Our Oliver Better Known As "Ollie"

     Let's see....I've always loved doggies from the time I was a little girl and I still do some 41 years later! It helped that my Dad & Mom always had dogs when I was growing up. I can still remember my Dad coming home from work and I would go out back with him to play and feed our dogs.

     I remember when I was around 5 years old he had a black dog named Pepper. Pepper was kin to Run Tin Tin the famous German Shepherd from a long long time ago!! Any ways Pepper was part German Shepherd & maybe Lab. My parents had this pic hanging in their bedroom:

A pic of Pepper and I!!

I grew up seeing this pic in their bedroom and it made me feel special.  So began my love for doggies. :)

     Back to the title of this post. ;) Ollie was special way before he came to live with us. You see, he was my sisters Cocker Spaniel. Yes, Karen was his 1st Mommy. I remember the day she got Ollie. I remember the day she called me saying, "Amee, you'll never guess what Ollie did"...then proceeded to tell me how she arrived home from work to find Ollie on her bed (which just happened to have a brand new quilt on it) laying there with a dead baby rabbit!!!! He was oh so proud because he caught the intruder in his back yard!! Yes, Ollie caught and killed the rabbit & brought it in through the doggie door and took it to her bed!! Luckily only a little blood got on her comforter and it did come clean. Thank goodness!
     
     I also remember the day I officially feel deeply in love with Ollie. I went to my sisters house to have a girls sleep over. I finally was able to experience what it was like to be around Ollie for more than a couple of hours. I loved how he followed us every where we went in the house. I remember going to the bathroom and yes Ollie went with me. He wanted to be where we were. The moment that did it for me was when it got bed time. He ALWAYS slept with my sister. Every single night. That was the norm. Well when it was time to go to bed, Ollie realized he had a visitor: me. His auntie. :) He couldn't decide where to sleep: with his Mommy or with his Auntie!!! Poor little guy....he would go to Karen's room then back to the living room with me. He ended up sleeping in the love seat in the living room. I say he couldn't decide who to sleep with so he chose neither one of us..... He won my heart right then and there. He is the reason I knew I wanted a little boy Cocker Spaniel too. Little did I know that one day he would be mine.

Fast forward several years....to some unforseen happenings in life and my sister moved to a house in town which didn't allow pets. At this time she still had Ollie and even had a 2nd Cocker Spaniel named Sawyer. So my hubby, boys and & I took Ollie and my parents took Sawyer. :) He and Newman (our Cocker that we had had for 1 1/2 yrs.) were buddies from the day Ollie came home to us.

So Ollie had my heart even before my Newman did. Now I share my heart with both of my boys. :)

Here's a few of my favorite pics of both Newman & Ollie:

Colby & Sarah are Hitched!

     I'll be honest... I have been putting off writing this post because I'm not sure how to accurately describe what a beautiful day December 31, 2011really was. It will be forever an unforgettable day to me &I'm sure to so many others including Colby & Sarah. Dec. 31st was a the most gorgeous day to have an out door wedding.  What I'm having trouble describing is not just how beautiful everything was. It was each & every detail that Sarah had decided on. It was from knowing she wanted  to walk down the aisle on a burlap runner, to coming up with the idea to put wedding pictures of her Mom & Dad (31 years being married) to asking us for our wedding pic (22 years being married), to having mason jars for all of the guests to drink sweet tea out of, to serving her favorite: lasagna, bread sticks & salad for dinner, to hand picking her silk red roses from Hobby Lobby & designing her bridal bouquet & her bridal parties bouquets, to coming up with the idea for everyone to sit on bales of hay during the wedding, to fixing hot chocolate packs as wedding favors, to placing on each table a sheet to fill out "how do you know Colby & Sarah",  and too many other details I'm failing to mention. Sarah & her Mom were very organized & prepared!!! I was totally impressed. It's amazing how all these details made one fabulous looking wedding & this is not even mentioning how beautiful Sarah looked, her bridal party & of course Colby looked so handsome in his western clothes & that cowboy hat! Oh yeah, his groomsmen & best man were also very handsome too!
     Here's a few details that I may have forgotten to mention in the previous post:
     Grandpa & Granny Eastman brought their fifth wheel camper to Otter Springs Campground & rented a couple of cabins for family to stay in. Sarah's parents had their camper there too & a cabin rented for family. Sarah & her bridesmaids stayed the night before the wedding in the Stilt house (owned by Otter Springs) after rehearsal was over. Brandon & Uncle Dennis were up to their old tricks... scaring people or should I say scaring girls! They also scared Colby too! Mean, mean guys!
     Back to the day of the wedding:
     I arrived at Otter around 1:00pm. I was dressed & so ready for their wedding!Colby & Sarah were having photos taken of them at 1:30pm. They chose to have their photos taken before the wedding so they could take their time and wouldn't be rushed due to guests waiting to see them. :) They also arranged their photographer, Julee Brideson Photography to capture the moment Colby sees Sarah for the first time all dressed in her gown!! ( I secretly had hoped they were planning on doing this!!) I've seen all these gorgeous photos on Pinterest and hoped they would have their special moment caught on film!
     I was lucky enough to be there when that moment happened: Colby saw Sarah for the first time! I thought is was great because I took pics too. The only thing I couldn't see was Colby's reaction! I knew Julee was capturing it so yesterday when she posted it on facebook, it totally lived up to my expectation! She posted a sneak peak with 12 photos being posted on facebook. They are B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L.!!! She did an awesome job! I so can't wait to see the rest!!!
     Guests started to arrive around 3:20pm. They even had a country shuttle set up. This consisted on a John Deere Gator (camo of course!) pulling a wagon which had bales for guests to sit on. It would have been quite a hike from the field where the cars were parked to where the wedding was being held. So thank goodness they had thought that idea through!
     I do believe the guest who had traveled the furthest to be here was Aunt Cheryl, which is Grandpa Eastman's sister! She traveled from Pennsylvania. It was an honor for her to be here.
   
    Here's a few photos up to this point:

Colby getting ready for the big day!!

Papa Eastman helping Brandon.....

This is the Ford tractor that burned up in my parents barn several

years ago. Then my Dad gave it to Colby because he wanted to restore it back 

to its original state. Colby & Grandpa Eastman did just that! It looks even better than before!

Sarah's Dad, Wayne drove the tractor and Sarah & her bridal party sat on bales of hay in the tralier.

It was just picture perfect!

Love the burlap runner....

My parents with Colby before the wedding. 

Sarah headed to meet her groom!!! 

Colby waiting patiently to see Sarah!!!! 

Every time I look at this photo here is the thought I think describes this moment: "Colby, you have yourself

a little fire cracker!!"

Beautiful Sarah.....

Part Two Coming Very Soon!!!

It's Arrived: Our Oldest Son Is Getting Married Today!!!

     WOW! It's finally here. It's unbelievable how time has really flown by. I've been watching that little wedding   ticker up above ^ as the days kept getting closer and closer.
     We arrived at Otter Springs Lodge mid morning with decorating on our agenda. We also have family coming in from out of town that will be staying in the cute little cabins we rented. I'm loving the country rustic style of these little cabins. I'm thinking that we may want to plan to build one for our selves! So that thought will be stuck in my head now. ;)

Chuckie was ahead of me pulling the Easy Go Golf Kart that belongs

to Papa & Granny Eastman.

Welcome to Otter Springs!

Nannie with Colby....

Me and the hubby...

     My sweet Mom came around 11:30am & then we headed to Chiefland to pick the cake up at our local Wal-Mart. We also had time to quickly run into Cato's to see if I could find me another pair of jeans. (I've gained weight & only had one pair that fit me. Uggghhh.) Luckily I did find a pair in petites so that they weren't two miles too long on me! That's my only complaint from Cato's-all of their jeans are way too long unless you can buy petites. Other than that Cato's is my very best friend. Oh yeah, I did find a couple of cute shirts too! We also had to run to Winn Dixie and pick up cherry tomatoes for the salad that we will be eating at the reception Saturday evening.
     We finished in Chiefland then headed to Trenton to pick up 17 gallons of sweet & unsweet tea. They really make good sweet tea. I know because I'm very very picky about whose tree I'll drink. It has to have the "right" flavor!
     The decorating had really progressed from the time we left and came back. It looked absolutely beautiful. It has a the wonderfully mixed country & rustic feel. I love all of the extra details that have been thought through from A to Z!
     We had rehearsal dinner last night and it turned out excellent. We catered the food from a local Barbecue place called Akin's Barbecue. Their food is always consistently good. We had sliced pork, smoked chicken quarters, baked beans, cole slaw, potato salad & rolls with butter & of course some sweet tea that our local grocery store is famous for.
     I ordered the rehearsal cake from our local Wal-Mart. I chose the Browning Deer Head decor for the theme of the cake. The only thing I was disappointed in was the color of Browning Deer Heads...one was suppose to be pink & one camo. Well the one that was suppose to be pink turned out lavendar! I did mention i to the bakery person & she proceeded to tell me that was the color that the machine prints out on the transfer. So I just said, "yes, mam". I knew there was no need to get mad or aggravated. The cake did taste really good!
     All in all rehearsal day went very well!! Tomorrow will be really exciting!! I can't believe it's already here!!

With Drawal Symptons

     Y'all I am so missing a certain little someone that just happens to be the cutest little fella you've ever laid your eyes upon. Okay, maybe I'm a little bit prejudiced, but be honest isn't he a handsome little fella?

                                     Kason loves benches, chairs, anything that he can sit on!

Uh-Oh!!  I'm so glad I caught this expression!! 

One of the many things I love about Kason is his chubby cheeks!

Kason with his striped p.j.'s on. I love it when he wears them!

Mr. Cheezin' himself! My sweetie pie nephew... I wuv him so much & I miss him so much!

Kason Making Bubbles!

My sweet little nephew has learned how to blow bubbles...with his spit that is!! I was taking pictures of Kason and talking to him and all of a sudden he started blowing bubbles!! It was so stinkin' cute!! Of course once he started he kept right on blowing them. It's amazing how something so innocent is just so precious when a little baby does these things.
I'm very thankful I get to keep Kason often. I wouldn't miss these moments for anything!!! Our boys are now young men and it seems forever go when they were babies. I definitely took so many things for granted with them. It was all so a matter of fact. I was young and it just seemed so natural. But now many years have gone by (20 to be exact) and I see how it all just goes by in a blink of an eye. So with my little sister having a baby it's given me the chance to experience it all again and boy am I enjoying every little minute of it!! I'm trying to take Kason for granted.  I love him so very much!!! He definitely has a hold onto Aunt Amee's heart!