of '03, right after Marc and I got married

July 2005... dinner at Echo Charley's (our usual place!) after a long day out on the lake

Okay, back to the present... Our little miracle Mason Thomas on his Grandy C's lap. We stopped in Madisonville to spend the night with Marc's parents on the way to Lake Barkley to celebrate our anniversary

Exhausted already, and it was just on the drive TO Lake Barkley!
Finally arrived at Patti's Restaurant... Mason checking out these very interesting-looking animals


Eating our yummy peach pie a la mode... the best part of the dinner!


On the deck of our room at the lodge... We had a beautiful view, but this picture doesn't do it justice!

Mason struggling to stay awake! He looks like a little eskimo here. He can't even move for all the layers we dressed him in!

I was entertaining myself with the fact that when I took Mason's socks and shoes off, they stayed in this form! I thought it was the funniest thang I had ever seen, but Marc wasn't as amused.

Mason looked thrilled about the idea of pool time! I promise, he definitely warmed up to it! It was just the "putting swim trunks on" part that he didn't like.

Sweet boy playing in the "crib" the lodge provided while Mommy & Daddy were getting ready for the pool Hmm... I don't know about this situation! I gotta check it out and then make my decision!

Oh, I think I love it! I don't even remember why I had concerns about this pool thang! It's soooo fun!

We definitely have a little water baby on our hands! I mean, he was not even scared for one second! He definitely didn't get that from his momma.

Marc's favorite part of the weekend...His baby sleeping on his chest! Mason NEVER sleeps with us at home, but he was soooo sleepy from his night of swimming that he fell asleep with Daddy in no time.

The famous steps I was carried up that crazy 4th of July day... Wow, looking back on it I realize how tired these boys must have been by time they got to the top with this passed out, sunburnt girl in their arms! Marc becomes a hero once again! What is it with the lodge & stairs!?!?! The elevator happened to not be working while we were there so Marc had to just pick up the stroller and carry Mason up the stairs to eat our breakfast!

No, we did not plan to wear as many different patterns of stripes that we could find that day! We just kinda threw on whatever cuz it was early and we were tired and cold.
Mason loved being outside walking up and down the dock. He had never seen a lake before so he was in awe.



Look at my silly boys!! What are these faces they're making??? And who is that baby?!?!
Back at home... Mason helping me unpack

It's always fun to find out what we're doing each year to celebrate our anniversary. Last year we were decorating our nursery and spending a few days in Gatlinburg for our "babymoon", and this year we were taking our son to a place that is very special to us, eating 2" porkchops at Patti's, and playing pool games. Hmm....I wonder what it will be next year??

My New Hobby

SO.... I finally did it! I took a sewing class! My MaMaw Myers has been telling us girls for yeas... "I need to give you all a lesson in sewing so that you will stop bugging me to hem your pants and alter your bridesmaid dresses!" :) Well, she will be so proud to know that I finally got enough guts to learn how to do it. I've been wanting to learn how to make curtains and random items for our home after staring at blank, undecorated windows for 4 years now. And, since I've had Mason I have had this desire to start making him clothes. My friend, Kristin, has been telling me about a beginning sewing class she took at a cute little shop in Smyrna called "Stitchers Playhouse." She's been my inpsiration! She brought over an outfit she made in her class for Mason to model during the winter since it was a snowman outfit and everytime I would put it on him I would think, "Hey, I could do that!" So, I took the class this month over a period of 3 Tuesdays from 9:30 to 11:30 am, thanks to my wonderful, beautiful sister-in-law, Christy, who came over to watch Mason so that I could make this sewing thang happen! :) I made a Johnny romper for Mason during the class and I'm soooo proud of myself for what I ended up with! Also, I gotta give a shout-out to my mother-in-law who provided me with a $10 machine she found at a garage sale! I took it to class to use and the teachers could not get over how sturdy of a machine it is. They said as long as it works well to use it until I get better and want to invest in a fancier machine. All these other girls in the class went out after the first class and bought these $300 to $500 machines and seemed kinda bitter about my lucky find. :) Hee hee! It's funny cuz we couldn't even find a brand name or year or really any info on the machine, but it does have a decent manual that came with it. Sewing so far has been a huge challenge for me, but I know that the more I practice I will get it. This one class has made me wanna go crazy with some more projects, beginning with some special items for Mason's birthday. I'll have to update y'all later with how that is going! In the meantime, here are some pics of my latest hobby.

The finished product

The progress made after my 2nd class... All I had left to do was to sew all the pieces together.... Hmm... I learned this was MUCH easier said than done!

My handsome little model

A close-up of the birdie applique on the reverse side... I am SO proud of this part! :) We did the applique the very first class. I thought it was the hardest thing I had ever done in my life! Thank you. I'm sure it will get easier... hopefully!
The reverse side... I can't figure out which side I like the best!! I think the blue one.

I took me a while to get used to Mason in this sweet outfit because we're so used to seeing him in all his big boy khaki pants, blue jeans, sweater vests, and button-ups!! We gotta dress him like a sweet baby every once and a while!! Especially after his momma has learned how to sew!

Okay, I just HAD to throw these in!! When Marc and I were in Madisonville, KY at his parents' house getting my machine a few weeks ago, we had an interesting time figuring how in the world to use it. It took Connie, her twin sister Bonnie, Mason, me, and EVEN my husband to figure out how to even thread the needle! Thank you. HILARIOUS that Marc even had to get in on the situation! Does he even know anything about sewing? Well, he's always good at reading directions and figuring out how to do things, so he could probably end up being a better seamstress than me! Thank you.

Hope you like my very first sewing experience story & outfit!! More random projects in the works! :)