Pictures of my 14 yr old Girl!!! (pix heavy)

So, Rich Kalonick of RichKPhotoblog.com took Emilee's pictures. We had 4 outfits and it took about 2 hours, including driving time. We went about 5 different places to take pictures and Em had a blast, although it was hot as blue blazes. AND we forgot a hairbrush, so I was disappointed that some of her last shots have distracting hair!

Here are a few of my favorites!

Pictures of my beautiful 14 yr old Girl!

Here are a few more:

Rambling Wednesday

I'm shopping for a new DSLR, this year is my 20th Anniversary and of course Christmas ... so I asked for a combined gift. I'm leaning toward a Canon either 60D or T3i. I'd really like the 60D, but budget wise, the T3i is probably more affordable for us. I really hope that I get it before cheerleading starts, but I doubt it.

We took a staycation this year. We did spend 2 days at the lake with friends. It was really fun.

Drew, Emilee & Taylor

Taylor & Emilee

Steve is working on his lawncare business. He's added a few more customers. And now is talking about getting another riding zero-turn. We had one before and he sold it, because he wasn't using it. But now, he's getting larger yards and he thinks the zero-turn will cut his time in 1/2, which means, he can cut more per day ... which means more money!!!!

Emilee start school soon, August 11. My baby will be a 9th Grader! Oh my, where did the time go.

Varsity CheerCamp at University of Alabama
Kristen & Emilee

We have been swimming a lot since it's been so hot.

Of course, I can't resist taking pictures of these two, they are so cute together. Being a mom, I'm really in a hard place, because the whole family really likes this boy, but they are so young. They've been "dating" for 10 months now. That's a long time for a 14 & 15 year old to be together. They have a really sweet relationship and who knows.... they could get married one day!

Any camera feedback would be appreciated!

Summer Time Pool Fun

So, this is the cute little dog that Emilee and I rescued on the side of the road. His name (now) is Bandit and he looks like he is part Jack Russell. He is living at my parents house and I think he is now their dog, although the plan was just for them to "foster" him while we found a new home for him. Nobody wants him though. He is super cute and is really a good dog. Believe it or not, he rarely barks and seems like he'd be pretty easy to train.


We love the pool and specifically my friend Beth's pool. We have so much fun when we go there to swim. This Saturday was a few weeks ago and Emilee want to take pictures with Drew (Beth's son and Taylor's best friend) that were like pictures we took of them when they were younger. It looks funny since she's hugging two different boys, but Taylor (her boyfriend) is in the blue shorts and Drew (the best friend) is in the multi-colored shorts.









I had to include this one because of the look on Em's face. You probably can't see it to good, but it is priceless. She looks like she is dreading hitting the water. It's just funny!

Steve is officially a full-time small business owner. He no longer has a job with Vanderbilt. He is really going to try and make the lawn care business work. Right now, we're going to make it on the few yards he has and his long term disability payments. It should be okay, at least better than these past 6 months living on my income alone. Hopefully by this time next year, he'll have about 30 yards and the year after 40! That's the goal. But you know, he needs mowers, a truck, more insurance, etc. It's just a lot to go from part-time to full-time. Before, he cut just enough to give himself hunting money. Now, he's going to have to really work at it. Plus he has a dream of getting into the "filming hunts" business by being a camera-man. He's hooked up with Abnaki Outdoors and has been filming all our hunts for the past year. My deer kill will be on a DVD ... scary stuff. But he likes it and is now hooked up with WWIA (Wounded Warriors In Action) and is doing some filming for them. Maybe he can use this as his off season income?

Today Emilee left for Cheer Camp at University of Alabama. (Her Coach is a huge AL fan). She's there and I don't expect to hear from her again til maybe .... Friday. She actually just told me to check in with Taylor to make sure she was okay! :)

Life in general

Life in general is okay. Steve still isn't working and at this point not getting in monthly/bi-weekly/weekly checks from Vanderbilt. We are so ready for this to all be over OR at least back to getting a regular check! My poor little paycheck doesn't cover it all!!!

Emilee has been released to gradually return to tumbling. That last all of about 30 mins and she was full force. She's loving competition team this year. They are moving up a level and it's great for her.

She and Taylor are still an item. A few bumps in the road, but for the most part, they are still "dating" and are as cute together as ever!

Work is busy, busy, busy!

I'll be glad when summer is here and TN has less rain. I'm tired of cold, rainy days!

Emilee did go to 8th grade banquet. She looked beautiful!!!!! I'll post pictures soon!

New pictures

Here are some updated pictures of the love birds .... they are really cute. Emilee got this shirt for him for their "6 month" anniversary. It was a really good sale at Hollister. He looked really good on him. Emilee kept telling him how "hot" he was in it! We bought him a long sleeve button up originally, but he didn't like it and said he would wear it, so we bought him something else he would wear.









Emilee made Varsity cheer squad. But she has a stress fracture in her back ... UGH! No cheerleading or gymnastics for a while. Her cheer coach is pulling her from everything. Which I'm glad because she really needs more rest, the only thing helps heal it. There is another guy at her school with the same thing and he is in a back brace. She was worried about that, but then she wants it to heal faster and thinks the brace will help. But I know she would hate wearing it and it would be a waste of money. Lets hope it gets better soon!

I'm so sorry

I'm sorry it's been so long since my last blog. I had no idea. I started a new job in October and it's SUPER busy! There's nothing too major going on in life right now. I have pictures to post, but none on this computer.

Emilee and Taylor are still "dating", at least as of today, but I look for that to change any minute. Just because they are kids and that's what they do. They've been "dating" for almost 6 months and that's like a life time in teenage speak. Here's a few pictures taken in October.

Then a few silly ones taken in February

It makes it hard on them to only see each other once or twice a week. But my motto is "absence makes the hard grow fonder". I do see that since they don't see each a lot the time they do have together is more precious. And they really talk about everything. That's one thing I've told Em from the beginning, honesty is the most important thing ever. She has to be honest in all her relationship. These two kids talk about everything. They hit their conflict head on, get them out of the way and move on. I hope she takes everything she is learning from this relationship into the next one, learns more and so on.

In September I killed my first buck .. in velvet no less. It was so cool. But kinda ruined me, because now I just want to kill a buck opening weekend and not worry about going back again.

Emilee has been cheering like crazy. She got pulled up to do competition with our varsity. So she had a few competitions where she performed twice. That's hard. But she loved cheering varsity. She' is such a good cheerleader/performer.

Christmas was fun. We made the most of it. I usually go all out for Christmas, because I LOVE giving gifts, but this year because of Steve's still not back to work, we had to scale down Christmas. AND, we had an extra person to buy for... Taylor. Of course, Emilee got his stuff and then we got him stuff, even my parents gave him PJ's on Christmas Eve. It was cute. Christmas Eve he came over to the house early and they opened presents. Taylor did good. He got Emilee perfume, PJ's and a pillow pet, which she loved! She got him shirts, blue jeans, cologne, we got him shirts, jogging pants and sock .... everything a boy could want! Then we went to eat at Kobe's which is a Kestner family tradition now. It was fun.

More cheerleading January, with a varsity competition in Indianapolis. They placed 2nd. Then in February they went to Atlanta and placed 3rd.... PHEW, I'm glad it over for a month. But it all starts back up April 1 with tryouts. And my daughter will be in 9th GRADE! I can't believe it!

Steve's still not back to work, but has been released by the doctor. Just waiting on Vanderbilt to figure out what he can do.

We've had tons of snow this year and lots of rain. Maybe that's a good sign for the summer. I'll post snow pictures soon.

That's it for an update ... I'll post pictures soon!

Zoo picture July 2010

I took Emilee, Drew & Taylor to the Nashville Zoo a few weeks ago. We had a good time even though it was hot as Hades and then about the time we were finishing up, it started raining. So we got wet. The rain actually cooled us off, but it also made us stink!
Here are a few pictures I got. Some were really good ... some okay and some really funny!

The Ryan pose ... Drew, Emilee & Taylor

Emilee and Taylor in the observation hole.

So very sweet! Love this picture! (It's pretty in black & white too!)

Awwwwww ...... yea, right!

They were wet and hot and tired .. but this is one of my all time favorites of these two!

Okay, funny story here. We stopped at this on the way in. Then on the way out they all wanted to get in the observation hole. I noticed them looking down and see the next picture .....

This little head popped up in front of them. It was too cute. Her mom was telling her to get back and wait her turn, but they big kids were fine with it!

They had a good time! Afterwards, the boys came to the house and we grilled chicken. It was a fun day. I recommend a trip to the Nashville Zoo anytime, but probably when it's not so hot!