Chocolate Fountain

My friend, Leslie and brother, Josh came over the other night to share something really fun with us. They brought a chocolate fountain and practically everything imaginable to dip in it. To dip, we had: pinapple (the favorite of the night), strawberries, yellow cake, pretzels, marshmellows dipped in crushed oreos, and bananas. It was a fun time spent together. I love it when my brother comes over. We always have a great time together.

Well, it's Labor day weekend. This time last year according to a previous post, we were all out on the lake camping. Such a bummer that weren't that smart this year! John is working all weekend which means I get to take care of some serious Walmart shopping and cooking! Yes! I haven't cooked all week and I get to cook a LOT this weekend! For no occasion really, I just want to! So I sat down this morning and planned out all dinners for the next several days!

John and I want to thank everyone for the prayers for our dear friends Sam and Holly. We ask that you most importantly continue to pray for them now more than ever as they deal with their loss. Sam and Holly, we share your pain with you through this time.

Mr. Sam

John and I got a phone call this morning telling us something that we weren't ready to hear. Our best friends Holly and Sam's dad, Mr. Sam passed away early this morning. He had fought pancreatic cancer since June. This morning he may have left us all, but now joins our great Savior in no pain at all. He was employed at Pleasant View Christian at one time and I was truly amazed at what I saw when I pulled into school this afternoon. They had their flags at half mass for him with a message on the sign saying "Pray for the Shrewsbury family" How moving! What a blessing to have such an impact on so many people! I wanted to share what they posted on the schools website about sweet Mr. Sam.
"Sadness on Earth . . . Rejoicing in Heaven!!
Pleasant View Christian School has lost a dear friend.
Mr. Sam Shrewsbury went home to be with his Lord this morning. With the love and care of his devoted family, he fought a courageous battle against pancreatic cancer. The cancer may have taken his physical body but it could not take his spirit. His love for his family was what kept him going through his last days on earth. He was able to attend Samuel and Holly's wedding on August 9th. Precious memories of that day will always be with his family and friends.
Sam and Terri Shrewsbury returned to Middle Tennessee from North Carolina during the summer of 1988. He joined the PVCS family that fall as a teacher in the middle school. He also served as the school administrator from 1990-1992.
Mr. Shrewsbury was loved and respected by all who knew him. He was very compassionate when it came to dealing with the students and their families. He helped make PVCS a success by way of his good rapport with students and their parents. They knew he was willing to listen.
He had a special talent in dealing with the faculty, staff, and students here at PVCS even under stressful situations. He strove to improve the academic and spiritual quality of the students. He wanted them to be the best they could be not only in their grades, but also (and most importantly) for the Lord.
In August of 1972, Mr. Shrewsbury left his home in Odd, West Virginia, to attend Free Will Baptist Bible College in Nashville. Although he never dreamed that he would touch so many hearts and lives, God knew what was in store for him.
On Wednesday morning, August 27, 2008, Samuel Dean Shrewsbury, Sr., was welcomed home at Heaven's Gate."
"Well done, thy good and faithful servant."
Anderson & Garrett Funeral Home
3501 Old Clarksville Pike
Joelton, TN 37080
(615) 876-2968
Shrewsbury's, John and I love you so much and are thinking of your during this time.

Back To School

Today was my first day of classes of my senior year! I can't believe I have made it this far. God has certainly carried me all the way through these past years. This semester will be different from all the others. It's the first semester that will not be focused on music and it will be extremely different for me. This time last year we were counting down the days to a labor day weekend with Sam and Holly. This is one amazing thing that we did on that trip! John and I ask you all to pray for Sam and Holly this week.

Party Time!

Tonight was John's birthday party. The big close to his big birthday week! We both agreed that it was a great time! We had wonderful hot dogs, mac and cheese, baked beans, pasta salad, carmel pie, and golf cupcakes to top off the theme of course! The food was all so amazing and the company was perfect! John left for a while so April and I could decorate. Big thanks to the Big Sis for helping out there! I couldn't have done it without her! John got a lot of great gifts from his party! He got a putter, new shoes for work, tool set, lots of golf balls, and a golf gift card to Sycamore. Again, the theme was enjoyed by all. We truly are blessed to have a wonderful family that lives close to get together and enjoy one anothers company. Tonight was especially so special to me because it was the first time we have ever had anything this big at our home. It made me feel very good to have people feel comfortable to be here in our home. I believe that it is moments like tonight that make a house into a home. Thank you so much for all that you all did to make this night so special for me and John.

Please pray for both of us as a family- School for me starts tomorrow. This is going to be a whole new thing to learn together as a family.

Happy Birthday John

Today is John's birthday! Seeing as the sweet hubbie had to work on his birthday, he decided yesterday was his birthday instead! I believe his exact words when we woke up yesterday were "Let's celebrate my birthday today-Today is now my birthday" ok. So I told him to hold tight and I then put my behind into gear and decked out our kitchen and wrapped his gift (all while the big one was still on its way via UPS). So we enjoyed opening gifts and we finished up his 7 days of things that I love about him. I got him a Taylor Made golf glove and a Taylor Made driver (that still hadn't arrived at this point). Being the creative person that I am, I had to act quick about the driver. So I pulled up the shipping status on my laptop and had it on the table so he could see it. He was so excited! He couldn't wait for it to get here! We then went in the front yard and hit a few gold balls around with his new glove all while gazing down the road waiting anxiously for UPS. John wanted to do something special for his "birthday day" so I got together a couple of movie tickets and told him to get ready for lunch and a matinee! He was very excited while all very nervous to leave the house knowing his driver would arrive with noone here. So we left and saw Rocker and enjoyed some yummy food together. It was so nice to spend a whole day with him! We really enoyed ourselves. After the movie, we practically speed walked back to the car because he was so anxious to get home to see his other gift. Sure enough once we got there it was right under our carport, safe and sound! He was so excited while he was opening it. He just couldn't wait to see what it looked like. So needless to say, we hit golfballs for a long time, ate dinner, and headed to the ballfield for a double header softball game. After we got home we finished a movie that we had left over from the previous night which John proclaimed "movie night". Movie night was also apart of his birthday week.

This morning (actual birthday) I made his yummy breakfast in bed. Now, the birthday hubbie is at work and I'm left with many things to get accomplished today! 1.clean 2.lunch with 7th grade girls 3.work 4.spend time w/ Boober who will be returning from NYC today. 5.cook birthday dinner for the birthday hubbie.

The girls come tomorrow for us to keep. For my last weekend of official summer, I'd say it's going to be pretty eventful!

Watermelon

My parents came over last night after John and I got settled in after work. They brought a watermelon and we ate it on the front porch. It was very relaxing. Afterwards we, as usual, walked to the horses and fed them a little watermelon treat! I was a bit worried that they may be allergic? But they seemed to really enjoy it! Let me tell you, horses eating watermelon is very gross. But the men enjoyed it while mom and I stood back and took it all in! Afterwards we watched a bit of the olympics while we talked and visited. We had a wonderful visit with them. I love my parents so much! It was great to see them again!

I have a very busy next several days. I'm babysitting some girls overnight at our home. We are having a "movie night" and yes, John will be off so he will be joining in. And honestly, we are both pretty excited about this! All amongst the madness of babysitting we will have to find time to most importantly spend as much time with John as possible Saturday,decorate, cook, and finish off John's birthday party. I'm trying to remain calm here. Those of you who don't know me as well as others need to know that I am one very huge party planner. I believe I get to thank my mom for this one. Let me take you back to my middle school years- every year was themed and each year got better.Events are big and perfect and I love topping everything I do. John has thoroughly enjoyed his birthday week so far! I told him every holiday in this house will be extravegant and I think he is just loving his birthday week so far. Little does the hubbie know that there are even more suprises to come as the week draws to a close! Love you babe!

This time last year, this is what I did for his birthday. Took him to Cheescake Factory, and bought him a lot of clothes and made him a cake. We're doing things a bit different this year!

Also, in the last post I failed to mention the meaning of the title"New Friends". John and I spent time with our new neighbors house. It's nice to have them here because we are the only neighbors who are around the same age.

Dinner And New Friends

Johns family came over tonight for dinner and games. We had beef stew and cornbread with cupcakes for dessert. While John and the guys played bocci ball, Andrea and I went through some yummy cookbooks and made recipe cards for my recipe box. The box is getting pretty full! I just love recipes! Any of our blogger readers please feel free to comment us a recipe here and there that you love. Chances are we will love it too! Another thing we love is spending time with family. John's family is great and we really enjoyed spending time with them tonight.

John and I were looking back at what we were doing this time last year. Take a look! We were getting engaged! And getting a new Jeep of course!

Landscaping

John was off today so we woke up bright and early with a list of things to do together. We first enjoyed our usual morning coffee on the porch.

On a side note, I always set up coffee the night before and set out our coffee cups. If he works it's one polka dotted cup with one to-go cup. On the days he's off they are what we call polka-dotted days! I just love polka dotted coffee cup days! So anyways, we were sitting there and decided to get a new look for our landscaping. We planted our geraniums that were previously in the pots and decided to get some more white geraniums and greenery to pot. We also cleaned out the weeds. It was getting kind of bad. So here are the before and the afters!

I had to work today until 6. When I came home John had cleaned up around outside, and did some cleaning on the inside of the house. So tomorrow all I have to do is laundry! He is just the best. We had a yummy dinner tonight. Steak, mac and cheese, peas, and corn from my brothers garden. Yum-o! He goes back to work tomorrow so I will begin my mission for his birthday party decor. It's going to be amazing!

Nostalgic? Thankful!

Topic of corn husking today was what do you think that really means? So a question to you...what does that mean? John worked today so I spent time with my family. I haven't been there is a long time and I can't even remember the last time I saw my nephews. Today was wonderful. We ate lunch, shucked corn, Bryce and I enjoyed a fun photo shoot, Granny shared fun memories about her and grandaddy, and oh yeah..more corn. We really enjoyed our time together as a family. I love them so much. There was a beautiful sunset today that was greeting me on my way back home and it made me think of several things I am thankful for.

Before I begin on those, let me say that the wedding was beautiful! Holly was beautiful and Sam was so handsome, and everything was perfect for them. It was such a peaceful day!

One: My amazing husband. Here we are in our best friends' wedding. We are so thankful for them.

Two: God. How Big and how great is our God!

Three: My family. Here we all are shucking away. I brushed...worms are disqusting!

Four: My oldest nephew, Bryce. Starting Kindergarten next week and full of energy. My Sunshine, and my pride and joy.

Five: My youngest nephew, Adam. 4 months old today, this precious miracle lights me up everytime he looks at me this way. This picture was her idea!

Six: My Granny. She turned me on to eating corn right out of the shuck today.

Would You Look At That!

It was a deer. Well, not just a deer, about four of them. And all of them were bucks. This amazed my "dear" husband very late last night. So much that I was directed not to speak a word for a few minutes because I could "scare them away". After watching them for a while outside he couldn't get enough so I found him here, looking out our kitchen window. What a sight! Sometimes the things that he does just makes me smile. He makes life so interesting sometimes.

Switching gears, today was my last day of class! It's been a long dreadful, difficult one, so I'm glad it's over. I am, however, extrememly thankful that I took this class. It has helped me in many areas of my life in the present and most certainly for the future.

Also on the radar in the Maholland home- 4 more days till the Claud-Shrewsbury wedding. We are going to pick up the tux tonight then scurry home so I can study for finals and such.

One Last Whirl With The Girls

Last night was a perfect bachelorette party. All the girls met up and began the night be decorating our vehicle. It was transformed into one cool girly expedition. We all piled in and headed to the Old Spaghetti Factory. We all enjoyed some fine Italian and headed to Boundr'y for dessert and fun gifts! Turns out, Eddie George was dining there that evening too! He and his family, we think, were actually right behind us. Our table was amazing! We ate outside in a vined in type room surrounded by huge fire torches. Our table was big and round, enough for us all the fit, and it had a big fire in the middle of it. We were all amazed by the atmosphere! And the dessert was incredible! All in all, we had a wonderful night all together, and I think the Bachelorette was very pleased herself!

A Special Prayer

Today was such a blessing for me. John worked and I got to go back to work! I have been off for over a month because of school and the wedding. It was so nice to see everyone. I enjoy my job. It's such an easy job and working with children blesses me everyday.

Later, I knew Holly needed a wedding break. So we hit the pool and laid out. It was so relaxing. for both of us. We unwound from a long day. Later, Mom and Dad picked me up and we headed to get them all set up with Verizon Wireless. We got the greatest deal. We were all three very excited about how amazing our sales rep was and our deal was incredible. We shopped for the Bride-to-be and ate at Zaxby's for dinner.

Tomorrow is the big weekend before the wedding. My house will be bachelorette central for make-up, party dresses and hair. We will head out looking mighty fabulous tomorrow night! Pictures to come!

As most of you know, Holly and Sam are very special people to me and John. We recently found out that Sam's father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He has fought a great fight and has had many amazing people lifting him and his family in prayers. Tonight, John and I ask you to pray more. We were informed tonight that the cancer is more serious and cemo is not an option anymore. As Christians, we do not know God's plan for anyone's life. But, we do know the power of prayer. Each day is a gift from God. Please pray for the Shrewsbury family.