On the Road Again...

And in the air!  After work, I'm driving down to get Granny, then we get on a plane and after that we get in a rental car... it will be at least a 24 hour day!  I can't keep up with myself!

But it's pretty big.  My little brother, Chris, is graduating from Basic Training!  I can't wait to see him.  I'm so proud!  Hence the picture on my fridge...

I also can't wait for the trip to be over - shhhhh.  I long to just do NOTHING.  This stress is wearing me out.

P.S.  Shout out to Eric for letting me listen into Kenny Chesney's XM radio channel!  It's helping me.

Shower the people you love with...

Baby stuff.  I'm re-writing the song.  Because THIS weekend, I was on the OTHER end of my favorite road (sigh/puke), Interstate 95... in New Jersey for Courtney's baby shower.  Courtney is my oldest friend - oldest as in she's been my friend longer than any other friend.  I'm actually older than her but we're not going to talk about that, it's three weeks, people.

I have never seen so much baby stuff in my life.  Edit.  I grew up surrounded by baby stuff, so that's not really true.  But she got A LOT of stuff.  She could open a baby store!  Wait - am I channeling my mother again? Make it stop.  Haha.

I'm delerious, that's why I'm rambling.  Pictures....

Welcome to the land of no turns.

Sorry, NJ peeps, I am not a fan.

It's nothing personal against the Garden state.

But for some reason, every time I go there, I have car issues.

Ready to par-tay.

This room had more placentas than I could handle...

Courtney got a sympathy card...

sorry for your loss...

of life as you know it!

Classic.

One guess who was behind that brilliance.....

Baby G's auntie G, of course!

There were other gifts, too...

Tons of cute little outfits... and bath toys... and things to go in Baby G's little nautical themed room...

Baby equipment galore...

I loved all of the onesies (hilarious that I know how to spell that word... it's only because I grew up at Rock-A-Bye, making signs that said "Onesies 99 cents")

I don't think this one is a joke, though!

 

I think there was a secret sorority sister memo that went out about wearing black and pink...

Gretchen and Blair.

Beware... this is the last sane picture of Gretchen for a while.....

All because of this little creature that entered the baby shower...

I think it was the curly hair.

Or maybe his eyes...

Or maybe the fact that he was a Yankees fan?

Gretchen was in LOVE.

She started tearing his clothes off!

My side still hurts from laughing at this moment.

And this one, hahahahahaha!!

Pins in the baby bib.

This makes me remember my own experience as a 2 month old... wearing a dress as I sat on Santa's lap.. a dress that was apparently full of pins.

Picture time!

Look at little Emma!

Isn't she the cutest thing in the WORLD??

She's super smart and sweet, too.

I love this child.  She is the total package.

Beautiful.

Smart.

Funny.

Has a great laugh.

Love her.  Eileen - you have an excellent daughter!

Belly pics of the pregnant chicks.

"Why my baby bump can't take a picture with your baby bump?"

 

It really is crazy how many of my friends are pregnant right now, or just had babies...

Seriously.

But the baby that's in this bump here is PRETTY SPECIAL.

I'm not sure exactly how I will refer to little Roland Albert Gehweiler IV yet...

Maybe I'll just stick with "Ricky Bobby"...

But, we'll figure that out when the time comes.

I can't wait to meet him and see Court as a MOM!!

Awww... it's all the girls and Nana!

The Daddys-to-be came back from "fishing."

I use the quotations because I don't think they caught anything...

We thought it would be a great time to teach Emma the classic hand-on-hip move...

She gets an A+.

Then it was back to Nana's - where unfortunately my camera battery quit on me.

But not before I was able to photograph the 3 Generations of Champions!!

 

AMAZING Weekend!

**Update: COMMENTS POSTED.  Sorry it took me so long - life is CRAZY right now.  But, that's not the point of this post.  The point of this post is to accurately convey to you how AMAZING last weekend was!  There really aren't adjectives.  Amazing.  Incredible.  Awesome.  All nice adjectives and all... yet, they come up short.  There's just something about being with the man I love... at the oceanfront... and seeing Kenny Chesney... that's just amazing, incredible, awesome, all of the above.  Here are some snapshots of the amazingness. It was hands down, the best 4-5 days I've had in a while.

This is right after dinner... the first night together in a long time... just enjoying some "us" time outside.

Check out the BEAUTIFUL bracelet Michael surprised me with!

I so thought there were truffles in the box - but this is much better! :)

We got to spend some quality time with Brody, Michael's 2 year old nephew.

He's got some serious moves!

Such a cute age - he'll do anything you tell him!

(side note: why can't boys stay like this forever?)

 

So cute, right?

He loves his Uncle Mike.

All country-fied for KENNY!

Third year in a row for me, and it just gets better every year!

 

Kenny Chesney is an AWESOME entertainer.

Even if you're not a fan, go.  I promise, you'll enjoy it!

He has a super cool hat, no?

Our hats are pretty sweet, too.

I love that Michael sported the hat.  What a champ.

I think it's really cute on him, too!

I secretly took this picture when he was taking in the morning sun...

I so wish we were back there right now.

On the way to lunch with my family...

Gotta love sunny Virginia Beach!

The generation trifecta.  I am looking more like my mother every day - guess that's okay :)

(standby for my mom's comments on this one!)



 

Granny wore that hat and didn't even get free birthday dessert, what is up with that?

Doesn't Michael fit right in?

It was a good match.  Exhale.

You know I can't pass a big pink flower and not step all up in the flower bed to take a picture!!

 

I could write a whole separate blog about these people.

We met Christy & Steven on the bus to the concert and TOTALLY hit it off with them!

This is the next day, after we had Pizza and Dairy Queen with them!

Hope to see them again, for sure.

Oceanfront makeout session, check.

Gladly checking that one off my to do list!

:) Wish I was back there... again.

He makes me smile.

Would you LOOK at those eyes?

Seriously, how can you not just stare at them?

And his smile... don't even get me started!

After 2 days at the beach, it was back to Durham, NC for Brody's 2nd birthday!

He had a big backyard party and a great time!

Crystal had 3 different kinds of cake!

I'm pretty sure that qualifies her for mother of the year.

 

Sunday, Michael's brother, Jarred (he's a youth pastor) interviewed Michael in his middle school group.

It's so neat - seeing God use Michael's story, his life experience, to impact young people.

It never gets old to me.

My man is AMAZING.

I am so proud and honored to be his girl.


What a weekend!

The only things I missed: my bed and Brokaw!

Brokaw was not feeling the flash.

It's hard with the paparazzi following you around all the time, you understand...

 

 

Catching Up

Hello, world!

First things first, please pray for Tricia.  She got some tough news yesterday and could really use your prayers.  Knees, people.  On 'em, now.

I still don't have internet access at home - so I'm trying to fit in blog updates at work - hopefully I can get the pictures from my AMAZING weekend up here before I leave today, but no promises.

I'm going to have to make a trip down to the Pain - I'm STARVING.

P.S.  I know this is semi-shamelss, but I LOVE hurricane season - I saw at least 6 reporters blowing around in the wind LIVE this morning.

Another Sad Goodbye

I was at the softball field Saturday when I heard that Tony Snow died.  A slience fell on the ball park.  It was the Media League championships, after all.  And Tony was part of the media before he became the darling media star that he was.

And, he was.

I did not know Tony Snow personally,  I only talked to him a couple of times.  I interviewed him at the White House last summer when I first came to Washington and I was NERVOUS.  Didn't have a bead of saliva in my mouth.  This guy was the master, you know?  I just remember asking him questions about Iraq and wondering, how does he remember all of this stuff and spout off facts and spin like it's nothing?  With a smile on his face, at that?  He was very tall.  Warm.  Funny. Smart!  He changed the role of White House Press Secretary forever.  He made the daily briefings a BLAST to watch!

He's missed, already.  I have read that Tony was a believer, so it's comforting to know that he's with the Lord now.  But still, it's not fair.  I hate cancer!

My friends Becky and Julie who cover the White House, both have moving memories of Tony.  Check 'em out.

So sad to lose another Washington power player - in his prime.

HOUSE FOR RENT!!

I'm posting this here for friends of friends who don't have Facebook so they can see pictures of the house. If you want to know the address, e-mail me, I'm not just posting that on the www.  

I have a house in Chesapeake, VA that is for rent - available in August! 2 Bedrooms, 1 Bathroom plus the garage has been converted into a room with a huge custom closet. The Kitchen & Bathroom are completely renovated. Central Air & Heat. W/D hookups. Big fenced in back yard.  Large, easily accessible attic.   Pets negotiable with a deposit. One year lease. $950/month. Let me know if you know anyone who is interested, Thanks!