Nassau, Bahamas

How's This For An Anniversary Gift??

Yes, Ronnie and I spent 4 days, 3 nights on a Cruise to the Bahamas! It was fabulous! It was so fun to have Ronnie all to myself with nowhere to go, nothing I HAD to do and nobody that I had to take anywhere! We found ourselves wandering around not knowing what exactly to do first. There was alot of different activities and games on the ship. We did avoid the gambling and drinking that goes on on the cruise, though. :) So, we woke up at 4am on Friday morning to make our 6:30'ish flight to Miami. By the time we flew to Miami, took a shuttle to the Port, got on the boat around 3:00pm, we were exhausted. (okay, just me. Ronnie was just fine.) Once we got on the ship, we were so lost. You would think that some of those levels would go straight through. Oh no!! Not even! You have to figure out which elevator takes you to which level that will take you to wherever you're trying to go. Not an easy task!! We backtracked so much- going up and down stairs, and up and down elevators. So by the time we unloaded our bags in our room and made it back up to take a look at how beautiful everything was, I forgot my camera! I was way too tired to go get it, and too afraid I'd never find Ronnie again so I missed out on some very beautiful pictures. Anyway, here's a few...

Look at the beautiful blue water! We couldn't get over how gorgeous it was!

Getting off the ship in Nassau

This is the day that the ship did ALOT of rocking- I look ill. :)

This is the first night on the ship. I was sooo exhausted-I forgot to bring the camera up to take pictures in Miami.

Each night if you want to eat in the dining room, you have a dining time and table assignment. So each night you get to eat with the same people and have the same waiter and waitress. Ronnie and I were so lucky to get these three great gals from Tennessee. They were alot of fun to dine with! And it was a breath of fresh air to hear their southern accents!! :)

Our dining group. We had the cutest waiter and waitress. Fang and Hardenow. I can't remember how you spell his name, but they just told us to call him "I don't know" :) They also made it alot fun.

Everybody say... Y -M -C -A!!

Happy 15 years!!

Today is mine and Ronnie's Anniversary!! We have been married for a Very Happy 15 years!! We've got very special plans to celebrate. I'll post all that next week. For now, I'll keep you in suspense. :) Most of you that I talk to often know already... but for the rest, you'll have to wait and see!!
Happy Anniversary, HONEY. I LOVE YOU!!

(Not the best picture in the world... however it 's the only one I have right now!! )

Look What I Can Do!

So Ronnie and the girls picked me up from the airport and we go through the "What's everyone been doing?" questions. Well, Brooke told me that she could ride her bike!! Ronnie put her on the bike on Saturday with no training wheels and she just took off. No falling, no wobbling (too bad), and just away she went. So of course, the first thing she does when we pulled up was jump on her bike to show me what she can do!! She rode down the sidewalk, down the cul-de-sac, back to the house and around again and never fell down... not even once!! I'm so proud of her!! Too bad it's the end of summer and she won't have much time to keep up the practice. Before too long, we'll have snow and those bikes won't see the light of day for a very long time!! :)

I finally (after FOREVER) got Slide to work... My pictures are below~ Enjoy!!

Visit to SC

I had a great visit to South Carolina this past weekend to visit my family. The original plan was that we were having a birthday party for my grandma who turned 89 last Monday. So it ends up that the day before my grandma was admitted into the hospital with congestive heart failure. She is still there, but doing better. So even though grandma wasn't able to go to her own party, we still got together at Pine Island Country Club in Irmo. The weather was 80 degrees and sunny. It was such a gorgeous day!! (When I left Michigan at 59 degrees and freezing!!) Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins that I haven't seen mostly in 12 years were all there. It was so great to see everyone and get reaquainted with each other. I have a great family. I am so blessed to have so many people to love! :) Here are a few pictures from my trip. I tried to get the Slide program to show them, but it wouldn't work for some reason. So here are just a few.

This is my brother, Jeffrey and Jase.

My Sister Lisa, Ricky and Me.

My Sister In Law, Emily and new baby.

These are all my cousins on my dad's side except Gina and Jody.

My family... except Ronnie and the girls.

BET YOU CAN'T EAT JUST ONE...

So these are my yummy boiled peanuts. I finally got around to boiling the last of the 10 pounds that I ordered. I've put most of them in the freezer so I can pull them out anytime I get the 'hankerin' for 'em. I just re-boil for a few minutes, and I'm good to go!! They're like Lay's potato chips... bet you can't eat just one!!
Brandi wants to know why I keep taking pictures of our food. haha

Yum-O-Licious!!

Look what we just ate!! Those apples we got from the Orchard were deee-licious in this apple crisp.

You know you're not in the south anymore when...

Okay, I've lived here in Michigan coming up on 5 1/2 years now. (goodness, it doesn't seem that long). Anyway, I am reminded all the time that I am NOT in the good 'old south. Here's what I mean. I've concocted my own list of what I encounter when I come to the realization that I am far from home.

You Know You're Not in the South Anymore When...

1. ... people are mystified and so curious about grits. These are the questions I get... "What is it?" "What do you eat with it?" "How do you make them?" "Is it like cream of wheat?"
I'm going to have a grits party one day. Hey, just thought of something - we just had grits for dinner tonight. haha They were yummy.

2....I have to order raw peanuts online just so I can boil them myself (because they do not know what those are up here!!). Then you offer them to friends and they say, "A What peanut?" then I answer, " A boiled peanut"... their reply... "Eewww!" Nobody I know from home would ever say that!!

3. ... people think it is so cute that my children say "Yes Ma'am, No Ma'am, Yes Sir and No Sir". Where I come from, it's not cute, you get a spankin if you don't say it!!

4. ... when you go to the grocery store and you talk to the cashier and she asks, "Where are you from?" Most of the time, I just answer "Commerce". haha I know they're so confused. Actually, most of the time I'll let them looked confused before I tell them I'm from South Carolina. Then I get, "Oh, I thought you had an accent." Well, DUH!! I usually tell people that if they think I have an accent, wait til they hear the rest of my relatives. Whew! Most of them sound like Paula Deen. :)

5. ... everyone around you thinks a Bar-B-Q is something you DO (which results in burgers, hotdogs or steak), not something you EAT. :)

Okay, that was fun. If I think of others, I'll add them. But for now those are all the things that comes to mind . Most of those happen ALL THE TIME. I love Michigan, the people here are so sweet and alot of fun. And I love being the southerner that stands out in the crowd of northerners. And if I EVER start talking like a NORTHERNER, somebody shoot me!!!

GO LAKELAND HIGH SCHOOL !!
This is where we were tonight...

Briana's Middle School got to play with the High School band tonight for their Homecoming Game... The middle school is in the green shirts, and high school the white shirts. So first, they played the fight song while the football team ran through at the beginning of the game. Then they played a song at half-time. It was so fun! I haven't been to a high school game since I WAS in high school. Briana said to me tonight exactly what I told Ronnie during the game...

"I never watched the game, I just talked to all my friends. I never knew what was happening, I just cheered when everyone else cheered." That was pretty much the same thing Briana said. Who cares about watching the game when all your friends are there?? Right?? :)

This picture is hard to see, but this is during half time walking out onto the field. She's looking backwards while walking forwards. (she used to be famous for that when she was 2 yrs old.) hahaThe End. We left at half time. So I hope they're winning tonight.

Where Have I Been, You Ask?

I know, you've missed me. lol
I haven't blogged in weeks because I've been so busy around here. Here's what I've been up to--
1. I've been organizing. If you came over to my house and looked around, you wouldn't notice anything obvious. But trust me, I've been busy! I finally went into the basement grabbed boxes and boxes of clothes and went through them- made a Salvation Army pile and a pile that I could give away to friends. I forgot how many cute clothes the girls had! It's almost so sad to give them away, knowing I'll never need them again. But in the same breath, it's a sigh of relief knowing I'll never need them again. :) But I sent out an email to friends in the ward who could use them and I think I've got a home for all the clothes. So I'm glad they're going to people I know who can use them.
2. I also organized our outside freezer. That wasn't too difficult, though.
3. I've been going to the gym to work out. So far, nothing... I still weigh the same. Ughh!!
4. I've gone in to read to Brandi's 3rd grade class. I'm one of the Reading Moms.
5. Driving my kids back and forth from church, gymnastics and dance.
6. Fill in the blank- You know you're getting old when...
Here's how I fill in the blank... You know you're getting old when you have to go to the doctor to see if you have arthritis in your knee!! Thank goodness I don't! But the past week has been miserable. I spent 4 days barely being able to walk around. I've been limping around and whining alot about my knee hurting. My next step is an MRI to see if there's a cyst or torn ligaments. I told the Dr I wasn't ready for an MRI yet and I'll come back when it gets worse. (why do we do that to ourselves?) But now it only hurts a little bit- not alot. That's my reasoning. I want it to hurt really bad before I have an MRI... It just doesn't seem like they'll find anything if it's not really really bad. I know, bad reasoning.
Anyway- so yes, I've been busy. Mainly trying to maintain and keep my house up. I've got many projects written down that I still haven't gotten to. But I've got until June to finish.

Fun at the Orchard

Our favorite fall activity here in Michigan is visiting the apple orchards. There is a great orchard right up the road from us. So last night we went to get some fresh apples and have apple cider and donughts. Yum!!

We didn't do the tractor ride last night- but you can get on the tractor, it will take you to the part of the orchard that you want to pick apples from and drop you off to fill up your bags. We didn't have much time last night, so we just decided we'd do it later.

Ronnie trying to convince the chickens to come eat... didn't work.

They were too 'chicken'

The animals were hilarious last night- we had geese chasing us, making the loudest, weirdest noise they could possibly make. Finally a staff member came and chased them around the farm (that was funny all in itself) and put them behind the fence. Then we had roosters crowing at us, goats chasing the girls beside the fence for more food.

All in all, what a blast!

I always knew my children and husband were animals!!

Here are a few pictures of the girls feeding the animals.

Sorry Briana, I cut off your head. :)
There's her head!

This orchard is fantastic!

All year 'round they have different things that they grow that you can go and either pick yourself or just buy from them. The last 2 years I've gotten their fresh sweet corn, shucked it, put it in the freezer and it lasted us all winter long. Oh my goodness- that corn is sooo good. They also have things like asparagus (not crazy about), strawberries, peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, honey from their own hives... etc... etc...

Maybe this weekend I'll bake an apple pie. Wish me luck.

Back to the Old Grind...

Today was our first day back at school. YAY!! Briana was off to 7th grade, Brandi off to 3rd grade and Brooke to the big 1st grade. (thus, the #1 sign she's making in the last picture)

I had a very busy day once they left- so it hardly felt like my first day home alone with no kids. Before I knew it, Briana was walking through the door. What? You're home already?

Anyway, they all had a wonderful day at school, which I am very grateful for. Brooke's first grade teacher is her best friend's mom, which is our next door neighbor. So I can always get the inside scoop if I need it. :)

So when Brooke gets home today she asked me if I was sad all day because they were all gone. I told her I was very sad. So I asked her, "What am I going to do? You're going to be gone every day now? Should I be sad every day?" To that she replied, "Mom, you'll have to get used to it, because I am going to get married one day." (What the heck? Where did that come from? ) So I told her that would be a very long ways away and I don't know if I can EVER get used to her being gone. Anyway, glad my children are happy with their first day!!