August: Wrapping Up a Memorable Summer

August was another fun, busy month!  It was great wrap to an eventful summer of beach trips, buying our first house and getting settled in, and lots of memories with friends and family.

• Day in Senoia - some family came into town to visit and go see where The Walking Dead is filmed in Senoia.  We had fun walking through downtown Senoia, going to the shops and eating at Redneck Gourmet.  I don't watch The Walking Dead but it was neat to see the fake set-ups they had, fake city names, and the grass grown up so the town could look run down for the show.  I even found a pear painting that is perfect for the sitting room in our kitchen!

• Last Day in Waumba Land - Kevin and I wrapped up our 4 years serving in Waumba Land on August 5th.  We had been with this class since they were 2 year olds, and now they are 5 and this was their last day of Waumba Land too!  They are now big kids in UpStreet.  We had a fun little graduation ceremony in our class, complete with graduation caps and class pictures.  It has been an amazing experience and such a big part of our lives.  We loved the relationships we formed with the kids, and with the parents.  I hope we can continue to stay in touch with some and check in on them from time to time!  Currently praying on where we should serve next (and taking a little break :) )

My small group :)

 

 

• Dinner with Jennifer and Chip – Jennifer and Chip recently moved from Alexandria to Augusta so they much closer now!  They were in the Atlanta area to see family so the following Tuesday we met up with them for dinner at Cheesecake Factory.   We also got to meet baby Julia!
• Thank You Dinner for our Movers - The 2nd Friday in August we had Zack & Katie and Colin, Kirby, & Blevin over for dinner as a thank you to Zack and Colin for helping us move!  We so appreciated their help and had a great time having them over for dinner.  Kevin had been wanting to make a "Country Captain" dish after my aunt made it when we visited Alabama.  He did a great job with it - it was delicious!

• Kevin Movie w/ Guys; Me Dinner w/ Rachel – The next day (Saturday) Kevin went to see Bourne Legacy with his friends and I got my hair cut and had an impromptu dinner with Rachel!  So fun that she lives here now.  We ate at Carroll Street Café in Cabbagetown, right down the street from where Rachel and Jason are looking to build a house!
• Goodbye Parties – The following Friday we went to Taco Mac in Dunwoody right after work for Taylor’s going away party.  Hope he’s loving Boston!  Then we went from there to The Porter for dinner with Josh, Brianna, and Isaac for Blair’s last shift before she moved to Seattle!  We love The Porter!

• Stevie & Chris Visit – Stevie and Chris were our second overnight house guests!  They came up from Augusta and we went to the Braves Game with Amanda and Craig.  We bought some cheesecake balls from Alpine’s (right up mine and Stevie's alley!) and then headed to the game.  Right when we pulled in to the parking lot, we noticed my car was overheating.  We parked and had a great time at the game, hoping that afterwards we could pour some water in it and try to make it home and take it to the shop the next day.  That didn’t work!  We parked in a nicer neighborhood near the stadium and Amanda and Craig had to come pick us up and take us home :(  Thanks guys!  The story continues though…

• Meet Baby Chip – The next morning we made a big breakfast for Stevie and Chris and then we headed down to Macon to go meet baby Chip!  He was adorable and we loved hearing the story of his arrival from Curt’s perspective!  We left in time to have some daylight once we got back to my car that was still near the stadium.  We put some antifreeze in it and Kevin drove my car while I drove his car behind him.  We made it all the way to 400 and then it started overheating!  We called a tow truck through my insurance and it took about 1 ½ hours for it to get there.  Kevin and I tried to make the best of it and had fun chatting in his car while waiting.  Well about an hour into waiting we realized we had run his car battery dead!!  We figured the tow truck guy would be able to jump us off but turns out he couldn’t, so after my car was towed we had to wait another hour for someone to come jump us off!  We got home around midnight from what was the most ridiculous night ever.

• Celebrate Dad’s Birthday – Kevin and I went down to Newnan to celebrate Dad’s birthday on the last Saturday of August.  Rick & Petti and Mrs. Jane & Bob came over and Mom cooked a great dinner!  Mom surprised Dad with Derek Trucks tickets at Chastain for the next day!
• Blair’s going away party in Newnan – Blair’s family got together the next day to say goodbye to Blair and Rich before the move to Seattle.  Always enjoy visiting with the Farmers!  Good luck to you Blair - I think Seattle will be perfect for you :)

• Derek Trucks concert – We were on our way back up to Alpharetta after we left the Farmers’ house when Rachel called me and said she & Jason had tickets to see Derek Trucks but Jason had injured his neck that weekend and couldn’t go anymore.  We hated that Jason got hurt but were so glad that we got to go!  We stopped by their apartment to get the tickets, ran up to our house to get my parents tickets (we had bought them earlier that week and forgot to bring them to Newnan), grabbed some wine and Zaxby’s for dinner and headed to Chastain! 

 

Had never sat in the lawn at Chastain - actually kinda enjoyed it!

Mom and Dad's seats were a little better than ours :)  We moved down  and got to see the last few songs up close!

Mom got some great up-close shots!

Happy July

July was a busy, fun month!  Lots of time with friends, a couple work trips, and a couple days off of work to get settled into our house.  Here are the highlights:

• Dees Family Reunion – We kicked off the month with a trip to Sylacauga, AL for the Dees Family Reunion.  I had never been to one of these (and I think it’s been a while since they had one) so it was fun to meet some family I hadn’t met (or had met when I was so young I don’t remember!). 

 

• 4^th of July – We saw signs in our neighborhood for a 4^th of July parade starting at the club house at 9:45.  Feeling a little nervous, we decided to check it out!  We had a good time seeing all of the kids who were super festive, cheering them on as they followed the fire truck around the neighborhood in their decked-out bicycles and such, and we got to meet some neighbors.  Having a dog or a kid with us would have definitely made us feel a little more in place though, haha.  Then Maggie came up and we went to Kevin’s coworker’s France and his fiancé’s new house in Peachtree Battle for a little cookout.  Then we headed over to our friends Rick and Macy’s condo right by Lenox.  They are on the 29^th floor (I think?) so the Lenox fireworks were literally right in front of our faces!

• Tyler and Julie in Town – Tyler and Julie were in town from Richmond, VA so we went down to Taco Mac in Newnan to see them after work on Thursday.   Mine and Tyler’s parents meet with a bunch of other friends for “Beer Club” on Thursdays at Taco Mac so the whole crew was there, and the Purkey’s came too!

• Schnetzer’s Wedding – We had a great time in Athens celebrating the marriage of Ryan and Jessie Schnetzer!

• Celebrate Mom’s Birthday – Mom and Dad came up for dinner the following Friday and we celebrated Mom’s birthday and Dad’s new job opportunities.  Dad had just returned from a fishing trip so we enjoyed the Mahi Mahi (or Maui Maui as Mom started calling it when we went to Maui) that he caught!  It was one of our first dinners (with guests) to enjoy on the back porch, and many more have followed!
• Atlanta Street Food Festival – We were looking for something to do one Saturday and stumbled upon this.  The lines for the food weren’t really worth it, but once the band played “Wobble Baby” and women of all ages rushed out to dance, I was glad we went!

• Maggie’s Class Reunion/Celebrate Lauren’s Birthday – Maggie and her friend Katie and Katie’s husband Jessie came in town for their class reunion in Buckhead and they stayed with us.  They were our first overnight house guests!  It worked out perfectly because we dropped them off at their class reunion in Buckhead, then went to Ashley’s place in Buckhead to meet up with Ashley, Lauren, Casey, Darly, and Bianca.  Kevin came in a joined us for a girly drink and to hold Bella, and then he hung out with Kyle while we went to Barcelona to celebrate Ashley’s birthday.  We had a great dinner and then went over to Victory – where I ran into Brianna and Josh!  I don’t think we’ve ever run into each other “out” at the same place, haha!  We also enjoyed Jack and Coke slushies here which were super fun!  Kevin picked up Maggie, Katie and Jessie and joined us at Victory, and then we headed home from a fun-filled night!

• Dinner with Brittany – Brittany came into town from California so it was fun to get to see her!  We had dinner at Sip about a mile from our house and then she came by to see the house.
• Mom and Petti Visit – Mom had a Dr. appointment in Marietta and asked Petti if she wanted to ride with her and come see our house.  I was glad Petti was coming because she has great opinions on decorating (and isn’t afraid to give it J ) and she loves color just like I do.  I was not prepared for the amount of shopping Petti was up for though haha!  We went to about 10 different stores and got home around 9:45.  We got some great stuff for the back porch and I was so excited with how it all came together!
• Roger Was Born! – Roger was born on July 27^th and it felt like we were being told that we were getting a baby!  We were very excited to know that we would be getting a little boy German Shepherd from this litter.
• Rachel and Jason over for dinner – Rachel and Jason moved from Chattanooga to Atlanta this summer so we were excited to have them over for dinner the last Friday of July!  The weather was great to enjoy dinner on our newly decorated back porch!

• Hosted Not-Shower for Raimo – On Saturday we had Raimo and Curt, Amanda and Craig, and Andrea up to celebrate the coming of baby Chip (or RCB3, haha)!  The boys grilled out while the girls caught up, and we had a yummy dinner and watched Raimo and Curt open presents on our back porch!

• Brianna and Josh over for dinner – Brianna and Josh and Isaac came up Sunday afternoon and we grilled out again – what a fun filled weekend!