Cubs/Twins Game Chicago June 2009!!

Remember when I said FATE was what brought the Kings and the Kushs together. Check this out.

Shane and I were packing up on a Thursday night in June to head up to Chicago for my CEO's anniversary. We had already planned on scalping tickets to the Cubs game while we were there. Shane pulled out his Twins Tshirt and says "we should take a picture while we are the and send it to Tim and Susie" Just as he got that out of this mouth, Susie texted me and said "Thinking about you guys while we are in Chicago at the Twins game!"

We headed north with a vengeance. Not only for the party but to see Susie and Tim!! The party turned out great on Friday night. Shane and I got up bright and early for the drive into Wrigley. We met up with the Kushs and headed to Cubbie Bear. After a few cocktails and some catching up, we headed to the game. The game was awesome. After the game we headed to Wrigleyville. This was a site to see. We ended up spending a pretty good amount of time at Sluggers. This is where Susie wrote a "two free airline tickets to Duluth" on a napkin and asked us to be Godparents of their new baby girl Kendra. WOW! Yes of course.

The kiddos! Dogs that is!

There's nothing like having three babies to come home too!

Below please meet Gidget (picture 1), Maya (picture 2) and Lil Buddy (picture 3)

We are blessed with dogginess! We love coming home to our babies. They do keep us busy!

LA, California Girl Trip 2007

Summer Lowry, Sarah Harrison, Susie Kush, and Jodie King! We had an absolute ball in LA. We were all celebrating our birthdays. My first trip to a Tiffany store paid off. We all bought matching necklaces. Rodeo drive was a sight to see. We shopped for hours upon hours. We all come home with new jewelry and a hot new purse!! We visited the Beverly Willshire Hotel, home of Pretty woman. We had mimosa's at The Beverly Hills Hotel where we ran into Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart. Rebecca was actually in the restroom while we were all in there! Pretty cool! We girls will be back here soon! You can count on it!

Minnesota Fish Fry, Labor Day 2006

Awesomeness! It was wonderful spending Labor Day 2006 with our new found friends. Their lake house was amazing. The Wali was wonderful! This was our first introduction to "pull tabs". Here is when we learned that Susie was preggo with her first child. Cannon would soon be his name!

Tim picked us up at the airport in Minneappolis. It's about a 2 hour drive to Duluth. We hadn't seen each other since our honeymoon. Tim remember exactly what we looked like! haha!! We all met up with Susie at Grandma's. We caught up with each other for a few minutes and then Susie says "we have a surprise for you" (Susie is FULL of surprises!) They had reserved us a hotel room for our anniversary. Aw too sweet! When we got to the room there were chocolate cover strawberries and champagne, with a little note from Susie saying: "Celebrate a little early! Thanks for coming to see us!" The room had a wonderful view of the city, and the biggest fresh water lake in the world. Yes, that would be Lake Superior!

The next few days were full of excitement. We all loaded up and made the trip around Brainard. Stopping for a few cocktails along the way. Then back to Island Lake for the Fish Fry!

Indian Head Mtn, 2007

But first we had to meet Cannon. Susie and Tims little man.

Snow Skiing with the Kush's, New Years Eve 2007! (and Summer, Sarah, Gundy, Leslie and Glenny)

I think I can, I think I can , I think I can....Nope I can't, meet you at the bunny slope! These were the words that I was telling Susie as I was trying to make it down the BIG hill. Never been on skies in my life, but I was trying to be a dare devil! Nope didn't happen. Shane caught on to his snowboard rather quickly! He and Tim were having a blast. After a long time, felt like forever, I finally got the courage up to go down the hill. Normally only takes like 5 minutes to get down, but I took FOREVER! Good thing the bar was at the end of the hill! Made the trip down not seem so hard after all!

After all the hard work, we all celebrated New years! Too much fun! We laughed, we drank, we told stories, listened to the band, danced on the bar, and had kisses at midnight...Good way to bring in the new year. As Tim stated "It was a good year so far!"

NYC 2006! Movin in!

With a loved one gone and a friend moving away, the trip to NYC was much needed. Helping Krista move away to NYC in July 2006 was too much fun. Krista and I had tons of fun while they moved Krista into her 2x4 apartment in the Chelsea district! Lots of long walks and long talks were made. Pastis, which is a restaurant in the meat packing district, had a great set up. Krista and I got all dressed up and had a nice dinner. The tour of Grand Central Station was amazing. Krista and I walked down to Tony's, an Italian restaurant. Fettucini Alfredo and a bottle of wine later, they decided to walk back to the apartment. The first night in Krista's apartment was very warm. We moved her in on the weekend, therefore she wouldn't have her air conditoner until Monday. Sleeping with the window open in NYC is way different than sleeping with the window open at home!

MBA Graduation 2009!

YEP! After all that hard work, Jodie finally graduated with her MBA on May 28, 2009! Whew, aren't we glad that's over! Congrats to her!

Destin Florida 2008!

My parents and brother's first trip to the beach! Destin was quiet welcoming for them. There was a hurricane coming, but we went anyway. We had the most beautiful weather ever! The beaches nor the restaurants were crowded, which made the time even more fun. Dad's fist trip out in the water was breathtaking. He sat down beside the ocean and just took it all in while playing in the sand. Mom actually loved the "fruity" drinks and the sunshine. Keith, Dad and Shane bogey boarded for a few hours on the waves that were brought in by the storm. The Back Porch was just across the street from the condo. We enjoyed lots of seafood there. There weren't too many restaurants we didn't eat at.
We visited Seaside where the Truman show was filmed. This is a little world in itself. We love the grocery store there. Small shopping carts and big selections! We topped that day off with a cold beverage at the seaside outdoor pub.

This was Mom and Dad's "35" wedding anniversary. I believe we got them hooked on the beach. They talk about it all the time. We are glad we got to share this experience with them. Love ya'll!

Key West July 2007

Happy Birthday Lydia! We all went to Key West July 4, 2007. John and Lydia Hicks went with us. This was John's first airplane trip! He wasn't too nervous! We had a ball. Shane and I went deep sea fishing. Whew was that a tough one. But in the end, it was a good time. The weather was hot. We got around most of the island on rented scooters. The funniest was when Shane and John road the scooter to the nearest McDonald's to get some grub! HAHA! Sorry, didn't get a picture of them sharing the scooter! It was hilarious however!

Good Times!

Wedding Day! September 24, 2005

hmmm.. What can I say? At this time Shane and I had been together for 9 years. We had a beautiful outside weeding in Mrs. Enoch's front yard in Newbern TN. I had 5 bridesmaids and Shane had 5 groomsmen. Anna, Micah, Lydia, Krista and Stacey were a lot of help through this whole process. I'm sure I wasn't the worst bridzilla in the world! hehe! This day was most definitely the happiest day of my life. My all time favorite teacher, Mrs. Davenport, showed up to see me walk down the aisle. Might I add that this was my Kindergarten teacher. She had great influence on my life. I have never had another person care so much about me while in school. She is truly a blessing in disguise. Love her!! My future husband was standing outside the tent when I heard "tell her we need to hurry because it's going to start raining!" What?? Rain on my wedding day? Start EARLY was he kidding?? Thanks to the good lord above for holding off while we made this special day. Somewhere over the rainbow was the song that was played as the mothers were seated. Butterfly kisses played extra special for my dad while we were sitting in the tent. Sitting in Dad's lap at that very moment, sharing this special time, was a moment that would never be forgotten. We both sat there looking at each other saying, "don't you cry now!!" haha! As the bridal march came and we appeared out of the tent, I saw the gleam in Shane's eye. I believe that moment was the moment that changed his life forever. It was actually happening...I'm sure that was going through his mind. Dad walked me slowly down the aisle cracking a joke every now and again. When we got up to the pastor, Dave Counsil, is when Dad started shedding a tear...This was the time he had to "hand" me over to my husband. The ceremony was flawless, no rain, and no one fell. Dad had a limo pick up the bridal party and we all headed to the reception. That was a story in itself, so we will keep it short and sweet. My brother sang our first song, You and Me (Lifehouse)

Good food, good friends, good times, good family, good fellowship!!! Outstanding! WE did it...