The hail storm of 2009: This actually occurred in February but the after math of it all has lasted well into March. We had hail ranging in size from golf balls to softballs that basically destroyed everything in its path. That includes my car and our roof and gutters. But luckily, we have a great friend in the roofing/gutter business who did a fabulous job and made getting our house repaired a snap- Thanks Allison! The car situation was also pretty painless, except for having to drive a little wind-up rental car.But all in all, we could not have been more blessed with getting it all dealt with.

And then it snowed. 3″ according to my ruler method of measuring. And it was beautiful. And the kids loved playing in it.

And then we had a beautiful weekend of perfect weather and 75 degree temperatures. We played outside and did a little spring cleaning inside. But I knew it was too good to be true that Spring might actually be here.

Because then it rained, and rained, and rained. We had to cancel our much anticipated yard sale and we were in the house all weekend. I thought the kids were going to kill each other. But Evan and I did manage to finish our new kitchen backsplash since we didn’t have much else to do in the rain. Now if we could only find the time to paint!

Other things that have been going on:

We are going to be a part of the Easter Cantata at church. Be afraid people, be very afraid. Lori Bryant is playing the part of the grieving mother Mary after the death of her beloved Jesus. During rehearsal, I was playing my part, which is SUPPOSED to have no words, and in the midst of my grief I said “Oh my gosh!” as if in disbelief over the death of Jesus. Oops- kinda inappropriate. But its hard not saying ANYTHING! And Evan is a guard that has the task of crucifying Jesus in less than 3 minutes- good luck babe!

On another note- we are yard sale-ing this weekend with Chad and Bee. We always  have a blast and we always make a small fortune (in the yard sale realm of course). So looked out Dave Ramsey, we might just be debt free and junk free after this weekend!

And I still loathe work and Evan is still the happiest employee alive. And Haley still has an impossible amount of homework and expectations at school and Britton is still all boy.

If I left out anything else, look for it in late April since I seem to be a once-a-month blogger!

Above you will find the man of my dreams. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world knowing that I married the perfect man for me. And I thank God each day that Evan picked me to be his wife. It’s a fairy tale really, and I’m going to write a little about it so that the 4 people that read this post will get to hear the tale from my point of view. So here goes…

The year was 1996.  I started my freshman year of college at Georgia Tech during the summer. I had to- because I did not take high school too serious and Tech thought I wouldn’t last very long there. So they accepted me as a summer student to test me out. (And HA HA you Tech admissions folks- I have the degree to prove I could do it!)

Anyway, back to the love story. I went the entire summer quarter wondering why in the world anyone would choose to go to Tech. Every weekend I would go home and I dreaded going back on Monday. But I made it through the summer, and its a good thing I did.

During the fall quarter, two of my friends from high school who were also at Tech invited me to go with them to Christian Campus Fellowship. This was not my idea of the perfect evening, but I had not really found anything I liked so I gave it a shot. Plus I was bored and I needed to meet some people. So I went with Brooke and Laura. And it was such a neat place to be.

Over the course of several weeks, I met and became friends with a core group of people at CCF that soon became like family. And I started spending more and more time at CCF. The love people showed me during that time was amazing, and all I wanted to do was spend more time hanging out with them. So I did almost every activity that was offered at CCF. Which included Bible Study on Thursday night and going to Zesto’s for ice cream afterwards.

And that is where I met the man of my dreams, at Zesto’s, on a Thursday night after Bible Study. He too was there with CCF, but was not on my radar screen until the second when my life would change forever. I was sitting on a stool facing a group of friends and Evan was sitting behind me, with his back toward mine. We were both engaged in seperate conversations when I heard him mention the number 3. I turned around, blurt out “that’s Dale Earnhardt’s number” and Evan asked me to marry him. I am pretty sure I laughed, but all of the sudden we were talking as if we had years of stuff to catch up on. And we went our seperate ways that night, as if we had met as old friends and parted ways.

Fast forward a few days. The phone rings. It’s Evan’s roommate and he wants to know if I want to come over and watch a boxing match. (Uhhh- No).He said plenty of other people would be there and I’m pretty sure he mentioned Evan would be there to. And its a funny thing he mentioned Evan would be there since Evan himself had called a few days earlier and left a message on my machine about the boxing “party”. Anyway, I basically ignored them both. Frankly, I didn’t want to watch boxing and I think I had something else going on?

Anyway, I missed the boxing party. But that Thursday night, Evan asked me (in person at CCF) if I would be interested in watching a movie at his apartment. HOW CREEPY! Inviting a girl to your apartment for a first date! But I wanted to go because I really liked Evan, so I took my friend Laura with me. And as it turns out, it was a great night. We watched Christmas Vacation, Sports Center and talked and hung out. And then Evan took me and Laura back to our dorm and he proceeded to kiss me. (He will tell you I kissed him first which is NOT TRUE!)

And the rest, as they say, is history. We dated 8 months and got engaged in August of 1997. I would tell you the date except I mess it up every time and Evan has the receipt (laminated) in his wallet from the night we got engaged with the correct date on it. (How sweet!)

And we got engaged at Zesto’s, and it was just like the night we met. Except Evan said, “Do you remember the first night we were here and I asked you if you would marry me? Well, will you marry me??”. And I repeated myself for several minutes saying “Sweetheart, sweetheart, sweetheart…” And I am not 100% sure I ever actually said yes. But it was implied. I was head over heels in love- at 19 years old!

10 1/2 years, 2 kids, 3 houses and many memories later, I love Evan Bryant more than ever. I am the princess in a fairy tale with my Prince Charming. Except my prince is nice and tall!

Who’s blog do you read??

Here goes:

1. I think I could possibly be on the road to feeling better! My doctor uncovered a mystery B-12 deficiency that has been causing me to feel like crap for a while. And my thyroid medication is STILL out of whack. So hopefully fixing these two things will make me less Zombie-like.

2. I turned 31 on February 1st. And it hit me harder than anyone will ever know. I think because I was at Disney World for my 30th, I didn’t get upset at getting older at all. But this year was different- I feel older, I look older, and it didn’t help that the NFL decided Super Bowl Sunday had to be on my birthday. But my husband and friends made my birthday very special. So I’ll get over the OLD part and just remember how hard they worked to make my day happy! (And they did a very good job).

3. I have been summoned to appear in court as a state witness for a wreck I was in back in September. Or should I say- I was the innocent victim minding my own business when I was hit.  As a result, I have to miss work and spend time in a court room. Good grief- just plead guilty man!

4. Our 8 year old has had crazy stuff going on at school and it all stresses me out. Her teacher is “ambitious” and conducts her class as a “community”. And they do crazy off-the-wall stuff that often requires homework that lasts for hours. And the 8 year old has become very emotional (I have NO IDEA where she got it from!) and all of that combined is stressful. Hurry up 4th grade!

5. And finally, I am stuck in the working world. I am grateful to have a job since so many people don’t. But I find that I am not really changing the world very much. And that frustrates me.

So there ya go. A few things I have been doing. Pretty boring I know, but it’s my life and it’s pretty good I guess.

I LOVE…

1. Jesus

2. Evan Charles Bryant

3. Britton and Haley Bryant

4. Earl and Rosemary Zoellner

5. Bee, Chad, Connie, Jorge

6. Being warm

7. Painting walls

8. Socks

9. Jeans

10. My hat

11. My Dyson

12. Steak

13. The silky edge of blankets

14. Chocolate ice cream

15. Road trips

16. My laptop

17. Hibachi food

18. A good drink

19. New cars

20. Outlet malls

21. Dinner with Evan

22. Model homes

23. Roses

24. Tattoos

25. Chocolate chip cookies

And I;ll add to this list too…because I am a lucky girl and I love many things!

1. Parents that don’t parent. It is your job if you have children to make your children behave. If they don’t behave, they should be taken to the car and removed from the situation. Kids should not get what they want because their parents are too lazy to deal with them.

2. People who speak as if they know what they are talking about, but actually have nothing concrete to say. It’s not ok to enjoy hearing yourself talk.

3. People who talk really loud. Being the person that everyone can hear is not good.

4. Weird smells that have not business being present. Like walking into the lobby of a hotel and being overwhelmed by the smell of apples. Almost to the point that I started to smell like apples.

5. Strange weather. I pretty much subscribe to the idea that seasons are a good thing and they should stick to their designated months. Soemone should have called Mother Nature and told her that 70 degrees on Christmas Day and 12 degrees 3 weeks later is not acceptable.

6. The idea that one cannot function without a cup of coffee. I am friends with alot of coffee drinking folks, but I find it odd that there are people that have to walk around with their special insulated cup of coffee 24/7/365. Put the cup down people!

7. Cat hair. It does not matter what you do, if you own a cat there will be cat hair on everything within a 1 mile radius of the cat. After the beloved cat goes to cat heaven- we are finished with cats.

8. Science Fiction. Any TV show or movie that starts with the word “Star” and has characters that have pointy ears or extra appendages will not get my money (or my rental, or my Saturday afternoon time).

9. Bad drivers. The world has so many of them and they are always around me when I get on I-85. Drive people!  And stay in your lane.

I am out of stuff I dislike very much right now. Mainly because I am in a good mood. But I will continue to add to this list as I encounter the “problems” around me. And trust me, I am certain this list will grow exponentially.

And thank you to our three sweet husbands who went above and beyond to let us get away for the evening.

And finally, I can’t wait until this weekend when the 6 of us are off for a weekend together in Cherokee. Very cool!

So all of that being said- I decided I’d have my 2 cents on death today.  Here goes:

I am amazed at how peaceful I am with the idea of dying. I do not fear death. Basically because I think it will be so cool to meet Jesus and be a part of Heaven. I’m not sure when I got to this point of peace, but I think it happened around the time that I saw my friend die of cancer in his early 30s. He was at peace. And that brought me peace- I suppose through the Holy Spirit. And it is strange how differently I react to the passing of those around me. My grandmother is the perfect example. I was devastated to know that I would not see her again (for now) but I was so excited that she did not have to live with dementia and Alzheimers. And that she did not have to spend her life in a wheelchair anymore.

So I wonder if it is weird to be so peaceful about death and dying?

I am just thankful that my death is not eternal- thanks to Jesus dying for me.  And I am thankful that my children are beginning to understand that they too will one day be in Heaven.

And with my new job I feel like my free time has dwindled down significantly. The job is good, but I just wonder where the days go sometimes.

So blogging has become less of a priority than it used to be. But hopefully I will have some good stuff to say with the New Year.