Ryan's mandatory post-church shot
Ryan told the "3 clowns" to pose . . .
Gabby & me
Moose
A big flock of turkeys ran through Mathis's back yard as we were walking past. Ryan said they wouldn't be as fun to chase as Canada geese.
My "Leaves of 3, let it be" public service announcement
Ryan defies the laws of physics by swinging on a smallish branch
Bobtail finally let Ryan get close to her. He's calling her Shredder now.
My morning started out by sitting with Bobtail for a while before my walk. She's always dressed up for fall, and looks red instead of black in the sun.
The colors are really starting to come out on some of the trees here.
We celebrated Anita's (Chadd's mom) birthday at lunch. She has the plate that says "I'm special today."
Nikie made her Olive Garden's chocolate lasagna.
Chadd tries to hold up Nikie's belly. She's due on December 23.
Gabby, Olivia, and Becky came over on the golf cart for a visit. Olivia was tired, but didn't want to admit it. She only rested briefly in the window.
Wes lost a bet to Tyler playing ping pong and had to get his hair cut. Renee was the one who did the cutting and it turned out pretty good!
Olivia and Gabby had to hang onto the edge while Tyler jumped. They really flew high!
Olivia heard it was time to go. This isn't even their cart.
It's double-matted and in the frame ready to mail! I really like how it turned out. The seniors asked me to create a masterpiece to auction off again this year, but I told them I didn't have time. One of these days, I'll start keeping some of my artwork . . . maybe.
I've been commissioned to complete a piece of artwork for Ken Cook. I think I'm finished with the pen & ink part, now I just have to paint it with watercolors. I didn't want to give the whole thing away, so it's blurred out. I'll put the final image up when I have one!
What was supposed to be a surprise for Jaclyn and Ryan's engagement turned into a surprise for all four of us.
After I had been very vague with letting Kelli know whether or not we could come on Saturday night, I text messaged her on Friday and let her know Ryan and I could come. Since we got engaged on Thursday (earlier than Ryan thought he would be able to ask me), we were free. Kelli and everyone surprised us by including us in the party.
After we had snacks and cake, we played a round of Thump Thump (7 Up, Old Thunder, . . .) It was really fun. I lost with style.
I came into work this morning and my office was filled with balloons and there was a bottle of sparkling grape juice and a bag of kisses on my desk with a card from Don & J.P.
Everyone seems to be really excited . . . except Olivia. She made her opinion very clear to me in the hallway when I told her I was getting married. "Why you got married?!?" and then when I explained that I wasn't yet, "Carrie, you CANNOT get married!"
Ryan asked me last night if I wanted to go out to eat and walk around downtown.
So after supper at Olive Garden, we went to the walking bridge and walked down to the aquarium because these jets of water looked so neat illuminated.
When we got back up the hill to the Hunter Art Museum, Ryan asked me to marry him and I said YES! This is a picture of us excited.
The ring! It's really sparkly (how do you spell that?).
Jaclyn and I back at the Heilmans'. She ran in the door and gave me a big hug. Ryan and Mary Jane will most likely have pictures of Ryan and me in their house too.
To make the most of our time in Asheville, I gave Jaclyn and Ryan a tour of my summer home. Hee hee . . .
The weather was perfect, even considering we were inside for most of the morning. We went through the whole house and even saw the 4th floor. The last time I went through the Biltmore Estate, you could only go through the first 3 floors. The fourth floor had maids' quarters and laundry. The coolest thing about it was the architectural model and drawings of the house used in the proposal for it to be built.
We went outside and wished that we had more time to walk around and spend time in the gardens. They were switching over to fall flowers, but everything was still really pretty.
We had fun taking pictures of each other with all of the different backdrops. I'm sure Jaclyn felt like she was my & Ryan's personal photographer.
I was dead tired after the weekend and knew that I would be sleepy on the drive home. We met up with Stephanie for lunch at El Chapala, for good food and old time's sake.
Ken & Renee, we wished you could have stayed and gone through the house with us. Hey, you could just move this one to Charlotte . . . =)
The bees and butterflies liked all of the flowers and didn't mind my face up next to theirs. We had fun feeding squirrels with Dan & Lori on our way out through the parking lot too. I thought Ryan was going to stomp on one!
Anyway, it was a fun way to end the long weekend before driving back. Now I'm dealing with the usual - board meeting, ad council, staff meeting, and supervision. Thank goodness Ryan's coming for the weekend. It's nice to "get away" to my own house even!
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