hello monday {25}

{hello monday}

{hello overcast & dreary day}

{hello broken heat [it had been off & on the entire weekend]}

{hello catch up QT's and 2 Peter Precept study}

{hello WOL reading [Chasing Elephants is the book this week]}

{hello math}

{hello getting ready to leave our cold home}

{hello lunch at the new Chick-Fil-A [post coming!] with out friends, the Furloughs}

{hello Coffee Shack, schoolwork, and pumpkins spice lattes as a reward}

{hello visit with the Nichols}

{hello rainy car ride home}

{hello warm house [they fixed the heat YAY!]}

{hello dinner}

{hello hot shower & fresh PJ's}

{hello popcorn & DTWS}

{hello late night texting with camp friends Hannah & Sam}

{hello amazing Castle episode}

{hello late night reading}

{hello early alarm}

{hello sweet bed}

{hello monday}

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This post was inspired by the one and only Lisa Leonard. If you'd like to take part in this blogging meme, make sure to give credit where credit is due. Don't forget to link up in Lisa's comments as well! 

such a bad blogger am i

This is sad. I'm so out of the blogging loop I can't even think of a catchy post title.

I might as well lower you reader's expectations because it seems like I can only post about once a week now. Now, that's not my intention, but I hate to get your hopes up for nothing. Maybe you'll be pleasantly surprised to see more than one post per week in your dashboard? I certainly hope so.

Happy Monday readers...or should I say happy weekly update day? It's up to the people to decide.

water's weekend

After STORM last Friday, we got up bright & early, packed the car and grabbed breakfast before hitting the road to go visit 2/3s of Dad's siblings in Fuquay-Varina. It was a surprise trip; Clark & I only found out a couple days before we were going. I literally jumped up & down because I was just SO EXCITED. I love all my cousins but since Brock, Garrision, and Quinn live close {and we're close in age}, we have a special bond with those crazy kids.

The view was AMAZING up there! The closer we got to F-V, the more color the trees had and I was snapping pictures left & right because I knew that we wouldn't have much of a leaf turnout {the hurricane either stripped the trees of the leaves or confused them. the pear tree started blooming in the middle of Sept! crazy}. God amazes me with His gorgeous creation.

A tradition that always takes place on our roadtrips: a breakfast stop at Mickey D's. I satisfied my biscuit craving and even got a hashbrown to go with it. And then there was the hot chocolate...I was in heaven. And   we hadn't even made it outta our own county!

Coffee cup bokeh. OH YEAH. 

 Dad: "So when do you think you want to drive up here?" 
Me: "Oh, I was thinking about NYE."
Dad: ::nods head:: "Sounds good."


I think I'm the designated driver for our annual trip to stay with the Waters. Hold me.

Almost there! 

 Biscuits were consumed, pictures of the scenery were taken, and our special playlist on Dad's iPod was on repeat. We could've turned around & headed straight back home and I would've been perfectly content, but the fun was just about to begin!

We drove up the driveway to see Brock cleaning off the go-kart & everyone else staying inside where it was a little warmer. Once we were unpacked, we geared up to go to the first soccer game of the afternoon, which was Garrison's. But first, there were grits involved. Aunt Michelle makes the BEST grits period.

With my bellah full of cheesy grits goodness, we headed off to soccer game numero uno: Garrsion's. If I though that the scenery was beautiful on the way UP to FV, it was amazing up there. Take a look...

See?! It made me happy because I had my camera there to photograph it but sad because I knew that ENC wouldn't have this {the hurricane stripped most the leaves off & completely confused the trees cycle. we had a pear tree blooming in Sept. crazy}.

I kinda sorta LOVE this photo. 

Note the Washington Redskins shirt. We all sported our fave teams colors...Dad & Brock with the Skins, Aunt Michelle & me with the Packers and Clark with his beloved Bengals. 

Nice faces, dude. 

Btwn halves the boys played football. Typical of any Waters/Lyons gathering. 

At first I thought Garrsion was a little too into the game...but then I realized some of those boys could care less if they won and Garrsion seemed intense compared to them when he was really just being, well...normal! He played GREAT and if I remember right, they won. Way to go, buddy!

Unfocused but cool. I wish I could say I planned that but alas, I'm not that good of a photog. 

There was the.cutest.baby beside us who just learned to sit up on his own...it was so cute to watch he get all excited about sitting then topple over and catch himself {or his parents caught him}

After Garrison's game we trekked back to the house long enough for the boys to ride the gokart for a few minutes in the tobacco field behind their house. After a walk in which Quinn confessed that if she had the option to trade her uber-special rocks {rocks that you wouldn't trade ANYTHING for, duh; they are pictured below} for anything Justin Bieber, she would. It was too funny...I almost busted a gut trying not to laugh at her because she was dead serious. Aunt AM & Uncle Tyler are proud parents for sure ;)

We were totally in for a shock at Brock's game. First off, the temperature. It was considerably colder. Like, really. I zipped myself in Aunt Ann Marie's North Face jacket because all I had was a fancy pea coat for church the next day. Nice, SA.

Second, it was INTENSE. I'm not lying! There was the goalie for the opposing team who was so annoying he got hilarious to me by the end of the game. Yelling out instructions for the team like he was the coach and making a big deal when he kicked the ball {he claimed he hurt himself one time}. And the best part? He was supposed to be under 15 but he was sporting a full beard. A FULL BEARD! Wow.

Also, there was his dude that thought he was all that and a bag of chips & made show about getting knocked down and scratched on his back. I didn't see it but he ended up getting a red card {or getting kicked outta the game} after he cussed the coach out. Ah, the drama.

Brock's team ended up losing but it was a GREAT game! Good job & effort, Brock!

Hand on the hip...I think he means business. 

Remember how cold I said it was?! This was Garrsion when the sun was setting...

.
..he's crazy but we love him.

Granddog London came with us! 

After we had thawed out {OK, it was only me. I can't handle cold well}, dinner prep was under way {pictured below} and we watched ECU win the Navy game even though they didn't really win. It was a win off of a horribly called touchdown, so not a win in my book. Still love my Pirates though! Watching it outside on their screened in porch with the smell of burgers wafting through the air made up for the so called "win".

I went upstairs at one point and found the guys playing a messed up game of Madden '12...they purposefully made bad plays so they would drop the players ratings down. It was kinda funny to watch them, actually. At one point they had a kicker as quarterback!

CLASSIC Garrison face. Cracks me up. 

We finished the night with Gran Jan's homemade apple pie {amazing, BTW}, the Ballad of Ricky Bobby {we're classy like that. also, it's the most pointless movie ever}, and showers. It was a good night.

We woke up, threw on clothes, ate breakfast & loaded up. But! Not before I got a picture of the Waters all dressed up in their Redskins apparely {they got tix to the Skins vs Panthers game that day}...

It was an AMAZING weekend, ya'll. I love my family so much & writing this post makes me miss all the gokart antics, belly laughs, and football scrimmages. Can't wait for New Year's guys!

STORM 2011

Last Friday Word of Life had one of the two main events of the year: STORM. It was so amazing to say the least. The whole premise is to bring our unsaved friends to a meeting...without really saying it was a Christian gathering. No, we didn't LIE to them! We told them that there were going to be games {true}, singing {true; it was WOL praise songs}, and a speaker {also true; Tom Phillips delivered a great message}. And there was 50 lbs of ice cream involved for after the speaker. 

Once we ate & had watched THE MOST cheesiest intro video to everything you needed to know about STORM, it was off to find a driver and go pick up your friends you had been praying about asking to come.

sign-in table. 

Margaret Katherine, Sam & Jack {camp friends}, and I stayed behind since we didn't have anyone to go pick up so we got to hang out with Rekindled and watch them set up.

Kinda loving the effect my pictures get when I lay my camera on the floor and snap away. What do you think?

I also took pictures of my crazy friends.

Say HI Rachel! 

MK and Emmylou. Are they scared of me & my camera? Methinks so. 

Rachel named her pet monkey after me. I was honored.

Blog readers, meet Jack. He's not very photogenic {as you can see}...I'm not sure our friendship will last. Kidding, kidding. He steals my camera every now and then so at least he's not totally allergic to the sound the shutter makes. Most of my pictures of him turn out like this...

...but sometimes I catch him being goofy just like the guy he is... 

..and sometimes I get his brother to bully him into taking a semi-decent picture of him with his "sister"...

This pictures does not do either of them justice but it's the best I have of 'em. 

Told ya we had games!

I love how Lauren and her friend matched. I also love how beautiful they are! 

This was the sweetest thing...this guy had to be, like, 17 and he picked the littlest guy to play air hockey with. Adorable. 

More people! 

I stink at cornhole...just ask Jack. Thus, I took pictures instead of actually playing it. I think everyone was glad I decided to do that.

SO MANY PEOPLE. Ok, so there probably weren't as many people there as I though there were. But still, lots of people. 

I have no clue who these people are but I thought it was too great a photo op to pass up.

I think it was at this point that MK grabbed me & Erika saying we were going to pick up one of her friends. As in, 10 mins before it was supposed to start. Sure, we were late getting back but it was totally worth it.

The ensemble was AMAZING guys! Like, really amazing. I sang my heart out and I'm pretty sure Erika's ears were bleeding from listening to me. I'm a bad singer like that.

See?! There was ice cream. We're not lying.

Catherine & Kaley. 

Darcy, MK's friend that we ran out to get. She's awesome. 

photo by Jack.

She licked the bowl when no one else had the confidence too. 

PHOTO FAIL by Jack.

Me and my bestie {photo by Jack}

Next up? Rengeration. Get ready guys because it's gonna be AWESOME.