Mark and Ali's Shower

I'm very late in updating and have been meaning to post pictures.   I really don't have an excuse other than being lazy at updating the blog.  I tried to get on here to post pictures the other night but it seems that they have updated the site and I'm a little slower at getting the pics to the blog.  Tonight, I think I may have finally mastered it.  Here are some pictures of the Mark and Ali's shower that were over a month ago.  I promised to post them so better late than never.   

We had a fabulous time.  I owe a big thank you to my wonderful in-laws who came over and helped me prepare the night before.  I was very busy the day of the shower.  The day didn't start off so good with Tech losing to JMU (I have no more comments to add other than the fact that VT did lose.).  Anyways, we (i.e. Matt and I) recovered before the shower and it turned out great. 
The decorations and food:

Wyatt's fans:

Dessert:

Fun stuff for Wyatt:

As a thank you, Mark and Ali were so sweet to take us to Maggiano's.  They certainly didn't need to do that but I will say that it was delicious and I ate way too much.  I'm so glad that the two of them are such close friends of ours.  I couldn't be happier for them during this very fun and exciting time in their lives.  Hurry up, Wyatt!!  I want to meet you.

Just a quick update on Wyatt:  He is due to grace us with his presence on Thursday, October 7.  I am happy to be an honorary aunt.  I talk about him so much already.  I already have a call list for once he arrives as my mom and sister need their updates.  I have some of the girls at my work asking about Wyatt and Ali, even though they don't know Ali!  :-)  Ali did have a brief visit in L&D today because her blood pressure was a little high, but luckily her blood pressure went back down and she got to go home.  So, I will certainly update the blog once Wyatt arrives but I'm proud that Ali is going to try blogging in her free time (There is all kinds of free time after you have a baby, right?).  Anyways, you may find little updates here.

Baby Wyatt

As you may have noticed from a few other posts, Mark and Ali decided on a name a while back ago:

Wyatt Allen Hamrick

This is a family name with Wyatt being Ali's grandmother maiden name and her Aunt 'Nita's middle name and Allen is Mark's brother, Brian's, middle name. 

So, I wanted to do a little something for Ali and for the nursery.  The theme is blue and brown.  I told Ali that I was making her something and before I did it that I was going to try it out and she did not have to hang it in the nursery.  I still do not expect it to be hung in the nursery.  Anyways, here's my piece of art:

I gave this to Ali and Mark as their shower gift this weekend.  I think they were happy with it. 

I will post pictures from the shower soon!  The Hamrick's received a lot of good gifts and now I think they are ready to welcome Wyatt.

Funny Laugh

So, Matt reads deadspin.com and got a good laugh out of this picture (a poor guys mugshot):

The story is quite sad as the guy apparently found it wise to motivate his stepson to run football sprints while shooting him with a BB gun. 

So, I said he had a bandana tan which then inspired these pictures (Poor Wally!):

Happy Humpday!!

Happy Labor Day Weekend (a random update)

We decided to stay home this weekend.  There's lots to do and I am perfectly happy to be home getting some chores and a lot of relaxing accomplished.  It's been a fantastic weekend weather wise...80's and no humidity! 

Yesterday, we did a few chores and went over to the Hutcherson's new home for a little housewarming.  Their new house is beautiful.  I love the street that they live on.  They live in an older house that has been renovated.  I like how it still has the traditional feel with all the updates.  There were some yummy snacks so we had a nice time visiting and spent most of our time outside enjoying the beautiful weather and I enjoyed the porch swing! 

As a side note, I found a mum while we were out to take them.  I'm only posting this because I got a little crafty and was proud of the results.  Plus, it was super easy.  I got my idea from 320 Sycamore, which posted the picture taken from somewhere else.  Here's my motivation:

All I did was take a paper bag apart, then cut it into a square (didn't measure it but just kind of judged from the size of the pot), turned it with any writing facing inside, folded all the corner into the pot, then folded the sided to make the seams.  Finally, I added a wire ribbon to hold it in place.  (I actually went with brown like the picture but I think a ribbon with VT colors would have been wonderful as I was taking it to Hokies.)

Today, I will be busy planning Hamrick shower #3 or the BaBy Q.  The menu is pretty well planned but there is a little shopping to do as I am trying to get anything that I can in advance.

It's next Saturday at our house so this week will be a busy one for me as I prepare.

I have been keeping myself busy these days with projects.  I am so ready for Fall.  I've been doing a lot of window shopping and am loving all the Fall fashions.  Stay tuned for some of my favorites.

Fall is absolutely my favorite time of year (VT football, the cooler, crisp, less humidity weather, all those fall colors, apple cider...need I say more??)   I bought a few a lot of fall decorations. 

If I had to give my kitchen a theme, I would say Hokie.  So, while out shopping for fall items, my sister-in-law, Courtney, pointed out this Turkey wreath. 

I really liked it but feel that I have enough Fall wreaths.  Anyways, not being able to resist the VTness of it, I had to buy it.  So, I made it into a little craft project.

What do you think?  I took the wreath part off and then was down the metal part.  Then, I bought some foam board and painted chalkboard paint on it.  Then, I just stuck it the metal and glued it in.  Perfect addition to the kitchen.

Speaking of crafty projects, here's one that kept me busy this weekend.  This one has to do with little baby Hamrick so it's a surprise.  Here's a sneak peak...

My last random update involves a new addition to the Wheawill home.  No baby...don't get excited.  :-)

Richmond had some awful summer storms back the first week of August.  One evening, I ended up driving home in one of those storms.  Matt called me to tell me that it was pretty bad but, at that point, I was already driving in the rain, thunder, lightening, and wind.  Anyways, I took my time getting home, with several trees down along the way, and found that once I was home, there wasn't any electricity.  Matt said it was pretty loud...maybe a transformer blew up.  We ended up having to grab dinner out because peanut butter and jelly wasn't exciting enough and also because we didn't have anything else to do.  We got home and read our books with a flashlight and then we tried watching a movie on the laptop.  In the meantime, I fell asleep.  So, why the long story?  I'm giving you play by play.  Well, the power came on after I was in bed.  Just in time for Matt to go around and turn off the lights that we apparently tried to turn on during the whole no electricity deal.  (It's so hard to remember to not flip the switch.  Just habit.)  SO, here's the real kicker.   The next day, we realize this storm got our big, gigantic, ginormous TV.  Yes, we had it plugged into a surge protector but it just didn't protect.  We have had a repair man come and do his thing (which took like 2-3 weeks for him to diagnose) to find out, that it did a real number and is going to be too expensive to fix. 

 Needless to say, this did not make either of us happy.  I'm not going to complain too much though.  I would say we are probably lucky that we only lost our TV and not any of our other appliances in the house. 

Anyways, I'm proud to say that, as much as we both love our TV, we can live with just one TV without it being too big of a deal.  We get to turn this in to our homeowners insurance and after going 4 weeks and 5 days, the new TV arrived.  We are getting into football season so not having a TV in the family room is not an option. 

Matt and I are getting ready for the first VT game.  We are definitely excited.  We debated on going to the game but decided that we will stay home for this one so will definitely break the new TV in on Monday night.  The menu is planned and I am making a tailgate feast.  Less than a week to see the Hokies!  LETS GO....HOKIES!

Hope everyone else is enjoying the long weekend and for my pharmacy friend or others of you who have to work, I remember those days.  And while I feel for you, I don't miss them so I probably wouldn't trade!  :-)

Shower #2 for Ali

This weekend I went to another baby shower for Mark and Ali.  This was a local Richmond one thrown by Mark's mom's friends.  I liked the theme and they definitely had such cute decorations.  So, since I actually brought my camera as I tried to document all of it for Ali, I will post all the pictures.

Invitation:

Decorations and Food:

The only pictures I got after the decorations:

I took some pictures for Marks mom on her camera and I also got to write down all the wonderful gifts that she received. The ladies at this shower were so sweet and the food was awesome! Wyatt already has a lot of people that love him very much.


Another one of Ali's friends from college and I are throwing a shower in a couple of weeks.  I will post pictures from that shower as well.  Wyatt is going to definitely be well dressed.  I've enjoyed seeing all the fun gifts that Ali has received.  I feel somewhat that I may have tested Ali's patience over the years.  Don't laugh!  I was just preparing her for motherhood.  With that being said, Ali is going to be the best mother and I will definitely do my part to be a very great honorary Aunt.  :-)

Matt's Family Reunion

Once again, I'm a week behind.  Last weekend, we traveled about an hour away to spend time with Matt's mom's, Debbie's, lovely family.  It was neat to see all of her side of the family again.  I saw some of the family members at her retirement party.  Being a fairly new member to the family, I met a lot of cousins and, now, I think I am ready for a quiz!  :-)

Debbie and Matt's aunt, Kay, planned the event.  The decorations, food, and fellowship were great.

The planners:

The BBQers:

Kitchen Duty:

Family history:

The Saunders fam:

Pics galore:

Tomatoes

This is a silly post, but here it goes.  I think this post is a little about my favorite food and a lot about reminiscing fondly about my childhood and my grandparents. 

I found some pictures on my camera from sometime this summer.  Apparently, I was real proud of our dinner!  :-)

I like anything tomato and, in fact, eat a lot of them.  I eat tomatoes like apples during the summer and always have.  I'm known throughout the family for my love of tomatoes.  Growing up, all of my grandparents had gardens and I think I definitely got my share from all the gardens.  Most parents complain about not getting their children to eat their vegetables.  Fortunately, my Mom and Dad never had that problem with my sister and I.  Now, getting us to eat our meat or protein was a whole other story! 

For several years, my Papaw had 2 gardens (one at his house and another one that he shared with other people).  It was pretty crazy because he ended up giving away a lot of the vegetables when we couldn't keep up, but I, along with Dad, Mom, and Meredith, definitely benefited.  Anyways, Papaw carried a salt shaker in his truck so when he and I traveled to the other garden (Of course, I was his number one helper and sidekick.), we would have our salt shaker ready to go and sit down and eat us some tomatoes.  I also reaped the benefits of my other sets of grandparent's gardens when I stayed with them during the summers.  Now that I don't get to visit during the summers, Grandpa Bill and Nanny have tomatoes cut-up for Christmas dinner just for me!  My sweet Grandma that I miss dearly gave me tomatoes that she canned as part of my birthday present every year.  It's not the same, but they are great for some macaroni and tomatoes (Another one of my favorites that Matt has now become accustomed to as well even though he doesn't share the same love as I do.).  One summer, I traveled to Paris with my Grandpa and Grandma.  I found the best macaroni and tomatoes.  It's ridiculous to even type it but I'm talking true Italian.  I will never live it down with my Grandpa but it's true.  Speaking of Grandpa, he says that a fried green tomato is a waste of a good tomato but I disagree.  Not the healthiest way to eat a tomato, but most definitely, not a waste.  While I was at his house this summer, we joked to steal one of his green tomatoes from the garden, but we are way too smart to actually do that!  :-)   I introduced Matt to fried green tomatoes shortly after we met and every summer, I get excited over having them. 

 
They are delicious!  I'm still able to get the good summer tomatoes but know it won't be long until I will have to say goodbye until next year.  Until then, most evenings, I will continue to cut up a tomato to eat with supper or have my tomato with lunch, or maybe both!