Isabella!

In June I spent a couple weekends in GA waiting for my newest niece to be born. So there was a lot of quality family time including fun with Isabella.

Isabella was very excited to meet her new sister. She helped take the bag to the car just in case.


Snuggle sleepy time with Gamma

Play time with Granddad!


Isabella told Granddad that she would would catch him at the bottom of the slide. She was so sweet coaching him as came down the slide.


In position ready to catch him!


She said "gotcha"

I love that fun little girl!

Bye First North Carolina House

Back in April we decided to move to downtown Waynesville. 

I was excited to be closer to the small town "action" 

Fall festivals, block parties, quaint bookstores and coffee shops and much much more!

Saying "Bye" to the first North Carolina house was was needed. We only had 2 bedrooms which is not enough space to really be settled. It was was not enough space to host our families like we really wanted to.

This is the guest bedroom at the old house.... Now don't you wish you had come to visit us?

Our fireplace

Probably the last bathroom Charlie would be able to hang this big banner


When I began packing I had BIG help!


This was our bedroom. I loved how cozy it was!

Bye bye country house! time to move on to the BIG CITY! (or small town, whatever you want to call it!)

A simple March post

I'm not a good blogger. 

I am aware of this fact. 

I am O.K. with this.

I actually enjoy that I surprise my 5 readers with random updates and long past due posts. 

**Thank you readers! Can I call you readers if you don't consistently have something to read?**

Anyway back in March Charlie and I went out to Lake Junaluska to read and relax for a bit. 

We got there and set ourselves up and it was FREEZING!!! We needed to wait just one more weekend for warm enough weather for a day by the lake.

I was pretty excited when I realized my book looked like the landscape!

After filling in 3 blocks in a Sudoku we happily packed up and went right back home!

Shopping at the Venetian

Walking through the Shops at The Venetian brought back fond memories of Holland with my sister. They had these living statues all over the place.

Anyways here is Las Vegas' version.

You still have time

So Jason and Lauren I know you only have 2 weeks until the big day but that is still enough time to go to a place like this....

I took this picture just for you Lauren :)

Breakfast in Las Vegas

So I know this is from March but I thought I might try to catch up a bit on blogging... I am guessing the "catching up" will be short lived. Enjoy it while it lasts!

This was my favorite part of the day.... Breakfast that looked like this...

In bed of course! 

Yum! I wouldn't mind another breakfast like this

Less than 2 months

In less than 2 months my brother, Jason, will be married. My friend and buddy from birth.  We are only 14 months apart in age. *side note* I am sure at some point he would and did correct me and say 14 months and 6 days. And he would be right, he always truly is. That was so frustrating growing up!  Anyways...

When we were young, he was my twin. Since we were so close in age we spent early childhood inseparable and about the same size.

I love our relationship and how it has changed over the years. I can remember him always being protective of me even in middle school when he loved to pick on me. No one knows how to get on your last nerve quite like a brother. He would tell his friends when they would try to pick on me that only HE could do that since he was my brother. If they ever took it too far he would be the first to let them know.

I loved that protective brother. 

When I started dating he drove me to the cheating boyfriend's house so I could break up with him and then was happy to be the shoulder I cried on.

His stamp of approval when I met Charlie meant more to me than anything else. He had to approve!

In more recent years I have enjoyed the deep conversations about life and God. I trust his insight and value what he has to say. I love how our relationship and friendship has grown.

2 years ago on my wedding day he was the one who made me break down before the wedding. Still the protective brother standing up for the marriage I was entering into with Charlie. His support was and is incredible.

Wow.

In less than 2 months I have the honor to stand up for the marriage he is entering into with

Lauren. I get to commit to support him and Lauren by standing with them as they vow forever.

Today I received the invitation to their wedding in the mail. I am ecstatic. I love being married and fully believe in it.

When Jason is with Lauren he is so alive.

Congratulations my brother. 

I love you!

My Crop

I am so bad at paying attention to my plants. More so because I left them for over 2 weeks well they still decided to produce. Isn't my little crop cute?
I wish I ate tomatoes plain. Oh well

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We are outside and Charlie is working on his cast with his fly fishing rod.

Cooper does not like the sound of the line in the air. He flinches everytime Charlie casts. The poor puppy is hiding behind the chair.

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Date night

Date night this week was at home. So my wonderful husband bought me roses and wrote a card to make me feel special and it worked!

Thank you Charlie for the flowers and card. I love you
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I wonder why I try

These flat and half burnt cookies come after a dinner that had too much pepper. Sometimes I wonder why I even try to cook.
Charlie sure does put up with me really well. Maybe I will have better luck tomorrow night.
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The birthday bouquet I cut from my yard this morning. I love it. Happy birthday to me.

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Flowers...

I was so thankful to my mom who helped me plan and plant some flowers and garden items in my yard... I have loved watching them grow and produce beautiful flowers and now there are signs of fruit!

Thanks Mom!

Guess what opened on campus this morning? Thanks to a co-worker I have a wonderful monday morning treat!

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Must Read Blog!

I came across "Gather Little by Little" just a couple weeks ago and it has quickly jumped to the top of my "must read" blog list!
If you get a chance go check it out.
You will not be disappointed.

The blog is a Christian Personal Finance blog. Written by the husband of a wonderful couple that Charlie and I met not too long ago here in the Mountains.
He does have a co-writer (Stew) that writes part of the time and is pretty good too.

So go... read!

My Gmail Tells Me the Weather

I just checked my e-mail to find a cloudy day... My Gmail is my favorite E-mail system I have ever used. and I love the fact that it tells me the weather. Recently it has been all cloudy and rainy.
So Gmail if you are listening will you please just lie to me and tell me that it is pretty outside?
On a "Sunny" note I am on call and going to GA this weekend to wait for Reegan's birth! I am so excited and can hardly wait. This will be niece #4... talk about a girl party!

Happy birthday lauren. So glad to have you in the mountains enjoying smoky mountain coffee with me.

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My Easter flowers that smell so wonderful

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Good morning new back yard... The view from my kitchen window

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Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon Day!

This day was the most anticipated of the trip. The drive was once again beautiful.

There are a lot of pictures on this post mostly because I could not narrow them down! Just let me tell you that the pictures do the beauty of this place no justice... you must go and see for yourself.


Early signs of approaching our destination...

Once you turn off of the 4 lane you are on this road and go strait for forever...
Then it becomes a long bumpy dirt road... With more signs of what is to come.

We made it to the Grand Canyon and as we drove up it was on my right. I Could catch just a glimpse of the canyon but could not see to the base. After a moment of looking out the window completely gawking at it I realized I had not blinked and my mouth was half open in amazement. Realizing this I quickly looked and Charlie and gave him a big smile. He thought I was crazy I'm sure.

Charlie refused to let me get close to the edge. He told me I'm accident prone and he didn't want me to fall in. He was taking care of me and I was of course fine with that.

Anyway, as we walked up to the edge for the first time I could not help but think of what a big beautiful and glorious God we serve! The emotions of that moment were incredible. I feel so honored to have a personal relationship with the creator of "The Grand Canyon".

We were on the Hualapai Reservation where they just built the Skywalk. No we did not go on it... Charlie would have been jumping up and down trying to "test the limits" and I would have passed out. But here is the side view of it.
This picture was taken by one of the Hualapai people. They claim the rock formation behind us to the right a little is an eagle. I think it is a stretch but they are all about it.
Charlie may not let me close to the edge but he sure gave me a heart attack multiple times by basically running up to the edge... ah!

One of my favorite self-portraits
They had a small hut that the Hualapai used to live in. This is the view from the window... or hole in the wall. Whatever you want to call it.
Charlie loved how they made the roof...
Wow was the sun bright... I think I was crying after this from eye pain!
Me at the Grand Canyon...
Us again. I didn't get the "take the sunglasses off" memo for this picture.
This would be the time I really wanted him to get down. He was standing on a rock that was on the edge. But WOW what a picture!
I really could have stayed ALL day just like this! (Please note I am sitting probably 2 feet from the edge)




Um.. so There is a helicopter in this picture somewhere... maybe if you click on the picture to make it bigger you can see it. I think it is right in the middle.



On the way out there was a car pulled over all excited and taking pictures... I took one too . Not a wild animal... just grazing their "pasture"
Beautiful! We will definitely go back!