Hilton Head (FINALLY!)

We had such a great family vacation in May! We drove to Hilton Head (which reminds me that we didn't get any funny pictures of our drive) and had the best, most relaxing time. It was a beautiful place and we ate a lot, biked a lot, relaxed a lot and had a wonderful time.Ron and Patty walking along the beachA starfish!!We saw (and everyone else saved) TONS of these guys. I touched one but wasn't about to pick one up. But I pointed them out well.If you look closely, you can see a shark fin. There were lots and lots of stingrays, sharks and other various creatures lurking in the water. Pretty neat to see...not so much to swim!Here is Patty by the pool.A view from our balcony.We got bikes and rode ALL OVER the entire island. It was so fun and everything was SO gorgeous!! I'm mad that we didn't take any more pictures on the trails with the gigantic trees and the moss all over them. But here are some of our pictures from the big bike adventure:Up close and personal with an alligator!!We stood so close and watched him eyeballing us. He didn't mind though.Then we went to an old rice field and walked across this bridge where we saw tons of snakes and more alligators. It's so weird how close you are to them. Then a little boy showed us all of these alligators sunbathing. And the guys were trying to get one to come out of the water. I was long gone...Then we ate lunch at Harbor Town. And looked at all of the yachts.
We went to Savannah one day. This is a cathedral that we went into during our tour of Savannah.THEN...::nom nom nom::

That is the sound of us eating away at Savannah Candy Kitchen. We at pralines and fresh taffy and spiced pecans and fudge and peanut brittle...and the list goes on...::nom nom nom::

You may recall that this is the place that Paula Deen sometimes goes on her show. Patty made good friends with the lady working there, too!Then we headed over to lunch at Paula's Lady & Sons Restaurant. Here we all are out in front of Paula's store and restaurant.And here we are enjoying the buffet. (Oh, the iced tea!!! Never in your LIFE have you had iced tea like this!!)Then J and Patty and I went shopping...and Ronnie did this:Here's a picture of Patty in her cute tent during our day at the beach.And here we are at the Sea Shack (or, as Ronnie has dubbed it, the Shitty Shack). We took the advice of Rachael Ray and we came to regret it. It wasn't the best meal we'd ever had, but in defense of the place, we probably didn't order the right stuff. We figured we should have gotten the catch of the day or something as opposed to what we got.Finally, we took a looong bike ride along the beach. It was so much fun.

Eew, jellyfish.Here we are at a leisurely pace. Going WITH the wind. Yeah, that was cake. So we rode for miles and miles and then realized that we would have to ride against the wind to get back. Not quite as easy! Here's a small bit of the trip back.But on our way, we came across a pool of water that was standing from when the tide went out. Only this pool of water had some stingrays trapped in it.

It broke our hearts, so we made Josh and Ronnie save them. Our Hilton Head Heroes!!It became a big affair with other beach goers and they got a few rounds of applause. We just couldn't handle the idea of them dying overnight and drying up. So sad.Here's a closeup of one of the fellas on his way to freedom.Then I played in the water. We weren't supposed to take the bikes in the water but I had to do it. It was fun!Then J called me a little skunk.

What an amazing trip!!! We can't wait for our next family vacation!!

Thank you guys again!! We had so much fun...much better than the other family vacation that we had!

where's waldo: the kowe version

Just an average closet until you look a little closer... Somebody is VERY afraid of thunderstorms and found a safe spot in my gym bag at the bottom of the closet. Usually she hides under my skirts in my closet but last night, I was folding laundry and saw her cuddle into here so I grabbed my camera really quick to poke fun at her in her super terrified state...much like J does to me when I'm in the closet during tornado warnings!

So sad...you can see the fear in her little eyes...

She either got tired of pictures or she felt this was safer, but after I was finished putting away laundry, this is where she was.
And she ended the night here...in her other usual safe spot...behind the bathroom door. We leave the fan running for her so it helps drown out some of the noise. You can see that she is OVER having her picture taken.

little baby

So I took the dogs on a walk a few weeks back and when we got back in the house, I looked down to see that Lukey had picked up a special toy at some point. He found a pacifier and was carrying it in his mouth just like a little baby. I wish I'd had Josh with me because I couldn't get a good picture. He gets territorial when you try to take something from his mouth so I didn't want to get bitten. (Yes, I took it out immediately by tricking him with a tasty treat.) That's one cute kid, though!

The Big Three-Oh!

Josh is officially OVER the hill! He turned 30 on June 4th and we had a pretty good time celebrating it! I must say, 30 looks pretty darn good on my husband.

Soooo excited to get the Wii!! Doesn't he look like a kid in a candy store?!


We've had such a good time playing all of the Wii games (except I hate that I can't beat him at MarioKart to save my life). We also bought the WiiFit and have been on that thing nonstop. There's so much that you can do. It's so fun.

Yup, he still had enough wind to blow out all those candles...we got the traditional angel food cake PLUS an ice cream cake and then the next day we had a regular birthday cake. 30th birthdays apparently mean lots and lots of cake in our family, which as we all know, is fine by me!

I forgot to take pictures of him opening his other cards and presents from me and him with all of his black balloons that I bought him and all of his presents wrapped in black. But we both took the day off and went to Indy to an Indians game. We had a really lucky day.

First we were walking in and a lady gives us 2 free tickets (score!) which were right behind the Indians' dugout. Then Josh caught a ball that the pitcher threw right at me. I ducked and he caught it. We gave it to the little girl sitting next to us. Then, funnest of all, we were on the Kiss Cam!! So much fun. And finally, the rain held out for us, which we weren't expecting since there was an 80% chance of rain. So...we bought some lottery tickets. We're not millionaires, just FYI.
Then we went to dinner at PF Chang. Yummm.

Our luck turned, however, by that weekend. See, we planned a camping trip. Well, no. Let me rephrase that: I planned a camping trip. Everyone, and I mean EVERYone told me that I wasn't the camping type, that I wasn't going to like it, that I'm too high maintenance, etc. etc. etc. So I had a chip on my shoulder ready to prove everyone wrong. After all, I've been camping a lot in the past. Just because I made sure to find a campsite that had working toilets and showers so that I could apply my required daily hair regimen (trust me, you don't want me to avoid the hair regimen!)

So anyway, I had it all planned out. I planned a list 2 pages long, packed everything we could need and more, planned and bought the menu that I planned to cook (really!), and planned our activities for the entire weekend. So Friday night, it was just going to be me and Josh and then Shell, Dan & Griff were going to meet us Saturday evening. On Saturday, Josh and I were going to picnic and then head to Turkey Run and then have a fun campfire that night, followed by all of us canoeing on Sunday. Doesn't that sound well planned and fantastic?!?!

I was so proud of myself and so was Josh. Until, as I mentioned before, our luck changed. So we're in Indiana and we all know that means a good portion of the spring and early summer is spent in our "safe spot" due to tornadic activity. Well, at least those of us who are smart spend a lot of time in safe spots. I won't tell you what I think about the lunatics who don't heed Mike Prangley's warnings and suggestions. So all week, we had been blessed with horrific weather, thunderstorms, tornado warnings, rain out the wazoo. You name it, we got it. But I had faith that we were going to have a beautiful weekend. The weather called for scattered thunderstorms and rain all weekend, but in my mind, that's fine. It's the tornados that send me into a panic. So thunderstorms it was.

We headed out after work on Friday and TomTom took us about 10 miles to the Southeast of Crawfordsville. I knew this was wrong (refer to my meticulous planning). I kept telling J this was wrong. We could both see dark clouds over to the west and kept just hoping that we would get our camp set up before it hit too bad. So we finally head in the direction that I think we should go, I ask a lady at a gas station and she says that we're on the right track. So we are driving along and come upon a shelf cloud that seriously takes up the entire sky...and the road we're on is smack dab in the center of the thing. Josh makes the mistake of saying out loud what we both know this means. And then I start to freak. But we keep driving, pass a church where they're playing outside, so I mentioned that they wouldn't be out if there was a tornado warning. We cross 231 and come between 2 houses and upon the blackest of black clouds. I felt like Dorothy. I'm screaming, Josh is screaming at me. I want to turn around and my fearless husband wants to drive INTO the blackness. I finally convince him that we NEED to turn around. He does so, but in a manner more suited for walking a tight rope than for running from a storm. He finds the perfect driveway to turn around in and then inches back toward 231. At that point, the wind picks up really badly and we have to wait for traffic. We decide the previously mentioned church is the best spot, so Josh (again, with the urgency of a sloth) finds a parking spot (the LAST one available, I might add) and I fumble to find my phone and his, but can't so I say screw it. I open my door, it swings back on me and I finally get out and feel like THIS guy, only not calm and not in a hurricane. So we make it in, chill with the 30 or so VBS kids (who, I admit, aren't nearly as scared as me), and finally get the all clear that we have about 40 minutes before another cell moves in. So we head home. I was depressed all weekend because the trip got ruined.

But when we came out of the church, I looked down the road to see this:

It's a little hard to make out, but it is a humongous tree in the middle of the road. Funny enough, we turned around about 25 yards further than where it is. Yep. We almost died. So this, my friends, is why I am so scared. I am certain that if we put the same address into TomTom today, he would point us in the right direction. J laughs at me, but I really feel like we were being guided and protected that day and I am very thankful! Even if Josh did scream at me and I screamed back. :)

Lincoln's 2nd Birthday

While we were in Hilton Head, Linc celebrated his 2nd birthday. We had a little party when we got home and here are some pictures of him with his cake. I forgot to take any of him doing presents I guess.

Messssssssy!

meet Carter

On March 5th, my dear friend and her husband welcomed this adorable little package into the world. His name is Carter and I (finally!) got to meet him last week. Jenn and I met at Buca di Beppo and celebrated her 30th birthday and I got to love on Carter for a while. So sweet and cuddly and cute.

Congratulations Jenn & Jeremy!!

surgery pictures

So, apparently we really know how to do surgery well! Here are a couple of pictures that we took a few weeks back when I had mine...

Step 1 would be to first have a sweet husband who takes two days off to pamper you. And a sweet mother in-law who brings you flowers and your favorite meal of alltime in addition to watching your dogs. And awesome co-workers who bring you more beautiful flowers. And pretty much a hundred other great people who check on you and make sure you're doing well. (Thank you, by the way.) So...that's the first step.

But the second step is to have entertainment. And boy, did I ever!! As you can see above, I had a collection of sweets (my favorite candy are Reese's Eggs, so the Big Cups are the next best things), Oprah (I had saved about 2 weeks' worth on DVR), a new book, a laptop and movies. In 2 days' time, we (and, yes, I said WE because J watched all of them, too) watched The Wizard of Oz, Juno, 27 Dresses and August Rush. Talk about chick flick heaven!! Also, good drugs should have been in the picture but actually I didn't take my pain killers after the first day at home.

One thing I found kind of hysterical is that I woke up after getting home the evening of my surgery and I was reallly drowsy and had sore throat from the thing, so I kind of whispered for Josh and he came running up the stairs. I had no idea how he could have heard me, only to find that he had me on a baby monitor...aka the speaker phone. He's so cute.

You can also see above that I even did a little work. A smidge. Only because I left for a training then on Monday, so I had to read through some things.

And here is Luke after getting home from Grandma's. He likes to keep my pillows nice and warm for me. But you can see that I get a bit of a stink-eye when I try to get him to move.

All in all, a good surgery. Fully recovered now and feeling great. We find out next week what we do next. Yay!!