30 Was Knocking - I Finally Had To Answer . . .

My 30th Birthday was Tuesday, July 14th. I've been dreading this for a while and it really didn't help with Jonathan constantly reminding me that he'll be 29 on his B'day.
So much has happened over the last ten years, I can only imagine what's in store for the next ten. I've had seven jobs over the last ten years. I've had five life-changing experiences take place in the last ten years. I've made friends, I've lost friends, and I've reunited with friends. 2002 & 2006 was the hardest. February 2008 my fiance, Jonathan, and I bought our first new house; May 2009, we married! I'm so happy to be able to celebrate my 30th B'day with my husband, Jonathan. Jonathan's been a part of my life for the past seven years. I can't wait to see what God has in store for us!

While we were at the beach for our wedding, Jonathan purchased my Birthday gift, a white Coach purse! He did a great job with picking it out! He also bought me a new camouflage hat with the Bone Collector emblem on the front in Hot Pink. Michael Waddell is a big deer hunter, has the Bone Collector show on the Hunting Channel (602, lol), anyways Jonathan LOVES him! So he ordered a new hat for me and pulled some strings with an old friend from his hometown who now works for Michael and was able to get a picture of Michael signed with a "Happy Birthday" message on it for me. He was soooooooooooo proud of that! He's so sweet. I love him so much!
I had a beautiful bouquet of flowers sent to work from Sheri, Lee, and Devin.
My step-mom, Darla, bought some items off our register that she knew I really wanted, and my dad gave me money. Jonathan's mom, Connie, gave me a black suede photo album to put wedding pictures in. That'll come in handy considering I only have one and all it has is 20 pages for pictures. Sheri took waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more than that! HaHa
Heard from several people who called to wish me a Happy Birthday as well.

Thank You for a wonderful 30th Birthday!

Love~
April

4th of July

Jonathan and I got up early July 4th to shoot in our first ever bow tournament in Cullman! It was so much fun! I shot a 165, which apparently is pretty good for a first-timer!
Later that day, we picked up Trent & Richann and headed to the Smith Lake to watch the fireworks! Last year was our first year to watch them there and there was the best I've ever seen! I'm ALL about some fireworks (if I could've afforded them for our wedding - I would've), so there was no doubt that we would be back up there this year. I think they were even better than last year! It was packed. It took us about an hour to get in the park and situated. We had stopped at McDonald's (read the post below - we've been eating BBQ for a week!) and made us a picnic in the back of Jonathan's truck when we got in the park. We had a great time and enjoyed the show! Good job Smith Lake!!!

Palisades Park Reception - June 27, 2009

Jonathan and I had decided that since we were having a small close family & friends wedding at the beach that we'd have a large Reception/Party for everyone to attend after we came home from the honeymoon. Vic Springfield with Firehouse Grills provided the BBQ feast! It was soooo good! We had Ribs, BBQ stuffed baked potatoes, BBQ Chicken, BBQ sandwiches, cheese biscuits from Jim-N-Nicks, fresh watermelon, and homemade banana pudding made by my step-mom! Vic and his step-daughter Megan, were awesome! Vic and Megan both work with me at Southern Company. I had planned on taking care of everything myself (putting food out and making sure it never ran low, getting drinks ready, things like that), Jonathan and I had so much help while at the beach, I wasn't about to ask anyone for additional help with this too.

Everyone arrived at the same time and EARLY! You know how I am, I ain't gonna stop decorating and getting ready until the place looks like I want it to. So I kept on going. I finally got everything finished and I was able to meet family on Jonathan's side that I had not met before and Jonathan was able to do the same with mine. Vic and Megan never checked up! They handled everything! I was so grateful for them! I would've missed out on meeting people and hearing some funny stories about Jonathan. So a HUGE Thank You to Vic and Megan!

Around 70 people showed up, and out of 60 baked potatoes, 3 were left! However (and I've yet to figure this one out), I had 9 slabs of ribs left over! Sooooo, I started giving them away as people left, haha . . . "Thank you for coming to our reception, here take a slab of ribs!" I think I even chased Chris Carr down to give him a slab but he locked himself up in their car! HAHA Just kidding. Nichole did sell a few Woodsy Girl items while she was at our reception! We're all for that!

We were more than blessed with gifts from everyone! We chose to open gifts at our home so that we could take the time to enjoy them, read cards that came with them and if we wanted to open them right then, we could - without having to cut time short with guests.

Jonathan's mom, Connie, painted a beautiful portrait of Jonathan and I walking on the beach after the wedding ceremony. She's so talented!

Our house is now supplied with lots of kitchen goodies, some in which Jonathan is still learning how to operate!

My adopted mom, Shamra, also gave us a special gift. She had a menu from LuLu's framed for us! It turned out to be pretty cool.

We also received several gift cards to Walmart, Target, and Lowe's. You know which ones Jonathan claimed, haha

Our house is still a mess from everything we unloaded from the reception. I tackle a small bit every day it seems.

I've found some Thank You cards on Snapfish that I'm placing an order for. You can create a collage on the front of them, so I'm incorporating wedding pictures, LuLu's, and Palisades Park.

I want to thank Sheri Peak for coming to Palisades Park and shooting those pictures as well. Sheri has been doing pictures for the past 10 years for me. She always does a great job and I trust her judgement. Her husband Lee also shoots as well, but majority of the time he's always there to help Sheri with anything she needs. Their son, Devin, doesn't fall far from the "talent" tree either! A lot of the LuLu's pictures were taken by him!

Thank you again to everyone who came to our wedding, our reception, for all the gifts we've been blessed with and for everyone's help!

Love~

Jonathan & April

Headed to the Sunshine State

Yesterday, my brother graduated from MCT - School of Infantry - Camp Lejeune, NC.

He's now headed to Florida to start his "Specialties Training".

He's doing great, has a lot of much needed discipline, and loves every minute of being a Marine!

I don't know how long he'll be in Florida. I do know that he wants to make a career out of this so by all means I support him 100%. I think its awesome that he's found something that he believes in and most importantly believes in himself enough to know he can do it if he wants it. It's improved his self-esteem, his way of thinking, and his way of life and I'm so thankful for that. Chris and I are a lot alike, when we find something-an interest we love, we do it to the best of our ability. I understand his passion for this. I wish him the best of luck!

I love you Chris!