Vance Tales

We’re going to be an Aunt and Uncle again!

Lauren — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:30:36 +0000

For those of you who read my blog and may not know my sister, Eryn, is pregnant! She had her first MD appointment today since finding out. My NIECE (no, we don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl yet, but can you tell what I’m rooting for?) is 9 weeks old, she has a speedy but normal heart rate of 176 beats per minute and will be coming into the world to meet her Aunt ‘Ren (that’s me!) and Uncle Matt on February 21, 2009. Woo Hoo!

Speaking of nieces and nephews…our nephew, Ty (Matt’s sister’s son), turned 3 yesterday and we will be celebrating with him tomorrow at his “Backyardigans” themed party. It had been so long since Matt and I had been in a toy department that we felt like we were in a foreign land when we ventured into the toy section of Wal-Mart to try to find Ty’s gift. Who would have thought a 3 year old could be so hard to buy for? Man how time flies. I can still remember Ty weighing 5 lbs and 7 oz. and how sweet it was when he snuggled in real tight for a nap. Naps with Uncle Matt and Aunt Lauren are no longer for this little boy…he’s runnin’ wild!

Pictures of Colorado and pictures of Ty’s party still to come.

For My Sister…

Lauren — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:28:53 +0000

This post is strictly as the title implies…for my sister…right back at ya Sis!

Long time, no…write?

Lauren — Tue, 27 May 2008 14:58:35 +0000

Okay, so, once again my Granny and my sister have gotten on to me for not writing. Believe it or not I have been busy. We just had our annual health fair at work and it was exhausting but rewarding. This week I have a blood drive I am preparing for. A few weeks ago I took 3 month old pictures of Abby, my friend Brook’s baby. She was adorable, and the pictures turned out okay.

Matt’s been to Las Vegas for training and North Carolina for training. In about 3 weeks he will take his Certified Information Systems Auditor exam. And then will head out to California for an audit he is leading. When he comes home we will have about 3 days to get ready for our Colorado vacation. Ah, vacation…I can’t wait! 10 DAYS OFF! Don’t worry I’ll take plenty of pictures.

My parents are moving…WooHoo! My Dad has been in Georgia since October 2007 and my Mom has been in Tennessee trying to sell their house. Mom’s last day in TN will be June 9th. Although I’ve gotten used to her being close and hate to see her go, I will love seeing the stress decrease and my parents together again. They will have been married 30 years this July and being apart really doesn’t work too good for them.

And on a final note, the pictures that I will share this post are from the zoo trip that Matt and I took with his family last weekend. The weather was perfect. There were a ton of crying, screaming kids all over the zoo but our nephew didn’t cry one time! We are so proud. Hope you enjoy.

Brighten it Up!

Lauren — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:44:34 +0000

Well, I decided to change the theme of my blog once again. If you are reading this post and parts of the site look a little funky it is because Matt hasn’t fixed it yet! The two of us have been pretty busy lately. We went to Missouri for a funeral and then had a cookout at our house, then I packed to go on a business trip to Lexington, KY (pictures to come) and we have 2 weeks of rest before Matt hits the road. He will be gone the end of April and again in the middle of May. Matt takes his big test in June for his Certified Information Systems Auditor certification and then we leave for our Colorado vacation on July 1! TEN days off!!!! Yeah for us. Now, I am in the process of trying to get my best friend SaBe to answer my telephone calls so we can get together! Maybe soon. I’ll try to get the pictures online soon.

Easter

Lauren — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 02:30:14 +0000

Yesterday was Easter. The day I celebrate with other Christians around the world that Jesus died and has risen from the grave to save me from death and eternal agony in a place called Hell. For my family, Easter is also a time to…you guessed it…EAT! Matt and I went to his Mom and Dad’s house yesterday to have Easter lunch with his family. Of course our nephew, Ty, was there and I had my camera so I had to try to get a shot of him. Unfortunately, Ty has figured out what a camera is and will no longer sit still and let you take his picture…at least not very often. I did not get any pictures of him hunting Easter eggs. I think they did that Easter morning before Matt and I arrived. I did get a picture of him opening his chocolate candy that he wouldn’t share with anyone. Not even Uncle Matt. Ty loves chocolate. I hope you and your family had as blessed of an Easter as Matt and I did.

Update

Lauren — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 20:34:02 +0000

Hello everyone. Since January 13 stuff’s been going good with me and Matt. As I mentioned in my previous post we worked hard on getting our guest room cleaned out and painted. The painting is complete! Pictures are on Matt’s blog. We had a Super Bowl party at our house on Super Bowl Sunday with our Life Group from church. I think everyone had a good time.Â We were supposed to go to Woodbury this past weekend to see Ty, but he got a stomach virus and so we promptly decided to put our visit off until this weekend.Â Matt ended up not feeling too good this weekend either so it worked out. Matt leaves Monday to go to El Paso on an audit. He’ll be in a semi-managerial role on this trip so it should prove to be adventurous if not fun. We are in the process of planning our family vacation to Colorado this year and both of us are getting excited about it. I sure can’t wait. I am so excited! We ordered my new camera lens last week and I can hardly wait for it to come in so I can try it out. Right now all I have to put on my Nikon D80 camera is a 50mm lens, which is a wonderful lens, but it doesn’t zoom in or out. When you’re in a tight spot it is pert near impossible to get off a complete shot of an area with the 50mm. I just bought the Nikon 18-200mm lens with vibration reduction. With those two lenses I should be pretty set for a while. On a final note, I am very thankful that all the students on Union University’s campus are safe. You can definitely tell God’s hand was/is at work in those lives. Until next time…

Life as usual

Lauren — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 04:31:35 +0000

According to my Granny and my sis, I am incredibly behind on my life updates. School is over (I made an A in my class), Christmas with the Vance family is over, Christmas with the Bray family is over, our Life Group Christmas party is over, and Matt and I finally finished unboxing everything in our guest room upstairs. In the middle of trying to prepare for Christmas and trying to write a final paper for my class, Matt and I visited my sister and Davie at their home in Jackson. One of the things Eryn and I used to do as little girls was visit the Memphis Zoo with our grandparents (my fondest memory is the grape snow cones we used to get at the end of the day). I hadn’t been there in years because my grandfather can’t take us anymore so we went while we were visiting Jackson. I have included pictures from that trip as well as some Christmas pictures and pictures from my State Farm bowling night. Hope you enjoy!

P.S. Stay tuned for pictures of our newly cleaned out and painted guest room and other pictures of our house!

Fall 2007

Lauren — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 01:09:38 +0000

I have been promising for quite some time now to post pictures that I’ve taken this fall. It turns out…I waited so long I can now post all my fall favorites at one time! Click here to view my favorites from mine and Matt’s trip to the St. Louis zoo when we went on vacation, my birthday weekend favorites, another Vance wedding favorites, anniversary trip favorites and Thanksgiving favorites. Let me know what you think!

Overwhelmed

Lauren — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 19:33:16 +0000

My last post was about my birthday weekend.Â In that post, IÂ mentioned that I would post pictures for all to see. Well that sounded all fine and good until I realized I took over 300 pictures on my birthday weekend. How overwhelming for me to try to edit! Sadly, I’ve completely over-extended myself and have had something to do every weekend since then (yes, I took even more pictures at those events–I’m about 500 behind now on the editing process). I will do my best to get some of my favorites from the last few events edited and posted this upcoming week.

Happy Birthday to me!

Lauren — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 19:31:39 +0000

Well, my gracious! Once again, it has been a while since I’ve been able to write. October has been a busy month for me and Matt. As mentioned in my previous post we celebrated Matt’s birthday on October 7. We celebrated our 1 year anniversary on October 21. (Matt took me to eat Italian at Carrabbas. It was wonderful!) Today is my birthday and we are headed to Mom and Dad’s to have burgers and such. My sister and brother-in-law are driving in for the occasion. Also, this weekend, my family will be attending a pastor appreciation dinner for my Dad at his church. It will be a bittersweet time because this upcoming Sunday is my Dad’s last Sunday at Woodbury First Baptist. On Wednesday, October 31, Dad will be moving to Rome, Georgia in order to begin a teaching/administrative position with Shorter College. He is so excited and has been preparing for this moment ever since he acquired his Ph.D. Mom is excited as well, but,Â also,Â kind of sad because she has to wait until their house sells before she gets to move to Georgia to be with Dad. Instead of only being 45 minutes from my parents I will now be about 3 hours or so from them. Mom and I work at the same place and I have grown accustomed to seeing her everyday. I am a little melancholy about the whole situation, but excited about the wonderful adventure that lies ahead for them as well. Don’t worry…I will have my camera with me this weekend and will try to post pictures in the near future.