days go by...

This past week has been a whirlwind. As soon as I thought things would get better, everything got a lot worse!

We put an offer on a house (for the second time) and found out a week later that we were outbid yet again so the search continues. Let me tell you, house buying is a very Stressful thing. If I wasn't getting married to the man of my dreams in 3 months, I would totally live in an apartment for the rest of my life.

Saturday a week ago, I had to give my dog up for adoption. It was a very very very sad day but I had no option. My mom accidentally let him out of the house while I was at the beach and he bit a little boy on a bike. (Most of you know the extremes I've dealt with, with this dog) and since this was my 3rd offense...even though he hasn't bitten before, it was either I get sued and pay a Lot of $$$ for his nasty behavior, or I give him up. I keep telling myself its for the better, especially with Tim and I getting married and one day having children. If he were to bite one of my kids the situation would be way worse. SO...Tim and I have spent the last week mourning our "loss." Tim promised that when we FINALLY get into a house that we can get a new sweet puppy that will be good with kids. The problem with Bandit was that he was a mixed breed, and had some Rot Weiler in him. Rotweiler + Labrador = disastor. Part of him wanted to be sweet and friendly while the other part needed to protect everything around him. He seriously had something wrong upstairs..and it jsut got worse the bigger he got.

Anyways...we're still hunting for homes so keep us in your prayers that we find something soon. We want to get into something before the wedding that way we won't have to worry about getting everything moved in and can just concentrate on us after the wedding.

that's all for now....

4 and a half more months....

Ok so this whole wedding planning thing is seriously harder than it sounds. It seems like everyday there are new things to do and pay for. And our wedding is Seriously cheap compared to others. I honestly don't know how others can afford it. I think our most expensive thing in the wedding is the photographer and that's under $2,000. So even that is a good deal if you ask me. Of course the WHOLE wedding budget is coming from mine and Tim's pockets so that definately plays a role in the pricing department. Anywhoo...I just can't wait to be Brandi Hadden.

On to more important things. Tim and I found a house! We are planning on putting in an offer sometime next week. I'm sooo Excited! I really didn't think this day would ever arrive where we actually found a home we could afford without breaking the bank and actually moving on with the process. Of course, this goes without saying that we still have to make an actual offer, so I can't gaurantee that the house is ours...but it's still exciting. hopefully this time next month we will be moving in! The house is exactly 4 minutes or so from my mom's house and about 10 minutes from Tim's parents house...and that's exactly what we wanted. Plus it's directly across the street from the elementary school Tim and I both went so the school district couldn't get any better. It's a small home...but that's ok. When we walked in, we both immediately fell in love with it. It's 3 bedroom 1 and a half bath and is on half an acre. Which is a Must! Plus it has a nice wooden deck on the back of the house so it's ready for our first barbque! AND the best part, the half bath is where the washer and dryer is located. I was really excited about that. That means that we won't have to worry about lugging in clothes hampers from outside to inside every time we need to wash clothes. And the Half bath is connected to the master bath, so if we have guests over, they can easily access the shower. Seriously..it's perfect for Tim and I. I just can't wait until we find out if it's really going to be ours. I'm so ready to have our own place.

Other than that...everything is going rather well. We decided to move our wedding from the church to outdoors. For more than one reason...not only is it $300 cheaper, but it really suits our personalities. We are definately beach people so that's where we want it to be. I'm super excited about it. It's really going to be more of a barbque with a wedding than anything. Nothing too fancy...just everyone getting together and enjoying the whole idea of growing up together. Plus...Tim and I will be uniting as one in the process.

Week-day blues...

OK...where to start. Seems like weekends when I have tons of stuff to write about, I forget and other weekends I find time somewhere in my schedule to blog. (except for now, I'm at work)
2 weeks ago me and Tim went to Alan Jackson at the wharf! It was so much fun! Tim actually won the tickets on the radio, so they weren't great seats, but he definitely puts on a better show than I was expecting. He has so many hits out that he couldn't even sing all the verses on some of them. And he sang the whole time with no stopping for 2 hours straight. It was great! Anyways...This past weekend, I had to work Friday and Saturday b/c of Monster Trucks :( and Tim worked on the house all weekend totally re-doing my bedroom. And I thought I would have to work Sunday too, but I got a call around 2 saying I could have the day off! That was a great blessing. It gets so tiring working 2 jobs, especially when one of the jobs is around 50-55 hours a week. So instead of work, I met Carrie at my cousins house so we could label invitations for my very first Bridal Shower. I'm so excited!! It's really starting to feel like I'm getting married now that we're really starting to plan. I mean, don't get me wrong It felt real when we got engaged, but 10x more real now! Speaking of weddings, I'm excited about Robbie's wedding this weekend. I've known this boy since we were in elementary school, so it's definitely exciting to see him with the one person God made for him. I love Tiffany to death too, she's such a sweet person! Man there are SOOO many weddings (or planning) going on right now. It's so crazy to see all these people that you've known since teenage years getting hitched. It so surreal to know that we're all growing up and that it's going by so fast. Soon we'll all be having babies and going to our 10 year reunion. Hopefully not in that order seeing as how our 10 year reunion is in less than 4 years from now. ahh!

OK I'm done rambling....have a great week!

HOUSES HOUSES AND MORE HOUSES

So Tim and I went to a first time homebuyers seminar last night and finally got pre-qualified for a house! While it was exciting to finally be getting our "feet wet" it sucks at the same time. We learned last night that we make too much combined to be qualified for the first time homebuyers grant. That sucks!! I told Tim that maybe I should just quit my job and then he could support me, but he didn't like that idea too much. :)

We're still eligible for first time homebuyer loans and what not, but it's so aggrivating that they have all this money out there and we can't get it. Anyways. At least now we know what we can get approved for and what we can afford. So in the next 3-5 months we will be HOMEOWNERS!! yay!!!

going to the chapel!!!

Guess who's getting MARRIED!!!

woohoo!!!! Finally!!! :)

NEW CAR!!!!!!!

I finally got a new car!! wooohooo!!! It's beautiful!! I have been looking for the past 6 months and finally found one that I LOVE and can actually afford!

It's a 2003 Nissan Maxima! [I haven't taken any of my own pictures yet but here are the dealers pictures =) ]

I'm just sooo stinkin excited, I just want to drive it all day long!

NEW JOB!!!

yep....You're now looking at the Supervisor of Ticket Sales for the Pensacola Civic Center.
woohoo!! and I start 1 week from tomorrow.

yay!!

Vacation Bible School is over!!! PRAISE THE LORD!!!

hot summer days

Man...This month is flying by at a rapid pace. I know it's only the 12th and to some people it may feel different. But it seems like for me I don't have enough time to get stuff done!!

Let's see where to start:

June 30th was Heathers wedding! yay!!! She was a very beautiful bride and was just so excited when they announced Mr and Mrs Rhett Summerford. SO cute! ((definately makes me more impatient for my big day))
After the wedding we went to the reception for a little and then me and Tim met up with some friends of mine from Grade School and we had dinner with her and her husband. It was so much fun! We ended up going over to their house after and hanging out. I was worried that we wouldn't have much to say after not talking for so many years. But it was like nothing had changed. I'm so blessed to have this girl and her family back into my life.


July 1st was my first big meeting for Vacation Bible School. I was sooo stressed out about the whole thing all morning. I was literrally almost in tears. But during the service I said a quick prayer for God to just get me through the meeting and it seemed to work. I was as cool as a cucumber and simply floated through the meeting! Afterwards, Tim was telling me how great I did and he said that him and God had a one on one during church b/c he could tell how stressed I was. He is just the sweetest boy and I'm so lucky to have him!!

July 3rd was the Montgomery Gentry Concert. Fun FUN FUn!!! We all had such a great time!! From the beginning of Rhett Akins and only knowing 1 song "That ain't my Truck" but then realizing that we knew "Don't get me started" and others , Tracy Lawrence and singing at the top of our lungs "Paint me a Birmingham" and "Find out who your Friends are", and then Montgomey Gentry with "Some People Change", "She don't tell me too", "Lucky Man", "Gone" and many many more!!! We ended up having seats on the 3rd row from the stage so that made it all the more fun!!





July 4th was of course THE 4th! Me and Tim hosted a little bar-b-que at our house and had a couple friends over. Tim made some killer ribs and I made my famous potato Salad. It was yummy!! Then me and Tim rode downtown and found a cozy spot with some of his friends and watched the fireworks with a bottle of wine. Very romantic! This past weekend I came down with some bacterial infection. I started feeling a little yucky on Thursday and ended up going to the doctor on Friday afternoon. I noticed I had white patches on my throat and was afraid I had strep. The throat culture thing came back negative and the doc put me on a zpac. Which I've never ever taken before. SO needless to say my body responded very drastically. I was litterally in bed all weekend. My fever reached 101 on Saturday night and I seriously thought I was getting worse rather than better. Anyways...Monday morning I woke up and noticed I could actually swallow. I finally reached 100% on Tuesday evening. But boy...it was horrible!

The next few weeks are going to be so busy! This weekend I have a pool party for the kids and then the Jones fight. Next weekend is the Blue Angels. The 28th is a VBS Celebration picnic
and then the following weekend is decorating for Vacation bible school!!! I definatley have my work cut out ahead of me! I'm stressing...but only a little! :)

Save my sanity

It's been a little while. I am about to pull my hair out working 2 jobs. Not that the Children's Director part is all that hard...but the parents definately make it a bit more challanging than it should be. Plus a part of me is always wondering in the back of my mind if I'm really the right person for this position. Should I really be getting paid even though I'm doing a sucky job? anywho...thats why I had lunch with the preacher today. Man...I was relieved after that. Everytime we have a chat I just feel so rejunivated! I feel like I can do anything. I guess it's because he supports me so much and has so much faith in me and man...that feels so good! So we'll see how it goes. I just continue to leave in Jesus' hands and let him do all the work. It's really in him that I've managed this long without going insane!

On a brighter note. I spoke with my dad 2 nights ago for the first time in about 3 months and for once, I don't have anything bad to say. He was actually decent. Which is saying a lot for him. He didn't even put me down 1 time! And he asked about Tim...which he never ever does. I was beginning to think he hated Tim, but he asked when we were getting married and even said that he's ready to have some grandchildren. Funny uh? I'm still struggling over that issue. Not the children part..but the marriage part definately! I know I want to marry Tim and I know he wants to marry me...but when I think about that...all I can think about is "who will walk me down the aisle?" Bad uh? I honestly don't know if I want my father to do that. As bad as it sounds. I've even seriously considered asking Carrie's dad to do the honor. He's been more of a father to me than my own dad has. But I guess we'll just see when that day gets here.

Tim and I haven't been doing much lately. We've really been putting lots of money aside to invest into our first home together. We're both ready to buy our first house and it's exciting to know that we both want the same thing. Nothing too big...nothing fancy. We really want to buy something we can invest in and make into something. A "fixer upper" if you will. Lame I know..but we want to look back in 10 - 15 years and see all we've accomplished on our own. We know we don't have much money and our parents are not going to put much money into our future so we have to do it all on our own. Which is fine. Because I know we can! We're going to see Evan Almighty on Friday and I'm so excited! That movie looks so funny! I'll let you all know how it is!

new

so I got new hair....

another weekend

man...weekends go by way too fast.
Friday we were going to go to the parade but I didn't get off work until 5:15 or so and I was running around everywhere trying to get ready...but we just didn't make it. I tell ya...working 7:00 to 5:00 can really take a lot out of ya. I was exhausted!! We ended up going to the oar house for dinner and then heading to some small bar on blue angel for "a drink" with some friends. Which ended up lasting till about 12:00 that night. Man...drinking cheap liquor and cheap beer...not a good idea. I felt Miserable all night. Definately won't do that again! ever!
Here's some pictures from that night.






Saturday we woke up around 7:30 and headed out to Pensacola beach. The surf was apparantly "the best it's ever been in Pensacola" I had fun watching all those boys ripping it up! haha! I just laid on the beach and read my book while Tim and all his friends stayed in the water the WHOLE time! I tell ya..I definately need to make some friends with surfer's girlfriends. I definately don't get bored being on the beach.I actually love it! But it would be nice to have someone to gossip with! haha!
We left the beach around 4:30 or so and headed home. We rented night at the museum and definately didn't watch much of it before Tim started snoring. Surfing just wears him out!
Sunday we took the boat out around 1:30 and attempted to fish. The waves were so rough on the way out...I got SOAKED by waves coming over the boat. All I could think about was "local boat capsized in the gulf today." I'm a bit of a chicken when it comes to rough waves. but Thank the Lord...We survived!! I got a little too much sun this weekend but it was all worth it. I always have fun when I'm outdoors. I guess being stuck inside all day makes me love the outdoors even more!!

wow...I should start taking pictures

This weekend was so much fun! I just love long weekends. Especially when that means getting Monday off b/c it just makes the work week go by that much quicker! woohoo! This weekend was spent doing some major beachin' in Orange Beach. Me and Tim went every day...mainly so he could surf b/c the surf was up everyday! But I also got some major sun! yay!! Saturday we went to Alabama Point and let me tell you...that walk to the beach is a killer!! Seriously you walk for about a mile before you get to the layout spot. But Tim claims thats the best surfing spot so I decided to bite the nail and take the hike. With 2 chairs, beach bag, surfboard, and cooler...Lets just say I got some exercise in this weekend fo sho! We stayed out there until about 4:00 or so, then went home to get ready for the PELICANS game. Which we were late for. and I missed the flyover. and we had to leave early b/c Tim's dog got out of the yard. So we went home and ended up falling asleep around 9ish. boo! Sunday was church, then back to Orange Beach. Except this time we went to Terry's Cove. Which in my opionion is the BEST BEACH SPOT EVER! There are showers, bathrooms, and its free! woohoo! plus there are plenty of good spots by the water there. Even when it is packed! We stayed until about 5:00 this time b/c we were both starving and decided to head home and grill some chicken. AND it was sooo yummy! Monday we woke up around 8:00 and headed out to the beach early. Tim wanted to get some good surfing in...blah blah blah! But we ended up staying until around 4:30 which means..brandi = burnt!! Then we went home and loaded up the dogs and took them to Bayview Dog Beach! They had so much fun...except for the whole Bandit trying to hump every dog in there part! He is one horny puppy!!! It was so embarrasing. But I got over that real quick when Tim had to clean up Rusty (his dog's) poop. That was too funnY! :) There were a LOT of dogs there too! Which surprised me that none of them started fighting. But instead they had a blast!! Running in and out of the water and chasing balls around. Quite Entertaining!

My favorite part of the weekend none the less was just spending it with Tim. I stayed at his house all weekend and that was so much fun! I just love him so much and love spending all my time wrapped up in him. Its so relaxing!

Anyways...thats my weekend.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARRIE ELIZABETH!!!!

Make sure to turn your volume up when playing! I love you girl!

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Who Can???

I swear I heard that enough this weekend to last me my lifetime. (Just kidding Carrie) Anyways... Me and Tim actually had fun this weekend. I went to 4 baseball games in a row and for me...that's pretty amazing! I have to admit it though...I had fun! From watching Carrie do the chicken dance, me and tim rolling around in a big ball, Watching the guy next to me in amazement that it's possible to get THAT excited about a second out, to seeing Scoop (aka Robbie) perform a wonderful Air Gutair solo! Really thats all me and Tim did was attend the pelican games. We went to the beach on Saturday which is what we always do...seriously every weekend. And then church on sunday. But after the beach and after church we headed to the games. Carrie just makes me so proud with her "grown up" job. I just love supporting her and if that means suffering through 9 innings of baseball...well then so be it. Tim had a lot of patience also to take me. After about the 3rd inning I seemed to always be complaining about being thirsty, hungry, or just bored. But he just laughs and hands over a few dollars to keep me occupied. Like I'm a child or something! Haha!!



Anyways...hope you all have a great rest of the week!

love

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

fun times.

This weekend was quite a blur. It just goes by way to fast! Friday we celebrated quatro de mayo with all our friends which was so much fun! I forget sometimes how much fun it is to just go to dinner and hang out. Then we went to Karaoke...which is soooo much fun and we do it all the time. But it's even better now b/c we're actually starting to get the guts up to sing! (except Carrie...loser) haha! Saturday Tim and I woke up and headed out on the boat with our friends Lyle and his fiance Amanda and another couple. It was fun watching all our boys show their skills wakeboarding. Even though us girls were too chicken to try. Tim hit the water pretty hard one time and it really scared me. But he was ok. He did wake up Really sore the next morning though. After the boat...we went home and changed and then headed up to Los Rancheros for CINCO DE MAYO! Fun fun!! I felt bad b/c there were so many of us and we had to split up but thats ok. After dinner we headed to the Ticket for some De La Hoya boxing! Watching a boxing event is always more fun at a bar. Everyone gets so in to it. We had such a good time! Sunday was just a relaxing day. It was our 1 Year Anniversary!!! woohoo!!!!! We didn't really do much, except go to the crawfish festival. Which was sooooo yummy!!! And we ate so much crawfish....I wish they had that every weekend! I would definately go. After we got home we watched the rest of the race and I took a nap. Then Tim changed his oil in his car and we headed back to my house to put up an electric fence for Bandit. :( which doesn't work b/c he's stubborn. So I'm going to have to come up with something else. Any Ideas???? Please let me know. Remember...he jumps our 4 ft fence now. And he doesn't care about getting shocked with an electric fence.

Anyways...thats all for now.

talladega Pictures

This is Tim feeding those crazy ducks. They were so brave. There is a video on my myspace of them eating bread right out of his hand.
This of course is Tim and his boy Jr's car.
Crazy Jr Fans!
This was our first night. Ribs on the grill. YUMMY! We had Steak Saturday night and hamburgers Sunday night. Tim knows how to do it right.
our Jr. Gear
My baby.

me cheesing.

Talladega!!!

This weekend was such a great weekend! Me and Tim left early Friday morning (I'm talking 7:00 am) and headed to Alabama. We stayed at this really cool campsite I found online about 4 hours away called Logans Landing. If you ever want to do the camping thing...I really suggest this campsite. It's the cleanest campsite I've been to, and the people that run it are all the nicest people ever. They even have Karaoke on Friday and Saturday nights which was a lot of fun! Anyways. Friday we just set up camp, drank a few beers, grilled some ribs, and hung out. Saturday we stayed around the camp site all day and just spent time together. We fished, grilled some more, drank some more beer, took a long nap, got some sun. Oh it was a great day. And the weekend was so nice too so that made it even better. Sunday we woke up early...Tim woke up at 5:00 and I finally crawled out of bed around 7:00, we headed out to the race track around 8:00. We were trying to beat all the major traffic which we didn't. We still got caught in a gridlock. Their were over 200,000 people there so just imagine. The race was awesome!! I've never been so interested in a sporting event in my life. We had so much fun!!! And I'm a race fan now, so that made Tim happy. Whats really cool is they let you bring in coolers, and bags so we took in food and beer that way we didn't have to spend money there. Even though we did! I got a sweet pink dale jr shirt which I immediately put on..so I didn't get to show off my shirt that I made the night before. Boo! Jr didn't win, Gorden did! another big BOO!! and Tony Stewart got a little hot headed and after crashing into the wall ran onto the track and flicked another racer off...It was a little crazy! I've never seen so many rednecks all together in my life. So that was entertaining. We hung around about an hour and half after the race so we wouldn't get stuck in traffic. We played some frisbee and then layed a blanket on the grass and took a nap in the shade before heading back to camp. I was so sad to leave this morning. I had such a fun time, and I gaurantee I will go back again. We decided that we're going to go every year now and make it a ritual...that way when we get old and gray our kids will have something to talk about when they make Talladega a ritual! It's exciting! That's all for now.

love

As I was laying in bed next to Tim last night and we were both soaking up pages from our books (it's become an every night ritual)...I realized that I am TRULY in love. I know I know...you would think that I would already know that seeing as how I talk about him pretty much constantly...but it was just that moment. I'm sure we've all experienced it. When we blink our eyes and for a brief second even our own minds can't fathom how much we love someone. Deep..I know. But it was such a great moment. As I was laying there, watching him read his book. He started telling me about how crazy Islamic culture is and how weird some of the stuff they believe in is. (he's reading Journey to Jerusalem) I love that he enjoys sharing all these spiritual facts with me. He really loves Jesus so much! And for that split second, I knew deep in my heart that he was the one for me. That there isn't any where else on earth I could be any happier than when I'm with him. As I was trying to tell him my feelings and explain how much I love him...he simply looked at me and with knowing eyes said, I have that same feeling every morning when I wake up and see you laying next to me. ::sigh:: isn't love grand?!