Back from my 10-day blogging hiatus! The fun never stops!

These are a few pictures from Kyndal's wedding last weekend! This post would be entirely too long with all my pictures from this past week so I here is a little preview if you will. Enjoy :)

Jessie and I made time for a little photo op before the wedding began!

Kyndal and Kyle at the reception!

My mom and dad came to celebrate Kyndal and Kyle's special day

Kyndal and I just minutes before the ceremony began!

Kelsey, Kyndal's sister, and I getting ready for the rehearsal dinner!

Me with Karly and Kelsey, sisters of the bride :)

Always having fun! Of course...who wouldn't be excited after getting your hair done?!


Some of the bridesmaids...Karly, me, Kelsey and Magan

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Oh my goodness...where to begin!

Well first things first...Happy (late) Thanksgiving to everyone! Better late than never, right? We did it big here in the Redmond house...as always. Hope everyone was able to enjoy themselves and be surrounded by the ones they love. I want yall to know...I am thankful for you, all of you!! We are all a family here to support and care for each other. How awesome is that?!

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When I left you last, which was last Thursday I believe, I was about to head to Auburn for my friend Kyndal's wedding and all the other wedding festivites! Everything was a perfect success. Let me say the wedding was one of the most fun, beautiful weddings I have been in or even been to. Like myself, Kyndal loves very vintage, antique, rustic yet shabby chic inspired things and this is what the whole wedding looked like. It was outdoor with huge oak trees everywhere in the backyard of a gorgeous antebellum home. Vintage looking bird cages hung from the tree limbs, antique chandeliers hung sporadically above our heads and the reception took place in an old, beautiful barn transformed specifically for our celebration. I will try my best not to copy her wedding because I loved it all! The rehearsal and rehearsal dinner was so much fun with all the wedding party, the hours leading up to the ceremony was filled with makeup, hair curling and picture taking and the wedding itself was flawless. Saturday night after the wedding, Kyndal and Kyle left for Charleston, South Carolina to enjoy their honeymoon and I stayed with Kyndal's family in Auburn for the night. They are like my second family. I love them.

Sunday I headed to Atlanta to get Burch (he can't drive because of car troubles...bummer). For those of yall who don't know, he moved to Atlanta about 3 weeks ago to look for a job. He had no success in Birmingham but because he grew up in Atlanta and has awesome friends there, he figured that was the next best option for the time being. So I go to Atlanta Sunday, stayed the night and brought him back with me to Birmingham Monday.

For the next few days we had some dinner dates, spent time with each other and helped mom prepare for Thanksgiving with some cooking and cleaning. Thursday we got up, got ready and headed to my aunt, uncle and cousin's house for Thanksgiving lunch with my mom's side of the family! I love love love family time and getting to see all my extended family! I am thankful God has blessed me with such an amazing, loving Christian family. We all truly care about each other and because I know people who aren't as fortunate to have a close family, it makes me that much more grateful. We had lots and lots and lots of food. I got a small plate (purposely) and filled it full. It's ok. Come on, it's Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving night my aunt and three cousins spent the night at my house like they always do on Thanksgiving night. Black Friday shopping is a tradition with the ladies in my family and we do it big, believe me. We were so filled with excitement of sales and bargains we didn't go to bed until midnight and woke up at 3 a.m. to get ready to leave. We were out the door at 3:30 a.m. and headed to Wally World (Wal-Mart)! Goodness, it was mad chaos but that was expected. We did walk away with some sweet bargains. I got an LCD HD tv and a laptop but those along with everything else I got has to stay with mommy and daddy until Christmas morning. Bummer.

Then we leave Wal-Mart and went to Target then Belk then a few other stores and then finally headed home. We couldn't take a nap because we had to get ready for our big Iron bowl party!! We had about 20 people over for the Auburn vs. Alabama game. As all of you football lovers probably know...it was rough for my Auburn tigers at the beginning of the game but we came back like we know how and WON THE GAME! My house exploded when Auburn won the game. The houses three streets over probably heard the rejoicing. We Auburn fans keep it fun, keep it classy and win the game. We are 12-0, we are officially numbero uno, we are pretty much the most awesome team ever AND headed to the SEC Championship next weekend against South Carolina. Gamecocks...we are coming for you ;)

Friday afternoon was a frenzy of excitement and rejoicing and greatness. My friend Kelsey, who is Kyndal's sister (the girl who just got married), came to Birmingham to watch the game with all of us and spent the night Friday night. After the Auburn game, Kelsey, Burch and I went to the Hoover High School football game (my highschool who is also headed to the championship next weekend which is being played in Auburn ironically) and then to eat at my favorite Japanese restaurant. We had the best time together!

Ok...speeding this up....I sure can get detailed...

Saturday was football, football and more football (props to Arkansas and Oklahoma!!) Saturday night we did Thanksgiving dinner with my dad's side of the family! Love them too! Isn't family great? I love it. My mom wasn't able to go because she had to work so guess who had to make the pies for the family?? You got it. Kristen had to make the pies! Praline pecan pie to be exact! Haha I rarely cook so this was a big responsibility but they turned out great! Just call me Betty Crocker from here on out ;)

I just got home about two hours ago from taking Burch back to Atlanta. If any of you have done long distance relationships you can relate. It is hard and no fun to have to say goodbye. We had a great week together enjoying each other and being around family. All my family has been so great welcoming him in and making him feel like one of us. I am so thankful for this. I am going back to Atlanta in 2 weeks to see him...it will fly by but having to resort to talking on the phone gets old, so old. But it will be fine. We have done it before.

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Umm...can we not even talk about weight loss? Or weight gain rather? Not only was it Thanksgiving and not only did we have a huge football celebration with tons of tailgating and party food...it is also my time of the month. So my scale has gone in the wrong direction over the past week. I am about 5 pounds away from my lowest weight, which I hit about three weeks ago. It's ok...five pounds isn't terrible I guess. Could be worse. I am trying to stay positive so negativity doesn't take over.

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QUESTION FOR MY FRIENDS:

Ok lastly, I have a question for all of you!! Do any of you have the body bugg? You know, the infamous things they wear on their upper arms on the biggest loser. I am contemplating whether I want this for Christmas. If you don't have the body bug, do you want one? What do you know about them? Good things? Bad things? Would I benefit from it? I figure yall might know some things about it from friends or personal experience! I appreciate the feedback!!

Until next time, have a fabulous night!!