So the other day i got a little gift in the mail! i was soo excited opening up the package and seeing what my cuz MADE for me! check it out…
Its a totally cute make-up bag! Bella thought it needed a model…
Ok, im ready to travel!
Thanks Shal!!
Sorry for the lack of posting last week, with all the rain I kinda didnt want to do anything besides get home and get into a blanket after work…
Anyways… here’s our lovely new desk! so far I am super happy with it. It fits great in the space and holds sooo much stuff!
Things that still need to be changed: Floor lamp, the one we have feels more like a bachlor pad light. Also, the chair. I think I have a thing with chairs. I’ts soo hard for me to find one that I want…and office chairs are soo ugly, freakin expensive too!
I got this wire tray from Staples and then wrapped it with this ribbon from Anthropologie. It was on a gift that Rob got me 2 years ago, I loved it so much and knew I wanted to re-use it somewhere.
This wall calendar I picked up at Target was 10 bucks!
Here are my family pictures. Ya, Rob grew his hair out. And we have kids…
The soliders are pretty happy with the new set-up too…
Up next: Knobs!
My AMAZING friend Keleigh got me an Anthropologie giftcard for my birthday/Christmas. At 8 bucks each I could never justify getting these, so thanks Kel!!
Out with the old, in with the new!
Bella felt the need to inspect my work…
And here they are, in all their glory!
One thing you should know, 2 out of the 6 had loose bolts and would not tighten, when I returned them they only had one left. I had to order the other one. So just be sure you check your bolts before leaving!
PS..still lookin for a chair here too…
She’s not real but she’s a cutie! Carolee got her for my birthday, and she is the keeper of coins….
On another note…We got a new desk!! It was gifted to us by Janet and Keith…here’s the before…
This, as you can see, had no storage and everything was just spread all over the place…
Check back soon for the after…
We hung out with Ray and Kelly for New Years, and this year Rob didn’t pass out at 9:30!
Kelly decided to be the Sheriff of the night. If someone didn’t do what she wanted, they got shot by the marshmallow gun…
she didn’t let the gun down for a second…
of course Ray was the one who had crossed her line…she took him down quick too! If you know Kelly, you know that her aim is far from perfect. But when she tagged Ray it was dead on! I think the pictures can explain where she got him…
the rest of the night was spent drinkin’ and wii-in’
oh ya, and knee hockey…
At midnight we yelled Happy New Year to each other and the neighbors. At 12:10 Kelly and I were asleep on the couch…
Then next morning the guys cooked us up some delicious breakfast….
Hope you had a fun New Year too!
So this year we got another (welcomed) Costco gift card from Robs Aunt Paula and Uncle Ken!
For awhile we thought about getting a wii, and this was a perfect time to do it! We went just to look at them. I didn’t want to bring the gift card but Rob made me. We went to one Costco to see what they offered. Then we went to another Costco to see if they offered anything different, same stuff. We came home and had dinner and talked it over. A couple of hours later we went back to the first Costco and walked out with a Wii system. As excited as we were to get it, we were kinda sad to have spent our gift card so fast! As soon as we got home Rob set it up….
We got the Wii fit and Sports Resort too…
I got right to setting up my character…
then rob did his…
This is Robs Wii age… he enjoyed laughing at the fact that his age was younger than mine. I will NOT be showing you how old it said I am..
Bella is still not too sure why we keep swinging and yelling at the TV..
My dad better watch out! I’m starting to get some mad bow hunting skills!!
Thanks so much to Robs Aunt and Uncle!
This year we went over to Rob’s parents house on Christmas Eve to hang out. We also celebrated my birthday!
Brooke bought some delish cupcakes for us to eat – i had my favorite flavor – PEANUT BUTTER!!
We played Mexican Train and stuffed our faces…
Here’s Brooke’s cat – Kyro. He will climb onto anything..
Robs grandma and I discussed knitting for awhile…
I got some great gifts for my birthday – Thank You everybody!!
Then Christmas morning we woke up at my parents house and opened up gifts with them and my brother and his girlfriend…the morning was laid back and fun…
The dogs loved their toys…Peewee got right to work tearing his open. I think he’s saving some fluff for later…
Mom got Josh some spoons while we were at a CRACKLE BARREL on our road trip..He started bustin out some sweet beats right away
You know when your mom puts too much stuff in your stocking when the toothpaste gets squashed
When we were done we got ready and then headed back over to Robs parents house to do Christmas morning with them…
There was something about this ribbon that attracted Rob and Kelly to it like bugs to a light. Kelly was prob about to enter full daze mode here..
Carolee got Brooke some workout pants and undies. Let’s see what they look like Brooke!
Later we were on our way to Shalimar’s to have fun and get our Bunco on…
She really likes me i promise…
Finally my Pastry Chef of a husband made me a cake for my birthday – it had been like 3 or 4 years since the last one. What flavor you ask? Why PEANUT BUTTER of course!
It was another great Christmas with my family and friends!
oh yea, if you’re wondering who won at Bunco… it wasn’t me, and Wyatt is not allowed to play next year.
Since we left from Nashville pretty late in the day (well after dark) we were headed for a long drive to Ashville, which was our last pit stop. Part of the 40 was shut down and so we had to take some crazy back highway that seemed to never end. I spent most of the time trying to keep my mom awake as it got later and later. once we got to our hotel at 3 IN THE MORNING we were exhausted. It was about 11am when we rolled out of bed and headed into town…
My favorite sign…
The town is so pretty, and its about 4 hours (i think) from Apex.
Sportin his new hat…
We had lunch and wondered around for bit, then headed off to Apex!! It was soo exciting to drive through their little town. When we pulled up the driveway of their house we noticed that there were lights decorating the windows…then when we got inside Aaron was happy to surprise the girls with a Christmas tree an stockings all decorated and filled for Christmas. Some of the church members came over and did this, also they stocked the pantry with a TON of food. It was such a blessing to know that they would be well taken care of!
Here’s a shot of the house the next morning (Saturday)…
Pretty nice huh? You might want to check on the Leeds blog to see if they post any pictures of the inside. But don’t go just yet. I’ve still got a great baby seal story coming up later in this post…
So we slept on some deflating air mattresses in the house because the movers weren’t due for another couple of days. Although mom and I had a little heater come downstairs and sleep with us. Miss Peri warmed us up both Friday and Saturday night by sneaking downstairs and asking if she could sleep with us.. haha
So, back to Saturday. We got ready while Aaron had church meetings, as soon as he got home we were out the door to check out their town…
Food was at the front of our minds and Aaron and Cristy wanted to show us this cool little bakery they had been to when they were out during the interview process for the church…
Then lunch..we ate at Melvin’s, this is where I had the best grilled cheese sandwich I’ve ever had! I think this will be my “Miguels Jr.” of North Carolina.
After lunch Aaron took us over to these abandoned train cars. I thought it would be fun to do a mini shoot. So I had Aaron jump up into one of the cars. As Aaron jumped up I noticed they were a lot higher than I thought they were….
After I shot Aaron I peeked inside the car. It looked SOO rad in there, all I needed to do was jump up inside. I remember standing there with my hands on the side of the car pumping myself up to take a big jump. Well…. The upper half of my body didn’t communicate well with the lower half, and as I jumped up I was immediately bounced off the side of the box car, almost landing flat on the ground. Like any loving, caring brother, Aaron sat there and laughed. At this point Cristy walked up laughing to see if I needed any help..she put her hands out for me to step in and launched me up to the car. What she didn’t know was that I had never done that before. I didn’t know the correct form with which to properly get myself into the car, so I just teetered there with my legs wiggling to try and shove the rest of my body in. They both were dying as I slithered in like a BABY SEAL…
Then it was Miss Perfect, uh I mean, Cristy’s turn. She launched herself up there with a double back flip and neatly landed on her feet. I think was was still laying on the floor at that point.. hahahaaa oh the things I do to entertain my family…
To cap off our Saturday night we headed to…. the mall!
Sunday Morning we went to church and got to enjoy Aaron leading worship and his new Pastor’s message. After church we got some lunch, and then mom and I said our goodbyes to the girls as Aaron and Cristy took us to the airport. The trip couldn’t have gone any smoother, I’m so thankful that we got there and back home safely and on top of that – had a great time!!
As we made our way into Tennessee we were beyond excited to get to our hotel, unload and get out on the town!
Trolleys!!
It was soo freakin cold out!
When we were walking around looking for a good place to eat, Aaron, being the good guy that he his is, ran across the street to help some guys out trying to get a lift up onto a tracker.
Peri needed to pay her respect to the king…
After dinner we went back to our hotel and called it a night. The next morning we got ready to make our way to Nashville..
Good morning sunshine!!!
This backed up traffic for a few miles on the other side….
Nashville!
Off to stretch our legs and explore again..
My new home…
Aaron and Peri skipped their way to the hot chocolate shop…
Once inside, Cristy demands her hot chocolate – STAT!
I got peanut butter hot chocolate, which was delish!
Before we got on with the next big drive, we stopped off at the mall for some retail therapy..
The mall was right next to the Grand Ole Opry. Very cool to see…
Up next…North Carolina!
So we drove through new Mexico and Texas and then finished off the night in Oklahoma City. This drive was a lot longer it seemed, but i think just because it wasn’t as action packed as the night before….
That is, until action found us…
somebody got pulled over!! i was wondering when/if it was gonna happen. We just sat in our car waiting to find out what was gonna happen..
after the cop left we heard Cristy on the radio – turns out the cop was just making sure we weren’t speeding, he questioned Cristy on how fast they were going. She told him and he said “ok” and walked on back. Lucky, lucky!!
It was right around here when Jade decided to put Michael Jackson on. I’m pretty sure she didn’t realize that her Aunt was 1.) going stir crazy in the back seat and, 2.) knew every word to every song and was not gonna hold back while singing and bustin some sick moves. hahhaha it was great! I’d like to thank my yarn needle for being my trusty microphone and not poking me in the eye , and my mom for being my back up singer and dancer.
This is where Aaron decided to jump out and take a picture of the Oklahoma sign. We had driven past it and then pulled off the freeway to back track on foot. I got out to thinking i could jog over there and snap a few too. What felt like 30 min later we were back in the car. My feet were numb from the cold and I was wheezing for like 2 hours after-wards, i am not kidding you. Who knew fresh air sucked that much?? Well maybe that i cant run worth crap had a little to do with it…
At this point I was driving again. Cristy hollered over the radio that they heard there was a hurricane warning for all of Oklahoma…
of course, they were teasing only cuz i was driving…
We called it a night and prepared for the next leg in our trip..
The next morning we found out that our car didn’t want to defrost properly..
so mom put Jade to work scrapping off ice from the INSIDE of the car…
I don’t think there are another pair of dogs that would have done as good as these guys did on a week long car trip. Besides the occasional fart now and then, they were champs!
Had to load up on some Tots…
Jade found out what big league chewing gum was…
up next…Tennessee…
We were out the door at 4:30am on Monday morning. Aaron and girls said goodbye to their beautiful house and took off on a new road.
It was windy and raining for the first few hours…
I think in Aarons head he was saying something like – Dude, totally radical!
I decided to take the second shift of driving – i mean, it stopped raining so it should have been no prob right?? Then i started seeing little white things floating thru the air…ah crap. It was snowing.
Jade was like, “ah snow? Whateve’s – Im watching a movie..”
This is around when i started panicking…Ive never driven in snow before, so it was white knuckles the whole way…
Notice the car on the far left? Not so lucky…We saw a bunch of that…
At the next gas up my mom took over so i could start breathing again….i rested in the back for a while until i saw freaking sun coming thru the windows, what the freak?! why did i have to get all the snow??
We got to New Mexico around 8 or so. I got hit on by the security guard at the hotel while Mom and Cristy sat in their cars laughing with each other on the two-way radios… thanks guys for leavin me hanging on that one!!! We ate a quick dinner and then slept the day off. When we woke up and headed out it was a warm 14 degrees with wind. oh ya – and icy roads. Glad Mom took over that one…
This is Mom’s It’s-Butt-Cold-And-I’m-Wearing-A-Sweatshirt face…
We stopped after a while (still in New Mexico) for some lunch…
Aaron and I jumped out to have a look at this cool old building for sale. If it wasn’t super cold it would have been fun to check it out some more…
I was pretty excited to eat at this place, it had a cool vibe and it was warm inside…
You know what i noticed about Cristy on this trip? She does little dance moves and happy faces when she finds something good to eat…
My excitement went down hill when i got my meal. Green chili – im pretty sure someone ate it before i got it and threw it back up into my bowl.
Jade kept it real by getting hamburgers at almost every meal…
Mom – tryin to summon the invisible swordsman…
Apparently the norm for guys bathrooms…
I’m pretty sure Aaron had his business socks on that day…
Back in the car and on our way thru Texas to Oklahoma City…..
