This past week has been an absolute whirlwind of doing something every night. It's been exhausting but a lot of fun getting to hang out with friends and family constantly! Needless to say, I have not had a chance to sit down and catch up here on my blog until now. I hope I don't overwhelm you, but I am now going to try and catch you up on what all has happened this past week in the life of The Jackson's...
Saturday, June 21st, we had church that night then went to dinner with our dear friends, Randy & Ellen Olive. It's always good light hearted fun when we are with them! We had church again Sunday morning and went to lunch with Sam & Marci Kuver at a Chinese place right by our house. I hate Chinese food and was definitely trying to be a trooper, and think I did a good job at keeping a smile on my face! :) lol. Then, it was off to IAH to pick up Sherry. She had just gotten home from her 2 week mission trip to Zambia, Africa. It was really good to hear all of the fun, goofy, and even sad stories that she brought home with her. And if you know me then you know one of my biggest loves and weaknesses is purses/ bags... Sherry brought me back a beautiful purse from Africa, what a good friend she is, who could ask for anything more?!?!? We came home hoping to snuggle up on the couch and watch a movie together, but were so exhausted that we fell asleep before the movie even started! Lol. We are getting old! ;) j/k
Monday is our one day off a week, so we tried to sleep and take it easy all day, that night we did a master class for my friend, Cheryl. She teaches private voice lessons and had her students perform for Blake & myself. We then critiqued them and gave them pointers on how to make their song better vocally and performance wise. It was fun to meet kids who are so excited about life and who are where we once were, just trying to get better and better. They all did a great job and I was so proud of them!
Tuesday, started off with our staff meeting for work. We worked all day, ran by Chick-fil-A to support our middle school kids as they did a fund raiser to provide scholarships for kids to go to camp this summer. We then went to some family friends of ours, The Eubanks, for a fajita dinner and some Apple to Apples (game time). It was a lot of fun catching up with old friends!
Wednesday morning, we met with our life coach, Melinda, at La Madeline. The food was great, but the insight and guidance through our thoughts and emotions was even better! We love you Melinda and praise God for your heart, passion for people, and for simply bringing you into our lives! We worked the rest of he day, then got to hang with one of my best friends in the whole wide world, Jason Sartain! He was one of my bridesmen in our wedding and has been a close friend to both Blake & I since college. He was in town from Georgia and came over to hang out for a bit, we went downtown to grab a bite to eat and took fun artsy pictures in the streets of downtown. I love doing things like that and would like to take more time and do it more often! We came home and talked until 4:30 AM. We love you Jas and miss doing life with you and Danielle. :( Can't wait to see you again soon!
Thursday- 5:30 AM came real early for me to wake up, since I only got 1 hour of sleep! Blake and I drove to the Woodlands and went to a doctors appointment for me at 8:00 AM, it went great and God truly answered some prayers for us! We came home to work again all day. It was a good day, but Blake had to work late at the church and it kind of threw our plans off for the night. :( We went to an event for Blake's sister, Kari, in Richmond (about 1 1/2 to 2 hours away from our house). She wrote a movie and is now in the process of raising money for it and beginning the whole production process. We really enjoyed getting to be a part of her event and get a better idea of the dream God has given to her for this movie. The neatest part was seeing the passion she has to see it come to fruition. So many people have jumped on board and God is opening doors left and right. It is such a neat thing and I can't wait to see the final product of what all God does through these people who are open and willing to be obedient to His calling in their lives.
Friday is always one of my busiest days at work, this Friday was no exception. We ended up having to work late again and was late to my sister's birthday party because of it! :( We drove to the Woodlands to be with my family and celebrate my little sister's 21t birthday. Mom cooked baked chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, salad, and I can't remember what else. She is a great cook and I love her yummy food! We had cake, cinnamon rolls, and she opened up her gift... we all went together and got her a new camera. She was really excited! Then we took a family trip to Market Street in the Woodlands for a family fun night at the Fountains! They put these really cool fountains in that are synchronized to music, it's quite a production! I would encourage everyone to go see it if you get some free time. We had a BLAST!!! I love my family and cherish the time we get together! :)
On to Saturday... we woke up and finished up some work, went to church @ 1:00 PM and was done and ready to leave the church around 7:30ish that night. We changed clothes and headed to a wedding reception for our friends, Katie & Zach Crosby. We had a lot of fun and got some great pictures with friends, in all a very successful night full of fun! We had church the next morning and went immediately from that to a couple's wedding shower for Justin & Natalie. They are so cute & I can't wait for them to finally be married! We went from there to change clothes and head right back to the church for our Sunday night DNA until about 8:30PM. From there we went to Target for some late night browsing with Natalie & onto Starbucks to hang out with Nat, The Olives & Jonie Scruggs. We had a good time just kicking back and hanging with friends! We got an extra burst of energy and headed back to Randy & Ellen's house, where Justin met up with us and we hung out all night just being silly, as we usually do! Although this week has flown by and was full of fun, I am glad it is over and I can sit here and rest while I reflect back. Enjoy some of the pictures we took along the way...
Blake & Randy are secret lovers! ;)
The Jackson's & The Olives
Me & Marci (she sang with us this weekend)
The band for the weekend, minus me!
(Marcus, Donald, Chris, Albert, Blake & Marci)
Albert, Me, Blake & Marcus
The cute purse Sherry got me from Zambia
Me, Baby Brooklyn & Cheryl after the Master Class,
grabbing a bite to eat @ Chilis
Jas & Blake
Blake, Me & Jas
Whitney & Eric (my little sister & her fiance)
Happy Birthday dear Nini!!!
The 'ol Gillmore clan minus Momma
(Blake, Whitney, Eric, Me, Nathan & Dad)
Whit & her new camera
Justin & Natalie (soon to be Kirtley)
David & Kristy Stark (and baby Caroline still in her belly)
Blake & I with Dan Chase in the background
Randy & Ellen Olive
Dan & Melissa Chase ( a crazy cool couple from our church)
Ellen makes us smile!
Did that really just happen?!?!?!
Yup, it sure did... Randy farted crazy loud with his butt in the air at our table @ the Crosby's wedding reception, Blake though it was so funny he was crying, absolutely classic!!!
The whole gang hanging outside enjoying finger foods!
We are one big happy family and I couldn't ask God for better friends,
these guys are AWESOME!!
The Olives should be models! ;)
My baby likes his tea time! Lol.
Blake & his boy Justin
Justin & Natalie are getting married in just a couple of weeks!!!
Me & my favorite dance partner ever, Napoli!
Ellen, Natalie & Me after the reception... I adore these girlies!
Justin & Natalie @ their couple's wedding shower
After a long Sunday, back at The Olive's house...
These boys are so cute, such good friends, we love them!!!
(Randy & Blake)
