Michelle and Wes Willis

February...

2010-02-07T19:21:00.004-06:00

Well, let's just say maybe I'm not a monthly blogger. I'm just not that interesting!!

So let's see...I suppose I can share BIG news in this blog! (Even though all the people that read this already know!)
We found out in November that we are going to have a little bambino! The baby should be born in early July. I hope the baby cooperates with that! Wes has three weeks off, one week before the due date, the week of, and the week after. Hopefully, the baby will be born in the beginning part of those weeks so daddy will get plenty of time with the bambino.

All that being said, no we are not finding out the sex of the baby! You wouldn't believe the way people react to that. lol It drives them bananas. Don't worry, I think closer to time I'll be going bananas too. :) But mostly I think it will be such fun for Wes to be able to shout to all our family and friends, "It's a Boy!" or "It's a Girl!".

I'm in my 20th week this week, so we are halfway there. We just had our ultrasound done and had the most fun getting to see the little one.

Other than baby stuff, Wes has been home a whole lot lately. I've been getting spoiled having him around. He's been so sweet to keep the house picked up and get stuff done for me while I'm at work. He's also shaping up to be a pretty superior cook! I won't complain!

Well, that's all for now. I'm all typed out.

October Already!

2009-10-13T13:27:00.012-05:00

Hi All,

Well, what do you know. I'm several months behind at this blogging thing again! Much has happened since I last posted! Let's see where to begin.....

I had a spectacular summer getting to travel with Wes, the band, and their wives this summer. I'm so thankful for the opportunity to be able to cut loose and be free for a summer. It was nice to be able to be in constant contact with Wes and not have to wait for phone calls. I think Wes enjoyed our time together too.

On July 5th, Wes and I celebrated our 1st year of marriage. We had to head to Ohio that evening so we decided to go out for brunch. Sadly, I had a terrible headache that day so I wasn't very good company. I'm thankful for such a wonderful husband. We've had so much fun the past year and look forward to many, many more! I think it's time for a second honeymoon trip!

July this year also meant the first annual ROF Prom, "A Fool's Paradise". The Foolettes had decided that we needed to see each other outside of band activities. Therefore, we planned a prom! None of the Fools really believed that we were serious till like the week before the event. They MUST not know bout us!! We had a great time. Corsages, dinner, and breakfast afterward. The whole shabang!
Here's a few photos!

At the end of July, Wes and I went with our good friends, Ali and Josh, to Disney World. Have I told you how much we LOVE Disney? A lot! We had a great time. Even though we pretty much got soaked at the end of each day! On our way back from Orlando, we had planned to float down the Wiki Watchee river. Wes and I had done it before when my brother Matt lived in Brooksville, FL. (For those of you that haven't heard of it, it's this river that is about 30 ft wide and the widest and maybe 12 ft deep at its deepest. The water is crystal clear and you just jump in with your inner tube and can float all day. There are also manatees that swim through there, although we did not see any last time.) When we drove over there this time, we found out that the public access has been taken away due to irresponsible people and their trash. Needless to say, we were all very, very disappointed! No Wiki Watchee for us.
Here's a few pics from Disney:

At the beginning of August, I interviewed for a job with a company that a mutual friend works for. The place is called WISH Collection. I got the job and started on August 10. WISH is a wholesaler for women's clothing. We have our own clothing line, manufactured in the US, and sell to boutique stores across the nation. So far, I am enjoying it. I'm getting to go to the Dallas market later this month so that should be exciting!

Wes was on the road most of August and September. So in order to keep our sanity, the Foolettes got together for what we like to call "Friday Night Foolettes". What a blessing those girls have been in my life. I'm thankful to know that there are other people nearby who know what kind of lifestyle I have. Here's a couple of pics from Friday nights and fun weekends in Nashville!

Currently, I'm sitting in the Tucson, AZ airport waiting for my flight back to Bham. My mom's family had a family reunion so I rode out last weekend with Mom and Dad. The reunion took place in Madera Canyon, AZ. Most everyone was able to make it. Sadly, I did not plan ahead very well and so Wes missed being able to come. I've missed him so much ! The reunion was great.
Here's a pic of all the "kids":

Well, I had better run now. I think we are about to start boarding.

Hopefully pumpkin patch pics should be coming soon!!
:)

My, my, how the months fly!

2009-06-30T21:53:00.008-05:00

Okay, so I almost missed January and February, and I did miss March, April, May, and yes, even June. I'm terrible at blogging! So much fun stuff has happened too! Let me see if I can do a quick recap.

March:

Over Spring Break, my wonderful brothers and sister-in-law were going skiing and offered to take me along. We flew out to Vail, CO for a couple of days. And when I say flew, I really mean, flew almost all the way there to have the last leg of the flight cancelled for no reason and we had to drive the remaining two hours and fight with many airline people to let them have our luggage. Flying is very chic, yes? No.

So we finally made it to Vail. We had a really great time! I think I only fell about 8 million times! I think skiing is a lot of fun though. I was glad to have Hayley there so that we could take our time down the green slopes while the boys took off down the blues and blacks! It was a really fun trip.

Oh, and our flights back did get cancelled, but we managed to make it home anyway!

April:

April meant one month closer to graduation. Which was glorious! I can't really think of many big events. Rush of Fools played at Stadium Fest at Samford in Birmingham which was really cool. Rick and Bubba were there! Oh! I know, during April we were working really hard to make sure that we could close on our first home! I feel like we were put through the ringer twice! It was really crazy all the stuff that the mortgage company needed from us. At the very end of the month I was also trying to pack up our apartment. I had lived there four years and my, oh my, does stuff accumulate!

May:

The first Sunday in May was really busy. Graduation Recognition at my home church was this Sunday. I was one of two college graduates this year, but ended up being the only one there! My family and Wes' family was able to attend the service. Our poor college minister couldn't figure out what name to call me or my family since I've gotten married. At first, he introduced me as Michelle England, (at which point I whispered Willis), daughter of Mike and Donna Willis, (at which point I whispered England!!). Poor Wes got left out of the whole deal. But that was okay! The entire church was in giggles and everyone got the point!

On May 4th, my bff and old roommate Whitney helped my pick up the Uhaul and load everything, and I mean everything, into it. It was a looong day! (Wes was on the road). Wes got home about 3 AM on Tuesday morning, the day we were closing. Later that morning, we got up early and drove to Montgomery to pick up some furniture we had in storage and then drove up for our closing! Closing went successfully, and we now own our very first home!! Jacob and Kevin helped Wes and I move everything in. Wes even mowed the grass the first day we were here!! I still don't have pictures of the house, but I will have to post some soon!

On Friday that week, Wes, Whitney and I went to AU to take some graduation pictures of me in my cap and gown. It was one hot day! I think we may have waited close to an hour to take a picture in front of the Auburn University sign! It went well though!
Saturday day brought the long anticipated Graduation!! War Eagle! Two hours later, and I was finished with college forever. I'm really thankful to be done! (I'll also be taking donations for my student loans...eek! scary! haha!) We had planned on having a get together at my parents house after graduation, but a freakish flood decided to come through Montgomery and flood my parents' house. So instead we all went to Olive Garden and had a really great time. I was really excited to get my Alabama Clay eagle statue thing and my diploma frame. Other gifts were equally as exciting, as we had the funds to buy a nice washer and dryer, the dresser and night stands I have been pining over, and some other cool stuff. Yay for graduation!

The following week I was able to go with Wes to Nashville for a couple of days of writing for the next record. It was a fun little trip. The rest of May was spent jetting around with Wes and the Fools. It was been an awesome, luxurious blessing to be able to take the time and do this. I'm so thankful that the Lord is letting us squeak by financially this summer and have this opportunity. It's been most awesome getting to see Wes. I think I've seen him more in the last month or two than I have in a long time. What a fun blessing! He is definitely my best friend.

And that brings us to....

June:

How in the world can June be over so fast?!!! Someone please press the slow-motion button!! June brought two camps with the band and about almost two weeks off. We also got to spend a few days in Orange Beach before a show. I definitely got fried extra bad. It took about a week before I could sit down comfortably!

We are about as settled into our house as we are going to be at the moment. It has been soo nice to have our own home. We've really enjoyed having company over all the time. Today we worked hard getting the van and trailer cleaned up. It's been a long hot afternoon! And it'll be a long night. We've both got a lot to do before leaving tomorrow morning! It's fun being young!

OH!! I totally forgot to mention! We have two precious additions to our little family! (Animals, that is!) Meet Gilgamesh and Gargamel, our beloved cats! We have really enjoyed playing with them.

I need to go now, my love brought me dinner and there are many chores to get to!

A few last minute things:

Pray for my Dad's health. He has had peritonitis twice in six weeks. (Read- not good and painful for him) He just got home from the hospital today so pray that he continues to get better.

Pray for the band, and consider donating to their bus fund. (Check their myspace: www.myspace.com/rushoffools ) This would enable them to rest better on the road, be safer, and have the wives out more. Also, pray that God continues to open up new opportunities. God is a great Visionary!

Pray for me. I am looking to find a job for the Fall. I have one possibility that I am interested in. Pray for courage, because for some reason getting a real job terrifies me. And also pray that I will accept the right opportunity.

Thanks friends! Hopefully next time it won't be so long!

I missed February! oops!

2009-03-05T08:27:00.002-06:00

I keep running behind on these blogs. I would update you on February except that it went by so fast I can't really remember what I did! The good news is, I did get to catch several Rush of Fools shows. They have officially started the Wonder of the World tour, and let me tell you, it's something you don't want to miss!

As some of you probably know, Wes and I have been playing musical cars. We have had the blue camaro up for sale for a while and not really had much response. On Tuesday night, Wes had just got in from being in Bham house hunting and his phone rings. (It's like 10:30.) I had just gotten in the shower but Wes came and told me that he just had a call from a girl who said that the camaro was her dream car and she wanted to buy it immediately. She also wanted to see it immediately and she was standing outside of our apartment. (Crazy I know!) So, Wes went out to meet her to show her the car. I came out a few minutes later to see what was going on. This girl and her friend were out there checking out the car. Wes kept trying to explain stuff to her about the car but it didn't mean anything to her, she just wanted the car lol. So they agreed to meet Wednesday morning to finish the deal. I was in class, but Wes went with the girl and her boyfriend on a test drive. I got a text message from him that said he was scared for his life lol. I think Wes said that was the first time he had ever been in the backseat of the car and she was driving crazy. Wes rode with them to the bank to get her money and they all came back to the apartment with this huge wad of cash. I felt like we were making a drug deal or something! lol I've never seen so much cash! When they left, our house smelled like incense for about 30 minutes lol. So, the blue camaro is officially sold! It's good because now we can work more with the new fastback. I will miss the car though. I was always drawing attention when I drove it. It's fun to have folks yelling at you, "That's a nice car!" :-)

In other news, we are still house hunting! Wes checked out a few this week that I will be going to check out this weekend. We are almost done with all the mortgage paperwork, so then the hard part will be having to decide which house. I asked our apartment complex yesterday if there was anyway we could get out of our lease early and then didn't shoot me down, so that was promising. We will keep you posted on any upcoming developments in this story. (Hopefully, when we get a house we can also get a little Gilgamesh! (a kitten) )

This Saturday day I will be running in another 5K. Ali, Malerie, and Lacey will be joining so it should be great fun. (except that I haven't run all week lol)

There is one more week until Spring Break!!! wooooo! Aaron, Hayley and Matthew are taking me with them skiing. I'm really looking forward to it! We should have a great time!

This was a really random blog, but it's time for me to go get ready.

I'll leave you with this final thought, It's 2 months and 4 days until Graduation!!!!!!

January is at a close....oh my!

2009-01-31T13:03:00.011-06:00

I really can't believe that this month is over. I really can't remember what I've done all month! So I think I will start with Christmas.

This was the First Christmas for Wes and me. Since we weren't going to be at our apartment for Christmas we opted to go ahead and open our presents to each other before we left. We were so excited! lol We had a great time exchanging gifts. Wes spoiled me and bought almost everything on my list. I on the other hand, stuck to the plan we had agreed upon and bought a few things that Wes had wanted. Needless to say, by the time that we got done I felt like the present count was like 5:1 with me having the greater number! See if I stick to the rules next year... ;-) I'm thankful I have such a sweet husband.

We made it to Montgomery the day before Christmas Eve. Since we did Thanksgiving with my family we opted to stay with Wes's parents for the Christmas holidays. I'm thankful that both of our parents live in the same town as it makes it much easier to see everyone! On the 23rd, we went to Wes's Aunt Laura's house for a Christmas get together and MawMaw's birthday. We played dirty santa with everyone and had a great time even though no one really played "dirty"! We left feeling really blessed. We dropped by my parent's house afterward to say hello. We got to see their new Christmas present (a flat screen tv), and it was really nice!!

Christmas Eve took us to Wes's Aunt Jane's house. We played dirty santa there too and everyone stole gifts a little bit more than the night before! It was really fun. Afterwards, we went to my parent's house again. My family always does a Christmas Eve get together. It's my favorite part of holiday fun! We got there as everyone was digging into their plates and we, of course, ate again! We drew names for the extended family and did our gift exchange. My little cousin Mason played "Santa" and was too cute demanding that everyone open their present. My gift to Mason ended up being a dud haha, his new "best friend" Matthew got him a super cool basketball thing. lol I vowed to top it next year!! :-) We had a great time.

Christmas morning was at the Willis house. Wes and Cody were jealous because Mrs. Lisa and MawMaw spoiled me with gifts. (No one's used to having a girl in that family!) Laura and Don came over for gravy and biscuits, and terrible pictures were taken of me in my night gown and glasses. haha (And no those won't be posted here!) We went back to my house for Christmas lunch, and lunch, and lunch! Then we spent some quality time watching the Duggar family on the new TV proposing to his fiance. It was a little to creepy! We decided to go see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button together. It was fun except for the eight million people who had to get up and trip over Matt and I's feet on the way to the bathroom. (WES!!!) I'm mean seriously people...I had to go too, but lets hold it!

Phew! I think that got us through the Christmas festivities! It sounds kinda hectic, but we really had a great time with everyone. I'm glad that we could get to see everyone and spend time together. (Oh, and Wes and I opened MORE presents at my house Christmas morning. We had drawn names with everyone, but we also did stockings. Needless to say, after four days of opening presents we were more than blessed. Everyone did too much!!! We are so thankful for everything!)

Next, Wes and I were off to Gatlinburg, TN. Rush of Fools was playing for a huge youth conference called Extreme. All the girls got to go along and we all had a blast. I desperately wanted to go horseback riding so Wes, Kevin, Malerie and I ended up going one morning. It was a blast! It was Wes's first time riding and he had a stubborn horse named Gunsmoke...you should hear the hilarious story about that!!

We finally made it back home to Auburn after New Years. But it wasn't for long! Wes found his dream car (a '65 ford mustang fastback) in North Carolina for a great price. We ended up driving an 18 hour trip to go get it and brought it back to Montgomery. We are excited about how it will turn out. Wes is dying to drive it, but it does need some work before we will be at that point. If anyone should want to donate to Wes's car fund, let me know!! :-)

I started back at school for my last semester (EVER!!). I am only taking four classes: Marketing Strategy, Strategic Management, Organic Gardening, and Personal Finance. As you can see, only two of those are actual classes, and the other two are basically cake classes! I've done my credit check with my advisor so I am cleared for graduation. I found out that if I can make it out with 2 A's and 2 B's, I will graduate cum laude!! That's pretty exciting for me considering I wasn't really trying for it! So hopefully I can accomplish that, but even if I don't, I graduate in less than 59 days!!!!! I just ordered my cap and gown and graduation announcements and I am starting to get really excited (and nervous!).

The future is still kinda of up in the air! We have to be out of our apartment by May 31st, but don't have a place lined up yet. More details on that coming soon! Also, we are trying to decide whether I should start a job or take the opportunity to travel with Wes for a little while. Your prayers on these things would be greatly appreciated!!

We just got back from a Music Boat Cruise with Rush of Fools. It was doubly nice because we were able to go at no cost to us, the guys just had to play 3 times. This was my first cruise and I think Wes's 3rd or 4th. The band played really well each time and were really well received. We ate too much, had a ton of ice cream cones, and had a lot of fun, even if it was a little too cool to get much sun. It was nice to have a little vacation. The RoF girls had the opportunity to meet with Aimee Powell, (Mac Powell from Third Day's wife), about the life of a band wife. It was really encouraging to be able to hear someone's story who has been doing this whole thing for a longer time. She was really sweet to talk to us and answer our questions while she too was on vacation with her family! I think us girls felt like we gained a bit more perspective and expectations for the lifestyle that we continue to lead alongside our awesome guys.

Fools on the boat!

Cold Fools in the water!

Wes and the band are about to kickstart their first headlining tour here in a couple weeks. Make sure you check out their new website (www.rushoffools.com) and myspace (www.myspace.com/rushoffools) to see when they will be near an area near you. They still need your support, so get out there and see a show! (And bring your 10 friends with you!!)

I think this is all for now. That's pretty much caught up with everything in our lives and I am really tired of typing and my explosion of laundry is calling! (RUN-ON!)

Chelle

Christmas is almost here?!

2008-12-11T17:58:00.010-06:00

Where to start? My birthday was a lot of fun! Wes took me to lunch at Laredo's, our favorite mexican place. We ended up going bowling, per my request. We just bought one game because we didn't know how much bowling we would actually want to do. As I was entering our names, I had a genius idea...keep filling in our names in the place where additional people would be entered and we will get to bowl twice as much! Wes and I were so smug...we thought we were sticking it to "the man". Then, when frame 4 rolled around, it flashed on the screen "Prepaid Limit Near". "The man" got us again. Turns out we weren't so smart! The good news is, I think I actually beat Wes. Shocker, I know. I stink at bowling. After our game, we headed to Red Lobster and ate waaaay to much, but it was delicious. Wes got me a really cute ice cream cake and it was yummy!

So wow! Thanksgiving was here and gone before I knew it. I was really thankful for the short break in school. Wes and I went to Matthew's house in Manchester, TN for most the week. Mom and Dad were there too. It was very fun to be able to spend that much time with Wes (I think that was the most we have seen each other consecutively since our honeymoon...lol) It was also the first time we've gotten to hang out with my family together since the wedding. It was so much fun to stay up late, sleep in a bit, eat a LOT (we are Englands, after all), and play some games. The game Cranium is hilarious. Wes has a perfect Robert Dinero impersonation. (Make him do it for you next time you see him. hehe) We made it back to Montgomery to watch the Auburn and Alabama game, which really wasn't worth watching after all.

After Thanksgiving break, I had one week left of school. It flew by! I turned in my business plan for my entrepreneurship class on Monday. I was glad to be done with it! It was turn in quality, but will still need a bunch of work before it's ready to take to a bank for money to start it. Still, I'm glad that I have that much done....I'll be that much ahead when I get ready to go in business! I'm in the middle of exams right now, I'll take my last one next Tuesday.

Wes has started a Christmas tour with Newsong, Chris Sligh, and Ayeshia Woods. Newsong wrote the "Christmas Shoes" song that always makes you cry. (I'm still not sure why people always want to make you cry at Christmas...shouldn't we be celebrating?!) He left last night to go on the last leg of this tour. He'll be back right before Christmas. Pray for him, he's battling a cold right now. Not much fun when you need your voice to work every night! I went with him to Nashville on Monday and Tuesday. The band had to play for some sales thing at EMI. Wes had a day full of meetings before that. I had a lot of fun tagging along! It's nice to be able to see what goes on in his world. All the people that he works with are super cool and always so nice.

On to the biggest news:
We went yesterday to get our Christmas tree! We were on a roll! We went to Hobby Lobby and Wes picked out the star for the top of the tree. We were looking for stockings and he picked out this really cool one, and I wanted to match his and he found one for me too! They are made out of my favorite silk fabric and are really pretty!

Next, we went to Target in search of some ornaments. We found the great pack of assorted bulbs and such for a pretty good price. We also picked up these cute santas and snowmen, furry trimmed bulbs, and (drumroll please!) a Christmas pickle! Wes thinks its funny that it's not just a pickle, but a Christmas pickle. Seems perfectly right to me! Oh! and I also got a really pretty wreath to put on our door. Next, we went to Home Depot in search for a tree. We found a pretty darn good looking one. We were able to get it and the tree stand for free because we still had gift cards left over from the wedding. That was nice!! And so, even though it was a yucky day, we had accomplished all our errands. The tree went in the back of the '92 camaro and the truck was right between us. lol See the picture below.

We got the tree home and had fun decorating and getting it set up. Here are some pics! So, yay for first Christmases and fun times! Since Wes won't be back till later this month and won't get to enjoy the tree, I told him I'll send him pics of it lol. Anyways....that's enough for now! Until next time! Merry Christmas!!!!!!!

Random Facts

2008-11-05T20:44:00.002-06:00

Here's 6 Random Facts because I saw that I was tagged in this game....I'm supposed to tag 6 people at the bottom, but I'm not sure six people even read this. LOL

Six Random Facts About Me:

1. I talk in a silly voice. A lot. I also sing in my voice. Some people have been heard me, but Wes gets to hear most of it.

2. I'm about to have a college degree and college-sized debt to go with it. The funny thing is, I still don't know what I want to do. Surprise, Surprise.

3. People being "cool" bothers me. Especially when they are doing stupid stuff because they think that it's "cool". If there is something that has been tagged as "cool" I can go ahead and tell you that, chances are, I will be opposed to it.

4. It's now November and I still haven't finished writing my thank you notes from our July wedding. I probably won't be able to finish them until after this semester. Sorry, Mrs. Manners, I'm not very good at etiquette.

5. I find successful people fascinating. You know, the people who knew what they wanted, and have worked and worked to do exactly what they wanted. I guess I'm always amazed because I think about how completely opposite from that I am. I wish I knew what I wanted to be. And if I did know, I would hope that I would be the kind of person that would work to get there.

6. I'm married to an awesome man who I admire very much. He teaches me a lot about what it means to love people like Christ.

Oh, and here's a picture of Wes. He told me the other day that I only posted pictures of me! :-)

Hott stuff! ;-)

stolen pumpkins, Halloween, and the countdown!

2008-11-03T18:46:00.002-06:00

So the beautiful pumpkins that Wes and I carved were stolen last Monday. It was pretty much devastating. To make it worse, it wasn't Halloween night and they stole them in broad daylight. I left to catch the bus about 7:30 Monday morning and got home about 2:00 to find that they were gone. To say that I was upset was an understatement! I'm trying to let it go now...lol

Last Tuesday night, Wes and I decided that we were going to eat at home no matter what! Most of the time we end up going out all the time when he is home which is silly when it means that I actually have someone home to cook for! We decided to make chili. Most of my college days have been spent eating chili out of can so I haven't ever made it homemade. So, of course, I called home to get the recipe. haha! We ended up having some people over and my first attempt at chili was a success! I'll have to make it again sometime soon.

Friday brought Halloween, one of my favorite holidays because of the costume obsession I have. I was pretty last minute in deciding what to be because I really didn't know for sure if I would be doing anything. I decided to dress up as "static cling", an idea that I saw on the movie Penelope. Here's how it turned out:

In other news, my countdown for this semester is on! Today begins the fourth week! Woo Hoo!

Gotta run now, meeting Josh and Ali for double date pizza! oh boy!

Halloween Fun and other updates!

2008-10-23T18:10:00.000-05:00

So, since Wes and I got married in July, I have been meaning to start this blog and keep everyone updated. Well, you can see how that plan has gone! But since I have some new cute pictures to share, I figured now is a good time.

Thanks to everyone who made it to the wedding. We thought everything went beautifully and it was really a special day. If you didn't get to come, here's a picture!

To update you on the recent:
Halloween is my favorite holiday, so of course I insisted on going to the pumpkin patch. Thankfully, Wes' schedule has slowed down some so he has been home more and we got to go together. I found a pumpkin patch close to where we live and we made the trip! It turned out to be more like a yard in front of a church with pumpkins, but it was still fun. We also got robbed when it comes to the price we paid for our pumpkins, but we got to make more memories than we would have if we just went to Kroger to get them! We had a blast carving them the next day and I think they turned out great!

Wes and I also had a bunch of our friends over Monday night. Wes hadn't seen everyone in a long time and it was a blast! I tried to make it into a little party so I made ghoulish cupcakes and punch. We treated everyone to pizza and really overestimated how hungry everyone would be and ended up sending home like three pizzas with our guests! We were really glad everyone could come and think everyone had a great time!

You can check out more of my pictures from the pumpkin patch and our get together here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2277485&l=323c5&id=7020043
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2277483&l=c0f79&id=7020043

Until next time!

Michelle