Courtney's Wedding April 20, 2013

     I was so excited for this day, even a little nervous! Out of my whole group of friends through out high school, Courtney is the first one to begin this wonderful new chapter of her life. I attended her bridal shower a few weeks ago and then her wedding this past Saturday. Everything was gorgeous from the weather to her lace dress. I saw people that I hadn't seen since graduation and it was a great feeling to all share this memory together.

     The wedding was at 4 o'clock at a Baptist church in Kentucky. Unfortunately, I had a whole different dress picked out to wear and as I was putting it on the zipper broke! I have never had that happen but luckily had this back up to throw on. Jerome and I got there around 3:30 and were the first ones there out of our group of friends- we had to save a lot of seats!

     This is Krista, Becky, and Emily some of the greatest girls! I hadn't seen Becky or Emily since graduation (almost 3 years ago) so it was great catching up. Krista and I have been able to meet for lunch and catch up recently- I'm even her maid of honor for her wedding in 2014! 

     Courtney's wedding was beautiful. Her colors must have been yellow and gray and all of the girls carried daisies. The ceremony was pretty straight forward with passages being read and the exchanging of the rings. It was over within an hour, but it's definitely an hour that she will remember forever!

This needs no caption... isn't it just the cutest thing in the entire world!

     After the wedding we all had to take some pictures! I already introduced you to the three girls in the middle but on your far left is Taylor. She was also in my graduating class and we grew up playing softball together. I look up to her because she actually did all of the hair and makeup for the bride and bridal party! I would love to be able to do something like that in the future.

Of course we had Krista take this picture of Jerome and I. We are hardly ever dressed up like this so we have to document it when we can! Didn't he look so handsome? I believe he bought that shirt for one of our high school homecomings- I still love that color!

     Reception time! It was held in a middle school gym right up the road and had a live band which I thought was really neat! Notice the presence of a lot of cowgirl boots and hats, you can definitely tell that we are some small town girls! On your far right is Brooke, my childhood best friend. She was Courtney's maid of honor and looked gorgeous in her yellow dress and boots. I love this picture of all of us. Even though we haven't seen each other for some time, we still talk like we haven't missed a beat. We literally just sat around the table and reminisced about our high school experience- we all miss it so much!

     I just want to say congratulations from the bottom of my heart Courtney. You are such a beautiful person inside and out and I cannot wait to see your beautiful, new life with James unfold. You two make the cutest couple and I wish you the absolute best.

Love, Lacey

Cincinnati Reds Opening Day

     Another major league baseball season is upon us and I couldn't be happier! Being that I haven't been to opening day at our wonderful Great American Ball Park for years, I was super excited for this game. We found out that my dad (who is in a season ticket group) got selected to choose this set of 4 opening day tickets and he jumped on the chance! Unfortunately, he had to watch the game from the hospital but if he could have been there he would have been without a doubt! There is just something special about the atmosphere on opening day at GABP. The crowd is on fire, everyone is waving their rally towels, and people are cheering for each strike thrown. Cincinnati fans are always fired up at each game, but nothing like the electricity that runs through Great American Ball Park during the season opener.

     My morning began at an early (well for me anyway) 9:30am. I got ready then headed out to give the car a little more pizazz! Of course it rained the night before so I spent about 10 minutes drying off the windows the best I could so my masterpiece wouldn't just drip away. It ended up turning out really well and the sun came out before I had to leave. We even got a few honks on the way down- Delilah thought it was hilarious!

     I scooped up Delilah (10) who is Jerome's cousin from her grandma's house and our next stop was to meet Jerome at work. Every year there is a huge 2 hour opening day parade that I would've loved to attend. Unfortunately, Jerome had work until noon so we had to miss the parade. Just more reason to go next year though, right?! Once we had everyone ready to go we headed to 5 Guys Burger and Fries to fill our growling bellies. YUM!

     Next up was heading downtown but we had to make a pit stop first. Jerome recently got accepted into the Early Childhood Education undergraduate program at UC and needed to drop off a paper. After that we headed for Newport to park for the game. Jerome had the idea of parking there and walking across the bridge to avoid all of the closed roads and traffic from the parade. It worked out perfectly and Lilah was so excited to walk across even though she is very afraid of heights. The walk took about 15 minutes and there were tons of steps- we got in a great workout though!



     Next up was finally arriving at the game! We got there around 3:00 and the game started at 4:10. If you grew up in my family you would be used to getting to games early. My dad loves getting there 1-2 hours early to watch batting practice and to be settled and in our seats by game time. I used to think this was silly and a waste of time but I really enjoy it now! Our seats were great, we had never sat there before! It was actually a small section right above the press boxes that was only about 7 rows wide. Our row had less than 10 seats in it and we were in the 1st row! It was so cool and luckily we have those seats for the entire season!

     We dressed in layers because there was only a high of 45 degrees but once we got to our seats we were burning up. I actually stripped down to my Heisey t-shirt for awhile! As soon as the sun went behind a cloud though we were cuddling up in our blanket.

     There ended up being over 43,000 fans there! Standing room only tickets were even up to $60, crazy! I have never seen the ball park so full. You could just feel the excitement!

     Of course since it was April 1st (April Fools' Day) GABP couldn't get away without pulling a prank. This flashed up on the jumbotron during the 1st inning. Luckily, it didn't fool me and I called it as soon as I saw it! It was pretty funny though!

     They gave us these rally towels on the way in. I don't think I stopped waving mine the entire game! It was cool seeing so many fans waving theirs when the game got tough!

     Here is Todd Frazier right before the first hit of the season! Ludwick actually dislocated his right shoulder early in the game stealing 3rd base (he even had surgery today) which meant Heisey got to come in. Heisey has been my favorite player for a few seasons now so this made my day! With that being said, I hate that Ludwick got hurt, he's a great player. Hopefully this opportunity lets Heisey shine though!

     This is Lilah (sporting Jerome's hat of course) and her new Brandon Phillips jersey. Jerome took her to the gift shop before the game and this is what they came back with! She was so excited and says he's her favorite player because he's the cutest.

     We eventually had to bundle up when it got dark. Thankfully I through this hat and some gloves in the car right before I left the house- they sure came in handy! Not to mention the Reds tie blanket I made Saturday for the game. I even got on the jumbotron late in the game wearing this hat and waving my towel! It made for the perfect opening day experience.

     Overall, it was a wonderful day that I wouldn't trade for the world. The Reds ended up losing to the Los Angeles Angels 3-1 after 13 whole innings. We braved the elements for the entire game then made the trek back to the car. It was a long and tiring day but I would do it again in a heartbeat for my Cincinnati Reds!

As I am typing this we are watching the opening night game and are winning 4-0 in the top of the 5th inning! Come on Redlegs!

Love, Lacey