Senior night ,spend the night company, and the bell ringer..

My sweet sister, Grace, is on a volleyball scholarship at Berry College in Rome, GA. One of THE most beautiful college campuses ever... and is the biggest in the world. Surrounded by woods, there is a 13:1 deer to student ratio! My other sweet sister, Paige, and I are always excited to see the deer, but after 4 years of seeing them all of the time, Gracie just shrugs the sightings off like they are yesterday's news lol... Ok, back to volleyball. Grace, to say the least, is a volleyball champ. Yes, I am somewhat biased, but the numbers don't lie! For example: Berry vs. Faulkner. Their team is #1 in their conference! Check out her blurb: GRACE. I don't think I could be more proud of her. It takes A LOT of hard work and self-discipline to be a successful collegian, but she does that AND manages daily practices along with games, many of which are out of town. She's recently applied for Vet school, as well. On top of all of that, she has her personal priorities straight, with God at the center. All of that said.... Tuesday night was Senior night for Berry Volleyball. This is the night when they honor all of the senior players and their families. My mom called me and told me it was coming up to see if we might be able to swing an attendance. She also mentioned that Grace had told her in passing how much it would mean to her if we could come, but knew that we had work and school. (This would consist of leaving town around 1 or 2 p.m., finding someone to take care of Miley, going to the game at 7 p.m. EST, then turning around and driving back to B'ham around 9:30 p.m., only to return around 11 p.m. Then, getting up for my 8 a.m. class the next morning.) I told her we would make it happen, and we decided we'd keep it a secret. Grace also mentioned to me on facebook that Senior night was coming up and that she'd love for us to come. Knowing that plans were already made, I put her off a little, saying I'd talk to Josh, but wasn't sure if we'd be able to come or not. Well, we pulled it off beautifully and it was all worth it! Grace texted us (Paige, Josh, and me) on the drive home, saying how incredibly special she felt that we came. Another sweet note... Grace had to let the announcer know who he needed to announce as her family that would be walking out with her on the court...This is what was said: "Grace is accompanied by her parents, Vicki and Harrison Brannon, her sister, Paige Brannon, her sister Taylor Gamble, and her brother, Josh Gamble." We all giggled at first, but it then realized how sweet it was that Grace didn't even feel the need to specify that Josh was her brother-in-law. To her, he is her brother, and it touches my heart.

Miley FINALLY got to meet our friends Claire and Brian Jackson's puppy, Samson, this week and had a playdate while the pup-moms had their own play/chat date. He is a 12 week old, pure chocolate lab. I tried to take pictures, but my camera battery was dead! I know... Get on the ball, TAY! I'll definitely have it charged for the next one. Claire and I have decided it needs to be a weekly occurrence.

After feeling great about my Psychology exam Friday morning, the weekend got off to a great start! When I got home, I checked my e-mail and found this precious e-mail waiting for me:

"I miss you so much, aunt tay, that i'm eating my own arm..."Sigh... my sweet Wyatt Keever... Who, by the way, is rolling all the way over by himself! (Click for video) He will be 4 months old tomorrow, November 10th. Wyatt and his mommy and daddy are down in Jacksonville, FL right now, meeting more of his extended family. I can't wait until Josh and I get to do that with our little ones one day :o)

Friday night, Josh and I went to Sekisui, one of our fave sushi restaurants, for dinner. We got some gift certificates, which I think are more like coupons b/c you have to spend a certain amount but get $25 off the bill... either way, we got like a $40 meal for more like $15-20... can't complain. :) Then, we came home and snuggled up with our sweet Miley. So much snuggling, in fact, that we both fell asleep and Miss Miley got the treat of her life... a FULL NIGHT in the bed with Mom and Dad! lol... Normally, I'll go snuggle and watch tv for a little bit with Miley, and when Josh comes to bed, he'll take her out and then put her in her crate. It's funny, b/c Miley HAD gotten to where she'd make it without barking to go potty until like 6 a.m., which was totally great with us, but in the past month or so, she has regressed back to waking us up in the middle of the night, like she did when she was really little.. 2:30 a.m. ...5:30 a.m....(not the funny part, of course!) Well, you bet your sweet booty that she did not dare wake us up Friday night! Ha ha... She's a very smart girl!

Speaking of how smart Miley is... My sweet sister, Paige, is in a Psychology class at Samford for which she has to teach someone to do something for a project. She chose to teach Miss Miley to ring a jingle bell hanging from the backdoor handle when she wants/needs to go outside. (Pottying optional b/c point is just to ring to go outside.) At first, Paige was incredibly frustrated, b/c Miley was afraid of the bell! "Oh no!" We all thought... "Paige's experiment is ruined..." After some thought, I pointed out that she is only 5.5 months old and has never seen/heard a bell like that, and suggested Paige desensitize her to the bell a little. Initially, it didn't seem to be working, but after many treats and showing Miley (by grabbing her paw to make her hit the bell), Miley learned the new trick! It was a weak knowledge at first, but after a week of practice, she now goes to the door and rings the bell completely on her own! lol... I now laugh about it b/c Aunt Paige MAY have created a bell-ringing monster... We have to document every single time she rings the bell... and every time she rings the bell, we praise her, open the door, let her outside, and give her a treat... Here is an example of our log this evening: 5:40 p.m., 5:42 p.m., and 5:52 p.m.... I'd definitely say she's caught on. Ha ha. I am really glad Paige's experiment has been a success, and am proud of our super smart pup-child, Miley Jean. :o)

Last night, my God-mother, Susan Bayliss, (I have called her "Susan Bayliss" since I was little lol) threw a casual dinner birthday party for her husband (my God-father), "Michael Bayliss." She was very smart and had a friend of hers help plan it and run the show, so she wouldn't get stressed over details, etc. Kathy G catered it and it was delicious! Arugula salad with walnuts, grilled pears, and blue cheese, topped with a vinaigrette dressing, to start. The main course was steak, asparagus, and mashed potatoes. YUM! Dessert was homemade strawberry cake, chocolate cake, vanilla icecream, and chocolate icecream. Josh and I were in heaven. To add to the wonderful meal, was the wonderful company. We sat with my daddy, sister Paige, cousin Rachel, her boyfriend Chris, Aunt Sharon, and Uncle Ira. Needless to say, we laughed and cut-up the whole meal. It was fantastic :o)

By the way, it has been brought to my attention that I need to be updating the blog a little more often, so I will be putting in more effort to do so! :o) "Thank you" to everyone that reads it!