the BIG 5-0

HE CAN KICK, STRETCH, & KICK! Please click here if you do not know Sally O'Malley from SNL.

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My Dad turned 50 years old this week! He is the best father and role model anyone could ever ask for, and I feel very blessed to have him as my Dad. He and my Mom raised all four of their beautiful children in a God-fearing, Christian, respectful, hospitable, southern, social, and hard working household. I have to say "Thank You" to my dad for raising me to be an independent thinker and do-er. If it were not for him I would have never had the courage or confidence to fly all the way to Indiana to see Sam, which means I would have never met the love of my life. And let's face it, we all know Sam overanalyzes everything so there is no way he was going to make the first move.
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I am really sad that I am missing all of the fun birthday festivities my mom has in store for the weekend. I can't tell y'all much about it right now because some of it may be a surprise, but I will post some pictures once Mom sends them to me. One thing we all love about celebrating Dad and Brandlyn's birthdays is that we always celebrate on GAME DAY! Tailgating all day with friends and family is how the Bennetts like to do things and we always do it big!
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Dad, I hope the Hogs bring in a BIG WIN for your birthday!

I love you and wish we could be there to celebrate. Here are a couple of my favorite photos from past birthday celebrations. Stay tuned for more pictures from Dad's birthday weekend...

She's the Birthday Girl

My sister, Brandlyn (above, middle) just turned 27 years old last week. I cannot believe how quickly time has flown by these past few years. I feel like it was only yesterday when she was shoving food into my 2 year old mouth because I was too young to tell my mother I was hungry!? Yep, my big sister has been watching out for me since birth!

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All jokes aside though she really is the best big sister a girl could ask for. The word "big" is ironic because she is actually smaller than me. Three kids later and the woman looks like she works out for hours every day. I assure you she does not! She hates exercise. Yes, I am jealous. Pictured below are my two beautiful sisters, Brittany (left) and Brandlyn (right).Brandlyn is married to a very wonderful man, Chris, and they have three beautiful children, Hunter, Aspen, and Elli. They also just moved into a new house! She stays so busy being an office manager at my Dad's office, APMR, but somehow has the time and energy to juggle everything else in her life. The thing I admire most about her is her selflessness. She does so much for the people she loves and she expects little to nothing in return. She gives 110% to everything and everyone. She also makes people feel special. Somehow she has a sixth sense and can tell if I am having one of those days or if just need someone to talk to. Mind you those days are very rare, but when they come I swear she just calls me out of the blue to talk and it always makes my day...no, my week! I am very lucky to have her as my sister and one of my best friends.

I Thee Wed...Again!

I like to believe that most people have a wedding checklist of all the things you have to do, should do, need to do, and maybe want to do. They do not miss a detail in those checklists in Bride's Magazine. My super MOH, Kendall Jones, made me an amazingly organized wedding binder full of checklists, photos, ideas, and tips just for my wedding. Not only did I have an organized color-coded & tabbed binder, but she also sent me her Guest List Excel Spreadsheet. This spreadsheet, ladies and gentlemen, was no ordinary spreadsheet! It was like GOLD! She had a tab for every shower, dinner, and luncheon, as well as the rehearsal dinner and the wedding. On each list was the following: invited guest(s) name, whether or not they were attending, how many attended, their address, and the gift they gave her. WOW! I mean she basically did all the hard parts for me, and all I had to do is fill in the binder and spreadsheets.

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So back to my checklists. IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT YOU AND YOUR FIANCE OBTAIN A MARRIAGE LICENSE BEFORE YOUR WEDDING. THE CHURCH DOES NOT/CANNOT DO IT FOR YOU. You are probably saying to yourself, "Duh, that's common knowledge!" Well yours truly did not know she had to get a marriage license. Luckily I found out around 6pm the night of my wedding...ha. There was no need to freak out about it because Rev. Hampton assured us that the most important thing was to be married in God's eyes, not the state of Arkansas. Of course I questioned all my bridesmaids as well as the MOB and MOG. They all knew about this crazy marriage license thing. Even the girls who were not married knew. Now keep in mind that I've been in a few weddings in the past year and I never ever ever heard one of them talk about getting a marriage license.

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Even without a marriage license Sam and I became Mr. and Mrs. Sam Sackett on August 15, 2009. So I thought. Apparently "legal documents" (ie; marriage licenses) cannot be backdated. We found out about this upon our arrival in Little Rock late Sunday night after our honeymoon. First thing Monday morning we had to go to the court house to get a marriage license. This tedious little document makes your marriage legal. Then we had to go back to Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church where Rev. Hampton re-married us, literally! I have the photos to prove I am not making this up. Back to the court house afterward to get the gold stamp and make this official. So I like to think of this day as just renewing our vows after 9 days of marriage. Mom was there to witness this blessed and 100% legal event and everyone at the church (and probably everyone reading this) got a good laugh out of it.It was one of the funniest learning experiences I've ever had. I hope everyone has learned a valuable lesson today.

Honeymoonin' Part 2: Land & Sea in Soufriere

Sam and I wanted to relax on our honeymoon. My kind of relaxing does not involve scheduling excursions every hour of every day. It does not usually involve purchasing "gear" either. We compromised (obviously) and chose to go on two excursions. The first was snorkeling. It was awesome! We bought an underwater camera, but I have not developed the pictures yet so those will have to wait.
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Now onto the land and sea cruise in Soufriere (pronouced Soo-free). Say it like you're callin' the Hogs: "Woo Pig Sooie". Okay, now say "Woo Pig Soo-free". Got it?*

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*Disclaimer: If you are not a born 'n raised Razorback, feel free to give it another try. Practice makes perfect!

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It was a land and sea cruise and probably the coolest thing I've ever experienced! We took a catamaran cruise along the west coast to Soufriere. Sam and I have ever been on a catamaran so we didn't really know what to expect. Catamarans have two nets on each side of the boat just above the water and we got to sit there! Ebony & Ivory

Texaco gave us a warm welcome. Soufriere is a historic town which is known for its beautiful Pitons (Gros Piton & Petit Piton), volcanic plugs which were formed 200K-300K years ago. They were absolutely breathtaking. I've never seen anything so beautiful. The closest thing I can compare the Pitons to are the Hawaiian islands, but I don't even think that does it justice. Once we arrived in Soufriere we got off the catamaran and into a bus to do the land part of the tour. I snapped a few photos of the locals while we were en route. They sell fruit right off the street...literally! Our first stop on land was Sulfur Springs, an active drive-in volcano which is known for its very aweful smell. Sulfur = Rotten Egg Smell (remember chemistry?). The busses drove in to a huge 7 mile wide crater of this live volcano. Our tour guide was really funny while also being very informative. He told us we would have no worries if the volcano decided to erupt because we would turned into ash-covered statues almost instantaneously. Since we would be statues, he told us to think about the pose we wanted to be remembered by. I think this one sums me up pretty well... So after the volcano we headed to the Diamond Botannical Gardens. It was shady there and we were all very ready to get out of the sun. The privately owned gardens are said to be the birthplace of Napoleon's wife, Empress Josephine. The gardens were so beautiful, colorful, and alive. I have no clue regarding the names of these flowers. Sam had the camera.

This is a cocoa plant and/or tree. I'm pretty sure this one is Jack's Beanstock. The Diamond Waterfall had no diamonds in it. It didn't even have CZ's!? Our next stop was lunch....finally! We ate caribbean cuisine at a local restaurant. It was delicious. Here are a few pictures from the restaurant... View from our table.After lunch we returned to the catamaran to go snorkeling and then we cruised around Marigot Bay and drank lots of rum punch before heading back to the resort to take a nap. WHAT A DAY!We also saw a pirate ship and Sam was very entertained by this. And lastly, this picture makes me laugh because I should probably be on the show "What Not To Wear". I mean really, Jeni Sackett, what were you thinking?! Too much sun and rum punch I guess.