My long Memorial Day weekend! (:

So I had a pretty fantastic Memorial Day weekend, I must say! (:

Friday night the best friends Hilary, Bailey and JK came up for Jameson's graduation party. I went on to the actual graduation with my Grandmother (my little cousin Lucas was graduating too! Congratulations! (: ) When it ended, me and my brother, Blake, met them at the local Bi-Lo *a 4 minute drive that took about 10 thanks to crazy graduation traffic* to take them up to Lookout Mountain where the party was. So we all jumped in the car together and had a very interesting drive there. We had a BLAST at the party! Congratulations to James! We love you! We hung out with mostly Abby, Haley, Jesse, Donny, and Kenzie the whole time. We laughed like CRAZY when we saw this picture of James: 

If you know Jameson, can you spot him? lol 

And we just had a jolly old time taking pictures and continuing to laugh at that picture. lol We finally left around 11 or so and went to the house. On the ride home me, Hil and Bail got interrogated by Blake and JK about whether we had ever used a guy for anything...they didn't believe us when we said no. lol We got home and as Bailey played Tap Tap and Blake and JK played guitar and harmonica, me, Hilary and Mom watched Haunting in Connecticut. FREAKY MOVIE. I'd watched it before but it had been a while. Thankfully we had some comedic relief so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Finally around 2, me and the girls headed over to my grandmother's house to sleep. Well, when we got there, Hilary started looking for her phone which she figured was somewhere around...and she couldn't find it. She pretty much flipped her whole car around, checked her purse, we checked the driveway, EVERYTHING and it was gone. We finally concluded that it HAD to be in Bi-Lo's parking lot! So, at 2 am, we headed to Trenton to find Hil's phone. We looked EVERYWHERE once we got there and I even went to the gas station to tell them if anyone found a phone, o get a hold of me. So sadly, we get in the car, no phone in hand, and head back up the mountain. Hilary was obviously quite upset so we all just prayed it would be somewhere obvious. JK made it sound like some kind of mantra "Guys, it really COULD just be back at home..." When we got to the house we decided to take one last look. I had told them that even if a thought came to their mind of where to look, and it sounded totally dumb, look anyways. Well, we were about to walk in the house (still praying by the way) and it came to me to check the car one more time. Hil said "I've turned that car upside down...it's not there." But I was just like let's look one more time. So I open the passenger side door and am about to look in the back and it came to me (again) to run my hand under the front of the seat...I did, and when I laid my hand down, I touched the phone. I was kind of in shock. I was like hey...HEY! I FOUND IT! I'm pretty sure Hil did a happy dance and I totally said Praise the Lord! haha. It was definitely an answered prayer...even for something so little. So we took this picture in celebration... (: 

We were super happy (and tired) since, at this time, it was 3 a.m.! 

Saturday morning we woke up relatively early (about 10) to go hang out. JK left us to go to Emmett's 1st birthday party (HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY EMMETT!!! (: ) and we headed to Scottsboro. Me and Hilly G got Long John Silver's (Yummm!) and went to meet Bailey and Blake at Zaxby's! We sat there a while talking and chilling before we decided to meet Ben, Ross, and Blake Chance at Goosepond! So we headed there and hung out with them for a few hours. Nothing really special since I didn't bring clothes to swim in. ): After that, Me, Ben, Ross, and Blake went back to Ben's house to nap (that's what I did anyways) and wait until JK and Brit got out of church. So when Hil got home from Tara's engagement picture session, we went and ate spaghetti at her house (Brit and JK met us there) and me and Bailey played Guitar Hero for EVER trying to unlock songs. It was actually very fun. When the last guys left (Blake and Ben) me, Hil, Eric and Bailey played Atmosfear (creeeeepy but very fun game!) while Greg looked like he was about to pass out on the couch. We FINALLY went to bed around 2 (slow time).

Sunday morning me and Hil got up to get ready to go to New Market's homecoming (Bail had to work) and we both were ready in less than an hour I believe. We met Britney, JK, and Blake at the church and the service was pretty good. There was a pretty big crowd (Bro. Don Hornbuckle and Bro. Wayne Walls are running it). We met this guy who looks EXACTLY like Edward Cullen (and was a cheerleader before he got the holyghost! bahaha) and a lot of other cool people at Savannah's house afterwards.We were gonna go back to Riverton that night but Ashley and Savannah kept saying that Jesus wanted us to stay at NM...and then we found out Sis. Lanier and Sis. Opal were coming! So we just stayed at New Market and got to see Darrell Avan's girlfriend, Meaghan, receive the holyghost! First time I've ever seen it happen quite like that! Less than 5 minutes! It was crazy! After church that night, we went back to Savannah's and ate tacos. lol We had a good time. Me and Brit finally headed to Hilary's house about 10:30 and found out we were going SWIMMING! I LOVE SWIMMING IN THE DARK! Only we didn't realize that the pool was actually closed at 10....so we went in anyways. Turned on all the lights and were just being really quiet while swimming as to not disturb the neighbors. Then as I was drying off and playing Tap Tap on my phone, Brit, Hil, and Bail heard a scream...so we rushed to get all our clothes up and get out of there as soon as possible. It was pretty creepy! We went back to Hil's house and ate the most RANDOM food EVER and me and Brit passed out on the sofa and couch. I woke up at 2 a.m. and Greg said something along the lines of "Oh they're such great friends huh? They just left you asleep on the couch." I couldn't even really understand what he was saying so I just got up and went in the bedroom where Bailey tried to let me watch Kat Williams (I was still in like sleep mode and BARELY remember any of this). I remember waking up once because I'm pretty sure I kicked Britney (she had joined us sometime in the morning) in the head...but she doesn't remember so let's keep it our little secret mmkay? (: 

This Memorial Monday Morning we woke up about 10 and got ready in like, TWENTY MINUTES (showers, clothes, hair, EVERYTHING!) to meet the boys and eat at Cracker Barrell...it was soooo good! After we ate, Ben and JK headed to Megan and Adam's memorial day cookout and me, Lindz, Bailey, Hilary and Blake all went a little bit of everywhere. It was SO stinking hot and we really wanted to swim or something to get a little sun without being totally miserable but every place water related was packed out! So we just drove around forever. We finally decided to get some frozen yogurt at Sweet CeCe's where I put wayyy too much candy in my frozen yogurt and couldn't eat it. After that we went to Madison Mall and then Bridge Street. At Bridge Street we met a little 5 year old girl who more or less swore she could beat Bailey at ANYTHING...hula hooping, dancing, eating contests...okay, not eating contests but this was a VERY confident little girl! And I'm just gonna say...she was AWESOME! She took gymnastics so she was cartwheeling and handstanding and jumping all over the place---Bailey was totally owned. (Sorry Bail! I still love you!) And we met this super sweet musician named BrothaRic (add him on Facebook!) He was soooo good! He was singing, playing guitar AND playing a harmonica all at the same time! He had Bailey and Lindz get up to play tambourine like stuff while he sang Mustang Sally and the little girl STILL wanted to beat Bailey! It was sooo funny! But he told me he always wanted to be on YouTube...so he made it! (: 

After this, Me, Bailey, Hilary, Eric and Blake went to eat at Arby's before we had to head on home...we ended up talking for about an hour and a half...it was a good time. (: I had so much fun this weekend with all of my pals! I love them all very much!

SURPRISE!

I GOT MY LICENSE!!!

I know, I know, 4 years in the making, I know it's about time, yes, I'm 20 years old...blah blah blah!

But I FINALLY got it! I'm so happy! It was one of the ONLY things in my life that I stressed over (for FOUR YEARS!!!) and it's now over! I feel like a new person! haha.

I know the big question is "Why did you JUST NOW get your license?"Well, let me explain...

A few years ago, (I think around 7?) I met this guy at church when they came to visit. His name was Seth. Honestly, I thought he was like THE cutest guy on Earth and I definitely had a little crush on him (come on, I was only fixing to be 13!) Well, not long after I met him, he passed away in a car accident. Even though I didn't even know him, it tore me up. Especially when I was told he had went into a diabetic coma...I had just found out that I also had diabetes. It terrified me. I didn't want to drive EVER because I was afraid the same thing would happen to me. So when I turned 15, I didn't even get my permit. I didn't want it. When I turned 16, April 10th, I was in Driver's Ed and I found out I HAD to get my permit to pass the course. So, April 16th, I took the written test and passed it the first time. (Yay me!) But I STILL hated driving. I drove ONE time in driver's ed and that was plenty enough for me...I was a nervous wreck! (But I didn't have a wreck, thank goodness!) Anyways, a couple years rocked on and I still didn't want my license...I had a brother 2 years older than me and wherever I went, he usually went! And by then, I had this little fear called atychiphobia--- the fear of failure. So I graduated high school with STILL no license. College rolled around. I had multiple friends with the same. exact. schedule as me. So I had mom take me to Aly's house every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning that I had class, and we went to school together. Thus, once again, delaying my inevitable trip to the DMV. So, FINALLY, on April 15th, 2011, I got the nerve to go and take the test... also because I had one day until my FLIPPIN PERMIT EXPIRED!!! I went to the DMV, waited forever, took the test andddd failed. Yep, the bitter taste of failure. It stunk. I cried. A lot. I was angry.  I wondered why "my dumb brother could get his license the first time and I failed". True story. So I went to Florida the next day, then the Smokies the next weekend, and then the storms hit...it was pretty awful... and it rained a LOT in between. So I finally went back today to try for my license again. I was still pretty nervous but I was to the point where I was like ehh the worst is over. That expectancy for getting your license the first time, was gone and I just honestly didn't care anymore. I took the test, making sure to go ridiculously overboard doing the things I had messed up on last time, and I passed. She didn't tell me what I made and she didn't tell me I did anything wrong so I'm guessing that I made a 100? I don't know and I, once again, don't care...I PASSED!!! So now I have my license and I don't have to answer the embarrassing questions: "how many times did you take the test?" or "did you drive?" or my favorite "so when are you gonna get your license..how old are you again?"

So obviously by reading this ridiculously long, and quite dumb, blog about me getting my flippin license, you can probably tell that I'm soooo happy! Excited! Relieved! YAY! (:

So...how was your Monday? (:

Thuper Thursday (:

So Thuper Thursday was yet another amazingly fun night!

We were supposed to be at Brett's house around 5 but of course that didn't work out... it ended up being more like 6. But still. We were there for a few minutes when Erik showed up so we just sat around and talked for a bit...by the time Hilary and Bailey showed up, we were ready to get the party started! We finally decided to go to the kitchen table and play Cranium! I've never played that game before but I DEFINITELY want to own it now! (:

Sis. Towana made some fantastic spaghetti and rolls for us and after, Aly and Hilly decided to try and make a GINORMOUS cupcake for Mackenzie's birthday! (Shout out to Kenzie!) They made it from red velvet cake mix and it looked sooo good! (Luckily, it tasted great too!) While we waited for it to cook, we played more Cranium and watched LAUREN AND SCOTTY get moved on to the next round of American Idol! Whoot woo! Go Lauren! I hope you win it all!

Finally, I went to help with the huge cupcake, and began to ice it with Aly (it had been cooling a while by this time)....sadly, we didn't let it cool enough, because the icing began to melt and the cake began to fall apart! lol Oops. But they do say that the ugliest cakes are the ones that taste the best...and this one definitely wasn't a beauty... (sorry guys...lol)

After presenting Mackenzie with his amazing giant cupcake we decided to play charades for a while...and that was SO. MUCH. FUN! OF COURSE, my team DOMINATED! (Whoo Erik, Brett & Kenzie!) 150-109 I believe...oh yeah. lol

We sat around and talked after Kenzie and Erik finally had to leave and then Sis. Towana more or less told us to get out of her house. (lol jk) But it was honestly sooo much fun! I'm kinda bummed that the heritage festival had to be the same night so I missed seeing some other good friends of mine but I'm definitely glad we all hung out. (:

Now, I'm sitting in my room talking to Bailey and Hilary about a little bit of everything...getting scared at every little sound. lol But I love nights like these...I wouldn't trade them for the world. (:

One REALLLLYYYY long blog.

So I haven't blogged since May 1st... 15 days! Wow. And that wasn't really a blog...just a picture and statement...but it still rings true. I still miss and love you Chelsie! I can't imagine how life will be now that you're gone. ): But we're trying to go on...

Well Wednesday night (a week after the terrible storms) they went in to check on the church, and found it flooded. Like...REALLY flooded. Water was standing all the way to the altar...at least a couple inches. More in some places. All the benches were wet and even the walls. They tracked it to a pipe busting in the women's bathroom. ONE pipe flooded our church. So now, we pretty much have no church. Since the water leaked through the floors into the basement (they said it sounded like it was raining in there...) we can't have church in the basement. We obviously can't have it in the top of the church since they've completely stripped the bathroom and church tile and carpet. So where do we go? That's right...The Party Place. So from now til we get everything fixed (there's no telling when...)  we'll be there. And no, we're not having revival. It was scheduled to be 2nd week in June but they've said this was gonna be a long and drawn out thing. Yay. I can't wait to get back into our church!  

Friday night we all went to Britney and JK's house to eat and hang out. That was pretty fun. We had Italian food! Homemade Stromboli, "Olive Garden" salad, breadsticks and then after wards, cookies and ice cream. Yum. Afterwards we just sat around and talked...listened to them play the guitars and sing...it was just a really chill night. Then the girls headed to Hilary's house to spend the night. We were pretty wired and about passed out from laughter when Bailey got there and decided to show us the many versatile ways to wear her parachute pajama pants. We decided to watch a movie in the movie room and try to get some sleep...I passed out about 10 minutes in. It wasn't that great of a movie. lol The next morning, Britney's alarm on her cell phone woke me up...twice. So I got up, did some things, and then went back to my comfy recliner and fell asleep. I had turned the sound down on my phone so I didn't hear when I got 8 phone calls from Blake. Shelby's one call actually woke me up...we found out then that everyone was going to be there in 30 minutes to begin our Saturday. So we all jumped up, threw on clothes and tried to fix our hair as best possible. We got up and found out they were going to a drive through zoo. Yep. Me and Blake aren't really into that stuff and the best friend Brett needed to go to the mall anyways so we decided to go with her. Bailey wanted to go with us because 1.) Blake is her Holiness lover. 2.) She loves me. 3.) We don't get to hang out with them much anymore. So we spent the day at random shops and the mall...we were supposed to meet up and eat with them but they ended up eating without us. So we went back to Hilary's house and chilled with Eric for a while til they got back. We ended up chilling with Ross, Ben, Hil and Brett that night (going BACK to the mall) and FINALLY got some food around 10:30 at Chili's. We had to leave immediately to get home because the next day was MOTHER'S DAY!!!

Mother's Day was pretty fun. We got up and cooked breakfast and ate at home...we meant to go get some food pretty early but we kept procrastinating while looking up harmonicas (for Blake) and banjos (for me) to get. FINALLY we got up and went on our way. Traffic was pretty terrible with every small town person going to the "big city" to get some food. We went to Guitar Center and Blake bought SEVEN harmonicas (for different notes). I looked for a banjo but never saw one. But I'm saving up for a beginner banjo and books for $150! YAY ME! Anyways, then we went on the hunt for a restaurant WITHOUT a 2 hour wait. It was almost impossible. But we went into Texas Roadhouse and I got to see one of my best friends from high school, Casey! I hadn't seen him in 2 years so when he walked up to me, I just covered my mouth and almost cried. I was sooo happy. lol But I only got to talk to him for like literally one minute cause my family was already leaving after finding out about their 1 1/2 hour wait. So I sadly said goodbye...but it honestly made my day! Finally we settled on O'Charley's which only had a 30 minute wait and it was VERY good! I was happy with the final choice. (: On the way home, my mom flipped when she saw the Krispy Kreme sign glowing for hot doughnuts. She just HAD to stop in and buy some...2 DOZEN. lol But of course we didn't complain...who doesn't like doughnuts?! We came home and just chilled the rest of the night...getting ready to begin the next week.

Monday rolled around and Brett had been talking about us hanging out at her house for the past couple days. But when it came down to it, her parents didn't stay at home. So we thought we weren't gonna get to have out little get together. But have no fear! April is here! I called my dad and asked him if we might could have a few people over to hang out. I assured him we wouldn't be in the way and they wouldn't stay too late (for work purposes) and he was still reluctant. He said "why don't we have it another day?" I kinda did a little pout thing (accidentally, of course) saying that it was gonna be SUCH a busy month that this was about the only time we could do it! But we hung up, and I was bummed. Literally like 2 min. later he calls and says "Who all is coming?" that's pretty much clear indication for me that this thing's gonna happen! He says he'll think about it so I get off the phone and start cleaning like crazy! I text the people I was gonna invite and told them the plan...times...and that they just HAVE to come! So around 6:30, Erik showed up. He had to leave at 7:15 so we went ahead and began to eat 1 of the FOUR homemade pizzas my mom made (I helped, but I was busy cleaning to do much). Shaun showed up a few minutes later and joined us, and then pretty much right as Brett pulled up, Erik was leaving. But he assured us he would be back. So in the time between 7:15 and 9, I shot a gun (it HURT!), We played a game of Sorry! in which Shaun dominated, and started a teeny tiny bonfire outside. Boy Scout Blake actually did it. And Blake and Brett picked up sticks to keep it going while me and Shaun relaxed. lol Finally Blake brought out an entire TREE from the woods and started breaking it down...THAT kept the fire going for a while for sure. I text Erik and asked if he could pick up some marshmallows on the way to the house and being the nice little Asian he is, he done that for us! (Brett was the only one who actually did it.) Well once Brett got through with her marshmallows we decided to go in and play another game of Sorry! and eat some ice cream! We looked like we had stocked up on ice cream for the Apocalypse. A little later, Brett had to leave...it was going on 11 I believe. Erik and Shaun stayed a little longer then they also had to leave. Bummer. It was a GREAT night. I had an absolute blast!

We went through the rest of the week, virtually with nothing going on. Friday me and Blake went to Chattanooga to get the rest of our outfits for Devan's wedding and Blake had Ethan's bachelor party to go to that night. I didn't think I had anything to do so I got really bored, really fast. I decided that I wanted to go to a singing so I text Shaun about theirs. He said I could ride with them so I started getting ready. My hair did the best that it has EVER done...and he text me to tell me that they had to cancel. I was pretty bummed...back to square one of a very boring night. Then Brett called me to ask me if I'd like to come help with some of the stuff for the wedding and just hang out. Of COURSE I said yes. So Brett came and got me and we went over to the shop to get the stuff. We took them to the tent and then took all of Devan's clothes over to Ethan's house (because he was staying the night in a cabin at Guntersville) and we stayed their foreverrr. Finally we went to Devan's house and ate some pizza and chilled. It was a pretty fun night too! But I didn't really wanna stay the night so I went on home to get some sleep.

Saturday morning we woke up and began to get some stuff ready for the wedding. I started trying to fix my hair at one because I was a server and had to be there at 3...my hair didn't end up being near as nice as the night before though. ): Oh well. We got to the wedding and it looked like it was gonna rain but it held off for a long time! Then, about 20 min. before the wedding was about to start, it started pouring rain! We were all nervous cause everything was done...guests were already there! But thankfully, it stopped, the sun came out and we continued on! I've always heard it was good luck if it rained on your wedding day so here's to a great married life Ethan and Devan! (: After everything was over and the reception was done (I served my tail off), we decided to go to Chattanooga. Blake was going to Mackenzie's for his birthday, so I went with Zachary, Sarah and Bre. We ended up meeting Erik, Brett, Isaac and Luke at Buenavista in Scottsboro though. It was reallllyyy good and a LOT of fun! We got some cute pics out of it too! (; We've already planned to hang out with "The Gunner's Mountain boys" again in the next couple of weeks! Should be a blast! (: (I'm sure I'll blog on that too!)

Sunday morning we got up and went to Ider with Brett and her family. It was their first regular without Chelsie, Sis. Linda, Bro. Buddy or Sis. Martha. It was a pretty solemn service...with a lot of references to the storms. It didn't last long because a lot of people weren't there because of decorations or had to leave early for them. Afterwards, me, Blake, Brett, Macy, Ashley, Jesse, Kacy and Cheyenne went to McDonald's and ate and hung out...that was a blast too...I love those guys! (: We went home, took about an hour nap and headed over to the Party Place for mine and Blake's first church service for BC in like 3 weeks! It was pretty fun but quite strange to be having church there. I should take a pic of what our services look like. lol Church lasted about an hour and a half and we headed to eat in Trenton. Rafaels! Woo! (I kinda wanted Taco Bell, especially after Sarah came in with it but that was okay). We met up with Brett, James, Preston and their friend...then they left and me, Blake, & Brett waited for Kenzie and the Griffinites to get out of church. So we hung with them too. (: It was a lot of fun but we were sooo pooped. lol I was so ready to be home and get to sleep! So I came home, watched P.S. I love you and went to bed. Yeah me!

Now I can't WAIT til what Blake has deemed "Thuper Thursday"! It's gonna be so much fun! And Bailey and Hilary are supposed to come see us too so it'll be an extra special night!!! (: YAY!

I thank the Lord for my friends every day! They are so good to me and we have such a good time! I love them so much!!! (:

I love you Chelsie Boatner-Black!