70.3

Hello everyone! This past weekend, four of us ventured over to Augusta, Georgia to cheer on Chuck and Zach in their first Half-Ironman!! Ladies and gents, that means a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike, and a 13.1 mile run. Oh yes, quite the accomplishment! And just LOOK at how studly he looks :)

Medal in hand, he's a half-ironman!!

I'm so so incredibly proud of both Chuck and Zach! They are such fighters and so determined. And Chuck finished 22 minutes ahead of his goal!! 

WAY TO GO, HUBS!

we will NEVER forget.

All week long I've kept saying, "I can't believe its been ten years since September 11." And now, sitting here watching the 9/11 Ceremony Coverage, I really cannot believe it's been ten years. I remember that day so clearly. I was sitting in Mrs. Peeples' eighth grade science class when our principal came over the speakers and announced that a plane had flown into the Twin Towers. Being only 13 years old and having never gone to New York City before, I honestly had no idea what the Twin Towers were. My teacher actually told us that it wasn't a big deal and we weren't going to turn on the television and watch the coverage. Little did she know that it would be the day that changed our country forever. We left that first morning class and went straight to homeroom where I watched the coverage on television. I don't remember much about the remainder of the school day, but I remember so clearly coming home from school and just watching the coverage from New York for the remainder of the day and the next several days. I just remember so vividly all of the rubble and the stories and the fear on everyone's faces. What a scary experience as a child to not really comprehend what was happening that day. I can only imagine what that day would have been like from New York, or as a family member who went through minutes, hours, days, weeks without knowing where their family member was or if they were safe. And still, ten years later, there are family members that were never found. I can only imagine. And can only pray for the souls that were lost and the family members that have had to endure such pain through the years. 

Ever since that day, we have had SO MANY brave, selfless military men and women serving on our behalf. I could never thank all of them enough. I am proud to know some personally, some are family, some are close friends. Their service is something that often times goes unnoticed or forgotten. But you are always appreciated, respected, and remembered.

It was December 2003 that my family took a trip to New York City. We stood there at Ground Zero, looking at all of the rubble, the pictures of the lives that were lost or missing, the flowers and letters and memories posted on the gates that surrounded the grounds. It was such an overwhelming experience that I will never forget. I remember taking a picture with some NYPD that stood at the grounds. I most vividly remember seeing this cross that formed out of the rubble in the midst of all of the chaos...

What an subtle, incredible reminder of who it is that we should all turn to in our times of trouble. Such a day of tragedy brought us all to our knees; may we never forget who picked us back up. Our nation shook that day, but our faith stood firm. May we always remember.

This past summer, I was blessed with the opportunity to go to the Pentagon and see not only the memorial, but was able to go inside of the Pentagon and stand exactly where the plane hit and took the lives of the innocent people there and on that flight.

And as I type this, I'm watching old news coverage of 9/11 and they just announced that the Pentagon had been hit... unbelievable.

The names of those who were lost.

Each person that died has one of those memorial over a little running water. It was built to act as a bench, where family members or friends could come and spend some time sitting and remembering those that they lost.

The ring of the Pentagon that was hit by the plane. 

The dark stone in the center of the Pentagon shape was kept and rebuilt into the new wing. It is engraved with "September 11, 2001" and is dark due to being burned the day of the attacks.

For obvious security reasons, no cameras (or picture taking, at least) is allowed inside of the Pentagon. So I couldn't get any pictures of what I'm about to describe, but it was incredible and humbling to see. There is a color-coded map inside the wing that was hit that draws out the specific location of every desk, office, etc and the path of the plane. Each person/desk is color coded, for example, red = killed, yellow = at the Pentagon but away from their desk/office so survived, blue = not at work that day.... and so on. It was crazy to see that someone was at work and in the path of the plane, but survived because they were away from their desk in a meeting, getting breakfast, or some other circumstance. It was an incredible experience to stand in that wing of the Pentagon, knowing what took place there that day. We spoke with a few people who were present there that day, but there wasn't much conversation about 9/11 because it hits so close to home for those men and women and they don't want to talk about it.

Since September 11, 2001, I have always been memorized with what happened that day. I wrote papers on it in high school, read articles on it all the time, and watch coverage on it whenever I can. I don't know why I am drawn to it.. maybe it's because I know it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I don't want to forget. It amazing to watch the coverage of the news from the day of, knowing what we know now, how little we understood in the moment. When the first tower fell, we didn't even know what had happened. For at least ten minutes, it was reported that just a part of the tower fell off. No one knew for quite some time that it was a plane that hit the Pentagon and not just a bomb. Such chaos. I am thankful for a God who puts us back together and gives us hope in such a time of trouble.

May every single one of you count your blessings, remember those who were lost, tell your loved ones how grateful you are to have them in your lives, and may we always remember and never forget September 11, 2001.

PGA Championship!!

Rule #1: Don't wear a pair of these, or your feet will hate you for forever by the end of the day.

Rule #2: Wear some sunscreen, or your face/shoulders/chest (especially your nose) will be a lovely shade of tomato red and painful pink, as seen below.

Rule #3: Arrive just in time to see Rickie Fowler finish up on the 18th hole. The one day that I have somewhere to be and plan to leave work ASAP, I leave work an hour and a half late. But hey, we did get to see him hit two shots..

Rule #4: Get Rickie Fowler's autograph! Success. What a cutie.

Rule #5: See some Phil Mickelson.

Rule #6: See some K.J. Choi (on the right in the white) and Bubba Watson (between the two caddies in the black pants).

Rule #7: Bring along a sweet husband to put up with you while you complain about being sleepy, get you drinks cause you're dehydrated, and to just be an awesome person to hang out with for the day.

Rule #8: Don't work night shift the night before and expect to walk around 18 holes in the heat without feeling miserable... because you'll probably end up looking like this at some point during the day...

Rule #9: Stay in a really awesome hotel in downtown Atlanta with a sweet view.

Despite a few setbacks, we had an awesome time. Having my patient go bad at 5am and having to stay until 8:30am when we planned on leaving straight from the hospital about 6:45am definitely put some kinks in our plans. Poor Chuck, he had to just sit outside the hospital, waiting on me to leave, for an hour and a half without any real idea of what was going on other than a simple text that said, "Gonna be late. So sorry." But he stuck it out like an awesome husband, and off we went. The short 30 minute nap in the car on the way didn't exactly give me enough of a boost to be bounding with energy for the day, but I made do (and so did Chuck... he. is. so. patient). We were really just thrilled to be there, to see Rickie finish and get his autograph, and just to see some big names in real life. And to finish it off, it ended in a playoff, which was exciting and we had great grandstand seats on the 18th hole to watch the finish. Unfortunately, my phone died so I didn't get any pictures of the actual winners on the 18th. And just FYI, turns out they are really particular about no pictures. People were turned away at the gates because they had cameras.... and police officers would come say something to you if you were taking pictures on your phone. So all pictures were done very sneakily :) We had a great time and enjoyed our first trip as a married duo! 

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend, as well! 

eh, um.. war eag...

I just can't type the whole thing. I pains my Roll Tide heart too much to say it. But, one member of our family is now an official "War Eagle" gal, and I love her so I'll love her school on her behalf. But I'm just not going to say those horrible words :)

Yesterday, we moved my little, adorable, cutie-patootie all-grown-up sister into her freshman dorm at Auburn. We stayed the night before in a Travelodge in Auburn because she had an 8am check-in time and, let's be honest, our family isn't known for our punctuality. So, we spared our nice homes for the night to stake it out in sketch-ville and drove into town right on time to get the cars unpacked and get going. 

Before I go any further, let me just say that packing two girls into a tiny space that is supposed to hold two beds, two dressers, two desks, two refrigerators, and other bookshelves while eleven different opinionated people are all sharing their two cents while packed into the tiny 8x16 foot room is not an easy task. But, in the end we prevailed and organized the space perfectly. The beds ended up being arranged like this...

Emily wasn't gung-ho about bunking the beds, so we reverted to a half-bunk, if you will. Just her feet will be underneath Lacy's bed. In my own personal opinion, I'm totally loving this arrangement. Making the sheets on the bed probably won't be the easiest task ever, but it saved them a ton of space in the room and she won't feel claustrophobic like she would if her head were underneath Lacy, too. 

Her roommate is "Miss Crafty", so their room is adorable. Lacy sewed their shower curtain herself, their curtains are homemade, and all the decorative pieces are Lacy-made, as well. 

Here's their door.

And here's Chuck. What a goof :)

I wish I'd taken more pictures of her dorm room, but I didn't. Partly because I only had my 50mm lens and her room was too small to get far enough away to actually get stuff in the picture... hahaha. That's a freshman dorm for ya!

It's so strange my little sister is in college. Chuck said the other day, "I remember when she had bangs and was in glasses." It doesn't seem like it was that long ago... and now, I'm married and she's in college. Time goes by too fast.

This week she is going through rush and I hope she enjoys it. No matter what decision she makes, I hope she feels confident that it's the right one... but most importantly, I just hope she has fun with the whole process.

Love you Emily. You are going to be a fantastic addition to Auburn and I know you will be very successful in all that you do! Mini-me, make me proud!!

..... and Roll Tide :)