BIRTHDAYS and Growing up with Little Sisters

Life around the Bradley house has been pretty uneventful this week. We did manage to go out to eat for Tonya's Birthday on Wednesday. Hard to believe it has been 24 years since I wished her here. Probably alot harder for my mother to believe than me though. I thought she was such a brat when I was at home (somethings never change.. kidding). I guess it was because she was the baby and got so much more attention than me. I remember wanting Mom and Dad to take her back to where they got her from after she got here and I discovered that I was not the center of attention anymore. That lasted a long long time. Brandi used to be the mediator between the two of us and sometimes she still has to follow that role. As we still sometimes to this day fight like cats and dogs. But all in all she is a pretty good kid. Her birthday was alot better celebration than last years we actually had a good time. Those of you that are close to our family know the reason why and for those of you that don't lets just say we were less one person filled with DRAMA this year. Tonya, myself, Trent, Daniel, Mom and Dad all went to Copper River for Supper, I must recommend the pizza, this was the first time I had ordered pizza but Daniel suggested it and I was glad he did. Our waiter was pretty awesome too, I wish I had gotten his name. We managed to get Trent to take a picture by the fire place but again not a good one as he would not look at the camera. Sometimes I think it is his life's goal to aggravate me by not cooperating in picture taking and seeing as how I always have a camera in hand, this happens too often. I will post the picture later once I get it uploaded. After we left Copper River, we went back to mom's and had cake well Trent had cake the rest of us were too full from supper. Tonya opened Presents, although it wasn't much seeing as how her birthday is followed 15 days later by Christmas (thank goodness God wanted me to be a spring baby, born around no holidays). It was a very pleasant night and I look forward to our next outing! Christmas break is just around the corner, we will be off for 2 weeks after next Friday, maybe I can get my Christmas shopping done during that time. :) Ta Ta for now!

Stoopid Dog

Spent 45 mins yesterday looking for Christmas Cards that actually had the words Merry Christmas on them... What a nightmare! I was so disgusted by the time I left from there that I was not in much of a mood to run home and fill them out. So I am offically over a week late on getting my Christmas Cards out this year. The original plan was Trent and I were going to take a cute picture in Tenessee this weekend and send out Personalized Christmas Cards to all our close Friends and Family, but as you can tell by the picture that greets you at the top of my page Trent was not really in the picture taking mood this weekend, that is about the best one that this amatuer photographer got. I still think it is a lovely pic of us but not really card worthy. I got back in the Christmas Spirit late last night so I was up late adressing the cards but I'm still not quite finished. I have to tell you all a funny story my Daddy called and told me last night.
He calls and ask if I have gotten Buster's Christmas and if I have it put up. I tell him yes and yes that I had his Christmas in the back bedroom on the bed. He says well don't let Buster come down here b/c Dalton( my mama's baby dog) will teach him how to find his Christmas presents. I thought he was referring to the ones under the tree so I said I told ya'll that he would unwrap them. He says no he didnt unwrap the presents under the tree, he found the presents that your mama had for them. I said how, he then proceeds to tell me that while mama was in the kitchen wrapping presents, Dalton comes bouncing down the hall dragging a bag full of toys and drops it at mamas feet and looks up at her like " you gonna wrap these?" I thought that was too cute! Trent calls him "Stoopid Dog" But I think this just actually proves how smart he really is. So be sure and hide your presents from you little doggies really good.... later :)

First Snow of the Year

This one is going to be short. I saw snow this weekend, it snowed for about an hour Saturday morning. It was really nice. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of it, I was too focused on shopping. I had all intentions of getting my Christmas shopping finished this weekend, but it didn't happen. So its going to be a busy 2 weeks for me. The good news is that tomorrow starts the official countdown til Christmas break!!! We'll I have lots to do before bed. Will post again soon!

Funny how things work out

We will be heading out shortly, but I wanted to include you all on Trent's exciting news. You all know that he loves loves loves his 4- wheeling. Coca- Cola gives away great gifts to their employees every year by drawing names and awarding the prizes. Trent never ever complains about what he gets (which is usually a coat or shirt too small for him), but this year when they announced they would be giving the gifts out yesterday he simply said I'll probably get a jacket that is too small for me again. Well last night as I was coming in the house he called to tell me he was on his way home and that he had won a Dr. Pepper coat that was a size Medium. I said oh no, I'm sorry. Then he proceeds to tell me that he is just kidding he won a 4- wheeler (you are thinking the same thing I did) YEAH RIGHT! He tried to convince me all the way home that he had won a 4 wheeler. I finally settled by saying I bet it is a little toy one. He just laughed and we hung up. When he got home he didn't have a jacket or a 4 wheeler. Then our great friend Jarrid drops by and low and behold he has a Rockstar kids 4- wheeler in the back of his truck!! He was so great to bring it home for Trent so he didn't have to drive his truck back to pick it up. My first thought: Wow who better to win the 4- wheeler than my hubby who loves them so much! Now I know a 6'5" man cannot ride a little 110 4-wheeler but at least he can sell it and by his sweet wife something really nice for Christmas:)!! This just proves the theory " Good things come to those who wait" and don't complain! Hope you all have a great weekend.
I have attached a few pictures to help you see why I love TN so much! Oh and one of my daddy and Trent on one of their excursions... ENJOY!

One more try

So I got to thinking this morning and decided to give this another shot. I promise to try and post here often so that the one soul that may actually read this occasionally will have more to read. So anyway here goes. I am Super excited today, ever since I can remember my family has traveled to Tennessee several times a year to Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg. My parents bought a place there when I was younger, so it was a very convenient mini vacation several times year. As I grew older and became a teenager, these trips became more of a hassle in my life rather than an exciting mini vacay. Anyone who has been a teen knows that it is very uncool to hang with your parents and little sister more than you have to. So as I hit the 15/16 year mark I began to get very annoyed with this major task. By the time I had graduated High-school Tonya was nearing the teenage mark and too was very annoyed at having this family tradition 5 or 6 times a year. And oh the pain of having to go and sit through every Christmas show at Dollywood (BORING!). So after months of 2 daughters complaining my parents made the decision to stop making us go with them~ HALLELUJAH!!! I could hear the angels sing when I found that little piece of information out. So for the next 2 or 3 years Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg and DOLLYWOOD were far from our thoughts. But as the old saying goes "You will eventually turn into your parents one day" I have offically became a great combination of the both of them~ DUN DUN DUN..... For the past 7 years I have insisted on making that 2 1/2 hour trip (which I have managed to shorten to 1 hr 45 mins) up that glorious mountain as many times a year as I can. Sadly I have drug Trent into the same spot I was some 15 years ago. This is a task he absolutely hates, but those of you that know my sweet, loving husband, know he will do anything to make me happy. When the time came to make the arrangements this year of booking a cabin so that our entire family (meaning his side and mine, along with all the little grandogs) could leave on December 5 to go see the Gatlinburg Christmas Parade he was in no hurry to discuss this. So he and I both procrastinated for months and well just flat didn't get around to it. I called my mom and told her I just didn't think with gas being so high and everyone already dealing with so much this year that we were going to go the see the parade. She was fine with it and that was that. As Thanksgiving came and went and we started decorating the house it just didn't seem like Christmas to me this year I couldn't quite put my finger on it but something sure didn't feel right. Then I suddenly had an epiphany Tuesday morning and it hit me. What is Christmas without the Gatlinburg Christmas parade! Had I lost my mind so as I knew he would, Trent agreed if I could get in the condo for the weekend we would go. As it was obviously too late to book a cabin and get the entire family to go. So while I WILL NOT be standing in line outside of any theater in Dollywood to listen to a Christmas show for the 90000 gazillinith time I will be standing on the sidewalk tomorrow night in 25 degree weather waving my hand to Santa as he rides by in the Parade! We are heading out tomorrow afternoon and I am SUPER EXCITED! Mama has agreed once again to keep her grandson Buster this weekend while we are gone... I will keep you posted on our trip and things to come!