The Last of Us

I'd like to formally introduce you to someone....

His name is Bouje and well, he's everything we're not.  No, I haven't lost my mind.  I've just returned from a fabulous wedding weekend with this little character and thought it was about time for you guys to hear his story.  Bouje started when I was in high school (probably junior or senior year?).  I was with some church friends at a white elephant gift party and my friend, Lauren received an actual white elephant.  For some reason, she was feeling destructive and decided to intentionally crack off his ear and trunk on the table (Lauren...you may want to talk to someone about those tendencies).  And then, Bouje looked like this -

Okay, okay - he doesn't glow - the picture was staged for effect.  He really looks like this:

Ever since, he's been an integral part of my core group of friends - in high school, we traded him off at church each week and whenever one of us was going on a trip we'd make sure Bouje got to go.  This guy has seen some pretty incredible places and if we'd had digital cameras back then (it was the dark ages), I'd love to show you pics of him in California, Vegas, Europe, etc - maybe I'll scan some in one day. 

When we all went to college, we had a mini ceremony and each made our own miniature bouje from some soap shaped like an elephant.  Okay, we may have taken it a little far back then - we didn't keep up with those, but Bouje has stayed around.  We now have a tradition that as each of the "original" 6 get married, the spouse becomes an official Bouje member and must take their portrait with the rest of our group and they get to hold Bouje in the picture.  By the way, I must really love you guys that I'm willing to share some of these horrible pictures of me for the entire world wide web to see....

Ross & Sally's weddding (2006)

Tim & I's wedding (2007)

Chris & Kristine's wedding (2007) - I'm holding my arm out for Tim!

Lauren & Patrick's wedding (2009) 

Matt & Lindsey's wedding (2011) 

And last, but certainly not least....

Pam & Troy's wedding (2012)

As of the past year, we've affectionately named those who married into Bouje to be the "Enhancements."  We've also picked up some Bouje babies along the way  :)

To me, he's now come to represent an amazing group of friends who feel more like family...everytime I am around them, it just feels like coming home.  This weekend was no different.  Troy is such a welcome "enhancement!"  If you're wondering about the title of this post, you need a little bit of background.  You see, Troy is an incredibly talented voice over actor.  Allen (Pam's dad, my stepdad) - so cleverly worked the title of one of Troy's upcoming game roles into his speech at the wedding - since Pam and Troy round out the final Bouje wedding, this really represents "The Last of Us."

We always also like to incorporate Bouje into the ceremony in some sneaky way....

See Bouje hiding in the church during Lindsey's wedding ceremony??

 For Tim & I's wedding, Lauren and Chris (who are both amazing singers), sang a song from our old church choir days and held him during their performance.  For Pam's, our nephew Jackson who was the ring bearer carried Bouje down the aisle with Troy's ring tied on him!  :)  I'm telling you, Bouje is a sneaky little thing...

I know I owe a looooooooong recap of the last few months which have been quite a whirlwind, but for now, I'll leave you with a few Bouje pics from over the years:

Original Bouje Girls - Lauren, Lindsey, Pam & I

Original Bouje with Matt & Linds at their wedding

All six Bouje girls - Lauren, Kristine, Lindsey, Pam, me & Sal

Lindsey, Bouje & I at my wedding shower

We can always crack each other up...

In other great news - Bouje is now residing at the Snider residence!!!  We have passed him around a few times the past few years and now he's making home in the great state of Alabama.  :)

Miscellaneous Monday

I promise I'm going to get better at updating this thing...I'm WAY behind - so far, you've missed a wedding, an engagement party, a Dallas trip and our 5th anniversary!  I'll catch you up soon!  :)

I've also realized how much better my memory is when I blog about something - this really has turned into my own little scrapbook.  Something about writing it down and then being able to recall from the pictures. 

Now, to hold you over in the meantime a few miscellaneous thoughts.

1.  I cleaned out my attic a couple of weekends ago.  Actually, that's probably giving myself a little too much credit.  I started cleaning out my attic a couple of weekends ago.  It's amazing what all I've saved over the years...examples: 

Exhibit A - My very first driver's license.  I had originally posted this on Instagram & Facebook, but thanks to my dad for reminding me to be careful about putting private info out there!!!

Exhibit B - My Wrangler boots...



For those of you not from the lovely state originally, this is what they looked like in action (must be blury because we were moving so quick):



Exhibit C:  Various old work paraphernlia:

2.  Poll Question:  I love my iPad...like close to the same level as I love chocolate...BUT Tim and I just booked a big beach vacation and the only thing that drives me crazy is not being able to read on it outside (yes I know - very first world problem of me).  I'm thinking about splurging for a Kindle, but Tim thinks I'm nuts to have two eReaders.  I know it would sync my spot between a Kindle and my iPad - I do it now to read on my phone sometimes.  And even though it may seem silly, my dream vacation is parking myself under the sun with a good book and I feel like there have been several opportunities where I've not had anything to read b/c I stopped going to the library (download books for free!) and my iPad was too hard to read.  Any body else use both?  Other suggestions???   

I think Tim should have known I'd be a two eReader kind of girl....this is what he bought me for Valentine's day:

3.  Speaking of books, if you were a fan of the Hunger Games, you really should read Divergent by Veronica Roth.  I read book 2 of the series this weekend and couldn't put it down.

Book 2 - Insurgent

Definitely a quick, easy read which are my #1 and #2 criteria for summer books!  As a quick plot summary - the book is based in the future and the world has been divided into factions based on what each of the people value.  Candor (honesty), Dauntless (bravery), Abnegation (selflessness), Erudite (intellegence), Amity (peace).  It is interesting to think about and see how although each of the values are important, there can also be too much of a good thing.  Makes you think, but not TOO hard.  I probably would put myself with the Erudite - too bad they're pretty much the villains in this series!  Now, I have to wait forever for Book 3 to come out.

4.  Also, speaking of vacations, I think I'm completely spoiled this year!!!  Here are a few of the places I'm looking forward to in the next few months......

I cannot wait!!!!

Hope everyone has a great holiday!!!

Way Back Wednesday - Musical Edition

So, this morning I decided I would pull out my old CD collection and have a real life Way Back Wednesday!

Anyone else remember the days of Napster and CD burning?  I would print off labels accoring to category of music and there was nothing more exciting than having a new CD!

I've just broken into the Country section for now, no judging my high school taste in music  :)  (Yikes...Britney Spears AND Mandy Moore..not sure how those found their way into this section)  It's amazing to me how our brains remember song lyrics...I popped in the first country CD and not only could I still sing all the words, I actually started singing the next song on the CD before it even played.

So, for you Birmingham folks...if you see me driving around the next few days and I appear to either be shouting or just plain jamming out - do me a favor and just keep driving!

Way Back Wednesday - Ghosts of Christmas Past - Part 3 (2009 & 2010)

Well, ONE last Wednesday before Christmas!  Time for the last Way Back Wednesday recap post - to recap the past two Christmases!

2009 - In 2009, Tim and I went to Nebraska again for Christmas - and boy, was it COOOOOLLLLLD!  They ended up having the largest blizzard in about 20 years!!  The snow literally had drifts that were taller than the truck we were driving in.  It was unbelievable, especially for this girl who's been in a Southern climate for most all of the Christmases I can remember.  It was definitely a white Christmas to remember.  It messed with our travel plans a bit as some roads were closed and we lost power, but we also got a lot of fun playing in the snow!!!

Yup, that's me on the ground - not used to navigating in the snow - fell down off the drift!

Terrible pic of me, but one of the only ones I took this year, so needed to post it...brrrrr!

After we shoveled snow and did a little sledding!  Me and Tim's sister Shae

I did get to steal Landon for a day this trip - Lisa had to work and the boys (Tim &  Nate) were off hunting, so Landon and I headed to the play place and had a fun day just the two of us!

2010 - In 2010, it was back to Dallas for Christmas and we definitely did our share our celebrating - first to Fort Worth to celebrate with Renee's side of the family, Wilshire for the Christmas Eve service, Jonathan and Mary Beth's for Christmas morning/brunch and back to my Dad and Renee's that evening for more festivities!

Look at all those presents!!  Celebrating at Millie's house - I'm pretty sure we had her fried chicken!

I'm sure Hannah would love me for this pic, but she'd just had surgery. 

Christmas Eve - Moms and Pops came in town too



Proving you're never too old for Christmas jammies....wow.



More gift exchanging!

 Hope you've all gotten your Christmas shopping done - wishing you and your families a very Merry Christmas!!!

Way Back Wednesday - Ghosts of Christmas Past - Part 2 - 2007 & 2008

Well, only one day late - let's just pretend this was posted yesterday...

It's that time again....Way Back Wednesday time!

In keeping with the holiday tradition, here are a few more ghosts of Christmas Past...

2007 - Tim and I's first married Christmas!  We started our celebration with my Dad and Renee coming to Birmingham a few days before Christmas to visit Tim, Rhett & I.

Tim modeling his gift

Dad & Renee in our apartment - Tim & I's first time to host a holiday!

Opening gifts

Then, Tim & I headed to Nebraska for more celebrating - my first Christmas with the Snider/Suchan/Graff clans and they welcomed me with open arms!

Mike, Jody, Tim, me, Amber

The whole crew!

Sad to admit I didn't get any pics in what I affectionately like to call P-town (Palmyra, Nebraska), but we did also have Christmas with Dan, Teresa and Shae there!  This is also the very first time Tim & I got to meet our godson, Landon (Nate & Lisa's son)!!  Isn't he the cutest? 

1 month old - December 2007

2008 - My mom and Allen have a house in Naples, Florida, so for this year, Rhett, Ryan, Pam, Tim & I were all able to come to celebrate Christmas - we even had Christmas morning festivities outside on their back porch - what a different experience!  It was such beautiful weather. 

This is the life!

Pam getting in on the action with the singer at the restaurant - also love Ryan in the background

Pam, Ryan, Rhett - siblings!

And there you have it...now, can you believe there's only ONE MORE wednesday before Christmas???

Way Back Wednesday - Ghosts of Christmas Past

So, Alison, one of my friends from Camp Ozark back in the day generally does a post each Wednesday titled "Way Back Wednesday" to look back at old times.  Her pictures are usually funny or sometimes sweet, but either way I always enjoy it.  Plus, I know it can sometimes seem like no one out there is reading - this whole blogging thing can often feel like a one-way street so I thought I'd let her know I liked it!  Here's a link to her blog:

By the way - I'm pretty proud of figuring out how to add that button (not that it was too difficult, I'm just still learning how this whole blog world works).  Anyone want to explain to me what a link party is???

And of course, I thought I'd add some of my own Way Back Wednesday pics - and since its that time of year, I thought I'd do some old Christmas pics.  Including today, there are only THREE Wednesdays left until Christmas (scary thought since we haven't done our Christmas shopping yet!) so I thought today I'd do pre-marriage/childhood photos today and then our most recent Christmases the next two weeks.  Most of these pics are pre-digital age - I have a few pics scanned in prior ones that people have sent me before I got my digital camera for various projects that I've done - enjoy!  :)



Memphis - I love Megan (bottom right) and Ryan's (next to Moms) expressions...Moms sure knows how to excited everyone!



Another Christmas in Memphis - Clarissa wore the shirt I was wearing on Clarissa explains it all, I totally thought I was so cool!

Apparently this is '96...I think this may have been in my "too cool for school" phase

Christmas in Dallas - not sure the year, but Will and Katie look so cute!!

I believe this was our cousin dance to "Keathley Pies for this Bunch" (lyrics written to tune of "Sugar Pie Honey Bunch" - don't ask how we started a tradition where the cousins are required to do a performance?!  Luckily we've gotten out of it the past few years...

Probably an encore performance..



Fort Worth - Denise & I



I made this for Dad & Renee...  Still want to beat Renee in Words with Friends!  I think she cheats :)

Brothers

Christmas in Alabama

 

Have to have matching jammies...thanks Mom, we know its a hassle but we still love this tradition!



Fort Worth Christmas - Enjoying the new karoke machine- my apologies to all of you who had to listen!



Another year, different pajamas!



Another Moms and Pops game - Deal or No Deal!  This was one of my favs - along with the year they set up a full game of "Who Wants to be a Millionare" with family trivia (complete with lifelines and all!)

Merry Christmas!