Happily Ever After

This past week I was involved in a secret mission called...OPERATION SEAGULL! My friend Scott surprised his wife Andrea with a little ceremony of renewing their vows. It was so sweet!! I love seeing two people who are truly blessed and madly in love or as their little girl would say "Daddy is mommy's prince!" (Just so cute it melts my heart.) Watching as Scott and Andrea walk to where a small group of us were standing to renew their love for each other. Brought tears to my eyes, I get a little choked up thinking about it. This day was so special in so many ways. I am so glad that I was a part of it.

These two people are so amazing and special to me. They are like family and I am so blessed to have them in my life. LOVE YA BOTH!!!

It's My BESTEST from TEXAS!!!

I would like to introduce you all to my BESTEST from TEXAS

Charles Cody…but we call him Cody

Cody is by far my best guy friend. We have been friends since the 7th grade. We met in 6th grade, but I didn’t know much about it him. He was the guy that wore the Cowboys Starter jacket and arrived to camp half way through, because he went skiing with his family. (He is not one of those rich snobbish guys at all…FAR from it) We met in Jr. High because our lockers were right next to each other. We didn’t really talk much, only when we were at our lockers or if we had a class together. I would say that we started to hang out and become friends the start of our high school years. During our high school years I became Cody’s #1 fan, well besides his momma. One day I was shopping with a friend at Savers looking at old T-shirts and what do you know. I find a CODY shirt, but not just one but two. I knew that I had to purchase them. I washed them a few times because they smelled like death and I wore it to school. You see I was not ashamed to let people know that I was the crazy girl. (I don’t mean like stalkerish or anything just didn’t care what people thought) I remember walking into the school that day all excited to show him my new purchase. When he saw my shirt he seriously turned a few shades of red. It was classic. My shirt was the talk of the day (actually the rest of the year) I wore that shirt to a lot of his games junior and senior year. I had to show my support. He showed his just in yelling and cheering me on at my broomball games or giving me pointer at my tennis match. Cody and became best friends. If I had a problem with a boy or was just down, he would be right there to pick me up and tell me things were going to be ok. We would have dance parties, drive around listening to Regulators, play cards, color, and just relax. It’s funny because when I think about when we would hang out at Cody’s house I had my “office” and when we wanted to have serious conversations or just talk we would always go into my office. I sure do miss those days.

After we graduated spending time with Cody was coming to an end, not because we got into some huge fight, because he was going into his freshman year at THE Ohio State University. I was so excited for him because Cody was/is a HUGE Buckeye fan. I remember that summer I pretty much spent a lot of time with Cody and Stefe. We 3 did a lot of things together. We went to graduation parties together, had sleep overs, watch movies and just enjoy each other’s company. When our summer came to an end and Cody was leaving at 6 in the morning to move into his dorm at OSU, I remembered the night before just crying in my “office” and telling Cody that I was going to miss him and who was I going to talk to. I was a real mess that morning too. Stefe and I rode over there in the morning to say our good byes and I remember hugging Cody so tight, not wanting to let him go. He was my best friend and he was starting a new chapter in his life. I was really happy for him but I was also really selfish because I wanted him here.

Cody has been there for me. It helped me with a lot those next years when he was down in Columbus and I was up here. We talked all the time and on some weekends I would even make a weekend out of it visiting family and other friends. Nonetheless, Cody and I have remained Best friends all these years later. Two years ago I went to visit him in the great state of Texas. I loved it because I never been there before and I got to see and meet so many wonderful people, including his dad that I hadn’t seen in sometime.

Last night as I was talking to Cody I was reassured that I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful guy in my life. He is always there for me and gives me some of the best advice. He thinks that I don’t listen to it but I do. So I just wanted to thank you Cody for being such a blessing in my life. You have helped me with so much and talking to you last night was just a reassurance that you are AWESOME!! You are 1 in a million and I am glad that we have been such great friends all these years. I don’t think I can thank you enough for everything you have done.

The Myth of Chalky Road

Several years ago my friend Joel and Kelly decided we were going to go on an advanture to the so called "Chalky Road" also known as Gunn Road. We had heard about this from a few Springfield guys that were talking about it at a party. So one night when we were soooo bored we embarked on our adventure to Gunn Road. As we where about to turn onto Gunn Rd we started to get really freaked out, because down this road it was creepy and NO lights. Here is how what happened:

Joel turned down the road in his brand new sebring convertible. Kelly was sitting in the passanger seat and I was in the back not knowing what to expect. We were literally going 25-30 down the road not knowing what we will see. We were about 20 yards down the road and my friend Joel just stopped his car, and then he said "WHAT IS THAT?!?!" Kelly and I both started to scream because in the corn field staring straight at us was a guy with long black hair wearing a red vest and his eyes were kind of reflecting. As we were screaming Joel stepped on the gas and went another 30 yards there was another guy standing in the cornfeild. He was wearing like a gray t-shirt and was bald. That was when we just kept screaming and yelled Joel just to get out of there. We ended up seeing the guy in the red vest and by this time we were really freaked out. We turned down a side street so we could turn around because there was no outlet. When we turned down the road a guy was getting ready to stand up from behind a fire hydrant. Didn't really like this, by the time we turned around we were crying, some of us peed alittle because we were so scared and I just wanted to be home. We ended up driving back down Gunn Rd. so we could get out of there and there was 3 people instead of the 2 we saw. There was a lady. Joel just put the pedal to the medal and didnt care if he hit anyone because we wanted to get out of there.

After that night we called our friends and told them what had happened that night. We planned to go the following weekend with a video camera. We loaded up Kelly's Big Blue van and had the camera ready to start. As we turned down that road my heart started to race and I for sure we were going to see the people again. NOTHING HAPPENED!!! It was a good thing. We did however had fun being scared girls and guys. I think that night we ended up going to the haunted orphanage which is just as scary. I don't know why we liked to put us in those situations but we did. I swore that I was never going to go back there. Well that all changed because last night I did.

My friend Nathan and Teddy came over and we were looking for something to do. Driving around Rossford was not cutting it for us. I tried to find where the haunted orphanage was and that was an epic fail. Then I remembered Chalky road. I told them about it and they were eager to go so we did. On the way there I was freaking out. My heart started to race and I felt a panic. We turned down the road and this time it looked different. Still really erie but they had started building houses down the street. As we went down the street nothing was happening. I started getting the same feeling. There was nothing! We went back down a 2nd time and I slowly went by this area and that's when I saw it. A person standing in the area with white pants and a yellow shirt. After I saw that I just booked it down the street. Didn't even stop at the stop sign. Ya, I'm a big rebel! Anyways, I should of listened to Nathan because he did not want to go back down that road because it was so erie and creepy, to top it off it was really foggy, only on that road. CRAZY!!! It was a fun night though all in all. Made me feel like I was that young, crazy, without a care in the world and of course being with the greatest people I grew up with. My friends are just AMAZING and really know how to cheer me up.

I found a link about chalky road myth. Check it out here for yourself.

Grandma's Warm Chocolate Chip Cookies

The next person I'm going to talk about who has been an encourager, loving, and gives great advice...Her name is Elizabeth, but I call her Grandma!!




Ever since I was a little girl my grandma has encouraged me to follow my dreams and be the best that I can be!! Recently (well a few months ago)I accomplished one of my goals and my grandma was right there with me from the begining to the end. I love her for that. My grandma and I have a very special bond. This bond started when I was born. My mom, dad and I lived with my grandma and grandpa Welch for a few months after I was born. When I go and visit my grandma she tells me stories on how she loved watching me and the other 13 grandchildren growing up. You see my dad's side of the family are very close, some closer than others, but we still are there for them no matter what. This leads us swimming at my grandparents house every summer, having sleep-overs when Allison came in town, going to Mohican a whole week with the family and being at grandmas house in the morning playing cards before school, because my parents had to be at their jobs early. No matter what, when I was younger our whole family would get together. We would make up excuses to get together (we still do!)

My Grandma is the sweetest, funniest, best baker/cook, encourager, warm hearted, greatest hug giver you will ever meet. She encourages not only me but other people around her. I love my Grandma very much and enjoy spending time with her. She is the only one that will tell me how it is. She is one of my best friends I can go to her about anything EVEN GUYS and she always has good advice. I haven't been visiting her as much as I should be. After I'm done with this I'm going to go and visit her. You never know what she's going to share...Mandy, do you remember what she said about the broken bed?? LOL!!! There is just something about listening to stories about true love, what your parents did when they were your age and how each and everyone in our family is such a blessing.

*So if you have a Grandma as great as mine you should go and visit her and let her know how much you love and care about her. Grandma's like to hear that. Oh, and don't forget to give her a big hug too. That's the gift that keeps on giving!! Who knows you just might get some nice warm Chocolate Chip cookies. YUMMY
Hope you enjoyed yourselves!

In the Life of Tamie and Tegan :)

Hey Everyone! Sorry it's been sometime since I last Blogged. I was in the mood to do it though today. Outside is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!! I am sitting here at my desk admiring the weather and just the AMAZING scenery outside. I'm going to take a walk later, but I just wanted to write (or should I say Type) for a bit.

This lovely entry is called "In the Life of Tamie and Tegan" Weird. I know! The reason why it's called that is because I am going to dedicate this entry to my BEST FRIEND Amelia Elouise. She has been on my heart a lot lately with certain situations that have happened. Anyways I hope you enjoy and get a chuckle out of taking a look into Amy and Mine friendship.

It started the begining of my 7th grade year. That is when I met Amy and I knew we would be best buds for years to come. Here is a look at some pictures...I have thousands upon thousands of them, but I made this picture quilt for Amy and I found one of the collages

As you can see we were very CRAZY!! Honestly, sometimes I wonder how we ever made it out of high school and early 20s alive. There have been a handful of times where we were young and stupid....(Just between you and me, I wouldn't trade those times and memories for anything. That is what made us who we are today.)




In the upper left corner (the picture with Amy and I have are tongues out): Well, that is what a lot of friendship was. Being goofy and laughing at some of the dumbest things. One night I remember in particular we were at our friend Chips house just hanging out, doing what we did usally every Saturday and Friday night. Or whenever there was a get together. For some odd reason I really can't recall the situation, but Amy and I thought it would be so funny to replace peoples names with the letter "T". That is when I became Tegan and Amy became Tamie. The best name though that we did was Chip. We kept calling him Thip and laughing so hard we almost peed our pants. That was something out of the norm for us. We would laugh so hard our stomachs would hurt and we would almost or sometimes pee our pants. Never a dull moment with us.








Top right corner: This is a picture of Amy and I looking like HOT STUFF. We went out a lot, I mean ALOT. I think for a few years straight we went out M-Sunday. Yeah, know day of rest in there. Some nights though we would just relax or be lazy and chill in Amy's room and watch T.V or go over to my cousin Sean's house and hang with him and the boys in the Garage. We were part of a group called the Garage Gang. Lame I know but we thought it was so much fun. We always had a blast, but that's the normal for us. Well, except on the ride home when the windows went up. (Sorry little inside joke there)







The up-close picture: This was taken the night our Sophmore year when I made homecoming court. I love this picture because it makes me think of so many great nights sitting under the football stadium and watching the Bulldogs kick some butt. (That was when we were good) It was fun non the less. After the games we would go to someones house and just hangout. This time of the year makes me think of those great football games.







Just the 3 of us: Ashley is another person I hung out with the most,too. We use to call us three the Golden Girls. Ashley and I would fight so often, but we still love each other. I remember one night we were going to go to Amy's house and wait for the call from someone to do something. Well I was a prankster (Imagine that) and Ashley went to reach for the car door and I would move a little so she would miss. I did this for almost two blocks. I thought at the time it was funny, Ashley didn't. When I stopped Ashley forbid to ride in the car and threatened me that she was just going to walk home. Mind you this happened on a cold night. I slowly crept by her as she walked and was yelling that she should just get into the car. Finally, I got so mad at her that I threw my car in park and got out to drag her back to my car. BAD IDEA!! I went to reach for Ashley and she turned around and decked me in the face. I was so mad at her I got all ghetto in her face yelled at her and was just mean. I then went back to my car so mad and remember looking at Amy and she was of course laughing histarically. (See you have to know Amy when she laughs at her hardest she doesn't say anything and hits her leg over and over. It is very funny) Well by the time we got to Amys house we were going over to the "Garage Gang" and so Ashley came over and we hugged and made up. That's how our relationship was, I would like to say it is different than it was. I think Lori took over for you Ash. :) This picture was one of many pictures of a party I had at my parents house. They never knew...well they ended up finding out about one, but that didn't stop.







*FYI: I highly recommend that you don't have a party when your parents aren't home or a party at all.*







The next two pictures: These are pictures taken on some Summer night where we were going out to hang out with Crazy Ricky (I wonder whatever happened to him) or hanging out with Rich.




In the bottom right corner: That was a picture of one of the last day of classes our Senior or Junior year. Amy and I only got to be in one class together and that was Art class. We would talk the whole time, leave the classroom and go get slurpees from my mom in the lunchroom, make people feel so awkward or uncomfortable in class, by going up to them and saying weird things or just staring at them. It was always a riot in that class. I think that RHS teachers new that we couldn't be in the same class because we wouldn't get things done. I just want to thank Mrs Gladieux for being such a fun teacher and letting Amy, Kelly and I be completely ridiculious in your classroom.




The bottom Left corner: This picture is with the lead singer of our favorite band that we would go and see everytime they where in town. The one and only RED WANTING BLUE!!! Everytime I hear their song it takes me back to the days we went to the Main Event, Frankies or driving all the way down to BG to Howards or we would take a road trip to visit our dear friend Stefe. We were dedicated fans let me tell you. Amy had a crush on Mark the bass guitar player and he would sing this song called "Pea" OMG that song would just make Amy's night or we would count how many times one of the band members looked at us or in our direction. I had a crush on their old drummer Jonah and Kelly had a crush on the lead singer Scott. Eventually they got to know us because we were at every concert in the front row. Crazy we went to a lot of concerts and we were always in the front row. We were the people that would shove ourselves all the way up there or we would get there SUPER early. I loved going to the concerts (I still do) I know I will always remember those late nights going to concerts and the feeling you get right when you hear the first song. GOOOSSSSEEEBUMPS. I still get like that.







Amy has been there for me through some of the difficult times of my life. She always cheered me up after a bad break-up or a boy that was just being mean. We would rollerblade all over Rossford and go and get some Blue Moon ice cream (No it is not the beer). Then came the time when Amy met Christopher. First time I met the kid I told her that I didn't like him at all. I actually told her that she shouldn't date him because he had a messed up face. Honestly, he didn't. I don't know why I just didn't like him. See you have high expectations for your friends, especially your BEST ones!!! I can argue it but I was not a big fan of Chris, that is until I really got to know him. She ended up getting married to him and I couldn't be happier for her. He is an AMAZING husband to her. I honestly couldn't picture anyone else for her but him. They are a great couple.

Here is a picture of Conkey and I from back in the day. Here is a picture of the two of them.





I was also blessed to be in their wedding. It was a fun night of celebrating two people who are madly, and deeply in love with each other. Till this day you can see the twinkle in Conkey's eye whenever he looks at Amy.





They just welcomed there baby girl into the world back in March and I couldn't be happier for her. I know that someday God is going to bless me with a family but right now I am here to spoil that little girl with love, hugs and kisses. She is such a blessing.

The definition of a Best Friend is AMY!! Seriously she will always be my best friend. She knows all my deepest darkest secrets and she knows what makes me laugh. She knows whats important to me and my secret crushes. She is amazing and I am so blessed and glad to have her in my life. Thank you Amy for being the BEST and always there for me. I love ya and I just wanted to let you know how special you are to me and how thankful I am for you.

**I will be writing some Blogs on people who Inspire me in my life. Come back and check it out. Who knows you might just be one of those special people that I appreciate. Which you probablly are.

God Bless

~A Battle I'm Facing~

Well I have been thinking a lot about something that happened about 7 months ago. On June 6,2010 I terrible tornado swept to a small town in Millbury, OH. This horrific, tragic event happened at night taking 3 people that I know personally lives. I remember that day like it happened yesterday. The pain and all the emotions come flooding back to me.

It was a Saturday night and I was at a friends house. There was talk about a big storm that was coming. In Northwest Ohio we get a lot of "talk" like that. I remember being down in my friends basement and we were watching the news and it said that a funnel cloud was forming over Lime City Rd.(Which is not very far from where I live) I got the usual upset stomach, because I HATE storms especially ones with the possibility of a Tornado. Anyways the storm ended up passing and on the news they said that a Tornado had touched down and had ripped through Lake High School and Milbury. I remember hearing it and my heart just sinking down to the pit of my stomach. A lot of people from my church family are from Milbury. On Facebook people were posting on what just had happened. The church was hit, people were missing, it was just a big mess. That night I wanted to get into my car and help just help anyone, but we couldn't because there were power lines down and no electricity plus there was another storm on it's way. That night I prayed, I prayed so hard that everyone I knew would be safe, and that there would be no lives taken from this horrible storm.

I ended up falling asleep around 6 am after I heard from most of my friends. I woke up at 8 and got ready to go to church. On the news I was watching they said that there was a family missing: Ryan and Mary Walters. When I heard this I called my friend and asked her if she heard from anybody about Ryan and Mary missing. She said she didn't and that she was going to meet at the church and help with a search party and clean up because one of her girls from Youth her father was missing. I told her to call me when she heard anything at all. As I was on my way to my friend RPD's house I just prayed. It was an Erie drive over to his house. Everything seemed to have stopped in time. When I got to his house I saw his mom and we just stood there and hugged and cryed together.

On the way to Elmore it was a sad drive. I got to see the destruction that the Tornado did and it's path that it took. I can still remember seeing the grief on peoples faces as we passed by and seeing some of their homes destroyed. There was a good song playing on the radio it was "Hold Us Together" by Matt Maher. (Every time I hear that song it takes me back to that day) It was a quiet drive and I felt bad for RPD because he was trying to comfort me as I was sitting their with tears running down my face, I just couldn't stop them. We got to the church and that's when I got the phone call. They had found Ryan, Mary, Hayden and Maddie. Mary had passed away on the way to the hospital and they couldn't find Hayden. Ryan was in critical condition and Maddie was also in critical condition. After I hung up the phone I started crying (Thank you for being there to give me a hug and just let me cry RPD) I had lost a great friend. I couldn't sit in church so RPD and I sat there and after prayer requests we went to help do some clean up. On the way to clean up I found out that little Hayden had been found and he had passed away. The emotions I was feeling were a mix of everything. See The Walters were followers of Christ, devoted Christians. I worked with Mary and she taught me how to live a life as a Christian in this dark world. She was an amazing women and I am so glad that I got to know her when she was here on earth. My friend RPD and I ended up cleaning a ladies yard that was right behind the Walters house. I found Maddies bible. I clenched on to it and kept it till I saw Amy (who is Mary's sister) God spoke to me a lot during that clean-up and he wrapped his loving arms around me. Ryan ended up passing away a week after Mary and Hayden were buried. Maddie though LIVED she survived that horrible storm. God sure has a plan for that little girl. I saw Maddie the other week and she ran up to me and gave me the biggest hug. I always got hugs from Maddie and Mary as we would pass each other going to church. It makes me so glad that I believe I am going to go to Heaven when I pass. One of the last memories I have with Mary is when I told her what God was doing in my life and how I was starting a girls bible study at the church that I was going to and how I was so excited about what God was doing in my life. Mary was so happy and I remember she gave me a HUGE hug and said "God's going to use you in amazing ways Meggie and I can't wait to see it unfold." I gave her another big hug and told her that I loved her and I was thankful that she was in my life. I never thought that just a few weeks from then God was going to take her. The impact on all the lives that Mary, Ryan and even Hayden had on everyone. They trusted in Jesus and I know that they are in Heaven right now smiling down and watching over their precious little girl Maddie Moo.
This is a picture of Mary and Hayden (This is such a great picture because HD loved his momma)

This is Ryan and HD (Ryan enjoyed running this is a race that they did together)



Please don't waste another moment being mad instead LOVE. Give more hugs and smile often. You don't know how long you have on this earth.

Pictures are worth a thousand words…

I had the pleasure of taking pictures of my best friend since high schools, pregnancy pictures. A lot of people don’t like pregnant belly pictures. (This is mostly the older generations’ point of view) I think they are absolutely think they are adorable and think that being pregnant is a wonderful miracle. Think about it. You can care a human being in your body for 9-10 months. It just boggles my mind. (Doesn’t take much to boggle this mind). I just love it and can't wait to meet little Madisyn