T- Minus 31 Days and Counting

Until we board this ship bound for the Bahamas ------->


It has been a very stressful year for our household, work's been crazy and Chris and I thought with our upcoming 4th Anniversary that we needed some time away, just the 2 of us! We met a couple while we were honeymooning in Jamaica that we had a blast with and they are going with us. Chris and I are beyond excited (though we are DREADING leaving Anna-Grace for a whole week). Stay tuned for pictures from Paradise, and be sure to pray out boat doesn't sink and we don't get attacked by Pirates!! LOL

Jackson's Shower!

Today was a day to shower Amanda and spoil my Godson Jackson! I can't believe it's only a month and a half away! We all can't wait to meet him....Anna-Grace especially, though we keep trying to explain to her he won't be able to play with her as soon as he comes out. I think she may be a little disappointed, but I am sure she will love him just the same!


Amanda got some great presents and I am sure she is at home right now trying to organize it all. Who am I kidding, I bet by now she has almost all of it put away!

Let it Snow 2k10!!

Finally for once this year the Weathermen got it right, and Eastern NC finally got some snow. We tried to let Anna-Grace stay up late last night so she could see it, but we finally gave up and put her to bed....of course right after she fell asleep the flakes started falling!


THE PICTURE BELOW JUST SHOWS A SMALL HINT OF THE EXCITMENT SHE SHOWED WHEN WE WENT OUTSIDE!!




We woke up EARLY this am (Chris still had to go to work) to a Winter/Ice Wonderland! We played in the snow for a little bit, but it quickly turned to ice/sleet so we came back inside!





It's supposed to start up again around 5pm (just in time for it to get bad again before Chris has to come home from work :-( ) so maybe we will get to play some more!

Introducing "Tiny"

A special visitor from The North Pole arrived at our house right before Thanksgiving. A special Elf from Santa tasked to keep a direct eye on Anna-Grace and report back to him her good and BAD behavior!

We had to give him a name and once we convinced Anna-Grace we didn't need to name him Elfy the Elf (everything like like that right now, she gets a stuffed dog and wants to name him doggy the dog...a stuffed cat....kitty the cat, we're hoping she gets a bit more creative with age)we decided on Tiny! He watches her all day then flies back to The North Pole at night to give Santa the head's up ( I think she frequently moves from the Nice to Naughty list). When he returns he is in a new place in the house. You just never know where he will land next!

Professional Beach Pictures

While we were in Myrtle Beach, we scheduled to have some professional pictures done. Since we have not taken any "family" pictures since Anna-Grace was 2 weeks old I was extremely excited and even more excited when the pictures came back......I couldn't be happier with them. Here's a few of my favorites!

Another Angel Part 2

So this week I was looking forward to blogging about our recent vacation to Myrtle Beach and sharing the AMAZING photos we had taken, intstead I have to post about how Anna-Grace got another Guardian Angel Tuesday evening.

As you all know my Grandmother has not been doing well and my mom tracked me down at the beach to let me know that she was not doing well and she thought it best if I come home. We quickly packed and headed to Fayetteville. We got here around 5:30 and I got to spend an hour and a half with her until she took her final breath. When we got here she was mumbling and groaing like she was trying to tell you something but you just couldn't understand. Finally about 6:45-6:50 she stopped mumbling and got really quiet she lasted till 7:00. I have never watched anyone die and I can imagine in some circumstances it's tough to watch becuase the person suffers so much. Not my Grandma, she just close her eyes and took her last breath. She looked so peaceful and beautiful all at the same time. I would swear she had make-up on. It doesn't make it any easier.....it sucks that she's gone and I hate more than anything that Anna-Grace will never know her like I do. I hate that when Chris and I got married 3 years ago we had 4 Grandparents and now we have 1. But I have to take comfort in the fact that she lived the life she wanted. She spent money when she wanted to, she went where she wanted to go and she loved unconditionally. And she passed away in the comfort of her own home surrounded by her friends and family.

Sorry to go off on a tanget, but I have a lot on my mind, and this was just the less emotional way for me to share it!

Another Angel......

Pa-Pa passed away last night at his home, surrounded by his family. It's a sad time for all of us, but I know Granny is happy to finally have him with her. Chris and I always say that Granny had to have hand picked Anna-Grace so I know with the 2 of them watching over her she's got a great life ahead of her.

Pa-Pa

Chris's Grandfather has not been doing well these past few weeks and my Grandmother is right behind him. It's been hard on me thinking that Anna-Grace is going to grow up never truly knowing what wonderful and amazing people they are and how much they love her. I have to take comfort in the fact that they have gotten to spend more time with her than most Great-Grandparents do and that we will make sure to tell her all the time about them. I was going through the pictures we had of us with Chris's Grandpa and made a little Picture DVD for his dad and Aunt. Just thought I would post it on here too!

Wet N Wild

Chris and I along with our friends Steve and Shannon decided to head for a weekend adventure at the Wet N Wild Water park in Greensboro. We timed it just perfect since we got there right when they opened so we got hit all the good rides before the lines got to long! We got our exercise and had a good time minus the kiddos! The picture up top is of me going down the tallest slide at the park and the one below is of us at dinner.

Day at the beach

Last week was enough to drive me insane work wise. It's just been a crazy couple of weeks for Chris and I both,so when Chris asked me on Thursday night if I wanted all of us to go to the beach Saturday I jumped at the chance for a day of fun and relaxing in the sun.

We woke up to some not so nice rainy weather, but the skies cleared up on our way there and we arrived to a beautiful, sunny day at Atlantic Beach! Chris definitely gets brownie points for that suggestion.

Time with Grandma Leen

Chris and I have had a hard time these past few weeks with my Grandmother and his Grandfather getting worse and worse health wise. My Grandma Leen just keeps getting worse, so Anna-Grace and I battled the horrible storms on Friday and headed home for the night. It was just a quick trip since we had to be back Saturday night, but I did get to spend some quality time with her. Anna-Grace always seems to brighten her day and I know she enjoyed seeing her. Please pray for both of our Grandparents, and us, we all need it.

Still can't believe she's 2!

As usual I am late in updating this, sometimes there just aren't enough hours in the day! Since our last post we have celebrated Anna-Grace's 2nd birthday! It's still hard to believe she's 2! Everyday it's still something new and I swear she gets smarter every minute. Chris and I are going to have to go back to school to be able to keep up with her! We had 3 parties for her...the first one was a small one at our house with just the three of us, the 2nd one was her big one at our house and the last one was at Nana and Papa's! Nana is still getting used to getting around with her new wheelchair so it was just easier for us to go to them this time! I made a slideshow of all the pictures and added in a few randoms from the end of June! Enjoy!

God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy!!

Ok so I know that is not a song by George Strait, but none the less an appropriate title for our evening last night. By some grace of God the rain held off in Raleigh and we had PERFECT weather for our tailgate and concert with Julianne Hough, Blake Shelton and George Strait.


We hung out with tons of old friends and some family and had an awesome time. George Strait sounds in concert just like he does on his CD's. No wonder he's been making records since before I was born! I think my camera said we took 180 pictures last night....So I'll just post a couple!!LOL

OBX Weekend Away!!

A friend of Chris's got married at the Outer Banks this past weekend, and with everything that has been going on lately we really needed to get away. We had not really celebrated our anniversary or even spent much time alone, so we (along with friends Troy and Shawna) headed to the beach for a weekend getaway.



The wedding and the weather was beautiful and it was nice to get away. The hotel we stayed at was inexpensive and right on the beach and I think we will be taking many more trips there, alone and as a family!

Pirate Fest 09

Every year around the middle of Easter ECU does a spring kick-off for their upcoming football season. They have carnival rides and pig cookoffs,fireworks and even a little ECU scrimmage. We took Anna-Grace and Ashlyn last year but once again couldn't do much because they were so little (both of them had just started to crawl).




Boy was this year different. We started off on the carousel and easy pick because Anna-Grace loves the horses, however this year the girls got brave and rode 2 rides on their own. They were a little scared at first but it didn't last long. They rode the whales, the cars....TWICE, and picked ducks.




We then headed over to a grassy area to watch the fireworks which Anna-Grace did not like (they were way to loud for her)she did keep saying that she liked the pretty colors, but I think it's just because she tries to find the positive in things! We all can't wait to take them back again next year!