Since the salon where Lorie works was closed for Sunday, we had the place all to ourselves to get ready.  now THAT was cool.  

We made a great team with those Cole sisters and busted out some serious hair make up and nails that day!

Biggest wedding foul ever- asking the bride to please trim your son's unruly hair 3 hours before the ceremony. 

Daddy arriving to pick up Lorie

Aren't our jackets cute?  Lorie bought them for us as a gift!

Rehearsal Dinner

 Lorie decided to have a costume party for the rehearsal dinner considering it was close to Halloween and the fact that costumes are incredibly AWESOME.  Let me tell you, it was a great idea!  It was hilarious.......and fun........and how could anyone be anything but laid back and happy if the Easter Bunny is walking a cute 40's sailor girl down the aisle to wed a gorilla?  After we practiced the ceremony, we went to the Cole's house for dinner.  Justin's family definitely know how to entertain!  His brother is a chef out in LA and prepared fabulous appetizers and a delicious meal.  It was heavenly. 

Best Sibling picture ever.  I made sure that Lorie thought it would be funny for me to be dressed as a bride and she loved the idea.  Jonathan was a mariachi band player but he is missing his little ukulele in this photo.

I wish I knew what was making Adam look like that.

maybe it was the banana being chased by the gorilla!

Cute little cheerleaders!

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As the night wore on, we all started switching costumes and wigs in particular. 

Moma and Jonathan grabbed some of Dad's accessories.

Chuck and Paul had the BEST wigs so we grabbed them.  

Needless to say, it was a blast.  It was very funny to meet people for the first time in costume.

Leslie and Paul somehow ended up with Justin's gorilla costume on. 

We Bartletts fell in love with that Cole family that night.  We knew that Lorie and Kiah were getting something special in Justin, but we were overjoyed to find that they were also gaining an awesome extended fam too.

Moving right along through October festivities brings us to a highlight of my year, well, heck, a highlight of my entire life............. the wedding.  Lorie, Justin and Kiah became an official family on October 24th and it was the sweetest thing you could imagine.  The weather was about 20 degrees higher than the average in Boone in October making it a gorgeous fall day.

But wait, I am getting ahead of myself.  We have to start with Friday and the bridal shower. Moma and Daddy rented a phat (Amie's words) house in Blowing Rock so we could all stay together for the weekend and we invited the girls over for a party.  Lorie loves accessories and we all got her something of the sort as a present. 

 

She busted her toe earlier in the week so she had to trade her cute boots in for some slippers while she opened gifts. 

Leslie and Paul flew in from California on Thursday and Aunt Teresa drove over from the NC coast on Friday. It was awesome to have them here!

We have always loved the movie Steel Magnolias so I read lines from the movie we played a "Name that Character" game.  It was hilarious and I got to cuss in front of my mother which is always funny.  Later in the evening we watched the movie together and laughed and wept just like old times. 

Amie organised this whole party and made the sweets for us to enjoy! 

Lorie and Amie and Amy Cole her new sister inlaw

Cathy, Justin's mom and Sara, Justin's sister. 

The Cole sisters with  Holly (Justin's brother's girlfriend)

The main activity for the evening was flower arrangements and bouquets.  Mom and Lorie went with a friend to a whole sale florist that morning and bought tons of beautiful flowers.  We laid them all out on the table and mom guided us as we made our own bouquets.  It was pretty fun and they turned out to be perfect and exactly what Lorie had envisioned. 

Lorie' bouquet.  Impressive, huh?  My mom is the most talented lady to ever live. 

Everyone working hard

We made 5 of these for the church and reception.  

The next noteworthy happening in October was our Cheshire Music Gig.  After class one day, a lady told me how much she enjoyed the last time we played there and then asked when we were doing it again.  I really start thinking and figuring on how we could make it happen this fall before the weather turned too cold.  The biggest obstacle was the sound system.  We borrowed a system from a church last time but had some difficulties with feedback and not being loud enough and what-not so I was reluctant to go that route again. I had been hinting around to my dad for the past few months that what I really needed was a crowd-around mic (you know, one of those old timey looking ones) and an amp to better my musical ventures.  One night he called me up and said he wanted me to go look at a microphone that he was watching on Craigslist.  We loaded up the kids and on the way there he told me that actually we were going to look at a whole sound system and that he had always wanted to own one.  To make a long story short, we bought the system, stopped Krispy Kreme Doughnuts at 10:30 to get the kids all loaded down with a sugar treat and then headed to the house.  And suddenly we had the means to do our little outside concert again. ....A lot more means than I had ever even imagined we would have. 

 

Saturday, October 16th, from 4:00 to 6:00pm, we played some music and I got to pretend that I was a folk star for a bit.  It was awesome. The weather was glorious.  More people came than we had expected and the sound was great.  I woke up at 5am that morning too excited to sleep anymore and my cheeks were sore that evening from grinning the entire day.  Did I mention it was awesome?

pre show group shots.  The top picture is the one where I look most normal.  In the other pictures Lauren and Amie  someone told us that we should all look in different directions and so I am looking off while everyone else is smiling and looking at the camera...which explains the bottom one...oh yeah, and Nate listened to them too.

The kids hanging out while the folks gathered before the show. 

Nate: Dobro.....me: vocals and guitar.....Seth:bass.......
Chip: lead guitar and vocals......Adam: mandolin

 The only problem now is that I am OBSESSED with doing something like that again.   The Cheshire folks said that they would love to have us once a month, but that can't work in the winter so we'll just have to plan for next spring at this point.  We may be playing a benefit at a local concert hall in December.  

Oh don't worry, I will tell you all about it!

You know how it goes....the more you have to blog about, the less time you have to blog.  So October has come and gone and I have yet to record all of the happenings for the Harrisons.  Then the question is "where do I start?".  They used to say in the scrapbookers world to start with RIGHT NOW as to not get to overwhelmed, but I don't guess I am that far behind so I will start at the beginning of the month:  

Annabelle's birthday

 

Miss Annabelle is now four years old and we celebrated with a little tea party at Mimi's house.  Annalee, Abby, Lucie and their Moms all came over and they dressed up, ate cupcakes, drank lemonade and made special birthday hats.  It was perfect......short, sweet and not at all overwhelming.  The girls were so happy and excited.   She got some make-up and jewelry as presents which is as good as it gets in her mind. 

 

Granddaddy and Mimi treated us to a long weekend trip in Tennessee.  Granny and Pawpaw came along and we all went to Dollywood (of course).  The kids all stepped it up a notch and tried new rides....Annabelle rode the Veggie Tales roller coaster and even got on an actual horse (not the bench) on the Merri-go-Round,  the boys rode the Dizzy Disk (which made Adam cry) and Lanie actually rode the biggest roller coaster in the park.  It was awesome.  I got to see a show with Granny and Papaw that I had never seen before and it completely blew me away with singing and dancing.  It was wonderful!  However, one of the best treats of the weekend was a shopping trip to the outlets one day while the guys took the older kids to the Arcade.  Seth came out on Friday night and the next day the guys took the kids to a very cool swimming hole. 

 

Annabelle's Dance Class

Are you ready for some cuteness? 

 Annabelle has started taking dance from Ms. Kim on Thursdays.  She LOVES it and it is the sweetest, cutest thing you could ever imagine.  Annalee and Lucie are in her class so Amie, Lauren and I get to hang out and watch while they dance. 

The grandparents paid for the dance class as Annabelle's birthday present so a HUGE thank you is in order for them!  Thank you....you are the best and we are so blessed to have you!

September means it is time to go back to Dollywood.  We take the summer off to avoid the heat and crowds but as soon as all those kiddos go back to school, we head back over the smokey mountains for some fun.  Last week, we took a quick day trip with my friend, Lauren, and her two kids, Samuel and Annalee. We practically had the park to ourselves and the weather was perfect.
Also,  it was great to be with them as they saw the shows for the first time.  

Here are a couple of photos:

Annalee said her favorite part of the day was meeting the actors after the show.

You should have seen Lauren squeezing her long legs into this ride.  hilarious.  I like this picture because she is talking in it....you know she had some funny stuff to say as this all was happening! 

Annalee loves the boys and preferred walking with them to riding in the stroller.

riding the ducks....quack, quack

Annalee and Annabelle hanging out in the stroller together....don't they look like sisters!

Quick overview on life over the past few weeks: 

Jonathan and I took the kids to an extended family reunion down near Maggie Valley a few weeks ago. After getting a late start and then getting a bit lost (gasp, can you imagine ME getting lost!?),  we basically missed the reunion itself and arrived as everyone was packing up and heading out.  However, it turned out to be an awesome day because we went to my great Uncle Roy's house and picked his brain for old family stories.  Jonathan got some names and facts straightened out for his genealogy research while the kids and I went with my cousin, Jennifer, and her kids to the cabin that Uncle Roy moved piece by piece from way up on a mountain years ago.  The cabin is well over a hundred years old and was the birthplace of Julius Ball (my great grandfather).  very very cool.   Caleb and Adam played with Jennifer's son Grayson (if she is my third cousin, what does that make them to one another?)  in the huge bank behind the cabin.  When we got back over to Uncle Roy's house, Caleb announced to everyone that he had actually found heaven on earth over there. 

I am not one that ever cares about the kids getting dirty.  It is a good thing. 

 Annabelle was thrilled that she got to give Baby Fara a bottle. so dang sweet. 

 

The next reunion is in a few weeks for just the immediate Ball Family.  I can't wait.  We will revisit that cabin and I will get pictures.  My greatest hope is that Aunt Venie busts out into an old mountain ballad.  She said she had a sore throat this past time and left kinda early.

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Another highlight of the month was the Girl's Night Slumber Party.  My friend, Jen, had all of the moms and daughters over for a night of nail painting, dancing, cupcakes, and chick flicks. There was a lot of screaming and giggling going on as well.   Annabelle and I only stayed from 6-9 which turned out to be perfect. 

We also went up to Graveyard Fields for some blue berry pickin' and waterfall swimmin'. Don't I look like a professional picker with my milk jug on my belt?  Well, I am serious about my berries.  I was on a mission that is always shorter than I would like with whiny kids that just "have to go swimming in the waterfall!" Nah, the kids did pretty well and hung in there for longer than I thought they would.  We were with friends who kindly took the boys to the falls while I harvested just a few more berries for the freezer. Annabelle was an angel as long as I carried her in the backpack. 

We worked a water station at the Cheshire Pump and Run 5K. 

And of course there were more pool days!
One day Amie and I had all of the grandkids together.