The first part of our monumental weekend began Thursday night with Kristen's graduation (Daniel's sister). She received her M.S. from UT in Education. We are very excited for her and it was an honor to experience this day with her and the family.
The entire Galloway clan showed up for the Commencement. Daniel's Mom and I are absolutely cracking up in this picture. I told her to try and re-create an "Olan Mills" photographic moment by placing her hand on my elbow, and as you can see, we are looking quite sophisticated in this picture.
Congratulations Kristen! You did it!
Party Number Two:
My boss had his yearly Jimmy Buffett themed birthday party outside Friday night. If you live anywhere near East Tennessee you know that Friday presented itself with TERRIBLE storms all day long. The party became an absolute MUD HOLE, but by the time of the party, it had dried up for the most part. The party was catered by The Shrimp Dock and it was oh so yummy! Shrimp Po-Boys, Clams, Hush Puppies, Cole Slaw, and even scary looking crawfish! I didn't even try to attempt eating one. Daniel said you have to suck out the meat and that just didn't sound appealing to me at all. The food was great and the company was delightful, but at eight o' clock we had to go and buy Mother's day gifts. We didn't get home that night until around ten. We were already feeling the exhaustion of the weekend.
After we arrived home I had to finish ALL of our thank you notes. Stamp prices were to go up by 2 cents on Monday and I had already purchased all of the stamps. Daniel and I dove into a thank you note writing frenzy at ten o' clock Friday night and by the time we had written 50 notes, we were ready to call it a night. Afterall, tomorrow dawned a new day of partying.
Here is the finished stack:
I'm still not finished. There are only 40 left. Pretty good, right?
Party Number Three:
Saturday morning Daniel and I woke up around 7 a.m. and got ready to head to Murfreesboro for a graduation Commencement from MTSU. It was for Daniel's best friend, Paul, and my best friend, Cassie. There are a few things to note about this graduation. When Paul was getting ready to walk across the stage I was getting pretty nervous about screaming for him. I am not a cheerleader and whenver I have to yell for someone I get nervous that I will mess it up or that my voice will crack or something. So, they announced his name..."Paul Carlson"...and I yell.... "GO CARL!" What? I completely messed up his name and I think everyone thought I was a crazy lady. Another item of note: A girl walked across the stage with her pet dog. No, it wasn't a blind seeing eye dog, it was her pet. I think she must have snuck him in under her robe. Congrats Paul and Cassie! We are so proud of you!
After Graduation we headed back to Knoxville and ate with Paul's family and the boy's other best friend, Chase, at Lakeside Tavern. We ate outside on the Veranda and there was a beautiful sunset. After the sunset...rain! A few of us got wet, but we ended up scooting the table underneath the awning. After the meal, we went back to Paul's house for cake and ice cream. We had a wonderful time celebrating and arrived back at home ready for bed around eleven.
Party Number Four:
Mother's Day was Baby Dedication day at Lynne and James' church in Alabama. So at 4am Daniel and I woke up and got ready. At 6am we were at Joellen's house ready to road trip down to good ol' Killen, Alabama. After a long five hours we arrived just in time for church. Holly Brooks looked extremely cute in her dedication outfit and Crockett was ultra stylish in his new white Sunday Shoes.
Crockett took up the offering:
Holly was so sweet during her dedication. She is just precious.
A Huge Milestone:
On the trip, my car was fixing to hit the 100,000 mile mark.
Have you seen the Toyota commercial where the driver hits 200,000 miles and they all get out and do a jump? Well, when we hit 100,000 miles we were determined to get out and do "the jump". Too bad it was in the church parking lot. I'm sure Lynne and James' church friends think we are out of our minds. It was a big moment for me and the ol' Dodge Stratus!
For the record: Joellen is a very cute jumper. I, on the other hand, look like the Hunchback of Notre Dame when I jump. Daniel really dislikes this picture of himself too. He really wanted to redo the photo, but I said....."You have to live in the moment, Daniel. Live in the moment."
It was a very good weekend indeed. But after some quality time with Mom and the rest of the family, we loaded up the 100,000 miles of the Stratus and headed back to Tennessee. Daniel and I didn't get to bed until 1am Sunday night. All I have to say is, we are very tired and can't wait to catch up on some much needed sleep. However, we wouldn't have missed any of this for the world.
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