Whirlwind Weekend

We had quite a busy weekend. Get ready for this lengthy documentary of it... Our very favorite friends in all the land came to Nashville for the weekend. Jake and Tiffany became our bf's way back in college when they practically lived with us our senior year of school. Once they graduated, they moved back up to their hometown in far away Boise, Idaho. We haven't seen them since their wedding last summer, and have missed them terribly. They flew down to Tennessee in order to attend Freed-Hardeman's Makin' Music, the annual student led musical production hosted by our Alma Mater.

Their flight landed at 10:30 Thursday evening, and we stayed up until the wee hours of the morning visiting with each other. The late night was easy for most of us... Jake and Tiffany obviously didn't have to work Friday, and Brad conveniently had his wisdom teeth removed the day before and had a nice little excuse to skip work. Looks like I was the only loser that had to wake up Friday morning and actually go to work, while everybody else hung out together. Humph. However, they were nice enough pick me up for lunch, so I wasn't completely out of the loop. That was really nice, and fun.

When I got home from work that evening, I found them all lazily napping in the living room. As if they hadn't gotten enough rest the night before. Sheesh. I woke 'em all up and we headed out toward downtown Nashville. We had big plans to live it up, Music City style. The four of us went to the Wildhorse Saloon for a delicious BBQ dinner, Southern fried pickles, live music, and some entertaining line dancing lessons.

Afterwards, we walked around Broadway street and hopped in and out of a couple of the bars to enjoy just a small fragment of the overwhelming musical talent that fills the streets of Nashville. Each time we spend an evening downtown, I am reminded of why Nashville is called Music City. People everywhere are serenading you with their gifted abilities.

When we got home, Brad's family was already at our house. His parents had travelled down from Indiana to attend Lipsomb's simultaneous version of the annual musical production, Singarama, in which our youngest brother, Jeremy, and his girlfriend, Madison, were both performing. We enjoyed our family reunion, while I showed off our new house and my mother-in-law showed off pictures from their anniversary trip to Chicago. However, I couldn't stay up too late. Because I, you guessed it, had to work in the morning. How lame. (I'm about tired of tax season.) So, Brad and I went to bed (in the office on an air mattress) before the party was over.

Brad, being the super sweet husband that he is, knew how bummed I was that the extra required work was making me miss out on a lot of the weekend fun with our visitors. So, he agreed to wake up early Saturday morning with me and make breakfast before I had to head in to the office. Eventually, the smell of pancakes lured everyone out of bed, and I was able to enjoy their company for just a bit before I had to report to duty.

Frasier, Dean & Howard has an annual tradition of celebrating the weekend before the weekend before the national tax deadline with Hog Heaven BBQ. It provides a nice moment of relaxation in the midst of chaos, and right before the real storm begins. We transformed my desk into a (covered) buffet bar, and enjoyed some fellowship right out in the corridor of the office building. Afterall, nobody else in the building is crazy enough to work on a Saturday.<After lunch, and a few more processed Income Tax Returns, I joined the family as we all saw, for the first time, the wedding site for Matthew and Heather's Big Day. (Jake and Tiffany had already left for Henderson, TN by this point.) I can't believe how perfect this place is. Their wedding will be simply wonderful!! Oh, I can't wait!

Once the evening came around, we headed over to Corky's BBQ to celebrate my father-in-law's birthday. (Just in case your counting, that's 3 BBQ meals in 2 days.) All of us kids pitched in together and gave him the same framed family Coat of Arms and history of the Mehaffey name that we all got at the Celtic Festival, last month. Now each of the Mehaffey men have one to display in his home. I love it.

Jeremy had to leave the party early in order to make it back to campus for the second production of the day. We followed closely behind him, anxious to view the show. Jeremy and Madison were each in seperate performances, so we were rooting for two of the three shows. The entire presentation was incredible. Singarama is very different than the Makin' Music that I'm used to (much more of a musical play that breaks out into song, and much less over-the-top theatrical; also, much, much longer per individual routine). But it was extremely entertaining, and we were so proud of both of their performances. Sadly, the random third show happened to be the winner of the overall competition. But at least they could both mope together, rather than trying to put on a happy face for the other. They were able to band together and talk about how unfair the judging was. That's kinda nice, really.

Here are a few shots I managed to get of Jeremy from way up in the balcony and without a flash. (Isn't my camera amazing!? What a great Christmas gift, Honey!)
Here's our favorite family girlfriend at work. (Heather is a fiance.) She's in the pink shirt
After the production, we migrated to our house for a mini after party. Everyone was exhausted - Jeremy and Madison had 4 energy-consuming performances in three days; Matthew had worked that day, Heather had bronchitis, Brad had coached a baseball game that day, I had worked, and Don and Elaine were still recovering from the long and late drive the night before. We were more than willing to relax and enjoy our (three different flavors) of ice cream as well as the comfortable company of family.

Don and Elaine were on the road before Brad and I woke up for church, Sunday morning. They were on their way to visit family down in Florida. But, don't worry; they'll be back to our neck of the woods this Thursday as they pass through on their path back home. (Rumor has it, they're buying us a Weber grill as a house warming gift! Holla!) Jake and Tiffany travelled back to Nashville Sunday afternoon, and the four of us were able to hang out "just like old times." We laughed as we reminisced about our life back in college. My how time flies.

Speaking of flying, they flew back out to Idaho yesterday afternoon, and our lives were back to normal before we knew it. The dust had finally settled on the whirlwind of the weekend... and we were able to have Charles and Emily over for dinner, last night. We're meeting Aaron and Erin for a quick dinner, after work, before we head over to Brian and Bonnie's house for a little overdue visiting, tonight. Yep, our life is definitely back to normal. Crazy busy, full of friends, and so very, very blessed.