Things You Don't See Everyday

Check out these hilarious pics Sherry sent me!!

Tim & Faith Y'All!

So this last Saturday night, I was able to go to the much anticipated concert of Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. It was such a blast! The set up of the stage was incredible - in the picture you see to the left, all that yellow is the stage and Faith Hill is coming up from a hole in the center. And all that stage is made up of small tv screens that show videos, images, colors, all kinds of cool things to make the show that much more amazing. It was also in the very center of the stadium, so there wasn't a bad seat in the house. Jason and I had a great time and I even included a picture of us at the concert to show y'all.

Overall it was a lazy weekend for the both of us. I finished another book by Kristin Hannah, which was really good and then we hung out at home on Friday night watching 3 hours of recorded episodes of my favoriate TV show, So You Think You Can Dance! I've been taping them for Jason while he's at work, because I know how much he would hate missing this show ;-) My prediction is that it will come down to Donyelle and Benji as the last two finalists and Benji will win!

Then after sleeping in on Saturday, we were supposed to go to Jason's rescheduled baseball game, but once again we were rained out. He looked over at me and said, "This is why I hate the rain". Poor guy. Instead to make him feel better we went to Opry Mills Mall and did a little shopping for me...hee hee :-) Ok, maybe it was more for me than him, but we did score some really cool stuff for super cheap and he ended up getting some great deals for himself as well.

After shopping, we rushed home to look hot for the concert. And we looked good too. See our pic? Aren't we cute? Yes, I know, I need a tan. And to complete the evening, there's nothing like a little Sonic to end a perfect day. But word of advice, don't get the Brownie Blast ice cream thing - not so good.

Sunday we slept in late and watched Derailed together before Jason headed off to work. That movie is so intense!

One last pic for you from the concert - if you look closely, this is when Tim & Faith made thier first appearance together that night, Tim on end of the stage and Faith on the other. They both came up out of the floor as well. It was awesome.

That's all for now!

To begin with, I've posted some of these amazing chalk drawings for y'all to see. My mom-in-law sent them to me and I thought they were pretty amazing.

So another week has come and gone. We've spent the last week with Scott and Kelley McGlasson, Jason's sister and brother-in-law and were sad to see them leave yesterday. It was a busy week, but definately a good time. Jason showed them around a lot of Nashville while I was at work and then I was able to join them for an outdoor movie in the park (Remember the Titans) and breakfast at The Loveless Cafe. We were supposed to see Jason play in his first baseball game this season, but on Friday we had a pretty big storm sweep through the city, which rained out the field for Saturday. I was so bummed for him and he was pretty upset too, but it did end up getting rescheduled for this coming Saturday, so we'll go to his game before we head to the Tim & Faith concert!!! yippeee!!! (Can you tell I'm excited!?) So instead of the game, we took Scott & Kelley to the Nashville Flea Market. I had been wanting to go since our friends the Giconia's had told us all about how they found fabulous furniture deals there. It was overall a fun time, and not too hot out either. There was so much junk, but some really good finds too!! We found ourselves a large bookcase for $95 and in our favorite mahogany color. Thankfully we have a large apartment, cause we are aquiring quite a furniture collection!

We also went and saw Pirates of the Caribbean 2 with them. I have to say, I was a bit disappointed by the second one. Jason and I have been counting down the days to see the movie for almost a year! And we really didn't enjoy it as much as the first one. Before they took off Monday, I met up with them for lunch at Cracker Barrel - a must for visiting the South. And we had another Celebrity sighting! As we were walking out the door, this guy was holding the door and when we got outside, Jason says. "That was Jimmy Wayne." He sings that song, "I Love You This Much". I didn't recognize him, cause I'm not all that familiar with his music or his face. But I've included a picture for you, so you know what he looked like.

Then from what Jason told me, when Scott & Kelley flew to Denver from Nashville on Monday, they were on the same flight as LoneStar. Which is the same band that had one of Jason's songs on hold for 7 months.

Monday night I was able to hear the first of 4 new songs of Jason's. It's going to be another of your favorites and he wrote it with Chuck Wicks (our friend who got a recording deal with RCA) and Mark Beeson. I can't wait to hear the other three, they're in the process of being mixed right now, but we'll have them for sure by the time we get to Seattle.

I am sorry to report that I was a total dork and didn't take any pictures this week. I know, such a loser thing to do. But I know Scott had his camera, so maybe I'll snag some pics from him to post for y'all. It was so nice to have them here, we really enjoyed the company and a chance to spend time with family. Now I'm just counting down the days till I can see my family back home as well. I've been missing them a lot the last few days.

Last night, I stepped a bit out of my comfort zone and met up with Farrah & Eric to see Cheryl Johnston perform at the French Quarter Cafe in East Nashville. Jason was scheduled to work, so I went solo, but I still had a great time and saw a few other people from Jason's softball team as well. Cheryl put on quite a show. I tried to get some pictures of her rockin out on stage, but it was too dark in the room for my camera. Tuesday nights are "band night" at the French Quarter, so I think if Jason gets a Tuesday night off, we'll have to go back, cause it was really fun to see people perform and it was more styles than just country. If Kris comes to town again, its definately someplace I'll take her to, cause I think she would really like it.

That's all for now, I'll try to get better at getting some pics of Jason and I up on the blog, along with writing more frequently - especially since I'm always being made aware how much more my little sister Kati writes more than I do :-)

Love you all!

Another Monday Morning...

It's Monday morning....yuk. I'm at my desk at work waiting for the day to begin. Thankfully I have a great week to look forward to! Scott and Kelly McGlasson, Jason's sister and husband, are coming into town tomorrow to stay with us for a week!! We're really excited to have them here and hang out. We've been finishing a few things around the apartment, like painting a mirror that Billy and Bettie had given us and replacing some lamp shades to a couple lamps they also had given us. We've got some great things planned as well - we're thinking of taking them out to a park in Franklin where they're having an outdoor movie, then of course Mortons for dinner one night, and the Loveless Cafe for brunch, hopefully see Pirates of the Carribean, and drive them around near Liepers Fork & East Nashville to see some of the great houses ;-) . Oh and Jason mentioned maybe going to the Opry hotel for a tour. So much to do, so little time....

So let me fill you in on the last week. Last Tuesday, Jason had his back-to-back championship softball games. I was SUPPOSED to be at the first one, but we had to take seperate cars so I could go home and change after work. And then of course I had to get lost... or a scenic tour as I like to call it. So I finally showed up as the first game was ending, which was fine, cause they won and Jason didn't end up playing cause he was late too, from getting stuck behind a train. The second game was thier championship game and they won! We had a great time and Jason was hitting awesome! He almost had a home run, but it bounced off the back fence. Oh and I have to mention, the team was started by our friend Danny Johnston, who used to play for the Yankees, and they named the team after him - The Swinging Johnstons...Yeah, I know. I had a really great time hanging out with the girls at the game. Cheryl Johnston and Farrah were there along with Cindy. And we had a blast chatting it up and laughing a ton. We want T-shirts made for us next year that say, "We love our Swinging Johnstons" hee hee.

Then on Friday after work I surprised Jason by showing up at his work to say hello. It marked our half-aversary. :-) The girls at his work thought it was cute that I came by to say Happy Half-aversary, and we all got to chat for a bit before people started coming in.

On Saturday I got my hair cut & highlighted - which turned out great, but a definate change! I'll have to take some pictures so you can see what it looks like. It's quite a bit shorter, but Jason really loves it. Afterward, we did a little shopping and then invited my friend Kelley Skiles over for dinner. She's a friend of mine that hosted me back in Master's Commission almost 10 years ago while I was in Dallas on tour. And now that she's moved to Nashville for her job, we've gotten together a couple times. Jason made burgers for dinner and we looked through pictures and showed her our wedding video. It was really fun to just hang out and have her over.

And finally Sunday, we went back to visit Belmont Church. It was ok, there was a guest speaker who was pretty good, but we're still trying to decide if its where we want to stay. I think next Sunday we'll visit another church to expand our options a little more. Then after church I met up with a bunch of the girls from Jason's work who invited me to join them for brunch at Cafe Margo's. This cafe is in this great, old house in East Nashville and I absolutely loved the food, it was so delicious. There was five of us girls that were there and it was a great opportunity for me to get to know them better. There's one girl in particular that I really like, her name's Sarah and I hope to hang out with her again. Jason started writing with her boyfriend Chris, who is a fabulous singer and songwriter and I'm excited to hear what they're new song sounds like. After brunch, Sarah took me home and we swapped phone numbers, so hopefully we'll get together soon.

I think that's about it for this week to fill you in on. Everything is going great for us and Jason is getting 3 nights off a week now, which has been great for us to still have time together. He'll be taking a little more time off while Scott & Kelley are in town this week, which will be so fun for us all to hang out and do some of the fun things we've got planned. So for all you family out there, just know that when you come to visit us, you can be assured we're going to show you a good time...wink, wink :-)

That's it for now. I should get back to work, things are soon to pick up. I love and miss you all & look forward to seeing you all in August/September!!

4th of July....

I thought I should comment on how our 4th of July weekend went. We didn't take pictures, sorry folks. But I dug a couple up off the internet to give you an idea of how Nashville celebrates the 4th!

First, let me start off by letting everyone know - that Jason and I are coming home for a visit!!! Yippee!!! I got the vacation time approved by my attorneys and will be heading home with Jason, Wednesday, August 30th and staying through Tuesday, September 4th over the Labor Day weekend. I'm disappointed I will miss Aaron & Heidi's wedding as well as Kati's MC Graduation, but because I am still new at my job, I'm not supposed to take a vacation until working at Adams & Reese for 90 days, which I will just be at when I head out over Labor Day. But I am so excited to come home - I miss my family so much, and I really think that weekend will be a bit of a reunion for all of us, since Kati has been on the road so much with MC's and I'll have been in Nashville for a little over 4 months. Plus it will be great to have Jason with me, cause I know my family and friends very much want to see him too.

Moving on, Saturday we were very excited to entertain our first guests Eric Gallamore and his girlfriend Farrah at our home. We spent the most of the day cooking and I made my first potatoe salad, a homemade red pepper & onion dip and some southern sweet tea...and Jason cooked up some hamburgers and baked beans. Then for desert, we made strawberry shortcake. After dinner, we headed downtown to see the Sounds game (Nashville's minor league baseball team). It was a warm night out for sure. But by the time the game was over around 10pm, the temp had only dropped to 88 degrees.....hot. The four of us pulled into Sonic to refresh with some CreamSlushes and headed back home.

On Sunday, we decided to visit Belmont Church on Music Row in Nashville. When Jason first moved to Nashville years ago, he met Sara Evans, the country recording artist, and she had asked him if he had found a church yet. She had encouraged him to try Belmont where she was currently attending, so we decided to give it a shot. Finally...a place where we could drink in the Word of the Lord and worship. We both were really encouraged by how the service was held and what the minister spoke on. The speaker was thier youth pastor, Anthony Chaboya and we found his humility to be incredibly refreshing and his Biblical teaching challenging. We really enjoyed it. Especially since both Jason and I feel called to work with the youth, it was great to see how passionate and real this man was in standing behind the youth of this generation. However we plan to visit a couple more times before making any permanent decisions.

Monday, the office closed early, so I met Jason to catch an afternoon flick at the theater. We saw The Lake House, which can I just say, was a definate keeper. Sappy I know, but such a beautiful story - Kati, your going to love it, Kris, you might be a bit bored. After the movie, we headed home so Jason could get ready for work and off he went. I hung out that evening and around 10:30 headed to Mortons to wait in the bar till he closed up the restaurant. It was a slow weekend at Mortons, but God still blessed Jason with some great tips. For the 4th of July, we slept in, which for me is no longer than 9:30 anyways, and Jason made a grubbin desert of toasted coconut crackers. It's hard to describe, but his grandmother has been making it for years and its one of his favoriates and now I can see why! We headed over to our friends, Bill & Tiffany Fay early that evening to BBQ with them and hang out. Then later, Jason and I headed back home to catch the fireworks we could see from the comfort of our own home. I will say though, next year we plan on going downtown to see the show, cause it was absolutely incredible, and supposed to be one of the biggest firework shows in the nation, with a live symphony! We caught it on TV and I was like - why are we not there!! They do it up real big, right on the river with a real steamboat in the background, country music stars singing and a huge fireworks show! I've included some pics of the fireworks so you get an idea of what's its like, though they don't do it justice.

So there ya have it, that was my weekend over the 4th!! Hope you all had a great 4th of July as well!

A Fabulous Weekend!

Ok, so I have to say, this weekend was a blast! AND I even took a couple pictures.

So the weekend began of course on Friday when I got off work. Because Jason was working, I decided to putter around and do a couple errands, stop at the pharmacy, grab a Lemon-Berry CreamSlush from Sonic (my new favorite thing), get the mail...just taking my sweet little time. Then I get this phone call while I'm sitting in my car reading the mail...it's Jason. Ok, strange, its 7pm and he's calling me, he should be pretty busy by this point at work. I answer and he's like - "hey whatcha doing?" "Nothin really...errands, reading mail in the car - why?" Then he says, "just wondering how you were doing." "nu-uh, are you ok?" And he's all, "yeah" So then I get my things and start getting out of my car and he says, "Did you stop at Sonic?"...ok, kinda creepy. "Uh, maybe", I say. Then I start catching on, cause it usually takes me a little while, and I start looking around the parking lot for his truck and then I spot him, he's on the walkway to our apartment looking at me! Ha!! I walk over to him and start asking him why he's home? And the little turkey has been trying to surprise me with having the night off so we can go out!! Yippee!!! And here I am, strolling the drugstore out of sheer boredom. Poor guy, he was home waiting for hours for me to come home. And he vacuumed! Love him. So he tells me to hurry up and get changed, which let me tell you, after being dressed up all day, I'm dying to put on my jeans. So I'm asking him what he's up to and what we're doing...and I guessed it! We're going to the drive-in!! Yeah! The drive-in is really fun in the South, because 1. its really warm out and 2. the fireflies and stars are out, which just makes the movie experience that much more fun. So we drive out to some boondocks town and watch Cars, just cause they had one screen and one showing, but it was good enough for us. We had so much fun. He had already packed up the car with blankets and pillows, we ate hot dogs and popcorn. It was such a good time.

Then Saturday comes along, the second day of our weekend. We had already planned that after Jason had done a little songwriting while I slept in, that he would come home to pick me up and we would head to either the Frist museum to see the Egypt exhibit or do a little shopping. We'll you know me, we bagged the museum and ended up shopping. He took us to downtown Franklin, which was really quite cute. The picture above is of their main street for you to see. We ate at this little bakery, where you see Jason standing outside of and then walked to a little furniture store where we fell in love with a beautiful console table!! We had to have it and we even talked the owner into taking the price lower. This is our new table inside our home - I just love it!!

After we spent the afternoon browsing through the shops, we headed off to Jason's softball games. This would be the first time he's been on the field since he moved to Seattle. Plus, with his knee surgery in early May, he hasn't really ran on his knee at all. He was pretty nervous to run on it, but it wasn't long before he was back in the groove and ran the bases twice. He almost hit a home run too, but it bounced off the back fence and right back onto the field. He played two games back to back, while I got to chat it up with the ladies in the stands. It was a beautiful warm night to be outside and so fun to finally see Jason play. Isn't he the cutest in his uniform? The teenage girls behind me took a vote on the cutest player on the field and guess who won? My hunny of course.....that's right ladies.....he's all mine :-) After the game a few of us went over to Chuck Tilly's house for a BBQ to hang out and get to know some people. And by the way, Chuck Tilly is Dolly Parton's drummer, a little sidenote for y'all. It was a long day and by the time we got home we were wiped out. But I felt very blessed to have had a whole day and a half with Jason of hanging out and doing some fun stuff.

Then today wraps up our weekend. We got up early for church and visited a place called Woodmont Christian. The church was stunningly beautiful on the inside and out, the kind of church you would see in a movie for a wedding scene. But the service itself left much to be desired. So far it was the most regimented service we had ever attended. It truly reminded me of mass....for real. We're talking hymnals, recited prayers and pews. I've included a picture of the church and that steeple is 220 ft tall!! After church we picked up our table and headed home to clean up a bit and hang out before Jason left for work. It was a really good weekend and I loved every minute of it.

I've also included some pics of our home, just cause so many of you have asked to see what it looks like. It's still a bit rough, cause we're still working on it.

Happy Fathers Day Dad!

OK, so officially its still Father's Day here in Nashville and I'm sitting at home thinking about how much I wish I could be with my family today. They went out and celebrated Father's Day by having dinner together. Though of course my dad got in a few hours of work at the office, like we knew he would, I'm still very glad that the rest of the family was able to be with him for a lovely dinner this evening.

But now a moment for my dad....Dad, I miss you so much today, words don't even express it. It felt very cliche' to think of going to get you a card, it just didn't seem enough. So, thankfully with this blog, I can give you a little more honor than that. To be honest, the last couple weeks I've really been missing you and our times together. I keep hoping I would get my phonecall at work asking me to meet you for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. I never took for granted the times that we were able to spend together. Just yesterday Jason and I went to a movie and as I walked into the theater and smelled the popcorn, I thought of all the times that we shared going to the movies. I couldn't help but tear up a bit. I think it was probably my favorite thing to do with you. We would of course have to get there early to see the previews, buy a large popcorn, soda, ice cream and find the perfect seats. And after the movie was over, we would sit there till every one would exit the theater and then rush off to buy more tickets to do it all over again! Well, maybe we only did that a few times, with the back to back flicks, but I sure loved it. Ok, well it might be a tie between the movies and hobby shops.

You understand me and share my passions; reading, hobbies, the love of being surrounded by nature and water, the quiet of a house and a cup of coffee... there are so many things that make me miss you so much on this day. I remember in our Edmonds house, I would sit in the huge old blue velvet chair in your den and admire all the beautiful leather bound books on the shelves. We would spend hours listening to the Bible on tape and finally when I was thirteen upon finishing the Bible from Genesis to Revelation together, you took me to celebrate at the Space Needle for dinner. That still to this day is the only time I've ever been up there. You taught me how to put a car model together, it was a purple camaro.

Over the years, you've allowed the women in your life show you how they need to be loved. You recognized our strengths and encouraged us to hear the Lord for our life. You have never been to proud to be molded by the Lord and that has been a model for me in even choosing my mate. Sure we've all made mistakes, but its in how you've gotten up each time, fought for truth and understanding to become a better man that has won my respect and love more than anything. You learned how to love us girls individually and how to love mom the way she was created to be loved. Your extremely patient and tender and have never settled for the status quo of what most people think a father-daughter relationship should look like. If there's one compliment I've continually heard over the years, its how amazing that we are as close as we are as a family. Well dad, you have a lot to do with that, because you have fought for this family and gone beyond the call of duty to do what it takes to get there. You continually sacrifice for all of us, now even to include two more daughters to invest in. Thank you for never giving up on any of us. For choosing to trust us above what you might hear from others, to believe the best in us and to never give up on us.

I also want to thank you for all you've done over the last few years in loving mom the way she needs to be loved. You have learned how to become a safe place for her to bloom. She is becoming stronger in who she is and overcoming her fears and I am so proud of her. You both have a treasure in each other that is real and I've learned so much what it means to fight for something you believe in by watching how you two love each other.

I've included in this blog some of my most treasured pictures of you with the family, and yes, there are a few from the wedding, just cause you look so dashing in your tux and hat!! Plus, we talked for years about that first dance that we would share at my future wedding and now we have pictures to capture that moment in time.

So in conclusion.....I love you and you did great! (You can put this away now...)

Love, Kimberly Dawn

My First Day!

Well today was my first day at a new job as a legal assistant with the Adams & Reese, Stokes & Bartholomew law firm. They are the largest law firm in the Southeast. They have over 800 employees in 10 different offices. And there are 34 attorneys alone in the Nashville branch. One thing I will say that is really cool, is that there are a lot of women that work in this office and that is a refreshing change from my last job with Revenue Science - there was way too much testosterone goin' on there! I support 2 attorneys, Paul Krivacka and Larry Stewart. They are both really nice guys and have been with the firm for a really long time - Larry for 26 years and Paul for 8. There's a lot of training to do for sure! I started my training today and will continue through all day tomorrow. It is a whole other world working for a law firm rather than a technology company - they have procedures for everything imaginable! I'm sure once I get the hang of it, I'll probably really enjoy it. The law offices are on the 27th & 28th floors of the building pictured above and they're located downtown just 3 blocks from where Jason works at Mortons. It's great cause I can see Jason between when I get off work and he goes into work. Tonight for instance he didn't have to be in to work till 7pm, so he cleaned up the apartment all pretty, had soft music playing in the background and cooked us up some yummy dinner. We had a good 40 minutes together to eat and talk before he headed off to work. Oh! One more thing I have to say for the benefit of my Seattle family back home...the only Starbucks in all of downtown Nashville is my building!! God is good :-) I believe He even cares about those little things :-) I'm also praying through this job, I will have more of an opportunity to meet other ladies and build some friendships. I've been getting pretty homesick and been really missing my girlfriends lately. I work next to 3 other ladies right now, Melissa, Brooke and another Melissa and they're all really nice and then I met another girl, Christina who's on the other side of the office. So, its a good start. AND, even though I'm not really supposed to get vacation for the first 90 days of being with the company, the Office Manager who hired me, Mary, she said that she would work with me on getting some vacation time around Labor Day so I could go home to see my family!! Yippee!! And our goal is that with both of us working , we hope to get ourselves a cute little starter home close to downtown in the next year.

Other news to note: last Thursday evening Jason and I went to Mortons to celebrate my new job and ran into Tracy Bird (for those Country fans out there, he was the one that sang one of my all time favorites, "Watermelon Crawl"). Jason had waited on him a couple times before and befriended Tracy to the point where Tracy had given Jason his cell phone numbers a couple years back, so he came over to our table to meet me - it was really cool to meet him, but I wasn't cheesy enough to ask for a picture...I had to play it cool :-) So instead I posted a picture of his from his website. Then a couple nights ago, I was sitting at home watching TV when Jason calls me in the middle of his shift (which he never does) and I answer and he asks me to burn him 3 copies of his best 5 songs, label them and rush them downtown to Mortons. The table he was waiting on had a couple guys that were writers and longtime friends of Dierks Bentley and they said they were meeting with him this week. The main guy (can't remember his name) said if Jason could have a CD in his hand before he left the restaurant he would show it personally to Dierks Bentley and another producer. So of course Jason calls me and I kick into crazy overdrive, burn the disks, label them, package them and rush downtown and literally pulled up right in front of their taxi - they were so impressed that Jason (and his devoted wife) pulled it off in time!! So be praying - I'm believing that it was a God-ordained meeting!

That's all for now!

Some Random Thoughts

It's 11:30 at night and Jason is on his way home from work. I've been keeping myself busy with little projects around the house, like painting this mirror of mine from gold to pewter silver and finishing a puzzle that I had started with my in-laws while they were in town. (both of which I included pictures of). Other than that, things are pretty slow. I've really gotten out of my routine and have developed a horrible habit of sleeping in pretty late - like 12 noon! I guess its justified since Jason and I stay up till 2 or 3am every evening when he gets home from work. He's naturally a night owl and is quickly converting me to one as well.

But that all may change fairly soon since I've been interviewing with a couple different companies in downtown Nashville. The first position is for a reservationist/sales & marketing assistant position with Mortons part-time, with great hours though the pay isn't the best. The second position that I'm also interviewing for is with a huge law firm as a legal secretary. The pay is much better than Mortons, but with it will come regular business hours, 2 lawyers to assist and a state Senator when he's in town 5 months of the year and a very strict dress code (my least favorite part). Those of you that know me well, I'm a jeans and tee-shirt kinda gal. :-) I've interviewed with Mortons twice and tomorrow will be my second interview with the law firm, Adams & Reese/Stokes and Bartholomew. I think both places like me, I just have to decide between the two and its really quite a hard decision. I will say that a huge motivating factor is that we would really like to get out of debt asap so we can buy a house, so with me working a good-paying job would really help us out.

Another update I can give you is that Josh Brooks, Billy & Bettie's grandson that was critically injured in the car accident a couple weeks ago, seems to be doing better. Jason was visiting him quite a bit until his mom had to give him a fake identity in the hospital after an unfortunate event with a nosy and insensitive reporter who tried to conduct an interview with Joshua in his room. Since then, he is only allowed to have immediate family visit him. But from what we know, he is off the respirator 100% now and when Jason had visited him once last week, he actually recognized Jason and said his name, which was really exciting.

One final pic I've added is of my crazy sisters. I love this picture and had to add it, because I miss them a lot right now and this picture makes me smile. Yes, that would be Kris administering some discipline to Kati :-)

Bettie & her Tall Texan

On Sunday morning we got the kind of phone call that no one ever likes to get. Jason answered the phone as we were heading to a friends house to record a song he had just finished writing. As we were heading down Music Row in Nashville we learned the sobering news that Billy & Bettie Walker had been killed in a tragic car accident earlier that morning coming back from a gig in Montgomery, Alabama. Along with them in the car were two of their band members and their grandson, Josh Brooks who is only 21 years old. Josh is the only survivor and is in critical condition at a hospital in Alabama. For those of you that don't know, Billy is Jason's great uncle and brother to our grandmother Evie Moreland. They were the only family we had out here in Nashville and they were the kindest couple you might ever meet. We had been at their house 3 times in the last week alone spending time with them, having lunch and moving some things that they stored for Jason in their home for us. We've stayed with them a couple times and they both made me feel so much a part of their family.

When I first met Billy at his house in April of last year, he gave me a huge hug. His parting words to me that night after dinner was something like, "Well if you're here to stay, welcome to the family, and if not, it was nice meeting you." You would have to hear how he said it too, it made us all laugh. I loved them both from the start. They have more energy and enthusiam than most people their age - they truly astounded me. We also had the priviledge last August, in fact the very next night after Jason and I got engaged, to see Billy perform at the Grand Ole Opry on stage. He had us join him backstage while he warmed up with his band and he introduced us to some other Opry members. We told him there in his dressing room of our engagement and he came over to me and gave me the biggest squeeze ever and welcomed me to the family. The picture to the left was taken right after that huge hug. As he performed, we sat behind him on the stage and cheered him on. It really was an incredible experience to be a part of.


Apart from all their generosity and love they've extended toward us, they also blessed us with coming out to Seattle to sing at our wedding reception. The first picture of them is from our wedding and the one to the left is when Billy put Jason on the spot and asked him to sing "If Things Go Well." Jason was telling Billy in this picture, "don't you ever do this to me again.." :-) It was an honor to have such a wonderful couple share that day with us. We will always have that memory on our wedding video to remember them by. Bettie was a remarkable woman, she seemed to think of everything. Her house was always in order and decorated so beautiful. She was a fabulous cook and just last Thursday when we had lunch with them she was showing me how to make authentic Southern sweet tea. I am really sad that I'm not going to have the chance to learn all I could from her. She was talented in many ways and she was such a huge supporter to Billy's music. Those two were an incredible team. They were so selfless, always helping others and being so encouraging. I'm so grateful that Jason got the opportunity to know that Billy came to respect Jason's writing. Just a couple weeks ago, Billy called Jason on the phone to ask if he could record one of Jason's songs, our song in fact, "If Things Go Well" - it touched Jason so deep that after all these years, he had earned the respect of not just his uncle Billy, but Country legend Billy Walker, The Tall Texan.

We will miss them so much - they instantly became a huge part of our lives. Bettie was my first real friend out here in Tennessee and I will miss her deeply. And Billy was like a grandpa to me more than anything. I admire them, respect them and love them very much. It is not goodbye, but see you later - for I know that their love for the Lord superseded everything else. They carried the heart of Christ and will continue to inspire others for years to come. Thank you Billy & Bettie for everything. We will miss you.

A little More Settled...

So it appears I'm not doing the best at keeping up with my blog - sorry folks for the delay, we've had our hands pretty full lately. Other than unpacking and getting settled, we also had Jason's surgery a week and a half ago. It went fabulous, I think he was a better patient than I was. Those of you that know me well, I don't do hospitals very well. But boy was I praying. I was stretched that day for sure. Jason was brave & silly as usual, joking around in pre-op, while I was white as a sheet and curled up in a chair in the corner. 3 1/2 hours after his surgery we were ready to head home. I had never seen anyone come out of an anesthetic like that before - he was jerking around grabbing at the nurse and myself, talking loud and slurring like he was drunker than a skunk. It was funny and scary at the same time. I will admit though I got us home with flying colors!! His recovery is going great with his knee, he's had no pain at all - however, because he has been overcompensating with the other leg so much, he has managed to pinch his siadic nerve in the same leg he had surgery on and his muscles have tightened so badly that he is often stretching and taking cortizone pills for the inflammation. We're praying that the swelling will go down and his muscles will relax and stretch back out so that feeling will return in his heel and toes and he will have full strength in his leg again.

Other news to mention - my dad blessed my sister Kris with a plane ticket to Nashville and she flew in last Wednesday and stayed through Monday morning. We hung out Thursday here in town and then Friday morning we drove close to 560 miles (9 hours) to Lansing, Michigan to attend Jacob & Abbey Livington's wedding. Plus our youngest sister Kati was unaware that we were coming and we were able to really surprise her, it was awesome. I had both my sisters with me and we were able to all stay overnight together at the Days Inn - I loved it and knew that it would be a while before I could be with them both again like that.

And finally, some other fun things to share is that Jason had a writing appointment today in which he wrote a complete song with another co-writer called, "See Jane Go, See Dick Cry". And then later this week he'll be writing again with Chuck Wicks, who was recently signed with RCA Records and was the one that co-wrote & sang "Right Where We Belong". His friend Marc Beeson will also be joining them to write - some of you might know one of his songs as "When She Cries" by Restless Heart. Then on Wednesday, he'll be laying the guitar vocal for "Deeper", another recently finished song of his, with his friend & co-writer Jeff Batson (who was also a best man in our wedding).

If you notice below I've added some pictures from our roadtrip to Nashville - and included a couple more for you to view in this blog as well. The picture here is of Cadillac Ranch in Texas - where a local artist every year buries a Cadillac in the dirt face down and spray paints it silver so everyone can graphitti on it.

Please don't forget to leave a comment, we would love to hear from all of you!!

Whew! At home in Nashville!

Hey there Everyone!

Well Jason and I are finally here in Nashville! It's a beautiful 85 degrees out and I actually put on shorts and a tee-shirt this morning. The trees are bright green and the skies are blue. We moved into our new apartment last Monday and the moving truck finally arrived on Wednesday morning. It was so nice to finally get my things, its definately helped to make me feel more settled.

Our roadtrip was great - we drove around 3200 miles total. And I think we ate at Cracker Barrel 4 or 5 times. We saw around 9 dead armadillos, one dead beaver and some other things we couldn't quite recognize. The weather was great - it never rained once until we got into Nashville, which made me laugh. The first night in Montana it snowed a couple inches and the next day we went horse back riding with my cousin Tina. Jason got bucked off his horse, but you didn't hear that from me. :-) We saw a Colorado Rockies baseball game in Denver and enjoyed the warm 80 degree weather. Then we were off to Albequerque, New Mexico and stayed with friends of Jason's that he used to play ball with for a couple nights. Friday morning we headed off to Amarillo, Texas and had dinner with the Smiths and Skypala families. And then Saturday we drove out to Little Rock, Arkansas and stayed a beautifully restored Bed & Breakfast. Then our final leg of the trip was on Sunday where we drove through Memphis and I got to see Graceland. We got into Nashville late Sunday evening and crashed out at Uncle Billy & Aunt Bettie Walkers' home. So there you have it, the run-down of our road-trip.

As for this week, we've been really focusing on getting settled and unpacked. I had an interview with Staffmark on Wednesday, and this particular branch specializes in executive team placements. The lady who is schedling my interviews on behalf of Staffmark is Georgia Burton and she and I hit it off right away and she's been lining up interviews for me already! Jason also had his first night back at work on Wednesday and let me tell you, he is so glad to be back home and working with the Mortons here. In his first two nights back at work, he's already made more money than he would make in a week in Seattle. As soon as he walked in the door after work, he said "It's good to be home". Banks is also getting more settled in her new home. Our friend Jeff Batson kept her for us while we were driving over and then after the moving trucks arrived, we drove over to Jeff's and picked her up. I love our new place. It's a lot bigger than mine or Jason's apartments before - its 1250 Square feet! We have plently of space for all our furniture and room for guests too! I can't wait to see our friends and family when they come visit.

I'm actually sitting in the beautiful downtown library across from Jason's work typing in my blog, since I've gotton quite a few requests for updates on how were transitioning. What else can I tell you? Oh yes, Jason's knee surgery is next Wednesday - so be praying! Pray that it goes well and that he recovers fast. He is itching to get out on the field with his friends to play softball again and he's kinda bummed out that he's missing out on the Music City Marathon this weekend (he ran it last year on my birthday). Also pray for me that I can get him home from the hospital ok. I can't tell you how confusing its been to learn the roads out here. There's 4 major freeways that all intersect and even share eachother in some places and then theres another 2 highways (or parkways or pikeways or whatever they call them) that also cross the freeways. I literally have to take 3 freeways just to go 10 minutes away! Let me tell ya, there's a few choice words that have come out of my mouth for trying to learn the streets out here. :-) Where's the good old I5 and 405 when you need them?

I think that's about it for updates. I guess lastly, this weekend we're going to go to church with our friends Jeff & Kristin Hooper - its supposed to be more of a charismatic Baptist service - so a nice cross-between for both Jason and I - I'm really looking forward to it. I'll write another updated once our internet gets going hopefully early next week. And we'll also be ordering Vonage, so we can have unlimited long distance and local calls so we can stay in better touch with everyone. I look foward to hearing from all of you. Thank you for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers! We love and miss y'all!!

Jason and Kimberly Keith

Almost there...

Well Banks is on her way to the South! This morning Jason and I drove out to the Delta Cargo Facility to send our cat on a flight to Nashville. Let me tell you, it was a really hard thing to do. I thought I was doing pretty good, till I saw her look back at me with sad eyes from inside her little carrier moving down the conveyor belt. And that's when I absolutely lost it. I cried all the way to the car and halfway back to the office. Seriously, all this crying is wearing me out!

This last weekend with Jason's parents was so much fun. Both our families got to hang out quite a bit and get to know each other even more. Plus, Jason and I were completely blessed with Jerry & Sherry bringing up the china that his grandmother (our grandmother :-) ) Evie, gave us as a wedding present. We went to the San Juans and saw Roche Harbor, we ate too much at Salty's on Alki and we watched corny movies my dad picked out till the late hours of the night - of course cause we're Kellys and that's what we do!! :-) Plus it was a treat that Kati was on Spring Break from the Masters Commission, so I could get a little more time with her before I leave.



Oh! And one last thing - it was Jason's mission to get a picture of a Vietnamese restaurant for his sister & brother-in-law, so in their honor, I've also posted that picture for y'all!

11 days to go and counting!

The packing is almost done! Jason and I have been working our tails off boxing everything up. If it wasn't for my sweet dear husband, I would be losing my mind! It's been an emotional time knowing I'll be leaving some friends and family and yet being so excited to start new in Nashville.

7 days left of work to go!! I've just recently hit my 5 year mark with Revenue Science as an Executive Assistant. It's been a long haul and I've learned a lot through working here, but I'm looking forward to the change of scenery. As far as working in Nashville, I haven't found a job just yet, but I'm not really anxious about finding one right away either. I'll be getting some vacation pay from my company which will help us out with our move and also so I can take some time off to be with Jason for a while. He has his knee surgery scheduled for May 3rd, which will be great that I can be home with him the whole week he's recovering. Spending the week on the road together and then the week while he's recovering will be the most time we've had together since our honeymoon - I'm so looking forward to it!!

A main goal of mine once we move is to really focus getting our invitation business up and running. We've decided to call it Finer Points. I'm going to work on building a website, buying some ads online with local wedding websites and building my portfolio. We've also just purchased our first computer! I have been looking at one in particular for some time and it went way down in price & I got a great deal!! I was so excited once we purchased it, that I was doing a little dance while I was at work!

Another exciting thing is that our parents, Jerry & Sherry Keith, are coming into town to see us before we leave! I'm so excited to see them once last time while we're here in Seattle. Then hopefully we'll be able to convince them to visit often or possibly even move to Nashville :-) (we'll see). We've got some fun things planned, brunch at Salty's on Alki, a trip to the San Juans with my parents Tom & Loretta. It should be some good times. They'll be arriving by train later this evening and hopefully Jason & I can pick them up together if he happens to get the night off from work. I'll aim to get some pictures of our weekend with them as well to post.

And finally it appears as though I have two new younger sisters - Kolleen & Katherine, twins and both 11 years old. They're cousins of ours and moved in with my parents just a couple weeks ago. Just when my parents thought they had an empty nest, now they can stay entertained for a few more years :-) (love ya dad...). So as we've been busy packing up to move our own things, my parents also have been busy packing things up and moving stuff around to give the girls each a room of thier own at my parents house.

Well that seems to be all the news for now...I'll try to get some pictures up shortly!

Friendship Is...

Today I feel very inspired to write on the value of friendships....

As I prepare myself physically and emotionally to leave what I've always known as home, I've been re-evaluating my belongings and throwing out what is old and worn-out and carefully boxing up what I know will continue to be a part of my future. I find it ironic how in some strange way, friendships can be quite similar. There are those that come into your life for a season or a purpose and then its over and time to move on - and then there are those friends that are like a well-made piece of furniture - they're timeless, beautiful and will always fit. You know you have a true friend when no matter what changes you go through in life, they will always stand beside you, believe in you, trust in you and bring out the best in you. If I can, I would like to thank those friends of mine who have always been dear to me - who have always been faithful and true. This is not a good-bye by any means, for we know that the depth of friendship we've been blessed with, can surpass any amount of distance. But more than anything, I really wanted to take a moment to really recognize those in my life that show they care, respect and value the friendship we share.

Here are some great friendship quotes that really ring true:

"Some friendships do not last, but some friends are more loyal than brothers."

Proverbs 18:24

"An honest answer is the sign of true friendship."

Proverbs 24:26

"A friend is one who strengthens you with prayers, blesses you with love

and encourages you with hope."

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If I can be a little more sappy, I have to say, that time is an incredible thing. If you find yourself continually fighting to keep a friendship alive, maybe you should ask why? Is it an uplighting or encouraging thing? Pastor Jeff Knight at my church said in a sermon of his once that relationships are like elevators, they will either bring you up or bring you down. Aren't you amazed when you think back on your friendships and you see that no matter what stage of life you've gone through - whatever valley or mountain top you've experienced...maybe a death, or new life or even a marriage...how wondeful it is to see how God keeps certain people in your life to always encourage, lean on and celebrate life with?

I feel truly blessed with those in my life that I know will bring out my best and that I can bring the best out of them. They are those that don't judge, speak falsley behind my back, slander, gossip or make assumptions. They will love you and stand beside you, no matter what church you attend, where you live or who you marry. They are an expression of unconditional love. Thank you my dear friends for your faithfullness...you know who you are.

A Time for Goodbye's....

27 days to go!

I'm very excited to begin my new life with Jason in Nashville, TN - at the same time, it's very bittersweet. I have such a wonderful family and incredible friends that I will be leaving behind. And yet at the same time, I have learned through practice, that distance does not need to seperate or weaken relationships. Some of the closest friendships I have, are long-distance and have only deepened with time. Absence can truly make the heart grow fonder, if you let it. Many years ago, I was prophesied over by a man named Doug Sherman who said that he saw me"going beyond what I knew as home" and that he saw me corresponding through letters - well here ya go, its all beginning to unfold.



2 weeks ago Jason and I headed back to Nashville for a few days with our dear friends Tina & Jay Frees. We had a fabulous time and we met some new friends, saw some sights and even secured our new apartment. While trying to figure out a place to live, Jason had remembered that when he had first moved to Nashville he roomed with some guys at a complex called Twin Oaks not to far from the airport in Nashville. We checked it out and they had a couple apartments available that were 2 bed/2 ba and 1250 sq ft - ALL FOR $775 A MONTH! Can you believe it? The change in the cost of living will sure be a nice change for us. It's perfect for a guest room and seperate bath too - so we can have our friends & family come stay with us when they visit.

So now we're in a process of preparing to move. We've hired a moving company to pick up on our stuff on Friday the 14th of April and then we'll stay the weekend with my parents while Jason gets in a couple more nights of work and then we're off on our roadtrip across America! We love roadtrips - and I'm so excited to make some really fun memories with Jason during those 8 days we're on the road! So far our stops include a couple nights at my cousins in Montana, a stop in Denver, CO where we'll see a Colorado Rockies game and also stay the night. Then we're off to Mill's, New Mexico (hopefully) for a night or two to stay with some friends of Jason's on thier ranch, a night in Amarillo, TX with the Skypala's and then finally our last night at a B&B near Little Rock, Arkansas. I can't even tell you how excited I am!!!

As we get closer to moving, I'll try to get some more pictures to post on the blog!