Young's and Hide and Seek

Just some pictures from the past couple of days...

Feeding the goats at Young's.

More feeding goats.

Driving the tractor.

Every night right before Eric gets home, Grayce hides (usually in the same spot) and then when he comes in the door she makes me pretend like I forgot to pick her up...then he always pretends to be upset that I forgot her. Then she will jump out and surprise him. Well last night she hid a little too early and fell asleep. Too sweet!

My Halloween Decorations Are Up!!!

Okay, I know it is not even October yet, but I LOVE HALLOWEEN!!! Having a kid who's birthday is the day before Halloween makes it even funner!!! So since I am off today I thought I would put up my decorations. Here they are...

Eric's awesome Target find!

Grayce says this is spooky

My cheap Craft 2000 buy ($3.97).

The table cloth is my new favorite Halloween buy.

Close up of the table cloth.

Candle that matches the table cloth.

Sign for the front door.

Spider candle holder.

My mums...I love mums!

Last night we went to my mom and dad's house for dinner and we went back to feed the neighbor's horses. I stole an idea from Beth's Blog, and took pictures of the horses and turned them black and white and hung them in the kitchen (you can see the big idea in the picture above of the kitchen table).

Feeding the horses.

Picture of the horses.

Another horse picture.

One more.

And this was just funny. This random cat was sitting on top of my parents water fall drinking the water.

Top of the World

I was listening to the Dixie Chicks on my way home from work today and the disk came to the Top of the World song. This has always been one of my all time favorite Dixie Chicks songs, but it got me thinking about the video. It is one of my all time favorite videos. I tear up every time I see it. So I looked it up online and found it on You Tube, so I thought I would share it here for those who have not seen it. I know that the Chicks are somewhat controversial, but in my opinion they are one of the most talented groups ever. Even if you don't like them for political reasons, if you put the political-ness aside there is no denying their talent in writing some great, meaningful music. Lullaby from their latest CD Taking the Long Way is my Grayce song. It is so beautiful! Anywho...here is the Top of the World Video...

Favorite Foto Friday...The "Silly Smiles" Edition

Yippy! It is Favorite Foto Friday! Today's theme is Silly Smiles. I forgot my disk at home that has a lot of my pictures on it, but here are the ones that I found on my computer.

The I'm so faking it smile...

The it wasn't me smile...

The chubby cheeks, no teeth smile...

The if you take my picture one more time I am going to scream smile...

The this is the best your gonna get smile...

The HOLY COW this slide is fast smile...

I tried this recipe last night that I got from Beth's Blog for apple sauce and it was so yummy I had to share.

• 10 apples peeled, cored, and sliced (I used Gala)
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1/2 cup of water

Mix everything together in a crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours, or high for 4 hours. Drain, then smash.

So easy and so yummy!!!

15 MORE DAYS!!!

OMG!!! I cannot believe we leave for vacation in 15 days!!! Right now that feels like 15 too many. LOL! I am so ready for this vacation it is not even funny! For some reason I am more excited about this vacation than I have been in years past...which makes no sense since we go to the same place every year. I think it may be because EVERYONE is going. My mom, dad, MaRose, Hallie, O, Linda, Tim, Jeff, Melanie, Kayla, Jon, Terry, Ralph (and maybe their grandson Landon...which will be great for G), Grayce, Josh, Eric, and I. WOW that is a lot of people. Good thing we have a big house. It is going to be so much fun! This two weeks is just going to drag though. It always does. But hey at least it is only two weeks...we booked the house in February so we have been counting down for a LONG time!

Things are getting back to normal at the house. We got all of the laundry caught up. Although, it needs to be done again. The food is slowly starting to add back up in the fridge. My mom was so nice and went and bought us a bunch of condiments which really helped. I am glad we were able to save the freezer stuff, because that would have been horrible to have to get rid of all of that meat. The lights flickered (for some odd reason) last night and Eric and I just laughed because we both keep saying that we feel like it is just too good to be true. He said last night that if it goes out again we are not waiting to see if it comes back on. He said we are packing up the fridge and heading back to my folks' house. I don't blame him at all for feeling that way. We are very lucky though to have our power back on. There are still about 4,300 (last I heard) people without. Hopefully it will not be much longer for those people.

Grayce's birthday is coming up in a little over a month, and we still need to get her party scheduled. She wants to have it at the bowling alley. One of her little friends from school had his there and they all had a great time. I think it is actually a pretty good deal too. $45 (for 10 kids) gets two lanes, all shoe rentals, pizza, drinks, and a special treat for the birthday kiddo. Compared to other places I have looked in to, they are the best. The movie theatre and Young's were both going to be around $150-$175 for ten kids.

She has decided for Halloween she wants to be Snow White. Her teacher from school is going to bring her little boy (who is also in her class) over to trick or treat at my mom and dads (nice place to go) so that should be really fun!

With all that has been going on this week and having to catch up on house work I have not really taken any new pics. But since G has dance class tonight I thought I would post the video of her recital from last year.

Tomorrow is Favorite Foto Friday, so more pics tomorrow...PROMISE!!!

WOW!...

...that is all I can really say right now. That really sums up my last week. Yesterday I had a small melt down...not a bad one though a really good one. I was so emotionally and physically drained yesterday that the second my head hit the pillow last night I was OUT! No kidding...I don't even remember laying down. So many things have happened this week. Things that contributed to my emotional melt down would be...

• Not being home for a week. I am so grateful for everything that my mom and dad did for us last week. I was talking to a lady I work with about how we are both so close with our families that we don't even have to call in times of need. We can just show up and know that they are there to support us. It was very comforting knowing that. Many people don't have that, and I am so thankful and so blessed to have such a close family. They showed us AMAZING hospitality. They cooked us some wonderful meals (best Halibut I have ever had!), provided us with beds, warm showers, and a place to wash our clothes. As much as we appreciate all that they did for us, it is still good to finally be home. I guess it is kind of like being on vacation...you love being there, but it is always nice to be back at home in your own bed when you get there.


• Friday night I stubbed my toe really bad...not sure if I broke it at that point or if it was the stress of standing on it all day Saturday that finished it off. It is definitely broken now though. You can tell by just looking at it. Last night it hurt so bad I could barely walk. Today it still hurts really bad, but I am just kind of getting used to it. I have tried to stay off of it as much as possible today, but it was kind of hard since today was really our first day back home and there was so much that needed to be done.


• The reason for being on my feet all day yesterday...The USAF Marathon. This was my first year working the marathon and honestly I was not AT ALL prepared for the way it would effect me. Being on my feet all day and dealing with the sore toe was nothing compared to what it did to me emotionally. Honestly, I kind of felt stupid for getting so emotional...I didn't at the actual marathon but the second I walked into my mom and dads to pick up Grayce I sat down on the couch and just bawled for a good half hour. It was so amazing and so inspiring. I witnessed so many amazing things yesterday. I saw an at least 80 year old man (who didn't even look like he should have been standing let alone doing a marathon) cross the finish line. His poor wife had been standing waiting at our table (information table) for at least an hour worried sick about him . When she saw him cross the line she gave him the biggest hug ever. The amazing thing though...he finished a good three hours ahead of TONS of people. I had to shake his hand because it was so amazing. I also got to see a man who had a broken bone in his foot finish his 50th marathon...one in each of the 50 states. Now I have a broken toe, and can barely walk from the couch to my bedroom...I cannot imagine running 26 plus miles. Then there was the guy who was coming up to the finish line and grabbed his two young kids and held their hands and finished the race with his kids by his side. Talk about tugging at your heart strings. I have no idea how I held back the tears on that one (I teared up MANY times...these times listed as well as many others). Then there was the mom who finished and ran into the arms of her husband and two young boys and they all cried tears of happiness because they were so proud of her. So those were the good things that got me emotional. There were many not so good too...all ended well though so they ended up turning into good reasons. First, a little boy named Jacob got lost from his family and was sitting with me for a good half hour. I tried his moms cell phone many times but no answer (music was SO LOUD she probably never heard it). We paged her over the loud speakers...must not have heard that either. He was so upset. He couldn't have been much older than 7. All I could do was put myself in his mothers shoes and imagine what she must be going through looking for him. She did finally show up. Then there were all of the injuries. I knew there would be injuries, but not to that magnitude and for sure not to that severity. I expected maybe the sprained ankle and the occasional dehydrated runner, but was not at all prepared to see people drop like flies around me after they finished running. They would be walking just fine and the next second they were passed out on the ground. One man was so dehydrated that he was delirious. I have never seen anyone so out of it...he had no idea where he was or what his name was. When they tried to stand him up he fell forward, and would have hit the ground had there not been two medics there to catch him. It was CRAZY! They had to end up IVing him. Then there was the man who stood at our booth for three hours looking for his 15 year old daughter who was running the 10K. I ran back and forth from my booth to the medical booth at least a dozen times checking to see if she had been taken there. One time I was told that she was taken to Children's Medical Center with her mother. Well the man called his wife and she was at home...not his Megan. Finally after three hours she showed up. She had taken a wrong turn and ended up doing the FULL MARATHON!!! How crazy that was. She and her dad were both so proud of that accomplishment. He was so relieved that she was alright though. Those are the few things that happened yesterday that have stuck in my head. I can close my eyes and see each scene replay in my mind they impacted me that much. I have never been so inspired! EVER! It was amazing. I have decided that I am going to do the Flying Pig Marathon...not the full marathon but the 10K. I would LOVE to be able to do the full, but I am being realistic and starting with the 10K. Maybe, hopefully I can work my way up each year and eventually one day do the full. It is not until May 3rd of 2009, so I have 223 days to get my butt in shape. A broken toe kind of makes it hard to start working on that right away, but I will do it. I want to feel that feeling of accomplishment when I cross that finish line. Hopefully Eric will do it with me...he says he will. I think it would be a great adventure for us. I got the "Pig In Training" shirt, so I have to do it now! All in all I would say that this experience was a GREAT ONE! One that I am so glad I was a part of and I will continue being a part of (either by working it or volunteering for years to come).


• Grayce is sick. She sounds HORRIBLE! Bad Cough, wheezing, congested. AWFUL! Her cough sounds like a dog barking. I just set up the Vick's vaporizer in her room a little bit ago so that it would hopefully help her tonight. If she is not better tomorrow I am going to take her into the doctor.

Wow! So this ended up being a really long post. I had so much to say. I will end with a few pictures of Grayce to make up for the lack thereof from last week. All were taken last week.

Being silly in mom's glasses.

Dance class.

Dance class.

Playing with her homemade play-dough that we made.

Making cakes with play-dough.

Closing feeling...inspired!

HOME SWEET HOME!!!

We are home and with power. I have tons to blog about but have to take care of the things that have been neglected at the house since we have not been here in a while. I will post soon. Thanks for all of the prayers and thoughts for us...they mean the world to us!

Favorite Foto Friday...The "HOPE" Edition

This weeks Favorite Foto Friday theme is HOPE. Right now, this is what I hope for:

No, really in all seriousness our problems are so small when it comes to the big picture. There are people out there with much bigger issues than not having power. It could be much worse.

Things that give me HOPE or that I HOPE for:

1. The inspiration for the "HOPE" theme. Jacob, gives me HOPE. I have followed this story for a very long time now, and this family has NEVER given up HOPE. They are truly an inspiration!
2. Jenny Scott gives me HOPE. The organization that she developed after losing her daughter has done AMAZING things. I have never met her, but there should be A LOT more people out there like her...people willing to help others.
3. I HOPE that one day there is a cure for cancer, so that families do not have to go through what the Duckworth's and the Scott's have gone through.
4. I HOPE that our troops come home safely!
5. I HOPE that every person who was effected by Ike (and any other natural disasters) are safe and healthy.

Putting things in perspective...things could be much worse. Us not having power is nothing compared to what others have gone through. We are very blessed!

STILL...NO POWER!!!

UGH...I hate DP&L!!! That is all I have to say.

NO POWER!

So we have not had power since 3:00PM Sunday. Thanks Ike! Who in the world would have thought that a hurricane that hit in Texas could have such a huge (not nearly as huge as in Texas though) impact in Ohio??? There are still over 200,000 people in our area without power and they are saying it could be days until it is restored. There are still traffic lights out in our town, so I am guessing we are no where near getting our power back since those traffic lights are probably more important to them (which is understandable...but still sucks). There is a huge shortage on ice and gas. Since there is no power there is no way to pump the gas into the stations, which has made the stations that do have power run out of gas because everyone is freaking out. With no power there is no way to cool the fridge/freezers, so ice is in high demand. I actually just saw on the news that people are selling ice on the side of the highways for $5.00 per bag...I hope they are kidding. $5.00 for ice!!! What happened to the mentality of help thy neighbor??? We will have to replace everything in our fridge. I did save the meat from the freezer by taking it to my mom and dads...who are lucky enough to have had their power restored Monday morning. We stayed there last night and it looks like we will most likely do the same tonight. You never know how much electric means to you until you don't have it. Our house is going to start to stink soon from the food in the fridge spoiling. I think I may go over there after work and trash it all to avoid that. I am at work now, which is the only reason I am able to post. I am a little frazzled since the cost of having to replace our entire food supply (fridge wise that is) was not in the monthly budget. We leave for vacation in three weeks (THANK GOD!) and I think that is the only thing keeping me sane...having that to look forward to. We won't have as much money to spend while down there now, but oh well...I just want to be on the beach. NOW!

No pictures for today. Gotta get ready to close up here at work so I don't have time. :0(

GO BUCKS!

Go Bucks! Beat USC!!!

Favorite Foto Friday-The "Pick Your Own Theme" Edition

Yippy! It is Favorite Foto Friday! This weeks theme was to pick your own theme. I am picking Favorite Vacation Pictures as my theme. Now since we go to the same place every year (Outer Banks) this could also be classified as Favorite Beach Pictures as well. I had a REALLY hard time picking just a few, so this is going to be a long one! Here we go...

Building sand castles...her favorite thing to do at the beach.

Looking at the ocean with amazement.

Looking for sea shells with Papaw and Johnathan.

Beach walk with Papaw.

Super Model Pose.

More sand castles.

Wanting to be just like mom.

Going swimming with daddy.

The beach can wear a girl out.

Not a picture of G, but the hardest puzzle I have ever done. It took us the entire week we were there to complete it.

Searching for sea shells with aunt Hallie.

Is there anything better than having your birthday at the beach? She picked her theme...hula girl.

Opening presents for her birthday.

The family.

Remembering...

This is one of those days that I will always remember exactly where I was and what I was doing. There are not many (if any) that I can really say that for. I will never for get the first time I heard what happened...I was driving to work and kept switching through the radio stations and kept wondering why no one was playing any music. I finally stopped to listen to what they were all talking about and remember thinking, OMG, what is happening? I will never forget the fear I had when they were trying to decide if my mom was considered "mission essential" and were trying to determine if she could indeed come home, or would have to stay at work. I didn't want my mom or dad anywhere near the base (they both work there). My dad got to leave right away, but my mom had to wait around for a while. Finally she was able to come home. I was glad to know where my family was and that they were all safe. My heart breaks every time I see pictures from the 9/11 attacks. I was looking through a slide show a little while ago, and still cannot believe the magnitude of what happened that day. I don't think I will ever be able to wrap my mind around it. I feel for every family that was and still is effected by the thoughtless acts that were committed that day. Working at the base now kind of makes what happened stay in your mind always. There are families all around me on a daily basis who are still dealing with the aftermath. Lawson's (Grayce's good friend) dad will go on his second deployment in November (or maybe it is October) and just talking to her mom and seeing what she and her kids go through when he is gone is just heartbreaking. I honestly don't know how families do it. I feel so much for the families who have loved ones deployed. I cannot even imagine what they must go through on a daily basis. I have only known one person (personally) who has been deployed and that was one of my mom's best friends. I remember being so thankful every time my mom got an email from her and just knowing she was alright. There are so many families out there right this very second who are waiting on an email or a phone call from a loved one just to know that they are alright...just to hear their voice. Thinking about families having to live day to day like that is horrible. I pray for each and every person who is and was effected by 9/11. In honor of today I will post some pictures of Grayce in red, white, and blue.

One thing I will say though, is that I was SHOCKED when I dropped Grayce off at school this morning (here on base) and she was the ONLY kid in red, white, and blue (I of course forgot my adapter for my camera so can't post her picture from today that I took). Out of respect and in honor of all of the lives lost she will ALWAYS wear her red, white, and blue on this day, and it makes me very proud that she is so proud to do so.

God Bless America!