I AM SOOOOO GLAD THAT WORKED OUT!!

As you know, the plan was for a wedding on the day of graduation!  Taylor and I had been researching and researching and she was posting and corresponding with people on Facebook that gotten married on graduation day!  With the information that we had we thought that it was doable but knew we would have to rush you guys to the Clerk's office to get it done - little did we know. . . . .

As soon as graduation was over and you had gotten some of your things from your ship we hopped in the cars and headed to the Clerk's Office.  Well, where do I start?  I guess I don't need to itemize the happenings for you because you were there but I will go through a brief run down in case people who weren't there read this blog!

After passing through security (everyone made it through succesfully except your dad who got held up because of his belt).  We got to the Clerk's office for you all to complete the paperwork.  Your dad realized he had left his phone in the car and you had forgotten your jacket so I volunteered to go back to the car to get the stuff since I made it through security without having to empty pockets, etc.  Got to the parking garage and couldn't find the car - in all the rush I didn't pay one bit of attention to where we parked or how we got in the building.  After searching for the car for a while (even honking the horn using the remote didn't work - I could hear the car but couldn't find it) I gave up and went back inside to find that your dad had gone back out to find me.  We finally found one another and went to the car to get the items - coming back in was 3 trips through security for me and 2 for your dad!  You all got your paperwork done and we headed down to the lower level - more forms to complete then we were sent to an office that was closed for lunch so we took a lunch break!  Afer lunch we headed back to accomplish our mission!!  We were sent from that office to the Judge's Office and after multiple trips from the Judge's Office back down to the office in the lower level the judge was able to marry you two! 

I am so glad that it worked out for the two of you and we welcome Taylor to our family!  I hope the two of you have many, many years of happiness!!

More Photos From Your Wedding Ceremony!

GRADUATION DAY!

Our alarms were set for times beginning at 5 am if I remember correctly.  Our plan was to leave by 6 am to head over to base for the graduation.  I'm not sure Taylor slept much at all that night (which I believe had become the norm for quite a while!)  We got ready and headed over to Graduation.  Taylor had talked to her friend, Christy who said she was there at 6 am and was second in line and she was already in and waiting for the building to be open.  Thankfully we had run our test routes the day before and knew where we were going and made really good time (I had to put that in so your dad would not think that the test routes were  a waste of time!)  By the time we got there at 6:30 am the traffic was backed up for quite some way but it didn't take us long to get through the line.  We parked in the parking garage and headed in.  We were even able to get Brandi in with us right away!  We got into the building and began to look for your divisions section.  We took our seats and the wait began.  The time moved along somewhat quickly and before you knew it the ceremony was starting.  of course I was already taking pictures and made a friends with a picture guy in the crowd who had a camera with a really big zoom lens - I knew his pictures would be good!!  He gave me his card and I told him I'd be in touch to see about trading pictures with him!  Turns out he was there for his nephew and they were from Indianapolis!!  Small world!!

Graduation was awesome and very entertaining.  I, of course moved here and there to get where I needed to be to get the best picture!  I was trying to hold open about 3 extra spots so I could have plenty of room to move to different levels of the bleachers but I made the mistake of having to go to the bathroom and while I was gone your dad let people move into the seats . . . I know I can't be selfish and had to share but I really want those extra spaces BUT in the end it all turned out great since you were so near the front and so much taller than everyone else!!

When the divisions marched out it was awesome - the way you marched all the way around the entire facility - of course when you are taking pictures you get wrapped up behind the camera so I CANNOT wait to get my hands on the dvd and be able to watch it all again!  I was a little concerned when you were on the very back but then when you all did your march and rotated around to the opposite of where you originally were I was thrilled!!  You were in the perfect spot for great photos!! 

At the end of the ceremony when the called for Liberty my heart was racing and I headed down the bleachers keeping an eye on your whereabouts so I could make sure to get pictures!  I think mission accomplished as I ended up with a couple of pretty cool ones!  It sort of reminded me of when we all would storm the football fields your Junior year!! 

Graduation was done and we were on to more excitement for the day!!

More Graduation Day Photos!

HEADING TO GRADUATION AND MEET AND GREET!

I guess let me start out with heading to Graduation . . . Taylor spent the night at our house Wednesday night so we could hit the road Thursday night.  Your dad and I were sleeping with alarm clocks set when we heard someone racing through the kitchen.  Your fiance (at the time) hopped up to go out to her car for something and was follwed by a very loud pack of labrador retrievers . . .so after that we were up and started getting ready to go! 

The trip went pretty smooth until we got right to Chicago . . . . except for the fact that we were waiting on a phone call from you and hadn't received it and were a little unnerved by that but the traffic through Chicago sort of took our minds off that (at least mine and Taylors!)  All I will say is your poor dad!!  I had already typed in my text messages to everyone announcing that we had gotten the call and you were now a solider.  Stephanie told me to delete them as that is probably why you hadn't called yet - I had jinxed it.  I didn't do as she told and you called just as we pulled in the hotel parking lot and I started sending out my text messages!! 

Your dad, Taylor and I went to a Meet and Greet that was held at one of the other Hotels.  It was sort of neat.  The neatest part (I thought anyway) was that they invited people to come up and talk about their SR.  I told your dad and Taylor that the needed to go up there.  Of course your dad wouldn't but eventually we talked Taylor into going up there . . . I swear I heard the man say that the person who got the most applause would get a shirt of something but I could have been mistaken BUT when your fiance announced that she was the crazy girl getting married tomorrow she got one heck of a lot of applause!! 

We stayed a short time longer and then headed back to our hotel.  You know me, Mrs. Organization, I had already told your dad that we needed to run test routes to figure out where we were headed, how long it would take, etc.  At first he said no but then when I threatened that Taylor and I would go on our own he broke down and took us!!   Before we left, when we were still home trying to figure out if the marriage thing was going to work and if we would have time, etc. I told Taylor we would just get there on Thursday and keep driving to the courthouse to see how quickly we could get there!! 

More Pictures from Navy Meet and Greet

AND THEN THINGS GOT A LITTLE CRAZY . . .

Thought I'd better get this blog caught up since you are now out of graduated from bootcamp and I need to give you the link so you can see what has been going on! 

Back to 4th of July weekend!!  Not a lot went on that weekend - at this point things have gotten CRAZY at work and I've been very busy!!  Taylor was gone to Indy for a week then to Florida so we didn't see very much of you and honestly I can't remember at this point (sorry that is a 41 year old mind for you) what happened in between my last post and 4th of July - I did look back at my calendar and there were just a few things on there but they were things that wouldn't be of any interest to you so we fast forward to 4th of July weekend! 

Again, not alot went on that weekend.  I mostly worked around the house.  I knew that the next week would be a short one for me since we would be leaving out to head up for your graduation.  So, I was trying wrap things up at home and at work and that is what consumed the largest part of my time! 

But, on Sunday, July 3, there were a few get togethers.  Your dad was on evenings and had to work.  Sarah and Wes were having a few people over so I went to their house and Taylor joined me after a get together she went to with her mom.  We left Sarah's and ran to the Sanford's to watch fireworks with them at dark.  It had been rainy most of the late part of the day so we were not sure if they would be doing the fireworks or not but Mary texted me and said they were "on" so we hopped in the car and headed over there.  As usual, it was a good show!  I think we told you over the weekend that it was cute when we walked up with all the spectators lined up in their chairs to watch - you know a get together with the Sanfords is ALWAYS a crowd!!  As we watched the fire works we would get small things dropping on us from the sky but then bigger pieces of debris began to fall - Taylor looked behind us and everyone except for us and Grandpa Bill had moved further back in the yard - I believe her comment was something along the lines that we were the only silly ones still sitting up there or we didn't get the memo or something along those lines (again, sorry the 41 year old mind isn't as good as it once was!). 

We went back to Sarah's for a short bit - and then headed home.  Monday I went to work for a while to get a jump start on things - as I mentioned it was a very short week! 

Not a very eventful post and sorry, no pictures!

Time To Catch Up For The Last Week!!!

Well, let me think back . . . on Monday Mom, Sam and Sue came out - we were working on a "project" for the cake for Tony's 30th Birthday Party coming up on Saturday.  Well our project didn't quite work out how we wanted it to! 

So I'm sitting her discussing your dad and we can't remember what we did Tuesday so it must have been uneventful!  Wednesday we mowed the yard.  Thursday we went out to eat at Outback with Doug, Tessa and Dave.  Tessa's birthday was on Tuesday so we went to eat on Thursday to celebrate that!  Tess and I were up for a movie but Doug was tired and your Dad was tired (he had a rough set of midnights - worked over like everyone of them but one!) so we didn't make it for the movie. 

Friday I had taken the day off to work in the yard.  We got the mowing, weed eating and all the weeding of the flower beds done (which was quite an undertaking!).  We decided to treat ourselves to The Feedmill for supper. 

Saturday your dad started day shift.  We had Tony's birthday party in Oakland City.  I had worked on the cake through out the week and spent some of Saturday morning finishing it up.  It was a beer cooler cake - the project we had worked on earlier in the week was the "ice" for the cooler.  It ended up working out ok - I made rock candy for it (which is what we had done on Monday) but I went about it a little different way.  

The party was fun.  Sam and Tony had smoked a bunch of chicken, pork and ribs - it was all yummy!!  We played cornhole for a while - this is only about the 5th time I had played but I didn't do too bad - your dad on the other hand has been on fire here lately when he plays - he is really pretty good! 

This morning started off early - a rumble of thunder at about 4:30 am woke your dad - not long after that your Grandpa Wagner was calling (I guess just to check on us).  Your dad was on the phone with him for quite a while and closer to 5:00 am my dad called to make sure we had storms headed our way.  I think they were just calling early to get their Happy Father's Day Wishes early!! 

Your dad worked again today and I worked at home cleaning, organizing and washing my car and cleaning it out inside - it had been a while since I cleaned it and it really needed it.  Your dad got home changed and headed right out - the boys had texted him about playing ball.  While he was gone I hit the elliptical and then started grilling supper.  Now we are sitting here relaxing a little - your dad is writing you a letter and I'm catching up this blog, uploading pics for my letter this week, etc. and that is pretty much all that happened this week!  

A funny thing I should add I guess Evie has found a softball that she is carrying around when she is outside.  We came in today for me to check my phone and I took it away from her at the door as she came in the house - I put it in a tote that is on the bench by the back door.  When we went back out she hopped right up there and got it - she is so silly!  

Well, I guess that is about it for now!  Time is moving right along here - I hope it is there too!!    

More Pictures from Tony's 30th Birthday Party!

Well That Wore Me Out!!!

More Pictures From Taylor's Birthday Celebration #2

We decided we wanted to take Taylor out on Friday night to celebrate her birthday.  A Friday night is easier for people than a Monday when they have to work.   When Taylor and I would out at BW3's on Tuesday I told her the places we were thinking about starting out for dinner on Friday (Cheeseburger in Paradise, Bar Louie or Old Chicago).  We were leaning toward Cheeseburger in Paradise and when she said she had never been there the decision was made!  I put together an agenda for the evening.  The agenda included our dinner plans and then a list of what our options were.  The plan was to head downtown.  This weekend was Shrinerfest and there were a couple of beerstubes going on.  There were a lot of options - Stoney's, Fast Eddy's, RiRah's - they all  had live entertainment - put all the information for each location on the agenda, cover charge info, if there was entertainment, what it was, when it started, etc. 

A friend of mine from Posey County Angie Fore was going to go with us - I picked Angie up then we went to pick Taylor up from her mom's house.  From there we went to Sarah's house - we all piled in her Honda and headed to Cheeseburger in Paradise.  The guys joined us for dinner, your dad was not able to go since he had to go in to work early - I was very sad.  The original plans were girls only but then I decided to have the boys go to eat with us thinking your dad would be able to go - no luck. . . .So in attendance were:  Me, Taylor, Angie Fore, Dave, Doug and Tessa, Sarah and Wes, Gary and Deb, Blair, Heather and Josh Perry and Kelly.  I hope I didn't forget anyone!  We had a nice dinner at Cheeseburger - I was the DD so I did not drink but the others had drinks that looked yummy!  After dinner was done we took a few pics out front of the restaurant and then once again piled in Sarah's Honda to head downtown. 

We decided that we would hit the beerstubes first - there were two of them.  The cover charge was $5 to get into both of them.  We went to the one by the Casino first - The McFly's were playing there.  They were not bad but the beerstube was pretty dead - lots of people but only about 4 of them were dancing - the others were all just sitting.  So once the beer pitchers were empty we decided to head down the street to the second beerstube.  The band there was The Pitts (they were not the pitts- that was their name!)  They were not too bad but again, when we first got there people were dancing but then the dance area cleared out.  So, once the beer was gone we decided to head to Stoney's. 

We got to Stoney's and Taylor had been saying that her beer was wearing off and that she wasn't feeling anything - well we couldn't have that so we started buying her shots - a few that I can remember are Green Apple, Kamaksi, and Liquid Cocaine, I also got her a Sex on the Beach.  We ran into Stephanie and Dewayne - they hung out with us for a long time and bought Taylor a bunch of shots too - I'm not sure what all they got her but they got quite a few.  We were on and off the dance floor - things were really hopping there!  Eventually a trip to the bathroom was needed and Taylor threw up a little in the trash can. . . she then felt better.  At this point Tessa was getting ready to leave - she had an early morning of shopping so Doug came to pick her up.  We hurried up and got Taylor to get on the bull - that was quite interesting - she had had enough to drink that she needed help getting up on the bull and then she wasn't up there long!!  She got thrown off and Sarah made her get back on it again. . .second ride was about the same length of time. 

After the bull it was back to the dance floor and drinking.  Another bathroom trip was needed this time Taylor was standing in the doorway to one of the stalls - I started hearing her screaming and someone had closed the door on her fingers - as we ran cold water over her fingers I was afraid her fingers were broken but they seemed to be ok and Sarah made the girl that did it apologize to Taylor - she even gave Taylor a hug and a kiss on the cheek.  How in the heck are you going to close someone's hand in the bathroom door??????

So more dancing, more drinking and one last trip to the bathroom before we left.  I went to pull the car around because we were parked way out in the parking lot and I didn't know about getting her all that way.  Well I was able to get closer but not up next to the building.  I called Sarah and she said they were still in the bathroom - I parked the car and headed back in.  Sarah and Kelly left to go smoke - Deb stayed with me.  We kept looking under the bathroom door because it was taking Taylor forever - one time when we looked she was turned around backwards so apparently she was throwing up again.  I told Deb to go ahead out with the others and we would meet them out there.  Taylor finally opened the bathroom door - there was vomit all around the toilet and she said "I didn't do that - it was there . . ." I got her out of the bathroom and we met up with the other girls on the patio.  A fight broke out between two guys and Sarah, Taylor and Kelly were all on the side of the fence that it happened on - I was afraid one of them was going to get pulled into the fight.  It was bad - the one guy was kicking and hitting the other guy that was down on the ground - there was blood everywhere.  I kept yelling for security and they eventually got out there - I showed them the guy that did it and they took off after him but I don't think they took of quick enough because they didn't get him.  After that I loaded everyone in the car and we headed home.  We dropped Sarah at her house and then Taylor and I headed back here- I didn't want to drop her at her mom's house in the shape she was.  We got here about 3 am and then stayed up and talked until about 5 am.  She stayed here and then I took her home to her mom's the next day.

After I dropped her off I ran a few errands and then headed home - I was exhausted - your dad was in bed sleeping so I laid down with him.  He got up about 6 - he had to go to work early again.  I pretty much snoozed off and on all night and then stayed in bed when your dad got home this morning until about 1.  I got up to get ready to go to a graduation party for Kaylee (Kari's Daughter) and Jaelan.  I think I'm caught up on my sleep but am ready for bed shortly - unfortunately the weekend is over and it is back to work tomorrow. 

Oh yeah - by the way - I was slumped down in one of the living room chairs watching tv last night - I looked up and Daisey was standing in the living room and she had gone potty on the floor - busted- I knew it was her - she is getting old and I think she is loosing her mind!!!   

Taylor is in Indy most of this week so we probably won't see her for a while.  I don't think there is too much going on this week but the weekend has a few things that I'll be able to write about!! 

Well, guess I'd better turn in!! 

What, No Pictures????

First of all when I was getting off work Tuesday, Taylor had posted on Facebook that she was hungry for BW3s - she was looking for someone to go with her.  I had a hair appointment but I messaged her and told her I would go with her when I was done if she didn't get a better offer while I was having my hair done!  I messaged her when I got done and she was still looking for someone to go so I went to her apartment and picked her up (I had to be the DD for the 21 year old in case she decided she wanted a beer with her wings!)  I had not been there is a long time - it was yummy!  Your poor dad was at work again but I did bring home wings for him to have for a snack when he got off from work! 

Wednesday was our Frick Powell Otters Night. I was very worried about it - it was so hot during the day on Wednesday - I just knew we were all going to be miserable.  And, I was a little disappointed because it ended up falling on the same night that we have our Beer Night with our Sabic Friends.  Of course, I wanted to do both and I thought we had both worked out until I found out that the game started at 6:35 instead of 7:00.  So we had to skip out on Beer Night - we have to make it next month - we have missed the last two months and I am really starting to miss them! 

We had invited Bobby and Amanda along and they planned to join us.  I was chatting with Taylor and I knew her plans were to go to Silver Bell to meet Heath and Tela but those plans weren't until later so she decided to join us at the Otters Game for a while!  This was the day that we all got letters from you so we brought our letters to the game and we were all reading them!  Well all the family members, not all the Frick Powell people!!  So the plan was for everyone to meet at the ballfield at 6 pm. and we would figure out the rest there.   We stayed until about 9.  My personal goal was to leave by 8:30 but I went over to your Dad and Taylor after a little socializing and she was in the middle of a beer so we had to stay a little while longer. 

We finally got out of there right at 9 pm - I drove Taylor's car with her in it and your Dad drove our car - we were headed to the Silver Bell.  We ended up going some very curvy road off Highway 65 - the road that Taylor said she used to come out on when she would have to pick you up.  At one point your dad went over the white line of the right real quick - I said "Good Grief Taylor, how many beers did he have?"  She said he had had a few.  We made it safely to the Silver Bell - I asked your dad about the swerve (which is not uncommon for him to do) and he said he was just messing with us.  We were having a time of it ourselves - that road is very curvy - I was sober and was still have difficulty! 

We got to the Silver Bell - darts were over and there were not many people there but that did not stop us from staying until Midnight!  Taylor drank with Tela and they all played darts - yes I know, drunk girls throwing darts - it was sort of scary but no one ended up stabbed with a dart!  It was a nice evening!

We left there and headed home - Taylor was going to stay at our house.  We wanted to get her car out so if she decided she needed to leave before someone could take her she could head on out!  She ended up spending most of the day at the house - and luckily she was still out when you called so your dad got to talk to you!  You made their day - they were both so excited.  Taylor had already said it was like Christmas the day before and then getting a phone call the next day - she was on cloud nine.  She had told me a few days earlier that she had a dream that she was at our house and that she was upstairs and her phone was downstairs.  She said she heard it ring and ran down to get it.  She said she missed the call and it had been you.  She said she even checked her phone when she woke up to see if she had actually missed your call!  I told her tonight that it was so strange - she dreamt that she was at our house when you called and she actually was.  I told her that if she had had any dreams recently about winning lottery numbers that she may want to go buy a ticket! 

So to explain the heading of this post - no pictures from dinner at BW3s that wouldn't be too unusual, most people don't just take their camera to dinner BUT I forgot to take it to the Otters Game and didn't have it for the Silver Bell - I was so sad . . . so sorry, I will have to make up for it tomorrow night when we take Taylor out to celebrate her birthday - I will take bunches!